creative fun

nowadays about the only creative outlet i have is stamp camps once a month run by my local stampin up demonstrator. went to one last sunday and i loved all the projects we were able to make! of course i'm always ready to continue the creativity after i get home, but usually don't have the time. here are some pics:

the 1st one is a 2,5,7,10 box.

the 2nd one is using an envelope sealed, then using the big tag punch from stampin up and punching out the sides so that a handle forms in the center. then decorate and you have a cute little pocket or basket to be a card or whatever in.




the 3rd is a big buckle card...very fun colors!

and the last one is a double pocket bag with 2 ribbon handles. there are 2 small pockets that you can add a card or small gift, gift certificate, candy bar or whatever you like to it!

thanks for looking!

happy LeAp year day!

yes, it is officially leap year day today. so treasure it...cause you gotta wait a whole more 4 years for this again!

been crazy busy editing photos...in fact i have been jumping back and forth between different sessions to try and get them all done and have "fresh" eyes when i look at them again. but i am happy with them for the most part and really proud of how far my photography has come in the last year alone. i now shoot exclusively in manual and RAW. i never thought that day would come! planning a trip to the flower market next week and can't wait to take tons of pics!

trying to cram 3 months of stuff into 5 weeks is insane. i did finally get my slot reserved for the DMZ tour. so hopefully this one will go off without a hitch (since the last one i was signed up for got cancelled). i'm running out of time to do it! also getting ready to get my china tickets:) SO happy about that!! matt got to go in december with some co workers...and now its my turn! i'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the weather cooperates and the yellow dust is minimal!

well matt is on a business trip for the next couple weeks, so its full time mom for me. we have managed to survive our 1st 24 hours. thats always a good start.

well, i better go get started on my mom activities for the day! have a good one!

news & body piercings

well 1st things 1st...we found out this week that we will be heading back to the states in april. yes...6 WEEKS AWAY!! i am very not happy about this.

not.happy.

i am not ready to leave this beautiful country, wonderful friendships...any of it. and i am definitely not ready to leave in 6 weeks. i want to throw myself on the ground and kick and scream like a toddler...but it wouldn't do any good. so the plan is that we fly to my parents house, pick up our other vehicle and head to our new home. we don't have very much time to kill visiting anyone because we have to hurry and get abby back in school. so i'm afraid we won't be able to visit family, etc until july at the earliest, as her new school goes until the end of june. thats just cruel.

we will be living in temporary housing (hotel) until we get a house. according to the wait list the last time we checked, the earliest this could happen would be june (YUCK!) and thats if the planets aline just right! haha!

but at least there's Target. oh yeah!

now onto body piercings! my youngest decided to pierce her tongue at the park the other day and didn't even have the decency to ask my permission! what is going on with kids these days?? haha! actually, she fell, bumped her chin hard enough and bit thru her tongue. it was really gross, and i don't usually get queasy that easy!

well i'm gonna wrap this up! hopefully be able to write more soon! k

oh yeah...and the tooth paste architect strikes again!

feast or famine

i have so many mental entries for this blog...i just haven't had a chance to sit down and type them out. life gets in the way sometimes:)

well the family is back to passing this nasty crudy cough and sniffles around to each other. always fun. matt is the only smart one, he went and got antibiotics last week. i'm hoping they will jump off his pillow and onto mine and make me magically well. (yes, i might be a little delusional)

we still don't have a "date" as to when we are leaving here. of course nothing is more stressful than knowing you could be leaving here as soon as 6 weeks from now!! eek! i'm really keeping my fingers crossed that thats not the case. but i guess we will just continue waiting and prepare for the worst at this point.

well this will be a short entry since i can't think of all the other things i had planned on writing about. maybe they will come to me again. maybe not.

hope you had a nice valentines day and a good week ahead. hopefully i will be better about posting this week. i attached some pics of some cards i made recently for my crafty friends that stop by (and if you know me, you know that i SUCK at making cards...but these...these came out cute!) enjoy!

toothpaste architect

this is what happens when you let your 5 year old shut the bathroom door while brushing her teeth. she builds things. haha! we didn't even know she did this for like 30 min after she went to bed and then matt asks if i had seen this? (most mothers will agree that those words will send shivers up your spine...) so i went in the bathroom to discover this handy little shrine for my toothbrush, built out of toothpaste tubes by my dear daughter.

brilliant! i love her creative little mind!

now switching gears entirely...HAPPY NEW YEAR! its chinese (lunar) new year today. VERY.BIG.DEAL over here. the actual holiday is today, but the kids and hubby don't have their day off until tomorrow. i wish they had had today off, then we could have gone to some of the festivities. some of the palaces had stuff going on. abby had a parade planned at school this morning, but it interfered with ella's dance class...so i wasn't able to attend it.

well, need to go work on some stuff while my little one is napping...enjoy! k

new age teether

yes, my now 26 month old is STILL teething!! we are on 3 of 4 canines...so hopefully we will be done with this soon!

a couple of weeks ago ella and i were walking to the bus stop and i had forgotten her stroller, so she had to **gasp** WALK! if you saw how close the bus stop was from my house, you would understand that i am in fact not torturing my daughter!

so my response was, "oh ell, you're getting too heavy for mommy to carry around"

...and then her response was "i too heavy to walk"

enjoy! k

blogging take 2

so i wrote this nice long blog entry last night, attached a pic and everything...and then i got an error message and it disappeared! uugghh! i HATE when that happens! so today i am gonna type my message, publish the post and then go back and add pics and see if it works!

quick catch up:

* dd brought home her 1st report card (earlier in the year it was only a parent teacher
conference)...she did very well!

* shot 3 photo sessions in 3 days...now i'm up to my ears in editing:) but i love being back to
taking pics!

* went to Emart this week (the local walmart equivalent) and was surprised to see abby's
photo in the current hello kitty catalog. i managed to convince the sales clerk to let me take one
of the pages (since it was a display catalog)

* went today to hunt down the other magazine she modeled for and there is a whole spread with
her and the other little girl she modeled with. she was So excited to see herself in a magazine, it
was really too cute!

* been reading a new scrapbook book called Real.Life.Scrapbooking and it has made all sorts of
creative juices start flowing...but must edit photos 1st!!

* took an amazingly long, steep hike today with my oldest up the side of a mountain. it was a
good thing neither of us knew in advance what we were getting into. now i have jello legs! it
was beautiful!

ok...onto pics...

went to a baby shower on saturday at this nice little italian restaurant in town and these are some of my pics from my point and shoot. just turned off the flash and set the timer and set the camera down. thankfully we got to the restaurant before it was full of people! enjoy!