Sunday, January 31, 2010

Loves to Sled

My kids love the snow. They especially love sledding. So, I have lots of pictures of them sledding and I’m slowly trying to get those pages finished. I got one done yesterday; these are pictures of Landon sledding:

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I have a hard time coming up with titles in general, but when I have dozens of pages about snow/sledding it makes for an even harder time coming up with original titles.

The third picture cracks me up! He is so high up in the air and his legs look so funny! They sure had a blast zooming over that little bump!

By the way, I woke up this morning to several notifications of anonymous comments on my blog. They were all in Korean, so I had to delete them all and change my blog settings…which means I can no longer accept anonymous comments. Pesky spammers!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Snow that Wasn’t Supposed to Be

We were not expecting any snow today, but fortunately for us the weather people were wrong!

Unfortunately we did have some things that we had to get done today, like get Landon’s braces fixed since he managed to pull the wire out yesterday on accident. Then, we had someone call to come look at the house so we had to be out anyways…until they called to cancel due to the weather! Go figure, right? We also had to drive out and pick Zoe up from her friends house.

All in all it took about 3 hours to do all that because of the roads, but now that we are all home again, I love the snow! (And, I’m so thankful that we weren’t one of the people who ended up in a ditch on the side of the road! Driving in the snow sure can be scary!)

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The first picture was one I took in the morning, I think around 11am or so. You can tell there isn’t much out there, but if you look in the background near that car you can see how heavily it is falling.

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The second photo was taken around 3 or so when we got home. Zoe wanted to hold up her lollipop in the pic and I thought it was kinda cute!

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The last picture was taken around 5:30 or so and I had Zoe measure it so I could get a photo! She is such a good sport sometimes! According the our handy dandy ruler we have a little over 4 inches right now…but I think if we had measured out in the yard it would be closer to 6 or so.

I’ll probably have plenty of chances to get a better measurement tomorrow since Landon’s already talking about snowboarding and sledding in the morning!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Peach Crunch Cake

I found this recipe on Bakerella's blog. It called to me…and I’m pretty sure it was the title that sparked my attention initially; until I saw the photo’s that is!

I admire everything that Bakerella comes up with, but to actually attempt  making something that she suggests has always seemed to intimidating…until today.

So, instead of going out for dinner tonight, we ordered some Chinese and I got to make this dessert!

29) Peach Cobbler 

My picture isn’t pretty, so make sure you go over to Bakerella’s site and check out the beautiful pictures she has of this delicious dessert!

You can get the recipe there too!

Give it a try, I promise you won’t be sorry!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Snowman 101

I saw the cutest layout at my scrapbook store the other day and kept the title in my mind so that I could use it on this page. I just loved how they used the snowmen in place of the O’s…pretty clever! I knew I had printed these pictures of the kids building a snowman back in December, and the title seemed a perfect fit.

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The text reads:

Step 1) Begin gathering and packing snow. Roll into a ball shape.

Step 2) If you get too much, take a bite, but only after checking for yellow spots.

Step 3) Mold into something resembling a snowman’s figure.

Step 4) Add face, stick arms, and decorate. Smile and get photo evidence!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

County Champs! Go OMHS!

27) Zoe's track medal

I am so proud of this girl! She is holding up the medal she received yesterday at the indoor track meet. The girls varsity track team placed first in the county!!! I am really proud of her and all of those hard working girls! What an achievement!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Week 3 Project 365

Here is my 3rd week in pictures:

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So far, so good. Haven’t missed a photo yet!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Read This!

More about The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

If you are looking for a good read, check out this book. I really enjoyed it! I thought the characters were very realistic and the storyline never grew boring. It was entertaining beginning to end!

Next up is a book from Oprah's bookclub...I'm hoping it won't be too depressing! :)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Personal Best

I am now positive that I let Landon play too many video games.

Tonight, he told us that his “high score” for eating chicken nuggets was 15…or maybe 16; he wasn’t sure.

What a goofball!

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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Party Weekend

For us, this weekend has been about birthday parties. Last night Zoe went to a boy’s 16th birthday party. The parents rented a hall and the kids danced the night away…or that’s what I’m guessing happened anyways. Zoe said it was fun, but she didn’t really say much else about it.

I did get her a new dress for the occasion because there was a dress code!

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These aren’t the best photo’s because hair hadn’t even been dried and fixed yet, but she was on her way to a friends house to finish getting ready so I had to rush. Landon can’t stand when Zoe’s the center of attention so he had to jump in a couple of the pictures. She wasn’t supposed to wear those boots because her friend offered her some shoes to borrow, but she ended up just going to the party in them anyways!

Landon had a party today, it was at a laser tag place. Tony took him and he had a great time. I didn’t go because I had to take Zoe to the mall so she could meet a boy for a movie date! That’s right people, Zoe went on her first date! I think she was a little nervous even though she wouldn’t admit it…

We have one more party to go to tomorrow, this time at an indoor swimming pool. Should be fun…for Landon at least. :)

Friday, January 22, 2010

Baby Photo Shoot II

There are so many things that have changed since the last time I had a baby, it’s just crazy. I remember giving gallons of blood and being tested for all sorts of stuff, but 8 years ago I didn’t have the opportunity to have a Downs Syndrome screening performed.

So, Tony and I debated whether or not to do the screening for a couple days and ultimately decided to have it done. We feel like knowing our chances is better because it would give us a chance to prepare for whatever might come our way.

We ended up having to have our testing done at Johns Hopkins because the hospital was booked and the test is time sensitive. I tried to get a picture and this is the best one I could get while we were moving…so, it’s a little blurry. But, Johns Hopkins is HUGE and the architecture is quite amazing and beautiful. We had to drive around awhile before we could figure out where to park, and then once inside the complex it took us about 10 minutes to get to the obstetrics area!

22) Testing at JHopkins 

To perform the Downs Syndrome test, they do a blood test as well as a sonogram. During the sonogram the technician measures the thickness in the back of the baby’s neck to see if there is any abnormality. Luckily for us, our tech was able to get great pictures of the baby and get all of her measurements before it started to move around a  bit. And, she even printed us a big sheet of photos to take home!

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I was really surprised to see how much bigger the baby is now compared to only 4 weeks ago! I have to admit I got a little teary eyed seeing this tiny little person. I feel so lucky to be able to be going through this again, even on the days that I’m not feeling so great.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Homemade Goodies

I was doing a little browsing on Etsy today and found some of the coolest stuff! I have bought a few things on Etsy before, but am always amazed at what I find on that site.

I like these earrings from Elisabeth Space:

Swirl  -- long sterling glass earrings

This wreath from Two Inspire You would look great on my front door:

Glory Days Wreath

These cute necklaces from Luxe Deluxe:

Spring Sparrow, Sterling Silver Charm Necklace NEW

Angelica Necklace

I thought this toy was cute…for the new baby maybe? It’s from Ainsley and Oswald:

I Spy With My Little Eye Bag, Cupcakes, A Yummy Sugar Free Birthday Gift

And I love these paintings. Maybe if we ever sell this house and get to move I’ll try to find a place for one or two of them. The artist/seller is Amy Giacomelli:

Come Closer - 24 x 36, acrylic on canvas, gallery wrapped and ready to hang, ORIGINAL and HUGE, Please see close ups

Reflections - 66 x 28, 3 gallery wrapped canvases, ready to hang, ORIGINAL  -  PLEASE SEE CLOSE UPS

Last Night In Rio - 50 inches x 30 inches, 5 gallery wrapped canvases, ready to hang, ORIGINAL  -  PLEASE SEE CLOSE UPS

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

No Show

This morning I got a call letting us know that the realtor that had scheduled to show our house tonight from 6-7pm had to cancel.

Funny thing is, we never got a call telling us that we were having a showing tonight.

About a minute after that call another call came from the same company…this time letting me know that we had a realtor scheduled to show our house tonight between 6 and 7. Hm. I was pretty confused, but I decided to just clean the house and be ready to walk out of the house a little before 6 tonight.

So, after a quick dinner, we cleaned up and left. Since we didn’t have anything to do we headed to Starbucks for some coffee and hot chocolate. The kids went next door and got some ice cream from Coldstone.

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But I’m pretty sure no one came by tonight, and I’m really irritated. There wasn’t a business card left by a realtor (not that many of them even do that) and there wasn’t any sign that anyone had ever come in the house.  Usually there will be a light left on or a fan turned off or something to indicate that someone had been by.

Grr.

We’ve had quite a few no show’s and there is nothing more annoying than cleaning your house all day only to find out that the people never even stopped by. I don’t think people realize how much work it is to put a house on the market and keep it presentable while living in it at the same time.

I am really starting to hope that we will be able to sell soon. All this cleaning up and running out at a moment’s notice is starting to wear me out!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Holiday Smiles Layout

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For some reason this page was a pain. It started with all the different size photo’s I had to cut down and make work, and then I didn’t want to journal on the front so I had to figure out where to at least write everyone’s name…then, I wasn’t real excited with how my words “holiday smiles” turned out.

I ended up just scoring my kraft paper and adding eyelets to the side so that the top opens and you can see the names of the people behind the photos. I like the idea of it better than how it actually turned out, but it is what it is.

As you can see, I decided to just let it be and move on. I can’t worry about everything being perfect, right? I’ve never been a perfectionist anyways, so it works for me!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Allergies Shmalergies

Today was quite a day. It started with a crappy night’s “sleep”. You know the kind where you wake up nearly every hour and have go to the bathroom every. single. time. Well, I had one of those nights, and I have felt pretty groggy and grumpy all day because of it.

Then, at 10:30am Landon and I had to be at his allergists office for a skin test to see if he was eligible for the H1N1 shot. First we went in to see his doctor who then sent us to get the scratch test done, and then they told us we had to wait 15 minutes before they would check him and see what his skin’s response was. Luckily (I think) he had zero reaction to the scratch test (they tested him for the H1N1 and egg) and was able to get the vaccine. We were so excited to see that he had absolutely no reaction to the egg! We’ve come a long way with that whole dilemma. The only drawback to going ahead with the H1N1 shot was that they required an hour wait in the office afterwards to ensure that he was ok. An hour of sitting in a doctors office is torturous. And, since we were already there, we went ahead and got his allergy shots for the week, which of course required another half hour of sitting in the office making sure he didn’t have any reaction.

While sitting in the doctors office wasn’t any fun, I am so thankful that things seem to be turning around a bit for him. I am also thankful that we are able to afford to do all of these shots and tests, I realize that so many people have to go without…and I feel that is a true tragedy.

I’ve noticed some significant change in his allergies as of late, now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed it’s because these weekly shots are working and not just because the pollen in January is nearly nothing! Our true test will be in the spring when all those pretty flowers and trees are in full bloom.

Next up for Landon will be an egg food challenge in February.

Landon and I were both pretty excited when we learned he was going to be able to do the food challenge. Excited until we found out that it meant he’d have to eat the egg in the office over a period of about an hour while they monitored everything. Then they told me to plan on making an entire morning of it. At least 3-4 hours. That’s when Landon decided that having an allergy to egg wasn’t so bad after all…he’d rather just be allergic than have to sit there for another 3 or 4 hours! :)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Christmas Card Layout

I hate to just throw out cards that people send for the holidays, but I just never know what to do with them. So, I happened to be reading Ali Edwards' blog, and she had this idea about cutting parts from the cards and making a page out of them! I thought that was a terrific idea, and last night while watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the kids I gathered my cards and put this quick page together.

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Now, it is extremely simple and I didn’t include the photo’s people sent, but I really like how it turned out. To make the number of squares even I made a few of my own just by finding Christmas or winter stickers and adhering them to kraft paper squares of the same size.

Next, I plan to make a page with the photo’s people sent, but that’s going to require my full attention… :)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Project 365 Week 2

Here are my pages for week 2:

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Because this is such a big project, taking pictures every day and all the writing and then, on top of that, putting the pages together on a weekly basis, I’ve decided that it’s all going to have to be very simple.

I’m going to use different shades of blue for the entire month of January, and keep all embellishments winter related. Next month, I’ll probably use pink and use all Valentine’s decorations…just so I don’t have to think about it too much each week. So far I’m happy with how this is turning out, and even Zoe said that this is going to be really cool when I’ve done an entire year like this! I think that’s a pretty big compliment as well as a great incentive to keep it up!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Inbetweener

Every other Friday I volunteer at Landon’s school. while I am there it is my job to run the class store. The kids earn tickets all week for good behavior, turning in homework and class work…etc.

So, every other Friday I go in, and they count up their tickets and we have all kinds of little goodies that they can purchase with their earned tickets.

Some of the kids like to save until they have enough to buy several things at once whereas others will spend every single ticket they have. Landon is an inbetweener (yeah, I’m pretty sure that isn’t a word, but it’s fun to say!). He likes to spend a little and save a little, although I really don’t know what he’s saving for. I mean, outside of the class store those little tickets just aren’t worth much!

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I thought I’d get a picture of Landon spending his big bucks in the “store” today for my 365…he sure looks serious counting out that “money”!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Holiday Goodies

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Here’s a quick page I made about all the baking we did this Christmas. I used my new Cricut cartridge From My Kitchen to make the hand mixer, gingerbread man and bowl…I think they are really cute! I wish I had thought to get pictures of everything we baked, but I guess I was just too involved to grab the camera!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

My Lucky Day

I’ve been trying to get to the gym on days that I’m not feeling nauseous, and unfortunately I’ve missed quite a few days in the past few weeks. I have decided that I’ll just go as often as I can make myself and be happy with it.

So, today I woke up feeling pretty good. I got dressed, put Landon on the bus and headed up there ready to do some cardio. As I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a police car with it’s lights on, and then two fire trucks with their lights on. There were also several people standing around outside and the building was being evacuated.

I couldn’t believe my luck! I turned my truck right around and headed back home! Did I care what was going on at the gym? Nope! All that commotion only meant one thing and that was that I didn’t have to sweat today. Woo Hoo! 

Later on I found out from a friend that someone had smelled gas outside of the gym and had called 911…she also said that the gym was open and running again by 9:15am and that it was almost completely empty.

I did feel a little guilty once I got home though, so I took Ginger on a walk. I nearly froze to death, so it was a short walk, but while we were out I got this cute picture of her:

13) Ginger

I think she looks so cute! She nearly blends in with the background, but she just looks so sweet! 

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Project 365; Week 1

I decided to try Project 365 this year. Basically, you take a photo every day (of whatever) and then scrap the photos. You can either scrap it day to day, or 7 photo’s for a week, or even make one monthly page…whatever suits you. I was a little scared to try it last year, it just seemed like too much commitment, but once I started hearing about it again this year, I thought why not? I can take a picture a day, and I don’t have to make the page immediately.

So, since the first of this year, I have been taking my pictures. Yes, we are only 12 days in and I’ve already had a little trouble, but I’m going to keep going. I’ve even got the first weeks layout finished:

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I am going to keep these pages pretty simple. I want the focus to be on the photo’s and journaling, not the embellishments. I like that these pictures are going to represent the day to day stuff and not just big events that I tend to pay more attention to. Now I just have to stay motivated, and that’s really the hardest part!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Our Big News

So, I think everyone I know already knows this, but I have to make the “official” blog entry, right?

Baby V's first photo

Yep, that’s right! We are going to be parents again! We were a bit surprised at first (shocked is an even better term) but happy nonetheless. I am really excited about adding a new member to our family and am thankful that I am going to have the opportunity to do so. I love being a mom, and can’t imagine my life without the beautiful children that make every day special for me.

The kids took the news really well. We told them by putting the sonogram on the table and asking them if they knew what it was. Zoe immediately said “it’s a picture of a baby” and Landon said it looked like a rock. Zoe then asked whose baby it was and when I didn’t answer she looked at me and then she put it all together. the  next thought that occurred to her was that she was going to be 15 years older than this baby, but she decided that was going to be okay with her. Landon’s reaction was a little different in that he realized he was going to “finally be older than someone in his family!”

Besides Tony, the only other person that knew for awhile was my sister. I was so excited that I just had to tell someone! She was great and didn’t breathe a word about it! Telling our parents was fun because the looks of surprise on their faces were priceless. No one saw it coming, especially since my kids are already so much older. 

As of today I am 10 weeks and 3 days. I have a long way to go but already I know I’ll be glad to be out of the first trimester; this nausea thing has got to go! August 6th, here we come!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Landon’s Big Day

Because Landon didn’t get to meet the new baby when we went to the hospital this past week, his aunt called to let him know that she was home and he could come by anytime today to visit.

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He was so excited! We were there for a couple of hours and the kids both took turns holding her. Both of them were a bit nervous at first, but soon became comfortable enough and didn’t want their turns to end! She was like a tiny little baby doll in their arms…and they loved it!

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Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Family that Plays Together…

Today has been a really relaxing Saturday. We all got up late and then headed out for Landon’s soccer game. He played left forward the first half and then goalie the second half. I have to say that he did and excellent job playing today, but especially as goalie. The other team scored on him a few times, but he stopped way more than got past him. He was very proud, and so were we.

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After the game we all came home for lunch and then I made Zoe do some of the physical therapy that she needs to do for her hips…

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It looks like she has a breathing tube up her nose, but rest assured it isn’t…it’s just the wires connected to her headphones!

And, tonight, Tony wanted to play one of his new games that he got for Christmas. It’s called Munchkin Quest and it’s quite interesting. I’ve never played a game like this before, but I can tell you it takes hours to play and is very “involved”. But, we are home in our warm house, enjoying each others company so, it’s working out just fine.

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Guess I better get back to the game!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Gingerbread Train Layout

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I am doing my best to scrap some of this past year’s Christmas. For some reason it is the holiday I tend to scrap the least of…I think it is because of the overwhelming number of pictures I take. So, I am just choosing some of the better moments and getting them done!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Baby Lea

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Tonight we got to go meet the newest addition to our family. My brother-in-law and his wife had their little girl last night. She weighed 7lbs. 8oz. and is just beautiful! I mean, look at that sweet little face!

The whole time we were there she was snoozing away, but who can blame her? Being born is hard work! Her mom is recovering well and is hoping to be home by sometime Saturday.

The only damper on the whole visit was that Landon wasn’t allowed back in the room to visit. The hospital policy was 12 and up, so he was pretty bummed. I think he was as excited to see her as I was. We’ll be making a trip to their house one day this weekend so he can see her, hopefully he won’t stay too upset.

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It was great getting to hold such a little baby again, it sure has been a long time!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Alice In Wonderland

I am so excited about this movie, it’s beyond ridiculous.

Every Tim Burton film I’ve seen, I’ve loved.

Every Johnny Depp film I’ve seen, I’ve loved.

I’ve always loved Alice, and this was always my favorite version.

This is going to be a movie that I’ll HAVE to see in the theaters.

I may even let the kids come with me.

Maybe.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Winter Wonderland

I decided to try to get back into some challenges over at Scrapbook.com. It’s always a good way to get some new ideas and to get some pages done. One of the challenges I signed up for this month was the color challenge.

Because it is winter, and there is snow everywhere, we were to make 50% of our layout white. We could use any other color we wanted as long as at least half of it was white.

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The picture I used is from last month’s big snow. The kids were walking ahead of me and I just thought it looked so pretty out there…

I got the idea to use the rick rack on the snow hills out of the latest issue (Feb 2010) of Scrapbooks Etc. magazine.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Shutter Island

I’m not a big fan of scary movies, but this happens to be an awesome book. Tony got it for me a few years ago for Christmas and I just couldn’t put it down! Hopefully the movie will be just as great, and I hope I’m brave enough to go see it in the theater!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

2009 Blizzard (Layout)

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I really love these pictures of the kids playing in the snow the day we got our big blizzard. They didn’t mind that the snow was beating them in the face, but as soon as I got my pictures I ran back inside! It was just too cold and windy for me!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Building the Super Swing

Landon, finally tired of playing new video games, asked me to help him put together one of his new K’Nex amusement park kits. I was happy to oblige since I love putting these things together!

This is the very beginning of our Super Swing:

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Now we’re making some progress:

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See, I really did help him build this:

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And, here is the finished project. Do you see Landon hiding behind it? This Super Swing is actually super big!

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Here’s a close-up of some of the thrill seekers that went on a spin:

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Friday, January 1, 2010

We know how to par-tay!

We spent New Years Eve exactly the same way as last year.

We had homemade pizza:

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And fondue for dessert:

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And then we all sat around doing a whole lot of nothing. The kids played Wii games while Tony played his computer and I scrapbooked. Once midnight came, we watched the ball drop and then called it a night…pretty exciting huh?

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...