Little Lo...

Quite possibly, the cutest boy ever. I was first able to take some photos of him when he was only a couple weeks old. Here he is at about 4 months. I have to say, I love this age. They still have that irresistible baby chubbiness but are so much more cognizant than newborns. You first start to see that spark of personality. And those baby giggles are enough to melt your heart...

These are the first photos that I edited on my new iMac. Since the computer isn't online yet, I had to burn them onto a cd and post them from my parent's computer. Ah, only 3 more weeks until we'll be settling in to our house. The color seems like it popped a lot more on the Mac. And the black and whites here seem a bit muddy to me. Perhaps I need to invest in some calibration. How do they look to you? CC is always welcome.

And not to be outdone, here's a couple of Matty. Rockin' his army hat and giving his Momma some love...

Oh Happy Day!

Even after learning that I had to work on Saturday, I couldn't be in a bad mood after seeing this! I was not expecting it to arrive since I had tracked it the day before and it had just arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. Look at the crazy journey that my Mac has made. You'll notice that they tried to deliver it in the morning and no one was home to sign for it. So they left a little note that said that they'd try to deliver it again on Monday (you mean, I have to wait out the weekend?!?) or we could pick it up at their facility... 45 mins away. Not exactly what I wanted to do after an 11 hour workday and an hour drive home. Don't get me wrong, I would have! Luckily, the best husband in the world was able to contact someone, who sent a message to the driver, who was nice enough to stop back at our house again on a Friday evening when I'm sure he just wanted to get out of that friggin truck. Crisis averted.

I love it so far. And that's an understatement. When I got it set up, I felt like a new parent. All I could do was stare at it admiringly and wonder what I'm going to do with this beautiful new thing. It's so overwhelming though. I'm trying to learn how to use my new iMac, and how to navigate through CS3, and I feel like this process is going to take me awhile. I have a feeling I'm going to be a bit sleep deprived for the next few weeks...

On another note, I thought that I'd be able to connect to the internet wirelessly with my new computer, but after reading up on it it looks like I need some things that don't come factory installed. As you can see, I don't know much about these things. If can share some knowledge about this, I'll owe you one...

Home...

Back to reality. We made it home late, LATE Monday night after a 1½ hour flight delay leaving me a refreshing 3 hours of sleep before dragging myself back to work on Tuesday morning. I did little more than sleep yesterday after work and feel like I could do the same today. Vacations are exhausting. hehe. I'm anxious to post some photos from our trip but I think I may hold off until I can post them on my new computer. Which, according to FedEx, is currently in Shanghai! What?!? I was expecting it to ship from California so imagine my surprise after attempting to track my shipment as non-obsessively as possible and seeing CHINA as the pick-up location! I guess it's doubtful that it'll arrive today. =)

We had a woooonderful time in San Francisco. We got to see so much, thanks to our fab tour guides (aka: inlaws). My favorite day had to be when we biked the Golden Gate bridge over into Sausalito. We had lunch overlooking the water, then took the ferry back to San Fran. Ahhh. The weather was perfect and I'm so happy that Kev got to spend his 30th birthday in California. I know he loved it. More details soon, I promise...

I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

Tomorrow, that is. Early. We're headed to San Francisco to celebrate Kev and Mark's (Kev's stepdad) birthday weekend. Strange coincidence that they share the same birthday, don't you think? The boys are starting to get spoiled... last year they celebrated their birthday in Italy, this year in Cali... Though I can hardly complain, as I get to go along! I'm already excited to see where next year's birthday takes us.

Kev turns 30 on Saturday. And though I think he's a little sad about it, I know he's thrilled to get to celebrate it in San Fran. He has wanted to visit California for so long. A fabulous vacation is sure to soften the blow a little ;-)

and since I won't be able to post it this weekend.... Happy (early) Birthday, love!

Mac Watch...

Waiting... and waiting... and waiting...

They quoted 4 - 6 weeks for it to ship. Four weeks is this Thursday. Can you tell I'm getting anxious? I was hoping that they were lying about the 4 - 6 weeks and just exaggerating the timeframe to cover their butts. Doesn't look to be the case. With any luck there will be a bright, shiny, new favorite toy waiting for me when we return from Kev's birthday weekend...

Chaddsford Winery...

Last weekend Kev planned a fabulous outing for us. Don't you just love it when men take the initiative to plan something special? We headed about an hour south of here to the Chaddsford Winery for their annual Wine Festival. I'm pretty sure that by now you've noticed my affinity for wine. Twenty dollars got you a souvenir wine glass and as many trips around the wine tasting stations as you could manage. The weather could not have been more perfect. A jazz band set the mood. Kev packed a picnic lunch for us, so we sat in the grass and enjoyed our mixed greens salad, fruit medley, and sugar cookies. And then we took another trip around the tastings...

A sangria slushee. Whoever made this heavenly concoction is my new best friend...

By the way, do these photos look dark to you? Whenever I edit them at home they look good but when I check them at work they're always dark and blah... so please let me know what you're seeing! I hope everyone has a great week. It's a 3-day work week for me since we leave on Thursday for San Fran... woot, woot!

Birthday girl...

Happy Birthday Chloe! My baby turns 2 today. Oh, how fast they grow up. People probably think I'm crazy for making a big deal about my dog's birthday, and they might be right. But Chloe brings such an unexplainable amount of joy to our lives, her birthday deserves a celebration too. Here's a few of my favorite Chloe photos from the last two years, in honor of the Chloemonster's birthday....

The night we brought her home
Chloe's first Christmas
Kev and Chloe caught spooning... Don't tell that I posted this, I'll be in deep trouble! I love it though, she looks like a little piglet Clearly, being a wizard is hard work...
Last year's birthday. Her birthday ribbon reads: Kiss me, it's my Birthday! The card that I made Kev for our wedding day...

Logo...

I have a logo! Isn't it beauuutiful? It was designed by the amazingly talented Brianne Brose. Granted, there is no 'April Ziegler photography' as of yet but if it ever comes to be, I'm prepared (logo-wise, at least!). I've been seeing Brianne post logos for others on the Photo Board and quite honestly I wanted one of my own. =) I really just wanted to have a logo to start using on my blog photos. There has been talk of people's photos being stolen and posted by random freaks claiming them as photos of their own children. Sick. And I'm saddened by the fact that people who are trying to share photos their kids, friends, family and life have to worry about things like this. Such is the nature of the internet, I suppose.

I'm still holding out hope that my Mac will ship sooner than the estimated 4-6 weeks. I have photos from this weekend that I may try to post tomorrow, depending on how the computer is acting. It's so time consuming with the archaic editing program that came with the computer.

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. It was so wonderful to have 3 days off. We did a lot of relaxing, some shopping for the new house, and spent Sunday at a wine festival. Fabulous. More on that to come...