Super Heroes

I bought a new idea book yesterday and I was inspired to create this layout. The book is by Elsie Flanigan who just has the most original, cool ideas about scrapbooking. I tried to just kind of "wing it" on this page. I tried not to use stars, but come on, a super heroes page must have stars!!!
We finally watched Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of Star Wars this weekend. I need to watch them again to figure out exactly how everything ties together. I have to admit that I enjoyed them and am looking forward to watching them again. I'm a geek. I know it. If I haven't mentioned it here, Parker is obsessed with all things Star Wars.
I'm putting off going to the grocery store because it is something I do not enjoy at all. However, it must be done.
We went to St. Louis this past weekend. Stella is soooooooo funny. She just looks like a cartoon character. She is such a happy little thing. She followed Jack around all weekend. Poor thing, she tried so hard to keep up with the boys but could never quite manage. They love her too. I have totally fallen for baby Jacob. He isn't an easy baby. When he is awake, he fusses but he can be calmed down pretty easily just by holding him close. Love that. (Of course, I had nothing but time to hold him--his mommy has another baby and is trying to pack up her house to move!) I love tiny babies, but I'm not sure I want another one of my own. I'm not into schedules these days and babies definitely require schedules!

Look--no stars!

I blogged about this in early February and Shelly (Travis' aunt) suggested that I make a scrapbook page about this event. I just printed off the blog and stuck it on the page.

I drove Arby's today to get lunch. I ordered a roast beef sandwich and when I got home it was a roast beef with melted cheddar cheese and Arby's sauce on an onion roll. I was soooo disappointed. Well, I ate it because I was starving and there was no way I was driving back down there. It was not as good as a plain old roast beef would have been. Like Jerry Seinfeld said, "you get &^%%* in the drive through!!!"

Just what I needed

After a very busy week, I was finally able to sit down and do a scrapbook page. It is sooooo relaxing for me to scrapbook. Maybe relaxing is quite the right word, but it just feels good to do something creative. This page has a double meaning because if you know Jack, you know he needs to slow down. However, that isn't really what the page is about. Sometimes I can't believe how grown-up he is getting! Still rotten, but definitely growing up.

Family reading night seemed to be pretty successful. If I had to do it over, I would change some things, but that always happens when you try something new. I'm glad it's over though! I must learn to delegate more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite scrapbook store in Springfield is closing. Very, very sad. The boys and I loved that place. It had a really nice children's area and the owner's were always very accomodating of two wild little boys walking around. (Even Jack knows that he cannot touch ANYTHING in a scrapbook store!)

Travis got his campaign signs today. They look very nice. If you live in Mt. Zion school district and would put one in your yard, let me know!

I need to do laundry because I haven't done it all week. Actually, I need to do many, many house related things that haven't been done all week.

Oh, yes. Notice that this layout is yet another one with stars. I am making a solemn vow that my next layout WILL NOT have any stars on it!!!!!

crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy BUSY

I am crazy, crazy busy putting our preschool's Family Reading Night Sports Spectacular together so, for once, I am not blogging much. Yesterday, I locked us out of the house (the second time in a month) and wasted about 5 hours that I could have been doing the 423 things that need to be done. Today I am trying to catch up. I feel like Stella looks in this photo.

This is for you Sue

I'm climbing up on my soapbox right now. There is a letter to the editor in the newspaper today that has me riled up. Sue Jones of Decatur writes:
Peanut butter was the last straw for me.
It's now been banned from being served in the Mt.Zion schools; not because of salmonella, but due to nut allergies. The "land of the free" is experiencing an astounding erosion of liberty.
Last year, it was a sculpture that was rejected due to the depiction of "bullets." Sugary sodas were outlawed in January to reduce obesity.
The driving hours to receive a license has been increased to 50, and teen drivers can only carry one non-family member in the car for six months. It certainly seems we are becoming a "no" society.
I would like to take this issue before the courts, but I have to save my funds for state-mandated physicals and dental checks for my students, as well as their immunizations. I would rather not have my 4-pound Yorkie spayed, so I am paying a dog license fee four times the usual rate.
My personal protest against these restrictions is to give up exercise and begin drinking sodas with sugar. I'm not a smoker (God bless their souls, soon they won't be able to smoke in their personal vehicles), but I'm thinking about taking it up.
If you see me smoking, or chewing tobacco for that matter, it means I've finally been pushed over the edge. I feel sure you can find an administrator or a legislator who is willing to have me committed. If it comes to that, please be sure to buckle me in, and if force is required, have a FOID card in your possession. You would hate to break any of the laws of this good land. My final request, however, would be to please pack me a peanut butter sandwich for the road.

Isn't Sue just so clever!? This is a good example of the kind of letter to the editor that I just hate--the uninformed kind. First of all, the Mt. Zion cafeterias are going to stop serving peanut butter and they asked that parents stop packing peanut butter for their kids. If a peanut butter sandwich is that important to you, you can still bring one in your lunch. This is one of those rules that probably sounds ridiculous unless it's your 5 year old that has a deadly peanut allergy. This has become a common allergy so we are not talking about one child in the whole school who could become ill--there are many.
Then Sue mentions the sculpture again. I wish this one would just go away forever, or that someone would publicly speak up and put the accurate information out there. For anyone who might be reading this that doesn't know the story, last year, the high school art teacher came to a school board meeting with a proposal to put a series of sculptures at the high school representing each of the foreign wars. He had a sketch of the Vietnam sculpture which showed a soldier with bullets wrapped around his neck. A few of the board members questioned that, in light of the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons, perhaps the high school might not be the best place to put such a sculpture. However, the board unanimously APPROVED the sculpture. Then the artist decided to withdraw his "offer" because he didn't like the fact that he was questioned about it. It also turns out that he had taken the image for the sculpture straight from a photograph in a high school textbook but was passing it off as original artwork. The photo was not copywrited, so technically it isn't plagiarism--it's just wrong anyway. The sculpture is now in the city park which is a much better place for it anyway.
As for laws on sodas, cigarettes and seatbelts, legislators have to pass laws in these areas because people seem too stupid to know what is good for them. If they get fat, they sue fast food restaurants. If a family member dies in a car accident and wasn't buckled in, they sue the car manufacturer. And cigarettes--come on! There are so many things wrong with smoking that I can't even begin to address them all.
So, Sue, you seem to be one of the people that are too stupid to do the right thing, so the administrators and legislators are forcing you to make good decisions. The reason it comes to legislation and policy-making is because we are a "YES" society. We say yes to bad habits that make us fat and unhealthy and then we want to blame everyone else.
Go ahead and eat your peanut butter sandwich Sue.

Starlicious

I just noticed that the last four layouts I posted have stars on them. I am very into stars right now. They just seem to go with "boy" pages. With girls, you can do flowers, bows, hearts, birdies, and more. But with boys, the choices are a little more limited.

I am working on our preschool's Family Reading Night Sports Spectacular. It should be fun. We have some fun little stuff planned. Hopefully it will go smoothly and no one will be disappointed.

I think we drove through Decatur's tornado yesterday. Scary. Parker will probably be freaked out by storms from now on.

Kindergarten registration went shockingly well. Parker is just not usually good in those type of situations. He is a worrier like me and stuff like that just makes him nervous and anxious. However, I didn't say a word about the testing part until we were at the registration so that he didn't have time to think about it. I promised to buy him some Legos if he didn't fuss and cooperated. I was holding my breath when they came to get him, but he marched right in--NO PROBLEM! I could hardly believe it. I'm no fool though and I know that there is no way the first day of school will be drama-free. For either one of us! Oh yes, a little bragging here--the only question he couldn't answer on the test was his birthday. That is my fault so it doesn't even count, right?

Here is a picture of my baby with Tracy's baby. Jack really likes Jacob. As crazy as he is, he has always been very gentle and loving with babies.

X Box woes

He is playing Star Wars Legos on the Xbox as I write this. It's 9:22 p.m. He has kindergarten registration tomorrow. This is a recipe for disaster.
Better get him to bed!

Brotherly Love

I just realized that I forgot to add the date to this page. This happed today, but the picture is from back in November. And yes, I got all teary when I saw them hugging today. Parker saw me and rolled his eyes. He's growing up way, way too fast for my taste.

My parent/teacher conference with Mrs. Lamb is tomorrow. I am anxious to see what she has to say--actually I can pretty much guess. Parker is a lot more outgoing than he was last year but he is still reluctant to answer questions. For some reason he automatically says, "I don't know." when asked questions like, "What number is this?" or "When is your birthday?" I know he knows the answers but just doesn't want to think about it. Does that mean he's lazy, or unmotivated, or just being difficult? I don't know. I know he'll always do fine in school, but I want him to excel. Wow--I sound like I'm going to start pressuring him already. Speaking of smart kids, Jack is finally showing some signs of intelligence. I know that sounds mean, but we wondered about him sometimes. I think the tide might finally be turning. However, I know better than to get my hopes up that we'll have smooth sailing with him from now on. I love them to pieces no matter how smart they are!!!

The fine art of "nuggling"

I am really enjoying looking back through my journals and finding things that I had forgotten. I haven't forgotten "nuggling" because it's still one of Parker's favorite things--and mine too. So glad I put this memory in scrapbook form. Lots and lots to do today so I had better get going.

Trying to Change.....

This is a very bad scan so use your imagination a little bit. The last several layouts I've done have been pretty much straight out of Creating Keepsakes magazines. I change them for my own taste, but it's pretty much copying and you know what--that's just fine with me. Not every idea has to be original. If you see a page you like--copy it!!!! I just did this layout last night, but the journaling is my actual thoughts on that day. I keep a journal for both of my kids and write in it as much as possible--especially on significant occasions like birthdays. I love looking back at what they were up to at the time. Now, this blog is kind of serving the same purpose.
I am going to attempt to change my scrapbooking approach which I will write more about later. So far, so good. See how this is a birthday page--but not about a party or cake? That's the direction I would like to go. I want to scrapbook the feelings and emotions, not just the event. If you are a scrapbooker, I bought Stacy Julian's book The Big Picture and have read it cover-to-cover. She is a genious!!!!!

The Collapse of Jack

This is a picture of Jack sleeping today. I seem to post a lot of pictures of my kids sleeping, huh? Anyway, I think this one is funny because he was watching Parker play Star Wars on the Xbox and just sort of collapsed. We played outside for about an hour today--that fresh winter air does it to him every time! And just in case you are concerned--I laid him down on the couch right after I took the above picture

As for this picture below--this is NOT a toddler. He looks soooo grown-up to me. I thought he couldn't look more like Travis than he already did, but this pictures says I was wrong.

Perspective

I went to Walmart tonight and when I was leaving, I saw something interesting. There was a woman who looked to be in her late 20's who was in a wheelchair. I saw her leave the store pushing a full shopping cart. Not a motorized wheelchair--the kind you use your hands to roll the wheels with. She pushed the cart to her car and started unloading the bags into her trunk. As I walked by, I asked if I could give her a hand. She said "No thanks. I think I can manage." And she did--with ease. Then, as I pushed my cart back to the cart return, here she came rolling hers back to the cart return too. Now, it was not particularly convenient for either of us, but we did it. The point of this story is that this woman really made me stop and think. I am pretty good about returning my shopping cart--but not always because I think it's too much of a hassle somtimes. Obviously it isn't ever going to be as much of a hassle for me as it was for this woman. Keep in mind that there is still snow on the ground too which makes the whole cart thing slightly more difficult than usual even for the able-bodied. Beyond that, she managed to do her grocery shopping while in a wheelchair and I can't seem to manage shopping with 2 kids. Surely shopping while being paralyzed is harder than shopping with little kids!? Just a little bit of perspective for me.

JACOB HAS ARRIVED!!!

He's here! Meet Ryan Jacob Montgomery (to be called Jacob). He arrived today a little after 5:00 p.m. weighing in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. That is 2 pounds bigger than Stella was! His mommy wasn't feeling too great so I didn't talk to her much. I will post more details later.

Big Brother

These pictures are among the 1400 I just had printed. See, I'm already diving in! These were taken 3 years ago--almost to the day. Back when Jack was still really good. For the first two weeks of his life, he was an angel. He slept a lot and didn't fuss too much. Then all hell broke loose. For the next 3 weeks after that all he did was cry--no, SCREAM in agony. His eyes would roll around and he would scratch and claw and twist and arch his back. Talk about the longest 3 weeks of my life! Then we got him medicated for reflux and he was more managable. He was by no means easy--but at least he didn't cry CONSTANTLY! I don't mean to sound crappy about Jack as an infant but it was definitely the hardest thing I've ever gone through.

On that happy note, Tracy and Ryan will most likely have their baby boy tomorrow. Let the craziness begin!!! This is Stella in her Valentine's Day outfit. How stinking cute is she!? For anyone who doesn't know, her baby brother is arriving tomorrow and she will be 14 months old on Monday. I'm sure that Tracy and Ryan will be able to handle everything just fine. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they bought a new house on Monday and will be closing at the end of March. If anyone can do it--Tracy can! Please keep them in your prayers though!

For Stay-At-Home Moms

I saw this on another blog and I thought it was neat. If you are NOT a stay-at-home mom, you might not want to look at this. If you are---LISTEN. It's just what you want to hear on one of those days when you are feeling overwhelmed as a mom. Actually, this is what you want hear on any day. Grab a tissue first though!! Seriously!

***EDITED IN RESPONSE TO MAUREEN'S COMMENT***:
I stand corrected. The sort of ironic thing about this song is that it was posted on the blog of Lisa Bearnson who is the founder of Creating Keepsakes magazine. She has a nanny (she has done layouts about her nanny) so I wouldn't exactly call her a stay-at-home mom. I have been to Maureen's school--she has the cream of the crop. (that was sarcasm) However, being a stay-at-home mom because you refuse to work because you get more $ on public aid than working is NOT my definition of a stay-at-home mom. I am the first to admit that I do not know how working moms do it all. I'm home all day and can't get anything done so how they do it in a few morning and evening hours is beyond me!

Yeah 3!

How is that for a cheesy smile!? Poor guy--he gets a bike the day before the biggest snow we've had in years! The past few years it has been pretty mild around Jack's birthday but not this year. He will have to wait a bit to take the bike for a spin. It's small enough that he can ride a little bit in the house so he's happy. He said, "this is the best present ever." Can't get much better than that, right?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!!!

I can't believe my baby is 3. I am always a little melancholy about birthdays. Of course it's wonderful that you have made it through another year and, especially with children, such amazing growth appears over the course of year. However, I am not fond of change and a birthday always represents change. I can remember being so sad about turning 10 because I wouldn't be a single digit anymore. Weird.

THE CASTLE PARTY

The castle party was a success. The most important thing was that Jack had a great time and loved all his "castle" stuff. The first picture is his invitation. You pull the flag out and open the drawbridge and the 2nd picture is what was inside. Trust me when I say that scrapbooking tools made this pretty simple AND I only made 12 of them. The assembly line process works every time! The castle is obviously just an oven box painted with leftover paint from my house. I used an old auto sponge to make the "bricks". I searched high and low for a dragon shirt and couldn't find one so I bought $3.50 t-shirt from Walmart and drew a dragon on it and colored it with fabric markers. The shield is from Dollar Tree and I wired it onto a leftover piece of cardboard which I painted red. I wired it to our front door. The most fabulous cake-maker ever, Cindy Beck, made the castle cake. I brought the castle to her ($3.99 from Gordman's) and told her to do whatever she wanted. Awesome! They all loved the graham cracker drawbridge! Her cakes actually taste even better than they look. Really.

You know what, it does take a fair amount of time and effort to pull off a party like this but look at Jack's face. It's totally worth it!

The Pictures Have Arrived

Yippee! I got my 1399 pictures today. They look great. I am very pleased with the quality. They are bright and sharp and on good quality paper. Now I have to get albums to put all these pictures in. I may have to go with the box filing system because I would end up with 50 albums by the time Jack reaches kindergarten. However, that will not really help the organizational situation much.

Tomorrow is registration day for Pee-Wee baseball. Parker already says he isn't playing. Well guess what buddy? YOU ARE! He's going to be on a team anyway. I'm sure it will be a fight every step of the way, but it will be good for him. For the record, he loves baseball--he is just pulling a "Parker" and refusing to try something.

How about Anna Nicole Smith? I know she probably wasn't the greatest person. She certainly led a questionable lifestyle, but no one should die when they are 39 years old. I felt sorry for her ever since her son died. Can you imagine being so happy that you have a new baby only to lose your first baby a few days later? So sad, really. I have never understood why anyone would seek fame. It appears to me to be such a burden.

On a lighter note, here is Jack a year ago at his 2nd birthday.

Worth It

We have a bit of cabin fever here, so even though it is COLD, the boys and I went outside to play in the snow this afternoon. Well, they played and I shoveled. I actually enjoy shoveling snow because I think it is invigorating. I'm sure I wouldn't feel that way if we got more snow than what we do. So, you know what a hassle it is to get kids into their snow gear. I have it fairly streamlined at this point, but it is still a pain. Then I have to get into my snow gear too all the while I'm thinking about how it's even worse to get the wet, cold snow gear off when we're done. Anyway, we went outside and all was well for a little while. Parker used the mound I had shoveled to make a tunnel and was quietly and methodically playing when along comes Jack the Destroyer and jumps on the mound/tunnel completely obliterating all of Parker's efforts. That is soooo Jack. So this sets Parker off into a dramatic wailing fit. He cried and cried and cried. He put his head down, face first in the snow and sobbed for about 10 minutes. Really. Jack said, "Parker, you can build a new one. I help." Well, at least he tried. Parker wasn't having any of it though. I finished shoveling and we went inside and Parker continued his fit in his room. Then, they both lay down on their respective couches, turned Baby Einstein Mozart on (this is not a typical choice for them) which led to this:

This makes all the effort and drama worth it. I love the effect of a cold, snowy day!! I think I'm going to go lay down for a bit myself and enjoy the peace and quiet!! Happy Afternoon!

Silly Boys and a Blast From the Past

See, I'm back to making my own embellishments. I cut the circles with my Fiskars circle cutter (one of my favorite tools thanks to Shelly!) And cut the little trees from a piece of patterned paper. I used my new Cropadile to put the brads and snaps on the top circle and voila--custom embellishments for a fraction of the price! Since I scanned this, I switched the two small red circles so now the pink tree is at the top and the dot tree is at the bottom. More eye-pleasing that way. Normally, I don't think there is a "right" way to do a layout and that no layout is "bad" but sometimes there is a little something you can change to make it better. However, I do not go back to old layouts and change anything. This one was still out on my desk, so it was fair game!

I was thinking that the Xbox does have one good quality--it kept Parker occupied while I sorted through 1400 pictures! Which, by the way, took many, many hours over the course of a week. It will all be worth it. My sister is in absolute shock that I actually spent that much money to order pictures. I AM CHEAP!!! That tells you just how determined I am to do this. In the process of going through old pictures, I also found some VERY old photos including this one of my Mt. Zion friends. I believe this was Christmas of 1992. My only clue to the date is that Courtney, who is now 14, is a baby in the picture. My friends are probably going to kill me if they see this. Oh well, we have aged pretty well I would say.

EDITED TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL INFO:

I am in sitting on the couch 2nd from the right. I am wearing a red plaid jacket and I know I had on black stretch pants--possibly with black ankle boots!
On the couch are from left: Michelle Floyd Williams , Heather York Dennis, Sherri Carl Shelton w/Courtney, Me, Laura Richardson Kosinski

In front: Carmin Haskett Bartow, Jennifer McCain
You know what is really nuts about this is picture is that we aren't that young. I had graduated from college, Michelle, Sherri and Laura were married at the time and Heather might have been engaged. Oh and Jenny had an almost 5 year old. Don't get me wrong--22 is young it's just not 18.

Holy Cow

Well, I did it. I actually ordered my prints. I managed to whittle it down a little bit and ordered 1399 pictures. OUCH! It's going to make me soooo happy when they arrive and then I spend the rest of 2007 trying to get them into albums. In case you don't want to do the math, the cost for the prints was $124.11 (you got 20 free) and shipping was $46.25. That shipping sounds like a HUGE amount, but when you break it down it means that each print, including shipping was a little over 12 cents. That's cheaper than anywhere else I could find. If you know of someplace else, please DO NOT tell me. I don't want to know at this point!!!!! I will let everyone know how the quality of the prints turns out. Wouldn't that be a bummer if I end up with 1400 crappy pictures!?

I really dislike football, so we are not watching the Super Bowl. I just don't care.

I really dislike our Xbox. I can almost see Parker losing brain cells. So much for my amazingly creative child. If it were up to me, I would get rid of the thing. For the record, I was against the purchase but it showed up on Christmas morning in spite of my disapproval.

The curse of being messy

I have mentioned a few posts ago that I am in the process of weeding through 3 years worth of digital pictures so I can have them all printed. It has been such a frustrating process! Basically what I have been doing is uploading all my memory discs onto a photo printing site and then deleting all the ones that I already have a print. The problem is that I would get a few discs done and then find another handful of pictures that I had stashed somewhere. Being disorganized is a curse on so many levels! The good thing is that the more prints I have managed to find, the fewer I have to have printed. So, I think I am pretty much done with the weeding and now I just have to place the order. The grand total???? Drumroll please.....1448 pictures to be printed! YIPES!!!! It's o.k. because I thought it was going to be worse. I've heard good things about the Clark Color Lab so that is who I am using. They have .09 cent prints which is the main reason I'm using them. My plan is to put all of these pictures into albums in chronological order and then pick which pictures I will scrapbook. As I remove a picture from the album, I will order another copy to replace it in the album. Doesn't that sound organized and efficient!? I'll let you know if I actually am able to keep up with it. The moral of all of this is to PRINT your digital photos in a timely manner. What is the point of taking great photos if they just sit on your computer where no one can see them? The other moral is if I was more organized in the first place, this would not have been such a big deal!
Well, Jack's birthday party is coming up on Saturday which means that this week MUST be dedicated to cleaning house. I always clean better when I have a deadline. The trick will be to keep it clean for more than a few days. I've been doing a lot of reading about cleaning and organizing and the truth is that a messy house makes you feel messy inside. For me, this is very true. That's why it's time to take control and do something about it. I always say that I hate it when people bitch about something but do nothing to change it. That's pretty much what I have been doing about my house and my weight. So it's time for ACTION!!! Seriously!!! I mean it!!!
Don't laugh. This is important! ;-)
I have a lot of things to chat about today so check back later. I plan on posting again today--after I do some cleaning!

Brrrrrr................

This is an old, old layout, but isn't it funny? I love Jack's little round head!

Oh my good golly... IT IS COLD!!!! Ugh. I can't stand it. I am trying hard to keep our power bill down, so I keep the house at 69 which is seeming very, very cold right now. Our house is always cold. We need new windows and insulation....along with about a million other things.

Got my hair highlighted today so I am no longer a skunk. It's a little more "golden" than I would like, but I like it--it's definitely better than the black and yellow I was sporting!

I want to scrapbook, but my "office" is FREEZING and I can't stop shivering. I could put one of our little space heaters in there, but there is something not quite right about the wiring in that room and if we have more than one thing plugged in, it blows a fuse. One time, I turned the light switch on and flames came shooting out. Scary, huh?

I hate video games, they are turning Parker's mind into mush. He lives, breathes, eats, sleeps Star Wars Legos for Xbox. On one hand, it's fun to see him so excited about something, but on the other hand, it is all he wants to do.

I better go wake Jack up from his nap. Looks like another night of him being up until 11:00. We are having sleep issues around here.

The Simple Life

After I just blogged about how I make most of my own embellishment, I do a layout where I really didn't make too much at all. I swear it is harder for me to do it this way than make my own stuff. Either way, it's still fun.

Parker had a friend over today. It is always funny to hear him interact with other kids. He sounds very bossy and dictatorial to me, but kids seem to like him. It is always hard for me to keep from interfering when I hear a dispute. However, I am practicing restraint and letting them figure it out on their own, which they inevitably do.

I made butterscotch cookie bars last night and can't quit eating them so I gave a plate of them away and will throw away the rest. Again, where is that discipline!?

My friend, Dawn, gave me a book about simplifying your life in 30 days. Each day, you are to do one thing working toward the goal of a simple life. It has a lot of good suggestions and some that are questionable. I love all the ideas about getting rid of anything you don't need or use which is a big problem for me, but I'm not liking the ideas about getting rid of framed pictures and decorative things. Of course, they do say that you needn't do everything they suggest, you should do what works for you. I cleaned out my jewelry chest last night and threw out a lot of single earrings, broken bracelets and watches, and tarnished necklaces. It felt GOOD! Now I need to continue doing this with the rest of my house. Dawn, if you read this, thank you for loaning the book to me!

I am getting my hair highlighted tomorrow. I have 2 inches of black growth down the middle of my head. I look like a skunk in reverse.

I signed Jack up for preschool for next year. I can't believe how time has just flown by. He was just a few days old when I first signed Parker up for preschool. CRAZY! There were 7 kids on the list already. Mrs. Lamb is going to have her hands very, very full next year.

Travis just got home and I made a roast for dinner and I've been smelling it cooking all day. YUM!

So here's the gripe......

Last week there was an article in the Herald and Review about how kid's birthday parties have gotten out of control. A woman in Minnesota has formed a group that advocates eliminating these kind of parties. Yesterday, a gentelman in our area wrote a letter to the editor agreeing with the article and saying "kids don't care about themes, etc." Well, he has never met my kids. They (especially) Parker LOVE their theme parties and I love putting them together. Now I realize that some people go completely overboard by doing things like hiring entertainment, extravagant goody bags, and so on, but I have a feeling that the Minnesota mom would not like my parties either. I have always told everyone that my kids parties may look expensive, but my only real investment is my time. It was worth every hour of my time to see the fun Parker and his friends had with the pirate ships I made. It is worth the $20.00 I spent on camo hats to see how much fun Parker and his friends had being "soldiers". And the time I am going to spend painting a cardboard box and turning into a castle will be sooooo worth it when Jack sees it for the first time. I don't understand how anyone can be angry about OTHER people having over-the-top birthday parties. If you don't like it, don't have one for your kid. If your kid get's upset, well, they will have to deal with it. My kids get upset all the time when they can't have things that I don't want them to have, but guess what, I deal with it and they are learning that they can't have everything they want. Let me give you an example: I do not allow my kids to play on the play area at the mall or McDonald's (unless we are with a group of kids who are allowed to play on them) but I don't plan on starting a group to protest mother's who do let their kids play on these things. (reasons to not like the play areas: 1. YUCKY! 2. too much time 3. too many mean kids 4. too many parents that don't pay attention to their mean kid who is harassing my kid)

So, the bottom line is: if you don't like fancy birthday parties, don't have one for your kid but don't make me and my kids feel bad because we LOVE them and plan on having them until the kids get sick of them. Up next--Jack's castle party!!!!!!!!!!!

This and That

See, I actually followed through on my promise and made a birthday page about Macie. Yeah PINK! For any scrapbookers out there, here are some thoughts for you. Scrapbooking can be pretty expensive. When you figure the cost of paper, embellishments, adhesives, etc. But I simply cannot afford to spend a lot of money on scrapbooking. My solution? I make almost all of my own embellishments. Of course I buy them too, but I try to buy things that I know I can use on lots of pages, like: ribbon, brads, eyelets. On this page, I made all of my doo-dads. I made the tag, cut out the letters from a stencil, used a punch for the flowers and circles and made my own photo corners. You can't tell from the scan, but the "girl" is stamped acrylic paint covered in glitter and the centers for the flowers and on the sides of "Macie" are rhinestones (not scrapbook rhinestones, the super cheap kind from the jewelry aisle) The point of all this is that you don't have to spend anything but time to do all this stuff. And, yes, time is very valuable too, but I spent it doing something I LOVE to do, so it is worth it!
So, you might wonder, if I was busy making all these doo-dads, how did the house-cleaning go? Well, my kitchen sink looks great which is the first step towards a clean house according to the flylady She gives a day-to-day method to get in control of your house. I have tried this before and given up, but I'm going to try again. The two main reasons I never manage to clean are Parker and Jack, so yesterday I removed the problems from the house--we went to the mall! They were BOTH angels. They both held my hands the whole time (obviously Jack ran off frequently but he never threw a fit when I retrieved him!) Our purpose in being there was to make a return and look at the pets (not to buy, just to give them a pet "fix".) So, if I had actually wanted to shop, I'm sure it would have been a different story but because I didn't have any expectations, it was a very pleasant trip. Isn't it awful that I am so surprised when my kids behave!?
I am going to make another post later today so be sure to check back. I have something to gripe about.

NO PETS ALLOWED!

I have had this paper forever and could never seem to find a use for it. To me, it has a kind of "retro" bowling type look to it. I think it worked perfectly. Well, maybe not perfectly, but I am very pleased! I even managed to add some "bling" to a mostly boy page. If you are wondering why this layout is pretty much about Macie's birthday but there is only one little picture of her, that's because I am going to do a layout just about her next.

I added a counter to the bottom of my blog so I can see how many people actually visit. Keep in mind that probably 80% of that number is from me because I look all the time to see if anyone has left a comment. Needless to say, I am usually disappointed. :-( That's o.k. I just do this because it's fun!

I have one big goal this week--A CLEAN HOUSE! It's out of control!!!!!!!

To my scrapbooking friends, Hobby Lobby has a good sale on paper this week, 12x12:5/$1 and 8 1/2x11:8/$1 This is when I like to stock up on lots and lots of cardstock. My advice is to buy lots of the colors you like best because you will find yourself using these all the time. (At least I do!) I go through a huge amount of green paper because I love GREEN!

At this very moment Parker is hanging on me begging for a kitten. Thanks Handy Manny. (He and the tools got a kitten today.) (P.S. If you watch Handy Manny--you probably know that Wilmer Valderama does his voice. All I can ever think when I watch that show is that he dated that slutty Lindsey Lohan. Well, she seems slutty to me. I don't know why. Maybe she's a nice girl. Sorry Lindsey. Anyway, Handy Manny must have a wild side. Does Kelly know he dated Lindsey!?) Parker is saying, "please, please, please, please, please, please......................" If you know me, you know that Parker can talk me into just about anything, so......................THERE IS NO WAY, NO HOW, NOT EVER ARE WE GETTING A CAT (OR THE DOG THAT JACK IS WANTING!) please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please......................................................................................................................Make it stop!!!!!!

I HATE American Idol

First of all, this is my blog and I am allowed to say whatever I want. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with watching American Idol. So, if you are the type of person who is going to get pissy because I don't like American Idol, then stop reading now.


I just want to spark a controversy. (Of course, if no one reads my blog, then it really isn't very controversial, is it!?) Anyway, I really do hate American Idol. I am not a music person at all. In fact, I can't tell you the last CD I bought. Oh yeah, I can. It was the Laurie Berkner Band (children's music) But I don't really think American Idol is about music. It's about people being willing to completely humilate themselves just to appear on television. Unfortunately, Travis does watch it (well, he stops momentarily while he flips stations because he never watches anything for more than a few minutes before he flips the channel) so I do have the misfortune of hearing and seeing some of the show. I honestly don't get it. I also hate talk shows, I REALLY hate awards shows and any type of show where people are judged. These people are just embarrassing themselves. I did see the first time Carrie Underwood appeared and I will admit that it is kind of neat to know that she eventually won, but could I sit through months of watching idiots just to say that I saw her when she was just a lowly contestant--NO WAY!!! Oddly enough, I got sort of hooked on that show on MTV about the high school football team called "Two-A-Days" I just loved watching the drama of high school and remembering how everything seem so important. I sure wish the biggest thing I had to worry about now was winning the football game and who I'm going to homecoming with! Oh for the good old days! Anyway, back to American Idol. If anyone would like to explain why people love it, please let me know because I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My ongoing battle with saving digital pictures

This scan of Stella's birthday did not turn out very well because of those lumpy buttons. I just love pink pages. I still can't believe I did a pink page about Jack. Parker would have a stroke if I made a pink page about him. Maybe I should just do it and see what happens.

I am sooooo frustrated with my digital picture storage system. For over 2 years, I wasn't really sure how to back up my pictures onto discs so I just used the "Back-Up and Restore" feature on our system. However, there was no semblence of order to how it saved the pictures. It would also put several copies of some pictures onto the disc. Luckily, about 6 months ago I figured out how to save in a more orderly and efficient way--or at least I thought I did. As I mentioned, I have been going back through the digital images because I want to print 3 years worth of pictures. In doing this, I found random pictures that were not showing up on the memory discs. I have no idea why but I'm betting that it was human error, not the computer. Anyway, I think I have managed to fix it, but it just takes FOREVER and I feel like I keep starting the same process over and over and over. Eventually I will get this done and I will have hard copy photo albums to look at whenever I please. I will still scrapbook many, many pictures of course, but I want to start focusing on emotions instead of events. Of course most events have a lot of emotions involved so they go hand-in-hand as far as I'm concerned.

Sara and the Terrible, Horrible, Awful, No-Good, Very Bad Day

I am going through 3 years worth of digital pictures and trying to get organized so I am hoping to do a lot of "catch-up" type layouts in the near future. I haven't done Jack's 1st or 2nd birthday and his 3rd birthday is just a few weeks away. Oops! I am soooo into stars right now on my layouts. I love these star sequins. They were super cheap (25 cents for 50 stars!) and they just seem perfect for boys. Who knew? Boys and sequins--hopefully this is the only time I am talking about my boys and sequins in the same sentence!!!!!!
Yesterday was the day from hell! Parker through a HUGE, HORRIBLE, UGLY fit as I drug him (literally) into school. He kicked me and screamed that he hated me, etc. I have no idea what sets him off. Thank goodness these scenes are only occasional events. After I forcibly removed Parker from me, Jack and I drove to Hobby Lobby (and yes, I was crying). When we got to Hobby Lobby Jack started screaming and saying that he wasn't getting out. So we left. No point in dragging another screaming kid around. So, I went home grouchy and sad and feeling like a terrible mother. After I picked Parker up from school (of course he recovered quickly and had a good day) I stopped at Krekel's and got a double cheeseburger and fries. Now I'm FAT, grouchy and sad and still a lousy mother. Well, I've gotten over the grouchiness and sadness and feeling sorry for myself, but I'm sure that cheeseburger is showing up on my butt already! Luckily, my saintly parents watched the boys for a few hours today while I ran to Hobby Lobby. I also got lunch from Panera (something I NEVER do with my kids) and picked some stuff up at Walmart. So far, not an awful day. However, I must do some cleaning so Travis thinks I actually do something while I'm home. (Other than the daily ritual of laundry, dishes, picking up toys, taking care of children stuff that doesn't seem to count.)

Sometimes it's hard to remember, but.......

There are lots of things I love about Jack and these are just a few of them that I wrote down off the top of my head. I am always complaining about how difficult he is (and he is) but he's also very sweet and special and I love him like crazy!

How does she do it?????

There is a scrapbooking icon named Heidi Swapp whom I just adore. She has a blog that I read religously and I always love to hear what she has going on. She has her own line of scrapbook products which are awesome. Anyway, she has four kids--her youngest is 5 months old and she is expecting her 5th--in 6 months. I am just fascinated by how she seems to be able to do EVERYTHING! I mean, I can't even seem to manage my small house and 2 kids. She has 4 kids, a huge house and a business that requires tons of attention. She works out and they always seem to be going on family trips. Wow. She really is an inspiration to me. I realize that I don't know everything that goes on in this woman's life but it doesn't matter--she's still cool. Maybe tomorrow, I will try to me more like her and do some laundry AND make a scrapbook page. It's always good to start small.

Clean Room--For Now

I have been obsessing about my house today so I thought I would post a picture of my living room. The boys are at my parents so I cleaned this room. I will have to post a picture later after they come home. It won't take long for it to be destroyed. I am still working on this room. I want to add some color to the mantle and I need something for the wall next to the armoire but overall, I am very pleased with how the new furniture has changed the feel of this room. Now, for the rest of the house! I have been chatting with my friend Dawn about remodeling and she has me all fired up to DO IT. I mean knock down walls and get new cabinets and make BIG changes. We will see. Like I always tell people--I am a great "idea" person and not a great "action" person.
As for cleaning--is it bad that I feel like I needed to get out a rake to gather all the toys that were on the floor? And just in case you were wondering, all the crap from the living room is just sitting in other rooms now. That's how I clean--just move junk from one room to the next. Where is that discipline I was talking about????????? ;-)

18 Years and Counting

I've already posted these photos, but now they are in scrapbook form. I love this layout because it is so grown-up. 99% of the time I am doing "kid" pages, so it was a nice change of pace to do an adult page--about me. Actually, I should probably do more pages about the things that I am interested in. Whether it's tomorrow or 60 years from now, I want my sons to know about me. I suppose it should be obvious to them that the most important thing to me is THEM! But I do have a few other interests too (although it's sometimes hard to remember that!) Sometimes I start to feel that scrapbooking is silly and a waste of time--couldn't I accomplish the same thing by putting the photos in an album and jotting down a quick caption? Well, I read a blog entry by a woman who said that when she was in her 40's, her mother brought her an old, raggedy box. She didn't know what it was and when she opened it, she was very sad. It was her lifetime in pictures and mementos, just shoved carelessly into a box. Things were bent and stained--ruined. She had always had issues with her mother, but this was tangible proof that her mother just really didn't care that much. OUCH! I don't think this means that you have to scrapbook to show that you care about your family--it's just a fun, crafty-art way to do it and it sort of forces you to journal about the moment but you should do SOMETHING! My dad keeps all our treasures in a lovely wood box. My boys love to look through it and see stuff about me and Tracy. My mom used to be great about putting pictures in albums. She doesn't do that anymore, but she does keep them together and somewhat organized. So, scrapbooking--or better yet, preserving, is important. At least that's what I keep telling myself as I buy more and more and more paper!

I can't make up my mind!

So, if you visit my blog on any type of regular basis, you must surely have noticed that I keep changing the colors of the layout. Well, it's like a toy for me. I like to play with it and I have not yet found the "perfect" color combo for me. I have a somewhat limited pallet to choose from so this cannot go on indefinitely. So, now I'm thinking that maybe simple is best and let's try a white background for a while. I want to figure out how to make a banner and how to add links. That will surely impress the 2 or 3 people who actually read my ramblings about nothing! ;-)
As for the DISCIPLINE, well, I'm working on it. It's one of those "baby step" type deals. I can't go from being completely undisciplined and unstructured to being Martha Stewart overnight, right!? I wouldn't say that Martha is my inspiration but she does seem like an extremely disciplined person doesn't she? (Except maybe for that very undisciplined and ugly insider-trading mess!)

DISCIPLINE

Well, with one week of the new year gone already, I haven't kept even one of my resolutions. Wow. That's sad. However, there is no time like the present to start over. I will not be sharing my resolutions, but if you know me, you can probably guess what at least a few of them are. On a blog that I visit everyday, the author encouraged readers to choose a single word that would define their upcoming year. Last year, her word was "play" and this year it is "peace." I gave this some thought and decided that I am going to embrace this idea and I have chosen a word. It's DISCIPLINE. That probably seems a little strange but I feel like I need discipline in almost every aspect of my life--food, organization, children, marriage, relationships, exercise, etc...... Since Parker's birth, my life has had no real time table or structure. I really like this, but now that kindergarten is 8 months away (GULP) I think it is high time to add some structure to all our lives. Oddly enough, Jack is the only person in our family with any type of regular schedule. He gets up around 7:00, naps at 1:30, goes to bed around 9:00. Of course, any time that he isn't sleeping he is wrecking my somewhat lame attempts at any kind of structure. MANIAC!!!!! Well, Parker has invited a friend over tomorrow so I must attempt to clean my house so that he doesn't go home and tell his mom that Parker's house is really messy! (This has happened to me before.)

Christmas Cookies--Cheater Style

Wooly Worm

For some reason, my scanner does not really scan colors very well. My layouts always look lighter at the bottom than the top. So, use your imagination and pretend that the color is the same on the whole page. As I was doing this page, I thought, they weren't even all that impressed by the wooly worm, so why am I doing a page about it? But, I love the picture of Jack and the wooly worm was part of a very enjoyable day. I loved wooly worms when I was a kid. Why weren't my kids interested? In fact, I told Jack that it was a wooly worm and he said, "It's a caterpillar." I guess I should have journaled about that, huh!?

By the way, I got the idea for this layout (the way the pics and papers are laid out anyway) from Ali Edwards book about patterned paper. LOVE IT (the book, I mean!)