ballet class

just wanted to stop and post some pics of kendall. she took her first ballet class today. just seeing her in her outfit and seeing all the cute little girls running around the room in them was just priceless. i couldn't get a shot during the class because we had to wait outside the room. i was the only parent with a camera, actually i had my video recorder as well. i felt like a papparatzo and i didn't care.

this afternoon i was working with kendall on writing her letters. she's going to be 5 soon and she is behind on this. i'm so mad at myself but she never wanted to do it. i found a nice workbook from barnes and noble and it introduces the letters in order of simplicity like "l", "t", "i"...we got through those first 3 letters and then i praised her like crazy. i'm going to do more tomorrow.

being goofy...

i can't believe its 2008...this year is a big one for us and i've been talking about this year for the last few years. kendall turns 5 & begins kindergarten, i turn 40, and ozan and i celebrate our 10 year anniversary. this month is our 16 year anniversary of being together. i didn't feel old until i just typed this. yikes!!!

also, laura and i've been talking about this embellishment center from making memories and i finally hung it up last week and got some pics as promised. i have another shelf i want to hang up as well so i can put the rest of my making memories jars up there. i did some rearranging this evening and put all my jars on one shelf, looks kinda cute there. somethimes when you do that rearranging, you realize how much good stuff you really have...which means you don't have to shop anymore...yea right!!

houses my beloved fabric tape, felt ribbon, and paper frills. most of my ribbon is in jars.

the rest of my jars, some primas, and my making memories tool carousel.

Holiday Lights

We took the kiddies tonight to an outdoor shopping center by our house that just opened last spring. They have a light show that coordinates to music from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The lights flash with the music. The music is just beautiful...really gets your attention. The tree is about 3 stories tall...you can't miss it. It was so beautiful tonight because it was snowing some gigantic flakes and it really added to the beauty. You can see the snow in some of the tree pics. It was about 32 degrees out, so it wasn't too cold. I handed Ozan the camera and made him take pics of me and the kids. Aydan was a bit fussy so the pics of him didn't come out too well. He was in his stroller...he would rather run! I would rather not!

A lot of the pics came out blurry. I think I need an external flash. I had the camera set on the night time setting, but it didn't work too well.

I worked on this page last night. Once again, my scanner is acting goofy! I saw a layout in a magazine where the designer journaled over the painted masking and I loved it, so i lifted it. The page is called, "Tactile" ...there are some Heidi Swapp ghost letters over the pic, so its hard to see. Have a good week.

some sledding pages

Finally finished my sledding pages (sorry they scanned so crooked). There are so many pics and they have so many different colors in them that it sat on my desk for awhile. This isn't really how it pictured this to come out. I wanted a white snowflake ornament, but couldn't find any...so the silver had to do. I love putting so many embellishments on my pages and I have to learn to lighten things up. Oh well. I am really happy with the pics though.

And I worked on my valentine's day card...its coming soon. I even worked on this on the kitchen table, Ozan didn't even notice...LOL. I used Stampin Up cardstock. These colors are my favorite but they are only being released for a year, so I may have to stock up on more. The patterned paper is Basic Grey and the chipboard is Maya Road.

Have a great new years...I'll be at work, so I'll be in bed before midnight!

Sick Again

My kids literally take turns, one at a time, getting sick. My poor Kendall got a bug Monday night and got sick during the night. We were washing clothes, sheets, blankets, and carpeting at 1:00 in the morning. Repeat 1/2 hour later...then up 4 AM with diarrhea. Poor Girl. Daddy stayed home with her yesterday and I took today's shift. She woke up this morning, well rested and happy. So hopefully this is it.

Kendall is a little girl who is quite the tactile learner. Tactile learning children love to hold things in their hand, that's how they learn the best. She always (well almost always) has something in her hand. Ever since she was an infant, she had to have something in one of her little hands. Usually spoons, toothbrushes, etc. When she was one years old, she held hamburger sliced pickles in her hand from lunch until bedtime. That's my baby. Now she wears cute rings to fill that void of wanting to hold things all the time.

Because of this, I've been wanting to do a scrap page on this. I found her holding her Diego toys this morning and I snatched the camera. Of course, she's in her PJ's because this is a sick day. One day, I'll have time to scrap...Mr Aydan would not take a nap today and I didn't get the time!

You can see her ezcema on her face again. It pretty much went away but I really noticed it today...probably with the cold weather, it peaking out again. But she has a mild form of it and it doesn't itch her at all.

Quick card

Just wanted to post this card I made. I have not scrapped for so long that I'm having withdrawal symptoms. With the holidays, its hard to find the time. That's what I love about cards, its a quick fix!

sledding

We just got back from sledding. Got 9" of snow this weekend but it's a chilling 20 degrees out there! There was lots of sun so I got some good pics. Have a good weekend.

I am starting my photoshop self training

Thanks to Jessica Sprague, I am starting my self-help training in photoshop. I have this magazine/book that she wrote and it has step by step tutorials on things you can do to create digital scrapbook pages and/or to change your pics and do some cool things with them. These are my creations that I did tonight..one step at a time. I am just so illiterate when it comes to PS. I can't wait to try some more things!

Love these frames on Kendalls picture...gorgeous.

Just some random pics

Wow, we've been busy...3 parties within 8 days. Crazy. I'm waiting for some pics from 2 of those parties. Here are just some cute pics of the kids recently...

Kendall making cupcakes for her Daddy as a welcome home gift from his trip to Vegas. Yes, it was for business!

Snow Day! What boy doesn't love this?

Last Saturday at our house...isn't he gorgeous? My relatives from Indiana came over.

these were taken tonight on the way to bed. I wanted to get more of the garland in the pic, but it didn't work.

Happy Thanksgiving

I can't believe I have a 4 day weekend. I really needed this! We had turkey day at our house and, as usual, Ozan made a feast...including the most delicious turkey. He is in charge of all the cooking in this household and he has nicknamed me his "Sous-Chef". Fancy word for chopper, dishwasher, and preper. LOL.

Got to do some scraping today with my favorite line of paper from Making Memories. These pics are from late spring 2006, when Kendall was just a 3 year old. Now we are planning her 5th b-day! Crazy!!! My scanner isn't so good these days...trust me it looks better in person.

Just before everyone came over, Kendall let me put on a girly holiday dress (dresses don't happen much in this house with her) and take a bunch of pics (that never happens as well). These pics are my next scrapping project. And here is a present to myself to hold my scrap tools and schtuff.

Lots Going On

First of all I want to say is that we have all been sick around here lately. Two weeks ago it started with Kendall's fever, then Aydan, then me. Both kids are fine now...well, kind of. I ended up in the ER with Kendall yesterday. She sliced her finger on the back of her dresser. There was a flap of skin and the bleeding wouldn't stop. Know what they did? Antibiotic cream and a bandaid. I could of done that! I just wasn't sure if she needed stitches. Aydan bopped his nose on something I think, trying to climb out of the pack n play during his nap. We don't know how and he has a bruised nose. I've been sick with bronchitis for 2 weeks. I finally went to the Dr because I couldn't hardly breath at night. He gave me a z-pak and some cough syrup with codeine. That's some good stuff! I'm going back to work tomorrow :(

This weekend I painted Kendall's room. It was all pink (think Pepto Bismol) with a white chair rail. I wanted to paint the bottom green so I took my favorite Bazzill cardstock with me (used on the layout below) and got a custom color. I gotta take pics. It came out cute. Then this evening Kendall and I made chocolate chip cookies. I can't have any because I've been on a diet. Imagine that?

I made this page this weekend and here is a pic of Aydan having his first choc chip cookie and you can see his bruise. Thanksgiving is coming up soon and we have a lot of prepping to do. Ozan makes a mean Turkey. Yum.

Ooops...I forgot Halloween pics. I didn't get good ones. Aydan had a fever so we took him out for 10 minutes and Kendall was running ahead. Aydan was a Caribbean pirate, but for the life of me, I couldn't get that cute hat on.

Lil Artist

Just a quick page I did. Aydan does not talk yet, he tries to say some words, but only Mommy understands them. He draws and hums like all the time, even when he's upset...its really sweet. He has so much passion. We have a lot of artists and musicians in our family...who knows maybe he'll be famous some day. Wednesday is Halloween so I'll post pics soon after.

Lots of messy mouths

Aydan is just so cute and he is a typical boy. Let me tell you! At snack time yesterday, I gave Kendall a mini cupcake that my MIL brought over. He just looks at me as to say, "You're not going to give me one?" Who can resist that adorable face. His face was just covered in chocolate cupcakes.

That morning he was eating dirt from the garden and later was eating sand from his sandbox! Why?? I don't get it.
Today we went to the zoo...all the kids were dressed up in their costumes. We forgot Kendall's but that was OK because it was too hot to wear! Aydan fell asleep in the car on the way home, what a sweetie!

Yesterday I worked on a couple of projects...a card for my manager for bosses day (yes, I like my boss!), which was last week (oops) and these layouts, which are a 6x12 format. It was so fun to use that size! On Aydan's page, I tied some tags together...I lifted that idea from Melissa.