Challenge #9....check

Put the finishing touches on challenge #9 last night, which was

Draw inspiration from media

I had a lot of fun with this layout and took a lot of risks, by doing things that I had never done before. I'm pretty pleased with the layout.



It is the first two page layout I have done in a long time. Everything except for the "moments like this" is stamped. I know...outside my comfort zone. I do stamp a lot on cards...but stamping on a page is a whole different story. I kept worrying about screwing it up and not being able to change it. It all turned out great though I think.

Here is a closer look at the individual pages.

I used my smooch ink to dot on some pink to match the swirls around the photo.


Oh and remember this was my inspiration for the page.


Onto starting my challenge #11.

I also wanted to share some good news at our house.

I made Khloe an appointment at the chiropractor yesterday. Took her in and turns out she had a misalignment along her spine which was causing her to have colicky like symptoms. He said it wasn't causing her pain....just causing her nervous system to react differently.

Last night....brand new kid. NO crying, whining, or throwing fits. NONE WHATSOEVER! Let me just be very clear in saying that from the time she came home from daycare to the time she went to bed every single day Khloe cried or whined almost constantly, which is not like her at all, which is why I thought she was getting teeth.

We put her in bed last night (which the past few weeks had been taking at least an hour to get her to sleep every single night with lots of crying) and she was asleep in less than 5 minutes with no crying. She slept all night until 7:30 this morning. She woke up and there was NO crying or whining about getting dressed and leaving, and trust me, usually there is lots of tears, lots of fighting and takes FOREVER to get her out the door. She was soooo cooperative. AMAZING. It makes me wonder how long her back has been out. Poor girl couldn't control her emotions.

We have the best chiropractor...he works miracles. I already sent him a nice thank you. You can't imagine how long it has been since there hasn't been a crying kid at our house. It is a REALLY nice change.

Maybe now would be a fine time to try the potty chair again....since she is so cooperative.

march 18

Not quite time for sandals yet, but time to polish the toes.

Challenge #8 results and Challenge #9

The challenge this week was

Include a note or greeting card

I didn't have much time this week to work on this page....it shows a little! I do love the color scheme though...since pretty much everything else in Khloe's book is pink.

I will for warn you that the picture is terrible. I changed some settings on my camera on Thursday while we were playing around taking pictures and whatever I did is making my pictures really grainy and blurry. I definitely need to change the settings some how again. You can tell I'm just starting to try and shoot on different settings and it is hard to get things just right. I did take a new picture later...but for some unknown reason both of my camera batteries are now dead. So I will have to replace the picture tomorrow after I'm charged up again.

On to next week....

Challenge # 9 is

Draw inspiration from media

You can take inspiration from books, music, film, magazines, etc. I just saw something today in a magazine that sparked my interest in this. It is going to take a lot of time though to figure out this technique if I can get it right. Hopefully I will have results by Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

only a few months left.....

...until we can be sitting outside doing this again.




I can't wait!

Challenge #7 results

Finally getting around to posting the results. I, of course, got sucked into "The Bachelor" this year....like I do every year. Every time it is on I do my usual "I am NOT watching this season." Then the first episode airs and I'm sucked in. I especially had to watch tonight because I am a HUGE "Dancing with the Stars" fan and they announced who was on the show tonight. Much better cast than last season! Thank goodness!

Anyways here is the results from my Challenge #7 which was

Finish a layout in one hour

For those of you who know me...I usually spend anywhere from 2-4 hours on one page. I can honestly say I have NEVER finished a page in under an hour. So this truly was a challenge for me. I had about 5 minutes to spare amazingly enough on this page. Even after spending about 10 minutes trying to get my Glossy Accents unclogged. :)

I had a lot of fun with this page simply because I tried a lot of new things. I have never stamped a phrase on a page (note how close together "those" and "eyebrows" are) and I have never used the wording as my focus on the page. I think it worked out great using just the three smaller photos. I do plan to add some stitching to the paper on the side once I find my new sewing machine (I did have five minutes to spare).

The big background paper is from Scenic Route. They are going out of business and have a great sale going on at their website. The other paper is from BasicGrey Indian Summer. I LOVE that paper and have been wanting to use it ever since I got it.

I used four of the Fragments at the bottom and glued them onto the paper (that is what I needed the Glossy Accents for) and cut around them. Then I added a little heart from the Grungeboard (check out the low price there!) and added a little pink Smooch paint to it and some Golden Glass Bead Gel and it was finished.

I can hear the poor little peanut in her room coughing up a storm while she is trying to sleep. It could be a looong week.

it's a bird....it's a plane....no...it's a chip

Khloe came running into the kitchen yesterday about 5:00 P.M. soooo excited.....

K: Mommy, mommy come here. It's a chip

M: What? Where is a chip?

K: Outside, come on, come see (jumping up and down waving me in)

M: Khloe, there is not a chip outside

K: Yes, come on, come see the chip

So I make my way to the big picture window and this is what I see....



K: See, chip....up there

K: Can't reach it (as she tries grabbing for it)

Apparently the moon looks just like a Tostitos bite size chip.

Priceless.

warning...do not read if you are eating right now

Ok so the warning is real.

What you are about to see may disgust some of you or it may make some of you laugh. So if you get grossed out real easily....probably don't look at these pics.

Sorry, but this was too funny not to document. Funny in a way that it is funny the first couple of times and now it is becoming a problem that needs to be fixed. But I needed to capture a few pictures first. Because to me....this is what it is all about.....the little quirky stuff that your kids do that you just have to take pictures of and document....so hear goes.

The other day I came into the livingroom to find that Khloe had pulled both of her socks off. She can now for the most part get herself dressed and undressed and there is no helping her. EVERYTHING is "Let me do it."

So I see her sitting the chair with her legs pulled up and she is wrenching on her toes. A bit like the picture below.

So I ask "What are you doing?" First she says "I don't know." Because her other favorite phrase right now is "I don't know." I ask again and she looks up at me and smiles and says "Cleaning the jam."

It takes me a minute and then I realize that she is sitting there cleaning the "toe jam" out of her toes. Wonderful. I'm going on the record right now and saying that neither Troy nor I sit and clean the "toe jam" out of our toes. I have NO IDEA where she came up with this.

So this has become a new obsession at our house. Everyday for the last 3-4 days Khloe has come home from daycare to "clean the jam out." I thought, ok don't make a big deal out of it and like most things it will just go away.

Then last night she chose the kitchen table as her designated picking spot.....after we have had numerous conversations about having our feet on the table.

Oh yes and did I forget to mention that she has now asked for a napkin to put the "yuckies" on. She even says "Ew gross" when she gets some out.....SIGH.

So after snapping this picture I remind her that our feet do not belong on the table.

Well we have always said that we have a smart little girl. So she decides...fine I won't put my feet ON the table.....

but nobody ever said anything about holding them OVER the table.

I have decided that this is a painful process. She really wrenches her toes apart and usually within 10 minutes of stopping she is complaining that her toes hurt. Imagine that.

The photo shoot ended and then it was time to stop the insanity that goes on at our house and get her away from the table.

In case any of you are worried about eating at our table again. It has been completely sanitized....multiple times....and I can assure you that there will be no more "jam sessions".....at least at the table.

you just never know

We have been trying to get Khloe to lay by herself to take a nap and go to bed. She does it at the sitter....so why not here, right?

When she finally agrees to lay by herself it usually only lasts about 2 min, if that, before she wants one of us to lay with her. Is she spoiled in this aspect? Probably. But when she was a baby we tried the whole cry it out thing and it just didn't work. So we lay with her....every nap and every bedtime. Sometimes going to bed at night can take up to an hour. Yeah you can about imagine the outcome of those nights.

So today it came time to put Khloe down for a nap. She wanted to lay on the couch...sometimes she does...which I'm fine with. So I just laid down beside her, covered up, and read her a story.

She then told me "Want to lay by myself." I think my eyes about popped out of my head. "What?" I said. "Want to lay by myself....you go work on 'puter" she said.

WOW!

So I went and started working on my computer and sure enough within about 2-3 min she was out! Maybe this "being sick" isn't all bad! ;)

AMAZING!

Will it happen again? Probably not....but for one day it was a pretty amazing story! It was so amazing....I couldn't even resist taking a picture of the cute little peanut. Ok so she didn't exactly sleep alone! She had four snuggly friends to keep her company.

I can't help myself

Here is my little darling...all innocent that she is.

She does this thing with her eyes when she wants something. She moves them all the way over and looks at you just out of the very corners and kinda tilts her head a certain way.

Then she holds up 1 finger and in the cutest little voice you can ever imagine, says "One more, peeasse."

IRRESISTIBLE...and the little rat knows it.

What, you ask, does she want?


POP

We are not huge pop drinkers at our house...usually Friday nights with pizza we have a pop...yes...usually only one a week...sometimes two. However Troy came in for lunch yesterday and had a frozen pizza and pop for lunch.

The little munchkin hears the can open and marches right over to the drawer and reaches her little paw in and pulls out a straw. She then heads over pushes up a chair next to her new best friend and cocks her head and pushes the eyes to the corner and pleads.


And as usual when this voice comes out this is the result......


Why does she love pop so, you ask?



Because it "tickles my nose" of course.

love it

I've been searching out what photo to use for my next challenge and I almost can't resist this one. I love this picture...even though it is a little blurry in spots.

Still trying to decide...I have deleted most of my blurry shots simply because I always think I have better ones so why use a blurry one. So this challenge should be interesting.

I'm getting a little bit nervous for the scrapbooking event next weekend. I am hearing massive amounts of snow are supposed to be headed our way. I'm hoping we won't have to reschedule...aughhhh.

I should have known better than to plan an event during the winter, but it is always nice to get out of the house for a fun day. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I just ordered all of the gifts and prizes yesterday and am pretty excited to start putting those together. I'll give you a little sneak peak on one of the gifts....



I can't resist these Smooch inks...especially the new colors they came out with that I ordered. I can't wait to see them!

glimmer

Khloe and I had our first real mommy/daughter shopping trip yesterday and surprisingly it went great! Even through the long car ride there really were no tears, no screaming fits, no temper tantrums, etc.

The only thing that comes to mind was being in Target and she was sitting in the cart trying to get her coat off and she has recently decided that she needs to do EVERYTHING herself. There can be no help from us. So I tried to help take her coat off and she SCREAMED...."NO...DO IT"....which translates to "No, let me do it and if you try and help me I'm going to let everyone in this store know what is going on." So I pulled back and kept my head down and tried to imagine that not one of the 50 people that were standing around me heard my daughter. Don't worry I have a really good imagination! Thank goodness that is the only thing that resulted in any kind of screaming yesterday and as soon I as turned away from her she calmed down and got her own coat off. PHEW!

We hit Archivers first....of course. For those of you who have never been in there...which I was probably the only scrapbooker alive who had not....get there FAST!!! I don't think I had ever set foot in one until about 6 months or a year ago. I know...can you believe it? So we started there and if there was ever a doubt in my mind that Khloe was not my daughter (even though the delivery process is still firmly implanted in my mind) all of my wondering has stopped. She LOVES that store. Which is maybe a little dangerous...but we have a few years yet I figure.

We picked up some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist...which I have never used and am extremely excited to try. I was going to pick up some of their masks, but decided I would just try to make my own on my cricut. I also picked up some of these Piggy Tales "pig tails." I've never used these before either and thought they might be something fun to try. Make some sort of three dimensional page or something. Interesting aren't they? They might require a bit more thought before I use them.

I am going to start work on my challenge page tonight...I work better under pressure. It should be a fun weekend!

been working

I've been busy for the last couple of weeks working on my announcement that is coming up. I'm getting pretty excited for it and hope to have it posted in a couple more weeks. I was going to post a little teaser....but I think I'm just going to wait till the project is complete.

On a different note...today was the last day for registration to the Snowflake Scrap. If you have not gotten your registration in please contact me!



I am gearing up for my 1st challenge that I will start on Sunday. First things first...my working space desperatly needs to be cleaned before I can accomplish anything. I also need to find some pictures and try to figure out what my first challenge will be.

I looked through the book last night and just for an instance thought that I had maybe bit off more than I could chew. But I think it will be fun and refreshing and a great way to get some creative juices flowing. So bring it on!


And of course it's hard to leave without a picture of Khloe. This is one I took when we went looking for our Christmas tree.

welcome 2010

Doesn't 2010 feel good?!?!?! I am sooo ready for a fresh start, new opportunities, and new achievements both persnally and professionally.

I decided to start my year off by putting my goals in writing on New Year's Eve.

Then yesterday I checked out Heidi's blog and found her idea for a "simply amazing" year. I can't resist...it looks too "amazing" to pass up! So I am going to print up my sheets for it today and get started. I'm so excited for this journey in 2010!

Also, if you have never checked out House of 3 and you are a digital scrapbooker be sure and check it out while you are printing off your sheets for your "simply amazing" year! I get a lot of my digital stuff there. They have great items and lots of fun ideas!

Meanwhile, at my house....we are kid free! My parents took Khloe last night for a sleepover and she is spending most of the day there today. Which means.....lots of scrapbooking time for me. I can't wait to get the creative juices flowing! I also have a lot in store for my blog this year and can't wait to get started!

I'll leave you with a picture of Khloe I took the other night. We have had a few trying weeks/months at our house. Khloe has definitely discovered her independence and likes to see how far she can push it sometimes. I guess that is what they call the "terrible twos." You know, you just always hope your kid somehow passes that over...but it didn't work out for us.

She is also getting teeth and only has two left to get...thank goodness! She has NEVER done well with teething.

Hopefully 2010 also brings us some more sleep at night. She was sleeping through the night for awhile after she got her tonsils/adenoids out and now we are back to not sleeping through the night.

Does this ever get any easier? On second thought....don't answer that...I don't think I want to know! :)

But moments like this make it all worth it!

the fury....

We got a big snow tube for Khloe for Christmas.




She loves riding it around the house.....so of course I couldn't wait to get her outside in all the snow and let her ride around in it. So after about a half hour of putting on layer after layer of clothes (the only thoughts going through my head were of Ralphie's brother in the Christmas Story..... "I can't put my arms down.") we headed outside . Only to put Khloe in her tube and have her start screaming and crying....

picked her up....

put her back in the tube....

more screaming and crying.....

picked her up...

put her back in the tube again...

more screaming and crying...

picked her up....

walked inside....

more screaming and crying because she wants to go back out.

By this point you can about imagine that any patience I had left for this situation had been spent. So Troy being the patient man that he is scooped her back up and headed out to the front yard this time. Which is where I got this picture.....

This was the split second Khloe was in the tube with no tears and no screaming....

and then Troy promptly hit a bump and our little girl fell face first into the snow.

More screaming and crying.

The end.

I must have been good this year......

What a Christmas!!! Well the plans got changed just a little bit this year to accommodate the whooper of a storm that we got (I think around 2 feet total over the whole weekend). We decided to let Khloe open her presents from us on Christmas Eve morning. Just to spread it out a little.


She had a great time and got lots of cute things (they should be....since I bought them.) She loved her makeup bag, purse, and quiet book.

Troy and I always say we are not getting each other anything, but I usually always end up getting him something. Usually he doesn't get me anything.....but only because I tell him not to. The last time he got me something for Christmas I opened up a Carhart Coat (well in his defense I had complained about getting cold outside while I scooped) and....wait for it......wait for it....a square green little machine with a crank on it.....that I had no clue what it was for. Turns out you put de-icer in it and turn the wheel and it spreads it all over your sidewalks. I'm still learning how to use it properly. So you might find it hard to believe, but after that Christmas I told him there was really no need for him to buy me anything.

So imagine my surprise after everyone had opened their presents that there was still a box under the tree. I knew immediatly what it was once I held it....which always ticks Troy off that I ruin the surprise. I opened it up and found a new phone. Now before you start thinking that this is as bad as the previous gifts, this one I actually was excited about.

My mom had gotten us a new phone a couple of years ago as a Christmas present and I swear after about 6 months the phones went bad. So instead of buying new phones....because why would I want to spend my hard earned money on a boring new phone....I am just constantly running around the house switching phones because the batteries die before you can finish a conversation. So this was a great gift for me.

Troy really went all out on this phone. He kept asking me if I liked it....I think he wanted me to say no so he could take it back. It must have been expensive! It has three handsets....because I always lose the two that we have, caller id, call waiting, digital phonebook, speakerphone, hold and it even announces who is calling. That way if you are on the couch and don't want to get up you can wait and hear who is calling....and then decide how important they are! Not that I would ever do that......hmmmm


We did make it out to my parents....just in time. We ended up having to skip Christmas mass this year which was a huge bummer. I think this is probably the first year ever that we have not gone to Christmas Eve mass. But with the ice and snow we just didn't think it was a good idea to have the little ones out on the road after dark.We opened some gifts that night and Khloe, yet again, got some really cute gifts. This was a dollhouse that she got.....I turned around and found Troy playing with it....look where he put the man...just relaxing in the bathtub. He's just lucky I didn't show everyone the next picture of him I took....he realized I was shooting some pictures of him and held up one of his fingers for me. It wasn't his ring finger either! hee hee He knew right where those pictures were going!

Khloe got the cutest little bag from my mom...I really wish I could have taken credit for this one. Maybe next year after I learn how to sew. It is supposed to be their backyard setting....complete with Khloe's swing. LOVE IT!!!!

I was actually successful in stumping my dad this year for Christmas. Every gift he gets he always knows what it is (probably because we get him the same stuff every year). So this year I decided to put his Ebay gift certificate in a box and I dumped in a handful of M&M's. He just couldn't figure it out! HA HA

Khloe lucked out Christmas morning and Santa was able to make it through the storm to Grandmas house. She got a little salon chair for her babies along with too many other toys.

As for me.....I must have been exceptionally good this year because I think I got just about everything on my list that I gave this year. There was one gift that I was really wanting and after we arrived at my parents I went to the tree and thought I scoped it out hiding in the back (good try mom). Yes, I am still like a little kid at Christmas, shaking all the boxes. Usually I don't have tons of pictures of myself at Christmas. But when it came time for this box to come around I handed Troy the camera and told him to start shooting. I got my Wacom Bamboo Craft Tablet and was I excited! These are 3 of the 32 pictures Troy took of me. I can't wait to try it out! I also got a tripod for my camera, a remote for my camera, a new camera strap and TONS of other stuff. I think mom forgot she had told us she was cutting back this year.

We got stranded at my parents until the day after Christmas.....and we only live 10 miles away and I really love my own shower and bed....if that tells you how bad the storm was. Their electricity went out on Christmas Day around 11:00 so the ham didn't get cooked and all we could do was eat of the platter of cookies and treats....oh darn. Lucky for us they have a generator and within a few hours we were up and running with some electricity. Not that it mattered...besides the heat of course....we had a great time.

Dad made a ping pong table so we had a few little tournaments...I must add, I didn't do too bad.

All in all it was a good Christmas....but it is always good to be back home. I actually started taking some of the Christmas decorations down today. I get almost excited about putting up my winter decorations because I love all of the silver glittery stuff.

Well if you are still reading this....congratulations....you made it through one of the longest posts I think I will ever have! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas......

........from our house to yours!

Christmas madness

Of course she has to test the first one out of the oven

Don't worry...I'm sure there were only one or two of her hairs that actually touched the cookies....she got to eat that one afterwards! :)

Khloe's new little rolling pin that I gave her for Christmas....well a little early....got a lot of use! We were busy the other night making cookies. I think the whole process only took us about 6 hours and I'm not even kidding. When we were done and I was looking around our kitchen that looked like a tornado hit it I was wondering if it was all worth it. But Khloe seemed to have fun and the cookies tasted good so we will probably get crazy and do it again next year!

Below is the finished product!

I think the trees could have used a few ornaments....but I was out of energy by the end! Whew, good think Christmas only comes once a year!

I also wanted to post the other box that I finished. I decided to make a new jewelry box. I couldn't find one that I liked without spending a lot of money so I just decided to make my own. Here is the end result...I'll probably paint the box once I decide what color. Yes, it could probably take up to a year for me to decide! ha ha

I keep all of my jewelry in the drawers....along with my cute little flower clip that I made. It works out pretty good for being able to sort through and find what I want.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned! I finally get to go see "New Moon." I'm soooo excited! Troy has been refusing to see it after I made him sit through "Twilight" (though I like to think he secretly liked it and won't admit to it). Finally today I found someone who hasn't seen it yet and wants to go, which means I don't have to go sit at the theater by myself...although I was willing to do it to see this movie!