February 28, 2009

It actually snowed today! Quite a bit . . . like 2 inches. That's a far cry from a couple of days ago, when we were out in shorts.



I'm really looking hard for signs of Spring in amongst the crazy weather around here . . .




And did I mention that I like taking pictures of sleeping children? Particularly my own!


Ahhh . . . there's simply nothing sweeter now is there . . .

February 27, 2009

Thank heavens it's Friday! My poor little girl is just plumb tuckered out, after a hard week at school . . .



And although she's technically not my "baby" anymore . . .




I still like to take pictures of her while she's sleeping. There's no sassing, no back talking, no arguing, no fighting with little brother . . . and nothing sweeter.

The beautiful sound of silence. (*Love you punkin'!) ;)

February 26, 2009

My little guy is such a sweetie. In constant motion 24/7. It's nice to capture a still photo of him . . . even if it is only for a second.

February 25, 2009

While daddy and sis planted lettuce in the garden . . .



Eli was "plowing" with his wheelbarrow . . .




and I was goofing with the settings on my camera. I FINALLY figured out how to get a photo of the sun shining through the clouds like this, without whiting out the whole background! I think I hear the angels singing HALLELUJAH!

Most of my afternoon was spent sorting photos for my LOM class. I'm actually throwing quite a few away . . . or at least putting them in a box to pass around to family to see if they want any of them before they get pitched. Ahhhh . . . so freeing!

February 24, 2009

Feeling a little better today. Snuck in a 20 minute nap, did my L.O.A.D. layout, and did a little house cleaning in the evening.

Eli played in the window (as usual) . . .



and found himself a little lady friend.

February 23, 2009

In amongst catching up on some housework, I found some time to play with my manual settings again today. I captured several photos of Dave and Eli watching Kipper, early this morning . . .



And several more of Miss Kitty, being playful . . .




And a few more shots of my running shoes . . .




And I ended up playing with the horse bracelet that my hubby got me several years ago for my birthday. I *heart* horses.

I'm hoping to play some more with my manual settings tomorrow!

February 22, 2009

The kids spend countless hours in this little corner of the living room.



And I've found that making pudding is a great way for my little girl to learn to count to 100. (I think the box says to beat the mixture 250 times by hand . . .)




I like the way she holds out 3 fingers for 30, 4 fingers for forty, and so on and so forth. Whatever works kiddo!

February 21, 2009

I played around with my manual settings again today . . . and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it! I just need to practise a little more. I still have an unwilling participant here, but he's just so cute and fuzzy . . .




and at least he's always "dressed". I've been noticing a large portion of my photos contain my children in some state of undress . . . usually running around in underwear or a diaper. Truth be knownst, I'd probably run around like this too, if there weren't so many people stopping by unexpectedly at all hours. I must rectify this, if I'm going to post pictures of the kids on my blog, though. Somebody just needs to remind me to put clothes on them before I start snapping away.




Mom and I and the kids went grocery shopping today. (I really abhor shopping . . . especially when I'm sick with sinus gunk going on!) The good points . . . I took my camera to play with, AND I picked up some sinus medication, which I took immediately! I hope to be feeling somewhat normal tomorrow.



And I'll leave you with another layout . . . not really my style. I'll just blame the sudafed induced haze . . .

February 20, 2009

Searching for the keys to the gifts that God has given me . . . I'll post more on this for the next Motivate Me Monday over at my regular blog. So stay tuned . . .

And Amber over at Homeschool Diva, left a nice comment about the above photo, with a little note about trying the Manual setting on my camera. I haven't tapped into that level of my photography . . . but I broke out the ole' manual and came up with a few neat shots.

I loved the shadowy look of the above photo of my lens cap, next to my computer keyboard . . .

and although I didn't have a very willing participant to practise on, I still managed to get a few shots to come out. I'm DEFINITELY going to have to play more with my Manual settings. All those settings and stuff just frankly intimidate me to pieces . . . but I'll get over it in time. I hope!

And as deathly ill as I was today, I managed to take the kids for a walk to grandmas. I ended up bringing Kasey back home with us, for 45 minutes or so to play.

And I squeaked out a pretty poor layout today . . . but I wanted to use some of those old Pooh stickers I've had running around for eons. I'll just have to say, mission complete on this one, and hope I'm feeling a little more creative tomorrow.

Do you remember that Bill the Cat character from the Doonesbury cartoon? That's how I feel like I look right now . . . bulging eyeballs, wild hair and all. Here's hoping for some relief from all the sinus pressure I'm feeling right now . . .

February 19, 2009

I love the determined look I sometimes catch on my little girl's face . . .



and Eli's pouty look . . .




They're so precious to me. It bothers me to be apart from them for any length of time . . . I know Bayleigh is safe at school, learning away, but I still miss having her at home with me all day. And today, Dave took Eli to town with him and they were gone all day . . .




Granted I got a lot of work done, painting trim and such, but I was so glad to pick up Bayleigh at school today, and come home to my little man. Apparently he missed mommy too. They can be so sweet!

And here's my LOAD layout for day 19. Took me about 15 minutes to come up with this one. I'm SO glad I'm going the simple route, or I'd never make it!

February 18, 2009

Hmmmm . . . what are we searching for in there?



Ahh . . . the ham! I can't believe my little guy has already picked up THIS particular bad habit! Flinging the door open and just standing there, like something good to eat is going to magically appear. Hopefully I can break him of this very soon . . . otherwise everything in the fridge will go bad, before he actually decides what he REALLY wants.




And here's another quick LOAD layout for the 18th!

February 17, 2009

I have sick children again . . . Bayleigh has a cold, Eli has a fever . . .



and mommy is running pretty low on sleep and I believe a sore throat has snuck up on me.




At least Eli has found some form of comfort . . . along with Motrin. I just took a few myself, and am feeling a slight bit better.

Even through feeling cruddy . . . I still came up with a layout for the L.O.A.D. challenge. So I'm thinking I really should start penciling in a scrapbook page regularly after this is all over . . . maybe not one a day, but at least 4 a week or something like that!

February 16, 2009

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning. (*Wish I could make those power lines disappear . . .)



Elvis found him a nice quiet spot to soak up a few rays . . .




and I cleaned like a crazy woman most of the day, after I dropped Bayleigh off at school. I did manage to squeeze my layout in for day 16 of the LOAD challenge, though. Quick, easy and to the point . . . or should I say dot!

February 15, 2009

After Bible study last night, I came home to a sick little girl. A low temp, a cough and generally not feeling good.


As for myself, I've been suffering from some weird type of virus . . . or at least that's what my hubby thinks it is. Several blisters in my mouth that make it REALLY painful to eat, drink or brush my teeth. And this morning I felt like someone had ran over me with a steamroller.




So we decided it would be best to skip church, and just stay home and recouperate. We all took naps, and I printed out several dot-to-dots for Bayleigh to do. This seems to be her newest "favorite" thing to do.

February 14, 2009

Had a wonderful Valentine's Day, even though hubby had to work.

Chocolates, and cards all around . . . not to mention a little scrapbooking time for mommy. What could be better than chocolates and scrapbooking?!

February 13, 2009

I'll start this post off with the good stuff . . . like this fun layout for the 12 of 12 Challenge. I'm SO loving this challenge, as I rarely scrapbook this many photos at a time on a layout, not to mention I used it for my L.O.A.D. page today . . .

I crammed my whole to-do list into a few hours this morning, just so I could go to Bayleigh's Valentine's party at school. (She BEGGED me to come, before she hopped on the bus this morning.) The party went pretty well . . . lots of treats . . . a movie . . .

and Eli even got to participate!

When it was time to go, though, things really went downhill fast. Bayleigh decided to throw a MAJOR hissy, because she wanted to ride the bus home with grandma instead of going home with me. But I'd already told my mom that she was going home with me, so we really didn't have much of an option at that point. She dug in her heels, screamed and yelled, sobbed like she was dying, and embarrassed me to no end. Thankfully my friend Nicole was there and she helped me with Eli, while I literally drug Bayleigh to the car and wrestled her into the car seat. She kicked the back of my seat and screamed at me all the way home. Then she was strictly disciplined and I made her lay down and take a nap.

She's gonna miss out on those play dates every couple of days after school, for a while. Maybe someday she'll learn to control that little temper of hers . . .

Here's hoping!

February 12, 2009

It seems like it's always a struggle to get Bayleigh up and around for school each morning. We make it out of bed, down the stairs and straight to the couch . . .


and I don't know what's up with Eli and his facination with the dryer lately . . .




maybe I just need to get him outside a little more.



Thankfully it didn't rain today and we got to spend quite a bit of time outside. Another day with lots of photos to weed through.


Thank heavens I'm starting the Library of Memories class today!