Stone Mountain Sweet Gum:

_{Background paper from Oil Papers by Gina Miller, Really Big Ribbon by Natalie Braxton, Vintage Frames by Nancy Comelab, Borderline doodle by Sande Krieger, Chocolate Notepapers by Anna Benjamin at Paper_Moons, Thought bubble from Ceres kit by Jackie Eckles, Fonts: Cats, Typical Writer, DB Michael, Date Stamp by Katie Pertiet, Botanical brushes from internet, staples by Jenn Patrick}
Text:
Stone Mountain Sweet Gum:
Pioneers once peeled the bark and scraped the resin-like solid to produce chewing gum.
The bark of this species of Sweet Gum tree is mottled with a variety of colors. The colors of this Stone Mountain Sweet Gum attracts both male and female Homo sapiens. Once attracted to the tree's bark the Homo sapiens deposit a wad of fresh gum to the tree's exterior, thus protecting it from the elements.


::::::::::::::::::::Music Maven::::::::

Eve and I had the opportunity to spend time together on our drive to her check up and she offered her opinion on the tunes we were listening to on the radio. The first song on our journey was by Evanesence called "My Immortal".
Eve asked, "Did someone die?" (Echo from the other day).
"I don't know." (I reach to change the channel).
"Don't change it. I like it!"

The next song was by a group called The Killers. The song is called "Somebody Told Me". She told me to turn it up, up, up!

By the time we got half way to the appointment The Police song "Roxanne" came on the radio. Eve asked, "What is he saying?"
I replied, "Roxanne."
Eve: I don't like it! Turn it off!

Eve also came up with her own song this evening:

"I want to be like my mommy!
I want to go camping!
I want to be like my mommy!
I want to send e-mails!"

(She was wearing panties at the time, so my guess is that she won't make it in pop music...good thing!)

My First Kite...

_{Cluster frame, alpha and Graphic background paper by Nancy Comelab, paint brush stroke and Glitter Swirl by Michelle Coleman, butterfly brushes from the web, Font: DB Michael, sidewalk}

:::::::::::::::Red Rover, Red Rover:::::::::

...it's to the dentist thrice over! 3 kids had cleanings yesterday, Aaron has his today, then back to the orthodonist this afternoon for Rachel. No cavities, so far!

Earth Day with the Taylors...

We went to Stone Mountain after church and hiked up the mountain to fly Eve's new kite. We took Kasey, one of the neighbor children, along with us.




A species of The Sweet Gum tree? (Eve, Aaron, Rachel and Kasey)












These were photos from 2003 of the Fiesta themed Blue and Gold Banquet. Michael had glasses then. Michael and Aaron won most creative for their "Chips and Salsa" cake made from pound cake and melted chocolate wafers.
<sub>Cluster frame by Nancy Comelab, Stitched arrows by Kate Hadfield, Handstamped Alpha by Michelle Coleman, background paper from Spring Break by Dani Mogstad



Journaling papers by Catrine, Borderlines by Sande Krieger, Ticket and black doodle from Dear Diary by Erica Hite, Cardboard overlay by Linda Gil Bildal, Doodle Alpha, metal flower and frame by Kate Hadfield</sub>


Flourish Frames by Erica Hite.

Smiles!

Service Day

Grandpa Jim and Aaron in their work outside attire.




Stumped!





Aaron working on the tree stump with some other young men.




Aaron with a big leaf rake.



Grandpa Jim and Aaron went to help out with an Eagle Scout project for one of the young men from Troop 129. Many of the recent Eagle projects from Troop 129 have been to do various improvements to the inside and outside of my brother's school in DeKalb for the developmental disabled. Members of our Church also went to assist the young men as part of a clean up day. They are creating an area where planter boxes can be accessed by those in wheel chairs. Here is a first hand account of the day from my stepdad's blog.




I'm really proud of Aaron for giving service and what he received in return was a sense of charity and making new friends.

::::::::::::::::::The BFG::::::::::::::

Erica asked about my thoughts on The BFG, so here are a few thoughts. Roald Dahl's characters are young people in undesirable life circumstances and put into fantastic scenerios. The word that fits my impression of his works it chimerical. (Etymology: chimera
1 : existing only as the product of unchecked imagination : fantastically visionary or improbable
2 : given to fantastic schemes).

I also enjoy reading books with different dialects that differentiate the characters by location, experience, and education. I love, as I read out loud, to drop into the BFG's dialect and then back to Sophie's little polite voice. Dahl's ability to create hilarious sounding words like scrumdiddlyumptious is a riot, too. The chapter entitled Frobscottle and Whizzpoppers had Aaron and Rachel laughing out loud. From now on I believe their discussions about their own flatulence and that of others will be peppered with the phrase whizzpopper with a conspiratorial giggle!

:::::::::::::::::::Slideshow Project:::::::::

I am almost finished with a slideshow project for a gentlemen in Troop 129. He went to Philmont along with his son and some other young men from their Troop. I helped him do a slideshow for his eldest son's Eagle project, so he asked if I would do a video for his Philmont trip. I finished the pan and zoom edits and I will be adding music this week. I hope it turns out the way he envisions.

::::::::::::::::::Poison Ivy Update:::::::::

I am close to being healed of the tell tale signs of this nasty experience. Aaron recoils less when he touches my legs. I should have little to no scarring. But as I was healing the poison ivy was growing, so it looks like there will be a rematch. ****High Noon Gun whistling music**** I don't hold out much hope for me coming out unscathed in such a hideous reunion.

::::::::::::::::::Short Attention Span Theatre:::::::

In this episode of Short Attention Span Theatre we meet Noah Taylor who can be sitting at the table during a prayer and then 2 minutes later wonder why everyone is eating because the prayer hasn't been said. Whereby everyone else responds, "We just said it! Weren't you listening?!?!"


:::::::::::Digital Converts:::::::::::

My friend Kim is very interested in playing with pixels, so I hope to see her creative talents in a few months when she gets a chance to get some software and learn this craft.

::::::::::Let's Go Fly a Kite::::::::::::
...up to the highest heights...Come, let's go fly a kite!

We are off to fly a kite with Eve at Stone Mountain. She has wanted one desperately since she played with one a week ago and I saw a cool one at Target. Eve kissed the kite when I gave it to her. Hmmm...I think she appreciated it.

Smiles!

Over The Weekend

Michael, Aaron and the scouts from their troop went camping overnight at Stone Mountain. The boys enjoyed a venison roast. In the morning Bro. Heaton drove over and made the boys pancakes, which Aaron claimed to eat 5.

The next event of Saturday morning was Noah's first Pinewood Derby. He was hilarious when on one heat he joyously yelled, "I GOT SECOND PLACE! WOO HOO!" We were laughing because he was so excited about just finishing. The results were taking so long that we left before finding out Noah's placement in the race. I will upload the photos later today.

Our neighbor Karen loaned us this movie:



Michael and I really enjoyed the film. We both cried and laughed. I have enjoyed Jim Garner's performances since The Rockford Files and occasionally I get to see his older show Maverick, which is great, too. He was wonderful in Victor/Victoria. He has a great mixture of charisma, wisecracking and intelligence. He has always been easy on the eyes, too. In the film The Notebook his interaction with Gena Rowlands on all levels is amazing. I also liked Ryan Gosling's scene in the movie when he argues with Rachel McAdam's character, Ali, about why they belong together and how much he loves her. It has so much energy and honesty about how hard relationships can be and, at the same time, how much all the effort is worth.
We also borrowed Lady in the Water by M. Night Shamaylan. Michael liked it a bit better than I did. The concept I got out of it was that it was important to find out what is important about you and develop it. That everyone has something important to offer, but it isn't easy to figure out.

Time to start school for the day. See ya later!

Tea Party:

Actually, it was a Sprite Party, but tradition must be maintained in this highly civilized occasion!

Noah took over and pretended to be the mother at the head of the table. He, or she, served the tea to each of the ladies at the table. Everyone participated and it was a grand event!


*Notice the pinky action!


Eve dressed up for the occasion.

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Rachel is having a tough time at school, especially, with math. She asked if I would consider home schooling her. I told her she was always welcome to be taught at home, but wanted her to be sure that is what she really wants to do first. I wrote a letter to her teacher and will probably receive a call from her tomorrow afternoon or Monday. Rachel has had teachers who have really liked her in the past and have been on the touchy feely sweet side. Her new teacher is all business and Rachel feels she is failing because she can't seem to ingratiate herself with the teacher. I don't think it is the teacher being unkind, I think she is just a plow ahead and get things done and we don't have time to hug and be cute. I told her if she came home to learn I would give her assignments and expect her to work hard, as well. The problem from what I'm understanding from Rachel is in math the teacher will present a concept, give a quiz, then a test and if you don't do well she still moves on to the next concept. Rachel's attitude towards math is negative, so she is already starting at a negative and she is floundering. I go over her math homework with her and it disturbs me that she is counting on her fingers and not grasping simple math. She has taken standardized tests and scored above average on every subject, so I know the capacity to understand is there, but putting it into every day effect is not happening.

She said she would take in the note and give the situation some more time. I really wouldn't mind having her home. She and Aaron are competitive with each other, so it might light a fire under him to learn more. Rachel could also use Saxon Math, which belabors math concepts in its approach to teaching. This repetion might help her become proficient. I'm just not sure about her somewhat fickle notions, so setting a definite is difficult.


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We will be Denny sitting tomorrow, as my folks are going to a wedding in Tennessee. My mom is super nervous leaving my brother. I don't think my mother has left Denny for longer than 2 days in his 43 years of life. I enjoy overhearing her read his favorite Sesame Street stories to him. She does the best voices! My favorite is "The Diamond D". It is about dumb Dora of Dumbdiddle and the Dreadful Dragon.
Click Herefor the version my mother has, which is on sale at Amazon.com

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Noah, Eve, Aaron, Michael and half of Noah's Tiger Cub den went up Stone Mountain tonight. We had a severe thunderstorm move in and the excursion was almost cancelled, but it scooted on through. Noah said he was glad because he had, "Looked forward to this trip ALL WEEK!"

Rachel and I went to Girl Scouts where she made a paper lantern and I paper-scrapped a 6 X 6 brag book for my sister-in-laws baby. I will have to finish it up tomorrow. The baby is due in 2 weeks!

Family Ties...

Eve and Noah got to pal around together at Stone Mountain. They are both first-rate explorers. They enjoyed leaping from rock to rock and making their day together an adventure!


_{Family Ties Kit by Sandra Boddington and Suzy Nunes at Sweet Shoppe Designs, template by Pattie Knox for DDE, Inked edge from Studio Chic by Shabby Princess, Font: Pea Alesa}

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I took some cute picture of Michael and Eve drawing a "rainbow fish" on my parent's driveway with sidewalk chalk today. I will post them as soon as Michael finishes uploading them. Currently he is playing a game of "Bounce Out" on his laptop.

I also have some fun photos of Eve having a tea party with her new plastic princess tea set from Granny and Grandpa Towhey. Noah decided to be the hostess at the party, which was a riot! He was dispensing his fountain of knowledge in regards to proper tea party etiquette!

Eve's Day and a Trip to Stone Mountain:

What do you get when you turn 4? Why you go to the doctor and have a check up,...silly! Eve was game to go to the doctor late this morning. She is doing well. She is 38 inches tall and 32lbs. The doctor charted her at 16 percentile for height and 24 percentile for weight, or visa versa. Either way he said they were proportional and fine. Then came the news...SHOTS! The new recommendation is for a second varicella shot for chicken pox, so she got that plus, DTaP and her MMR. She was brave, but sore. I appreciate her trusting me and not jerking away. She got 3 stickers, which she was able to mutilate within 5 minutes of leaving the doctor's office. She put them on her legs and then pulled them off and waded them up. I'm not sure what I think about this, but she didn't cry so I guess all was well.

Then, we went to see Michael so he could have lunch with the birthday girl. She chose Chick-Fil-A. We got to say "hi" to one of our "outlaw" relatives, Elizabeth, who is the cousin of our sister-in-law, Laura Taylor. Elizabeth helps clean the tables in the food court where we stopped to eat. I'm pretty sure that Eve could live of chicken nuggets and ketchup. Eve would say Sprite, too!





This morning I made chocolate chip waffles for Eve and put a yellow twisty candle in them as a cute morning birthday surprise. She refused to blow the candle out even though Aaron, Rachel, Noah and I tried to convince her it would be fun and she could make a wish. I finally blew the candle out myself and gave her a kiss. A few minutes later she said, "I didn't blow out the candle because there was no pony on it and I didn't have a party hat!" (I got the ponies for the cake, but she was okay with no hat).

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UNSOLICITED--- PRODUCT ENDORSEMENT:

Kid Knex are so COOL! Noah got this set for Christmas from his Uncle Stephen and I thought they were awesome!
He and Aaron love to play with the pieces and they have such personality! The set comes with big wide eyes are cool appendages. Eve really liked them too, so I got her a set for her birthday. Aaron was about to jump out of his skin to give her the present, so I let him go ahead and let her open them before the others came home. Then he sat down and helped her build every example on the box. TOO FUN! They have so many fun styles, so I included their site so you can see for your self:
CLICK ME

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Michael took some great photos of Noah while up on the mountain:

Noah doesn't only drive people up a tree, he's a Client!



This little boy loves to explore:


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While Michael was at Stone Mountain with Thing 3 and Thing 4, I took Rachel to her first Girl Scout meeting of the year with Aaron in tow. I will be making other arrangements next time, so Rachel can hang out with her troop with out Aaron acting as a catalyst for teen angst!

E is for Explorer:

I really like ATCs...Can you tell?!?

_{Background Paper: IOD's Adelaide's Letter
Frame: Rhonna Farrer
Fairy: Hope Wallace
Carpet bag, Flying hat, and hot air balloon from the internet
Stamp: IOD's Felina
Postmark: JennV
Font: Marginal PX
Alpha: Century font with a IOD's San Salvatore paper then color burned.}

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My explorers are canoing today with the scout troop. Michael took the troop to Stone Mountain for a practice run with the canoes and two boys baptized themselves because they stood up in the canoe. It should be interesting to see how the campout goes.

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<sub>This is a photo of my two sons, Noah and Aaron. They rarely get along, but when we went to Six Flags Over Georgia they rode most of the rides together because they wanted to.


"Homecoming Kit", "Florist Kit", "Persimmons in Summer" designs by Sandra Boddington


Font: Pea Alesa


Overlay by Nancy Rowe Janitz</sub>

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My stepfather, Jim, sent me some photos of my brother doing his sweeping thing, so I will scrap them in a couple of days with his story. Another fun layout I'm trying to figure out is Eve's retelling of the story of Jesus' resurrection. Eve has replaced the angels with fairies that roll away the stone, so I will scrap it like I think she thinks about what happened.

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I need to go make a smoothie and mow the lawn now that it isn't raining and the sun isn't to high over head. By the way on the smoothie...i've been adding frozen peaches and they are so mild they don't seem to change the taste much, but for some reason it lends a "clean" taste to the flavor. Don't know really how to explain.

Have a lovely weekend all!

Funny Niece:

This is my niece who loves to get her photograph taken. She plopped down next to me eating her chicken, while we waited for the Laser Show at Stone Mountain.



_{"HOMECOMING KIT" designed by Sandra Boddington}

Fun Family Weekend:

Hello all! We have had a fun weekend with family. We gathered at the Stone Mountain Laser Show on Friday night and did not get home to around 10:30, then Saturday the newest adopted family members were sealed in the Atlanta Temple. Michael and I trucked the kids over for a haircut, then we drove to Stephen's house to swim in their new pool. It is a salinated pool, which I highly recommend. You feel so much better swimming in this kind of pool, as opposed, to a chlorinated pool. It is akin to swimming in your tears...you feel, almost, like Alice in Wonderland when she shrinks. I was going to check Noah, Aaron and Rachel for gills after they stayed outside for so long. I came in with Eve because her lips were blue and she said she was too cold. It has been in the mid to high 90s with the heat index making it feel hotter in Georgia, but today it started out overcast and cool and rained lightly throughout the day. I don't think it got much higher than 80 degrees Farenheit. My big problem is if I don't wear my glasses when I'm swimming I squint and get a headache, so I put my glasses on after a little bit. Then, my glasses get wet while I'm swimming and my eyes try to focus through the water blobs on my glasses and I start getting an eye strain induced headache. Argh!


We ate one of the sweetest watermelons as part of lunch, and from the samplings of watermelon from this season it is hard to find one that isn't sweet. We stayed for several hours and didn't get home until around 9:15pm. We all bathed our salty bodies and sat down for family reading time.


Dave Barry is still going strong with his writing. I believe we are on chapter 25 and the kids hate when I stop reading, but Noah had fallen asleep and I didn't want him to miss too much.


School starts tomorrow for everyone, but I'm woefully not ready, so after church I will be preparing for the morrow.

A Lifetime of Roses:

_{eveything is from "Winter Roses" by Karen Hunt.
Font: Pea Angedawn}

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A question asked, often, in the scrapbooking community is: "What music do you listen to when you scrap?

When I worked on the layout above I was listening to:


I laugh everytime I hear Tevye wondering out loud to God:

"Dear God, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be poor.
But it's no great honor either!
So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?"


...No James Blunt for me! I'll take Topol singing any day!