Day 14, 15, & 16

Day 16 - January 16, 2010
Today after a bath, I took this picture using natural light in our living room. Then I spiced up the original in Lightroom 3 Beta:


Day 15 - January 15, 2010
Yesterday, I made potato dumplings for us to have at a meal later. Probably tomorrow. I made them with the left-over mashed potatoes that Tyler made. I'm not a cook, so this was rather notable ... hee hee:




Day 14 - January 14, 2010
Blake lost another tooth today ... one of his front teeth on the lower right in this picture. It had been staying in just barely for several days. Finally today he pushed one last time with his
tongue and it came right out! Oh! I almost forgot! Blake also got a MUCH needed hair cut today too! :)

Day 10

My computer shut down and re-started on me for what I decided would be my last time today ... as my computer was re-starting, I went and got ready and took Chase with me to Best Buy to buy a new computer ...



It didn't work out. They were severly understocked because they are getting NEW models this next weekend. SO ... I left empty-handed. I was sad!!!!

But, now I have new models to look forward to picking from ... I just hope I can afford one!

~Melinda

Day 09

Blake and Chase played on the Leapsters together on the loveseat before bed tonight. :)

Last of 2009, first of 2010

Last digital scrapbook page created in 2009:

Julia got her very own Leapster for Christmas. I scrapped about it using Plugged In by Connie Prince. You can pick your favorite store to pick it up ... Gotta Pixel, Elemental Scraps, or ScrapMatters. :)


First created in 2010:

Chase was a Rock Star for Halloween ... he loves music, and loves to rock out to it. :) I used Connie's I Love Rock and Roll Kit and Shabby Paper Pack which you can also find at your favorite shop mentioned above. :)

I had a bit of stretch there with no scrapping going on. I downloaded Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta and between that taking up loads of my (very aged) memory, and working on some other things with a designer friend of mine, I didn't get much scrapping done. But, it was a welcome little break. I am going to aim, once again, for 150 layouts. I made it to 133 in 2009. It shouldn't be too hard to reach that goal this year if I continue on the CT's I am currently on! :)

I will post my 365 photo later ... as another 365 participant and friend, Katie, said on her blog, I may not always post my photos daily, but I will take them and share. Until I fall off the bandwagon ... that's coming from me! ;)

Pepper Ants in my belly!!!!

Today immediately after work, my cell phone rang and I assumed it was my husband encouraging me to rush home so that he could get to work. I missed the call because my supervisor was letting me snag a few more cut-out cookies to take home to my kids. I returned his call on my way out the door so that he would know I was on my way. But, that isn't why he called.

He explained that Chase was hysterical ... as in screaming hysterically, and he had to call me. He explained what happened. He made macaroni and cheese for supper. As has been done for several months (at least) now, he and the older two kids have started referring to the topping as "ants" ... a/k/a PEPPER. My husband always shakes pepper on top of macaroni and cheese (if you can't guess, this is NOT my thing, hee hee.). Well, today ... Chase decided to FREAK OUT at the idea of ANTS being on his macaroni and cheese! His brother said something about it, and Chase started crying! He nearly puked from how upset he was that there were "ants in [his] belly!!" He cried and he cried, and he started punching his belly. Poor thing! He was still holding his belly and crying when I got home. Tyler had made him a whole separate batch of macaroni and cheese WITHOUT "ants" on top, and he still wouldn't touch them. He was eating peanut butter toast when I got home.

He was fine while we were in the store (we went shopping tonight too), but he's back to holding his belly again now that we're home. I don't think he's even aware of it. He says his belly hurts every once in a while though. I did explain to him before we went to the store that they were being silly, and it was just pepper. I sprinkled some in my hands and showed him what it was. He seemed to understand because now he's saying the pepper hurts his belly. LOL.

Maybe he really is sick ... or maybe it's just the "ants." ;)

He's FREE!!!!

A while back, I created a page about Chase:


Chase became FREE when he was 6 months old. It was an amazing feeling knowing that my son was doing well enough with his heart condition that he could be free from medicine. The doctor said he might even have out-grown it, and possibly never deal with SVT ever again!

Today, I read about an online-friend whose son is now FREE of his SVT, and the chance of his SVT returning is now 1% ... ONE PERCENT!!!! That is phenomenal! No more medication. No more heart monitors. No more stethoscopes. No more vagal maneuvers, or trips to the ER.

Stellan is now FREE to be himself, as Chase was at 6 months old. And I cry tears of happiness with a level of understanding of just what that means for Stellan and his family. Our journey was no where near as scary as Stellan's was, but now they seem to both have the same happy ending. :)

~Melinda

Don't Sing to Me!

As you may have read earlier, we had a birthday party on the 27th for our littlest man's 3rd birthday. Chase wasn't thrilled about being sung to. In fact, he down-right pouted about it!

For October, I get to play with designs by simply.scraps and Colie's Corner, at Gotta Pixel, and I chose a really funky birthday kit to play with. I will totally and freely admit that the title swayed my purchase:



He didn't exactly CRY, but he did sure pout. :)



and here is his pout from his 2nd birthday!!!




Thanks for looking,
Melinda

Oreo Cows, Pumpkins and Apples

I went in search of the amazing fall colors, and they were found. :) I of course didn't want to just take pictures of trees ... so I was very excited when on a quiet country road I was able to stop and take this picture (helped the colors along in post-processing to look more like they did in real life). :) If you haven't guessed ... these are the "Oreo Cows" as my oldest son lovingly referred to them. I thought it was hilarious!!! If you haven't guessed, this will HAVE to be scrapped. Blake was a bit grossed out when I explained that I'm pretty sure this type of cow is the kind made into hamburgers. Hamburgers??!! Yes, Blake ... hamburgers. Blech!! And did you know what chicken nuggets and chicken sandwiches are made of? Chickens? Yes! Blech! And ham, bacon, and sausage come from pigs! Blech!

(Do you think he switched to being a vegan?? ... his order later tonight at McDonald's should tell you how concerned he was .... cheeseburger with apples. Hee hee.)



After snapping some pictures of the fall foliage, we went to the orchards ... they were quiet! I am sure they are very busy on weekends. We started at McIlquhams where I actually bought a couple of decorative elements that were inexpensive, and then headed across the way to Connell's - me snapping pictures as we went.




Check out Chase's new GREEN boots!!! (He loves these things!)





After picking out a pie and caramel apples, we went outside and I planned to take a picture of the kids by the huge fence erected by the apple trees ... when I happened to notice the gate had been left open into the orchard!!! So, I quickly herded the kids over to an abundantly laden tree (yes, nice big words, right?) and snapped a few pictures. They looked perfect on my little bitty screen ... here is what I actually got. Hee hee:









I wish a "posed" shot didn't always have a "posed" grin too ... I need some tips, lol. :)

Party time

Please forgive me for the IM-speak ... it shortens things like "in-law" and I've used initials for privacy of my husband's family also. :)

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Chase. It was supposed to be a joint birthday party with our niece (SIL's daughter), E, but her mom and dad aren't together and dad had her because he made plans and didn't tell her mom. Anyway, SIL did bring the ice cream cake she had promised anyway (how sweet!).

I haven't thrown a party since Blake turned one. Yes, that's how much fun it was, lol. Not that it wasn't NICE ... it was just very expensive and honestly, not worth it. We had a lot more people over for Blake's first birthday. I'm glad we didn't do that again. On Chase's birthday, we went to Cassandra's volleyball game at SIL's invitation. While we were talking, the idea of a get-together for the kids' birthday came up, and I suggested doing it here because SIL hasn't gotten her own place yet since coming back from Basic Training and AIT (don't ask me what that is - I don't know). She offered to bring an ice cream cake for it, and I said ok.

So anyway, we had my MIL and FIL over, our nieces H and B, and my SIL. My Mom was at a conference, and my Dad didn't want to come over all by himself with a house-full of IL's, I bet, hee hee, and I seriously wouldn't have known what to do with more people! (Sorry Grandma and Aunt MJ!)

We had tacos and chips, and I think it was pretty yummy! Then the kids played for a while, and we had ice cream cake and sang to Chase. Have I ever mentioned how much Chase HATES being sung to by a crowd?!


(this one doesn't show his true pout even!)


He did please the crowd, though, when he named the colors of the candles correctly (which didn't surprise me or Tyler, but I bet Grandma and Papa might have been surprised. :) )

We almost forgot to have Chase open his gifts before everyone left. Gifts are hard! My parents gave me money to purchase something for Chase, and I tell you ... I couldn't pick anything out!!! It was awful! Everything either made noise, or had a zillion parts, or he was too young, or he was too old. What do you get a 3 year old?! I wanted to get him a simple toy guitar, but Kmart's selection SUCKED -- it was either Hannah Montana, Barbie or an actual training guitar, which he is definitely not ready for. I ended up buying a Princess doll for E's gift, and got Chase a totally lame gift from us ... a hard-cover book of Curious George stories, and a travel-size Magnadoodle, which is just for him (which I think is nice because his brother and sister trashed the one that was supposed to be for all 3 of them.)

The present from my IL's was much better received -- a Wow-Wow Wubbzy kickety-kick ball, and an electronic drum set type toy. WOW, that thing is loud! But, he immediately loved it.

Everyone was gone by 7pm, and I was in bed by 9pm, lol. I was, and still am, so tired!

We missed having our birthday duo, but it was still a nice day. Happy celebrated birthday, buddy!! :)

And poof ... my baby is 3 ...

I'm not very happy about it, quite honestly. I know he's growing up, and he's smart and cute and all, but gosh darn it he IS my baby after all. I'm not normally one of those moms who shares their child's every milestone. After all ... Chase is #3, and so it's all been done before by his siblings, lol. ;) And normally I don't post a whole lot about birthdays. Actually, birthdays have been pretty low-key around here the past 6 years. It seems like we never have money to spend on a birthday party around birthday time. And, truth be told ... that's where we're at right now too. I sure wish we'd waited to buy Tyler a vehicle until October ... even just ONE month later would have saved us $311 to spend elsewhere. *sigh*

Anyway, the fact is, today my baby is three years old. He is no longer reliant on mom for milk (um, yeah ... he nursed way longer than the other two -- though just at night for quite a while). He is almost potty trained -- went almost all day in the same pair of underwear on Sunday! He is starting to not sleep in mom and dad's bed at all at night, though occasionally he get's mom's soft spot who misses her baby and lets him fall asleep with her .... . He is verbal. He is independent. He is a daredevil (see previous post). He is adorable, and he is my baby.

'Nuff said ... I need to get to bed and quit rambling!! :)

Happy 3rd birthday to my littlest man,
Love,
Mom

NOW it's Sunday ...

I didn't get to sleep in quite as late as I'd hoped, but it has been a nice day. The kids played outside quite a bit today. I took advantage of this "quiet time" to clean house. I am now satisfied with my dining room, bathroom, and living room. I am happy with my kitchen floor, but the rest needs work (DH says he'll be doing dishes tomorrow ... scratch that, I bet the concrete work he'll be doing with my Dad will take over instead). I even organized/ chucked stuff from under the sink in the bathroom -- it suddenly occurred to me to use Ziploc baggies to organize. I now have all the following in baggies: ointments, bandaids, plastic covers for the thermometer, 3 rolls of ribbon for using in Julia's hair, and a baggy full of hair things for Julia. It should make finding things a lot easier. I also used a "snack size" baggie to store the coupons that I want to keep handy in my purse.

Chase has been wearing the same pair of underwear since he woke up this morning. I will try to get a picture of him in them soon. :) He has been doing great at going to the bathroom -- he has no issues with going, except sometimes in public places. But, lately he's been able to go in public places too. He really has done fine unless he's been wearing a pull-up or underwear. Well, I decided to keep him underwear the last couple of days. Yesterday he didn't make it at first ... had an accident once ... but today he's been doing great! It is pretty exciting to think that he might be out of diapers/pull-ups very soon! :)

In the digi-world I got to play with Mayhem by Bella Gypsy -- one of the newest designers at Gotta Pixel. I started out with a template this week, by Brenda Miller. I knew I needed several pictures, so I went into search mode. I found the perfect series of photos to play with this kit. "Daredevil" and the perfect colors?! A match made in heaven! LOL




This was, I'm sure, one of many heart-stopping moments that Chase has in store for me. :) Not that Julia and Blake aren't full of their own moments, but their motor skills are a little more advanced, lol.

Now, on to Monday we go ... it is sure to be a busy week. Leslie's daughter turns 3 tomorrow, and Blake has soccer practice. Chase turns 3 on Tuesday. Wednesday I have a meeting at work. Before we know it, Saturday will be here and we'll have more soccer. Oh yeah! I should add pictures from yesterday's game for Blake ... (forgot my memory card for Julia's practice/game *sigh*)! Lots to do. :)

Have a great week,
Melinda

The Cabin

Tyler was successful in talking me into going with him to the cabin. He has only been trying all summer long, and probably last year too. All I knew was that it was a good drive away, and that from his description there was going to be nothing to entertain the kids, and I just didn't want to be stuck somewhere with 3 very bored children. I'm sure you understand.

We made the not-as-lengthy-as-I-expected drive to the cabin ... which was out in the middle of nowhere for sure, lol. The driveway was almost non-visible. He says that is on purpose. A tree is fallen over the driveway part-way through. I worry that we'll scratch the roof of the truck, but we drive through and as far as I know there is no scratch up there.

The view is nice. The cabin doesn't look like much, and it needs a lot of work. But, there is a nice clearing, and a pretty view of the river. The bank is pretty steep, though. There were some fall colors popping out randomly on the drive up. I was able to see some from the cleared space by the cabin too. It is very quiet there, and I can see the appeal to Tyler, immediately. I just wished for a few things ... a chaise lounge, more for the kids to do, and a easier/faster way to cook the pork chops that he ambitiously brought along. Oh, and no flies/gnats/mosquitos ... but I wish for that no matter where I am.

The kids had a pretty good time, and they even spent a little bit of time down in the river -- well, Blake and Julia did. Chase wasn't allowed to try to climb down the bank, and I started to go down once but Tyler cautioned me there might be bees nests hiding and I went right back up. I am first to admit I am NOT a nature girl. I like the water, so I was willing to go down ... but NOT if there might be bees, lol.

I made a page with this picture I took not all that long before we left. I know that it was later because Julia had been wearing a bright yellow soccer team shirt most of the time. :)



If you like what I made, you can play around with this kit too. It's called "Autumn Rain Page Kit" by Kristmess Designs and is available at Gotta Pixel.



I will be back soon with soccer pictures, and maybe video if I can figure out how to upload it (has been a while!).

Thanks for stopping in!

2,5,8 and sometimes 3 and 6

What are those numbers? Those are the numbers that CHASE can recognize! Yes, Chase! I was pleasantly surprised when we were looking at the "My First UNO" cards and Chase pointed to the 2 card and said, "Two!" I thought maybe it was a fluke, so we went through some more cards, and ran into "Five!" Later I picked up my telephone and pointed to the numbers on the key pad to see what he knew, and he also picked up 8. Just amazing!

Flipping the card over, Chase recognizes the letter O.

I think it's ok for me to brag about this! I have no idea where he learned this (Noggin?), but I am so proud of him!

~Melinda

Memorial Week Recap/ Blake's first T-ball games

This past week was a whirlwind! Sunday we had planned on having an anniversary date ... my MIL offered to babysit, so we jumped at the offer. Then, on Saturday night Blake started complaining that his ear hurt. He had a really rough night, and on Sunday morning I took him to Urgent Care to get him meds. His ear drum had ruptured sometime between that night and the next morning ... how on earth the infection got so bad without him complaining before I will never know! He felt awful on Sunday - had a temp of 100, and he was just exhausted. Tyler still wanted to go, and so did I but I could see the date slipping away and accepted it more readily than he did. Blake ended up getting sick - either from an upset stomach due to the meds, or from stress because he freaked out when I went to put the antibiotic ear drops in. He was sure they were going to hurt. I'm not sure, maybe they did. Anyway, we canceled our date and stayed home.

Monday was Memorial Day and our actual anniversary. Tyler wanted to drive around. He didn't really say where to, but I went with it. He had Blake in his car and I had Julia and Chase in mine (can't fit all in one vehicle, you know). We ended up in Chetek, and ate at a little diner there. The food was nothing special. Nothing like seeing a processed cheese slice on the top of your omelette ... yum. After finishing brunch there we headed back toward home and stopped at Klinger's for a while. We didn't buy anything. My mom was shocked. My mom goes there and comes out with flats of flowers, lol. I saw a hanging basket that I wanted, but it was $40 and I wasn't willing to spend that right now.


The sell benches and everything and I snapped this one early on into our visit. I LOVE IT!








Made with Crazy Daisy - a collab by Dana Frantz & Kathryn Estry.
(Everything I used was by Kathryn Estry)

After Klinger's we headed to Blake's scrimmage at the ball fields. Blake's coach and another coach decided to have a scrimmage for one last practice before the games start. It was a beautiful day, and I was glad because Tyler usually has to work during the games. Tyler picked up Pizza Hut to round out the night with supper. It ended up being a really nice anniversary.

Blake's first T-ball game was on Tuesday. Tyler got out of work to come see it. It was raining, but thankfully it was light, and because I got there a little early (wow!) I was able to park next to the fence so that we didn't have to get out for me to watch the game. I had the coloring book along and used that to entertain Julia and Chase. Julia snuck out of the car to stand by me with my umbrella as I snapped pictures by the outfield fence. Blake was put on first base and he did really well! He got two of the outs for that inning.


Blake's first time at bat (he struck out - apparently you can do that in boy's t-ball)


Playing 1st base

I missed the shot of him hitting the ball ... here he is running toward 2nd base


He JUST hit the ball in this picture.


Again, running to second base. :)

Wednesday was supposed to be Julia's next game, but it was rained out. Mom was sad for Julia, but also glad for the break. We came home and had a home-cooked meal for a change, and we picked up the upstairs which was a disaster area.

Thursday was Blake's second T-ball game. My mom and dad came and saw this one. The weather was beautiful, and we sat in the bleachers. My dad stayed by the fence where I was for Blake's first game to take pictures. Blake got to play short-stop, pitcher, and first base. Unfortunately, while he was playing first base he got hurt twice. The person in the pitcher's position threw pretty hard, and Blake got caught in the gut when he was trying to catch the ball, and then later (probably thankfully I didn't see this) he got hit in the mouth when someone threw the ball to him from second base and he wasn't paying attention. I looked back from watching Chase climb around on the bleachers when I heard everyone clapping and saw the coach walking Blake back with the rest of the team. One of the other moms filled me in on what had happened. Poor Blake! He's been afraid of trying to catch the ball ever since.

Nothing special to report about Friday. Yesterday we drove to Eau Claire to Menards and had lunch at Culver's. Then Tyler set up a cheap hammock he'd bought on the clothes line posts. Surprisingly it was able to hold each of us. I got some fun pictures from that too. Oh, and Julia had gone inside to get a (small) blanket because she was chilly in the shade, and Chase copied her to go get a blanket. Except that he brought the big, brown blanket ... got some fun pictures with that too. :)










not color corrected yet, but I love this one. :)

Thanks for reading my week's recap! :)

A Sunny Sunday ...

I took some rather good pictures on Sunday, if I do say so myself. :) I'm trying to get better at taking pictures. I'm no longer satisfied if the person is in the frame and in focus. I want the person to be in a good place in the frame, and the lighting to be good, and the subject to be interesting. It's a blessing and a curse ... I guess it's because I've been looking at MckMama's photos for so long and I wanna be like her, lol. Man, her photos always look fabulous. (I love photography ... MckMama's are just the ones I have seen a lot of lately.)

Anyway, here are my contributions in the "Wanna be like MckMama" contest (that doesn't exist) Notice all of the NATURALLY occurring blurred backgrounds! I was so psyched!

CHASE:

There they go again without me ...


They better not run me over!


I'm gonna catch up!


Who needs pedals?


(Awakening by mgl scraps (Studio MGL), template by Lena Brandenburg)



BLAKE:

The motion ones of Blake aren't the greatest, but they are still cool:

Completing a fancy slide maneuver in the driveway.


Posing for a picture.


I just ADORE these two bubble photos!



And just in case you're wondering (my mom was), Julia was not home when all of this was taking place. She was with her Daddy running errands. :)

Thanks for looking,
Melinda