turkey week recap

my mom and dad left today...and so life is now back to its old routine. it was so nice having them visit. i tried everything i could to get them to stay on longer...threatened to let the air out of their tires, kidnapping, snow dances...but to no avail. its probably for the best...they are catching a window in between weather systems, so they should have a fairly "dry" drive home (knock on wood).

quick recap...

we got to break in my snowblower(14 inches of the white stuff)...lots of scrabble games (and i even managed to get a 50 point bonus for using all your letters on one word...oh yeah baby!!)...lots of great chats, playing games with the girls, rough housing with their puppy bailey and good food. it went by way too fast.

don't all nice trips happen that way??

today was the 1st day of waking to sunshine...it was divine! after saying goodbye to the parents, i headed to michaels to take advantage of their insane cricut cart. sale...enjoyed a nice lunch at friendly's (yum, yum) and then headed home. it was still gorgeous outside, so i decided to get the foot of snow off dh truck and move it around...then i used the snowblower to make a path around the house and then i pulled the sled out and ran the girls around my newly plowed path.

i.am.exhausted.

should be an early night for everyone tonight lol!

mental vacation...

my parents are here and i am officially on vacation! (at least a mental one!)

have a great thanksgiving!

hanging with the preschoolers...

yesterday was my day to volunteer in little one's preschool class. we had so much fun. i really love kids that age! they are old enough to say funny things but young enough not to get the big picture. and they think you are the greatest thing ever!

E had a little trouble "sharing" me...but after she realized it was ok, all was well.

on a different note...i finished this project last night.

here is a mini album that one was one of our class assignments. we had the sketch and journaling blocks provided. i think this would be a fun album to add on to...sometime in the future of course! i am still several weeks behind...but am sticking with slow and steady wins the race!

guess who's 3???

i know everyone always says that kids grow up too fast...but seriously! i just can not fathom that my baby is 3! sniff, sniff.

on a different note...the winner of the 16x20 print from me is....... baker mommy!!

elise, email me some of your favorite pics and i will put them together in a 16x20 print and get it shipped off to you! thanks everyone for the suggestions!

anyone hungry??

isn't this the funniest? one of my dear friends' husbands is entering the Doritos contest to try and get his commericial in for the superbowl. go check it out! this guy rocks the videography world!!





CLICK IMAGE TO START VIDEO!!
be patient, it takes a few seconds to load!!

more disney pics...

Festival of the Lion King

(i highly recommend seeing this show!)

and some more misc. pics:)

enjoy~

a little heartache...and a contest...

my heart hurts today. its officially been 1 month since dh left. and it feels SO much longer.

i sit here wondering how on earth i will make it for another year??

so who has the remote control?? i need to fast forward some time! lol! thank goodness my parents will be here soon. lets just hope they can miss the snow showers we have forecast right now. at least get up here before it hits! lol!

on the suzie homemaker front, i am proud to say i installed my SECOND toilet seat, purchased a snow blower and am ALMOST done making the basement ready for pictures. i also managed to locate all the linen that goes on the guest bed (thanks babe! i knew you would know where to find it!)...so i am officially ready for guests! woohoo!

well, almost...gotta get the repair guy out here to fix a small leak, but other than that...

well, thats about it! here's hoping the heartache (and headache) go away!

ok NOW for the contest...i would love some ideas for keeping my sanity...they can be mommy ideas, or ideas for kids...but i am all out right now...and here's what you can get out of this:)

i will draw a name randomly from the comments section on MONDAY (17th) morning...and the winner will get a 16x20 print from me of a mix of your own personal photos. make sense?? the winner will send me some pics to randomly play with. i will then create a 16x20 print and ship it off to you!!

so lets hope at least ONE person comments, or my heartache might get really bad! lol!

my new strategy...

thats right...this is my new strategy for a happy household. everytime i notice them doing something positive, talking nicely or doing something WITHOUT being asked..they earn a certain amount. then they get to trade them in for things. the list is still in progress, but $5 gets you your favorite outfit...you know the one. yep, the one they must wear EVERY single week...the one that as soon as it gets hung up in the closet, they choose it again. and they can lose them too.

i'll let you know how it works out. so far still have a positive balance.

if you are interested in your own behavior bucks go to www.chartjungle.com


and since i am in a random type mood today (its a full moon today if you are wondering why your kiddos are a little off)...i am gonna go find a random type picture.

a trip down memory lane

i have been thinking about photographs a lot lately. i love them. i could look at pictures all day and not grow tired of it. i have always been this way.



i remember when i was little i wished i could have cameras in my eyes so that i could capture everything that i saw...esp. during those times you just couldn't get a camera out quick enough.



i am trying (in the midst of my already chaotic life) to summon up the will power to create my family year in pictures book. i have made this for the last 2 years and everyone has really loved receiving it. but it is a lot of work...and i am not kind to myself. i don't start early in the year working on it continually...oh no...i wait and wait and WAIT...and then once i receive my little email from shutterfly telling me the photobooks are on sale...i BUST my butt and start editing like a crazed lunatic!



this usually becomes a several day, many, many hour process. but it is so worth it.


one of these years i will actually create my own template for a book.

yeah, right! haha!



but back to thinking about photographs...i am proud at how far i have come as a photographer. i have learned so much and can honestly say i have gotten better at it! so while i was thinking about my own family's photographs, i decided to take a trip down memory lane with some of my sessions with other families earlier this year.


and there is one photograph that really stands out to me. one that was my ah-ha moment.


one that i am very proud that i can say i took.


one that i wish i had of my own family.








thanks to the h's for letting me into your family long enough to capture this.

Hug a Soldier Day

yep...thats what today is! and don't forget it! and if you can't or aren't able to hug a soldier...hug their wife, husband and or kids. and if you can't do that...please say a prayer...

please let those in harms way come home safe.

please let those families missing their loved ones find peace.

please don't ever forget them...not ever.

where's my cape?

i MUST have lost it along with my super powers and my mind! lol! i am pretty good at time management...my college dollars were not a waste...but i just can not manage to get everything done! (insert *gasp*)

this is just not acceptable! surely i can single handedly run a household, taxi 2 children, cook meals, do laundry, unpack the basement, shovel snow (just had to throw that one in there), work on layouts for my class, finish reading my book (that i have already renewed TWICE), stop fights, kiss boo-boos, finish priming all the windows and doors in the basement and touch up the walls, keep the house imaculate (insert hearty laughter), remember to feed the guinea pig, remember to shower...remember to sleep...

surely i can do this!

it must be friday!

cause abby got hurt again! went to pick her up from school and she was in the nurses office tending a bloody nose. guess she got hit in the face during recess (accident)...well as the evening as progressed, her nose is starting to swell and change color...so i guess we will be heading to the urgent care place in the morning....fun, fun.

did i mention that the most popular day in my family to get hurt is friday?? yeppers!

no pics yet, lol!

temptation

the last few days have been trying at best with the kiddos. they are in some kind of funk. i don't know if it has to do with the time change or what...but they have been impossible. i can honestly say every day of november has sucked! lol!

this morning, while i was trying to motivate and move along my grumpy kids, my older dd said she wasn't going to school . she just wanted to stay home...and i must say. i was actually tempted to let her! (scary thought, i know)...the weather has just been gorgeous, in the 60's and i thought it would be fun to have a play hooky day! (well, i thought about it anyways...but i held strong and sent her on her way.)

i remember one day my senior year of high school when my mom showed up at school as a complete surprise and pulled me out so we could go to lunch. i thought she was just the coolest. i felt so grown up! and i have never forgotten that day. i promised i would do stuff like that with my kids too. maybe when they are a little older. its hard for me to rationalize a hooky day right now when abby has already missed 4 days of school due to disney and then will miss at least another week for dh mid tour. but maybe near the end of the year...

here are a couple more layouts i just finished for my class. both of the sketches were provided and everything else was up to me.

the journaling on the 1st one says:

Even as you were turning 5, you couldn't wait to be 6. That day finally came! I just can't believe i have a 6 year old!

the journaling on the 2nd one says:

This was the summer of the bikes. You both got big girl bikes and its been hard to get you off them ever since. Ride on...

post BOO day...and a layout

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here is another layout assignment for my class. we were given the sketch, journaling blocks and had to use bright pink, brown and orange. i really struggled with this assignment. the orange was hard for me to add. i wanted to leave it just pink and brown! lol!






enjoy!