not walking away

Lots of people have emailed and asked if I'll still be blogging or even if I plan to delete my blog. The answers are: "definitely" and "no way".

I love this place. I love that I can celebrate my life and my family in this way. I love that you guys care enough to read about it. I love that I feel connected to the world in a way that I never would be if I didn't put myself out there. I love that "Princess Pigbear" gets me out of the house on days that I never actually leave. I love that my memories are stored here. I love that on a daily basis someone comes out of the woodwork to say hi. Goodness is here, and I won't be scared away. I hope you all feel the same way as I know some of you are contemplating whether or not to continue your own blogs.

With that said, I have some fun (although imperfect) photos to share. On Wednesday night we had a family date to the Park Meadows Mall in Denver to see the 8 foot tall Pigbear in the babyGAP window. We were greeted by her sweet face as we road down the elevator to the first floor. It was such a fun spot to see her but SO not a great spot to take a photo. Let's just say that running up the down elevator and trying to operate a camera on manual mode at the same time is NOT EASY.





We had a little better luck inside...



I'm embarassed to say that after only three months with our appreciation card, it's HALF GONE. It doesn't expire until Sept. '09 and I'm beginning to doubt that we can stretch it out that long. Especially after we take baby Lily and Aunt Parmy on a big spree this summer (get ready, Aunt P!)

I want to apologize for my lack in posting my photos-a-day. To be honest, I wasn't sure anyone even noticed since Jennifer is usually the lone commenter. I do plan to get back to it but probably not until this move is out of the way.

Also, in an effort to protect myself a little better I've blocked a ton of IP addresses from Brazil. If anyone is interested in getting the list I've compiled and knowing how to do that then I'd be more than happy to fill you in...just email me.

Take care, friends!

they're GONE!

I spent most of yesterday haunting the page where my photos appeared (along with some help...Thanks Aunt Lu, Renee, and Tina!). Now the page has been removed. The sad thing is that from what I've learned these people often just start up with a new profile, new page, same pics. I'll be watching though. After lots of research yesterday I've notified no less than 10 people who have photos of their children on that site unknowingly. It's so, so sad. Apparently Orkut is a site similar to MySpace or Facebook that's extremely popular with Brazilians. THOUSANDS of them are stealing photos of innocent children and creating fake lives and profiles with them. Some people say it's children who are doing this but after looking through hundreds of the pages I have a really hard time believing that children are behind this. It's really sick. At any rate, that's the story. I'll be checking that site often now to watch for my baby and yours.

Now, here's the scoop on watermarking. If you have photoshop (any version, even elements) create a new document that's like 300 pixels x 300 pixels. Make sure the background is transparent. Then use the text tool and any other tools you want to create the design for your watermark. Something as simple as DO NOT COPY written across the middle in block letters will work. It needs to be rather obnoxious though. After you have it the way you want it, use your elliptical/rectangular marquee tool to select around the entire watermark. After it's selected go up to edit< define brush preset, and then name your brush. It should now appear at the end of your list of brushes when you select the brush tool. I stamp my watermark over the middle of my photo before I resize for the web...you can adjust the opacity if you don't want it to be glaring but in my opinion glaring is better. I hope that helps. Post a comment here if you need clarification and I'll try to help. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. It doesn't matter if you think you're a good photographer or not...PROTECT YOUR PHOTOS OF YOUR CHILDREN. Make that bad boy obvious too. It won't prevent everything but it will deter this. I did find one photo that belonged to a friend yesterday that had a watermark with her full name and website right in the middle, covering the whole photo and it was still used. It's so sad. Anyway, thanks for the support yesterday. Take care.

Kelly, I would still like the information you have if you don't mind. Unfortunately, I don't think this is over. Can you email it to me? (erkatco@yahoo.com) Thanks.

Now please go check out Brent's awesome zoo video two posts down. He spent tons of time on it and got pre-empted by my rant yesterday. :)

note the watermark...

IT'S THERE FOR A REASON!!!

This is a fuming mad post about photo-stealing. I've known what a problem it is and I thought I'd protected my stuff well enough. Well, this weekend someone informed me that they'd seen photos of Sarah on someone's Orkut site. I checked it out and, sadly, it's true. Some of them are from before I started watermarking, others are from when I used the itty-bitty corner mark that's been cropped out, and one of them still says "photography by erin" in the corner. It makes my stomach turn.

If you are a photographer or are posting photos of your children on the web then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put a large watermark over your photos.

The photos I've seen of Sarah were stolen from this blog by someone in Brazil. So, Ms. Brazil, here's my message for you: YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE. I AM LOOKING FOR YOU AND I WILL MAKE SURE THOSE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN DOWN AND YOU ARE HELD RESPONSIBLE.

For any others that are reading this that might need a reminder: Right-clicking photos and saving them to your hard drive is ILLEGAL. It doesn't matter if you're a friend, a relative, or a stranger. If you want a photo I've posted here, email me and I'll consider it. Otherwise, knock it off. It's wrong.

Don't Tell GG...

...that Sarah wants the snake to come home with us. Daddy blogging here--a couple of weekends ago, we went down to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with the Shertzers. It's a nice little zoo, and we all had a good time. The gorilla in the video has a little baby (it's kind of hard to see) that was born on the same day as our little buddy Hayden. Bonus points to anyone who knows why I included a random clip of meerkats.

yes, I realize this is ridiculous

It's GINORMOUS. HUMONGOUS. BIG. REALLY REALLY BIG.

I was getting ready for playgroup yesterday morning when the FedEx guy rang the doorbell and stood there waiting for me while standing next to a cardboard tube as tall as he was. When I answered the door and said "what in the world is that?" I kid you not, his answer was: "That's what I want to know lady...open it." When I saw that the oustide of the tube was stamped "Baby Gap Marketing Materials" my heart did a little flutter in my chest. Exciting stuff was inside!

I opened it to find the HUGEST PI'BEARS I'VE EVER SEEN. The window display Pi'bears was now staring at me from my kitchen. Since playgroup would be commencing in a few minutes I figured I better slap that bad boy up for us all to enjoy. (I know the other moms were just as in love with it as I was, right?) As it turns out I think there are actually only two other people on the planet as pleased with the Ginormous Pi'bears as I was: Pi'bears Daddy and Caroline. I'm pretty sure Caroline will be asking for her own 8 foot tall picture of Rar-ah for Christmas. Those elves better get to work.

In typical toddler fashion, the kiddos thought the cardboard tube was the very best thing ever. Balls can go inside! Voices can go inside! Cars can go inside!














Even daddy joined the fun...





We had a showing this evening so I had to take down the window display. I'm just not sure the largest Pi'bears you've ever seen is the biggest selling point for our house. However, if you're as enthralled with it as I am (or even a tenth as) then check out your local babyGAP from now until two weeks from now to see her in the window!

If you have emailed me I PROMISE I'm going to email you back. Soon. Someday. Soon.

Can you put lipstick on a Pigbear?

Hi all, Daddy blogging here. As I was putting together our family video from Easter, I decided to share this clip (thanks for the inspiration, Kathy).

The Easter Bunny herself, Aunt Lori, sent some goodies for Sarah and Charlotte. By FAR the biggest hit was a plastic lipstick toy--I received several applications throughout the weekend myself. Just watch the video, and I think you'll be able to get a sense of Sarah's excitement.

So thanks to Lori, and Stan, Sue, Megan, and Charlotte for a great weekend. Now, if you don't mind, I have an appointment to get my face made.

bath buddies

After clearing my cookies and temp internet files I think we may be back in business...

Okay, I was called out by Amy who is SO right. I've been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad blogger. (and if you get that reference then you get an instant pass into my inner circle) It's true. But I have a good excuse, I swear. As a reward for waiting though I'll show you lots and lots of photos of two of the cutest little girls I know.

Charlotte spent the weekend with us and Sarah was in h-e-a-v-e-n. I've gotten in the habit of referring to her as "Baby Charlotte" but after sizing the two of them up, nakey, in the mirror before bathtime I think I'm going to need to need to toss the "Baby". She's giving Sarah a run for her money in the tummy department. And since it's not polite to talk about a girls thighs, I won't even mention those. I'll just leave it at - wow.

















Has anyone been to babyGAP lately? If you have you might have seen this...(compliments of my amazingly awesome friend Michelle)...



How cool is that? I can't wait to get that puppy up in my new house. We just might have to buy a house based on which one showcases it best!

Nana and Grandaddy

There's a love triangle at our house these days. I'm sure you can figure out who's in it.

more from California

My dad and Sue arrived today and are visiting for a week so I need to get some more CA pics up in order to make room for Grandaddy and Nana pics this week! Meghan and Charlotte get here on Thursday too so we'll have a super-fun houseful. YAY!

Here are a few of my faves from our last day out there. Brent had never been to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk before so we made a point of stopping there one evening. It was pretty much abandoned since all of the rides and concessions weren't open for the season yet but that made it even better for photo ops! Two of Sarah's favorites peeps joined us for our adventure - Aunt May May and Aunt Lori ("ooohOReee")...

Thanks for looking...even if you all HAVE been slacker commenters lately... ;)