Free to a good home!!!

We have some computer "stuff" we no longer need and thought we'd offer it up here.

If you're interested please e-mail me or leave me a comment. The only payment we request is that you come and pick it up. :)

First of all, we have a computer and monitor (old style, NOT flat panel) that we had planned on using for Riley ... but with two desktops and a laptop already in use in our house (and with Ryan no longer in school) we decided to just make Ryan's computer the "family" computer. Quite honestly, I don't even know much about the computer. Ryan said it's a 512 but I don't know the size of the hard-drive. I do know it's an IBM . I believe this was one that Ryan used to use ... and he typically did word processing/banking/internet stuff on it.

As I said, we had planned on using it as a kid computer ... something to let him play games on and learn how to type/use a mouse without opening up a risk to our personal computers.

Also, I just upgraded my printer so we have two printers to give away to good homes.

HP 2210 All-in-One ~ This one just needs new ink cartridges. It's the printer that was just attached to my computer 3 hours ago.

Features
All-in-One device that Prints, Scans, Copies and Faxes
Photo quality printing with up to 4800 x 1200-optimized dpi
Six-ink color printing with optional photo inkjet cartridge
Print borderless 4 x 6-inch photos with HP Premium Plus Photo paper
Print directly from CompactFlash (Type I or II including IBM Microdrive), SmartMedia, Secure Digital / MMC and Memory Stick
Use the card slots to transfer images to the computer's hard drive
1200x2400 optical-dpi, A4 size, 48-bit color flatbed image scanner
Optional black ink cartridge for faster, crisper black text for regular printing tasks.
High-quality photographic reproduction using HP's exclusive color layering technology from Photoret IV technology
Printspeed: 17ppm in black and up to 12ppm in color
Up to 33.6 kbps fax transmission speed
Up to 99 copies, reduce or enlarge 25% to 400%


HP 930c ~ This was what we used two printers ago. We kept it thinking we'd hook it up to a computer for Riley. Also needs new print cartridges.

Features

Print technology: HP thermal ink-jet
Speed: 9 ppm in black, 7.5 ppm in color
Resolution: 2,400 x 1,200 dpi for color, 600 dpi for black
Input capacity: 100 pages
Output capacity: 50 pages
Media types: Plain, ink-jet, photo and banner papers, envelopes, transparencies, labels, cards, iron-on transfers
Maximum paper size: 8.5 by 14 inches
Memory: 4 MB
Print cartridges: 2 (black, trichamber color)
Dimensions: 17 by 8 by 16 inches
Weight: 12.6 pounds without print cartridges

Nothing says Fall like a trip to the apple orchard!

I fully admit I may be a bit bias. I remember being let loose in my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Kevin's apple orchard with my cousin, Cory, ... both with our own baskets to collect however many apples we wanted. I remember my Uncle Kevin somehow maintaining his sanity as he pulled a bunch of my pre-teen squeeling and gossiping girl friends around in a tractor wagon as we picked apples and pumpkins. So yes, I fully admit that I may be bias ... but I'm not sure how anyone could disagree that the first bite into a freshly picked apple is what Fall is all about.

We headed out to our favorite orchard today. Northwoods Orchard is a somewhat small orchard with a few animals to pet, a corn maze, wagon ride, pumpkins ... oh yeah, and apples. :)

We've gone to this same orchard every year since Riley was born. I'll never forget how we found out about it. I had called my dad to ask him if he knew of one around our town as the ones we had gone to the years before were closed. He proceeded to tell me how he'd driven by a new one and wasn't really sure what it all had. When I asked him for directions he started giving me street numbers but then suddenly his tone changed. "Once you get into Douglas, take a left and go past Cheryl and Kevin's old house. Go up and over the hill to the west of them. And once you go over the hill you'll see three beautiful combines ... take a right there." Leave it to my dad to give me directions based on what was in the field on the day he happened to drive past.

Anyway, as I said, today we headed out for the first time this season. We walked around to see all the animals and then took a walk to pick some apples. Riley is an old pro at this as he fully remembers these trips last year. Paige on the other hand was a bit confused ... until she saw one section of trees that had a lot of apples on the ground. Then she suddenly realized WHAT those red things where ... and started collecting. At one point she had about 4 apples in those tiny arms ... rotating bites through them. It was a sight to be seen!

And because it's tradition ... the first pan of Apple Crisp was baked tonight. That'll be pretty standard dessert for the next month or so around the Knudson household.

Here's a few quick pictures ...

Random Picture Drop Off ...

I have just a couple pictures to drop off (I have way too many session/wedding photos to be working on so this is all you'll get for a while).

Last weekend while we were painting, Riley disappeared upstairs for a while. That in itself isn't too out of the ordinary so I didn't think twice ... UNTIL he came down with a wet shirt and his hair like this ....












Mom: "What in the heck did you do?"
Riley: "I used my experiment and styled it, Mom!"

Now when your child tells you they used an experiment as a styling agent for their hair, you begin to wonder what the next step is. Will their hair fall out? Will it be bleach blonde in about 20 minutes? Will it be glued to the top of his head?

So he took me upstairs to show me exactly what he did.

"See mom, first you use this experiment from the school I went to at your work." (Ahhhh, okay, the experiment makes sense now ... we had to use the spray bottle as a prop for an experiement at Vacation Bible School. Phew ... thankfully it's only water!)

























"And then you take your brush and comb it way back."



























And just one of Miss Paige today. This is typical Paige at about 4:45 in the afternoon. Hair flying all over (though, really, it's quite contained here) and giving you the evil stare-down while she wonders where her dinner is.

It was Labor WEEKEND around our house!

I'm sore this morning. After a weekend where many of you were enjoying the last days of summer, I'm wondering where our weekend went! I'm truly thinking we missed a day off.

It was a weekend full of labor around our house. Ryan fixed a plumbing/sheet rock issue downstairs and we prepped both bathrooms to be painted. I spent part of Saturday and the better part of Sunday painting and putting things back together. We just need to buy some new hardware fo the upstairs bathroom, buy some new accessories (Riley wasn't too fond of the rubber ducky stuff) and shower curtain for downstairs and work on a special photo session for some artwork. That's a project I've wanted to do for a long time now so it's good to be done.

We also finally moved all of Riley's clothes to his new room. He moved back downstairs about two months ago but I wasn't sure the move would stick so I'd been putting off moving all of his stuff.

The two biggest developments over the weekend though?

Paige ... Friday night Paige decided she wanted to sleep in the twin bed in her room (the one Riley used to sleep on). I thought it would just be a one night thing ... she's taken naps over there before here and there. Well, she fell asleep there on Friday night, took a nap there on Saturday and fell asleep there again on Saturday night. So Sunday afternoon I reluctantly asked her if she wanted her crib to go bye-bye. She said yes and pointed to her big girl bed and said, "nigh, nigh". I just about bawled! Seriously, she's not old enough for this is she?

She's all proud of herself and loves her bed. Yesterday morning she was laying in there just hanging out. And so far she will still call to us in the morning when she wakes up. I don't think she can get the handle of her door open yet so she just lays there until we come in.

Riley's big news .... the kid is basically swimming. EEK!!! We headed over to Dodge Center yesterday afternoon for one last day at the pool. It's such a great pool ... they have a water slide and zero depth entry end.

Riley's favorite thing to do in the pool is stand on the side and jump in to the waiting arms of mom or dad. As the summer went on he was wanting us to go further and further out into the pool to see if he could make it to us. Well, yesterday daddy was letting him struggle a little bit after he'd jump in (we were in deeper water) to see what he'd do ... and while he couldn't get his head fully above water, he could tread water enough to keep his eyes above ... and when he did go under he didn't really freak out at all.

So after Paige started shaking because she was cold, dad went with her to wrap up in a towel and I gave Riley 5 minutes to swim before we were going to go. We headed to the part he could at least touch the bottom at and I'm watching him as he's going under the water and kicking like he's trying to swim. The next time he came up for air, I showed him how to move his arms underwater to get him moving forward ... and the little fart did it. I'm not going to throw him in the deep end anytime soon .... but he managed to "swim" forward abot 8 feet underwater without touching the bottom. Seriously the kid is a fish!

So that's the update from our house. Riley starts his second year of pre-school on the 17th. We got a letter from his teacher and she sounds like she's fresh out of college ... hopefully these 4 and 5 year old's don't scare her off too much! :)

I'm an auntie ... again!

I hope Ryan's sister doesn't mind me doing this ... but I just have to post pictures of the newest member of the family. Meet Violet ... born Saturday, August 23 to proud parents, Tammy and Clint and big brother, Weston.

We traveled to meet her tonight and she's just an angel. She likes to sleep and eat ... and really, what girl wouldn't mind sleeping all the time and eating without worrying about your figure? I envy her.

So here she is ... Miss Violet Marie. (And I feel bad but I didn't get a good shot of Weston ... I didn't have an external flash on me because mine broke at a wedding last weekend ... and that little boy was non-stop action tonight so what I tried to get of him is blurry. The one below isn't the best technical photo but I think his expression is priceless. )

We're home ... and I'm seriously worried about the competition in my own house.

WARNING ... This will be a post of a bunch of small things put together. Now that I've gotten that out of the way ...

Cute Riley-ism for the day (before I forget) ... I started a candle in the house today. Apple something or other. I called Riley up from playing downstairs for dinner and as he's climbing on to the bar stool he says, "Mom?! Do you have a candle going?" So I say yes and show him where it is. His reply? "Thanks mom for making the house smell so fresh today! I think you're pretty nice for being so nice to me. It smells delightful!" Delightful? I have no idea where he got that one.

North Carolina
As many of you knew ... we were in North Carolina for a wedding of Ryan's cousin this past weekend. We couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect trip. Our flights were basically uneventful (thank heavens for Benadryl ... Paige slept half the way out there and the entire way back), the weather wasn't too hot and muggy, and we were able to spend time with family at a beautiful wedding!

I haven't had time to go through all my pictures yet as I've been working on sessions I had before we left, but I just HAVE to show one picture. My four year old son took the following picture ... and I'm scared ... I have some serious competition in the house now. I think this is my favorite picture of Paige and I to date.















He also got a steller one of the bride and groom who he practically stalked on the dance floor until he got the shot he was looking for. That's my boy! Ha ha.

This trip contained three firsts ... the first "first" was the it was Paige's first flight. The second "first" was when Ryan's uncle Jim took Riley fishing in the pond behind their house on Sunday. I think Riley enjoyed cutting the worms and baiting the hooks the most though. Monday was the day of the third "first" ... I went fishing for the first time ever at the same little pond. I didn't do too bad ... caught three little fish. Though, I would have let Riley bait my hooks for me if they weren't so darn sharp. :) I'm trying to think if Ryan had a "first" while we were down there (you know ... to make it a family thing) ... but the only one I can think of is that it may have been his first time driving a minivan. Ha ha.

Thankfully Ryan's cousin, Sara, has a 3 year old boy who attached himself to Riley and a 6 month old little girl that Paige ohh'ed and ahhh'ed over the whole time ... so neither of them were bored at all while we were there.

All in all it was a successful weekend ... and Lisa and Michael (the happy couple) are sailing around the seas right now on a cruise. Like I said, I'll post pictures after I get through some of my other duties.

Whoo hoo daddy!
The other news in the house ... I have to admit I'm rather ashamed that I didn't post anything earlier about. Two weeks ago, Daddy (aka ~ Ryan) basically finished his MBA program. Why the "basically"? He has ONE flipping class left next spring to complete. We're basically considering him done though ... so we celebrated with dinner and a movie while the kids stayed home with a babysitter.

It's been three long years of HARD work on his part. While we've all had to make sacrifices to accomodate his school schedule, HE was the one who had to sit in the office just about every night studying. We're not really sure what changes may/will come our way .. but for now we're just happy to have daddy back!

It's funny though ... tonight as I was getting Riley ready for bed I just kept thinking about how it's going to be such a busy weekend. I have a wedding in LaCrosse to second shoot again and Ryan has scho--- wait a minute ... there's NO school!!!! :) Guess it hasn't sunk in yet! :)

Okay ... I think I've rambled long enough ... and this photo book that needs to get done isn't going to finish itself. Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!!

Our Princess ...

Well, she was called Princess Paige for the first year of her life
... she's just now dressing the part.

Where do we live again?

Good Neighbor Days

This was a few weeks ago but Ryan reminded me that I hadn't shared anything from Good Neighbor Days. It's a weekend celebration for our little town ... a parade and fireworks on Friday night followed by a carnival, car show, etc. It's a great time!

Friday night we had a small get together at our house. We walked up to the parade with my sister and her family, Ryan's sister and her family and our next door neighbors. For the size of our little town, I was quite impressed with it's size. Unfortunally for Riley and the other kids, our neighborhood is towards the end of the parade route, so they *only* got half of a gallon ziplock bag of candy each.

After the parade, we went back to our house where we started a fire, burnt some popcorn, discovered the yummy-ness of mixing some of the root beer keg with Bailey's Irish Cream (try it if you've never had it!), played giant Wii (it was projected against the outside of our house ... lifesize) and finally watched the fireworks overhead.

Saturday was an early morning as the jump house that a bunch of the neighborhood had gone together to rent was delivered at about 7:15. By 7:30 kids were already jumping. :) The best part though? We'd upgraded the size and now the adults could get in too. :)

We had a great day with our neighbors. We had the jump house, a couple swimming pools, a blow-up waterslide, lots of root beer for the kids and plenty of adult beverages for the others. The weather tried to cut into the yummy potluck dinner we had planned but we managed to finish just before it started to rain.

Another bonus to the day ... Steve, Charina, Grace and Jack ... old neighbors and GREAT friends of ours came to visit. Charina and I are making plans for Riley and Grace to marry someday ... so it was good that they could see each other again. (And the funniest part of the weekend? Grace told Riley that she loved him. Riley's reaction was one I've never seen from him before ... he was speechless and actually turned red. Ha ha)

I think every single kid went to bed pretty early that night. I know Riley was exhausted beyond belief. It was fun to watch all the kids run around because 6 years ago only about 2 or 3 of these kids were even born. Most of us moved into the neighborhood as newlyweds ... and that Saturday we had about 15 kids running around. We're a fertile group to say the least. :)

Picture time.

First of all, I have to show these two pictures. This is Grace and Paige last September when we went to stay with Steve and Charina one weekend.













And this one was the Sunday of Good Neighbor Days at a park. WOW ... how much little people change in 10 months!!





























And now ... the kid-fest Saturday ...

It's a big day!

I know I have a photography blog ... but this is just too close to my heart to not share here as well. As of last night, my official photography website went live. **eek** It's extremely stressful for me as it's totally putting myself out there in a way that almost makes me uncomfortable. But at the same time I feel like I'm at the stage of making this step forward.

Feel free to go take a look. Please let me know your thoughts ... it's not as polished as I'd like it ... but I think I could go on forever making changes to get it just *so*.

www.kristinknudson.com

Thanks for the support of so many of you!