Day 2 of my challenge

First of all... thank you so much for the kind words about my photos from yesterday... it means a lot to me. I was riding that high when I went out for an afternoon walk with the kids. Unfortunately... I came down *real* fast. First of all... when they found out that I was pretty much going out solely to take photos, Clara asked if they could take photos too (with our little p&s). Okay, sure. But in order to limit too much random snapping (and to help with sharing the camera) we decided on a photo scavenger hunt of 5 items for them to find and photograph. Their list was 1) something red 2) a triangle 3) a mailbox 4) a dog and 5) a cat (this was the "bonus" one). We found 4 of the 5 before we got too darn cold (which is the second reason I came down off of my high from yesterday). I guess the third reason was that I just didn't find as many interesting things as I thought I was going to... but then again I was spending a lot of time looking for triangles and dogs and supervising the sharing of the camera.

So... here's what I got....

You've got to love this house.... look at all of those colors... must have been a bear to paint.

Anyone need a Mighty Man?? LOL!
This next one is the picture that almost wasn't. I basically snapped as we were walking away so I could remember the phone number. I'm really liking it now though...

Very interesting place. Just a little store front where they schedule cleaning services, but what caught our eyes was a huge cat climber thing in the front window complete with two cats (and since cats were on the list, we *had* to stop). They saw us looking through the window and invited us in to pet the cats (and dogs which we hadn't noticed before). Apparently they rescue alley cats and abandoned dogs on the side. They invited us to stop by any time we wanted to come and play with the cats and dogs. See what happens when you're on a photo safari! LOL!

Something I have decided though is that my 85mm is not a good walking about lens. However, I'm spoiled by the sharpness and color. I tried a couple shots right in front of our place with my 28-135 IS and am I nuts to think that the color just isn't the same with it v. the 85mm?? The problem is that I have no clue what lens would make a good sharp walking about lens. Hmmm....

Well... its time to start thinking about what I'm going to fix for dinner!

my challenge

... that I have for myself this week is to take my camera with me each time I leave the house. Everytime we're out and about I always see something cool and kick myself for not having my camera along. Well... this week is going to be different. Now the true issue here is probably not whether or not I have my camera along but whether or not I have the guts to get my camera out and shoot random things while out in public. When I don't have my camera along I'm very confident that I would have taken the shot... however, when I do have my camera I get self conscious and miss the shot rather than draw attention to myself. I'm going to force myself to get over this.

This morning we went to the library.... I was going to take pics of the el coming into our stop. HOWEVER... the trains were running behind so there were lots of people on the platform... I just couldn't do it... I couldn't get my camera out. But... on the way home the platform and the car we rode in was relatively empty... so I had no excuses. I got my camera out.... I took several shots. I even took a bunch on the el.... I had the grand idea of doing panning type shots of Clara looking out the window with the blur of the city passing by. Well... I was concentrating so hard and looking through my camera so much that I made myself "car" sick. Oh man... I really thought I was going to be ill. I put the camera away then! LOL!

Not sure what I may photograph tomorrow... we really don't have any plans to go anywhere... we've got to be home for a few workers to stop by and fix things at the house. Maybe we'll make it to the park or at least for a walk around the block.

Here are my pics from today....


If you want to see these larger... you can see them here.... 2peas.

Well... it's bedtime for the kiddos... gotta run!

go bears!

Okay.... so I'm not really a football fan (outside of my fantasy football team that is)... but it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement here in Chicago right now! Even Johnny Rockets got into it! We ate lunch there today after church and here are the balloons the kids got...

... only blue and orange balloons available today :-)

Nothing much going on here. We made the trek out to Ikea yesterday. We got this amazingly huge cabinet (did I mention that it's RED??) with a hutch for here next to my desk. We originally wanted the cabinet only but it was a package deal. I'm so glad that it was... once we got it together I realized that I now finally have my changeable photo display area that I've always wanted!!! I had picked up some frames while at Ikea and this afternoon I'm putting together a print order so I can fill the thing. I'll take a pic of it when I'm done.

Well... we're rather boring and I've got prints to pick out and order!

See ya!!

clara + concrete =

This is the damage from last night's fall.... not too bad... could have been much worse!

These dark winter days are depressing me in regards to photography.... these were shot right in front of our big sliding glass door, ISO 1600, f/stop of 1.8 and STILL only had a ss of 125... sigh.

Strangers with Candy

I know this is probably the first of many, but I had my first strange/creepy city encounter (since our return to Chicago) today on the el platform. A little background... we get on the el at the stop by our house, ride to the next stop, change lines at that stop and then get off at the very next stop. When we got on the el at our stop I noticed this guy who kept looking at the kids, this same guy also got off at the next stop when we did (not a huge deal since this is a transfer point for those lines... lots of people transfer). While waiting on the platform the guy kept looking at the kids, it was beginning to creep me out... THEN he walked up to me and asked "do you mind if I give them some candy?". Ummm... heck ya I mind! I don't know you!!! I was polite and thanked him for asking but it probably wasn't a good idea since we were on our way to class (it was the only excuse I could come up with at that time). He said it was no big deal and that was why he asked me instead of the kids. He did have an unopened bag of individually wrapped candies that he was carrying. He could have been a totally legit, nice guy, but I still find the whole thing rather strange. Time to have the stranger talk with the kids.... AGAIN... sigh.

The kids enjoyed their classes again today. One of the little girls in Clara's dance class asked her to come over for a playdate. The mom gave the standard... "oh wouldn't that be fun, but the mommies will have to talk about it next week at class" response. I'm hoping it goes through though... Clara is really desperate for a friend. Alex just likes to be around other kids... it can be different ones every time he just likes to play, but Clara craves an actual "friend".

Coming home we almost made it, we managed to successfully skate our way across icy sidewalks, jump over big slushy puddles, etc.... UNTIL we got right in front of our place... Clara was skipping/running to the gate, tripped over a bump in the sidewalk and landed on her face on the concrete. You should have heard her scream.... I was honestly scared to turn her over (she was just lying there face down on the sidewalk). I was having flashbacks from when she was about 1 1/2 and she did something similar but her teeth cut through her lips. Thankfully all that she did was scrape the skin off of her nose (the entire length of it). She looked at herself in the mirror after I cleaned it up and announced that it looked like a bee hive. Ummm... not sure about that... but if you say so!

Thank you all so much for the book suggestions... Muppetpinchess, I have heard of the Betsy-Tacy books because they're part of the homeschool curriculum we use (a higher grade than we're at though)... but perhaps I need to do some pre-reading! :-) Annie.... I must say that book you suggested sounds fabulous! I went on Amazon to read the reviews and there seems to be a bit of controversy surrounding that book.... that makes it sound all that more interesting to me! LOL! I'll look for these books on my next trip to the library (which should be this week) provided I finish reading the Phantom Tollbooth in time (we're limited to only 5 books out at a time for the first 30 days of our new library card.... so the kids get two picks each and I get just one).

Okay... I'm done rambling.... I'm going to clean up the kitchen and then head to bed!

'nite!

ETA: Amy... oops...I forgot to answer you... I'm shooting with the Canon 20D.

a little snow and a lot of cold!!

It's 14 degrees out and it definitely feels it (just got back in from walking the dog)! I've temporarily misplaced my favorite hat after our outing yesterday. No clue where I put it. Anyway... just a quick note (more later) since the kids and I need to clean house before Jeff's flight gets in mid-day. I tried posting these pics last night but Blogger wasn't cooperating. Just some shots from our snow day yesterday...


Okay... gotta go... I'll be back once my chores are done! LOL!

here i am!

Yes... I disappeared again. Not sure what happened... possibly nothing did and that's the reason why I didn't write.. there really wasn't anything to write.

As some of you may know, my husband and I do a book club each year... just the two of us. Each of us is responsible for half of the books for the year. We each pick out books we think we would like to read together, buy two copies and then we give them to each other at Christmas. I think this is our fourth year to do this. Anyway... we're already on our second book for this year's book club and I just finished it last night. It was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Jeff's pick). I have to say it was just an amazing book. It's killing me that Jeff isn't done yet so we can't fully discuss it yet. If you've read it... let me know. I desperately need someone to discuss this book with!!

Right now I'm reading the Phantom Tollbooth to fill the gap between our book club books. You'll probably see that I'll be reading quite a few juvenile novels this year... not only do I enjoy to read them occassionally but also because I get overwhelmed in the BIG Chicago Public Library downtown and have limited myself to the Children's Library within it. I almost picked up The Princess Diaries last week.... maybe next time. Any kid lit suggestions would be greatly appreciated as well.

Okay... I'm going down a very unexciting path here... so I'll sign off and head to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting.

'nite!

back to school

Vacation is over! LOL! Chicago Public Schools started classes yesterday so we started back as well. Yesterday we had a light day, but it was a good day. We started the day by going to the big main library in the loop (Harold Washington Library)... the entire building of the library we used to go to in Plano would fit inside the Children's Library here. We had the entire place to ourselves. We were limited to only 5 books out at a time for the first 30 days after getting a library card. This was disappointing at first but after carrying our books around in my backpack for the next 3 hours I figured out that five books was just fine. After the library we headed up State Street to Marshall Fields for lunch (I refuse to call it Macy's... although after being there yesterday I just might get over that since it has lost that "Field's" feel to it since Macy's took over... anyway... that's a whole other post). Then we did some shopping at Old Navy before heading home. Alex was in a reading mood and read SIX books yesterday! Do you remember my lament a couple of months ago about how the boy wouldn't read... well... things have changed! :-)

Today we had a great school day. We got a lot accomplished. I have to admit that having Clara in the mix all of the time worries me a bit, but it might not be all that bad. I just need to come up with more stuff to keep her busy. This afternoon we braved the 30 degree temp and went to the park to play... needless to say, we had the park to ourselves. Exciting, huh?

I did scrap a page...

details here

Also... I've been looking desperately for a sporty comfy pair of shoes for all of the walking I do now. I've tried on several pairs, but I think these might be the ones...

I love Merrells.... I live in Merrell sandals every summer. I usually wear Dansko's during the winter but they just don't cut it for all of the walking I do. Hmmmm... should I click the "buy now" button???

guess who....

I just saw running down Michigan Avenue being chased through fake snow by a pack of santas!

Any guesses?

And no, unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me (who knew I needed it while returning stuff to Pottery Barn?).

ETA: What? No guesses? :-)

ETA: Okay... I'll spill... it was Vince Vaughn (but good guesses Teresa and Sharon). They were filming the movie Fred Claus which is due out next Christmas. We got stuck in Pottery Barn for quite some time while they did several takes of the scene. We got trapped not only because they would only let people through at limited times, but also because most of the Pottery Barn staff was gathered up around the front window watching the filming as well. We didn't mind though, it was fun to watch (a couple of times... but according to an extra we talked to they had been at this since 7:00 am and this was around 1:00 pm... ugh). Clara was very confused about the pack of Santas and Alex was fascinated by the fake snow. Fun stuff... I just wish I would have had my camera.

TGIF!

Thank you Amy and Dana for the crockpot recipes! They both sound very yummy and I can't wait to try them!

Random Note - did you know there's a show on cable called Holy Hip Hop? Jeff just discovered it on the guide... haven't watched it. Although I must say I'm intrigued now.

We had a good day today. We spent nearly two hours outside at the park. The kids had fun even if there wasn't any kids their age there (all littles ones there today).

Here's a shot from the park..... Clara is still into color! LOL!


Well... I'm going to head to bed... we're going to take the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry tomorrow... I'm going to need to be well rested!

'nite!

actions overload

Okay... as I mentioned in my previous post, I finally installed pscs2 over the weekend. I got the itch to play with actions today... however, I'm completely overwhelmed by the choices out there... anyone out like to point me towards some favorites??? I really great color pop would be greatly appreciated... I'm really liking bright colors these days.

More to come later...

Nothing much...

Thank you Michelle for the cookbook suggestion and Meg.. that recipe sounds wonderful! I'll let you know when I try it!

The kids LOVED their classes yesterday (thank goodness). The little girls in Clara's ballet class seem very sweet. They all seemed excited to have someone new in their class and immediately introduced themselves to her. Alex really liked chess. It was a small class yesterday... only two other boys. Apparently there are more enrolled, but with school not being back is session here, they were not in class. He's excited about playing and even had homework which we worked on after dinner.

Today we stayed home all day. Our water dispenser was being delivered and we needed to be home for it. He came early, but shortly after he left, it began to rain. So... after painting Clara's fingernails and toenails... they put on a never ending show with acts in the double digits. They did a really great job, but they insisted on having the lights out and with the rain, it was all I could do to not drift off (especially since I was lounging in one of their big beanbag chairs at the time).

After waking myself back up, I managed to scrap a page! Can you believe that after nearly 9 months after I purchased it, I finally installed PSCS2??? We're getting along well so far... I haven't really ventured into any new territory yet (oh, except for text on a path), but there's plenty of time for that. Can you believe that up until a couple of days ago, I was still using PSE 2.0??

Okay... here's my layout... I used Michelle Coleman's gorgeous Serendipity kit at Scrapartist.

Just some pics of the kids from when we went to Silver Dollar City the Saturday before Christmas.

I decided that this year in scrapping, I need to venture out of my safe little clean line, graphic world and have more fun with my layouts. With that resolution, I think I may need to go shop for some fun felty things (and other stuff) at Amy Martin's Lily Pad or some of the incredibly fun stuff at Funky Playground Designs.

Okay... I need to go to bed before I start shopping right now!

'nite!!

resolutions, recipes and a request

Okay... so one of my resolutions this year is to cook more. With Jeff's crazy travel schedule last year I fell into a really bad habit of not cooking "real" meals. Now that we're eating dinner as a family every night I decided that it was a good time to start cooking meals again. Since the kids have class until 5:15 tonight, I thought it was a good night for a crockpot meal. So here's what we're having...

* Exported from MasterCook *

Chinese Style Country Ribs

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Crockpot Pork

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 clove garlic -- minced
4 pounds spareribs, country style

Combine soy sauce, marmalade, ketchup and garlic.

Brush on both sides of ribs.

Place in slow-cooker.

Pour remaining sauce over all.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

***********

Do you see that "exported from mastercook" message at the top? Mastercook was one of my birthday presents this year. I love that program. I had it years (and several computers) ago. It was a great way to keep all of my recipes organized and it was a cinch to share recipes with people when they requested them. I used to print the recipes out and put them in a binder... but now that my computer is in the kitchen, I don't think I'll print them out... just pull them up on the computer and just read it from the screen.

Okay... now on to my request.... since we'll be doing a crockpot meal every Wednesday... I would love to try some new recipes if anyone has any favorites they would like to share. Thanks!

Well... I guess I should get moving today! Later!

back to the park

We went back to the park again today... but the kids were being beastly so we only lasted about 30 minutes before we had to leave. Tomorrow they start their classes... Clara's taking dance (ballet) and Alex is taking chess. We'll see how those go. Hopefully some time apart from each other will do them some good.

The highlight of my day was watching most of 84 Charing Cross Road on On Demand today. That truly is one of my all time favorite movies and books.... I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen or read it. If you haven't done either... you must and then let me know what you think.

Okay... I'm rather boring today so I'm heading to bed... just one pic from today to post...

'nite!

our first day of the new year...

okay... the slide show isn't working properly... I'll watermark the photos and post them tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

Our celebration is getting underway! We just walked home from our neighborhood sushi place where we had dinner. I love that our kids aren't afraid to try new foods. Clara's not much for sushi so she just had chicken teriyaki. Alex on the other hand had a bowl of miso soup, some California roll, Furaibo roll and Tempura Shrimp roll... plus part of Clara's chicken. At the end they brought us a bowl of green tea ice cream to share. Clara liked it and had quite a bit... but the boy loved it, even drinking the melted ice cream out of the bowl when he was done! :-)

They're getting clean now and soon we'll start a rousing game of Disney Scene It and whatever other game they might pick out. We'll mix up some mean Shirley Temples and have some chips and queso. Then, when they start getting tired we'll have our countdown, regardless of the actual time.... we count down from 10 even if it's only 8:30... shout "happy new year" and do our confetti poppers. Does life get any better than that? I honestly really enjoy it.

Okay... they're almost clean so I've got to go!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Tying Flies and Other Stuff

Thank you so much everyone for the birthday wishes! I had an okay birthday. I started out my day nearly ill after my camera quit on me after one pic at the aquarium... seriously, I nearly threw up right there. I thought it was dead. Turns out it was just my battery that was dead... apparently I didn't have it in the charger right when I charged it before we left (or it possibly was unplugged at some point). After some time in the charger we were back in business. For my birthday dinner we went to one of my favorite places... Cafe BaBaReeba. Yum!

Oh.... I need to send you a note but Jen Caputo... send me a note when you get the chance, I would love to have a photo playdate sometime when you plan on being in the city. Anyone else out there... let me know if you live in the area.... I need new photo buddies (not that they'll ever be able to replace you... Anne, Brenda and Amy :-).

Today was pretty good... we are houseguest free which is a wonderful feeling. I'm really itching to establish some sort of normal routine so now we can start. I placed my first Peapod grocery order and we'll be restocked sometime tomorrow morning. We took a walk to a furniture store to try to find bar stools for our kitchen. Apparently our counter is a "non-standard height. sigh.

I started going through my hundreds of photos tonight. So I'll leave you with a few. These are from the weekend between leaving Texas and driving on to Chicago to meet the movers. My dad likes to tie fishing flies.... he always has. As I kid, I used to like to watch him and sometimes even "help". Well... now it is Clara's turn. She wanted to see what he did with that table full of stuff... so together they tied a fly :-)

'nite!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yep.... today is my birthday... wooo hooo. Hopefully I'll snap out of my funk soon... my in-laws are about to drive me batty at the moment. I think my main problem is that I am soooo worn out from our crazy month that I have zero patience left... and I just don't have the energy to generate any more.

Our night at the zoo was really nice last night. The kids had a great time seeing the animals and the lights and riding the carousel (that is until my fil made my son cry -again.... but that's a whole other story). As soon as everyone is clean and dressed we're heading to the Shedd Aquarium for the morning. My grandmother gave Jeff and I money for Christmas to be used on purchasing a family membership somewhere.... so I think we'll use it on an aquarium membership today. After that we come back here and me, Jeff and my bil leave the kids with my in-laws and head out. Not sure where we're going or what we're doing... but just being out will be nice.

I took a bunch of pictures last night and I can't wait to see if any of them turned out. Hopefully we'll dig out the rest of my computer's parts tomorrow after my in-laws leave.

Okay... I'm going to go and think happy thoughts!

sweet home chicago!

We're here... we're finally all here as a family!!! We got here two days ago and the kids are thrilled with our new home. Yesterday Jeff's family showed up so we have a house full of guests. All is going well... even after I filled our place with smoke when I first turned on our oven yesterday to bake a cake for my MIL's birthday. The weather is absolutely gorgeous! We spent part of this morning at the park and barely needed jackets! Alex made a new friend at the park today which thrilled me.... now we've just got to find Clara some friends too.

I have so many pictures to go through... its just killing me that my computer isn't hooked up yet! Jeff found most of it yesterday but my external hard drive and tablet are still MIA. We had a great day at Silver Dollar City last Saturday. We got there right as it openned and there were hardly any people there. We got to ride a bunch of stuff without having to wait in line and the weather was beautiful. I have a ton of pics from that day. I took several on Christmas morning but my speedlite and I weren't getting along that morning.... mostly it seemed right on then all of a sudden it would way overexpose a bunch... ugh. Perhaps learning how to properly use my speedlite should be one of my new year's resolutions (honestly, i think that was on the list last year too). I've taken a few today but not many.... later this afternoon we're heading to the Lincoln Park Zoo to see the animals and stay for the zoo lights display. So.. there's still a chance for more photos today! LOL!

Well... I'm fading fast... I think I need a little afternoon nap myself! Only one more full day of houseguests left and then hopefully we can start trying to establish some sort of normalcy in our lives here in Chicago.

zzzzzzzz..........

That's what I feel like I could do for days now. We closed on our house first thing Tuesday morning and ever since then we've been in non-stop motion trying to get unpacked. Over dinner tonight we decided that we've completely run out of steam and it was time to just stack boxes against the walls and focus on getting ready for house guests two days after Christmas. We really want to get back and see the kids who are with my parents in Missouri.... so we just unpacked as much as we could then uncovered the beds and cleared walkways. We're going to head out to MO first thing tomorrow morning (about 8-8.5 hour drive)... I can't wait to see the kids. Saturday we have a whole big day of Christmas fun planned (hopefully, I'll take lots of pics)... we start out with breakfast with Santa at Bass Pro Shops, then we make a second attempt at going to the Christmas Festival thing at Silver Dollar City. We tried to go last Saturday but it was INSANE!!! There was so much traffic, we had to park at this lot a couple of miles from the park AND the line for bus to take you to SDC wrapped around the parking lot... needless to say, we just drove on. Alex was crushed though, so we promised him we would take him when we got back from Chicago.

Well... I'm exhausted.... seriously... I don't think I've been this tired in a long time.... my whole body aches.... Anyway... I'm heading to bed. We do have internet now (although we're heading to the land of dial-up tomorrow)... but my computer still hasn't seen the light of day yet. Its still in boxes downstairs. With Jeff's family coming the day after we get back from MO, it probably won't get set back up until after the first of the year. Then I can get back to my photos and scrapping!! YIPPEE!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! See you in a couple of days!!!

psst....

Here I am! We're in Chicago.... well... Jeff and I are at least. We got here last night, today we have our final walk-through and tomorrow we close and the movers unload. Can you believe it? I'm not sure that I do yet.

Last night Jeff and I went out and bought new coats. After 4 1/2 years in Texas, we were both lacking in the coat department. I LOVE my new coat!!! Its a black quilted Burberry coat and it's just perfect! I also got a hat, scarf and gloves.

Yesterday the kids went to church with my parents (keep in mind its the same small country church that I grew up in). Last night was their children's Christmas program so they asked Clara (and Alex) if they wanted to be in the program. As as expected, Alex said "no thank you" but Clara was all over it. They had three rehersals yesterday so she did have some clue what was going on. Mom said that she did fabulously... she got up there played her bells and maracas and sang. The surreal part of the evening was that she was up there standing between the daughter of one of my best friends growing up and the son of my first "boyfriend" (we went to the junior high dances together). Oh, the fun of small town living!

Okay... I need to get going so we can get everything done today.... its our last day of being homeless LOL!

I hope everyone is doing well and having a wonderful holiday season.... hopefully I'll be back on line soon!

bye for now..

... in less than two hours I leave with the kids to meet my parents. While I'm gone, the packers will be here so my computer may be boxed up when I get back home (close to 8 hours later). I'm hoping to check in occassionally on Jeff's computer. But if I don't get to...

... see you in Chicago!

wish me luck...

... today is my big day of "good-byes". First we start the day with taking Clara to her last day of preschool... between her and Alex, this is our fourth year at the preschool so we've gotten to know a lot of people there (plus since it's at our church, we know a lot of the people from church as well). Then Alex and I go straight to our last homeschool recess group. Then for lunch I'm meeting Anne (painted moon) from our 2peas Photo Playgroup. Then at 4:00 a friend of mine is picking me and my kids up for our last IKEA outing together. I will either be a total wreck or totally emotionally numb by the end of the day.

sigh...

Its the week of the final countdown. It really started for me yesterday. Yesterday our cleaning lady came by and picked up all of the furniture we were getting rid of. It was tough.... one of the items was our kitchen table... I loved that kitchen table. But we only have room for one table in the new place and the dining room table won out. Today our car went away. Yes, as of today we are a one car (umm... minivan) family. We don't need two cars in the city. Jeff will take the el to work and the kids and I will use public transportation (I don't drive in the city)... plus we've only got a one car garage.

I feel like I'm permanently nauseous and I can be on the brink of tears without any notice. Yesterday was a rough day at church... I nearly lost it several times. Why do we have to move at Christmas?? For some reason Christmas carols make me tear up even at the best of times.... I'm just a wreck now. Oh... and we've also been watching all of the Christmas movies that have been on ABC Family each night. There really hasn't be a one that hasn't had me choking back sobs. For crying out loud... I was a mess Saturday when we watched Elf!!! I really need to pull myself together.

Thank you all for all of the kind wishes and encouragement lately... it really means a lot to me. Hopefully soon I'll be back to posting pics and layouts soon and no more talk about how much of a pathetic wreck I am! LOL!

Okay... off to get my hair cut.

ugh!

Yesterday was one of those days that nearly sent me over the emotional edge. Yesterday was Clara's Christmas program at preschool. However, Clara woke up saying that her tummy hurt... just to make sure she wasn't just hungry and being dramatic, I reminded her that her program was that day and if she was truly sick, she wouldn't be able to go. Well... that's when she started sobbing that she really really wanted to be a sheep but her tummy hurt. So, we missed her last ever preschool program. It was hard on me that she was sick, but emotionally, with the move, I just wasn't ready for things to end... especially without the big "fun" ending I had hoped for. I teetered on the brink of a crying binge for a while. But I had to get over it because I had my next emotional hurdle of the day to get through...

Alex has a girlfriend... they've been together for over 3 years! Can you believe that those two latched onto each other in three year old preschool class and now they're 6? I seriously thought they would move on the next year when they were in the 4 year old class since they went on different days. But they still saw each other at church each Sunday and the previous two years they were in the same choir at church as well. Anyway... yesterday Alyssa's mom came and picked up Alex so he could have a lunch "date" with Alyssa at her school. They picked up Happy Meals and had lunch with her in the cafeteria. Alex had picked out a present for her... a Webkinz, so, if Santa brings him one, they could keep in touch via Webkinz World. After lunch, they got to play on the playground together at recess. He had a great time. It makes me sad to move the two of them so far apart from each other... but honestly... how long could young love like that last?

Clara threw up during lunch (nope... not before OR after... but DURING) so we went off to the doctor that afternoon. The PA we saw was sure Clara had strep but the test came back negative. She seems fine now... so who knows.

Well... I need to shower and get on with my day.... the crunch time for the move is just about here. The next few weeks are going to be insane... here's a brief run-down...

12/13 - I drive halfway to my mom and dad's house in MO to transfer the kids to them. This is also the day the packers start packing our stuff. We're going out to dinner with friends that night.
12/14 - The movers start loading the truck. We're staying in a hotel that night so that afternoon, as part of my Christmas present, Jeff has a arranged for me to have a massage.
12/15 - We close on our house here first thing in the morning and drive to Missouri.
12/17 - Jeff and I head out to Chicago - we'll be driving since we couldn't get flights with Jeff's miles due to the holiday.
12/18 - Inspection on our place in Chicago.
12/19 - We close on our place early in the morning and the movers arrive with our stuff as soon as its over.
12/20-12/22 - (dates may vary) Jeff and I unpack and set-up our place. Then, when done, we'll drive back to Missouri for Christmas.
12/26 - Drive back to Chicago, this time with the kids and the dog.
12/27 - Jeff's family (his mom, dad, brother and 20 month old niece) arrive for Christmas. I think they're staying until the 30th.

Pure craziness.

Okay.... now I really need to get moving (either that, or I'm going to go crawl into a hole and hide until this is all over).

yikes!

We forgot the tooth fairy! Alex lost his 4th tooth yesterday and put it out for the tooth fairy before he went to bed. I completely forgot about it until I was in the shower this morning. He was already up when I got out but Jeff said that he hadn't mentioned anything yet... so maybe he forgot to check. So, Jeff had him and Clara *help* him change the lightbulb in Clara's room so I could sneak in and make the exchange. So far, so good.

what is wrong with my children?!?!?

Clara's quote from last night:

"Mom... when I looked at my pee, it was yellow like lemonade... but I didn’t drink it or anything... I just recognized it."

And now Alex is singing a song he made up about pigs eating ham.... sigh.

got dry, fly-away hair???

Clara does...

We cleaned out the attic yesterday so she was out there with us, sitting in a lawnchair in the garage. She had been rubbing her head around on the back of the chair and this was the result! LOL! I thought it was the perfect opportunity to practice my backlighting! :-)

Oh... and it appears that my email is finally working again so if I owe you a note, you should hear from me soon!

good clean fun

Apparently the kids didn't get enough fluffy white stuff while playing outside all afternoon in the "snow" so they opted for a bubble bath in the big tub last night....

Texas Snow Day!

Okay, so it's really not snow, it's sleet/freezing rain but the kids don't care. They've played in it all afternoon like it was piles of fluffy white stuff. They won't know what to do with themselves when they see the real deal when we move to Chicago. We get so giddy on the one day of winter weather we have each year. Alex and I picked Clara up early from preschool and stopped by the grocery store to buy hot chocolate (and mix to make hot strawberry for Clara because of her chocolate allergy), marshmallows and cookie dough! They played outside for a while and then they came in, we lit the fire, made our hot drinks and baked cookies. I took a few pictures but my battery was dead... I took about 4 pictures before everything went black... I would put in the charger for as long as I could stand and then put it back in the camera to take 2 or 3 more shots (this process was repeated several times LOL!).

Here are some of the pics of Clara, plus one of the dog. I should have a couple to post of Alex "snow" surfing once I look at them all... he put a pile of snow at the bottom of the slide and would surf across it as he came off the end of the slide. Anyway... here are the pics I have so far...

The big news of the day is that the buyers of our house here in Texas have asked to move our closing date up to the 15th of December. I honestly don't know how we'll swing it. Our holidays are a total disaster this year anyway.... so what's a little more chaos??

Anyone have any good book recommendations? My husband and I have a book club that we do, just the two of us. Each year for Christmas, we each select 4 or 5 books and buy two copies of each book. We give them to each other on Christmas Eve and then throughout the next year we read the same book at the same time, discussing it while we read. I usually have a running list of possible books for our "club" but this year the whole thing has snuck up on me and I don't have a clue. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Right now I'm reading a book Jeff got me last year (not from our book club) called Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. I'm just on the first chapter, but it sounds very interesting.

Well... I should probably get moving... I've been playing with blog for a while now.. giving it a bit of a makeover.... yikes... Jeff's on the phone... gotta run!

back again... at least physically... maybe not mentally

Mentally, I'm on complete overload. Systems have shut down. I'm a total ball of nerves and I'm beginning to truly freak out.

Okay... backtracking... Thanksgiving! We had a great one in Missouri even though I spent the actual day lying in bed or on the couch at my parents' house trying not to throw up... again. I managed to miss dinner at my grandmother's house... but I was so queazy that at the time, I didn't care where I was as long as I was lying down. Here's my PSA... never attempt to piece together a meal with packaged foods found in a convenience store somewhere in Oklahoma. Better yet, do not let your dh choose those foods on his own.... beef jerky and trail mix is NOT a well balanced meal!! Yikes!!! The reason for this eclectic meal was that we waited over an hour at a well known pizza chain in a very not well known town in Oklahoma for food that never came. To be fair, they brought the kids' food a quick 45 minutes into this wait, but our food never came. It was 7 pm and we still about 4 hours of driving ahead of us, so we decided that since the kids were fed, we would go on and take our chances.

I was feeling better on Friday so my mom and I went on our annual Thanksgiving weekend shopping spree. No, we don't fight the crowds at the mall or show up outside Target at 5am... we usually hit Talbots, which thankfully in their town is not in the mall. My mom likes to buy me clothes for Christmas and my birthday (4 days after Christmas)... but she knows me well, and knows that if she gives me money to spend, I won't spend it on myself. So, she takes me to Talbots and a couple other local stores to shop. I had absolutely fabulous luck at Talbots! I may have to post pics later. I ended up with two new pairs of pants, three sweaters and two shirts. And I have to say, I love every piece we picked out.

Well... since I was still a bit queazy and mom has a broken foot, we cut our trip short and headed home right after lunch. We ended up having several hours to ourselves once we got there since the guys (Jeff and my dad) took the kids golfing with them! I'm sure that was a sight to see! Apparently Clara filled the basket on the cart with golf balls and then would ride in the basket from hole to hole, sitting on her *eggs* and clucking like a hen.

Saturday was the big dinner with my mom's family... I think there ended up being about thirty people there. The kids had a blast! The weather was great so they played outside all afternoon. The cousins spent a lot of time all piled on the golf cart playing Silver Dollar City. Sometimes the golf cart was the parking lot tram and they would drop kids off and pick them up. Other times, the golf cart was the steam train ride.... one would person would drive, one would hang on the back doing the commentary, there would be at least a couple passengers and then one would be off hiding to jump out at the "train" just like the train robbers during the ride. You've just got to love kids with imaginations!

We got back on Sunday night and since then I've been freaking out about this whole thing. I get worked up about the Christmas season regardless but throw a move into the mix and its about to send me over the edge! Oh well... tonight Jeff and I are going to sit down and make one great big gigantic "to do" list and then divide it up and work our way through it. Right now I'm so overwhelmed I can't start anything... hopefully dividing it up into manageable chunks will help.

Well... the kids are asking to play a game, so I should run... hopefully I'll have pictures later!

okay... i should be packing

We're seriously never going to make it out of this house today. We've got a 7+ hour drive ahead of us and I still haven't packed.

First of all... I FINALLY got my cards I ordered from Shutterfly! I made them with MandaBean's MandaPanda kit (I posted the card last week I think)... but I wanted to show you a snap of what the actual card looks like. I LOVE IT! It looks a little hazy here, but it isn't at all in real life...

I have a few layouts to post and then I really really really will go pack (I promise)...

details here

details here

And finally a scraplift for the 2peas challenge...

details here

Jill... thanks for the kind words! Let me know if you read the book... I'm dying to know if it really was that good or if I am just a big sap! LOL!

Have a Great Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!

Wow

I know... two posts in one day! Anyway... I just had to. One of my favorite parts of homeschooling and using Sonlight in particular is reading great books I missed as a child. Today we finished The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. If you haven't read this book, you must, recommend it to your children or read it aloud to them. I had tears in my eyes several times while I was reading. And the book sparked some very interesting conversations with my kids once we were done. It has an amazing, timeless message. If you read, let me know!

I *heart* LT

Actually right now I love my whole fantasy football team! Right now I'm leading our league AND leading in Pick 'Em too (where you predict who is going to win each game in our league each week). This is something my husband and possibly my FIL are not too pleased about. Oh well. Jeff and I play each other this week so it should be interesting.... the Funk Soul Brothers v. Mommy Dearest! LOL!

Everything seems to be moving alone with the sale of our place and the purchase of our new place. I hope everything goes smoothly. Especially since we'll be moving over Christmas. This year is just crazy! I'm trying to get our Christmas cards out early so that can be done. Mom mentioned that while we're in MO this weekend maybe we could do some of the Christmas shopping for the kids so we could just leave the stuff there since we'll probably be at their house for Christmas morning. YIKES! This will be our first Christmas as a family that we won't be waking up on Christmas morning at our own house. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Anyway... I decided that if we might do some Christmas shopping then I should probably know what the kids want. We limit their Santa list to no more than three items so we can tell what they "really" want v. them just spouting off every commercial they've seen in the past 6 months. Alex's three items seemed to be things he really wants, however, Clara's appears to be the last three commercials she watched (but, that's typical Clara). So, I'm not really sure how much good that exercise did yesterday. We're thinking that the big "Santa" gift might be stuff for our video game system. We finally broke down and got one this summer, but it only comes out if the kids pick it for their Friday Family Night activity. So maybe we'll get two more controllers, a memory card and a couple of games that Santa gives to the family and then get them each one of the smaller items from their list from Santa to them individually. One thing we are going to look for this weekend to give the kids at Christmas is cold weather gear. We need coats, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. We have none of that stuff!

Also, since we'll be in the process of moving (and moving to less space than we have now) we're asking for more "family" gifts this year... and those are all memberships to Chicago museums. I made a list yesterday of all of the museums we would be interested in having memberships for and how much they cost. I think any of them would be a really great gift to receive.... especially with homeshooling. I loved it when we had a membership to the Dallas Zoo. It was fun to go on a whim and not care if the kids only wanted to see the elephants and climb on the rocks that day. We had days (my neighbor had a membership too and we used to go together) where the kids wanted to do nothing but play in the little stream that ran through the Children's Zoo... but that was okay, we didn't feel the need to see it all everytime we went. We're doing a really great art curriculum this year and I would love to have a membership to the Art Institute. This program has art appreciation along with art instruction so it would be so much fun to be able to go to the Art Institute and see just those works that pertained to what we were studying that time. I think I would feel the need to see the whole thing if we were paying each time... to justify the cost. But that would be way too much for the kids to handle.

Okay... rambling... must stop.

I posted a few layouts yesterday....

details here

details here

details here

Okay... it's after 10am and I'm still in my pj's... I should probably get moving!

i'm back!

I actually got back from Chicago on Friday, but with my MIL here until this afternoon, I didn't do much computer stuff.

The sale of our house is still progressing so that's a good thing. AND... we found a place in Chicago! I really, really love the place. However, natural light photography is going to be a challenge once we move (it was going to be a challenge not matter which place we chose, I've been spoiled by our big huge windows here). I really do love the place though. We're going to be in the Lakeview area of the city. We ended up with a duplex down in a three unit building and its new construction. I never expected us to find new construction in the city. Since its almost finished but not quite, we get to customize a few things. We've got light fixtures to pick out, floor stain to decide on and carpet to choose. The floor plan is what really sold me on this place - the main floor has a living room, dining room, powder room, big kitchen and a family room. Downstairs has all four of the bedrooms and two full baths. Since we're living in a multi-unit building, it is so cool that no one is above our bedrooms but us so it should be quiet at night. I took several pictures but they're not great. I may upload them here one night this week. So.... if you ever find yourself in Chicago for any reason, be sure and get in touch!!

I have zero creativity lately... I'm not sure what to do about it. Its been so long since I've felt that creative spark that I know feel like I'm trying to hard when I do try to scrap. Any ideas to help me get my mojo back?

I did get our Christmas cards done! I used Kim Christensen's Winter Wonderland Card Kit (just modified a bit to fit my picture better) and I LOVE it!

Nothing else to report here. Clara had her last soccer game as a pink pony on Saturday and the whole thing makes me sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about our move, but things still get to me. The pink ponies were a great little team.... great girls, great coach, and great parents. That combo is hard to find. Clara really does well at soccer and wants to continue so I guess I'll have to figure something out once we get up there.

Okay.... I'm going to go watch the football game. Have I mentioned that I'm leading our fantasy football league? I'm currently winning my game 164 to 95. He's got a player going Monday night but I thinking I'll probably still be okay. :-) I'm going go sit back and see if LaDainian Tomlinson gets any more points for me tonight! Ack.. while I was typing that he scored ANOTHER touchdown... I'm up 176 to 95 now!!!! Okay... I'm out of here...

'nite!

NINE DAYS!!!

We have a contract on our house after being on the market 9 days!!! We're flying to Chicago tomorrow to find a house there. I'll try to post again before we leave, but in case I don't... you know where I am!

Wooo Hoooo!!!

Can cleaning count as working out??

Man, I have cleaned more in the last week than I ever have in my entire life!!! Or at least it seems that way. I'm really hoping for lots of showings this weekend. We have one scheduled for tomorrow already... and its supposed to be a good one... a family that wants to be in our specific neighborhood.

I honestly have done nothing but clean (oh... and school) lately. I really hope to be more exciting soon. I should take some pictures of my nice clean house. Hmmm... then I should probably scrap them. That's a project! I also want to take pictures to scrap of other places we love here before we move... I know I want to do our church, but I'm not sure what else. I'm really not very creative lately.

I did sort of scrap today! I FINALLY made the thank you note for Clara's birthday party (now several weeks ago... I'm horrible, I know). I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do then today I saw that Miss MandaBean release a brand new kit called Manda Panda that was a perfect match for the pic I wanted to use. Not a very fancy card, but I thought it was cute. The best part is that its already uploaded to Shutterfly and my order has been placed... now I just have to write them when they come in.

Oh... one more fun thing... I am so loving these calendar pages at Scrapartist....

I downloaded the kit today and have already started playing! I think the grandparents will love these as Christmas gifts (plus I want one too!). Fun stuff!!!

Okay... need sleep so I can get up and clean again tomorrow (our big showing is in the window of noon to 1pm)... wish us luck!!

'nite!

just some pics

Nothing much to report here today. We had a great day of school but nothing noteworthy... just a good day.

Here are some pics I took though...

'nite!

Hmmm... not sure why the slideshow is so small... here are the pics on 2peas.

I am finally at peace...

with my homeschool schedule that is. Last year we did our own thing based on the book Galloping the Globe. It was fun for a while, but I found myself going off on tangents, staying with some countries entirely too long and not long enough on others. I felt I needed more structure. So this year we went with Sonlight. Everything we needed came in one great big box (which you folded inside out to make a castle - added bonus) plus it came with a big nice instructor's guide with everything scheduled. This was perfect, wonderful... no planning, just get up and look in the book. But then life got in the way... we misplaced our first reader (still haven't found it), didn't have all of the stuff for a science experiment, etc. Suddenly I found myself right on track with some subjects, behind in others and even ahead in some. I was beginning to get frustrated with my big ol' schedule book. I was getting lost trying to remember which week I was on in which subject. My first bright idea was to take some time off from the subjects we were ahead in, slow down in the ones we were right on schedule with and speed up those slow ones until they were all caught up on the same week. Well... that experiment was a failure. Finally, the light bulb came on and I got it... I have not abandoned the instructor's guide, but have pulled out the applicable pages for each subject and put them in a separate binder. I am ignoring the week numbers at the top of each page and just concentrating on moving forward. We are so much happier now. I am free to double up on the read aloud assignments when the kids are so into a story that they don't want me to stop. I am able to accept the fact that we have no clue where that first reader is and move ahead to the second one even though it is scheduled a ways further into the year. We are able to be a few weeks behind in science because we have taken time off to incorporate Alex's Cub Scout beltloops into the mix (we've completed his fishing beltloop and now we're working on his geology beltloop and pin). Well... at least that's one less thing I'm stressed out about lately! :-)

Other than that... nothing really to report. I finally used one of my 2peas Gift Certificates. Here's what I bought...

Well... I'm heading to bed!

'nite!

Warning: highly edited pics

Clara decided to make amends with me today by offering to let me take pictures of her. That sounds wonderful, right? Well... it would have been if I would have been halfway competent today... instead I severly underexposed them (this was even after using my trusty grey card). For variety I took the first three in our master bedroom. It is really dark in there (we have solar screens on the windows) and I was having trouble with the light.... it was an overcast day but occasionally while shooting the sun would burst through and blind Clara.... my settings were all over the place and as soon as I would adjust for the sun (or at least think that I had), it would go back behind a cloud. They're not ones to frame, but I don't think they ended up too bad after some adjusting.

That last one is of her in her hat that she found in the clearance bin at The Children's Place... I'm not sure she can pull that look off. What do you think? :-)

I just wanted to add a great big thank you to all of you who commented and sent emails after my last pitiful post. It really meant alot to me to receive that support at a time that I was feeling so low. Thank you all so much!

With that... I'm heading to bed.

'nite!

i'm seriously losing it

I've hit a new low with the frustration of dealing with the kids and the house on my own. I'm not sure how much more of it I can take. Tonights new low was brought on by Clara dropping and breaking into four jagged pieces the ceramic cat planter my great grandmother gave me as a child. I know its just a "thing", but it was mine and now it's gone. blah, blah, blah....

There was much more rambling earlier, but I'm calmer now and have somewhat pulled myself together. I just have to get through this.

For a bit of therapy I did a layout... nothing special but here it is...



It features Succotash from MandaBean's Table Scraps series.

Okay... I need sleep.

'nite.

pink pony pics, some layouts & a movie review

Wow! Let's see if I make it all of the way through that list before I completely lose focus!

First I'll start with some Pink Pony pictures...

These are from last week's game. The sun was out so the shooting was rough. Clara played really well, but was having much more fun on the sidelines. Here she is playing with her friend, Logan (the next shot in this series - which was completely out of focus - was of them crashing to the ground). You know things are getting a little out of hand, when you have to yell at your daughter across the field to stop poking her coach in the behind! I have no clue why they thought that was a good idea.

These are from today. It was really overcast today, but also pretty cold (I know... not "Chicago" cold) and windy.

Okay... on to the layouts!


details here

details here

Finally.... we supposedly had showings today from 3-5 (one officially cancelled on us after we were already out of the house and the other, we have no clue since there were no signs of anyone being in our house)... so we decided to go to the movie. We let the kids pick between The Santa Clause 3 or Flushed Away. Well... they picked Flushed Away and Jeff and I were less than thrilled with that choice. Until the movie started... maybe it was because our expectations were so low but we thought it was really, really funny.... one of the funniest kids movies we've been to in a while. We're actually still laughing about some of the lines!!! Clara, however, climbed up into Jeff's lap and slept through the last 1/3 of the movie. Oh well.

Okay... time to give the kids their bedtime hugs and kisses!

'nite!

Thanks and some observations

Thank you Jill for the advice... I hope it was just a growth spurt. We gave her motrin and when she didn't calm down right away, we brought her downstairs and she layed with me on the couch while Jeff and I watched a movie. She fell asleep pretty quickly then. I guess I'm just a little paranoid. A couple of years ago Clara had horrible problems with leg cramps at night... she was also a restless sleeper and would occasionally have lots of "accidents" within a short time period for no good reason (that we knew of)... at the time we had no idea they were all related. I was talking about her sleeping problems one day and someone suggested that I read Is This Your Child. I checked it out from the library and started skimming. I found a case study and started reading... it was like it was describing Clara... the leg cramps, restless nights, and accidents! It was amazing... Jeff was working from home that day so I ran up to his office and started reading it to him. We then looked through the chart of common causes under each of those symptoms and one that stood out to us was chocolate! She was at her absolute worst at my parents' house when we stayed there spring break and my dad is a total chocoholic... so there were M&M's out plus chocolate ice cream for treats. However, at the time, we found excuses for it all... the restless nights were because she wasn't in her own bed, the "accidents" were because my parents had just recently moved into a new house and she wasn't familiar with the layout yet. Another really bad week was Easter week that year. Not only did she have tons of chocolate from the numerous egg hunts we went to that year, but my MIL had sent them a big box of CocoPuffs in their Easter care package. She would have multiple accidents a day... some of them right after having been to the bathroom. But according to this book, she was having bladder spasms that would just keep happening. We took away all chocolate and so far we've been basically leg cramp, restless night, accident free. Until just recently.... so it makes you wonder if its just growing pains or something more.

We had all of our carpets cleaned today... they look wonderful! Some of the rooms are still damp though. Our dining room is a bit so all of the dining room table chairs are in the kitchen... it was like playing a game of Rush Hour trying to make dinner tonight. I had to think out my path and move each chair basicially one tile square at a time to get the right configuration to get from the fridge to the sink, and then rearrange them all to get from from the sink to the stove. Craziness!

I had a bunch of observations I was going to put on here... but now that its after 11:00 and I still need to rearrange chairs again so I can wash the dinner dishes... they'll have to wait... honestly, I have no clue what they were now anyway.

Have a great weekend!

'nite!

i'm still here

Sorry its been a couple of days... we've been cleaning and purging. Today we officially signed papers with the real estate agent. Wow.. it's real now.

Not much of a post... I'm just occupying myself while Jeff takes a shift on consoling Clara. I have no idea what's going on. She went to bed at 8:30 and fell asleep right away and now at nearly 10, she's up and sobbing uncontrolably. Nothing calms her down. She says that her legs are cold and hurt, yet nothing we do warms them up or makes them feel better. I hate this helpless feeling... sigh.

Happy Halloween!

Have I mentioned that I s*ck at flash photography... well I do. Here's the best of what I got tonight...

Are you ready for this???

Here are Clara's curls! LOL!

nothin' good

Nope... nothing exciting here.... except that our house has never looked better! LOL! I am such a pack rat but I have been getting rid of stuff left and right. Maybe it's the laziness in me but right now it is more appealing to get rid of it than to have to find a place to put it once we move. It's actually somewhat disturbing how much we've taken to Goodwill since Friday.

I have a major cold and I'm not happy about it. Actually Alex and I have both had something going on since we got our flu vaccines on Wednesday. His was intense but short lived (high fever, bad headache and just a total lump on the couch for about 12 hours). Mine hasn't been intense but it has been dragging on for some time now. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that it happened right after we got the vaccine but it was weird how Alex was acting just like he did last year when he had the actual flu.

No pictures today but hopefully I'll have some tomorrow. You won't believe this but after her bath we put Clara's hair up in the little sponge rollers. LOL! I can't even imagine what her head is going to look like tomorrow... her hair is so short that she may end up looking like a ball of fuzz! Sigh... this is what happens when the girls are left alone while the boys go to cub scouts.

Well... I'm off to take a shot of cherry flavored nyquil and call it a day!

'nite!

(Hi Kathy, Hannah and Rachel!)

just a couple of my girl

I'm supposed to be up here setting my fantasy football line-up for tomorrow. Thought I would throw in a couple of pics I took of the girl today...


Okay... setting my line-up now... let's see if I can hold onto the number one spot in our league for a second week. LOL!

'nite!

a silly girl and superman

Tonight the kids had a Halloween/Birthday party to go to across the street. It was amazing! I wish I could have gotten in there in advance and been able to take pictures of their super cool decorations. For the entertainment, they had a Mad Scientist group come out to do all kinds of fun experiments. They loved it.

Just a couple of quick pics... snapshots really. You all should know by now that I have issues with flash photography. I struggle with it so much. I bought my 550EX speedlite over 2 years ago and have barely used it because it scares me. However, I bought the DVD Guide to the 580EX (there wasn't one for the 550) by Blue Crane Digital a couple of months ago and finally watched it. I can't say that I have used the DVD to it's fullest yet, but it at least gave me the confidence to start using my flash again. Especially since we are entering the season where I will be using my flash more. Anyway... the first one is straight on with an Omni Bounce on the flash, the second one is bounced off of the ceiling (with the omni bounce still on). Oh... I shot in P mode. I've got a long ways to go, but I'm glad to be gaining some confidence.



Oh... btw, these aren't the kids' official Halloween costumes for this year. Clara's is the clown costume I bought to shoot her circus birthday invite last year and Alex's is actually pj's that I bought to shoot his Valentines from a couple of years ago (the Valentine, I think you're super ones). They had a bounce house and an inflatable slide at the party so I was afraid they would totally trash their official costumes (Clara - Forest Fairy and Alex - Darth Vader).

Well... off to scrub face paint off of Clara's face!

'nite!

well... that didn't go as expected

We finally told the kids about our move this morning. Alex, my hyper-sensitive, emotional child was all smiles and bouncing up and down. Clara, my happy-go-lucky, roll with it type was an emotional sobbing wreck. My goodness... it was all I could do to not start bawling right there with her. Her main concern (at 5 years old) is that she won't have any friends and that she'll have to leave the friends that she has here. Thankfully last night I had talked to a friend of mine who lives in Chicago... I had told her that the kids would probably be concerned about friends so even before this happened, she had told me that she would round up some of the kids in our old neighborhool (in Chicago), take a picture of them and send it to me so I could show the kids that they had friends ready and waiting for them. Hopefully that will help. I knew the kids would be troubled somewhat by the move, but I expected the emotional outburst from Alex, not Clara. I think this is one of those things that we'll just have to limit how much we talk about.... kind of like Lilo and Stitch 2 - Stitch has a Glitch. For some reason for over a year after we watched that movie, you couldn't even mention it without her face turning red and tears forming in her eyes. She gets that same look anytime you mention Chicago right now.

Sigh.... now we need to do some school (Friday is test day in our house.... plus fun stuff day, with the hope that the two counter balance each other)... then we'll start cleaning closets. Fun!

Okay... I feel like I need to include a pic, but I don't know what to include so I'll just sign off for now!

TGIF!