In Your Face!

Apparently that is the phrase you hear when playing a "friendly" game of cards with my children. Noah found my travel version of Mille Bornes when I cleaned out my desk. My parents have the 1971 version that I loved to play when I was a teenager. So, when Noah asked to play I said sure. Rachel was game too. So, I shuffled the cards like my grandfather taught me when he was trying to teach me Poker and Blackjack. (I wasn't a good student of those games because he always let me win. By the end of the Summer I would often have some serious spending money...$13.00).

I explained the rules to the kids. The trash talking from the kids began immediately. Noah and Rachel were exceptionally aggressive with handing out stop cards of different kinds. Another favorite thing for the kids was having the card the other player needed to proceed and with a coy look they would put the card in the discard pile and say, "Oh, did you need that?" I won the first game, then let the two play together now they knew the rules. I was worried that their loud calls of "IN YOUR FACE!" would coming flying around the corner and knock me down. They would alternate their hurt feelings with, "Why did you give me that card?" as if they hadn't deserved it or been playing like a mercenary the entire game.

When Michael got home Noah and I had just finished a game and roped him into play with us. Noah was his more, toned down, trash talking self. Noah couldn't believe Michael won the game. Noah had given Michael a flat tire card right after Michael had put down his green light card to be able to begin putting down mileage on his next turn. Noah's face of disbelief was a riot.

::::::::::::::::::::::Cool Email:::::::::::

I recieved a message from Shutterfly: "Your photo book, ‘2007 Summer Family Vacation’, is so special that I have decided to feature it in our Shutterfly Gallery home page, Digital Scrapbooking, and Travel U.S. categories."

http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/home/start.sfly?

http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/browse/start.sfly?occasion=Digital%20Scrapbooking

http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/browse/start.sfly?occasion=Travel%20U.S.

What a neat surprise!

::::::::::::::::::::::A couple of Layouts:::::::::::




Credits:

Balance is Beautiful by dawn inskip - this weeks featured designer on evitangels blog http://evitangel.blogspot.com/

this kit is only available by this link at TTS http://digistore.treasurestoscrap.co...oducts_id=1598

Fonts: DJB Sissy by Darcy Baldwin at www.thedigichick.com

Krafty Alpha by Edeline Marta


:::::::::::::::::Boy Scouts:::::::::::

Aaron joined my stepfather's Scout Troop last night, so now he is in two troops. Michael is Scoutmaster to one and will be doing something else in the new troop, but I don't know what. He and Aaron are helping Edmund, a young man in the troop, on his Eagle Scout Project. This is the second time, I think, that Aaron has helped Edmund with the project. Hopefully, this will give Aaron several more opportunites to learn things and go to some new places. There was a Scout representative talking about the World Jamboree that is to be held in Sweden and Aaron really wants to go. I can't fathom the number of lawns that would take to earn the money.


I'm off to walk! I'm looking forward to the Astronomy Cast about Saturn's Moons! :)

A Small Measure of Accomplishment

::::::::::::::::::::FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a link to your photo book in the Shutterfly Gallery: http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/post/start.sfly?postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDFg1buGzdwxZjOKhMsA

:::::::::::::::::::::Summer Expressions::::
I was playing around with a couple of my favorite photos and came up with these:



<sub>My dd, Eve, on a trip to Oregon's Ona Beach.


Brand new today EXPRESSIONS "SUMMER" {Wordart}
background paper from Dawn's New Beginnings kit
NDISB: http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16_63&products_id=2908

Treasures to Scrap: http://digistore.treasurestoscrap.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1569

ScrapScandiStyle: http://shop.scrapscandistyle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1497</sub>

::::::::::::::College For Kids:::::::::::

starts for Rachel, today. She attends the writing camp for a week every Summer. Michael enjoys the chance to hang out with her for the ride home after work. Today Michael is giving platelets, so Rachel will tag along and see what daddy does every few weeks.

::::::::::::::Yesterday:::::::::::::::

Noah's tooth finally came out. Michael made Rice Krispie treats and the minute Noah bit into his treat the tooth popped out. Noah informed me that he would be asking the Tooth Fairy for 2 dollars. I explained that the Tooth Fairy didn't have that kind of money. He was curious how I had such inside information since I, nor, his father was the Tooth Fairy. This morning he was pleased with his 1 dollar bill and thought it was funny that the Tooth Fairy forgot to retrieve the tooth in the handy dandy ziplock baggy. What a silly Tooth Fairy!

I also got to walk about 4 miles with Michael in the evening. Their were sprinkles of rain, but nothing stayed and we had a delightfully cool walk.

I had my first official day in the nursery at Church as one of the leaders. I even got a set of keys to the coveted toy closet. The other leader, Kim, and I took the kids for a brief walk around the building. The day was gorgeous and a breath of fresh air is a good thing.

On Saturday we learned of the passing of a wonderful friend of ours, Cathy. My mom wrote a beautiful blog post about Cathy's last visit.

Grampa Jim

blogged

about his day of cleaning and prepping a ceiling fan with Princess Eve that is a hoot. Eve loves to do Fix It stuff with Grampa, she also does so with her own flair.

Here are a couple of pages from the FINISHED Shutterfly album:




Off to deliver the author to camp! Take care! :)

Game...

:::::::::::::::::::::::Tennis Camp:::::::::::::

Rachel and Eve had a good start to their tennis experience. The weather was in the high 70s Fahrenheit, low humidity with light breezes. Rachel is fortunate to have the 8:30am to 10:30 time slight, while Eve gets the hotter part of the day starting at 11:00am. There are 2 coaches and an assistant coach to help the kids. The groups were manageable at about 16 or 18 each. The girls learned what stretches to do before beginning to play and then how to hold their racquet. They also learned the areas of the court. Then, they practiced their forehand stroke, followed by backhand. Our kids are not athletically gifted (genetic...I think), but they both said they had a good time.

The Williams sisters are currently secure on their tennis throne.


Rachel was in the first group:

I love the shrugged shoulders and the funny expression:
Working on her forehand:

Eve was in the second group and prepares with some stretching:
Coach Lauren helps Eve with holding her racquet correctly:
Eve works on her backhand:
Coach Nick helps Eve with her backhand position:
Eve works her backhand:
Eve smiles for the camera:



:::::::::::::::::::::::A Visit to Troop 129::::::::::

Grampa Jim blogged about Michael and Aaron visiting his Troop with photos.

::::::::::::::::::::::::2007 Summer Vacation Album::::

I'm almost finished!!!! :) Shutterfly has a free 20 page thank you book and I'm trying to take advantage of the deal.





Take care! :)

It's Here:

:::::::::::::::::::::::Album Cover::::::::

This is the album for my SIL. I really love how it turned out. I wanted to capture a Dr. Seussian feel.





::::::::::::::::::Pride and Prejudice::::::::

I had a fantastic time cuddled in my fleece blanket watching the mini-series, yesterday. Michael came home in time to watch a couple of hours of the show. We had to leave to pick up the kids from my stepmother's house. They would love to have stayed longer, but they had school today. The mini-series version is wonderfully crafted and a great period piece. The movie had a more refined air, then the movie version. The country gentry seemed more polished. That isn't to say that I preferred one to the other because of this. The gulf between the two world's seemed larger in the movie version due to the farm/old rambling house of the Bennett's. Both Elizabeth Bennett's had quick wit, clever tongue and captivating eyes that would temp and vex the Mr. Darcys. Both Colin Firth and Matthew MacFayden did marvelous jobs with a character who has lost his trust and patience with people in general. The movie version had to compress a lot of information about the cad, Mr. Wickham, that is more detailed in the series. The portrayal of the father in both versions is hilarious, but given more time for dialogue in the series.

Overall, the cinematography in the movie had me from the beginning, but made my heart race during the dance scene with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth where everyone else seems to disappear from the room. I thoroughly recommend both versions. Romantic stuff, indeed.



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

I am polished and flossed after a trip to the dentist office today. They said the choppers look lovely, but I have tartar below the surface that needs to be scaled. Yum! The kids all go to the dentist in May...should be fun! :)

Smiles...a bright and shiny one...at that!

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired...

says Evey!

One sick little girl can really put a wrench in my blogging schedule! :) Eve is in my lap chattering right now. She is begging for me to play the Myst series with her again. She loved the characters and the "spooky music". Due to her high fever, cough and general lethargy she was forced to miss "Dessert with Dad" at her preschool. Michael told her he would take her for ice cream at Bruster's. Not only was Eve sick, but I had my final Wilton decorating class for Course 1. I was able to get my cake baked, iced and smoothed with all of the decorator icing prepared. Unfortunately, I left 2 of the tips I needed in the dishwasher due to being distracted. While I was getting ready to leave and taking care of Eveybug Michael was repairing my brakes. I told him on Sunday that they were hashed and having to stop quickly and pull over for an ambulance to pass did them in. He drove the car to work on Monday and agreed that they were bad. He has been working 50 hour weeks, getting ready for scouts, helping with homework, cuddling a sick Eveybug and getting no sleep because he is in our full size bed with a sick toddler. All of these factors combined he still was able to run to the auto parts store and get new pads and rotors for my car and fix the brakes. He drove my car to work this morning and said he thinks all is well.

Eve has had her bath, her fever is gone, but not her runny nose and cough, so she is staying home again. She will be by cake decorating trainer for my push to finish my last cake decorating assignment. My roses came out ruffled because my icing is too stiff. I think they look "Shabby Chic".

::::::::::::::::Please Take a Second to Check Out::::::::

my new "Humanitarian" section. I have links to Free Rice and a new one for a 20 minute video called "Story of Stuff". I found that 20 minutes incredibly informative and thought it very worthy to share.

::::::::::::::::Finished and on Order::::::::::

I finally finished my SIL's Christmas present and ordered it today. I sent her the Shutterfly link so she could check for errors. She said she really liked it, so that make me happy. Here is the Front and Back Cover:



Credits: Font: Grinched, Kay Miller's Lagoon Kit, Kate Hadfield's Vehicle, Pirate and Animal Doodles, also Summer Collab Kit from TLP, Susan Long's castle doodle, Erica Hite's Dear Diary Doodle for the banner.

Here are a few layouts:

I will update the credits for this one soon.



This is one of my sweet nieces, Isabell.


Credits:
Darcy Baldwin: DJB Doodle E Doo at The Digichick
Designs by Angelica E.: Happy Doodles
Kate Hadfield: Lovebirds, Chipboard Doodled Hearts
Ida: Heart Doodle Alpha
Natalie Braxton: Strings from the February B.Y.O.C.
Kristin Cronan-Barrow: Lovedovey glitter

A couple of nieces and a nephew playing in the leaves.


Credits:
Darcy Baldwin: DJB MICHAEL at The Digichick
Ida: Fall leaves doodles, Crayon Doodles
Catrine: Explore Solids
Katie Pertiet: Taped frames

::::::::::::::::::::::::::Dawn Inskip Layouts::::::

I made these as part of a tryout for a guest c.t. spot using her freebie::


Eve likes to imagine she is a flower fairy when the azaleas bloom in our front yard.


Credits:
Dawn Inskip: Guest C.T. Mini Kit
Darcy Baldwin: DJB Connorbuck at The Digichick


Aaron and Rachel are like a couple of lizards on a wall when it comes to climbing.
Credits:
Dawn Inskip: Guest C.T. Mini Kit
Darcy Baldwin: DJB MISH at The Digichick

I will update tomorrow, as Eve should be back to school. I have been tagged by Carol and also need to hand out my blog awards. Later today is the teacher conferences for Rachel and Noah...should be interesting!

Smiles!

Send In The Clowns

Text: This was my first attempt at creating a clown after my Wilton decorating class. The recipe had some changes and the consistency was too soft, but the end result was okay.

_{Credits: Lorie Davidson's : Sparky freebie
Kate Hadfield's: Doodle alpha
Darcy Baldwin's: DJB KIRA at The Digichick
Catrine: Pauline Alpha}

::::::::::::::::::Family Reading Time:::::::


The boys were a bit annoyed with me for going from one princess book to another, but I believe the new book has earned their interest. Aaron was disappointed that I had to stop reading due to the lateness of the hour last night. The story is well crafted and the characters and imagery are superb.

::::::::::::::::Valentine's Day is Coming Soon:::::


Shabby Miss Jenn made some really cool quick pages for the Shutterfly blog. Here is a sample:


::::::::::::::::Personal Reading:::::::::

New book for me:
This is a book recommended by my friend, Kim, and she has excellent taste in books!

Smiles...I'm off to Girl Scouts with Rachel!

Noah 9...

that is what you get when Ben 10's #1 fan gets a nasty infection on his thumb.

Last week during sacrament meeting I noticed Noah's cuticle was pink a puffy. I asked him to remind me to look at when we got home from church. He forgot. I forgot. BAD THING! So, sacrament meeting rolled around again Sunday and I looked at Noah's hand. CRIMINEA (sp?)and YIKES! It was a hot pink, swollen, oozing mess! Why hasn't he said anything? Well, you just have to know Noah the Stoic and shirker of things painful. Michael and I let our friend, Paola, know that we were taking Noah home during Sunday School to clean and treat the thumb.
The first course of action was to numb the skin, so Michael could check out the damage. Our neighbor, Kristen, is also an EMT and suggested keeping Anbesol in the first aid kit to be used as a topical anesthetic. Michael, then, wiped off the Anbesol and used the twizzers to clean off the dead skin and crusty stuff. Then he squeezed out a lot of infection while Noah screamed and cried, while I held him and cried. Michael then put some tincture of Benzoin on the thumb. Noah told him to hurry up because he was missing Sunday School and he wanted to get back right away.

We watched it for a day and it looked like it might get better with just a bit of antibotic cream and changes of band-aids. I decided to check on him during his lunch period at school to determine if I needed to call the doctor. The finger looked worse so I called and made an appointment while I was at the school for 2:30pm. When I went back to school to pick him up after retrieving Eve from preschool the school nurse came up to me to thank me for a fleece blanket I made her two years ago. She had gotten very sick right after I gave it to her and she said she cuddled in the blanket for warmth every day she was out sick. She told me she also cuddles in it for a nap, most days, after school. Boy, that made my heart warm. She takes care of kids when I'm not there, so I'm glad I can return some measure of comfort to her!

Noah saw the nurse practioner and she said that he had a bacterial infection and prescribed bactrim (sp), or rather, the generic sulfatrim. He will take 14ml twice a day for 10 days. She said they are using this medication as a first line of drug because of the antibiotic resistant MRSA. If his thumb doesn't show improvement in 2 days we go back for another drug they have found useful against MRSA resistant strains.

Last night, while playing the Simpson version of Clue Noah was wondering what would happen if his thumb didn't get better. Michael told him we would get it cut off and replace it with a bionic thumb (while he was doing the Bionic Man theme song). Then, Michael did this slow motion thumb wrestling with his "Bionic" thumb and told Noah that with a Bionic thumb he could challenge everyone and win. Noah LOVED this idea.

::::::::::::::::::::Double 0 Noah::::::::

On the way to the doctor's appointment Noah was wondering what it would be like to have a car with a harpoon gun. He theorized that if you shot a harpoon gun at a truck going the opposite way would rip the door right off. I suppose that would be true...STRANGE, but true! I told him that Granny Sue would love him to design and build her just such an equipped vehicle because she hates traffic.

I have my own ideas about how to get annoying drivers out of my way. I think really hard things like, "Don't you need to turn right here and get bread?" "Don't you need to stop for gas?" "Pull in right here and go to the bathroom?" "TURN NOW!" I have found that I am 100% ineffective.

::::::::::::::::::::Givin' Out Some PROPS:::::

I really enjoy reading my husband's blog, Free Philosophical Discussions .

::::::::::::::::Working on layouts...

I'm creating a Shutterfly album for my sister-in-law for her Christmas gift. We set down and selected photos and she looked at some of my digital supplies and let me know what style she liked. So, now I'm working on the album of her wonderful family.

Later!

Frustrated Artist and The Lone Dissenter

:::::::::::::::Frustrated Artist:::::::::

This is a layout of another one of my beautiful nieces, Kyra. One of the relaxing activities for our family reunion was to color. Kyra threw me a pout when her colored pencil was worn to a nub and she had a lot more to shade with that color.



_{Darcy Baldwin: DJB SUSANR at The Digichick
Jenna Desai: Whimsical Doodle
Scarletheels Media: Graphtastic, Painty Alpha
Kim de Smet: Newspaper border
Two Sisters Designs: Punch Label date
Tia Bennett: Joined At The Hip
Meredith Fenwick: Circle brush
Emily Merritt: Meshy Brush Add-on
Sausan Designs: Doodle Frame
Kate hadfield: Doodle Tape, Heavy Duty Staples
Font: Trashed}


:::::::::::::::::::::::::Interesting Test::::::::
I saw this test on Jessica Sprague's blog

Jung Typology Test

Here is how I scored:

Your Type is
INFJ
Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging
Strength of the preferences %
44 50 25 44


INFJ type description by D.Keirsey
INFJ type description by J. Butt and M.M. Heiss
http://typelogic.com/infj.html

INFJ Career Choices Jung Career Indicator?
INFJ Lifestyle Preferences




Qualitative analysis of your type formula

You are:
moderately expressed introvert

moderately expressed intuitive personality

moderately expressed feeling personality

moderately expressed judging personality

Protrait of the Counselor

The Portait of the Counselor (INFJ)

The Counselor Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in reaching their goals, and enterprising and attentive in their interpersonal roles. Counselors focus on human potentials, think in terms of ethical values, and come easily to decisions. The small number of this type (little more than 2 percent) is regrettable, since Counselors have an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping their companions. Although Counsleors tend to be private, sensitive people, and are not generally visible leaders, they nevertheless work quite intensely with those close to them, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes with their families, friends, and colleagues. This type has great depth of personality; they are themselves complicated, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.

Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact. At the same time, friends who have known a Counselor for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that they are inconsistent; Counselors value their integrity a great deal, but they have intricately woven, mysterious personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another's emotions or intentions -- good or evil -- even before that person is conscious of them. This "mind-reading" can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others' feelings so keenly. Furthermore, the Counselor is most likely of all the types to demonstrate an ability to understand psychic phenomena and to have visions of human events, past, present, or future. What is known as ESP may well be exceptional intuitive ability-in both its forms, projection and introjection. Such supernormal intuition is found frequently in the Counselor, and can extend to people, things, and often events, taking the form of visions, episodes of foreknowledge, premonitions, auditory and visual images of things to come, as well as uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance.

Mohandas Gandhi, Sidney Poitier, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Goodall, Emily Bronte, Sir Alec Guiness, Carl Jung, Mary Baker Eddy, Queen Noor are examples of the Counselor Idealist (INFJ).

Full descriptions of the Counselor and the Idealists are in People Patterns or Please Understand Me II

::::::::::::::::::New Family Reading Book:::::::::::

George's Secret Key To The Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking



The story is perfect for Noah. It has a young boy who owns a pig and the book talks about black holes and other science stuff.

::::::::::::::::::::::Holiday Un-Spirits::::::

this is a new drink that looked tasty for those holiday festivities
I have a 2 liter bottle ready for sampling, so I'll let you know the family verdict on this new drink.

:::::::::::::::::::::::Christmas Gift From Shutterfly::::

Shutterfly and Jen Wilson Designs have teamed up to allow for a free elements and paper pack worth $6.00.

Here is the link to there freebies here

:::::::::::::::::::::College For Kids::::::::

Rachel went through her book ceremony for College for Kids at Mercer University. We really enjoy her stories.


:::::::::::::::::::::Links To The Library Internet Dispute::::

Michael was listed as "The Lone Dissenter" in a news article on the issue. That had quite a ring to it.

Check out Michael's blog for the 411 on the Gwinnett County Library Board meeting.

:::::::::::::::::::::Teacher Conference and Braces Removal:::::::

I will post photos of a de-braced Rachel tomorrow! I won't, however, burden you with photos of the teacher conferences! :)

:::::::::::::::::::::Cherie Call::::::::

I am really enjoying her acoustic style. One of my favorite songs by her is "No"

and "One Good Woman"

"No Ordinary Girl"

Smiles, y'all!

Curiosity...

***excerpt from CNN.com "Which hobby best suits your personality?
From exploring the great outdoors, preparing exotic cuisine or persuing the hundreds of TV channels from your multi-media center, the options for leisure time in the modern world seem limitless. So, what's right for you? Take this CNN.com quiz and find out which hobbies best suit your personality."

Leisure Quiz


Here is my result:


DISCOVERY

Life is a journey, and you take the time to smell every single rose along the way. Your brain is a sponge, soaking up every detail of life around you, and you constantly look inward to figure out the ties that bind you to the universe. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it's what makes you tick. You might like hobbies like participating in archaeological digs, botany, assembling models, playing the stock market, meditation or even parapsychology.


:::::::::::::::::I Woke Up To This E-mail, Yesterday::::

Good morning.
Well we've had an exciting night so far. We pulled into Sandrock at about 8:00 and set up camp. Not too many people up here . Just a couple of climbers and one group of rednecks off in the woods.
At about 1:30 I get woken up to the sound of the scouts yelling "forest fire!"
So I got dressed and grabbed the water jug and started over towards the flames that were going 40 feet into the air. Somebody had set fire to the jiffy johny that the Climbers Coalition had paid for and it was spreading to the trees around it. I quickly realized that this was much bigger than I could take care of so I called 911.
I did my best to control the perimeter with the little water I had. My biggest concern was the trees that were burning 30' above me. As I continued to do my best to keep the perimeter, which was now about 50' across, under control I noticed that several places got worse when I put water on them. This was a gas fire. Somebody had put gas in the john and set it on fire. The whole time I was doing this I had one shirtless, missing a few teeth, redneck shadowing me insisting that I not call the police. When I told him that they were already on there way he got defensive and even accused me of starting the fire. To which I told him, "You might want to go back to camp and lay low for a little bit. When the firemen show up they'll see me, sober and trying to contain this and you, drunk, just standing around and they'll draw their own conclusions." He threatened to kick my @$$ a couple time but his slightly less drunk buddies convinced him it wasn't a good idea. I had 8 scouts standing around who were pretty sure that there was gonna be a "tussle". I think Hyrum had actually placed a bet on it. Nothing came of it. I just kept assuring then that I hadn't accused anybody of anything. I just wanted to get the fire out before it got any worse.
After about 20 minutes of my futile efforts the local volunteer fire department began to show up. First on the scene was a good old boy with his two young daughters who showed up in his Camaro. I was a little concerned until I saw that he was wearing his turn-out gear. In a matter of minutes there were three firetrucks on the scene and about twenty of Sand Rock's finest quickly got it under control. I told them what little I knew about how it could have started and they said they'd send up a deputy to make a report. I shook all their hands and thanked them for getting here before it got any worse. So far I haven't seen a deputy yet.
Conspicuously absent from the last half hour was my inebriated friend and his buddies. Perhaps picking a fight with the one guy who was trying to put the fire out wasn't such a good idea now that there were so many firemen on the scene.
Oh well. That's the excitement so far. I'll call you in he morning and give you a full report. Hopefully our day of climbing will not be marred by the event.
I love you.
Michael Taylor


What an interesting trip! I was up at the same time scrapbooking and reading because nobody was home.

::::::::::::::::Shutterfly Album::::::

Carol asked if a Shutterfly Album would be forth coming and the answer is indeed!

I am working on two. One will be our vacation and the other the family reunion.

Later gators!

Happy Birthday, Noah!

_{Yellow background by Amy Wolff, doodles by Kate Hadfield, staple by Michelle Coleman, and tag from Welli Designs at wedoscrap}

::::::::::::Ocean's of Fun::::::::::





Text: A Tuna Fish that can't carry a tune? A Star Fish that can't get an acting job? A seven-legged Octopus? A Zebra Fish with spots? Join in the aquatic fun as little Tiger Shark and his unique collection of friends discover how their differences make them each special.

STAY BACK! STAY BACK!
STAY BACK from Great White! We guard him all day! We guard him all night!

Noah was a swordfish guard in his First grade production of Oceans of Fun". Dad, Aaron, Eve and Mom were in attendance.

Song: "We're Sharks! Leaving our marks!"

Summer Collab Kit at The Lily Pad,
Cluster Frames by Nancy Comelab,
Pirate Doodles and Musical Doodles by Kate Hadfield,
Thought bubble, arrow doodle and wave doodle from Dear Diary By Erica Hite,
Orange fish doodle by Pascaline,
Font: Farrah/ Mia's Scribbling/ Susie's Hand




Mom, Michael, the kids and I went to see the first showing of the morning for Shrek 3 on Saturday. The animation was spectacular. My favorite part, visually, was the wet fur on Puss and Donkey. The sub plots are always a lot of fun giving layers on meaning to this humorous adventure. I think my right and left lobes of my brain got all twisted up during a scene with Pinocchio! I think the visual homage to The Bionic Man with "Gingy" the Gingerbread Man was a hilarious! Prince Charming in his 80's leg warmers made me think of Fame. Eric Idle voicing a Birkenstock wearing Merlin was so perfect. The writers and artists seem like they grew up with me and watched the same shows, so the jokes seem crafted for me, but my kids got it on the physical comedy level. The soundtrack for the film also reminded me of some of my favorite 70's and 80's artists. The kids loved Snow White's sweet singing changing to the primal scream of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".

Since we joke about Noah being all thumbs we will use a Noah rating system for the film today and give it 10 THUMBS UP!

::::::::::::::::::::Noah's Bowling Party::::::::::

We took Noah Cosmic bowling for his party. Noah, Granny Alice, Rachel, Carson, James, and Hayden played on the bumper lanes, while Michael, Aaron and I bowled on a regular lane. Aaron beat us both times. Noah's favorite gift was an "Omnitrix" from Granny and Grandpa Towhey, which is from the show Ben 10 on Cartoonnetwork. The Omnitrix allows the wearer to turn into one of 10 different aliens. Michael and I bought him a digital camera that we found on clearance at Wolf camera. It is a Canon with large controls, so we thought that would be easier for his little hands. He got a couple of Ben 10 action figures and some fun planet stickers for his walls. Granny Alice got him a voice changer, little pump rocket, a swimsuit and beach towel. We had a cookie cake with an alien on it that Noah didn't want to eat. He just wasn't interested. Everyone else enjoyed their pieces of cake (Eve licked the icing off her).

:::::::::::::::::::::Ninja Warrior:::::::

After the party we went to my parent's house and watched t.v. The one show we all liked was Ninja Warrior. The obstacles were pretty cool and each contestant had us rooting for them because we were amazed that they would try this stuff. The most dizzying was a barrel roll down an incline. The other interesting aspect to the show was that no one actually has to win. Another thing is the number of people who keep trying.

:::::::::::::::::::::Sunday:::::::::

Leading music was kinda crazy on Sunday. Michael made the comment that it was like all of the kids were on crack. They were all squirmy and chattery, and the older boys were literally bouncing off the walls.

We went to my Dad's house after Church and showed them my Shutterfly books and had a yummy lunch. Alice had made sweet potatoes, pinto beans with okra, cornbread, sliced tomatoes, turkey breast. My dad just got back from his second trip to Liberia on a mission trip for his church. He leaves today for North Carolina where he will be helping re-build a house for a blind lady. Later on in the Summer he and Alice will both go to Montana to help out with service there and to do some sight-seeing.

Then, we had family home evening on the opposite side of the highway in McDonough...(pronounced "McDonna" *thanks for the translation Donny and Kim :). Again, I showed off my various Shutterfly books. The kids were thoroughly filthy from playing with the dogs in the back yard and just playing around. They had a lot of fun playing with their cousins.

The kids were exhausted when we got home, but they were dirty so they all got a bath. I thought Rachel was going to disintegrate into a puddle of estrogen because she was so tired. I helped her wash her hair while she soaped herself up and rinsed. No time to read just prayers and sleep.

:::::::::::::::::::Finishing Slideshow today:::::::::

I'm finishing up the slideshow project today. I have to design the cd cover and burn it with the lightscribe printer, then create the dvd cover. Unfortunately, my color ink is running out and I can't find a replacement. I need to check a couple more stores today.

Smiles!

Tagged Tuesday:

I was tagged by my digi pal Julie P., so here goes.
The rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question...
SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks!
Your Name: babyofmine
1. Famous Singer/Band: Vedder, Eddie
2. 4 letter word: Vest
3. Street: Victoria St.
4. Color: Vermillion
5. Gifts/Presents:
6. Vehicle: Buick
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop:
8. Boy Name: Vernon
9. Girl Name: Valerie
10. Movie Title: Vacation
11. Drink: Vermouth
12. Occupation: Veterinarian
13. Flower: Vanilla
14. Celebrity: Viveca Lindfors
15. Magazine: Veterans
16. U.S. City: Valhalla
17. Pro Sports Teams: Vikings
18. Fruit: ?
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Vexed at sleeping in.
20. Something You Throw Away: Vacuum
21. Things You Shout: "Varmint"!
22. Cartoon Character: Veronica (from the Archie and Jughead Comics)


::::::::::::::::Just When You Thought You Were Safe:::::::::

Two more Shutterfly Albums came in yesterday:


<sub>Doodlebird by Meredith Fenwick, Crayon Doodles by Ida, Background paper by Rhonna Farrer, City Limits Doodle by Andrea Burns, Glassy blue brads from Movin' On by Sandra Boddington at Scrapbookgraphics, Glitter swirl from Michelle Coleman's Birthday Elements, Weather Doodle and Birthday Girl Doodle by Kate Hadfield, Font: Tk doodle by Taran Conyers, The "rose colored glasses" were from the letter "g" in 2Peas DW Summer Fun, Journal paper From Just Need to Write My Thoughts by Lauren Grier



Papers and brushes from Peachy Keen by Rhonna Farrer, Font: Jane Austen/ Hello Sark</sub>


:::::::::::::::::::My Knight in Shinging Armor:::::::

rode up on his steely grey iron horse and fixed my tire. Aaron, Evey and I went to the library to deal with my crazy dvd requesting situation. We were there about an hour and a half. The librarians were kind enough to explain some nuances of the library system to me. For example, now I know how to use the suspended request and my list functions to delay my requests, while maintaining them in an accessible form. I did end of checking out the collections on religion for kids for a comparative religion study I'm doing today, Inventors, several Eyewitness films, and a series for health on the human body. For Noah I checked out all the movies on the Transformers so we can get steeped in Transformer history for the upcoming movie. For Evey I checked out a couple of My Little Pony movies, Angelina Ballerina and Strawberry Shortcake. Rachel really likes the Eyewitness stuff, so everyone was covered.

Sooooo, we walk out and deposit the 3 plastic grocery bags and one armful of videos into the car and I noticed the front tire was flat. We were already running late for our end of the year party for Homeschool run club, but I didn't want to drive on it and bend the rim. We went back in and the librarians let Aaron call Michael at work. He took the rest of the day off and came to get us. He said I had enough air in the tire to drive the short mile home. We grabbed the stuff for run club from my car and all of us went to the park for the party.

The got to eat pizza and snacks, while the kids had a squirt gun fight on the lawn. Eve, Michael and I stayed dry and ate strawberries and brownies. The squirt gun fight was halted long enough for Aaron and the other children to recieve trophies and awards for participating the the Presidental Fitness program. Then, back to another half hour of maniac squirting.

When we got home Michael found the problem with my tire. I had run over a nasty old screw. He put a plug in the tire and filled it with air. I need two new front tires anyway since my car is front wheel drive the tires loose tread much quicker in the front than the rear.

::::::::::::::::::::A Good Knight's Work::::::::

is never done! Michael took a quick shower then went off to his scheduled apheresis appointment at the Red Cross. They accidentally missed his vein in his right arm and the fluid created a golf ball sized swelling. He called their attention to it and they fixed the problem. OUCH! He watched Mission Impossible 3, which he said was awful, while he gave platelets.

::::::::::::::::::::New Suit:::::::::::

I took the girls to Target and the grocery store, while the boys watched Transformers. Eve informed me that she liked my flip flops and it didn't bother her to have the strap between her toes anymore, and she wanted some right now. Rachel needed another swimsuit, so we picked up one for her. It is a light robin's egg blue and brown with a hibiscus pattern. It is 3 pieces, so she can get to the restroom quickly. She will wear the surf shirt with the bottom piece and the bikini top will stay in the drawer to pair it up when she grows out of it. On Saturday, Michael and I picked up a tankini for Eve. It is pink with a hibiscus pattern. The surf shirt and shorts look adorable.

::::::::::::::::::::This is hilarious::::::::

A great digi-gal, Carol, is participating in an amazing challenge about things that never really happened.Carol's blog. Her layout is so funny. I'm going to have to try this bit of nuttiness!

::::::::::::::::::::Jaw Dropping Amazing::::::::

Dream House post by Sande Krieger is BRILLIANT! She has crafted an intricate home symbolizing some of the wonderful aspects of her family. I am in AWE!

Bridging:

Frame by Kellie Mize.

Rachel has moved up from the rank of Brownie to Junior in the Girl Scouts. Granny and Grandpa came for the the bridging ceremony. The girls were nervous to speak in front of the adults. The only down side to the event was the copious amounts of goose poop on the grounds around the lake where we were holding the ceremony.

We made sure everyone got a bath when we got home, which no one fussed about due to the goose situation.










<sub>Quote by Captain Crewe "I believe that you are...and always will be my Little Princess." from A Little Princess

Live for the Joy kit by Kay Miller Designs,
Ribbon Stitches and rivited ribbon by Natalie Braxton,
Flourish (modified) by Ida,
Faux Jewels by Shabby Princess,
Cluster Frames (modified) by Nancy Comelab</sub>

::::::::::::Aaron's Shutterfly Album::::::::


Frame by Gina Miller,
Book Cover: Space Doodles by Kate Hadfield,
Background paper by Jessica Sprague

::::::::::::::::::::::Spencer::::::::::::

My awesome nephew, Spencer, had his palate surgery a couple of days ago. He is doing well. His folks say he is getting pain reliever every 4 hours, but he needs it every 3.5 hours. Poor little guy!

::::::::::::::::::::::Librarians:::::::::

Do they have a hit list? If they don't, will they make one just for me? I have 179 video and book requests and they are all coming in. The librarians have to separate the dvd and the case until check out due to theft issues. I am surprised how quickly all of my requests came in. Their is a group of videos for earth science, comparative religion, the Middle Ages, Physical Science, and the ones Noah will be so psyched to get...Transformers on dvd. I thought it would be cool to do all the Transformer back history before the movie this summer. For Eve I requested the dvds for Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony. So it seems that I have most of them on hold. I wonder if I should send Michael to pick them up because one of the librarians thinks he is a hottie? Hmmmm...I'll have to weigh my options.

::::::::::::::Passionate Minds:::::::::::



This is my current personal reading book. Here is a synopsis from Amazon.