Trimming the Tree

Yes, I know it's a little late. In fact, I am actually adding these pictures on January 4th, 2009. Oops. But, better late than never. :)

With Tyler working so much, relying on him to bring the Christmas Tree up from the basement was proving to be a LONG wait. I had a feeling it would be Christmas Eve before the tree came up. So, one night I made up my mind and I brought it up myself. OUCH! Man, that thing is heavy for one person to bring up the stairs. It fought me all the way, and Blake helped me up the last bit of stairs where it gets a bit narrow to maneuver. The kids were very excited to see the tree, but it had to wait several more days for me to get the lights out of the basement. I HATE putting up the lights. I always think of that parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas" with the line "hanging up the lights!" about the 12 not-so-great things about Christmas. LOL.

Anyway, I brought up all of the lights on the 18th of December, only to discover that my light strands were all half-working. *SIGH* So, with the kids wound up out of their minds and Tyler left behind with them (hee hee hee), I went to Shopko to get lights. And they were out. So, I bought a few other things (of course) and then went to Wal-Mart where I bought three sets of 200 light strands. Hey, what can I say? I think my mom said she usually put 700 lights on this tree, so I figured 600 should suffice. To make a long story shorter, we only ended up putting 400 lights on the tree ... Tyler helped me and made it much more bearable ... we played jump rope over the top of the tree as we wound the lights around the tree ... and the kids were in bed before it was finished. LOL

So, we put ornaments on a different night, which is what you see here. *PHEW!* If you read all of my blabbering, I applaud you ... and apologize because I know it is probably similar to your own light-stringing story. :)

Blake wanted to put the ornaments on the top of the tree ... he used the step ladder.


Julia wanted to put all of her favorite ornaments next to each other ... I bet so they could have a conversation! ROFLMBO!


And every child of mine has fallen for the lollypop ornament ... this was Chase's turn:


Thanks for looking! :)

Lightroom...

We were on our way to go meet Tyler for lunch. We had just had our second "sticking" snowfall of the winter. The kids played instead of getting in the car, naturally ... and Chase got hit with snow a couple times, but he didn't mind! Check out the amazing coloring on this picture ... it was a great shot to begin with, and then I ran it through my trial version of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom version 2.1. Isn't it awesome?




I scrapped this photo ... with some cool effects on it in addition to Lightroom ... and it was published in The Artisan Notebook for January 2009! :)





Just had to share as I haven't posted in a while. :)

~Melinda

Happy 6th Birthday, Blake!

Today was Blake's 6th birthday! After I picked the kids up at daycare, we went to McDonald's (Blake's choice). Then we went and picked out a cake and cupcakes to send to school the next day (they had a field trip today to the Outdoor Classroom, so treats wouldn't work today). When we got home, we sang Happy Birthday and took pictures of Blake with his cake:




Before we dug into the cake, I let Blake open his gift from us (which I picked up on my lunch hour):


Blake ... do you have cake stuck on your front teeth? No?


Smile bigger, please! OMG! You've lost your two front teeth!


And no, he did not know it! LOL! Our best guess is that they fell out at McDonald's, and that either he ate them (blech) or the janitors got to clean them up while sweeping the floors. Hee hee!

This should make an awesome scrapbooking page! :)

Happy Halloween!

I'm so fast, LOL ... check this out!

The One With Good News!

Ok, so I am taking inspiration from a fellow blogger for the title today ... I just can't think of a better one. :)

I seriously was freaking out this morning. Chase has been sick since Monday with the runs. On Tuesday, I stayed home because he was SHAKING as I changed his diaper, and he clearly only wanted his mommy. I could tell he just felt AWFUL.

Yesterday, he was up at 5 am and nearly threw up, but somehow managed to keep it down. Tyler stayed home until I got done with work, as it was my late night (till 7 pm). When I got home, Chase was already in bed. I didn't think anything of it when he didn't wake up before 10 pm ... and since I checked on him and he was ok, I put a blanket on him and went to bed after 11 pm. I awoke this morning to the jolt that he hadn't woken up in the middle of the night as I'd been sure he would. The dilemma: check on him and risk waking him when I know Tyler needs his sleep ... or go to work wondering what is going on behind that door! Around 9:30 am I couldn't stand it anymore and called home. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi! Is Chase awake yet?
DH (Dear Husband): Nope, I was going to give him until 10 am and then go wake him up.
Me: So, he was asleep when I got home last night ... when did he go to bed?
DH: 3:00 or so.
Me: Ha ha. No, seriously, when did you put him down?
DH: Seriously, around 3pm.
(pause)
Me: Go wake him up!
DH: Thanks for the orders.
Me: Seriously, I am freaking out, please go make sure he's ok. (near tears)
DH: Ok.
Me: As in NOW, put the phone down and go do it!
DH: *SIGH* Ok.
(me straining and turning the volume up to hear ... I hear him talking to Chase about getting up, and Chase saying, "No!" -- me breathing a sigh of relief)
DH: Well, he's awake, but he doesn't want to get up.
Me: I don't care, as long as he's alive!

I seriously could hardly think of anything else from the time I got to work. He slept for about 18.5 hours, folks!!!!

The good part of this story ... I called to check on them about 11:30 to see how he was doing, and he was running around and acting like himself again, Tyler said. And, since it had been so long without a runny diaper, he was cleared to go to daycare! Phew!!! He fell asleep promptly in the car when I picked him up, so I know he's still not at 100%, but he's eating and back to much healthier diapers. THANK GOODNESS! Now, if the rest of us can keep from getting it by Monday, I will call us safe!!

Other good news of the day ... my car's check engine light went off today ... I had opened my trunk today ... it's the only thing I can think of that changed, LOL ... but whatever, it went away! Here's hoping the light stays off!

And ... Tyler's car was worked on and fixed all in one day ... hardly took any time at all, AND it cost much less than anticipated!! Apparently he has easy struts to replace? (just have cartridges?) AND ... Tyler has been offered a job at Wal-Mart! So, that will be a weekend job. He goes in on Monday to accept the offer and do paperwork or whatever. And, apparently he told them daytime hours so that he can be home in the evenings with us. I just hope that he can handle everything with him being on four 10-hour days right now. He doesn't get done with work until 2 am, so it can make for some very short nights depending on when Chase gets up.

Ok, that was a long and newsy post ... thanks for reading!

Melinda

Yep ... fall is here!

Ok, so I said the cooler days would come, and come they did ... although today we did get up to around 60 degrees I think. It was actually pretty nice out, again. I took some pictures on the last of the batteries in my camera ... it shut off on me a few times. But, I kept trying and trying because the lighting was so good! I hope you enjoy the following pictures from today!











And a page using some of these photos ...

Credits: I used a page from the "A Few of My Favorite Things Bracket Album", along with a background paper from Sarah Meyer's kit of the same name! :)

Odd ... summer clothes, fall leaves ...

Today we had a really WARM day ... it was in the 70's! The kids were wearing summer clothes again! So, it felt a little odd to be taking pictures with the pumpkins while the kids were wearing summer clothes ... but oh well! I'm sure there will be time for that later. :)

Enjoy!




Credits: Quick Page by Jennifer Barrette -- Beauti-Fall Quick Page Album available at Gotta Pixel

Published!

Toot!!! I've been published in The Artisan Notebook!!

Here are the two layouts that were featured!


Credits & if you'd like to leave a comment: HERE


Credits & if you'd like to leave a comment: HERE

These were created for two separate "calls" for the magazine. They wanted to feature layouts with relaxing, peaceful colors, and layouts that used blending. So, I went to work to feature kits created by the designers I work for (Michelle Pieters and Sarah Meyer of Gottapixel.net), while making a page I can cherish. If you click on them, you can see them bigger, and please feel free to visit Gotta Pixel to leave comments there. :)

It was quite an honor to be published. I never thought I'd be good enough to be published!! But, I've been told by several people lately that I have talent, so I guess I must be decent. :) I still marvel at so many other people's pages, though, so I don't count myself among the great yet. There is still so much for me to learn, and there are so many scrappers out there who I idolize!!!!

And then he was TWO!

My littlest man turned two today! *SOB* How could he be two already? It really puts it into perspective though when I stop and realize that Blake will be SIX soon. SIX!!! I'm getting old! LOL!

First we had cake ... Chase wasn't really interested in anything but the candles ...


Then we had him open his gifts ...




He had a happy 2nd birthday!

Thanks for looking,
Melinda

Employee Picnic

Time for the annual employee picnic for Tyler's work! They always have great stuff for the kids, and the food is good too! So, we usually go. This year I took pictures with my new camera ... and since no one was "watching" the bounce house I was able to take pictures of my kiddos through the opening. YAY!









I'm looking for suggestions on a kit to use to scrap these ... please link me up with ideas!

He was CLEARED!!!!

It's about *#!@ time! I wish this report would have come out before the trial ended. That shmuck semi driver NEVER should have gotten off!!!! Rest in peace Paul, Mr. G, Mrs. G, their granddaughter, and the student teacher who all passed away in a horrible tragedy coming up on 3 years ago. :(

Here is an article in USA today about the crash: article

Julia's first day of school

Here is a picture of Julia on her first day of school. Sorry for the not-so-great quality. Tyler tried to capture her getting on the bus, but Julia was too quick to get on, and then he quick took the picture because they told her to turn around for a picture, and it was so blurry I was only able to distinguish her because of her pink coat. LOL. Oh well ... good thing mom took a picture before leaving for work! :)



She is in 4 year old Kindergarten this year, in Miss Tracy's class. She was Blake's teacher the last two years. She absolutely loves going to school, and is so excited about being able to ride the bus to and from school.

~Melinda

Tree Climber

Blake was a busy boy today ...




This is our (big) Crab Apple Tree in the back yard. He got up there, and then had to be taught how to get back down, hee hee! :)

First Day ... for real!

Here is a photo of Blake on his REAL first day of school ... just two days later. The temperatures took a dive, and the forecast high was 69 degrees. So, we dug out jeans and his spring coat.



Looking at his pants, he'll need new ones this fall. *Sigh* I can't keep up with him. Julia needs new ones too. It doesn't seem like she's grown much, but her size 4T pants are too short! So, I guess we'll have to go shopping.

Blake rode the bus today after school. He has to transfer buses because of where daycare is. Well, he got on the wrong bus at the transfer school! But, don't worry ... because Blake got to daycare anyway! :) He told the driver how to get to his sitter's house. He is so spatially aware ... and it came in VERY handy. :)

Otherwise, he had a good day ... though in true child fashion, he wasn't able to say much about what he'd done. If I hadn't read "music" was his "special" of the day, I never would have gotten that out of him, hee hee!

First day of School - Blake

Blake's first day of school is complicated this year. According to the school calendar, September 2nd is the first day of school. But, Blake didn't really have school today. We went and met his teacher for a 15 minute conference, and paid for morning milk and other school program stuff. We were there 30 minutes, tops. But, mommy did her job and took a photo:



He is supposed to go for a 2-hour session tomorrow with an adult, but no one is available to take him (because I will not miss 2 hours of work 2 days in a row for start-of-school stuff), so he will have his first FULL day of school on Thursday. I will be taking him to school, and afterward he will ride the bus to daycare. I think he is more excited about it now that we've been there. Julia's first day is on Monday, the 8th of September. She is SO excited! :)

It's almost September!!!

Have you visited Sarah Meyer's blog lately? If not, you might want to keep an eye on it in the next several days ... a certain monthly freebie should be arriving soon!

I've been busy creating TWO desktop calendars, and I'm also working on my Guest CT requirements for Gotta Pixel. I have two awesome kits that I'm honored to work with this week. Then, I also have my Sweet Shoppe Rewards to keep working towards. I think I may fall short of the 30% goal this month, but I am still going to try.

But, the thing I absolutely MUST finish this weekend is my PHOTO BOOK! I have a free credit that is expiring at the end of THIS MONTH! And I just cannot let that go to waste! I need to fill in 4 pages, and it will be DONE! I am so excited. I have to create layouts for those spaces though, because I am missing the full size JPEG files of the pages I'd created that I wanted to put there. Bummer, I know ... but if I keep my act together I'll get it all done in time to get one awesome book reviewing 2007! :) Wish me luck!

FOBTY: Spelling!

I got a B, lol ... will have to check to see which were wrong because I have a feeling that the ones I got wrong are words that can go either way, lol. At the Sweet Shoppe blog today, we were challenged to test our spelling saavy ... here's how I did, and a link to try it yourself!:

Your Common Spelling Mistake Score: 85% Correct

85% Correct Your spelling is excellent. You don't fall for common spelling pitfalls, and you spell almost everything correctly.

Do You Make Common Spelling Mistakes?

FOBTY: Who Were You in High School?

On the Sweet Shoppe Blog this week, Lizzy challenged us to a quiz about who we were in high school ... I was actually a "choir-girl priss" as my husband referred to me, but there weren't any answers relevant to that! LOL!

You Were the Brainy Kid

In high school, you were acing AP classes or hanging out in the computer lab. You may have been a bit of a geek back then, but now you're a total success!

Who Were You In High School?

I'm in the store!! (kinda, lol)

Recently I was talking with a designer friend - Michelle Pieters - who I create layouts for. She was showing me her brag book album made with Bright Star. It was cute, and I thought it would be fun to make one. In the end I created 6 pages using Michelle's Garden of Dreams, and they are now available for purchase in the store at Gotta Pixel!! I am very excited about this, and hope you will go check them out! They are even on sale right now ... so what a deal!



Here is what I've done with it!

FOBTY: Which American Accent do you have?

On the Sweet Shoppe blog for the 14th of August, Angela asked us to try out this quiz ... the questions seemed so obvious to me, of course ... and the answer that came back has me pegged correctly! LOL!!! So ... which accent do YOU have?

Hmmm, I'm not sure where the colored bars went, but the bars range from longest to shortest on which area you are most likely from ... they put my area at the top. And the first question they say I might be asked ... I'd answer, YES!!! Hee hee!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
North Central
The South
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

August Desktop Calendar ...

Each month (since February) I create a calendar using one of fabulous Sarah Meyer's kits, and she gives it away on her blog for others to use as their desktop. What's even better is that she takes my original and adapts it to larger screens! Here is what my desktop looks like ... all snazzed up ... (click on image to see it larger)



I used Sarah's kit: Grandma's Apron Page Kit for the majority of the calendar's design. Go check out Sarah's blog if you need to spice up your desktop, and visit it again in late August/ early September to see another new calendar, and better yet ... pick up the kit, too! :)

~Melinda

Pure Water Days

Today we went to the Pure Water Days parade with my mom. We met up with my Sister-in-Law who brought her daughter, and our nieces "H" and "B". Tyler's cousins also joined us, so there was a good sized group of us together! The parade was full of princesses, cars, and big trucks, and one marching band (GO CARDS! -- that's for you, mom). I wish they would have more bands in it ... they are fun to listen to.

Here are some pictures of the kids as they watched the parade:

Julia trying a root-beer barrel candy ... which she later spit out. They had a blast running for the candy that was tossed out.


Blake (and another little boy) excited about the corvette club coming through.



Chase, who was very good throughout the parade, quietly watching everything.


and one of the clowns who is ready to "SHAVE the whales" instead of "SAVE the whales"! LOL!!


and here is a page I created using "Giggles" by Kristin Cronin-Barrow:


Thanks for looking!