Brave Girl

:::::::::::::::::::Dentist::::::

Eve just got back from having a cavity filled at the pediatric dentist. They used orange scented nitrous oxide to prep her for the shot, and they used a mint numbing gel. She looked at me with a hesitant expression and her eyes got that glassy sheen from beginning to tear up. I asked if she was nervous and she nodded yes. She wanted to hold my hand, as opposed to me holding hers. I figure it gave her a small measure of something she could control. She rarely moved during the procedure. Her lip did slip into the little speculum that kept her jaw open and she would point at it with tears in her eyes. I was so proud of her as was the doctor. The novocaine is wearing off and she feels the pain. I can just hug her.


::::::::::::::::Cub Scout Camp:::::::

Noah is at camp for this week. It is a day camp so he goes in the morning and I pick him up in the afternoon. The theme this year is "Cubs in Space". What a perfect theme for my science guy.

::::::::::::::::Fun New Layouts::::::


<sub>Credits: Dawn Inskip's "Hush" kit, Embossed Letters (set 2)
Catrine: Laura Alpha
Font: DJB Donnar at www.thedigichick.com


Credits: Dawn Inskip's "Hush" kit, alpha from "Midnight Diamonds"
Font: CK Cursive



Credits: Dawn Inskip's Hush kit, Evitangel collab kit, Cartoon Caper kit, Make Believe kit, Typecast Alpha
Font: DJB MANDY by Darcy Baldwin at www.thedigichick.com</sub>

Take Care! :)

We Are The Music Makers...

We are the dreamer of dreams:



This is a group of photos I took of my niece while I was on lifeguard duty during our family reunion. She is a collector of rocks and shells. She also likes to line them up.


_{Darcy Baldwin: DJB KarenbScript at The Digichick
Gina Miller: Canvas of Color
Antonio Rafaello: Tattered and Torn Frames
Emily Merritt: Messy Brush Add-on
Michelle Coleman: Handstamed Brush}


:::::::::::::::::::::Emotions Revealed:::::::

Here is a well put observation by Paul Ekman in introduction of his book, "We organize our lives to maximize the experience of positive emotions and minimize the experience of negative emotions. We do not always suceed, but that is what we try to do."

The author started his research in the 1950s studying hand movements to try and determine if patients receiving psychological care were making improvements and it was through "serendipity" and grant money that he was asked to study facial expressions. His goal was to find out if facial expressions meant the same thing in all cultures, or were they learned in each culture. Most scientists felt that expressions were learned and dismissed the writings of Charles Darwin who believed they were innate and universal. Ekman also had a wonderful mentor by the name of Silvan Tomkins who had already been studying human expressions.

I'll give more tidbits as I go along.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::Speaking of Doing Things That...:::::::

that help maximize positive emotions check out my BIL photography website: Invisible Green
He named one of his photographs from a comment I made. Kickin' Cool Electric Lollipop

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::Cool Cousins::::::::

The Rachel and Aaron had such fun having Gabriel and Afton over. The girls giggled, wrote a musical and giggled some more. The boys laughed, got hurt, and played video games. I believe that is some Zen definition of balance.

I'll try to post some of the Taylor Boys Musical if I can get it to load to photobucket.

Until later!

Nic, Nick and Nicky!

The Atlanta Greek Festival was great! Thursday is the day to attend. Their were no crowds, so we walked right up and grabbed gyros for dinner. Noah and Aaron had cheese pizza...heathens! Then the Rachel and Aaron spotted the sign that said Kafenion where they knew the loukamades are made. Aaron, Eve and Rachel were so excited to partake of the little doughnut hole like confections with a syrup of honey and light karo sprinkled with cinnamon. We asked one of the volunteers a question and laughed when we noticed her name was Nicky. Michael watched the kids while I went to the pastry area and purchased baklava and some super delicious Greek style wedding cookies called KOURABIEDES. We sat and ate while watching and listening to Greek traditional dances and music. The clouds were ominous throughout the event, but the rain didn't come. We also listened to the last 15 minutes of a lecture given about the Greek Orthodox Church in their cathedral. The mosaic art was fascinating! After we were finished with everything we went to take the free shuttle back to our car. Michael and the kids tried to board a private bus for an assisted living home. They were so serious about Michael being on the wrong bus. He replied, "But this looked like where all the fun is! Do you need a driver?" We all laughed and went up the hill to catch our shuttle.

:::::::::::::::A layout of Our Trip to Ellis Island & The Statue of Liberty:::



Katie Pertiet: Bent vintage frame
Kate Hadfield: Knotted stitches, staple, taped alpha
Gina Miller: Canvas of Colors
Darcy Baldwin: DJB DEBBIEC at The Digichick
Font: Pea Renee

::::::::::::::::::::::Niece and Nephew::::::

We have Gabriel and Afton over to spend the night and the kids are a riot. Afton and Rachel are writing a musical about their brothers'. Aaron and Gabriel have been doing guy stuff like Lego Starwars video game, skateboarding, and scooters. I took the kids over to the bowling alley and they bowled one game. Afton was so thrilled when she knocked over the pins you would think every time was a strike. When we got home she said, "Hey, I just lost my tooth!" I grabbed her a paper towel and put the tooth in a ziploc. Moments later Gabriel came rushing in saying, "This is bad!" He had wrecked his skateboard in front of the house. He has a road rash scrape on his side and a quarter-size bit of missing skin on his elbow. I cleaned him up and put some pain relief antibiotic cream on the wound and covered it with an elbow bandaid.

We took the kids over to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and Eve and Noah made friends with another family of kids. Later we took them over to my mom's house to drop of Noah and Eve. We stayed until my parents got home from dinner. Michael and I played the girls in a game of Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, while watching the show on television. The girls made it to the 1,000,000 dollar question, while Michael won the whole shebang. Then we played Simpson Clue. (I won...it was Mrs. White (Mr. Smithers) in the Burns Manor with an extendo glove).
We ended up watching the Japanese cartoon Digimon with the kids. Basically, you can have any kind of name ending with "mon", so Michael was making up names. He jokingly said, "Pain in the @**mon". Almost immediately Afton walked in the room and asked, "Did someone call my name?" Her timing was impeccable. Gabriel just shook his head and kept laughing.

::::::::::::::::::::No Pill Fleece::::::::::

I need to make a run to the fabric store today and purchase some No Pill Fleece for teacher presents. Rachel has a couple of teachers, Noah has one, and Eve has 3 (two pre-school and one ballet/tap teacher). I will just cut and tie the ends and embroider their names on the blankets.


:::::::::::::::::::::The Bourne Supremacy::::

I finished up the book, yesterday. The intrigue had my head spinning and the double talk on the double talk by the spys and government officials was bizarre. I overall liked the read, but found the ending lacking the energy of the prior chapters. I am now reading The Bourne Ultimatum

Smiles!

Thanks, Janna!

My brother did a marvelous job with the face painting for his kids:



_{Paper: Donna Rafferty's Spooky Fall Kit
Pumpkin and Spider from Janna Billman's Halloween Silhouette Kit
Frames by Rhonna Farrer and Robin Cabana
Glitter from Jen Wilson
Title from Shabby Princess' Free Halloween Kit
Font: Amanda's Hand}