365 Days of Creating Memories

Outfit of the Day...

2011-08-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

Once again it has been awhile since I have posted and while most of my readers I think are friends on facebook, but thought it might be nice to get back in the habit of posting to my blog! I always love reading everyone else's so here it goes!!!

I thought the perfect place to start is an update on Bella since tomorrow she is turning 6! Seriously can't believe it has been 6 years! One of my favorite things about Bella is that she has her own sense of style and isn't afraid to show it! Here are some of her more recent Outfits of the Day!

We went school supply shopping and E got some new socks so Bella wanted some too! This is one pair of her new knee high socks!

Here I think she may have been going for the "sporty" look! At least here she is color coordinated!

and this one just taken Saturday might be my newest favorite one...Purple skirt, pink tank top and what you can't see is that there is Hello Kitty on the front of her tank top and here is the other pair of knee high socks that she got! Pair it with the bowling shoes and we have Outfit of the Day!

I just love her and her sense of style!

I wish I were a computer geek and Birthday Party Ideas!

2011-07-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Seriously I think this is a repeat topic! Well I borrowed a friends laptop (shhh don't tell her LOL)... But I can't wait to get one of my own! (Now if only one was in the budget!) But it definitely looks like I'm going to have to take my computer in and see if it can be looked at! Not fun and really hoping that it is something super simple....

Now if you can also come up with something super cool for my son's 9th birthday in January that would be awesome! I think for Bella's 6th birthday I think we are sticking with the princess theme and going with Ariel! A friend her Sister-in-Law does singing/dancing/acting! Guess what she does birthday parties. Here is her Facebook page! Scroll down a while and so worth watching!

Here are two videos to watch...

and her good-bye to the birthday girl

Here is a link to the You Tube page with more little video clips! Ariel .... It is her friends You Tube page so there are other videos but some cute Ariel singing!!!

Ok after I started this blog entry last night I came up with a limo idea. I mean they will be 9 after all. I figure if we do it a time where you don't have to serve a meal maybe just a few snacks then they can have a few different snacks and drinks in the limo with them or that is one of the scavenger items, the place where you stop and have snacks.I think if you figure out what you would have spent on party favors and all the extras then it might be feasible if you find the right limo service! So we will see....I may be dreaming and it may be way out of our league!!! Hmmmm do you guys have any other ideas!??

8 year old Boys!

2011-06-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

OMG What am I going to do with him! Is it all 8 year boys or just mine? What are you guys doing to "fix" the problem. Last night after a particularly rough bedtime routine yet again I made this scrapbook page! (ahh not at home I will have to edit my post w/ the kit name later! =)

ahh I know we will survive these years but I wonder sometimes!

School is OUT

2011-06-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow that is!

I can't believe that school is already out! The year seems to have flown by! Seriously flown by!
I can't believe I won't have a child "downstairs" at school. I have had one downstairs for the last 4 years!
I can't believe my baby is going to be a 1st grader!
I can't believe E will be a 3rd grader!!!
I can't believe it will be E's fifth year at school!
I can't believe my baby is going to be a 1st grader!
I can't believe I am getting ready to spend all summer with my two kids and I am crossing my fingers that they don't send me to the LOONEY BIN!

I'm looking forward to the kids' swim lessons the next two weeks!
I'm looking forward to some "field trips" with the kids. I'm thinking bowling, movies, the park!
I'm looking forward to staying friends with E's teacher! I just love her!
I'm looking forward to a fresh new year with two new teachers!
I'm looking forward to VACATION!
I'm looking forward to hearing Bella read to me this summer! She has gotten so good at her reading!
I'm looking forward to finishing our bedroom "makeover"
I'm looking forward to trying something fun like this travel journal this summer...wonder if E's classmates would participate!?? I think it looks like it could be fun...maybe try this "flat stanley" thing with it?

I'm very open to some fun and new things to do with the kids during the day....I want to keep them busy and also keep them "learning something"!

Here is to a wonderful 2010-2011 school year!

Laurie's Scraps Creative Team!

2011-06-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

Since I've been such a slacker on my blog I haven't posted my newest layouts.... So you are warned that this blog will be scrapbook page heavy!!!

The kit names are linked directly to her store and the caption below are linked directly to my layouts at Gotta Pixel so if you feel so inclined to leave me a comment you can! =)

I just love this layout! The colors the photo...all of it!

Buggy World at Gotta Pixel

Going to the Zoo at Gotta Pixel

Still a few more to come, but I will leave that for another night!

2nd Grade Food Party!

2011-06-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

The kids had been covering the food chart and healthy eating in Health/Science class. It sounds like they covered the old food pyramid, but they also talked about The First Lady's new CHOOSE MY PLATE diagram. I think the kids will definitely "see" it more than with the pyramid. I actually really like the looks of it.....

The first time I actually saw it was from Jillian Michaels on Facebook and there was quite the discussion on it. Mostly about how it needed to show excercise and the good oils/fats that are necessary for your body. But there was also a large discussion on how the Dairy shouldn't really be given as the "milk" but really I think adults are big enough to know that dairy doesn't JUST mean milk! So overall I really like the "new look"! Also their website is great.... CHOOSE MY PLATE.GOV. I didn't read everything on that discussion, but I think the best thing I read was how you should use the smaller salad plate instead of the larger dinner plate. I was happy to read that since I have been doing that for quite a while now. You definitely feel like you are getting more when your little plate is full of food!

Now after all that "good stuff" .... E's class had a food party. Each kid signed up for a specific color and then they were to bring a healthy food of that color to school for their food party. Ethan picked yellow. We brought some lemonade, bananas, yellow peppers and lemons. All of the kids were really really encouraged to try at least two things that they had never tried before. It was fun to watch the kids try new things and even E and I both tried all of the peppers (red, yellow, green and orange). My favorite was the orange pepper, but E's favorite was the red!

Check out their colorful display of food!

It was also amazing to see the kids' plates and what they chose to try or what they were already eating before the party! I was happily suprised at how well some kids were eating their fruits and veggies!

Here is to TRYING NEW THINGS!

Happy Family Day E!

2011-05-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

So hard to believe it has been 8 years since we stepped off that plane holding our baby boy! It was a pretty basic day. Church, breakfast (where Bella got sick...lets just say fruit and chocolate shake don't really mix well), games for the boys and grocery shopping for the girls, then an engagement party for a cousin!

We did re-create one of our all time favorite photos of Ethan! We were literally "HOME" for just a few minutes when this picture was taken! Check out how much the boy has grown in the past 8 years!

2003

2011

LOL hard to imagine that is the same boy!!! Thanks for being good sports today and posing for a picture!

Check out some previous years Family Day Photos! Okay so not all the years I was good about blogging LOL!

7th Family Day 2010

6th Family Day 2009

5th Family Day 2008

plus 2008 lots of past years too!

4th Family Day 2007

3rd Family Day 2006

2nd Family Day 2005

1st Family Day 2004

"Gotcha Day" 2003

An Expensive Weekend!

2011-05-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Trying to catch up on a few blog items and well this weekend was spent "partying", Papa Lyle had his 80th birthday party Saturday and then Sunday my cousin Amy had an engagement party to introduce family to her new fiance Lewis! It was a great little gathering (no pics) but nice time, good food and just some old fashion socializing! Last weekend was another story all together!

Our car hit 100,000 miles, Friday night we went to the "local casino" and watched Jodee Messina in concert! We just love her! (We brought Bella her new CD and OMG she hasn't stopped listening to it. Matter of fact with in a couple days she had lots of the words memorized!), Saturday E ran in a local relay race that all of the local schools participate in. Yes that was a bright an early 7:45am arrival time.... Oh and did I mention that I was up at 3:30am to arrive at 4am to stand in line for Bella's recital tickets. Long story, but you wait in line, first come first serve on tickets. Most times I wait with a girlfriend at the wee hours of the morning, but her daughter isn't doing ballet so it was just me and then another friend who's daughter is in Bella's ballet 2 class was actually buying our tickets since we had to be at the above mentioned relay races! (E's boys 4x100 relay team took 4th in their heat!)

After the relay then we headed home and had lunch and since early in the week I had stopped at our local Les Schwabs and they said YES you are pretty much driving on some egg shaped tires, all 4 need to be replaced and you need to have it realigned! Ugh so we dropped it off and 4 new tires, an alignment and a phone call later saying some bolt or bearing (whatever it was, was another $100+ dollars) So needless to say it was an expensive Saturday!

After having another load of clothes stop in the dryer we decided that Sunday we had better start looking at washers and dryers (since the washer only works on one cycle we might as well just buy the matching pair at one time) LOL (we've had it repaired a few times and it is 17yrs old)

So needless to say we bought a new washer and dryer and can't wait for 5/24 when it will be delivered and set up!

Here they are:

Is it sad to say I'm pretty excited about these! Besides the fact that the dryer actually "died" we are in need of some clean clothes LOL and they are front loading and yes I got the pedestals too! Also E couldn't keep his fingers off the buttons since they are basically right at his level. So I am thinking I will just teach him to do his own laundry! LOL Think it will work??? Would that mean less laundry for me? Oh wait hubby does almost all of the laundry! I guess I should ask if he is very excited for our delivery!

The only other exciting news is that I had to get a new phone....Actually I was very disappointed that when I went to look at my phone options there wasn't much to choose from if you weren't going to smart phone! Well not sure how others do it, but for hubby and I to both have a smart phone it would cost at least $160 a month... um yeah that isn't in my budget... did you read the above mentioned stuff? So I ended up with an LG Octane and at first I was pretty upset, but I think I will really like it. So far so good and just found out that it does take videos (not sure how well yet) but at first I didn't think it did so yes the little things excite me!

See lots of exciting things happening around our neck of the woods!!!

My model...

2011-05-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

So I am now pretty far behind in my photography class, but I did get a few photos the other day while working on "the rule of thirds" and how your subject shouldn't always be centered. I like to think that I have already been following that rule, but hey any chance I get to take more photos of my "lovely" kids I will do it!

Here are some of miss Bella! (all expressions are her own...I didn't request them!)

and can't forget some more of Purple Bear

I even bribed the boy (yes they have to be bribed sometimes) with a milkshake one day if he let me take some pictures... He was a great sport and I really need to get the rest of his "photoshoot" edited, but this is one of my favorites that were taken; I couldn't wait to edit it!

Yes you might be bored with more pictures of the boy later when I get more edited! Like I said he was such a sport and we found a couple great little spots to take photos! (now to get the rest of the family there to take a nice family picture!!!

Now I should go watch the videos for last weeks class on poses! Yeah... I wish I was able to stay caught up with the class....maybe this week I can get caught up!

Prayers Please....

2011-05-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know Melissa in person but I feel like I know her very well from the adoption and the digital scrapbooking community. She is going through some big stuff and not having been through it myself but my "boyfriend" at the time (later my husband) went through cancer and chemotherapy too. It can be very rough and emotional and I really remember some of the things she is going through... like losing her hair. It was a struggle even for a guy to go through it! (we didn't have the insight to shave it first thought!)

So I just wanted to give a quick and simple shout out to Melissa and her family. She has already shown amazing strength and faith that it is super amazing how strong she is being (or showing us...which she doesn't have to put on a front for us....) So please if you are reading just give her and her family a minute in your prayers!

THANK YOU...

A Day in the Life of Purple Bear...

2011-05-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

I am loving my photo class (not loving that now I don't have access to the website to load my pictures---reminder to email Nicole and let her know...maybe she will let me email her my photo submissions???)
Another week one Photo Class assignment was do a Day in the Life of . I really wanted to do something that I or we as a family could relate to (aka perfect for a scrapbook page or mini album) so after some thinking I decided to do Bella's Purple Bear (also known as her purple Share Bear Care Bear). Purple Bear is what he has always been called. E picked it out for her on her 1st birthday and lets just say this bear is flat as can be from it constantly being with her. After almost 5 years of her playing with it, it isn't as constant as it once was but it is still one of her most beloved items she has well right behind her 3 identical baby blankets (there is a story behind that one too... but I will save it for another day).

So here is the Day in the Life of Purple Bear....

Waking up with Bella

The ride to school

All alone in the car after drop off

(these aren't the best we were rushing (running late as always) and needed to get the kids inside to school)

"laying around" at daycare waiting for Bella to get "home" from school

(I was manually focusing here and I wish I would have got the focus on the heart on the heart on its foot) =(

One the lookout outside for Bella to get home

Birthday present shopping at Target

Watching some TV before bed

and lastly back in bed for bedtime

(yes my baby girl still sucks her thumb...not sure what to do about that)

It was a lot of fun to do this Day in the Life of. Actually I am looking forward to that with a few more items!

I wish I were a computer geek!

2011-05-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

So all of a sudden the other night my computer started giving me trouble. It won't connect to the internet yet I can still access the internet from my iPod touch. So confusing...something about the DNS server and an IP address conflicting with something. Who knows! I only have a desktop and an iPod so not sure what is going on. I think I will try connecting it back to the "wall" instead of having my wireless connection and see what happens! The whole point of that story is that I have tons of great photos (or what I think of as great photos) that I want to post and some fun information so I will see what I can get posted from my iPod (imagine typing on that little tiny thing and I can't really link up photos) and what I can do from work's laptop.... Gotta love some of the perks!

So onto a new post with hopefully some pictures!!

Photo Class!

2011-05-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to take a photo class for the longest time and I still really want to take one in person, but I finally signed up for one online (and I know of a couple more that are supposed to be excellent so I hope to keep taking classes). It just started last week and already I feel like there is a ton more understanding of the manual exposures!

Needless to say I have been trying to snap pictures where ever I can. At home, outside, at work (which happens to be a daycare; so I have lots of little subjects!) Now to some this photo looks like any others they have seen or I have taken, but the amazing thing is that I somewhat understood what I was doing when I changed the manual settings!

This is Gavin....our busy little boy, but check out that face!!!

ISO 200 f/1.8 1/100 50mm 1.8 lens

Now maybe this is where I mention that on Wednesday when I went to mass with the kids at school that I pulled my camera out of my purse (I know first mistake) and when I pulled my camera out the strap hooked around my 50mm lens and it "crashed" okay it dropped onto the floor with a loud THUD. Sadly I think it isn't focusing right, maybe it is because I'm trying to work in only manual settings and I still don't know what I'm doing. I'm hoping it is just me and not the lens. I really am not in the market to buy another lens. For those photographers is was my favorite lens; my 50mm 1.8 =(

After I dropped the lens I was able to take these photos for my Photo Class (Week 1). It was about Aperature settings and the Depth of Field and how adjusting the Aperature the effect it has on the photo. I wish I would have been able to get outside earlier in the day, but these were taken right at dusk at about 8pm a couple nights ago!

shutter 1/320 ap 1.8 50mm lens ISO 400

shutter 1/20 ap 6.3 50mm lens ISO 400

Now there is no guarentee that I did it in equivalent exposures but as far as shutter and aperature I'm slowing "getting it".

I still need to do an ISO set of pictures example, a shutter assignment (person running or running water. I think I will be working with the running water). Today I am working on the Day in the Life part of Week 1's homework. I am pretty excited for this one. I am doing Bella's Purple Bear!

If you have made it this far.... THANK YOU!

I'm on a Creative Team!!!

2011-05-05T10:20:00.001-07:00

So I will start off by saying for those few "readers" I have a Creative Team is where you work with a designer. In my case a digital scrapbooking designer; and I get her kits for free and exchange for creating layouts and supporting and promoting her designs! A fellow scrapper Tricia sent me a message saying a designer she "works" for was looking for some more CT members. I liked her stuff and thought it would fit right in with what I like to scrap with so I sent her my information and links to my galleries and yeah for me she liked my stuff. I started about a month ago and after not scrapping for a while it is slowly taking me some time to get back into the scrapping routine and the posting to various galleries routine! I'm getting there!!!

So with out waiting the designer I'm working for is Laurie from Lauries Scraps & Designs! She also sells at Gotta Pixel. She has some amazing kits and is great to work with. Please check out her stores and the galleries HERE and HERE! Here are the layouts that I have completed so far with her kits and OMG here in a couple more days she is releasing the funnest (is that a word) kit yet!

BIG EYES using kit Sunshine in my Soul

MAGIC MOMENTS using kits Template Set 3 and Magic Moments kit

DANCING WITH MOM using kit The World is a Playground

BAD ATTITUDE using kit Home Sweet Home

I have loved working with her kits and love that it has got me back into my scrapbooking!

Please be checking her website stores and her BLOG for updates, free templates and free kit giveaways!

1st Communion

2011-05-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

Well I know there has already been a few things that have happened since the last post, but might as well start with the newest! E had his first communion today (Sunday 5-1-2011). The whole class did wonderful and oh they were so beautiful/handsome in their white dresses and suits. His 2nd grade class has talked a lot about communion, we did a retreat, and we've been practicing at home with our vitamins so he would feel comfortable his first time!

Here he is after mass. We came back to the house and had sandwiches (Honey Baked Ham) and mom brought potato salad and the basics. I won't bore you with all the details. Plus I promised he could change out of his new suit after GMA and GPA H came over and saw him (and Bella) all dressed up. So being the "good mom" I am I hurried and snapped a few pictures. The only thing we didn't do was get a family picture of us all 4 dressed up. Oh well next time! =)

Of course I had to snap a couple of Bella all dressed up in her Easter dress too. Thankfully E likes dressing up. Meaning he doesn't put up a fuss when I ask him to where a tie or when I buy him ties to match his sisters clothes! Actually there are plenty of times he will get all dressed up all on his own! But back to Bella....

Boy does she LOVE her big brother!!!

I can't leave out this one either! After they had hugged (Ethan tolerated VERY well), but I said, "Act like you love each other!" E got a wierd smirk on his face, but Bella leaned in and kept trying to give him a good kiss!

Congratulations...We (even Bella too) are soo proud of you! You are growing up into such a handsome, caring, and giving young man!

Forgotten Blog!

2011-04-24T00:58:00.000-07:00

So yet again it has been a few months! I wanted to pop in real quick and say yeah I do have a few people that read my blog or try to read it LOL.... Lee here you go!

Our baby girl is learning to ride her bike finally with out training wheels! (No bike pictures today... I need to get in bed) I wanted to throw a couple pictures of Bella up here from today during our bike riding "lessons". She pretty much has it down, but prefers to go across the driveway and into the grass. We are trying to explain to her that if she just went down the sidewalk she could keep riding, the grass is actually stopping her! Oh well so soon she will have the confidence...

For now a roll of the eyes

and her riding attire!!! LOL

HAPPY EASTER!

Every few months

2011-01-17T01:11:00.001-08:00

So my blog has become every few months I post (and I'm sure I only have my family reading now) which is just fine! Looks like maybe I just post every 6 months when I get a scrapbook page done!

Ethan turned 8 this past week and it is soo hard to believe he is already 8... just seems like yesterday he was 3 and 4! We bought him (a fleece jacket) 2 African Dwarf Frogs! Actually they are super cute and move all around their little water tank! Now Izzy had her moments not understanding why she didn't get a pet and we tried to explain over and over to her that it was Ethan's birthday! Ahhh to be 5 again!

and here is to seeing you again blog readers in another 6 months LOL

I scrapbooked (GASP!)

2010-08-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

I know it is super hard to believe, but I have scrapbooked! I might keep the shock coming and try to do some more pages =)

and

I really have missed it!

Birthday party planning!

2010-08-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Okay seriously with ALL of the digital scrapbooking supplies you would think that I would have the most beautiful birthday invitations and thank you cards (I won't tell you that I am the WORST at sending thank you cards) I know that is horrible of me! But here we are just about a week away from Bella's birthday party and I have yet to even decide where we are having it and at what time! Actually I found a company that has jump houses and carnival items to rent. So I found a basic PRINCESS jump house that surpringsly available on her birthday and sadly the football toss is NOT available (thought that would be great for the boys and the adults men) but the popcorn machine is. I was happy to see that the popcorn machine was only $35 for 4 hours. I thought that was a decent price and then basically have some cake. Silly me forgot that you would need a plug in for the jump house so it does limit where you can have it. Personally I would double check the size of the jump house and then I would just have it at our house. I think the only problem is the way our yards are set up is that the backyard is super small =( and so it would be a possibility that it would have to be in the front yard and well then you would have neighbor kids over and well sad to say I don't want them over =) and then everyone that drives by would see the kids jumping! So sounds like an email to the bounce house company is in order to find out the size and then CROSS MY FINGERS that it will fit in the backyard. I just think it would be super fun for the kids to have the jump house to play in....who doesn't like them. So we will see what happens!

Enough about that ..... I was playing around on my smugmug account and found this photo...

So I see yet again I have failed to stick with it...I am hoping that once the kids are back in school that I can go back to my WW meetings like I should be! =( I have seen a bunch of my online friends start doing the C25K program and am thinking I will have to start that back up again. I did really enjoy the running! So to just get back to it....everyone I read about starting it, well it just seems to jump start soo much more!

Why not share a few more pictures while I'm here...

Here are just a few of my favorites from the 4th of July:

I just love this picture, dirty face and all. She HATES fireworks yet hates. I tried to hold her in the yard to watch them and she was sucking her thumb trying to cover her face with her blanket and crying and just simply shaking. I finally gave in and let her go inside. I honestly don't think she has ever watched the fireworks. So in this photo she is holding a SPARKLER and really didn't know what to do, she wanted to cover her ears but she had to hold onto the sparkler too. =)

My boy on the other hand loves fireworks and everything else involved....

See just his happy smile and don't you just love the new sports goggles! Actually he wears these glasses quite a bit too... I think he doesn't have to worry about them falling off, but they have been such a blessing... no more runs to the glass shop because he took a basketball to the face or he was wrestling in the floor!

Before the fireworks we watched the local parade and well again Miss Bella does NOT like the noise and Ethan being my helper was trying to get Bella to smile for a picture!

Oh and one last photo for the day... as you can see in the photo above the boy had some hair, well he wanted it shaved! So this was the best mom could do...

(Happy 4th of July) LOL

Not meant to be a blogger?

2010-08-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well I always have the best of intentions of keeping up with the blog...ok so maybe not daily, but at least weekly and not here it has been just over 2 months since I have blogged last! Lots has happened in the past couple of months

The 4th of July
Annual trip to Sunriver (will have to post a recap, but these are a few of my favorites)
Trip to local outdoor water park
Trips to the libraries (Both kids have earned their book bags)
The start of flag football season, so far so good Ethan is really enjoying it!
Girls night out to see Eclipse (and hopefully getting ready for another girls movie night the first week of September)
Trip to Medford with my inlaws and my BIL and SIL and their 3 kids (uploading those pictures tonight) We finally took a picture of all 5 cousins together first since miss Lily is turning 8 months)
In a matter of a couple weeks my Bella turns the BIG 5; now to get her birthday party planned!
Nearly not enough scrapbooking has happened over the summer, I have still bought a few kits and some a few album templates so I've got a few projects in mind to get started on, now to make it happen!
I also started a project from Knock Off Wood, now to get it finished!!!!

Now maybe those few readers I have will have to endure some posts about the above events because I want to share a few of my favorite pictures!

P.S. If you have never checked out these two blog I would check them out Becky Higgins and Stacy Julian, I especially like her section on SPRINKLES.

Summer Activities...

2010-06-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to think of some fun activities to keep the kids busy this summer. I've been looking forward to trying Letterboxing (or check out this link). Whether we try one that is already hidden or "make our own" and let the kids find them, I think they will enjoy following the clues and find what is hidden. Heck I'm not above buying the cheap party favor animals, you know the bag of 6 or 12 little plastic themed animal packets and spreading them in the yard, the park and sending the kids on a hunt for the animals! =) Lately all Bella wants to do at daycare is look for bugs so I'm thinking a simple kids bug catcher might be in store for her!

Our local library has a great reading program. Every year they have a "theme" and then you sign up and read all summer (you choose whether you are tracking in 15min, 30min, or 60 minute increments) and you keep track of how much time you are reading, being read to, listening to audio storybooks, etc and then I believe it is for every hour you get a BOOK BUCK to be spent in their "store" (aka trinkets or used books) or they can be used for a raffle ticket for multiple different prizes. At 10 hours of reading you are rewarded with a new reading bag. Here is this years bag.

They are great quality bags and quite large. We are still using our bags from last summer for vacations, simple playing around the house and of course for trips back to the library!

I am hoping to talk with our local fire department about making a trip there or having them come the the house and get a group of people together for that. Kind of hope to work a whole safety them for a week or two. We have recently taught Bella our phone number so next we will work on our address and Ethan slips up a little still on that one (usually just the house number).

I would love to work with Bella a lot more on reading. She is getting really close to figuring it all out. I hope to work some on the sounding out and the Dolce sight words too. I found this great Kids Zone website that has multiple grades and options which works perfectly for both my kids.

Now of course we are still planning on hitting a few fun places too; like the park/carousel/water fountains, the local water park, play dates and just general fun stuff! Looking forward to a great summer....Only one more week of school.

Our typical Summer nights to come...

2010-06-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a beautiful evening. Mid 70's and sunny with a few clouds, with all the rain we have had lately it was a welcome evening. Something we all needed. I believe though it gave us a glimpse of what our evenings will be like this summer! Bella being a beautiful ballerina! Nevermind the dressed up baby doll, the string headband or the hair scrunchie bracelet! (Oh yeah she had on her pink ballerina skirt which I told her I could see her undies, so she left the room and I hear some commotion and she comes back asking, "How is this?" She had went in and took the skirt off her "jumbo Barbie" (which is as big as she is). LOL

and Boys shooting hoops. Ethan wakes up talking about "his team" and who will be on dad's team. He talks stats, he talks player names, he talks about anything having to do with basketball! Seriously he talks non stop about anything basketball. He does mostly shoot on the big hoop, but usually can't pass up "dunking" on the little hoop!

Before I go.... you can never have too many purses right? Okay you probably can that is why I am going to go through and clean out my old purses because check out the new purse I bought from a Miche party.

I am in love with the yellow color and it has great pockets inside and lots of room so I can still carry my camera with me! (A heads up...Miche consultants can set their own prices, so if you are interested I can hook you up with this consultant!)

Quick Weekend....

2010-06-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

Don't the weekends always go too fast? This weekend was NO different! Saturday morning we hit the nursery and spent too much money for what we got (actually we spent quite a bit, but we got quite a few plants and it was worth it) and even though the kids were barely any help we got it all planted and now crossing our fingers that it all grows and fills out the areas they were planted in!

What you don't see is all of the vegatables we bought. Todd had already moved them to the backyard to start planting! =)

I am really loving the "orange" flowers we bought to plant in our concrete planters. This main/middle one also has a salmon geranium on either side of this orange one. I can't wait to see them all bloom together!

We dug up the "tall" flowers out of this bed, they were bee attracters and I love the hostas we have in the very front yard so last year we planted 3 in this side yard and now adding 3 more (a different color though) and then some ground cover. Now for the ground cover to "take over" the area and the hostas grow together with the other ones. =)

As much as it was a beautiful day out (read I got my first burn of the summer) the kids seriously walked around like they were bored and didn't know what to do. Ethan was tired (up at 6:45am) and thankfully Bella had slept all night in her own bed..........yeah for her!!! They just didn't know what to do with themselves...we got our stuff done and Ethan got a little basketball in.... (too bad it wasn't in better focus)

I would say let summer begin, but we woke up to a night full of rain on Sunday morning... I am ready for the sunshine! =)

Fun new finds...

2010-06-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

I love reading other peoples' blogs and finding fun new things! First I will start off with my newest favorites: Knock Off Wood, what an amazing site! Ana is the "owner" of the site. She has posted tons of "plans/blueprints" on how to build soo many fabulous things from kids tables and chairs to family room tables, dining room tables, to beds! My I want to build list is very quickly growing! I have started my first project: kids picnic tables (for my moms for mothers' day...now to finish them). I am making my MIL (mother in law) the toddler version and for my mom the bigger kids version! Here is a great example from another blog readers picture in the difference in the tables!

Here is what I have started soo far............Yes I know I need to get busy! If you can't tell that is the top of the picnic table (it is sitting on the saw horses).

Most of the plans have been taken directly from the Pottery Barn catalogs, West Elm, Land of Nod, and many other very popular magazines! My list of wants to build is very quickly growing!

While we recently redecorated Ethan's bedroom (just went looking for the post about Ethan's bedroom and it looks like I never posted it....look for that maybe tomorrow) Back to my point... we got Ethan's room all decorated, but I am still struggling with putting together Bella's room. I have lots of little things to be hung up or great ideas but haven't followed through with them! Here I talk about what I bought for Ethan's room and some of the stuff for Bella's room...but I found this great canvas and would love to hang it somewhere in her room. I really love the brown canvas they show, but the pink would match her room! Now to see if I can find a spot so I can purchase one (or make my own with my scrapbooking supplies). I would save a lot by making one myself!

I am super thankful that Ethan likes to dress up. I guess I can thank private school and their uniform policy. I mean when you have to wear a polo and "khaki's" everyday. He CHOOSES to wear ties to school all on his own or to church on Sundays. I found My Favorite Pal that sells matching ties for adults and kids (clear down to new babies!). This one is my favorite. I actually sent them an email...it looks like the kids ties only come in the zipper ties and we have never had luck with them... I want a "real" tie in the kids sizes! Don't you love this one too? I look forward to getting an email back....cross your fingers for me! Won't daddy and son look fab in this tie?

With summer coming it also means lots of BBQ's. It means thinking of something to take along. My usual take along is brownie muffins (again will post soon on those!) I saw on someone's blog about this Picky Palate site and OMG do these not look delicious or what?

I seriously can't wait to try these and they sound super simple!!! If you try them before me you have to let me know what you thought!

Along with those summer bbq's comes trying to find new things that keep the kids busy. I recently took a walking/running class at a local running store and I heard one of the other ladies talking about Letterboxing. I actually forgot all about it until the other night on Facebook when a "friend" was asking about what to do over the holiday weekend and it came up again. I read up on it and it is a super family friendly activity and something that the kids can get really excited over. Matter of fact when I explained it to both of the kids, they were both very excited to go out and try it (granted for us basketball and princesses took over our weekend instead). I plan to try it in the next couple of weekends though! Has anyone else tried it? I hope you check it out too, there are "letter boxes" everywhere and you can even make your own to "plant" around! HAVE FUN!

I have a couple more things to share, but I think this has got long enough... I will post them real soon!

A Long Weekend

2010-06-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

First off can you believe we had a nice long three day weekend and I didn't even take ONE picture! I haven't taken very many photos lately period and it has been kind of freeing lately ... Yes the camera still pretty much lives in my purse, but it is nice to not have it attached to my face! (But that means no pictures for this post) =(

We had a great relaxing weekend, nothing super fantastic, but lots of family time. Last week I had my bike tuned up (it had been since we bought our bikes back in 1996 so it was due) so we took a simple bike ride to the local grade school where we saw a fellow school family. I chatted with the mom for a few minutes while the kids played. Hubby came back over to where I was at and was smiling from ear to ear. It sounded like the other little boy (B) has Ethan if he had ever received a referral at school (a bad letter, you are in trouble letter) and Ethan said NO, I have only had one when I was born! (For those that don't know that is what it is called when we received his medical information and the first picture of him). It just made us smile. I'm sure the other boy was royally confused at what that meant!

Seriously all Ethan wanted to do all weekend was either play Wii NBA 2K10 (he is good; there is NO letting him win!) or outside shooting hoops in the driveway. Basketball is ALL he seems to be talking about these days! He talks about who and when they were drafted and I'm not talking about only current players he goes way back. A lot he has learned from the Wii (who says video games aren't educational), some from watching the games on TV and well he reads the back of old basketball figurines and well who knows where else! He is a walking bit of information. He wakes up talking about basketball and goes to sleep talking about basketball! Poor Bella she just ever so "patiently" waits her turn to play Wii or for Daddy's attention. It is a little hard but she has done great....

She is very excited for summer to be here, but is soo excited to start kindergarten in the fall! She is very excited about getting 3 recesses and taking her own lunch too. Just tonight she was saying how we haven't gotten her new backpack and lunch box. I tried to explain how we would do that shopping over the summer. We will see how excited she is when she has to get up EVERY morning and dress in her uniforms ... She will be one tired girl, I'm thinking she will be having a 7 o'clock bedtime! =)
I think we may even find out which kindergarten class she will be in next year. Hubby wants one teacher and I want the other one. I think she will end up with my choice, but I think in the end hubby will be pleased with that decision too (not like it is ours, the school is making it).

Maybe I will take a few pictures for tomorrow's post or find some that I haven't posted before! =)
Yeah tomorrow is already over the hump day! Gotta love 3 day weekends!

Dress Rehearsal

2010-05-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

This ballet stuff is pretty new to us. This is our first year (it runs just like the school year does) and some of the "rules" and the way it is done is taking some adjusting. Prime example is I believe Bella is the only one with short hair and for their upcoming recital there hair is to be parted on the left side in a bun at ear height, no bangs and no stragglers! Um have you seen Bella's hair? All I can say is Thank God for our bestest friend Miss K (aka her preschool teacher) She was so super kind to do Bella's hair before she sent her home from preschool. She we won't tell any other parents! LOL Yes she really is one of my best friends now and she said it only took her a few minutes to do!

Doesn't she just look so beautiful! After dress rehearsal tonight Bella was soo excited to tell me all about her costumes...I can't wait to see them! Only a few more weeks until the recital!

Ballet days kind be kind of long, so most Wednesday's I have Bella take a nap. Since her hair was done up today we didn't let her lay down for her Wednesday nap. They hit a little bit of traffic on their way home and that gave Bella just enough time to fall asleep in the car. She was so far out of it that I set her up to the table for dinner and this is what I got:

Not quite sure how she is going to make it thru all day kindergarten next year? =) (As long as you keep her moving she is good to go) LOL

The Results are in...

2010-05-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

The official race results are in!

I can't thank my friends and family enough for their support. My goal was to finish in 45 minutes with a pace of a 15 minute mile...So I can say I am very proud of myself and with how I finished! Looking forward to my next one and finishing even better! =)

P.S. Don't you just love reality TV. Monday nights are back.................with The Bachelorette. I think my very early pick is going to have to be FRANK. He was super funny, but I hate reading spoilers, but if they are right then he may end up being a jerk! Not sure who will be my "runner up".

Sadly The Biggest Loser is over for this season. I like so many others I'm sure get "attached" to the contestants and I love hearing how they are doing and following their stories! I was so split on who I wanted to "win" this season, but am super glad that Michael won! He deserved it! They all looked absolutely stunning! What an inspirational show!

Go BOSTON???

2010-05-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Really are we hearing GO BOSTON CELTICS in our house. I have always been a basketball watcher but haven't really had a preference for or against the Celtics, but well Dad has... He has never really been a Boston Fan. So much to Dad's dismay Ethan is a die hard Boston Celtics fan. It seriously is amazing what kind of information he can tell you. It does help that he loves to play Wii Basketball game and they use the real players from the game. It is another one of those he hears it once and well he can remember it. Stats, names, scores, the year they were drafted...yes you name it and he probably knows it!

So we live in Oregon and have the Portland Trailblazers. Yes we like our Blazers....and they are such a better team than they used to be ON and OFF the court. Portland is about an hour away from us and not sure how that factors into the fact that NO ONE carries anything but Blazer hats. We were luckily able to find a Celtics t-shirt and a Ray Allen jersey this past weekend. Yes I have voiced my displeasure in the fact that you simply can't find anything but Blazer gear.... really people not even with the playoffs?

Ethan was beyond excited when we gave him the shirt last night and even more excited tonight during the game when we gave him his jersey!!!

and my question is when looking at the picture just above with Ethan in the t-shirt....WHERE DID MY BABY GO? Doesn't he look soo grown up in that picture? Like such a young MAN and not a boy! All too quickly that will really be here!

Bella wasn't left out of anything. She got some super cute new earrings. She has recently figured out that it doesn't really hurt when we change her earrings. We picked out some really cute ones! One set had cupcakes, ice cream cones and donuts (with pink frosting and sprinkles---just the way she likes them!). Dad picked out a great set of smiley faces and then we got a 3rd set free and we picked out some flip flops (cuz we all know she loves shoes!)

She has also been talking about the new iCarly CD. I know she watches iCarly, but really when did she start paying attention to CD's? So I finally figured out that the girl that plays iCarly is named Miranda Cosgrove and that she has a music CD out. She was thrilled to see that she got it! She rushed right into the playroom to listen to her CD. She quickly decided to lay down and color while she listened to the CD. I was pretty surprised to see/hear that she knew most of the words to the very first song, but then the second or third song came on and I was doing the dinner dishes. She calls me into the playroom to tell me that "that girl just said DISGUSTING. It was probably the funniest thing ... I say YES that is okay honey... that is the name of the song! So next thing you know she is "singing" at the top of her lungs DISGUSTING, I hope you change me!

Aren't those super cute earrings (wait until you see the others...don't worry you don't have to look at a ton of them)

Yes she dresses herself! As she likes to say, "Mom, Look aren't I fashionated?" Yes Honey you are!

I hope everyone else had a great Monday too!

7 years....

2010-05-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

It is soo hard to believe that is was 7 years ago that we brought Ethan home from Korea!!! It had been such a whirl-wind time. It took us years to get to that point and then in a moment we were a FAMILY of 3! Ethan has been soo excited this past week. Talking all about it being his Family Day! It ended up being a pretty basic day. I left early to do my first real 5k (yea for me...I finished in about 46:47 and I had a goal of 45 minutes so I am proud of what I have slowly been accomplishing)... But Todd and the kids stayed home.

They had a pretty simple morning of breakfast and some basketball Wii. I got home and we relaxed for a bit, did a little house cleaning. I love that the kids help (after minimal whining -- usually). A game of Sorry ... then dinner at AppleBee's followed by the movie G-Force. What a cute movie...but I don't think I can count the number of times I have heard "POOP IN THE HANDS!" If you have seen it then you know exactly what I mean! =)

Now to plan better to do something special for Bella's next year (February 6th).

I did happen to snap a couple pictures at Applebee's! The story behind Ethan's photo is that he asked if he could keep the french fry until next Friday when he had Sharing at school... um NO, lets take a picture instead! Bella...well she can't be left out and OMG look at how you can see how brown her eyes are in this picture!

I just LOVE my babies! Happy Family Day to both of you guys!!!

My first 5k

2010-05-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a walk/running class on Tuesday nights and our class ended this past Tuesday...Today was I guess you could say our "graduation". It was what we have all been working towards (some were even doing the 10k or the 1/2 marathon the next day). I will admit I didn't do my "homework" like I should have been doing so I wasn't ready to run the whole 5k, but I had been doing a few walk/runs where I was doing 2 minute runs and then I would walk until I felt ready again. Today I did it... I had a goal of finishing and finishing in under 45 minutes. It doesn't sound like an amazing time, but it was my goal. (Last year I did WALK a 5k with my parents on a very hill course =) but were pretty much last place and did it in just under an hour) So if I could do it in 45 minutes that was pretty much putting me at 15 minute miles and I felt that was a decent goal.

I finished my race and according to the big time readout I finished in 46:47 so almost 2 minutes over my goal time. Looking back even though my shins were killing me (I need to figure out how to stop them from hurting everytime I walk) I think I could have ran/jogged some more which would have put me in under 45 minutes. It is done and I can't go back and change it, but looking forward to my next one (possibly June 5th).

I've only got a quick cell phone picture from just before we started and it isn't the best =) I am hoping that since they had a photographer there that there will be at least one decent one of me during the race. I know he took at least one just before I turned to cross the "finish line" LOL I didn't know if I should be looking at the camera or just looking ahead of me =) Ahh we will see. I hope to post pictures later!

Thanks to all my friends for such great support and I can't wait to do another one!

Glasses?

2010-05-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

It took us a couple weeks but we started noticing that Ethan was squinting while watching TV at the kitchen table. Yes I know we shouldn't be watching TV during dinner, but well what can I say the Basketball playoffs are on and that is pretty much all Ethan will talk about. (That is a whole different post in itself) So yes we have allowed the TV to be on during dinner a few times so the boys could watch the game too. So we finally asked E if he could see the TV or we would ask him what the score was and when he couldn't tell us or he had to watch 10 steps in order to see it clearly we decided he wasn't joking around with us. Todd called that next day to see when he could get an eye appointment and thankfully they had a cancellation that afternoon.

I honestly thought he would come home saying that his eyes were just tired, but NO my baby needs glasses! It ends up that he is nearsighted...and for those of us that didn't really know what that meant before--it means that he can see up real close but not farther away. So basically he needs them all the time. We were at Binyons that next weekend (might have been able to get them cheaper somewhere else, but I was loving the fact that we got both pairs of his new glasses that same day).

We loved his sweet little photogenic face before, but I might be biased but we think he is still stinkin adorable!

This pair we got with the "transitional lens" so that he has built in sunglasses. This is the pair he wears the most often! It is just unfortunate that he has such a little nose that we've found it really hard to keep them up, we are in a learning process!

I really love this pair too... I call them his Clark Kent glasses!

The Dr. said in a couple years he could get contacts and so thankfully he will have that option before too long.
It has been a little bitter sweet. I mean we were pretty sad that at 7 he had to already start thinking about wearing glasses all the time. Being more aware of the fact that he wore them in general...he is 7 after all. We are very thankfully that he hasn't complained at all about wearing them and has pretty much gotten up every morning and put them on! I think it helps for the simple fact that he can SEE when he wears his glasses. It does make me a little sad to think that it could have been coming on for a while and we didn't notice or he didn't know any different to say anything to us.

Ethan and his science project...

2010-04-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

Ethan has been pretty excited to be doing his science project this year. Last year they did group assignments and this year all on his own. I have to say while I was uploading the photos for his display board I was amazed at what a neat little experiment it is! I had researched a few ideas for him online and then a fellow mom from the adoption board I go to suggested this (and she was doing it with her whole 1st grade class and now I see why!).

Here are the photos we took (tomorrow we will finish putting the display board together and then we will have final shots to show! The big science fair is on Friday!

He is doing a RUBBER EGG . . .

1. Egg goes into a glass

2. Pour vinegar over the egg and let it sit for a few days

3. His comparison of the original egg (raw) and the egg after it has sat (this one actually 2 weeks) but it is only necessary for a few days

Oh my gosh don't you just LOVE the contrast of colors! We couldn't believe how much the color changed and it is still RAW!

4. It is RUBBERY now

Photos have been printed and tomorrow we finish gluing to the display board and writing up his description/story of his experiment!

Easter . . .

2010-04-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice and laid back Easter. We spent some time with hubby's side of the family on Saturday (maybe pics soon) and then Sunday morning we went to Mass and then came home to make some breakfast and simply hang out. Nothing fancy, but nice. Believe it or not the kids didn't go real fancy on Easter clothes and Ethan was changed out of his outfit minutes after being home. So no great photos, only a few snapshots. I think these few happen to be my favorite (I still need to edit a few of the other ones).

Ethan bless his heart continues to amaze and surprise us! Since we didn't even color eggs this year, when it came time to hide the plastic eggs, we told the kids to go upstairs to their room. I figured they were together in Bella's room listening to a CD. I couldn't have been more wrong. Bella was pouting ... she thought she was in trouble when we told her to go to her room and Ethan was quietly sitting on his bed. I could hear his music and was very much surprised when I looked a little closer and noticed something in his hand. He was PRAYING THE ROSARY. We didn't ask him to, we hadn't even been talking about it. All on his own. One of those little moments that you realize he isn't a baby anymore and what a good young man he is SLOWLY turning into. (Bless his heart he didn't even flinch or get upset when I "snuck" in to snap a few pictures).

Bella can't be left out either. We do give the kids Easter baskets, but try not to go too crazy with them. Always something religious and a little bit of chocolate and a couple small toys. I or we were very excited to give Ethan his first real Bible. I happened across this Adventure Bible the other day of all places Walmart. Matter of fact I would love to see these a requirement for school or something.... Well Bella got a new CD call Cat Chat...both of the kids LOVE it and have tons of it already memorized! She also got some little religious figurines....Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus! I can't find a link or remember the name brand of the figurines (they have lots of other religious figures too), but well here you can see the 3 of them in action!

I hope everyone else had a blessed Easter Holiday!

P.S... Almost forgot to add that at school all the first graders colored crosses and wrote down their Lenten promise. In typical 7 year old fashion, Ethan promised to give up COOKIES. He did sooo good, even when mom forgot and brought him surprise cookies and left them in his locker for lunch time, he still didn't eat them! Ahh our good little Catholic boy!

Decorating...

2010-03-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

Again it has been a couple weeks since I have updated the blog...

I started my running class yesterday and am thankful it starts slow. I had taken the past couple weeks off from running; my shins had been hurting soo bad (to even walk) and I didn't want to be sore when I started my running class. It is an all girls class and well lets face it, it is super nice to be out of the house for a bit all by myself! =) Ahh so the next 11 weeks are for me on Tuesday nights!

I've got some girlfriends and we are always discussing something, from our husbands/boyfriend (just the one of us not all of us have the boyfriends LOL), we walk about adoption (we have all adopted at least twice), to house painting color (inside and out), to decorating; which is our newest hot topic! Anjali is awesome with soo many ideas in her own house or with other websites and blogs. Okay so there was a little background....

I've started Ethan's room. Everything has shown up and now just need to paint the curtain rod, touch up the inside of the window frame and then a few accessories. I thought about getting a football holder (rubber kicking tee I think is the more formal name) and a few other things to put on his headboard etc... I would love to move out a bunch of the toys that are still in his room and move them into the playroom.

Thanks to the girlfriends I am already thinking ahead to other rooms and I'm sure the husband will love it. We've lived in our house since 2001 and many many of the walls are still really bare! So with all that said I was checking out one of the blogs/websites that Anjali suggested and DAD check out this picture that I saw. You think you can convince Mom to let you do that? =)

Well I'm off to scope out some inspirational rooms for myself . . .

P.S. I think my weight loss would go just a little bit better if I didn't eat this for dessert tonight! I had went to a Demarle cooking party (Brooke was a great consultant that I've used) and got this great Fluted Bundt Mold "pan" and was just itching to make something in it...

So here was dessert for tonight (and the next few nights)

Lots more to share and some fun pictures to share too... More tomorrow? =)

Been a couple weeks & lots of links!

2010-02-17T01:34:00.000-08:00

It has been a quick couple weeks since I've posted... Lots of stuff to post.

Weight Loss
Well I'm still down about 10-12 pounds...it fluctuates from day to day, but I have taken a "break" after 20 straight days hooping. I need to pick it back up and get busy. Doing it everyday wasn't hard, but after taking a couple days off it makes it a lot easier to not do it the following day =) Add that to my shins have been killing me (mainly my left one) so now I also haven't ran this past week (or walked). Planning on going Wednesday or Thursday to the running store to hopefully get nice new shoes. Shoes are supposed to really make a difference in shin splints! Crossing my fingers. A couple weeks ago Todd also found out that he has tendonitis in his left knee so he has been limping around for a couple weeks now and also not running or walking.

I have been eyeing some new treadmills. I have these two on "my list". The Sole F80 or the Sole F83. I've been saving for an IKEA trip for the Trofast storage system.So it has quickly made me rethink how much storage stuff we need LOL. I want to get a treadmill soon, while the weather is still on the bad side so I can keep walking and more often with it.

So first and foremost I just need to keep with it, back to doing what I have been doing and what I know how to do!

Decorating
Isn't decorating always an ongoing project? Above I talked about the trofast storage system for our "playroom" which used to be our dining room, which was NEVER used. Well the kids rooms have always been decorated, but never to the full extent. So a few years ago we painted Ethan's room black and gold (go COUGARS aka high school mascot) and we had a construction theme... yeah you guessed it, it was never done to the full potential. Bella recently got new Barbie Bedding from Pottery Barn (of course it is like 50% off now, thankfully I bought a piece here and a piece there) so E has been asking to have new stuff too... Sure bud, what do you want? His reply Pittsburg Steelers football theme! I jump for joy... guess what colors they are? Yup you are right, Black and Gold. This week I plan to buy the sheet/comforter set. E hasn't seen it, but I'm sure he will love it. Then I remembered FatHead website that does up to lifesize wall clings! They have a whole section for the Steelers! I am getting a Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu and their logo (the logo itself is 3'4" x 3'4" and the players are over 6' tall)! Ethan is going to freak out when he sees it all together. I think I might just have to surprise him with all of it.... hmmmm something to think about. Too bad I couldn't find any Barbie ones for Bella's room.

I do have some pink "lantern" type balls to hang, a few bugs my mom gave me years ago and we hung her recent ballet recital picture up. I just would love to get a new frame, actually two. Then she can have her 2 recital pictures in it. (She will have a spring recital).

I love this framing headboard that my friend Anjali (scroll down just a bit) posted. Now you can't really beat $2.99 picture frames (at IKEA). Not sure where for sure I would want to use it at, but love the concept.

I hope you find my links "fun" like I do LOL, but can't really have a post with out pictures right?

The other day at daycare I started snapping pictures of the baby and then ended up taking pictures of almost all of the daycare kids...Can't really post their photos (some turned out great), but will post a few of Bella (Ethan wasn't there that day)...She is such a ham, it just cracks me up sometimes!

I can't really leave Ethan out of the pictures. He has been reading The Lightning Thief. I am soo proud of him. This will be the biggest book he has ever read (and way above what he should be reading). The book just came out in the movie theaters this past weekend, but he hasn't quite finished it yet (and he left it at school over the long weekend) so hoping that he is able to finish it up this weekend and we are able to take him to see the movie! I was so very upset for him though today...he told me that a kid at school told him who the "thief" is... Ummm hello, that is telling him what the end of the book is! Might just have to remind that kid when someone says NO I DON'T WANT TO KNOW... it means NO! Argh. Ethan was upset by it, but not traumatized LOL so I think we are okay! =) This photo was taken the other morning BEFORE school. He asked for his cereal TO GO aka in a sandwich baggy and I finished getting ready to leave the house and came downstairs to find him like this!

Tomorrow is Wednesday I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

My Baby Girl + Running

2010-02-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Some time ago we chopped off Bella's hair because she wouldn't leave it pulled up in a pony or with barrettes or with headbands....Now she is all about hair accessories and so I am loving the fact that now I can start buying the cute, fun hair stuff for her! Friday I mentioned something about shopping at an Etsy store called BriarClaire, well at daycare after Bella threw a fit over the fact that she couldn't just take a couple barrettes that were left on the "shoe rack"...so I caved and told her about the new hair stuff I had ordered. So all weekend she wanted to know if her surprise had come in the mail yet, she just couldn't understand why it took so long! Thankfully Monday it arrived (SUPER FAST DELIVERY) and she has been wearing the headband (no picture yet) and the hats ever since! She really posed it up for me last night when I wanted to snap a few pictures! She just cracks me up...when she wants to be a ham she can be!

Now onto me... LOL

I did buy the Nike + iPod sensor thing for my shoes. I HIGHLY recommend this if you are doing ANY walking or running or a combination. It tracks everything and is well just neat! =). I played around with the Nike plus website a little and here are some of the goodies! Of course you get to make yourself a little Mii character! Aren't I cute?

Every run/walk etc is "graphed" .... Here is mine from my run on Tuesday . . .(the huge dip down in the middle of my run is me stopping to tie my shoe during a walking period!

I look forward to seeing the graphs as I continue to run. I have signed up for a running class at a local fitness/running store (Starts March 2nd) and I was doing the math tonight and I'm NOT going to be done with my C25K program....So I need to do some more research on the groups and make sure I'm in the right group and then decide if I will step up the C25K days and try and finish it or just continue and cross my fingers that I'm ready come class time! =)

I did set a goal for running in 2010 . . .

Yes that is right run/walk 500 miles in 2010. I figure it is doable. If I run/walk 3 miles three times a week that is 9 miles a week and 468 miles a year. Figure in extra days during the week, small and big walks and our vacation (lots of walking and biking) I think it is doable, but I am about 36 miles behind since I just started counting (I guess I could backtrack a little, but this just adds a little to it) LOL.

So now it is in writing . . . maybe a little more accountable.

P.S. I just finished up night# 13 in hooping tonight (Wednesday).

It is working...

2010-01-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

So unfortunately the blog seems to be taken over with talk all about me (about time LOL). Hard to believe that tonight will be day# 8 of hooping. (I need to work at getting some of my favorite NEW links up on the side!) Last night (# 7) wasn't too hard. It is amazing how two weeks ago I couldn't even keep it going around and now doing 20-30 minutes is no big deal. I've done pretty good with my eating all week, very little extra snacking and I was down 4 pounds when I weighed in this morning. A total of 7 pounds (in 20 days... I was up a couple last week.

Almost forgot yesterday I did Week# 2 Day# 1 (W2D1). I took the car in for an oil change at the dealership and when he said it would be 45-1hr.. (really that long?) I didn't even hesitate to ask if I could change my clothes first (and put my stuff back in the trunk before they took the car away. That isn't normal for me. I normally would have waited in the waiting room and read a magazine or watched their tv. Off I went and I was very surprised at the fact that yes by the end of the 90 seconds of running/jogging that I was ready to walk again, but I was ready to keep going. I wasn't ready for it to be done... I am really looking forward to the longer runs and the running class I signed up for at the local athletic/running store. Excited that it is an all woman's class and that it is for beginners and long time runners too... A spot for all of us. Right now I've really only got one real sore spot. On my left leg on the right of my shin. Hmm I need to read up on how to keep the shins from hurting.

I bought a bunch of magazines yesterday at the grocery store, was looking for a running magazine. (Can you tell I'm completely fascinated with everything that has to do with it right now? Which I personally think is a good thing.) So Andrea if you are reading, would love to hear what some of your favorite magazines are right now.

My parents called this week and asked if they could come play with the kids this weekend and we could go do whatever we wanted. I'm very excited about this.... Ethan has been quite the handful this past week (and more) so looking forward to a little bit of alone time on Saturday. We talked about doing dinner and a movie, but I think we might head to IKEA. I've been saving money for months now to go buy the storage system I've been eyeing (the trofast system). Then I get to start saving for the new treadmill I want. =)

Oops no new pictures uploaded right now.... More this weekend. Cross your fingers that we are able to get the new organization system all put together and the toys sorted. My goal is for everything to have a home and that it will be a lot easier to pick up.

Oh I do have a picture to show you... Last night I bought Bella a couple new hats and a headband from this etsy site: BriarClaire.
Bella is slowly keeping ponytails and headbands in so I thought now might be the time. So here is a picture of one of the hats I got her.

Hope you guys have a great weekend.

Chaos and Fascination . . .

2010-01-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

I am seriously thinking our mornings can't get any more chaotic than they were today. E threw one of his all out tantrums this morning because the couldn't find a particular fleece! NICE... I just hate starting our mornings like that. Nothing seems to help it and it just upsets everyone. I think most of the time he is tired, plus once he "gets to that spot" I don't think he really knows how to stop it, how to calm himself down and well I'm not sure how to teach him that lesson either! So hoping we wake up to a happy go lucky boy in the morning!

On a more positive note - - My baby girl got an award at Mass today. She was given the Peacemaker award from her pre-school teacher. She was soo excited for her award; not so excited about the mass part of it. We are working on that. We don't get too much of a fight on Sunday mornings, but she sure likes to complain about Wednesday school mass. Says she doesn't like it and it lasts too long! =) Sorry honey .... it is a part of your school week! Try to enjoy it! I so wish the one picture wasn't soo blurry. . . can you see the smile on her face?

We are really good friends with her teacher... Bella was going in to kiss her on the cheek! =)

Talking about me now... Tonight I finished day# 6 of hula hooping. I was able to get 30 minutes in. I did get my "run" in on Tuesday (yesterday) and I am seriously really enjoying myself. I have never been a jogger or runner of any kind, but really proud of myself for setting this goal (running a 5k) and really feeling like I can accomplish my goal. Matter of fact I know I can accomplish it. Isn't that the positive attitude you are supposed to have! I ended up at our local riverfront park and there were only a few people around and a little foggy. It was actually quite pretty jogging along side the river and being able to look out across the water!

Tomorrow (Thursday) is supposed to be the start of Week 2. Todd started one "day" after me, so trying to decide if I will try W2D1 (Week 2 Day 1) or just repeat W1D3 again. I barely felt "comfortable" in the 60second jog (boy does that sound like soo little time) but I'm very anxious to keep moving forward.

It almost sounds pretty silly to say since I haven't only been doing this a little over a week, but this morning I could totally see how people look forward to working out or how they enjoy it. I am very much an emotional eater, depressed, sad, happy, mad, bored....any emotion! Yet on the way to drop off the kids at school this morning I actually thought about how nice it would be to go for a nice run/walk right now. Instead of running thru a drive thru, it was like too bad I can't just drop them off and head to the park! I am really hoping this is a trend that continues and that I can stick with it!

A handful of blogs that I follow do this WORDLESS WEDNESDAY. I definitely am not wordless today or most days either, but thought I would share one more picture! Bella got too close to brother the other night while he was playing his DS and we think he pushed her back when she wouldn't move on her own. One of them most had one of the DS stylus in their hand because it left two little "cuts" on her cheek! So Monday she came home from school with a bandaid across her face! She really wanted to just keep wearing it. How cute is she!!!

Okay way too much to read today ...Sorry folks!

Day 4 (1-25-10)

2010-01-26T07:09:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished day 4 of hula hooping. Very excited to be doing it. I mean I don't hate it, it doesn't bother me to stand there and do it and watch my shows on TV. This morning I even got up and did it, but lets just say it is a little harder to do first thing in the morning. I kept dropping it, but did get about another 15 minutes in total . . . Tonight I will be doing Night 5 while watching The Biggest Loser.

At some point today I need to do another day of my C25K and get the oil changed in the car! Still lucking out and haven't had to do it in the pouring rain. Even showed Todd how to run my iPod last night so he can still do it this morning too!

So nothing amazing this morning, but did find this nice little treat on one of the blogs I read. So if you are a digital scrapper this is a great little template. It can be found (and downloaded) HERE at the SSD blog.

Well that is it for this morning off to get myself and the kids ready for the day!

Where to start?

2010-01-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

So again I have abandoned my blog.... seems like life speeds up and it gets forgotten (Plus it is super easy to put tiny updates on Facebook)! I'm hoping to at least be able to update a couple times a week. I love reading everyone else's, but so not sure how Melissa keeps up with her blog so well! Since it has been so long I'm hoping it doesn't get too long tonight. Just hoping to touch on a few things!

So over time I will add a few good holiday and favorites from the last couple months. Lets' see it is mid January... Thanksgiving and Christmas and Ethan's birthday have all passed. OMG my first born is 7! Guess what... We are bad parents. He has talked about a a birthday party, but hasn't gone on and on about it so well we haven't planned one. It is just so hard right after Christmas and well I like to procrastinate. He hasn't brought in up at all this past week so I think I am going to push for a 1/2 birthday party in late spring or first thing after school gets out! He didn't really want to go out somewhere and have it and well the idea of having a bunch of boys (plus some girls and most likely some parents too) running around our house... just didn't sound that great!

I did get two pages scrapbooked the other night. It has literally been months since I had done any scrapping. (It really hasn't stopped my digital scrapping though). I did just buy this great HUGE KIT called ONE LOVE to benefit Haiti. I think I might have bought it for the premade pages alone. They look great!

I guess Boys will always be Boys... I want to be better about setting up the tripod and getting more family pictures. I got a few of all the grandkids with my parents, but not everyone that was at my parents house (that will be the next step) I did manage to get one at the in-laws...I tell myself it was because there were "lots" more people at my parents house LOL... it was just us four and the in-laws =) See now it is my written goal! Okay enough jabber onto the layout. Both of the boys had to "show off" and flash their mugs right in front of the camera!

Credits: Janet Phillips Collection# 10, LO# 2, Lauren Grier Shawna Clingerman Own It

Yeah for me it is still January and I got my first layout of 2010 done!! I sure love this boy, but man the last month or two he has been in super fine form and the temper flares and the crying and tantrums come! Slowly ever so slowly we are working through them. Trying to keep our cool and trying to "hold" him as much as possible. Enough of that... Here is my boy on his birthday in his new Tony Hawk hat (his newest fascination--Tony Hawk that is!)

credits: Janet Phillips Keep it Simple 1-1, Melissa Bennett Love Actually, Font: DJB Gimme SPace

So have you made your news year resolutions? Well I finally did . . . yes the standard lose weight and get in better shape. It is something that I have been thinking about for a while. Love my parents and they were super generous and bought me an iPod Touch for Christmas and lets just say I am loving it! So last week I finally put it to "real" use (I've been using it like crazy, already read a few books on it, played with my email and facebook on it.... just need to see about getting wi-fi at home =), but finally used it for the music part of it. Over the last couple of weeks I bought some new "workout" clothes, bought an arm bad for the ipod, downloaded a Couch to 5k (c25k) program. Here is the "actual" program: Couch to 5K and here is the download I am using right now. I might look into a different one, where I can use my own music. His music is okay and pretty upbeat...plus I do like right now how he is like YOU ARE DOING GOOD, 20 more seconds LOL.... =)

So this C25K program is only 9 weeks, but I think I will end up stretching it out a little bit longer. Actually I did some looking back through my pictures and realized that the 5k my family (my parents, older sister and her oldest daughter) walked last year I am thinking I will have to run it this year.... Thankfully it is in June, so I have plenty of time to be ready.... I remember last year we walked it and pretty much came in next to last...Not this year! Plus I think I have the hubby involved too (I think he is even borrowing the iPod on Tuesday so he can run and stay w/ the program too!)

So right now trying to eat healthier, making myself stick to my C25K program and after reading an online friend talk about her weighted hula-hoop ... I bought myself one too. Andrea said she lost INCHES after a short period of time! I bought it a couple months ago and just this past week I finally GOT IT... meaning I can finally keep the hula hoop moving with out dropping. Earlier last week it was 3 minutes, then Saturday night I got it going for 7 minutes a couple times and then just tonight I had it going for 21 minutes with out dropping it to the ground! So very excited about that! I could definitely tell that I did it for 20 minutes. I wasn't sure what to really expect at first. It did hurt at first (never any bruising though) ... it no longer hurts to physically do it, but I can feel the leg and stomach muscles working as I'm doing it though. My goal is to do it for 20 minutes a day thru February (if not for longer)!

Speaking of Andrea...I know her from the adoption message board I frequent and then from facebook. Lets just say she is a HUGE inspiration to anyone trying to get healthier and lose weight. Oh and she is beyond brave... check out her blog... start back at the "end" so you can read her whole story! ANDREA'S BLOG!
So be warned.... there might be a lot of life style change posts, excercise updates and fun goodies like that! Now I don't think I am as brave as Andrea and don't worry... no pictures! Heck I don't even know if I am brave enough to post my weight yet... Just know there is LOTS to lose!

I think this got long enough for a new updated post!

All about Bella

2009-11-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

Seems these days it has been all about Bella. Actually maybe not all about her, but I've got some great pictures of her lately. Love this series of pictures of her. My parents brought back this "dress" from Cabo on one of their annual trips. She can now wear it with her jeans! I love this look...now to keep convincing her that she can wear jeans; that every outfit that she wears does NOT have to be a dress!

So this past week Bella said she wanted her ears pierced! Well I heard it and ran with it! I wasn't going to let it pass me by this time. Friday after she got out of preschool we headed to the mall. We (the Claire's employee and I) decided that it would be best to do both ears at the same time so we had a little time to kill before the other employee showed up. I had wore my heels and my feet were killing me. (I spent my morning taking photos of all the kids at school (well 85% of them, another mom took some too). Here are the ones I took of E and Bella.

Okay back to the ear piercing. So we were killing time and since my feet were killing me I sat down on a bench in the mall and this is what Bella did.....I guess every girl dreams! Bella is just starting early!

So once the other Claire's employee showed up we got the show on the road. She did GREAT until they actually pierced her ears. Even then the tears welled up and a few might have escaped, but there was NO screaming and no real crying. Just saddness!

So here is Bella right before the piercing...she doesn't even realize what is coming and YES we did tell her it was going to hurt...only for a minute though!

As they get ready to count to 3 for the actual piercing.

See the hand coming up... the piercing has started!

The aftermath....As soon as they were done and out of the way, she was in my arms with tears in her eyes, never a real cry, but the poor baby....it hurt her! I took her to look at her ears and well she just wanted her comforts...her thumb and blanky!

Now she was all smiles when we walked out of the mall with in 10 minutes of "it happening" ....

Now the poor thing, we have to clean her ears at least 2 times a day (the directions say 3, but I can't subject her to that). I was cleaning them the Saturday night and she says to me betweens cries and tears, "This is NOT the best part!" Bless her heart. She just has to get past this and it will become another obsession for her....Earrings of every kind!

A close up of her earrings for the next at least 6 to 8 weeks! I can't wait until she can change them and put all of the Disney princesses in and tiny circles as she calls them.... Soon enough!

Wish me luck... I'm off to clean her ears! Nothing like starting her morning off on a bad note!

Face Crash# 2

2009-11-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

So it is never a good thing when the school calls you. I was walking through Target today and my cell phone starts ringing! So Ethan had his second run in between his face and the pavement! The pavement won this round too. Maybe I'm a softy, but as his teacher got him out of music class so I could see him (I said I would stop by since I was out n about), he walked out of the music room with a iced sponge held up to his head. It looked soo sad and I was squatting down to see him when he came out and he walked right into my arms, laid his head on my shoulder and just said how bad it hurt. I asked him if he was OK and got a mumbled yeah, but he said he wanted to come home....so what was I to do? Call me a softy...I brought him home with me!

Not sure if you can really see it here.... but it scraped up his forward pretty good and his nose too (our right side). Check out those eyes... he is soo tired!

Here is Ethan from the first pavement fight:

After this one I did take him to the Dr. to have him looked over (and he did get a pretty thorough once over), but the Dr. said with the front of the head it is pretty tough and to watch him for the first 24-48 hours... Watch for odd behavior (way out of the norm), vomiting etc.... Thankfully then and now there has been none of that!

Snack Mix

2009-11-02T23:37:00.000-08:00

Ethan has his moments of anger and frustrations, but part of the real Ethan loves to be helpful, loves to be close to us and loves when he has a sense of accomplishment! I have been looking at some cookbooks and those little 5"x8" themed cookbooks. I found a bunch of snack mix recipes and thought this one would be perfect for Ethan

It is technically called Santa's Snack Mix, but um well it is pretty perfect for anytime. Here is the recipe:

2C Honey Nut Cheerios
2C Chow Mein Noodles
1C Honey Roasted Peanuts
1/2C Raisens
1/2C M&M's (we added another 1/4C or 1/2C, not sure which one Ethan put in)
1/2C Peanut Butter Chips
1/2C Vanilla or White Chocolate Chips (we used white Chocolate Chips)
1/2C Chocolate Chips
-----and Mix all together.

Here are a couple pictures of Ethan making the mix

and the snack mix (before Ethan stirred it all up)

Here is what the picture looked like in the cookbook (and pretty much what it looked like once Ethan stirred it all up!)

Ethan was pretty excited to set some aside in a bag for his snack at school tomorrow and some for his teacher! Guess what Ethan will be making for the holidays LOL (okay maybe we will pick a new one to bring for the holidays!)

Bella and Ronan...

2009-10-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

So little Miss Bella has a new friend in preschool, his name is Ronan! Adorable little boy and soo full of spunk! A week or so ago when we went to the School Open House and well they happen to be in the preschool classroom the same time we were. Well Bella was playing somewhat bashful and wasn't talking to anyone and so Ronan gets right in her face and was like, "IT'S ME RONAN!" It was simply the cutest thing ever!

Bella had her first real School party... Halloween. I was able to sneak down there for 45min to an hour. Long enough to snap a class picture and a few of Bella (and her classmates. Take a look at these of Ronan and Bella. (from tidbits I've got from the teacher... they do quite a bit together! Hold hands, play kitchen, play dolls... and Bella is very quick to remind us that Ronan is allergic to peanuts! =)

I'm not sure why she is covering her eyes, but it was super cute to watch her follow him around the room.

Do you think Bella could get any closer to him?

Oh and every time I drop her off at school, if Ronan isn't already in class then Bella asks (multiple times) "Is Ronan coming today?"

Christmas Shopping has begun!

2009-10-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

So I have slowly started picking up a few Christmas presents for the kids already. Sometimes it feels like they are really easy to buy for and other times I am not even sure what to get them.... but it never fails they have way more than they need come Christmas morning! So far lots of books:

For Ethan:
The Harry Potter Boxed Set (paperback)
Fudge Collection (well I think this is the set, that is all I wrote...it was a scholastic book order to benefit the school and threw away the paperwork)
Magic Treehouse# 39 Dark Day in the Deep Sea
The Lego Book
Lego Starwars: The Visual Dictionary

For Bella:
The Kissing Hand
I Love School
The Mixed Up Alphabet
Llama Llama Red Pajamas ($1 deal)

Well after typing it out it seems like a lot of books so maybe they won't all be given to the kids for Christmas, but they would make a great present/treat after a really good week or something of that nature, plus Ethan has a birthday coming up in January too!

Oh and I also got Charlotte's Web for all the nieces and nephews just because I love the story and it helped it was a $1 deal too. So guess what they are all getting for Christmas too! =)

I just picked up this Chess game for Ethan.... He doesn't play yet, but I think he would really enjoy it and I love how the pieces are labeled for beginners (mom and dad included).

I told my parents that Ethan needed a tie rack to hold all of his ties and a funky cool tie tack (told the in-laws a tie tack too, but told them like a letter E or something...)

I did suggest this Barbie for Bella

Ethan again is usually pretty easy... um LEGOS! I love how you can "pick a brick" as they call it and just simply choose only the pieces that you want to buy! People are always a fun purchase, and OMG you can buy food! There is another Lego book I think Ethan would love... I saw it in the school library a couple weeks ago, so I need to find that one again, maybe that would be a good birthday present...

Bella can always use a new skirt/dress that twirls (has to be something that twirls when she turns), baby dolls, Barbies and play food are always a hit....

I'm sure the list will continue to grow as it gets closer!

HAPPY SHOPPING and pass on any ideas you may have!

Bella visits the pumpkin patch...

2009-10-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

Bella was so excited to go on her first field trip. I woke up with her giggling in my face and she very excitedly announced it was PUMPKIN PATCH DAY! It gets better, when I told her she got to ride on the little mini school bus the school has she screamed with joy and hugged my neck ever so tightly! I love that happiness and pure excitement!

Bella has done so well in school. It has taken her a few weeks to realize that Miss K is her teacher and not just her friend that comes over for dinner with her daughter! She likes to play a lot, so having to sit down and actually work isn't always on the top of her list, but we are soo proud of what she is already learning! The last couple of weeks she has been spelling her name, finally she spelled it all right, in the right order! She was so excited that it was her turn to spell, you see we are always asking Ethan his spelling words in the car and at home, or we will simply ask Ethan to start spelling words that we think up as we are driving! (video coming soon... it has been taken just not uploaded to the computer)....

So enough rambling onto the most important part... the pumpkin patch pictures!

After picking out their pumpkins and apples they got to have warm donuts and cider.

I have the cutest class photo in front of a wagon with beautiful fall flowers on it, but well with the whole class in it, I really can't post it.... but I can post these photos of Bella getting ready to leave the pumpkin patch on the bus. She was having the best time....

I just love that last photo I wish I had some great story behind it, but I think she was just being who she is!

Ethan goes on Thursday and we are hoping to go as a family too before Halloween so we will see how that works itself out!

Happy October!

Ethan lost another tooth!

2009-10-11T23:33:00.000-07:00

Ethan has now lost his 2nd tooth. I think the only bad part is that for both of them the adult tooth is already coming in and it forces the baby tooth to really start "leaning" and it is essentially being forced out of his mouth. It hasn't caused any him any "extra" pain beyond the normal losing your teeth pain.

He lost his first tooth while on vacation this summer. Very surprisingly Ethan has let Dad pull both of his teeth with out much fuss!

Here is the before picture. Actually it was taken the night before his tooth was pulled... We even tried putting a little baby Anbesol on his gums and well after hollering that it was spicy (is it really spicy or is that an effect of it being too old) oops!

So after putting on the Baby Anbesol dad tried pulling his tooth, well as you can see (or maybe not) but lets just say the tooth didn't come out! Not sure if you can see Bella there in the background, she is laughing her head off, I'm snapping away with pictures, Dad is trying to pull Ethan's tooth and well Ethan himself, we never could decipher if he was laughing/giggling or screaming....it was quite comical!

Night# 2 was the winner...look at his slightly toothless grin! Someday I hope he will lose a tooth with out an adult tooth already coming in... I want to see a true toothless grin! Either way he is soo excited to being losing his teeth! Also they are keeping track at school on these jumbo teeth...he got to be the first one to lose a tooth in October! =)

Two Word Poem about ME by Ethan

2009-10-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

So Ethan had an assignment in school to write six lines with each lines can only contain two words. Now this was something he did in school and each Tuesday they send home all of their paperwork since the last Tuesday. I guess I should say that the two word lines were supposed to be about themselves.

So with out further ado here is Ethan's (just like he wrote them on his paper):

Math stinks
beavers rule
lice games
lice swimming
Watch transformers
draws well

P.S... those are LIKE not lice up there!

I love it though it is soo him, I love that I can tell no one told him what to write or say, he thought it up on his own and wrote it all down on his own (aka the miss spelling), But this is who HE IS at 6 and 1/2 years old.

Blue Shirts, Blue Bruises!

2009-09-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

I found the I HEART FACES BLOG a couple weeks ago and missed entering the challenge for last week, but looks like I might make this weeks challenge BLUE! So sad to say it is NOT a brand new photo, I am reviving a photo of Ethan from school last year. (Hopefully that doesn't make a difference in the challenge, I'm sure new photos are always best, but I just love this one!)

I think the blue in his shirt pops in this photo and then if we want to be a little symbolic LOL the big goose egg on his head is turning black and blue right before our eyes!

P.S. Edited blog post to add that on this weeks challenge, Week# 38 Blue I am #459 Blue Shirts, Blue Bruises! Happy picture viewing!

Tinkerbell Sleeps

2009-09-28T23:23:00.000-07:00

Some days I just think the days whiz on by me (us). Between drop offs and pick ups it seems like we are always on the move. Today wasn't any different. Miss Bella and I both had a busy day (me...helped the kids with school pictures even though it all ran pretty smooth; I gained a couple quick volunteer hours) and Bella had a busy day of school, lunch at Burger King, home to watch Swan Lake for I swear the hundreth time and then of course a nap. I was able to transport her to the car and she stayed asleep.....so Little Miss Tinkerbell had a nice nap... that is until brother got in the car. It all worked out since we had to make a pit stop at the grocery store!

(And mom I was stopped at a light so NO I wasn't driving and taking photos)

I keep telling myself I will be better about posting so I'm working on a first day of school post with lots of photos and a summer reading post from Ethan. He was a super reader this summer!

My Baby Girl is in Ballet (and turnips)...

2009-09-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

Oh how quickly the time between posts... still have a ton of photos to share! I am thinking I will just have to jump around a bit and post as I can.

First my baby girl has been talking about taking Ballet for over a year now (yes seriously) so we finally decided to sign her up (runs like the school year does). She goes once a week for 45minutes. So two weeks ago we were pumping her up to take her first ballet class, we talked about how mommy will wait in the waiting room (soo bummed that we don't get to sit in and watch). We are on the way there and I decide to look at the packet of information (yes I know I shouldn't be doing this while driving) and notice that it says it ENDS in about 20minutes from then. I hurry and call them and make sure of what time the class starts and stops and yup I so very much screwed up Bella's first ballet class. So I hurry us over there and they let her get in on the last 10 minutes of class. Poor girl she was soo confused as to why she didn't get to "dance" longer. I kept explaining to her how sorry momma was and that next week it would be all better.

Thankfully I don't think she will be traumatized by this experience and seemed to really enjoy herself on her 2nd day (granted she had a cold and sure wanted her Momma to take her instead of Daddy) but all ends well.

Here are the photos I snapped after her 10 minutes of ballet class. As you can see she wasn't too happy.

Of course we can't leave the boy out of the picture....

Last year in Kindergarten Mrs. M read a great little story about turnips (no I don't have the name), but she said every time she reads the story she also has the kids eat fresh/raw turnips. Surprisingly the kids always love it, Ethan included. So of course he wanted to plant some in our small little garden. Here is the fruits of his labor:

They weren't perfect (had to cut quite a bit off of them), but we were able to eat a little bit... I guess all in all I would call it a success!

My Dream....

2009-09-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

First of all I love this photographer and the photos she takes: Andrea Burns now just too bad she isn't anywhere close to me....

I have followed her for quite some time and she just redid her basement into her photo studio...ahh if I could ever clean out my "craft room" could it at some point look anything like this: Andrea's new studio.

Now speaking of photos... I have soo many to share and so much that has happened in the last few weeks. We went on a 2 day vacation to the beach, our local state fair, Ethan started first grade, Bella started preschool (both with minor homework), I am doing some part time work at a daycare to fill in for a friend, Ethan is playing soccer and Bella has started ballet. So needless to say we are back to our regular busy schedule!

Here is a photo of both kids....because well a blog post is so much funner with photos.

Miss Bella!

Mr Ethan!

I just love my babies! =)

and well how could I not post this video of Bella singing a song she learned at school....(hoping to get a little bit better video later...this one was taken with my phone)

Brothers and Sisters

2009-08-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

As August is coming to a close the kids I think are finding that maybe they have spent just a little too much time together this summer (w/out the help of the other kids at daycare). They are seeming to argue more and more every day. Ethan is pushing, hitting, "spitting" more and more every day and well Bella is becoming quite the tattle tale these days. A couple weeks ago I took the kids to a the local city hall/police station/pond/park .... small pond with concrete sidewalks all the way around. The kids were so accomodating with me as I followed them around with my camera (I know what is new) =)

They wanted to go play on the playground soo bad and just didn't understand that it belonged to a daycare so we couldn't just go in and play....

This is so both of the kids! Ethan all smiles and "posing" for me and Bella with a tight hold on her blanket (not sure what will happen when she starts preschool in a couple weeks), covering her ears....she does NOT like loud noises! (The building across the street was being torn down).

P.S... You have to love it when kids dress themselves. Bella has quite the fascination with tucking her shirts in (I am sure I should be thankful since she has to wear a uniform to school and it required to be tucked in), but sometimes her choice of patterns and then adding the tucking factor....well can just be "dorky" LOL.... but cute and well documented!

Fun Friday...

2009-08-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

We packed up our bikes and a few extras (soccer ball and snacks) and headed to a local bike/walking/running park. It has tons of great trails and pathways to ride our bikes on. Bella fell asleep again on the back of my bike and Ethan just rode like crazy, well except for when he had to stop (every 5 minutes I swear) for a water break or to eat the wild blackberries growing everywhere! Otherwise we had a GREAT TIME just hanging out and then headed out to PIZZA! Yummy! All in all a great Friday!

Thank goodness the kids really don't mind having their pictures taken. Heaven knows I have my camera everywhere with me. Both kids even stopped on the playground and said, "Mommy take my picture here!" .... Ahh gotta love them!

I won't bore you with all of the pictures right now, but here are 3 of them that I really liked!

Gotta love the vintage Clyde the Glyde shirt. We have had it for years and finally fits him!

This one I barely caught him while he was climbing up the ladder... he was so excited to see if I got him or not.
Don't you just love her cheesy smile!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

More Hair....

2009-08-18T00:08:00.001-07:00

So we must just be at that age.... Tonight I had finished the dinner dishes and excused myself to the bathroom and when I came out, Bella was stretching this pink Goo around her. I told her to stop and put it away, we don't wrap it around ourself. To which Ethan exclaims, "Izzy already has it in her hair!" So argh he was right!

I pulled as many little hairs out as I could and this is what we ended up with:

Thankfully it was in the back and I don't think you can tell we had to cut a chunk out!

Maybe this will be the last of the hair incidents!

Backpacks and Hair

2009-08-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

I wonder how you are supposed to know for sure when something is a sign? When your kids are bored, ready for school to start again or go on a play date?

Last week I thought the kids had been playing just great, heck they even seemed to be getting along pretty good and Ethan walks down the stairs wearing his Hooks baseball hat and his backpack (and his compass and Sunny the prairie dog hooked to his shorts). He informed me that he was LEAVING...well after Bella's birthday party and he got his little ninja guys (I told him that I would get him and a freind (and his brother) a couple treats.... It didn't matter that is still a couple weeks away. He told me he was going to his Papa Jim's. We tried to tell him that he worked a lot around the house and that he kept his house super clean. It wouldn't be like when we went over to visit, that Papa wouldn't have as much time to play, and that he would have to keep his toys picked up! Ethan said that would NOT be a problem, that he only had 11 toys he was taking to keep track of!

Good Luck Bud... we'll see you soon! =)

As you can see he packed well, besides a few small toys he remembered to pack a pillow, a baby blanket, a handful of books, his Nintendo DS, and of course deorderant! Gotta remember the important stuff!

So a little back story: Grandma Peggy lets the kids cut paper, literally just cut paper (Miss K -- preschool teacher loves that) so we bought a few new school supplies and a new pair of scissors was on the list for Bella. I decided she could keep those at home and we would get knew ones to take to school.... so when she asked to cut paper I was like why not (used last Sunday's ads).... I ran upstairs to load some pictures onto the computer and was talking to above said Grandma (1st mistake), when I came back downstairs, minutes later, I noticed whips (is that a words) of hair on the floor... I scolded her, but let her keep cutting her paper! I snapped a couple more pictures and while all was calm with her and Ethan I ran back upstairs (2nd mistake), I came down to THIS! I was not happy and made sure Bells knew how wrong it was to cut her hair! So needless to say the scissors were up for a few days (you could say they were in a time out) and then as you can see from the picture below Miss Bella did her own timeout; which she was not very happy about.

At least with Bella I know she listens to me (or I think she does)! For the next couple of days at odd moments during the day she would come up to me, give me a hug and then apologize to me for cutting her own hair. As you can see from above, thankfully the spot in her bangs that she cut, you don't even really notice! THANK GOODNESS!

I have lots more pictures to share and tonight we are officially moving both kids into their own beds... yes we have tried before, but this IS IT!

I am sure I will have a few stories to share about both kids! Wish us Luck!

Reading....

2009-07-27T03:32:00.000-07:00

Well my new obsession seems to be reading. Now that I am not working I have been able to sneak in quite a bit of reading. Both kids absolutely love going to the libary (we have two in town, one small and one big one). Keeping track of what books we have is another story. We do have the "library box" and for the most part the kids are great about keeping the books in the box.

It is a lot of fun to watch the kids pick out books. Bella now knows where "her" books are at. She walks up to the shelves and just literally starts grabbing books! She doesn't open the book and I don't know if she really even looks at the front cover much. With all that said she has picked out some great books. Some that don't even really make it out of the "library box" but others she almost has memorized by the time we have to take them back.

Ethan on the other hand (probably because he is reading his books) takes his time. Granted he is pretty much just checking out The Magic Treehouse books. He is hoping to read the WHOLE SERIES this summer. I haven't actually wrote down and marked off the ones he has read, but it looks like there is 28 books in the Magic Treehouse Series and 14 in the Merlin Missions part of the series. I can't keep them all straight so I will have to consult with the boy to figure out for sure which ones he has read. (By my count I think he has read 14 books total, so 14 out of 42). Some of the books he can read in one sitting, but he still has quite a few not sure if he will make it all the way through them before school starts.)

It is fun to watch. He read for about 2 hours of our drive to vacation and about 3 hours on the way home (It is really only a 3-3.5hr drive). Also if he remembers to bring a book in the car he will start reading as soon as he gets buckled in!

Having a little extra time on my hands I have remembered that I do love reading.

I have been really loving anything by Kristin Hannah.

So far I have read: True Colors, On Mystic Lake, Firefly Lane, and The Things we do for Love. I am a few chapters into Between Sisters and it is seeming to be as good as the others. Firefly Lane and The Things we do for Love have been my favorite two so far. (They were read in the order listed) I cried at the end of Firefly Lane (I know some don't want to feel that way in a book, but as long as it is good I don't care). The Things we do for Love I think should be a must read for all moms, especially those adoptive moms. I truely didn't read the description/summary of the story (and for those of you that check out my links...don't read too much information) I like to read it as it happens and NOT know ahead of time. Lets just say I finished it late at night, holding Bella and tears a flowing =). A must read I think!

(Mom if you are reading I can re-check it out if you want to read it!)

I have only heard good things about Jodi Picoult. Well I guess I shouldn't say it like that either you like her or you don't. I really want to read My Sisters Keeper before I see the movie. Well lets just say so does the rest of my town. There are a ton of hold on this book... I have been tempted to buy it and then just loan out or resell it.... we'll see! She touches on controversial topics, but I have read from a lot of people that have loved her books!

Another good author/book I have heard good things about is Kate Jacobs. (Here is also her own website.) Again lots of holds so sticking with whatever comes back to the library first.

After all this book talk I had better get to bed....busy day tomorrow. A couple hours and a picnic lunch at the riverfront park (playing in the water feature) and then we are making a library run. (I think Ethan has finished all his books and I am going to see what else they have from my list.)

What are you reading?

Back from Vacation....

2009-07-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

So we are back from vacation and there is still soo much to do! We had an amazing time as always. Lots of goodies to eat, hot tub and swimming pool, inflatable jump houses, bumper cars, dark light (where your white clothes glow) miniature golfing and of course bike riding! I think our final tally was 68 miles on our bikes. Ethan did amazing and rode his new spiderman bike the whole time.

I have hundreds of pictures to go through, but these 4 caught my eye right away so they got edited first. =)

A few weeks back I noticed a small gap appearing in his somewhat perfect little smile and low and behold there was an adult tooth coming in already behind it. The baby tooth became loose thankfully and while on Vacation it was barely, literally hanging on by a thread. So when dad asked if he could pull it, Ethan said, "OKAY". Here is what we got a semi toothless boy!

There was soo much to do on vacation, but poor Bella had to miss out on the bumper cars. They really jolted you around, but the funny thing is 2 years ago they had let her go on them with me... So needless to say she did lots of pouting when Ethan and one of us was riding.

I think this was Bella's last year on the baby seat on my bike. Her feet just miss reaching the petals on the tag-a-log so there she sat. Almost always with her blanket, even though it was in the 80's or 90's the whole time she had to have it. Worked out okay because for the most part it covered her shoulders and neck from the sun and a burn. This night we took an evening ride near the airport and loved the fact the horses were loose in the field and came right up to the fence. Ethan even got to feed them some "weeds" that were there by the fence. Poor Bella missed the whole thing.

and can't leave out Dad.... Just taking a break while the kids played at the park. It was hot and a long uphill climb to the park.

I have edited a few more pictures but will save them for another day with a few more stories from vacation.

Bellla from 3 to 13

2009-07-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

Ahh Miss Bella... It is so funny it seems lately her personality has doubled. I mean she was a character before, but now even more so. Her little attitude and humor and little Bella-isms are really showing.

It seems like lately my postings on here have been far and few inbetween (spending too much time updating FACEBOOK) and then when I do post it seems to be a lot about Ethan so here is one of many new posts about Bella!

I simply LOVE this photo. It is her, it is the expression she gives quite often. She opens her eyes up wide and you can't help but giggle/laugh at her and then she busts up laughing her cute little laugh! I have been meaning to order some photos put onto a canvas. Maybe this will be my first one. (Just need to pick out a favorite of Ethan and have them done at the same time)

You should hear this girl talk on the phone....She carries on real conversations and even calls Todd all the time (aka Dad). Lately though her favorite person to call is MARSH (have no idea where that came from though) and we can't help but laugh every time she says it. All we can ever think of is The Brady Bunch and Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

Oh and if you need a reminder of Marsha Marsha Marsha video clip check this out! (Gotta love YouTube)

The kids have been loving our beautiful weather and being outside. I soo need to get them out there more. This night Bella brought her back pack FULL of Barbies and play food. They had their own little tea party out on the deck! Gotta love their little imaginations. Soon enough it will be her and her friends sitting on the deck talking about BOYS!

Here is to many more nice summer days and better blog updates!

BOYS RULE!

2009-06-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

During the last week of school they had a field day...

They did lots of fun stuff including face painting as you can see! Ethan asked for the Boys Rule all on his own! He found the plastic fangs in the play room and he had to wear them.

I love them and how he is trying to be oh so tough!!!

P.S. I had never seen it before but they used colored pencils and water for the face painting. (I might have to try that at home, wouldn't the kids get a kick out of that!)

Weekend Recap....

2009-05-31T23:57:00.000-07:00

Weekends seem to go by soo fast and thankfully the past couple of weekends I feel like we have got a few things done or at least it seems like we have accomplished something!

Saturday morning got started off with a little bit of cleaning aka mostly vacuuming; which turned into both boys getting haircuts. Dad was great, he got the camera and shot a few pictures from his lawn chair (yes it has been beautiful here so Ethan got his hair cut outside)

I am soo loving his new super short hair do... I think next time we will go super short on the top too. Next we headed off to a nearby town for a birthday party of one of E's classmates! It was at a great indoor playground ... they even had a face painter! As you can see Bella enjoyed being turned into a princess. Thankfully she didn't throw much of a fit when we had to wash it off later in the bath.

Sunday we did the normal church and then Uncle Jay and Aunt Cara (and the boys) were up so we headed to Grammy & Papa's house to visit, eat, and play a little. Ethan (and Bella) sure enjoyed the little kiddie pool. It was a pretty little pool, but that didn't stop either one of them from playing in it and having a great time...

Now onto Monday morning.... It will start like any other morning; getting up and getting for daycare and school. The difference will be me NOT working right now. Yes the economy has hit us. So you stay at home moms...what is your schedule like. LOL tomorrow I am hitting the grocery store and taking a nice long walk! Oh and can't forget I am throwing in a load of whites in the laundry.... =)

So wish me and us luck on my new work-less adventure. We were not quite expecting this so expenses aren't where we would want them to be in a one income situation and that I find a new job soon (secretly I will love spending some time with the kids over the summer). Everything happens for a reason just not a 100% sure what this reason is just yet! =)

P.S... In my last post I showed you my new water bottle (which I use multiple times a day) and my new grocery sacks from Glamorous Groceries .... I have used my polka-dot one a ton. It holds soo much and oh ever so stylish!

I love Starbucks and great new Etsy find....

2009-05-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

So most people know I love my Starbucks coffee. My coffee of choice is usually either a hot or cold Venti Iced White Chocolate Real Carmel Mocha, no whip. I love my new find at Starbucks... a 16oz hard plastic (double walled so it doesn't sweat all over the place) cup. It looks just like the iced plastic cups!

I was going to link you up to the Starbucks site, but they are out of stock and I'm sure if you Run ... Now... go! LOL you will be able to get one at your local Starbucks!

Here is my other fun find Glamorous Groceries. Debbie is the mom of twin boys on Ethan's soccer team... cute and good little soccer players. We have been talking at the games and she told me about her etsy site... Then she was super nice and gave me a new grocery bag....

Yes Miss Bella is sleeping ever so uncomfortably in the top of the shopping cart!

First of they are HAND MADE, super cute, and LARGE. You can fit soo much into them! After using this right after she gave it to me, I went and bought one for myself! OMG Check out how cute it is... Don't have personal pictures yet, but here are the ones from her etsy site:

Glamorous Groceries

Won't I be styling at the grocery store.... I look forward to purchasing more!
If you purchase, please let her know how you found out about her site!

A picture a day...

2009-05-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

So I originally revamped my blog so I could focus on my photos. Focus on learning more about my camera, how to take picture in all manual, in general to take better pictures. Well as you can tell I took a nice long breafrom blogging and will admit I quit making sure I took a picture everyday...yes I take so many pictures that I'm sure most days are still covered.

My reason for all the explaining....I'm going to post a bunch of my favorites in the last month or so....just a heads up. Don't worry I won't post them all! I'll just link you up to my 365 photo gallery!

I look forward to sharing some of my favorite photos!

Some new reading material....

2009-05-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love links... lots of fun stuff to explore!

I have a few fun posts to link you up to for pictures and a great one I will have to do tonight (I couldn't get the pictures to upload online this morning) and forgot or well ran out of time...didn't email them to myself at work =) So tonight!

To start off who can resist brand new baby pictures (helps that she is an amazing photographer!)Andrea Burns introduces Audrey..... (She is a fellow digital scrapper and designer that I have followed for a long time)

Next is Ali Edwards... she just simply does an amazing job of capturing Life as it happens. She recently had a new baby girl too and well I love the story these pictures tell! Check out her post of pictures... wouldn't that be great in a collage frame with those captions on the photos??

Hmm an idea... now to get it implemented like all of my other idesa!

I found a great new http://www.etsy.com/ site, but you have to wait until later...I have pictures to go with it! =) I want to post them together!

Oh and we finally finally got our new phones! Todd got the LG EnV2 and I got the LG Voyager So far Todd seems to like his ... just a learning curve and I am loving mine! (Which will also be the home phone... we'll see how that all works out). So soon those of you that call us... well it ring to my cell phone and if we are at home and we don't answer...Leave a message or call again =) We may just be in another room and can't have multiple phones in every room!

What is new... I need to start working out again or well start altogether! Eating better and walking! One of my online girlfriends Jean and I have decided to walk a 1/2 marathon before next year... so we have time to get into shape and get walking!

Look at what can be done with a little bit of walking and eating right!

This woman used SPARK PEOPLE and walked her way right onto a magazine cover! Maybe a goal for Jean and I ....long distance email pals meet and walk a 1/2 marathon! LOL Well you never know! Here is her home page on Spark People.

Well I can't very finish this post w/out any pictures....

So ... Ethan has been very much into his Nintendo DS. He has a few games that he goes back and forth with. On this day he had taken it to school so he could play it while he waited for me to pick him up... We picked up Bella and came home, checked the mail. We went in the house and he just sat in the car, a few minutes later I shut the garage door and went back into the house.... He finally came into the house with his DS still on. I asked him, "You finally decided to come in?" His reply was, "It was getting hot in there!" (meaning the car LOL)...Ahh our Miss Bella... She really has come out of her shell. More comfortable with us and everything else around her! Definitely has some personality to her... and quite the attitude! These pictures were taken after bath when she did her own hair! Matching even!!!

Hopefully I will be posting more again soon!

Just a little behind on the blog!

2009-04-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Okay Okay it has been over a month since I've posted to the blog! I had high high hopes of taking pictures and posting everyday to the blog. I will admit I was doing really well with taking a photo every day, then my computer half way crashed! My EHD completely crashed showing 0% (yikes.... lots of $$$ on there) and my computer gave me the blue screen of death. So I have spent countless hours at night uploading my photos to my smugmug account, making sure everything is backed up and saved.

I have missed quite a few days w/ my photos... I'm hoping by the end of the year that I really haven't missed that many and that I can add in some daily routine type photos or photos from around the house.

So not sure how I want to update I have soo many pictures I want to share... I guess I will just have to do a few at a time LOL

So there it is ... I hope to start back in with the adding posts to the blog!
We'll see LOL

March 13th (72/365) Family

2009-03-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks (or months) ago we kind of dubbed Friday night as family night. I tried picking up take out on the way home (been trying to save a few dollars the last few weeks) and then we've either been playing games, watching movies and having popcorn. On this Friday the weather was amazing... you know that perfect get outside in your t-shirt kind of weather. The weather that makes you want spring/summer to be here!

We opted for a nice little walk before dinner. We have a nice little route that is probably about a mile... maybe a tiny bit more! We all 4 even walked tonight. Bella did great. Walked the whole route all on her own!

I know way to many pictures today, but soo hard to narrow it down.

I loved how this picture turned out... the worn net just hanging with the blue sky background; a simple photo!

There is a great little fish pond in front of one of the houses that we pass a long our walk! The kids have always loved to stop and find the fish! One day while we were looking the lady that lives in the house happen to walk home! We had a nice little chat and told her how much we loved stopping and looking at the fish!

Little miss Bella... such a big girl these days; Walking the route all on her own! Hard to believe she will be starting preschool in the fall (and ballet if she has her way).

I haven't quite figured out why Ethan is afraid of these vents/grates. I guess I will admit that I am not one to just stand on them when I see them, but am completely comfortable walking across them. It was pretty comical to watch Ethan as he was standing on top of this grate. You could see the wheels turning as he tried to figure out if it would hold him or fall away.

Ahh how these melt my heart. A budding photographer just like his momma! I love that he loves to take pictures (and can be quite good at it) He is quickly learning to stage his shot (if need be)

I love seeing what he captures thru his lens!

Once home Bella couldn't change into her ballet clothes fast enough.... and yes that is one of Bella's dresses that "Jumbo Barbie" has on! They twirled and twirled around the family room!

We are all looking very much forward to many many more walks around the neighborhood! Hurry up spring and start showing yourself!

March 12th (71/365) Haircut

2009-03-12T22:03:00.000-07:00

We received a notice in E's Tuesday folder saying Spring Pictures were this Friday. One of the notes in the Life Touch flyer was to have haircuts 2 weeks before pictures. Well to start off that might be hard since we just received the flyer two days ago. So here we are getting his hair trimmed the DAY BEFORE pictures. Not ideal, but turned out okay. I was growing quite fond of the little longer look. No it wasn't past his ears or anything, but definitely not the short do he has had for years!

Today after Melissa cut his hair she asked him if he wanted her to wash it. He surprisingly said YES. So after getting his hair since he was 10 months old (aka almost 6 years of haircutting) this is the first actual hair washing he has got.

He will be my little groomer. He seemed to really enjoy the wash. He loves to dress ... I mean I don't ask him to and he will choose to wear a tie (to school or to church). Since starting at private school he has had to wear his khaki's and polos to school and they are required to be tucked in! I do have to watch the boy and make sure he doesn't just tuck EVERYTHING in. He is still learning when it is appropriate to tuck and when to NOT tuck! LOL

Speaking of spring pictures I am hoping to have them back in a couple weeks. Then you will see his fashion sense. He choose it all on his own; right down to the jeans and FLANNEL. He said everyone was required to stand against this tree (aka back drop) and boys put their hands in their pockets!

March 11th (70/365) Lunch

2009-03-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

I know a super exciting photo of the day! =) Somehow a long time ago I got wrangled into making Todd his lunch for work (Heck I barely make anything for myself let alone for others).

Yes I buy certain name brands and can you tell me why a sandwich tastes better when I make it or is it his way of sweet talking me into continuing to make his lunch. Maybe it is the layer of meat, cheddar cheese, lettuce, swiss cheese, more meat (and don't forget the mustard that I don't even like the smell of!).... I am not complaining though... the least I could do (plus I usually do it while he is watching the news which I prefer not to watch)
Yes this is the most often made lunch. Other lunches mostly consist of peanut butter and jelly and left overs! Happy Eating!

March 10th (69/365) Legos!

2009-03-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

Legos have long ago taken over our "playroom" aka converted dining room! We have the old dining room table to be Ethan's Lego table and well lets just say it is over flowing with mini Legos! We are forever trying to find the perfect storage for E's legos! While at our local one stop shopping (Fred Meyers) I saw a few different plastic storage drawers.... Hmmm not 100% convinced (plus that would require that we actually sort thru his hundreds of Lego pieces!
How is everyone else storing their Legos?

I ran across this blog LEGO MY PHOTO he is doing a photo a day project ... basically just like this! The only exception is that everyday his photo is of his Legos! Spend a few minutes going thru his site! He has some fun Lego set ups and some amazing photos too!

I posted a link to his blog on the Holt board and a few pictures of his including on that had a basketball hoop set in it and a fellow adoptive mom from the site sent me a message saying she would be more than happy to send me thier basketball set! Ethan will be soooo excited (Look for a picture of the day coming soon!)

March 9th (68/365) Chores

2009-03-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ahh the infamous chore list! I would love to make some sort of chore chart or job chart or duty log... Something that not only lists the things around the house that we would like the kids to be responsible for, but to also list things like: Write a letter or card to a freind, teacher or family member, say prayers before dinner/bed, etc. You know something that they can put a tiny sticker on or move a magnet (aka re-usable chart) or write their name or something! We've talked about it over dinner and the thought is there, but I have yet to make the chart!

We've already tried to implement a few simple things...
Ethan clears the table (moves the plates, silverware, glasses to the sink area), puts ketchup, sauces, condiments to the fridge, napkins to the recycle bin or garbage.
Bella puts napkins on the table and puts vitamins at the appropriate table spot. Trying to add silverware and extras to the table to her list.

We are working hard (complete work in progress) on getting the kids (and myself) to pick up our stuff and move it to the appropriate place in the playroom. Ahhh someday it won't be such a struggle to keep an orderly house!

What is on your list?

March 8th (67/365)

2009-03-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Still feeling the effects of my cold/flu... Todd took the kids to church today and to breakfast. He brought Bella home and then took Ethan grocery shopping with him! Look at what they brought me back....So I didn't have to go grocery shopping and still got my Sunday morning Starbucks! Thanks boys!

and what is up with this.... It is March and it snowed yet again! Not enough to stick, but still it is March and it was snowing!

I'm finally feeling better...of course the weekend is over!

March 7th (66/365)

2009-03-07T23:29:00.000-08:00

Well I thought I could feel it coming on Friday at work... Sure enough by Friday night it hit hard. What... the fever, the chills, the achey body, being light headed...everything! I was able to get dinner cooked and cleaned up and well that was about it! The rest of the night and all day today were spent sleeping on the couch (with a nap in bed too). Thankfully the kids were pretty good for Dad and Dad was super nice to do the chores around the house for me!

I thought it was very fitting today's photo of the day was of the blanket I had been laying with the most... An afghan that my Grandma H (Mary) had crocheted for me before she past away. I have always loved the colors (pink, gray and white)...

I think of her quite often and how she would have loved Todd and the kids. She was such a sports fan and Blazers fan and well they would have hit it off! (heck she had taught her bird to say TOUCHDOWN!) LOL She would have been soo supportive of us, the kids, and our adoptions in general!

She left us way way way too early!

March 6th (65/365)

2009-03-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

Friday, Friday, Friday! Finally some nice weather! Soon it will be the evening that are so hard to get the kids in. They won't want to stop playing outside!

Don't you just love Bella's outside shooting hoops attire! Shirt and skirt...simple enough, but aren't her black "high heels" just the perfect outdoor basketball shoe? Yes we thought the same thing!

March 5th (64/365)

2009-03-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

Ahh they can be sweet to each other! They wanted to "read" I spy for bedtime story time tonight! Okay can't they make boys underwear a little "shorter" =)

March 4th (63/365)

2009-03-04T23:26:00.000-08:00

Bath night!I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but Todd has always been the bath one! Since they first came home he has been the one to give the baths. Seriously I think I can count on two hands the number of times that I have been the one to do the baths! THANK YOU!!!

I'm sure someday Ethan will hate me for it, but I have to share a page out of his February journal. (Every month they (the kindergarteners) have a new journal aka a few pages that they draw in a few times for each month and then write a sentence for their page!

Well this was one of Ethan's pages' for February!

Can you read it? Could that be any cuter! If you can't read it .. it says

"I would give my Valentine Cora a trip to Hawaii!"

Well today was a productive photo day LOL so I have to add a few more just because!

I had to post these... check out her face... so simple and sweet (Dont' let her fool you though!) I just love her puckered lips!

Ethan yesterday riding his scooter... Could he be anymore photogenic!? Seriously laughing and such great teeth (except for when he is grinding them--I hate that noise!) LOL!

See Bella doesn't always have to rub your chin or arm! Here she pushed up my pant leg a little bit and proceeded to suck her thumb, rub my calf and then rest her face on my leg? Don't ask why! It is just what she does!!! (Photo by Ethan, age 6)

and last but not least! I turn my head for a few minutes and when I look back Ethan has these hair clips in his hair! I reach for my camera and he poses! Gotta love it!

Here is to more shooting tomorrow (and keeping up with the blog better)!

March 3rd (62/365)

2009-03-03T23:12:00.000-08:00

A typical late afternoon weekday for us! Ethan trying to get Dad to play with him and Bella tired, sucking her thumb and going in for the chin rub! Plowing her way in like Daddy likes to say!

Ahh what a moment! Yes Papa Jeff she is your grand-daughter! Never far from her blankey, her purple bear, sucking her thumb WHILE picking her nose! Gotta love her!

March 2nd (61/365)

2009-03-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

I am really glad we decided to do our Lent Tree (I might have to make it a new tradition)... We are already on our 4th day (out of 40) and I can't wait to see what it looks like with 80 crosses!

Our Ash Wednesday post and the original tree picture.

Another Monday ... but look it is beautiful outside! It is sooo hard to get them back inside; one of the first real nice days we have had in a long time!

Such big kids now, both of them riding their scooters!

March 1st (60/365)

2009-03-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

Ahhh my first forgotten photo... A lot of Sunday can be alike so shhh don't tell anyone but I will have to substitute a photo later!

P.S... Always good when there is a birthday party and the other parent is requested to take them! Hint Hint THANKS for taking him to the McDonald's birthday party!

A substitute photo coming soon!

and Yeah for me...This is the first day that I missed getting a photo!

February 28th (59/365)

2009-02-28T22:03:00.000-08:00

Saturday...a normal cleaning morning for us! I would love to get out of this habit; having to spend every Saturday morning cleaning! But heck none of us feel like doing it any other time of the week!

The "Craft Room" is quite the mess (fire hazard is what hubby calls it) I am bound and determined it will get cleaned. Saturday was actually quite a busy day around our house this week. Todd and Ethan spent a couple hours at Home Depot (picking up plywood for the new attic) and at Target (another birthday party tomorrow). My mom and dad swung by to get our tax information, sister Katie stopped by to drop off a Scentsy catalog, and older sister Steph came by to have me download some new books to their TAG book system.

Curling Ribbon for the photo of the day....well LOL I can get the closet doors open to see all of my ribbon! =)

P.S... The books behind the curling ribbon are decorating books that are YEARS old... They are making a journey to GOODWILL!

February 27th (58/365)

2009-02-27T23:50:00.000-08:00

Thank goodnees it is finally Friday! I was real excited about our Lent project; The Lenten Tree!

Ethan and I put it together on the wall, or well he started helping me and then he was busy playing Legos and left mom to do the work...he did give me pointers though!

Not the best pictures, but a little tough to get at just the right angle and get the whole tree! =)

I think our tree looks somewhat like a tree and the kids are super excited about coloring and deciding where to put their crosses. (We will be putting Bella's on the right and Ethan's will be on the left!) They will both color one for each of the 40 days of Lent. I can't wait to see what our tree will look like with 80 crosses!

Here is a link to ASH WEDNESDAY post with some other great links!

February 26th (57/365)

2009-02-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

I ended up picking Ethan up from school today and he wanted to play on the playground for a few minutes... Why not! Well he isn't afraid of the camera that is for sure! Gotta love how his hair is growing a little longer and his face sure doesn't look so baby-ish anymore!

and Yes I have realized that Bella needs a few more pictures! =) She is not forgotten!

Oh and I almost forgot... we had about 3" of snow this morning when we woke up. We even had to go to work on the other side of our hill. There were 3 buses that were "jack-knived" or stuck, at least one or two cars being towed. Todd even said that at one point they were not letting anyone past the stuck bus if they didn't have 4-wheel drive or chains on... OMG what? Seriously, they didn't even require any of that during our "Artic Blast" in December and it was way way worse and wasn't gone by 10am like today's was! I think the whole 4-wheel drive/chains was only briefly while they got the buses taken care (which had kids in them by the way)...

Ethan wanted to take his camera with him (thank you G. Peggy and P. Jeff) so he was shooting away from his carseat. I loved this photo from his viewfinder....

and I think I will have to veer from just doing daily posts and have one added (or at least a link off to the side) of Ethan's self portraits... After uploading the last two months worth of photos from his camera....well let's just say there are a lot of self portraits!

They do a photography club at school for a few weeks that starts up after Spring Break, thinking Ethan might really like it!

February 25th (56/365) Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T23:07:00.000-08:00

A while back we picked up a mirror at Micheals and it is now hung in the entry way; well we finally one of the three crosses that I bought at a home interior party like 2 years ago (might not have been that long ago, but then again it might have been) =) I figured it was a very fitting picture for today since it is/was Ash Wednesday! The start of Lent.

I enjoy my computer time and have been a long time reader of Michele's blog. She is a fellow adoptive mom (of two boys also from South Korea) and she also homeschools both of them. You know people say I am creative, but OMG I wish I had her creativity. They are always doing some fun craft or going on field trip to someplace cool. I love reading about what they are doing (and I have reminded her many a times to post a head of time LOL...I need more time to prepare!)

I read it today and she has some great ideas and links for Lent and Easter. (Do check out her blog, but I will link you up too) THANK YOU MICHELE!

Here is Michele's Lent post. She mentions how she is giving up a couple food/treat items. Me, I've never been a huge fan of giving up food for Lent (we do observe the NO meat on Fridays') but giving up treats, ice cream, candy etc.... I don't normally do or push on the family. Since we do go to church every Sunday and pray before dinner every night, but are guilty of not doing a ton more. We have a shelf of books on the different religious holidays, both kids have beginner bibles and prayer books, but they are not ready nearly as much as we should! So for Lent this year I am hoping that as a family we will do a little better. Thanks to Michelle she has started off our "crafting" portion of Lent really well. She linked up to a Lenten Tree and Activity Book (scroll down to about the middle of the page...it is a PDF file) I will be changing it up a bit. I bought some brown rolled paper at the party store today and we will be making a tree (crumpling up the paper length wise and adding branches to it) and then I think we will be adding little crosses to it. Crosses that both E and Bella can color and then cut out and then they will be attached to the tree! HERE are a ton of options on coloring pages and activities. We will most likely use something like THIS for our cross. (nothing too big OR fancy) They will both get to color one for each of the 40 days...aka that is 80 crosses on our "tree". Just hoping it looks something close to what I am picturing in my head.

Michele recommended this book to read... It looks great for Ethan to read and/or for it to be read to Bella. Over dinner we talked about running errands on Friday so maybe we will go the the bookstore and let the kids both pick out new Easter books! I'll let you know what we come home with.

Melissa and her sister, they have both mentioned this website: Internet Cafe Devotions. A few extra prayers surely won't hurt me. LOL =). So one of my goals is to try to take a look around the site and read up a little more.

Speaking of Reading I would just love to read more in general! I finished the Twilight Series and need to get reading The Host (Todd and the kids gave it to me for Christmas). Also if you plan on reading any of the Twilight Books becareful reading the sites... you really really don't want any spoilers and there are some on her website!! Another book I have only heard good things about is The Shack. So maybe for Lent I should give up some of my late night blogging and scrapping and do some reading! We'll see how that goes!

While I've been busy adding links to this post I thought I would add one more...
While we are talking about Michele, check out her posts on recipes.

Whether you like it or not LOL I will probably link you up to any other activities that we can get going during Lent (or any other time) and please do the same.... Let me know what you guys are doing!

HAPPY LENT!

February 24th (55/365)

2009-02-24T23:17:00.000-08:00

So I know you are thinking an empty drawer! Big Deal....Well it is a huge deal in our house! This empty drawer is known as the "Pull Up Drawer" and it is non an empty UNUSED drawer! No on in our house wears pullups anymore, day or night! A huge step and a long time coming for E! We are soo proud that he did it on his terms and timing and we know it was rough for him knowing Bella did it years before him! In the end it doesn't matter anymore, he is done!

I forgot to add this to yesterday's post.... Mr. Red Ranger made it back to school on Monday! Yeah! =)

February 23rd (54/365)

2009-02-23T23:55:00.000-08:00

Ahh Monday morning again! I am almost always the one dropping Ethan off at school (and Bella at daycare). We went thru a time (or two) where mornings were horrible; I mean lots of crying and screaming on everyone's part. I've tried to do wake up a tiny bit earlier, we've made bed time a lot earlier, so knock on wood our mornings have been going a lot better!

We always hit traffic and we have our own little "shortcut" route we take...not really a shortcut since we usually see the same cars on the other side of the bridge LOL but Ethan gets a kick out of taking the short cut and Dad normally doesn't so it kind of is our thing!

No matter which way we go we are usually stop and go for a while and since starting this photo a day project I almost always have my camera with me (not like I didn't before)

Today I propped the camera up on the passenger seat and clicked...and hoped it would stay in focus!

Here are two of the favorites from "our shoot"...look for a layout coming soon!

February 22nd (53/365)

2009-02-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

I have been looking at this Costco cookbook on my kitchen counter for weeks... We cracked it open last night and we picked a couple a couple of things to try! HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS is the first one... Now I'm not a food photographer so bear with me while posting food photos! =) They turned out pretty good, very sweet, but good. I think the next batch will have less honey and/or maybe we will try some oatmeal and chocolate chips and cut down on the granola cereal. Ethan was pretty excited that we put in some mini marshmellows! It was super easy to make so I'm sure that we will try again and experiment a little with the ingredients!

On a completley different note:

If you could say a little prayer for our friend Mary...

We sit next to her every Sunday in church and have since before Ethan came home to us; so it has been for over 6 years that we have seen her every Sunday for all these years, heck I think most of the time we've seen her more than my own grandparents! Not by choice, but it was someplace we went every Sunday morning, same time, same pew.

Last Sunday she wasn't there, but we didn't think too much of it, she is older and every now and then she misses her alarm or her back really hurts and she didn't sleep well so she will go to a later mass! Well this morning a lady that always sits behind us (live in the same housing that Mary does) and said that she took a fall a week or so ago and hit her head...

Evidently she fell and hit her head and her whole left side is bruised (she doesn't remember where she fell or how or anything about it or things pretty much afterwards)... Paramedics took her to the hospital, we still don't know how long she was there. This morning she ended up coming to church seemed pretty much herself until after mass when we were talking to her. She repeated everything over and over, swore she was in a nursing home at one end of town and that they dropped her off and were coming to get her, but she couldn't remember the name of the place. I did not like the feeling of standing out in front of the church with her not knowing where she was supposed to go, she was very confused and you could see it. Her ride did show up, she is not in the area of town that she thought, they helped her into the car, gave us a business card and said she would be moved into her own room, with tv, cable, and phone. I did slip a paper in her purse with our name, address, and phone number. All of her family is out of town (as far as I know) and we feel a little out there with not knowing what is happening! She has been a staple of our Sunday mornings for years. We have already lost a husband and wife from our pew in the last couple years. I'm not ready to lose Mary too!

Here is a scrapbook page of Mary and Ethan from February 2007

We are praying that Mary feels more herself soon!

February 21st (52/365)

2009-02-21T23:51:00.000-08:00

Papa Jeff and Granma Peggy stopped by the house ... they had been on vacation to Cabo so they were excited to see the kids and of course bring their "treasures" for the kids. Papa picked out this "diamond" for Bella ...Lets just say she is ALL GIRL, she knew exactly what it was saying DIAMOND as soon as it came out of the wrapper it was in! I told them that she would carry it around all night AND SHE DID! You can't see it super good, but behind her "purple diamond" is a butterfly w/ a bobble head so to speak... LOL its' little head sticks out and when it is moved (or the wind blows, etc) it moves around...it is the cutest thing!

So this is where her diamond is sitting... on a family room table, next to the lamp and flip photo album! Where will it be in an hour, 30 minutes or better yet, where it will be in the next 5 minutes; only Miss Bella knows! I mean it has already made a trip to her playhouse in the playroom, the kitchen table, her bedroom, and even the bathroom! I am sure the list of places it will go will only grow! She loves her new purple diamond!

February 20th (51/365)

2009-02-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

I love it when Christmas presents take a little while to make their presence known! When I got home from work today Dad and Ethan were separating all 540 pieces of the globe puzzle that you got for Christmas.... After a couple hours this is what YOU got finished!

This is only 100 pieces into the puzzle... I think once finished we will have to display it on one of the tables by the front door!

February 19th (50/365)

2009-02-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

Ethan is now onto Day# 2 of being sick.... Ahh what a good boy coughing into his elbow!

So he still has that horrible seal-like barky cough, so we figured it was best to keep him home. All of the parents were nice enough to keep their kids home last week....

Like yesterday he didn't stop talking and when I got home from work I was greeted by monster truck, tractors and hot wheels all over the family room!

and Yes I got a few pages of homework for him to do and he quickly did it! I think he is missing his friends and school.

February 18th (49/365)

2009-02-18T23:03:00.000-08:00

Ethan is on Day# 1 of being sick...Not fun for Dad! He has been staying home with him this time and well he is sick, but not sick enough! LOL! Dad says he hasn't stopped talking, constantly wants to play Wii, Life, or any other game we have! (If only he didn't have that horrible cough)

Today's photo of the Day is of Mr. Red Ranger....why oh why are you handing out on my door instead of hanging out in the closet in school? You are packed and ready to go, Library book, Homework folder, your reading log.... I want to go to school!

February 17th (48/365)

2009-02-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

Well guess who's turn it was to be sick... Yes Ethan's! Last week there were 8 to 10 kids out sick (out of 22 total) and we crossed our fingers that we would miss it, but we weren't that lucky! It is coming.... I am not sure if he will be going to school tomorrow.

Dreaming of Legos after bath!
We can't leave Bella out...She had a bath tonight and did her own hair (a little hard to see, but it is really sticking up on the top!) Oh and the "dress" you see is about 3 sizes too small for her. I honestly think it is a size 24months....she loves it and changes into it constantly!

February 16th (47/365)

2009-02-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

So another week is getting ready to start and don't you think this is the best way to start it?

Yes I am a Bachelor watcher! I have my favorites...one of them was kicked off tonight! Melissa is my pick for the end!

February 15th (46/365)

2009-02-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

Well I think the events of yesterday took a tole on the kids! By early evening both kids were asleep. Ethan on the couch and Bella sprawled out on Dad's lap! They were just too cute, heavy eyes, swearing they weren't tired! Yeah we believed them!

February 14th (45/365)

2009-02-14T23:45:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

We had a great day today, but not your typical Valentines Day dinner dates... NOPE not us...We wen to the Monster Truck show! We went 2 years ago and took Ethan and LOVED IT! This year we thought it would be a special treat for E to get to take a friend... Aksel was the chosen one! =) They had a great time together, no fighting, lots of tickling and giggling (would have sworn they were girls LOL with all of the giggling!)

We had Pit Passes and were able to meet one of the drivers (we didn't want to wait in the super super long lines to meet the others). We took pictures in front of the trucks, on the side of the trucks, truck parts.... just pictures in general. It is impressive the size of the tires and everything else on the truck too!

Here are a few pictures, I still need to edit more of them! (There are plenty, I'm sure I'll just have to link you up to my smugmug account to see the rest of them!)
The above pictures are of Captain's Curse, he was great and most definately got some air, Gravediger litterally was straight up if not leaning a bit backwards, we aren't quite sure how we didn't flip backwards and last but not least; El Toro Loco! He was doing some cookies and well over he went! He was fine, walked about, no flying debris but he did break one of his horns.

Oh almost forgot, I was taking pictures of Monster Mutt's tail sticking straight up and he HUGE floppy ears... and this man asks me what I'm taking a picture of and I try to tell him. Then he sees the kids and we chat for a few minutes... he asks the boys, "So do you like my truck?" How cool was it that we got to meet the owner of Monster Mutt and El toro Loco. It was pretty cool; he asked Ethan which Monster Mutt's he had, how many and was in general a nice guy and a great show!

February 13th (44/365)

2009-02-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

I think the kids had a good day at their Valentines Day party.... Of course he came home with way too many goodies. Here is the heart shaped "bag" that Ethan (and his class) made to hold their valentines! Lots of goodies!

Now be forwarned we were bad parents we didn't get the kid anything for Valentines' Day... We did have plans (see Tomorrow's post!)

February 12th (43/365)

2009-02-12T23:22:00.000-08:00

So if you know me you know I'm a procratinator...So Ethan and I had high hopes of taking some Valentine photos (holding a big heart, one saying BE MINE (for the girls) and one saying YOU ROCK (for the boys). Well time slipped past us so that didn't happen, but I was able to use a photo I took on Ethan's birthday and used it on a mini scrapbook page (4"x4") and then I glued that onto a box of sweethearts that Ethan had wrote all of the kids' names on. They turned out really cute!

Ethan did really good writing all of the names (there are 22 kids in his class including him & we added a few extra names onto the list).

Now I couldn't help but go back and take a picture of a particular Valentine! It is so cute to watch Ethan secretly go back and draw a heart by her name on her box, and watch how giddy he gets when you even mention "her name". We really do try to NOT tease him, but it is just too sweet! Heck I even emailed Cora's mom the picture of his "heart". I am glad I did because she mentioned how the other day Cora told her about how a recess one day that Ethan helped her out when some boys were chasing her and she didn't like it! It is nice to know that he will "stick up" for others and be watchful over his friends!

I was even able to get a scrapbook page done for these pictures. It has quickly become a favorite. For me I just love how it all ended up coming together... sometimes while you are working on them you wonder how it will look/come together in the end. See Layout Credits HERE.

February 11th (42/365)

2009-02-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Ahhh my fellow bloggers and digi scrappers you either love your computer or hate it (because it is slow or full LOL) so imagine my horror when I went to check email one evening and all I saw was this bright blue screen with lots of words aka A FATAL ERROR. Thankfully all seems well now. Granted I have been copying photos like mad to my EHD (External Hard Drive) and uploading to smugmug when ever possible)

Today's choice of photos was easy... My computer, old scrapbooks, and my beloved card reader!

May she remain in good health! =)

February 10th (41/365)

2009-02-10T23:45:00.000-08:00

We woke up to a light layer (dusting if you will) of snow! I was actually very surprised how little reaction I got out of the kids... neither one acted like they could care! Now granted once you got off "the hill" there wasn't much of anything on the ground...a few snow flakes fell thru out the morning, but nothing stayed! =( or maybe =)

February 9th (40/365)

2009-02-09T22:36:00.000-08:00

I'm SORRY!

I really do think that Ethan felt bad about how he treated Papa and how he mis-behaved. We had a few talks with him trying to teach/explain that we can NOT act like he did with Grammy & Papa ... at any time! (We have had many a speeches on how it is OKAY to be upset and to cry, but to not act out and throw tantrums and to litterally throw things... Let's just say a work in progress)

Here is Ethan's apology letter:

and to add a little smile... he included a coloring page he did for him!

(His writing and coloring has improved a 100 times over this past year!)

Papa should get his letter and picture by Friday! =)

February 8th (39/365)

2009-02-08T22:34:00.000-08:00

We had a great kidless day today, nothing fancy at all! Church by ourselves, grocery shopping by ourselves. Todd watched basketball all day and I backed up photos and read my new HOST book. (Only just started it... a little harder to get into than the Twilight Series was).

I felt it was fitting today's photo was a picture of the Hwy on the way to Papa & Grammy's house... As nice as our day was, well Grammy & Papa Jim had a little rougher day! Ethan was just honery! At the going away party they all went to, he was flipping light switches, not listening, then to top things off...HE BIT PAPA, I mean enough to draw blood! I think Jim got really mad, I mean mad not just upset... Later Grammy said how Papa said he was going to take him home. They didn't but they were outside for a long time! I guess the topper of the night was when he THREW his Nintendo DS! That was the last straw! NO DS for a month (a little bit of a hit for him...he was just getting to where he could play some of the games, they were finally clicking for him) and no Wii for this week, maybe more! He will be writing Papa an apology letter too! (Could be tomorrow photo of the day!) =)

I'm not sure if it was an attention thing for Ethan... he wasn't getting it all, maybe he was tired. I am not sure, but just hoping he can tone it down some! Not good behavior!

February 7th (38/365)

2009-02-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Ethan's school auction! This was the kindergarten project...the item I wanted, but definately couldn't afford the going price of $575! Yeah for the school bad for my pocket book!

All of the kids drew their hands and were painted... I think it turned out great! (I would love to try something like this with the kids at home! Maybe someday!)

We didn't leave empty handed... Todd won a Clyde Drexler autographed basketball, I won an evening with a sheriff (Ethan will get to ride in the police car and then he will take him to ice cream!) We thought Ethan would really enjoy it! Oh and in the silent auction we won a great picture frame (already has pictures in it....Todd is hanging tomorrow night) and 2 large cool vases! (Still need to get something to put in the one, the other has a "lid") =)

It was a great night! We got to have a nice dinner, hang out with friends, make some new friends and all around had a great night!