Preschool/Thanks Laura!!

I wanted to post some pics of Aydan's first day at his new school. Found Thomas right away!

Aydan is really serious when it comes to his letters and numbers...he recognizes and says all this letters and number up to early teens, yet he doesn't talk and he is only 2. the teachers put out the alpha puzzles just for him...all ready to go when we got there.

this picture of Daddy sitting in that itty bitty chair was too precious...the teachers probably think that we're nuts! You know me with my camera! And he is gonna kill me when he sees this...

I had to take pics of the cute little bikes stacked up.

Love old school stuff...

and the art center...

And also, I want to thank Laura...she mailed me a RAK full of nice scrapping goodies. There were 2 books, a mini album she made, tons of embellies and paper. It was like Christmas!! Thanks Laura!!!!!! I love it

all!

b-day party

We had Kendall's b-day party yesterday at a bowling alley. Here is Daddy with the kiddies. Aydan was so fussy the whole time...it was a bit stressful. The lights were turned off for Cosmic bowling, so I didn't get the best pics. They came out OK, considering.

Here is a page I worked on today called, "Almost 5". Just some journaling of Kendall's favorite things at her age.

And I also make some thinking of you/sympathy cards. Whenever I need to give someone one, I never have any on hand, so I wanted to be prepared. The ribbon on this card is American Crafts...saw it at my scrapbook store by the yard. I used it all already...wished I got more. I just love gray, its such a beautiful color...and this ribbon is just gorgeous.

The stamp is embossed in white on vellum...the brad is a nickel finish from American Crafts as well...I love these brads and they were hard to find. The card is pretty simple for my style but I wanted a more classic look since its a "thinking of you" card. The "Thinking of You" stamp is Stampin Up...I use this set more than anything.

Oh, and my neighbor told me yesterday that one of our local scrapbook stores closed down:( Darn...they always had the newest stuff. RIP...

Have a great week everyone.

birthday pics

Quick post here...we had a quiet evening at home for Kendall's b-day. Aydan's cake kept falling off his spoon, so he gave up and ate it right out of the bowl. He's too cute...I took over 60 pics within this 5-10 minute period!



He's really a charmer...all the time!!

Big Day Tomorrow

Kendall turns 5 tomorrow...I feel a bit sad. I just put her down to bed and it was hard leaving her. Of course, its snowing hard now...on top of the foot we got Friday.

I finished this LO tonight...usually I'm a slow scrapper and I did two this weekend and I'm getting ready to start another one. I gotta thank Laura for her inspiration on this one. I love the way she put the brads in her buttons and then she had some snaps around them. I used that inspiration for this page. It kind of matched the piercing theme. the colors here are my favorites!

Usually I get more scrapping done in the winter and in the summer months in I'm the mood for card making. Although, I did finish my Mother's Day cards yesterday. Ozan's watching the Super Bowl. I didn't even know who was playing until a couple of days ago. I sat down to watch the half time show...so dissappointing! Tom Petty? It was pretty lame. If I offended anyone, I'm kind of sorry. LOL.

Look who's a big girl now...

My Kendall got her ears pierced today for her birthday. We went to Claire's and they had the nicest people working there. She was so brave. I have been preparing her for the past week that it hurts and its like getting a shot. The worse thing you could do is say that it won't hurt...your kids will never believe you again! You gotta be honest, but use a lot of encouragement. It was perfect because their piercing chair sits in a corner glass window, so it helped with my pics. It wasn't that sunny, though. The two ladies pierced them at the same time. I was worried that if they did one at a time, she wouldn't let us do a second one.


She's so literal. They told her to hold her chin still...

the before shot...she looks like a little angel.

quick post

Got stuck in the house today with all that snow we got. I was a wee bit frustrated in my car yesterday...took 2.5 hours to get home from work. I don't have that much patience. I don't think anyone does.

There is so much going on in the next week or so...I'm gonna be busy. Next week is the last week we are using our daycare provider :( The school where Kendall goes has a spot for early childhood and we can't pass up the opportunity to take Aydan there. There is such a long waiting list...I want to keep Aydan at a home daycare, but I know this is the right decision. The classroom is just incredible. So many learning activities and he'll be close to his sister. I don't think he'll be bored.

Kendall's 5th b-day is Monday! Last year it fell on Superbowl (and with the Bears playing and all). I'm hoping to get time to take her to get her ears pierced for one of her gifts. We'll see how that goes...We also are filling out the paperwork for Kindergarten...I'm excited but a bit sad that my baby is growing up. I can't believe that I've been a mom for 5 years. Crazy.

I seriously need to do lots of paperwork for all these changes, get stuff for her party, etc. I don't think I will have time to do anymore scrapping this weekend. I did manage to do this one tonight. Have a good weekend.

Carla

Happy Birthday Sheila

today i drove to indiana for my friend, sheila's, 40th birthday party. sans kids, of course. as much as i wanted to bring them, i would of had to spend my time chasing them then enjoying the party. and i can truely say she was really surprised.this is her with her husband, chad.

also, i did this lo yesterday, not my best work. its kind of dark and dreary. it was for pencil lines sketches. the pictures aren't great...i really think there is a color problem with my printer...the challenge was to use a large title on your sketch. I got to use up some real old stuff here...There is some lil davis, some foof-a la...can you say "old school"? instead of scanning it, i took a picture of it hanging on my kids art easel...that's why the yellow clip is in there.

last night i was tweeking around with the pic in photoshop. i used the eraser tool to make the b/w photo with the pink shoes...its hard to tell that its b/w because the floor and her tights are white...but i love the look. this is the page i'm going to work on this week.

so we signed up kendall for t-ball this spring. she'll love that. ballet ends in may so there won't be too much overlap...i don't want to be one of those moms who make their kids take all kinds of classes!

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.