tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32240023637435594232024-03-05T04:23:20.530-05:00Decomom's DallianceDecomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-90711857426647647312013-11-12T13:22:00.003-05:002013-11-12T13:22:40.963-05:00Long time comingWell, well, well. My blog. My journal. Good afternoon sir. Today, is November 12, 2013. 11.12.13. Special numbers call for a special action - so a blog post it is. When last we met, my big guy was done with kindergarten and I thought that that was something! Now, I have a 3rd grader, a kinder and a 2 year old toddler. To say that life has been busy is an understatement. Let's just pretend that we're all caught up, shall we?<br />
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It snowed last night. And my Facebook page blew up with status updates about it. Like, maybe it was a surprise or something. In Michigan, almost mid-November? Ooohhkaayy. I'm determined to be optimistic about it. To appreciate the change in the monotony, the delightful novelty of it. I picked up Brendan from school today and he was so excited about the tiny dusting of snow and the few frozen puddles of ice. He said that he LOVES winter and couldn't wait to get home and go play in the backyard! What a fantastic attitude. I can learn so much from him. So, we got on our snow boots and went outside for an hour. Colin too. I cleaned up the yard a little while they gloried in the teeny amount of snow that they could find in the little shady spots of the yard. And I made Brendan promise to drag me outside every single day of winter! <br />
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Declan came home from school yesterday and said that he was confused about what to be when he grows up. I told him that, since he is in third grade, that there is no rush. He said that he felt a calling to be a father, a scientist AND a priest (be still my heart). I told him, again, that he doesn't need to decide now. To just continue to pray and to answer the calling that he hears in his heart when the time comes. That didn't satisfy him because, apparently, St. Therese decided to be a nun when she was in third grade. Bless his heart. He identifies with a saint! No one ever said that he was unambitious! (not just a priest, he wants to be a SAINT!) <br />
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Well, I better go. My two littles are trying to play a board game without me. I suspect the quiet means they are just breaking it and scattering the pieces. *sigh*<br />
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<br />Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-68557166253448161512011-06-07T17:13:00.000-04:002011-06-07T17:13:33.348-04:00Endings...and new beginnings...Today is June 7th, 2011. Today, my big guy graduated from Kindergarten. Next year, he will officially be a "grader" and will be in school all day. He will leave my house before 8am and not be home until 3pm. He will bring his lunch to school. He will eat his lunch with his friends and tell THEM all about his morning and share with THEM all the amazing ideas and stories dancing around in his head. I will miss him. <br />
<br />
My little guy will start pre-school in the fall. A baby no more. He turned three a week ago. He is potty-trained (finally). But I will no longer be the center of his universe. His teachers will inspire his imagination and feed his confidence. His friends will excite him and he will start to beg for playdates (like his brother).<br />
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We bought bunk beds and are going to move the boys into a shared bedroom this summer. <br />
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Which leads me to the next big thing in our lives: the baby growing in my body. I am pregnant again and due at the end of September. We will have a tiny baby in the family again. Someone new to love and to share our lives with. It is amazing. An unexpected blessing. I am joyous about the arrival of this new baby but now I really know how quickly it will all go by. Every milestone that Declan and Brendan hit <strong><em>seems</em></strong> to come rushing at me like a comet - so fast, so unexpected...even though it's coming is as regular as the ticking of a clock. <strong> Kids grow. That's what they do. </strong>And parents are stuck in a weird time warp, just watching in shock as the time rushes by in a blur of color, laughter, tears and<em> those</em> moments.Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-25598250879296421942011-01-25T17:23:00.000-05:002011-01-25T17:23:35.399-05:00Dry for too long...Well, finally a blog post. My friend <a href="http://20birds.net/concealedstars/">Beth</a> passed away in October and I haven't had the heart to post here since then. But her daughter, <a href="http://www.mergelsbergs.blogspot.com/">Melinda</a> (yes, we share the same name) has generously agreed to read here and comment here if I wanted to blog again. And you know what? I do want to blog again. Beth once said that her blog was a place to record the life of her family, the good times, the memories that build up family and forge bonds. Akin to why we scrapbook... and so, I want to keep doing it!<br />
<br />
So what is new? I'm knee deep in potty-training my little guy, Brendan. He will probably be diaper-free in just a few short weeks...and I can't wait! My big guy, Declan went skiing for the first time last weekend - what a trooper! He took a 3 hour ski lesson and then had some lunch and hit the slopes with his big, high-school-ski-team cousin, Kevin. Kevin took my big guy up EVERY chair lift (except the red one) on<a href="http://www.shantycreek.com/"> Schuss Mountain </a> and then, heroically, skiied Declan DOWN the mountain...<br />
<br />
I am crocheting again. I took a little break after Christmas - I made my mother-in-law a shawl and it took a l-o-o-n-g tome so I was not anxious to pick up my hooks again. But I just finished a hat for myself and I am starting a baby blanket for a friend who is having a baby in April. <br />
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Ok - what else? I've joined the debate about dropping cable TV and watching shows from Netflix, Hulu and iTunes. Could save a couple of bucks and lesson our addiction to television. And when I say "our", I mean mine. Not my husband's or my kids'. My kids each get to watch one TV show per day. After they go to bed, I find myself on the couch for TWO PLUS hours, watching mindless nonsense when I could be crafting, scrapbooking, crocheting, blogging, cooking, working out, etc. <br />
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I have lots more to say, but I'm just happy to be getting my feet wet again. They've been dry for too long.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wQBjmuq7PIqMheFgZNMyIpDDEmmvFfRvNh9qoVaZ3EKPcr18Az7c9tKRpIMln_rCWl6d2ZghWzLkHjt2Y67RHIPCoZfi2rb3CrhXpNaJjPphLC7sIMZqYpHaD1Nqk_qcH6XrcZb3bm4x/s1600/Awesome+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wQBjmuq7PIqMheFgZNMyIpDDEmmvFfRvNh9qoVaZ3EKPcr18Az7c9tKRpIMln_rCWl6d2ZghWzLkHjt2Y67RHIPCoZfi2rb3CrhXpNaJjPphLC7sIMZqYpHaD1Nqk_qcH6XrcZb3bm4x/s320/Awesome+shot.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kevin takes Declan down the mountain</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidSBWcPodZDVpvZcprlK5Ez9Yc1RYxkOakXr8x5mkhfrpenY3sAFz_R5n3O4YXP7K4n4szj5-JkPFLm3TCrvNJQLfPP3CmCwM0o8WJiNo6MDKc4lVaTP7mw5LqWyIUyUPWgxzYtFxlOJI7/s1600/me%252C+bren+and+kevin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidSBWcPodZDVpvZcprlK5Ez9Yc1RYxkOakXr8x5mkhfrpenY3sAFz_R5n3O4YXP7K4n4szj5-JkPFLm3TCrvNJQLfPP3CmCwM0o8WJiNo6MDKc4lVaTP7mw5LqWyIUyUPWgxzYtFxlOJI7/s320/me%252C+bren+and+kevin.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Brendan with Kevin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQPd9L1_kBxklkJT3ORd1O9_Nh8MBmcFnjoPlUF6zJ3AEjsh_Hiaq0HaeObY-Nb3Hs0-rqFD2fjoG3tiGQdD1XiH7YReguPXpiW08O3nzyjG_h6gdKtD_NHjJuEkyQXlKaQzZcdPNvFaX/s1600/cool+boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQPd9L1_kBxklkJT3ORd1O9_Nh8MBmcFnjoPlUF6zJ3AEjsh_Hiaq0HaeObY-Nb3Hs0-rqFD2fjoG3tiGQdD1XiH7YReguPXpiW08O3nzyjG_h6gdKtD_NHjJuEkyQXlKaQzZcdPNvFaX/s320/cool+boy.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool kid Declan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lnJswXE9-C7HRD8felkFOeZbwbk-5zs29HWZNtV-WuLWOVcyk_ve-CtHfaEpnz_DLPa_ZcwLWLx_FKdgldlG0P5os-gV27R0RwfXczUMiCshyphenhyphensyjp_6sV5B9UouxpofLGsRmzQ-DgIuA/s1600/Brian+skis%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lnJswXE9-C7HRD8felkFOeZbwbk-5zs29HWZNtV-WuLWOVcyk_ve-CtHfaEpnz_DLPa_ZcwLWLx_FKdgldlG0P5os-gV27R0RwfXczUMiCshyphenhyphensyjp_6sV5B9UouxpofLGsRmzQ-DgIuA/s320/Brian+skis%2521.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian skis for the very first time!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-74809227991069060872010-08-23T12:01:00.002-04:002010-08-23T13:50:22.633-04:00Honey Do ListWell, honey, here it is. The to-do list that has been in my head but now is on "paper" (so to speak). Home improvement is on my mind here. I'm itching to make some nice changes to our little nest. So, let's start at the beginning, shall we?<br />
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1. Back door to the nook - new molding under door and paint door <br />
2. Shelves or a towel rack or some other thing to hide the 2-3 inches between the kitchen cabinet and the landing (you know what I am talking about - the mess is currently DUCT - TAPED - yuck)<br />
3. Touch-up paint on all the moldings<br />
4. Ceiling in dining room needs to be repainted and I need the window frame to be repaired so it is not so crumbly and I don't have to worry about my blinds falling down (sounds pretty, doesn't it?)<br />
5. Remove baby gate between LR and DR. (will need to be painted there)<br />
6. Hang some sort of coat rack behind front door or on the back of the closet door so people can have a place to put coats as they come in to visit<br />
7. New rug for wiping feet when you enter vestibule<br />
8. Get rid of PC in living room and do something with that area<br />
9. New couch (say no more)<br />
10. Have I mentioned the living room wall and window yet? <br />
11. And of course that means we need a new roof....<br />
12. New curtains in living room<br />
13. New lamps in living room (maybe wall sconces???)<br />
14. New towel rack in bathroom<br />
15. Fix grout around tub<br />
16. New curtain rod for Declan's room<br />
17. Hang curtain rods in our bedroom<br />
18. New curtains in our room<br />
19. Paint laundry room<br />
20. Organize and finish basement<br />
21. Scrapbook organization (new desk, shelves, etc)<br />
22. Hang shelves in Brendan's room<br />
23. Paint kitchen cabinets (that's a big one, but I think it will make the biggest impact)<br />
24. Re-upholster and paint the purple chair<br />
25. New island/cart thing for kitchen<br />
26. New burner drip pans for stove<br />
27. New phone in kitchen (one that hangs up on the wall)<br />
28. <br />
Lots to do honey, so let's make a plan!Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-38258378733723157002010-08-04T16:41:00.000-04:002010-08-04T16:41:56.145-04:00Things I'm into lately...It's been a busy summer. I feel sad that there are only a few weeks left before Declan goes back to school. We have spent many many days and evenings at our community pool. Declan jumps off the diving board and sort of muscles his way back to the edge of the pool. He does an underwater doggy paddle that has some major kick. He also likes to dive down to the bottom of the deep end (10.5 feet is his record) to retrieve diving weights. Much fun and much worry for his mama! Because of all this, we have him in swimming lessons at our pool. He is learning to float on his back and some basic swimming strokes (which he learned in the winter at his indoor swim classes but has since forgotten). Brendan most enjoys spending time with his mama - to Brian's disappointment. We have to remind him each evening that he has to take turns with Declan. Brendan loves to play in the fountains and sprayers in the shallow end of our pool. He is also very intrigued with making water footprints on the deck.<br />
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I'm also finding myself sewing. On my machine. It's crazy and fun. And frustrating (especially since I can't find my manual and am often googling things like "how to replace a broken needle on your sewing machine" or "feed dogs not working"). But thanks to google, I can now wind bobbins, replace broken needles, change feet, adjust tension, load bobbins, thread the needle and even backstitch! My quilt is almost done. I need to replace the needle (again) and can't do that until I've made another trip to JoAnn. It is cute. Not perfect or heirloom, but cute. And Brendan adores it. The fabrics have trucks and diggers printed on them. His favorite things! I will get a picture up as soon as it is finished.<br />
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I am packing and planning our camping trip next week. It should be...let's say, interesting. We pitched the tent in the backyard last week and gave it a trial run with the boys and Declan stayed up past 11pm and Brendan never did fall asleep, so he and I ended up back in the house. Now, whenever I mention camping to Brendan, he says "but I sleep in my crib". I'll let you know how it goes. We are headed "up north" as we say here in Michigan. People from other places say things like "at the lake" or plain old "camping" but if you are from Michigan, you go "up north". We'll be camping at Aloha State Park in Cheboygan, Michigan. Just a few miles from the Upper Peninsula. We visited my uncle there in May and now we will be camping just a 1/2 mile down the road from his home. My parents and my cousins are coming up to visit too. It should be really fun. <br />
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And I'm finishing up a couple of lap trays and crayon holders for the boys to have in the car. It's a four hour car ride and experience tells us that it will not be pleasant. I'm going to do my best with the boredom busters, but I'm prepared to just suck it up. Here's what the crayon holder should look like when it's done (mine are with different colors): I found the <a href="http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/12/18/felt-crayon-holder/">tutorial</a> at Skip to My Lou a wonderful blog! (the picture is of her finished product) <br />
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The lap tray that I am making is inspired by this one (see pic below) that I found <a href="http://mermag.blogspot.com/">here:</a> (another adorable blog)<br />
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But mine is turning out to be more like a white board hot glued to a pillow case with some felt pockets sewn on the sides. I will post pictures of all my crafty goodness soon. Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-54888877369748434592010-07-12T16:28:00.000-04:002010-07-12T16:28:00.268-04:00THE purseHave I mentioned how much I love to crochet lately? Well a couple of weeks ago, I got a book from the library - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-Bitch-Crochet-Happy-Hooker/dp/0761139850">Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet</a>. There is a pattern in there for a little purse. So, I grabbed some yarn that I had purchased on sale at JoAnn and started in on it. I wasn't 100% sure that it would turn out ok, but I was determined to master rectangular/square crochet shapes (circles are more my style). I LOVED how it turned out soo much that I wanted to use it every day without risk of losing all my things (darn crochet is so HOLEY). So, I found a <a href="http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2008/1/tutorial-sew-lining-for-crocheted-bag.aspx">tutorial</a> online to line the purse. (I got to use my sewing machine! Yay!) I happened to have some <a href="http://www.hawthornethreads.com/fabric/designer/michael_miller_house_designer/happy_jewel_tones/zoology_in_black">fabric</a> with the same shade of red in it. I whipped up a little matching flower (my fave thing to crochet) and VOILA! and PRESTO! A purse I adore! Of course, it is too small really. Sooo, I need to find a pattern I love for a BIGGER crocheted purse!!!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjefvTdrlf3iavsvOsBY0e0t_gBidCO3LqoEzNEX7fPq5KhT_2IfcW1ras-X_aMqJcjKVFUd6GWaAlHkGEyuMeAZGGK8H0uv9Mm5j23VhSGmvdKRQLegQzzBHi0Jy6vK_Xk3U45I1dY6d/s1600/Purse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjefvTdrlf3iavsvOsBY0e0t_gBidCO3LqoEzNEX7fPq5KhT_2IfcW1ras-X_aMqJcjKVFUd6GWaAlHkGEyuMeAZGGK8H0uv9Mm5j23VhSGmvdKRQLegQzzBHi0Jy6vK_Xk3U45I1dY6d/s320/Purse.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvrGEuNTySmwlwzgeEfuK4YLuagOcAOLyxOkc6fn59k_y7gD4FFFtN90HBoNqRxAk9zGHIEEfBVL_oXlgq3nW5dF845gX49ICCzantIgpUiOUjF4oneRQBrlgB2UYP-UANmHmsElLMkDA/s1600/Purse_flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvrGEuNTySmwlwzgeEfuK4YLuagOcAOLyxOkc6fn59k_y7gD4FFFtN90HBoNqRxAk9zGHIEEfBVL_oXlgq3nW5dF845gX49ICCzantIgpUiOUjF4oneRQBrlgB2UYP-UANmHmsElLMkDA/s320/Purse_flower.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-hfSBMiq7XrOAPac9WNlgLKOrjKY4n_XFn6CKdRz4YiGZZ0S6HnhnRmjEfldCrK-ZYqLwJNrwCBc70UOYdpOCPLzba0LVIEG_ezgplE86tE2zLO_dqVjxsVKO5d94XzlOpbwYMJ_cuM8/s1600/Purse_lining.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-hfSBMiq7XrOAPac9WNlgLKOrjKY4n_XFn6CKdRz4YiGZZ0S6HnhnRmjEfldCrK-ZYqLwJNrwCBc70UOYdpOCPLzba0LVIEG_ezgplE86tE2zLO_dqVjxsVKO5d94XzlOpbwYMJ_cuM8/s320/Purse_lining.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ddyiStD9RFAbA8HEKHC2o5gMmhsIejgkOtEA0cLMt3hrYcZCKHTxgAG-62H3IrC9wrvOOWCPvggGht-PGqpg5hvgUT-D6vnPNmrXpBzmqAnI1xFZq7Ar43yIigpSun9c4PVAbJpcJjw7/s1600/purse_piano2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ddyiStD9RFAbA8HEKHC2o5gMmhsIejgkOtEA0cLMt3hrYcZCKHTxgAG-62H3IrC9wrvOOWCPvggGht-PGqpg5hvgUT-D6vnPNmrXpBzmqAnI1xFZq7Ar43yIigpSun9c4PVAbJpcJjw7/s320/purse_piano2.JPG" /></a></div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-53360169788250906242010-06-26T00:06:00.000-04:002010-06-26T00:06:09.524-04:00Moose Hockey!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_laFzLKI7Mk1hywL9ic26Oki9Toc3G4XrpxFPDefCka1XDALP9KrRAsD8tRw366dknitQkAaKmZfL-2NHvgIs9dDHcZ9qe3hBROuRRirVpQlYBPuSza_BQBO3xSDS6yX8gj4PVJkwCRrO/s1600/2010+Jun+25+075.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_laFzLKI7Mk1hywL9ic26Oki9Toc3G4XrpxFPDefCka1XDALP9KrRAsD8tRw366dknitQkAaKmZfL-2NHvgIs9dDHcZ9qe3hBROuRRirVpQlYBPuSza_BQBO3xSDS6yX8gj4PVJkwCRrO/s320/2010+Jun+25+075.jpg" /></a></div><br />
My mailbox had the sweetest little surprise in it today - two Moose Hockey t-shirts for my little guys and they were from Beth! The boys LOVE them! The little moose hat flips open to reveal that the moose is EATING the puck! It cracks Declan up! <br />
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And me, I'm so honored to have a good friend like Beth. Thank you Beth!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTa1zKX9CCVAjzWHisNEO5fhlUg-lU4vk6C4civY1eI0ePeTiixRM8micg4m_obmt2WMSdO967oqb7w4y_Ih8Ye7JsChLjoGMLvPp1zhn5Xdo-dxRDFCJ21L1754Ovdo_l7mw-tefEAFJW/s1600/2010+Jun+25+077.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTa1zKX9CCVAjzWHisNEO5fhlUg-lU4vk6C4civY1eI0ePeTiixRM8micg4m_obmt2WMSdO967oqb7w4y_Ih8Ye7JsChLjoGMLvPp1zhn5Xdo-dxRDFCJ21L1754Ovdo_l7mw-tefEAFJW/s320/2010+Jun+25+077.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_DWCMhRoliWS-N0GLRUAO-d8EvK_kde2IYiK02eBT8NLF93mj64Jrq1MjruqmSAGto8Am-BMtSn_2hM8RodH4vIqVU5nvAoLGs-cjDCa86sIXtJSwY6fmMhJ7fkVUp75iE7_3-6H6iDa/s1600/2010+Jun+25+076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_DWCMhRoliWS-N0GLRUAO-d8EvK_kde2IYiK02eBT8NLF93mj64Jrq1MjruqmSAGto8Am-BMtSn_2hM8RodH4vIqVU5nvAoLGs-cjDCa86sIXtJSwY6fmMhJ7fkVUp75iE7_3-6H6iDa/s320/2010+Jun+25+076.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(They were saying Thank You Beth!)</div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-23682390698670751412010-06-21T16:08:00.000-04:002010-06-21T16:08:29.056-04:00Blatant attempt to win a giveaway - Silhouette Die Cutting MachineI've been dreaming about the <a href="http://www.silhouettemachine.com/whatCanItDo.aspx">Silhouette Digital Die Cutting Machine </a>for a couple of years now - at least I think it's been a couple of years...I can remember when I bought my Sizzix (used on eBay) and I dreamt about the Silhouette. If I could have afforded it, I would have snapped it up over the Cricut in a heartbeat. With the Silhouette, you don't need to buy cartridges to die-cut shapes! You can use FONTS and DINGBAT fonts (for F-R-E-E!!!)! And they have lovely designs to <a href="http://www.qksilhouette.com/digitalDesigns.aspx?q=flowers">download</a> for only $0.99 each (a BARGAIN). <br />
Cutting to the chase, the lovely blog site, <a href="http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/06/its-time-huge-giveaway-worth-over-300.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FOivM+%28Tatertots+and+Jello%29">Tatertots and Jello</a> is hosting a giveaway for one of these puppies and I want one! So I'm blogging about it in hopes of increasing my chances! Wish me luck!Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-46961914005807218872010-06-07T18:15:00.001-04:002010-06-07T18:15:47.010-04:00Curse you, Martha Stewart and the end of napsI am exhaused. It is about 6pm and I have spent the better part of my day in my teeny, tiny orange kitchen. The boys and I wandered up to the corner store this morning for dish soap and I picked up the June 2010 Martha Stewart Living magazine - Uh Oh! Every single flipping recipe in that magazine looked good to me. So in my infinte wisdom and using my exemplary time-planning skills, I decided to make not ONE, not TWO, but <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: purple; font-size: large;"><strong>THREE</strong></span> of those beautiful, gorgeous, inspiring, labor-intensive Martha-worthy recipes for dinner tonight! (um, hello insanity, Melinda would like to visit today) So without further ado, here are the time-stealing, yet tasty recipes that tempted me so:<br />
1. Carmelized Onion dip with vegetables ("Active time 45 min, total time 2 hrs, 15 min" yeeaah, I didn't notice the little time estimates until AFTER I had started) {sorry, no linky, apparently this recipe is only available in the actual magazine}<br />
2. <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/herbed-flatbread">Herbed flatbread</a> (<strike>Active time: 30 min</strike>, total time 2 hrs - strike that first bit, active time was at LEAST an hour, unless you have your own personal sous chef rolling out the dough to near paper thinness FOR you!)<br />
3. <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/penne-frittata-with-basil-and-ricotta">Penne Frittata with basil and ricotta</a> (Active time: 15 min, total time: 30 min, yeah right Martha, I'm sure prep time in the Martha Stewart kitchen was only 15 minutes, but that was probably after one of your minions gathered the necessary ingredients and equipment FOR you !) I must confess, that I only sort of followed the recipe, as in I made a frittata with potatoes instead of penne pasta and onions instead of basil and cheddar cheese instead of ricotta...<br />
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I'm not saying that dinner wasn't delicious, and fabulous and deserving of some quality time in a glossy magazine, because it was. I'm just saying that my five year old hated the frittata ("it tastes like stale waffles to me, mom", and it soo DID NOT, it was yummo X 2, if I do say so myself!), my two year old <strong>only</strong> wanted to eat the flatbread ("I don't HAVE to" and "I don't LIKE it" were repeated throughout the entire meal) and my husband is satisfied when I make any food of any kind at any temperature, the man just likes to eat. period. He would have been just as pleased with a slab of meat and boiled potatoes. So, although<strong><span style="color: blue;"> I</span></strong> loved the meal, pay-off wise, the prep was just too time consuming and labor intensive for this stay-at-home mama with two energetice little boys. To top it off, Brendan has decided that THIS is the week that he will be giving up naps, so I had BOTH boys demanding (and deserving) attention while I tried to piece this meal together. It is day three of no-nap-dom and it's a serious bummer. (My Declan also gave up naps at age two, but I had hope, nay prayed, that B would keep napping for at least one more year.) *sighs*<br />
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Ok, off to wash the mountain of dishes in the kitchen, yay me. (Just kidding, Brian offered to wash them, but I think he deserves a little one-on-one time with his boyz)Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-25233574277518484242010-05-31T23:39:00.000-04:002010-06-01T02:39:08.613-04:00.Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-3037122599320124512010-05-31T07:44:00.001-04:002010-05-31T07:45:16.928-04:00May 2010 PhotosHere are some photos from May. We were busy! (Click on the slideshow to view it full screen, then click "Show Info" in the right hand corner to see the captions)<br />
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So, remember the felt flower from my last post (uh, a month ago, I think)? Well, I actually USED it in another craft, once more inspired by none other than <a href="http://www.lollychops.com/lollychops/">LollyChops</a>! She made her mom <a href="http://www.lollychops.com/lollychops/2010/05/felt-flower-wreath.html">this killer wreath</a>, and it inspired me to attempt to make one for MY mom for Mother's Day. I did it! (almost). I didn't quite make enough flowers to cover the entire wreath, but I'm super happy with the result. I crocheted the wreath cover (and that took more time than it probably should have because I'm quite good at crocheting flowers and round things, but when I start trying to do straight, row-type things, I mess up because I hate counting the stitches) and then I made some felt and fabric flowers (ala Lolly from <a href="http://www.lollychops.com/lollychops/2010/03/wall-flowers-multicolored-thursday.html">Wallflowers Week</a>) to glue to the wreath. It's impossibly bright and very pretty in a girly-girly kind of way. I love it! AND, so does my mom! :) <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpF0HLwHpRQWdDQo6OVObxVOQ2cUocZMu2otMC5xyuw5omgq6qgFLpmQFChBVbhjdKHt87JgTBUJ0Fxq7JfHujF4JqNoBS5ePwgsxckNYDHRiVimT6ZBcoPBdlCWAiGt4j2uWob1-_vOf/s1600/2010+May+09+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpF0HLwHpRQWdDQo6OVObxVOQ2cUocZMu2otMC5xyuw5omgq6qgFLpmQFChBVbhjdKHt87JgTBUJ0Fxq7JfHujF4JqNoBS5ePwgsxckNYDHRiVimT6ZBcoPBdlCWAiGt4j2uWob1-_vOf/s320/2010+May+09+005.jpg" width="320" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBA1XLmx8KfVpJ_xFx9mhMLrI3MLmY0ndB5WzppaSPwViaUBKGOAlN9mY14dKTRMVtpqq5o7UAyANgzM4bBQD1n_Dv5u6hPNGXdx0fGS_-4J0n58k9rB7Ri6APete5k-4A0orPssi0kTB/s1600/2010+May+09+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBA1XLmx8KfVpJ_xFx9mhMLrI3MLmY0ndB5WzppaSPwViaUBKGOAlN9mY14dKTRMVtpqq5o7UAyANgzM4bBQD1n_Dv5u6hPNGXdx0fGS_-4J0n58k9rB7Ri6APete5k-4A0orPssi0kTB/s320/2010+May+09+003.jpg" width="213" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDIoaOGlQrdwyN6Eolig_boVV-kDf5qdU17X6fZrDKglB5_86_UX3Q_C6aQFGmMJdIJzpVI3-Ha-MeC9qzrPn9ZZum4L4FlRzeaz2LrdS2HA8bEBVlldULfgPudttROo6QBfMA9n1zzJ6/s1600/2010+May+09+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDIoaOGlQrdwyN6Eolig_boVV-kDf5qdU17X6fZrDKglB5_86_UX3Q_C6aQFGmMJdIJzpVI3-Ha-MeC9qzrPn9ZZum4L4FlRzeaz2LrdS2HA8bEBVlldULfgPudttROo6QBfMA9n1zzJ6/s320/2010+May+09+011.jpg" width="320" wt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSVI9TjrpWm2yoscaqDHi2P5NsoHCikAohwuFVFrrMXlidxpBEp6bLE8OtDkwgvGU8if27Rdbhk2X5BF9t03sfqx2ObpZ00aAEa2xqHCPpx7G80ZoRc5ntNz4HrhRs97QbhMQaxwaKD-c/s1600/2010+May+09+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBSVI9TjrpWm2yoscaqDHi2P5NsoHCikAohwuFVFrrMXlidxpBEp6bLE8OtDkwgvGU8if27Rdbhk2X5BF9t03sfqx2ObpZ00aAEa2xqHCPpx7G80ZoRc5ntNz4HrhRs97QbhMQaxwaKD-c/s320/2010+May+09+006.jpg" width="320" wt="true" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK04f6EQ2ahRxRrUfT0EvVeuiIGttLkySowx0NB7NFPHC4XS-koU7ynJ7akXtji0Cg0KVgAW8oc0ETXeytytfhzhcWmSRjIm9pEMtjEHtMEMqXHDuNlXNoDcnz4iCYllRpvD2a2cpRC0tG/s1600/2010+May+09+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK04f6EQ2ahRxRrUfT0EvVeuiIGttLkySowx0NB7NFPHC4XS-koU7ynJ7akXtji0Cg0KVgAW8oc0ETXeytytfhzhcWmSRjIm9pEMtjEHtMEMqXHDuNlXNoDcnz4iCYllRpvD2a2cpRC0tG/s320/2010+May+09+008.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">For Mother's Day, we went to my grandma's house, which was soo wonderful. I mean, how cool is it that my grandma is 94 (almost 95) and STILL living at her own house?!? Plus, my own sweet mom came. AND, there was Uncle Conrad, Uncle Dan and his girlfriend Mary Jo, my dad (of course), Aunt Merrie and her four kids plus Uncle Frank! We all brought food and my grandma made strawberry shortcake (from scratch!!!) It was a delicious buffet dinner, a beautiful day, and a memorable Mother's Day. My boys got to play outside, walk down to the lake looking for frogs (too cold, brrr), play in the old horse meadow and generally have a blast outside almost all day. Pics from the day: (And for some reason, no pics of any of the moms...hmmm, that's really odd...) The girls are my cousins, Elaine and Emilie. The guys are Brendan, Declan, Brian and my dad.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0nyhn5Smg2ni1v18zdWLwTK95gqKF0GsM_E6QAdfiZa03FfywFS0r-PvvHZR6xzs26ShyphenhyphenTp4jN08swbBzRmCQuEIJOx3TUCsKmFW6vm7pEM-l139ptmT6_X0UkJF8gga3XKn48o2OVfln/s1600/MothersDay2010-2-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0nyhn5Smg2ni1v18zdWLwTK95gqKF0GsM_E6QAdfiZa03FfywFS0r-PvvHZR6xzs26ShyphenhyphenTp4jN08swbBzRmCQuEIJOx3TUCsKmFW6vm7pEM-l139ptmT6_X0UkJF8gga3XKn48o2OVfln/s320/MothersDay2010-2-1.jpg" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oBFSzJ0fM2_rpzU3VP-BRIN0tIL6N6oadgrZ43qPlVnVZX9JObnsdqkmN6b30vQc3AD_WsE7aSm7B_haueGT-kfA4ylpkeQG5eqZ17JyjZZc_kzPAMOg34qZfqCVR-bw5XQq85h_XxPq/s1600/MothersDay2010-3-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oBFSzJ0fM2_rpzU3VP-BRIN0tIL6N6oadgrZ43qPlVnVZX9JObnsdqkmN6b30vQc3AD_WsE7aSm7B_haueGT-kfA4ylpkeQG5eqZ17JyjZZc_kzPAMOg34qZfqCVR-bw5XQq85h_XxPq/s320/MothersDay2010-3-1.jpg" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0DTiItvULqk2Hg6TmCL9xxfikhZmClTydI7UFKUpLNWPL_XE8uNctmnk9OmqTUrCi74kYd1A4fOVyL515ZOG0kP6VQLC-b_om7h4W6tMuwe8yhPFKsT-CBMjPe1vgS8Rb91pRYJFlIn2R/s1600/MothersDay2010-4-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0DTiItvULqk2Hg6TmCL9xxfikhZmClTydI7UFKUpLNWPL_XE8uNctmnk9OmqTUrCi74kYd1A4fOVyL515ZOG0kP6VQLC-b_om7h4W6tMuwe8yhPFKsT-CBMjPe1vgS8Rb91pRYJFlIn2R/s320/MothersDay2010-4-1.jpg" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bqGH0tEGzG7jxm68nyHUiE2qzPfOvLNXoknhUxclaF7fIh4zugSRBC15QOr36qV2zmA1eJvquD1UZsKrytYjrMhMmSCg7eqYYshRH1PkekaA140wL703Xm3dCd5GaMiM5HsKujz9ec1G/s1600/MothersDay2010-5-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2bqGH0tEGzG7jxm68nyHUiE2qzPfOvLNXoknhUxclaF7fIh4zugSRBC15QOr36qV2zmA1eJvquD1UZsKrytYjrMhMmSCg7eqYYshRH1PkekaA140wL703Xm3dCd5GaMiM5HsKujz9ec1G/s320/MothersDay2010-5-1.jpg" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkCtuuxnDJJ-EHcKNj0iUscgQlmFUq_FkznShsCpNiht3MiEsDNq1cBJON_8b9asSg4akTvoExLlIxqqteIQFUWnL1FWqojPtuuJLL-4967S0_EJ4L4GUoaRMOGa_i-fsnGJ7HtLh9tML/s1600/MothersDay2010-6-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkCtuuxnDJJ-EHcKNj0iUscgQlmFUq_FkznShsCpNiht3MiEsDNq1cBJON_8b9asSg4akTvoExLlIxqqteIQFUWnL1FWqojPtuuJLL-4967S0_EJ4L4GUoaRMOGa_i-fsnGJ7HtLh9tML/s320/MothersDay2010-6-1.jpg" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8FtfmrHhBXyLzg00E77a_5fU700WYt4zs0IarYKS_Vb8tWM79m9ZwjsP8INmhyVjvMVtBFrjHaY0JekxYUD49ntULVpm3pTrKAhl-ZdCGYvEjTUVyulkQk9wY68BRWI-AaraQYd7zIiu/s1600/MothersDay2010-8-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8FtfmrHhBXyLzg00E77a_5fU700WYt4zs0IarYKS_Vb8tWM79m9ZwjsP8INmhyVjvMVtBFrjHaY0JekxYUD49ntULVpm3pTrKAhl-ZdCGYvEjTUVyulkQk9wY68BRWI-AaraQYd7zIiu/s320/MothersDay2010-8-1.jpg" wt="true" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKWquqslhAHzWd9w1Fn1oO4SrrwCJ01U3yDlwPBqRJZ7Hfu_sUkDo0RtXkwAflLOWrYG3eqzA6sxpPyct1MkmXs-psi44ezgRnRH4ORuBjQcPL89O3Zqo5SOAD8U5263XLBHBLXBxAMGv/s1600/MothersDay2010-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMKWquqslhAHzWd9w1Fn1oO4SrrwCJ01U3yDlwPBqRJZ7Hfu_sUkDo0RtXkwAflLOWrYG3eqzA6sxpPyct1MkmXs-psi44ezgRnRH4ORuBjQcPL89O3Zqo5SOAD8U5263XLBHBLXBxAMGv/s320/MothersDay2010-9.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div></div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-34939783861672065452010-04-30T18:53:00.003-04:002010-04-30T19:05:17.394-04:00Felt flower fun!I discovered <a href="http://www.lollychops.com/">LollyChops</a> yesterday! She has a really fun blog with loads of great projects, tutorials, downloads, etcetera, etcetera...<br /><br />Miss LollyChops had a wonderful series called <a href="http://www.lollychops.com/lollychops/2010/03/wall-flowers-week-too-much-teal-tuesday.html">Wallflowers</a> where she crafted different kinds of flowers and framed them - the whole series looks delightful, but I was immediately drawn to the crochet flowers (of COURSE). I'm going to be whipping up some of those roses pronto! I also LOVED the felt flower she showed. So I made one. And here it is.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfpK4L9tjQiGt1B6EXp-k_7puFvBzs74WFDZ2UggCqZsoly05ZGKyMBqTEcaD5BpgpWD-chGJ7cvsbn6OMWMNfxt54FUULUs88H946v0m9bDbPHD829mv_RfM71gXZr-fSCf8vnWdV3So/s1600/2010+Apr+30+007_edited-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466070187727026802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfpK4L9tjQiGt1B6EXp-k_7puFvBzs74WFDZ2UggCqZsoly05ZGKyMBqTEcaD5BpgpWD-chGJ7cvsbn6OMWMNfxt54FUULUs88H946v0m9bDbPHD829mv_RfM71gXZr-fSCf8vnWdV3So/s320/2010+Apr+30+007_edited-1.jpg" /></a> <div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>All I had was some (very cheap) kid's felt that I got at some superstore and I didn't have enough of one color to make the flower, so I mixed it up and used two different colors. Lolly's flower had a fancy beaded middle that I would like to learn how to do, so I asked her and she said she would do a tutorial on MONDAY! How cool is that?!?</div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-45458120551784014262010-04-21T21:21:00.006-04:002010-04-21T21:47:53.397-04:00More Beth's BeliefAnother layout for my friend <a href="http://20birds.net/concealedstars/">Beth</a>. Her radiation ends May12th and her chemo ends May 25th. The countdown begins in earnest! :)<br /><br />(Click the image to see larger. Click again to read the journaling)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2N79fLwTkKpgbYj8R-snVWV3w3Ixan52047NF3RJ8VjMSFKwI7n0gFrhslykqZ1igJ5s_irSGePBF9AVCJpYSG5_7-TQTIiDOHm0HmNdFTtQTMfb5YFtMutr523Ww5pNfopkckVyM4f_N/s1600/BethsBelief.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462766795248535986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2N79fLwTkKpgbYj8R-snVWV3w3Ixan52047NF3RJ8VjMSFKwI7n0gFrhslykqZ1igJ5s_irSGePBF9AVCJpYSG5_7-TQTIiDOHm0HmNdFTtQTMfb5YFtMutr523Ww5pNfopkckVyM4f_N/s320/BethsBelief.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Beth - I hope you like it!<br /><br />(Credits: Word art strips and girl with scarf doodle by Kate Hadfield from her Beth's Belief freebieBlue paper by Jacque (Pocketful of Sunshine at the Lilypad), Green hills by Nikki Beaudreau (of After Five Designs), Birdie Border, Rainbow RicRac, Yellow Sunshine, Plant in Dirt, Recycle Robot and Mini Butterflies by Heaven's Gate Designs (available at Scrapartist), Bird pulling rainbow from Scrapartist Art Journal collab kit, Brazen Borders from FPD, Used Michelle Godin's Rainbow paper for one of the borders, and Jacque's blue paper again for the other, Tiff Brady's little gnome, Sausan Designs Funky flowers and staples by Jessica Bolt)<br /><br />LOOK at all the credits - sheesh-a'loo!Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-8748245244689875322010-04-19T23:04:00.003-04:002010-04-19T23:12:22.174-04:00Julia<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxcg2DEJc_spTtA4eF1dD2pQpZcuCQXSRxVCPyGghCYMqOBFpANVUD4JzlD2N5ETKvJPD-JpMq-8oE81Pktqq40PoiFXTeEnx2dqEg6dr9PSTv4Qk7gFlvsZMMR7U2vJsxyYNoaG0orxC/s1600/Julia.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462051976516393154" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxcg2DEJc_spTtA4eF1dD2pQpZcuCQXSRxVCPyGghCYMqOBFpANVUD4JzlD2N5ETKvJPD-JpMq-8oE81Pktqq40PoiFXTeEnx2dqEg6dr9PSTv4Qk7gFlvsZMMR7U2vJsxyYNoaG0orxC/s320/Julia.jpg" /></a><br /><div>I finally met Julia last weekend. Julia is my friend Dana's baby and she turned one on April 1st - the same day that my Declan turned five! Dana is a friend from a parenting group that we joined when our first children (Andy for her, Declan for me) were just a few months old. We shared the joys and frustrations of first-time parenthood. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Julia is a beautiful little girl. She is petite and so sweet. I loved holding her and so did Brian. His hands are the ones holding her in the other picture. She looks so tiny in his hands! </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We were blessed to finally get together again with Brad, Dana, Andy and Julia (for the first time!) for Andy's fifth birthday party on Saturday and then again for Declan's fifth birthday party on Sunday. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I have loads more to post and write about, but for now, I must go to bed. Declan is sick and has to see the Dr. tomorrow. We are both NOT looking forward to it. </div><div> </div><div>(and the, um, credits - Quickpage by Heaven's Gate Designs at scrapartist)</div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-85808576914236515592010-04-09T15:51:00.004-04:002010-04-09T16:34:43.313-04:00Beth's BeliefMy friend, <a href="http://20birds.net/concealedstars/">Beth</a>, is fighting cancer right now and a wonderful, wonderful digital scrapbook designer named Kate Hadfield just made the most amazing "cancer kit" for Beth to scrap with. If you are a scrapbooker, you <strong><em>know</em></strong> how cathartic it can be to scrap your own stories. Your journey, your life, your joys and often your struggles can be found in your scrapbook pages. So, for Kate to give Beth the tools she needed to put down on paper some of this momentous experience, is just amazing. Cancer sucks, there is no way around it. But, Beth is an incredible person and she has the belief and strength to fight cancer <em><strong>and</strong></em> to scrapbook it! Go Beth!<br /><br />You can get the <a href="http://www.digiscrappingqueen.com/blog/">freebie here </a>and find more of Kate's designs at the <a href="http://www.the-lilypad.com/store/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=6">Lilypad</a>. Beth's Belief kit is such a gift! This is a good example of how people often amaze me with their kindness and generosity. It is very hard to be jaded when you see good works like this in action all around you. So, I couldn't wait to make something with the kit and here it is:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXlHw0SLmth5VWMULegQ69SrFXkX7ktvKXyi4Uyt-KXcIN4UiJe5ueyMfRW9d_YwTto9eysl2A5wXuvAMGu9xa6Mp0lrZbE53AgitDBGCAbXXmY3ezYiUb3bzGZ1rA9gCYi-rdQ1vjlJI/s1600/ForBeth.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5458231010903405314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXlHw0SLmth5VWMULegQ69SrFXkX7ktvKXyi4Uyt-KXcIN4UiJe5ueyMfRW9d_YwTto9eysl2A5wXuvAMGu9xa6Mp0lrZbE53AgitDBGCAbXXmY3ezYiUb3bzGZ1rA9gCYi-rdQ1vjlJI/s320/ForBeth.jpg" /></a><br /><p><em><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">(credits: Bird and hearts by Kate Hadfield from her Celebrate Love freebie. Word art and cancer-diva doodle by Kate Hadfield from the Beth's Belief freebie. BG paper from the Scrapartist Exclusive Art Journal kit. Thought bubble by Sausan Designs from her My Little Heart kit)</span></em></p><p></p>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-20701739628109759052010-03-25T23:27:00.007-04:002010-03-26T00:03:40.208-04:00March in Michigan (for Beth)(This post is for my friend <a href="http://20birds.net/concealedstars/">Beth</a> who just got home from being in the hospital for ten days - she is battling cancer and at the beginning of her radiation therapy. Please pray for her!)<br /><br />Well, it is almost the end of March and in typical Michigan style, we have seen temperatures range from below freezing (with snow) to just-about-shorts weather. Today was a gray, drizzly day and snow was in the forecast, but just missed us. I must say that I am happy. Snow in March (and April) just bums me out. I like the snow in "winter" but wish it would stay there - in winter.<br /><br />When the days were nice, my boys and I experienced a beautiful preview of summer. Brendan is big enough now to play fairly independently in the backyard. I'm no longer terrified that he will climb up (and promptly fall off) the play structure before I can reach him. He is learning what he can and cannot safely do - through trial and error, of course, but still, we're making progress. Although....he DID get clonked on the head TWICE by Declan's feet while Declan was swinging...hopefully, he finally learned that lesson. The only downside about being outside so much is trying to get the boys to come back IN! They are NOT interested.<br /><br /><br />In other news, Birthday Season has officially kicked off for us again. We go through a period in the winter with no birthdays and then BAM, it's birthday madness! We went to my cousin Sean's 20th birthday party and Brendan was soo very independent - it was a big switch from the last time we were there. I barely saw him! My little cousins just swooped him up and played with him, and brought him food and kept an eye on him. Just like they do with Declan. I am sincerely so blessed to have such wonderful family. And it was nice to hear my cousin Frank describe my boys as so happy and well-behaved! Right after that party was Brian's birthday (which we celebrated at home, just the four of us). Now, Declan's fifth birthday party is coming up and then the birthday party floodgates open! FUN! :)<br /><br />Picture Time:<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5IHms0cI8uA1ofseTQ4JlHMoaeqPQLo4GbQrIm-y60aFY888FsoDnIw7ssE64qt8w3uO1Q5shg3W7M6IwYxcGMopm8Yi5exmEVL4Vre91m1c5itR4q5SihdDRrhHJD86qnbogqNjAsrte/s1600/2010+Mar+03+141.jpg"></a>Bikes and snow - always a fun combination!<br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5iPidPcvAnD_bLyQWLTJ4abzyHDtavoDBv4Dg62TRnjSxByQ02vu3gnGJHnK2oPlDl1uxCl3ysYFpBAhD0ZIewnMozWc4CvGQbVd7GLNhxSd_IJdYcBg8F14CPVv8vMgzFcU9ttwKbpic/s1600/2010+Mar+05+119.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452783500270498130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5iPidPcvAnD_bLyQWLTJ4abzyHDtavoDBv4Dg62TRnjSxByQ02vu3gnGJHnK2oPlDl1uxCl3ysYFpBAhD0ZIewnMozWc4CvGQbVd7GLNhxSd_IJdYcBg8F14CPVv8vMgzFcU9ttwKbpic/s320/2010+Mar+05+119.jpg" /></a> Brendan Loooves the tricycle!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGSkeH9PAY4UGn6kNyFDcJXYRt6oCDMgXmVQ2jYAIdrOafUMtQITYy_bn1mEXxJDBihwaqd_gLTK3FcicI2g8LdbuJxMpltq0CUOd4JkJyPEtAEVNWH814Lv6QBy0IwEcIhi_fD5BF39U5/s1600/2010+Mar+05+124.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452783493150504738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGSkeH9PAY4UGn6kNyFDcJXYRt6oCDMgXmVQ2jYAIdrOafUMtQITYy_bn1mEXxJDBihwaqd_gLTK3FcicI2g8LdbuJxMpltq0CUOd4JkJyPEtAEVNWH814Lv6QBy0IwEcIhi_fD5BF39U5/s320/2010+Mar+05+124.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_uZ9RmtsdaeGvKm0RA0BJqsFuMAUppqSD5DkZycKTFCiE1Cwvw6sv5GsRrYB48bBLarawXt7ermfkLhFKkhXtzWBuEvAABTOvx86f1LEytLGxijOk_coov5N1pvt6NkKBzpDOt-noeQkb/s1600/2010+Mar+05+127.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452783486374148082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_uZ9RmtsdaeGvKm0RA0BJqsFuMAUppqSD5DkZycKTFCiE1Cwvw6sv5GsRrYB48bBLarawXt7ermfkLhFKkhXtzWBuEvAABTOvx86f1LEytLGxijOk_coov5N1pvt6NkKBzpDOt-noeQkb/s320/2010+Mar+05+127.jpg" /></a><br />The birthday party - I love how Declan is just glommed in with all his "big" cousins<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWpazsdz2Fgt0ARMd_ZE7brJQAAz_unhKe9W0ZAURHo5mOnIYiVvl-MsQmCuteke9UPp3iv2E1BSBWF17fcwqT6jazuQ__CPswEeLSvBH4Y2_LgC_8wOS7QjusrdyyV8QeCNg0iblghiT1/s1600/2010+Mar+07+081.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452783479004135682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWpazsdz2Fgt0ARMd_ZE7brJQAAz_unhKe9W0ZAURHo5mOnIYiVvl-MsQmCuteke9UPp3iv2E1BSBWF17fcwqT6jazuQ__CPswEeLSvBH4Y2_LgC_8wOS7QjusrdyyV8QeCNg0iblghiT1/s320/2010+Mar+07+081.jpg" /></a><br />Brian's birthday at home: the boys got "him" a Dr. Seuss book<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXIjrE_CfaPtwBAy7cUZnKlYc4PxK069JwkmUHUO1oa78Ywqc7PiObMgr5r4XFtQAaLqXG1qpBK9AtKR7sWNxxmE1k7fVy4wj5Jq-jEKiLWMXVBZBoGdYW9ZI3l1HNfs2E56V6GdfkTKu/s1600/2010+Mar+08+058.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452783474961162178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbXIjrE_CfaPtwBAy7cUZnKlYc4PxK069JwkmUHUO1oa78Ywqc7PiObMgr5r4XFtQAaLqXG1qpBK9AtKR7sWNxxmE1k7fVy4wj5Jq-jEKiLWMXVBZBoGdYW9ZI3l1HNfs2E56V6GdfkTKu/s320/2010+Mar+08+058.jpg" /></a>Random pic of Brendan - he likes to wear his shirt as a hat <div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlZiX6A1JDJ0-_QqFrREW0q-JkAzpHmznGwXa1dZzX2D9Cqesr-uUbwiQ69qyMN902hBcUYPJ2sb5OBlXjA-FDufZZLxGydLn7tuaZ6XvrIJtmCqK9ENL7Kva2iEwo52y7F3t5jXlPt3h/s1600/2010+Mar+08+061.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782861049829234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlZiX6A1JDJ0-_QqFrREW0q-JkAzpHmznGwXa1dZzX2D9Cqesr-uUbwiQ69qyMN902hBcUYPJ2sb5OBlXjA-FDufZZLxGydLn7tuaZ6XvrIJtmCqK9ENL7Kva2iEwo52y7F3t5jXlPt3h/s320/2010+Mar+08+061.jpg" /></a><br />Brian's very special birthday cupcake with a gummy lifesaver holding the candle - his all-time favorite candy (do not ask me why)<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7s18fTyeg-BPX2gSYO8Pcxs83RVXTPIbOMayQuV_KYr870LKd4Gss7XrhfAhxGvx0z7c558Fa7tZ0L2DK3fRsurPmk1GLyyf5bqsKOCHroT5ke6yELUhK396fVkycQFITa0fDwgMOxSP/s1600/2010+Mar+08+072.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782854601123426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7s18fTyeg-BPX2gSYO8Pcxs83RVXTPIbOMayQuV_KYr870LKd4Gss7XrhfAhxGvx0z7c558Fa7tZ0L2DK3fRsurPmk1GLyyf5bqsKOCHroT5ke6yELUhK396fVkycQFITa0fDwgMOxSP/s320/2010+Mar+08+072.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0ycLGuy2LyaSVF8FMz8QDMCWO9TH1ysFOAs7ifKcyUkDk_nDKGttwhedDMvCAGvfTYl-g2w90WwmiXSAhd9XDIe5yWbYJcUxwdl0uWsp2i5nDIYu8H9pATZSLp7SdEuiynzIsLihUfM0/s1600/2010+Mar+08+074.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782842999610322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0ycLGuy2LyaSVF8FMz8QDMCWO9TH1ysFOAs7ifKcyUkDk_nDKGttwhedDMvCAGvfTYl-g2w90WwmiXSAhd9XDIe5yWbYJcUxwdl0uWsp2i5nDIYu8H9pATZSLp7SdEuiynzIsLihUfM0/s320/2010+Mar+08+074.jpg" /></a>And here we are in the backyard again - look no snow!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5ndqoXJGEvWlPd9WzwuB8Gnng22JX1uLBFkI8uOhp4UZPrjw_9NeDB5iqDJJGa36PijRD4wClkQ6ZEC7ethu0yJ5oz-Hqzwbo7UUwsGKLp0FVuicdD-LChxBtgYSj7eLcc8oKWporrq3/s1600/2010+Mar+15+034.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782841219895458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5ndqoXJGEvWlPd9WzwuB8Gnng22JX1uLBFkI8uOhp4UZPrjw_9NeDB5iqDJJGa36PijRD4wClkQ6ZEC7ethu0yJ5oz-Hqzwbo7UUwsGKLp0FVuicdD-LChxBtgYSj7eLcc8oKWporrq3/s320/2010+Mar+15+034.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvLg0W3vp-e_OvkFtoI92so6oG7mGhWuUGrD6hPvpkzCBbbyKGepfZYN37a2qTqE4p_YvRwmVZnQCfnhY9e_5AnJkYqhYmkMAnBF-mlqRqqsG6bRGXr4B-BTUEjUtCz4YomavH0daUihI/s1600/2010+Mar+15+037.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782832383300514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvLg0W3vp-e_OvkFtoI92so6oG7mGhWuUGrD6hPvpkzCBbbyKGepfZYN37a2qTqE4p_YvRwmVZnQCfnhY9e_5AnJkYqhYmkMAnBF-mlqRqqsG6bRGXr4B-BTUEjUtCz4YomavH0daUihI/s320/2010+Mar+15+037.jpg" /></a>And a bit later in the month - outside again - no hats!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiijrGSfz93wtjhyads9lCXviJiAJyvM8hCeqzWA5304cAt5hTlumnNC4d8M0GaeG9ztXhtOH30GS8KVsWI2Ei_pjTammvABbCnnK9lSeIQrEXKFNdKFq_ypv4YAJO1FxdiZnEJBqelf3Jy/s1600/2010+Mar+16+006.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782101198494194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiijrGSfz93wtjhyads9lCXviJiAJyvM8hCeqzWA5304cAt5hTlumnNC4d8M0GaeG9ztXhtOH30GS8KVsWI2Ei_pjTammvABbCnnK9lSeIQrEXKFNdKFq_ypv4YAJO1FxdiZnEJBqelf3Jy/s320/2010+Mar+16+006.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2KzRdnxGDb4LjpTMMqXl7ZN9We35MBbv5JxRClbFzq3O8TQYKpuXEYIZ4_ph475taj9YbVI_bFDkMWIoIPe8w6dJSQtq3TK-ztU1n2XUXnK_HB1PBkJydgcGqHH7xI249hCtnvOAgXZMA/s1600/2010+Mar+16+009.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782093258818946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2KzRdnxGDb4LjpTMMqXl7ZN9We35MBbv5JxRClbFzq3O8TQYKpuXEYIZ4_ph475taj9YbVI_bFDkMWIoIPe8w6dJSQtq3TK-ztU1n2XUXnK_HB1PBkJydgcGqHH7xI249hCtnvOAgXZMA/s320/2010+Mar+16+009.jpg" /></a>We chalked a rainbow on the garden path... </div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6uDzNCSyjN8i-YdykMdJ5_o-yMrT_6wGNqSEQGLIaGhMOLLjrW2_MGpB3hFNUHfYVRGDYhR11aRvqE3y-yviEWVDcH2sZq7864GiTSdSxmZeCBIjOjhoVhWgT3B8OpGdAFztAiKj29FM1/s1600/2010+Mar+16+011.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782084040644226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6uDzNCSyjN8i-YdykMdJ5_o-yMrT_6wGNqSEQGLIaGhMOLLjrW2_MGpB3hFNUHfYVRGDYhR11aRvqE3y-yviEWVDcH2sZq7864GiTSdSxmZeCBIjOjhoVhWgT3B8OpGdAFztAiKj29FM1/s320/2010+Mar+16+011.jpg" /></a>Swinging...<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EJD_8sEa2cbEXouaiD5y7f-_W3u7yrleh4EbdiVtI1MyJPeZJUAVSeT4fCVTNh6uCaiTEvhjJZauOSDgsN-Sc4tep31FtiUQj1xap5OIJyQ8WjI2dMGGvxT2eXXC9StQaq9lGV8B21aR/s1600/2010+Mar+16+020.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782075798035234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EJD_8sEa2cbEXouaiD5y7f-_W3u7yrleh4EbdiVtI1MyJPeZJUAVSeT4fCVTNh6uCaiTEvhjJZauOSDgsN-Sc4tep31FtiUQj1xap5OIJyQ8WjI2dMGGvxT2eXXC9StQaq9lGV8B21aR/s320/2010+Mar+16+020.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsT5olPE-3YUie4r_anVnl0340Fqd4JybGPQ3aIjxmlHKo-G4DVpXy9c38Wv6Y5pRBWEckEo7xP8kRQiaaaEc_SvGxMJYUkwQ3cKXEjYlwj4LVEmcq4mmqhRTpuKuuDxuz0c4TMZ6chdp/s1600/2010+Mar+16+021.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452782066947049506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsT5olPE-3YUie4r_anVnl0340Fqd4JybGPQ3aIjxmlHKo-G4DVpXy9c38Wv6Y5pRBWEckEo7xP8kRQiaaaEc_SvGxMJYUkwQ3cKXEjYlwj4LVEmcq4mmqhRTpuKuuDxuz0c4TMZ6chdp/s320/2010+Mar+16+021.jpg" /></a><br />In unrelated, internet-surfing news - <a href="http://www.annetaintor.com/">Anne Taintor </a>is hilarious. This particular gem cracks me up!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDwTPuNd4atwBS78KwSMCxx8TMDDo56C14bA-ZvJ9HEZ6N8UmDJvCU7Io_0NvFaHuCK_Q0-ygCKdKfFSnVxzDUo1x-qH0sVmnBwzjKH9P5nTNVmdkL9KYmeP9esiVahpyi8o9h6R07Cfx/s1600/annetaintor.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 250px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452784100551444994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDwTPuNd4atwBS78KwSMCxx8TMDDo56C14bA-ZvJ9HEZ6N8UmDJvCU7Io_0NvFaHuCK_Q0-ygCKdKfFSnVxzDUo1x-qH0sVmnBwzjKH9P5nTNVmdkL9KYmeP9esiVahpyi8o9h6R07Cfx/s320/annetaintor.jpg" /></a><br />Ok - go enjoy the weather wherever you are!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-25650604674640544832010-03-03T13:45:00.005-05:002010-03-03T14:28:22.322-05:00Grandma's HouseMy grandma is a unique woman. She is 94 1/2 years old. She will be 95 in August. She lives in her own home. She is an artist and a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. Going to her house feels like coming home to me. (Especially since my own parents moved out of my childhood home in 2001). Growing up, we spent almost every Sunday at my grandparents' house. Grandma's house is in the "country" with 17 or so acres, I think. It is across the street from a lake, but with "lake privileges" (and very nice neighbors). I also would go and stay the night there for a week or so in the summer-time.<br /><br /><br />When I think of Grandma's house, I think of family. I spent summers swimming in the lake, or catching crayfish in the creek with my brothers, sisters and cousins (plus my dad, uncles and aunts). We played a lot of frisbee on the front lawn. Sometimes we would play crochet. I would climb the trees in the horse field or go pick raspberries. We went for long walks in the woods or up the dirt road to the other lake and the sand dunes. And in the winter, we would go ice skating on the lake, have snowball fights and build snowmen. Lots and lots of outdoor fun with my family.<br /><br /><br />On Saturday, I shared some of that with my boys. And Brian. We were going to visit my grandma (and uncle) so I called my aunt, who happens to live next door to my grandma now. Her daughters are 10 and 12. After some lunch, everyone went outside to "play" while grandma rested. We built a giant snowman. Brian orchestrated a huge snow fort with a tunnel. And my aunt created a fantastic sled-run down the front yard slope. I went inside with Brendan after an hour and that's when things got crazy on the sled-run. Brian built what he thought would be a snow wall at the bottom of the hill to slow the sled down because the sled was fast and kept taking the kids into the dried-up pond and through a bunch of pickery brambles. The wall wasn't quite what he expected and became a JUMP. Man, those kids had F-U-N! The first thing Declan said after two hours outside was "When can we come back?" And Brian wondered the same thing. Brian didn't have this kind of experience when he was growing up and he was a little jealous that I did. But we were both happy to be there, playing outside and building memories for our sons and cousins to enjoy, the way I enjoy my memories of time spent at grandma's house.<br /><br />And now for some pictures:<br /><br /><div align="center">Brendan was bundled up and with his snowpants on, he could barely walk. The snow was deep and untouched all winter. He sank down up to his tummy when he tried to walk unaided, so Elaine pulled him around on her sled:<br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEDwPytSJRI_YYcLYPkk8kBxx-PAlq4beEQp7Xo3KRdI_ij2pEW3PU7A_5dMl0wdDRfv90jP56SPeDWy0SnuntLoQKeyoBrYUwIBT3hvzoIHgPYaXcTg7TLvNjDH9LWz1lbNigOVhwbl6U/s1600-h/2010-Feb-27-024.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489126880982258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEDwPytSJRI_YYcLYPkk8kBxx-PAlq4beEQp7Xo3KRdI_ij2pEW3PU7A_5dMl0wdDRfv90jP56SPeDWy0SnuntLoQKeyoBrYUwIBT3hvzoIHgPYaXcTg7TLvNjDH9LWz1lbNigOVhwbl6U/s320/2010-Feb-27-024.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a><br />Such a good big cousin!<br /></p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFCwUZbBp_SdY0WEUE7p0xl4Trz8705vAhQcJOihRdYiL-5QDGhiC0VEirGjwzCkM92En0QXoAwiPWW0oFYPLo6vrWZNV8r7vwcoD51fDs3jViE69oKCKqGyTHNrZMblzwNyTQeLTr7O6/s1600-h/2010-Feb-27-023.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489120599227122" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFCwUZbBp_SdY0WEUE7p0xl4Trz8705vAhQcJOihRdYiL-5QDGhiC0VEirGjwzCkM92En0QXoAwiPWW0oFYPLo6vrWZNV8r7vwcoD51fDs3jViE69oKCKqGyTHNrZMblzwNyTQeLTr7O6/s320/2010-Feb-27-023.jpg" /></a><br />Up and down the hill, until she was worn OUT!<br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntjIGPirewgoRgwLRZ5JKrL8vZBYrinU-cOjnkFwmK3bc-6EtrDGH8W07ymoS1OxY6weScVxhAQCnaCi5SYNaEW3OC48ZPeQ3yN-XG6IJV6sV5gjojAteuJrrWK1hd7a2ovupcctVVaXh/s1600-h/2010-Feb-27-019.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489113304839282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntjIGPirewgoRgwLRZ5JKrL8vZBYrinU-cOjnkFwmK3bc-6EtrDGH8W07ymoS1OxY6weScVxhAQCnaCi5SYNaEW3OC48ZPeQ3yN-XG6IJV6sV5gjojAteuJrrWK1hd7a2ovupcctVVaXh/s320/2010-Feb-27-019.jpg" /></a><br />And now for the sled JUMP! Declan gets some air:<br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0FgL0ah88iQ-XPvb_2Ghd6QAwfVJxN4_iU3pRnqXA9-Zk7ygNjlIaptWPn7z2VOCWfmoJSgCfR13_seFcj7BUbkMPD_2_6JFHoGXaOhXxVLeYQ9zqWRrU9QF8s9I08CVb083qqdJNVx1Q/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-020.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489102117609362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0FgL0ah88iQ-XPvb_2Ghd6QAwfVJxN4_iU3pRnqXA9-Zk7ygNjlIaptWPn7z2VOCWfmoJSgCfR13_seFcj7BUbkMPD_2_6JFHoGXaOhXxVLeYQ9zqWRrU9QF8s9I08CVb083qqdJNVx1Q/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-020.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Emilie - after her jump!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WGwP50OM8JJeCpWZtC5n1jp9oGrtsZzmN-uqEOdtKRAyi5lju6Ihix9HG9bcrXSZOSG5ZMq1zPn_S22ORVuj74W1xutEVGSsC-fCzso5UgMF3rz5LLfZsgEiM-0tnujKfrGW9ojKfW1f/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-006.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489094122432034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WGwP50OM8JJeCpWZtC5n1jp9oGrtsZzmN-uqEOdtKRAyi5lju6Ihix9HG9bcrXSZOSG5ZMq1zPn_S22ORVuj74W1xutEVGSsC-fCzso5UgMF3rz5LLfZsgEiM-0tnujKfrGW9ojKfW1f/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-006.jpg" /></a><br /></div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p><p align="center">Some feet in the air:<br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXQaRwuK8bdGHnUzddoQQNTxkQaIyqY7aMeDmXgRCRk8daZWaVFXF0q_7ivIK9m4_LWgMb_6jqxrUF9NJlJUbXWhxqfRx30TTaRAKFcfR5KrlvaQ6J0bQ4wOhDTixquwokm8kX5boQzQG9/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-019.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489989810981554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXQaRwuK8bdGHnUzddoQQNTxkQaIyqY7aMeDmXgRCRk8daZWaVFXF0q_7ivIK9m4_LWgMb_6jqxrUF9NJlJUbXWhxqfRx30TTaRAKFcfR5KrlvaQ6J0bQ4wOhDTixquwokm8kX5boQzQG9/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-019.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">The six foot snow-lady:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuoyE3xtLCxXM6yjRyn1THAAVoH-L6OuSDwSsY6uszSg_yo4d8A-xVndUKONN3_UbdxHPNzwz9VVIAPcXDteLC8GUIYxE0tqdefanR_GtivJyEG6NmYGpc6IN7ZZ5P8OFpcGdu8qVIr-x/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-017.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489979624535746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuoyE3xtLCxXM6yjRyn1THAAVoH-L6OuSDwSsY6uszSg_yo4d8A-xVndUKONN3_UbdxHPNzwz9VVIAPcXDteLC8GUIYxE0tqdefanR_GtivJyEG6NmYGpc6IN7ZZ5P8OFpcGdu8qVIr-x/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-017.jpg" /></a><br />See the house in the background?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bBUYIjTdgp-yQB77waYYHCh4CAiNIVRtumP8yCoPeZbksd9Fb1EYUUMEgR_5wdKgLhjjvOm8Uy6cu-q2yN88GeZfxec-4sDJmnz2YnrE94UITIXmqgptZ3W8j9srPCiNikpnCxjCTyVZ/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-014.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489972442437586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5bBUYIjTdgp-yQB77waYYHCh4CAiNIVRtumP8yCoPeZbksd9Fb1EYUUMEgR_5wdKgLhjjvOm8Uy6cu-q2yN88GeZfxec-4sDJmnz2YnrE94UITIXmqgptZ3W8j9srPCiNikpnCxjCTyVZ/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-014.jpg" /></a><br />The girls resting on the "fort":<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-APvj6Ge9p_872V5yqk2k49Pfcxz7dFSuzAEj8WNh5n9-rCcrEC5xWNxHHsm8gQwvlJwawd15yFE4OJFIV6k3UzBEZNhyphenhyphenh6Fe7FpmP4naMtrjQTXnsY3PgxatG3X0D4vUuQ-YdkVnr7aZ/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-016.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489966315630178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-APvj6Ge9p_872V5yqk2k49Pfcxz7dFSuzAEj8WNh5n9-rCcrEC5xWNxHHsm8gQwvlJwawd15yFE4OJFIV6k3UzBEZNhyphenhyphenh6Fe7FpmP4naMtrjQTXnsY3PgxatG3X0D4vUuQ-YdkVnr7aZ/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-016.jpg" /></a><br />Declan gets more air:<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSH16PqP7tJrAv9EaaiE7gvewgLQLM5cHVnUc6O3wyn9KB1NkUey3iBQgDVOVUo7tQLequF4HA98yn7r0Vf_uhhGt51SKNx-P0mtZ94gRXTY69eMsalUBWu7RHFqovN8nA2A9rYS5QJyG_/s1600-h/2010-02-27-Elph-008.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444489958635527794" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSH16PqP7tJrAv9EaaiE7gvewgLQLM5cHVnUc6O3wyn9KB1NkUey3iBQgDVOVUo7tQLequF4HA98yn7r0Vf_uhhGt51SKNx-P0mtZ94gRXTY69eMsalUBWu7RHFqovN8nA2A9rYS5QJyG_/s320/2010-02-27-Elph-008.jpg" /></a> The End</p>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-1675703542979995552010-02-26T13:39:00.005-05:002010-02-26T14:05:57.008-05:00Update your blog, woman!The post title is an almost direct quote from my husband. Here are the pictures as requested, my dear.<br /><br /><br />Declan had "beach day" at pre-school today. The heat was CRANKED up because baby, it's cold outside!<br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRh16_bJMNaYR6w0U6Ao-H_QeW7HO5rBxSKVQyfB_KMTBL5iTkP1K8DpXChVTVbTxiam4fJM8UYewz0GTkhSAxJIzemUbLfg2VtuyX2T0fpZIC4_WwDLTNtlWSdfAPsYWF0gYRxwWmOGt/s1600-h/2010+Feb+26+026.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627851196017106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisRh16_bJMNaYR6w0U6Ao-H_QeW7HO5rBxSKVQyfB_KMTBL5iTkP1K8DpXChVTVbTxiam4fJM8UYewz0GTkhSAxJIzemUbLfg2VtuyX2T0fpZIC4_WwDLTNtlWSdfAPsYWF0gYRxwWmOGt/s320/2010+Feb+26+026.jpg" /></a> Declan, at lunch today, looking sweet:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4c2QBPxBqXrA8jrtQdQZLNHdISrw7MawJcma-Ku-yKNcjmaH-YlFrYX5h1xioERxn6SE4wXN8dZdHpOVgHfxiqNJk-j1tadVybmmOyq0snahxP2hiHSSy9JjjKPKMw7gVRDZifwLLww4/s1600-h/2010+Feb+26+022.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627842177433010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4c2QBPxBqXrA8jrtQdQZLNHdISrw7MawJcma-Ku-yKNcjmaH-YlFrYX5h1xioERxn6SE4wXN8dZdHpOVgHfxiqNJk-j1tadVybmmOyq0snahxP2hiHSSy9JjjKPKMw7gVRDZifwLLww4/s320/2010+Feb+26+022.jpg" /></a> And here is Brendan at lunch today wearing "Goo Goo Goggles" (his name for them)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnVdLy_T0rb9X-x3Zzu3rd0CfhBYA681Xv0v3KtNVqUwD6r8PnmbRkxDOOar69fLwX0CUS5qUKPRT51Bq0g-mnhr6bdXlf9p8q4vtfNgg3ucFNeoUMHkjjpE-rbL-LStKxxXZxP4Eujf0/s1600-h/2010+Feb+26+017.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627838075438722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpnVdLy_T0rb9X-x3Zzu3rd0CfhBYA681Xv0v3KtNVqUwD6r8PnmbRkxDOOar69fLwX0CUS5qUKPRT51Bq0g-mnhr6bdXlf9p8q4vtfNgg3ucFNeoUMHkjjpE-rbL-LStKxxXZxP4Eujf0/s320/2010+Feb+26+017.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfexjsR-0_S_vNJK3yeevm-8BS-N0YZr36dzG_JAA2rzEwk71ev1-33zpCr6O8HOiHVcu21eUAhWCP-XcgMqJPJMsosKWHthdnGLUkp63-SGgzjh2HZAuh-pKWhkfe59ggGinjhgJFnPO/s1600-h/2010+Feb+26+013.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627832595881858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmfexjsR-0_S_vNJK3yeevm-8BS-N0YZr36dzG_JAA2rzEwk71ev1-33zpCr6O8HOiHVcu21eUAhWCP-XcgMqJPJMsosKWHthdnGLUkp63-SGgzjh2HZAuh-pKWhkfe59ggGinjhgJFnPO/s320/2010+Feb+26+013.jpg" /></a> We've been enjoying the snow around here lately. Snow Snow Snow. A veritable winter wonderland. But even Declan is ready for spring. He told that he likes the snow but it really should have snowed like this at Christmas, "instead of rain". Amen.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDltUVp2tTvUkyOZRoSfPZndhz8tS9vemh5Sn7-4JloH1IszKcWN5IePYQ9abG8oRuTwySQg1eHjl_qK5bY9LuzxXbLDRSUbd03iHL2uHOl6id__LxRXcK170-EAtLkQOfA1aOeemaMGh/s1600-h/2010+Feb+22+016.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627165327250386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtDltUVp2tTvUkyOZRoSfPZndhz8tS9vemh5Sn7-4JloH1IszKcWN5IePYQ9abG8oRuTwySQg1eHjl_qK5bY9LuzxXbLDRSUbd03iHL2uHOl6id__LxRXcK170-EAtLkQOfA1aOeemaMGh/s320/2010+Feb+22+016.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6z0yYzEpIp-Yt51YJ5V0rSsboB4MFSKJwIYFDroUXaa3rWZkdfSaIj2qNc7P7gJsnpCYkAmXDazTOWP7VsSQ4WHEOxV-GVhUBHzQK_jUTWf8wqUZ-xb9LSg9NDENdi1P3BUFRCePpFIzq/s1600-h/2010+Feb+22+012.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627164474557762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6z0yYzEpIp-Yt51YJ5V0rSsboB4MFSKJwIYFDroUXaa3rWZkdfSaIj2qNc7P7gJsnpCYkAmXDazTOWP7VsSQ4WHEOxV-GVhUBHzQK_jUTWf8wqUZ-xb9LSg9NDENdi1P3BUFRCePpFIzq/s320/2010+Feb+22+012.jpg" /></a> We went to the zoo last Saturday. Yes Beth, we even go to the zoo in the snowy months!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52OVgs_o8l9Sh1TZrTVRQDjCu3hdhx5tSNmKxzdJ5eMN1RBlA3weaNDdaj93MoWkVOkXX1TzjP-VPadWXgpBGehfMOAYzf5qpWZLrEhfcaz_LgJ-NELu6TgUH0y0_woSkOcp03Wbm65i5/s1600-h/2010+Feb+20+276.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627155857667394" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52OVgs_o8l9Sh1TZrTVRQDjCu3hdhx5tSNmKxzdJ5eMN1RBlA3weaNDdaj93MoWkVOkXX1TzjP-VPadWXgpBGehfMOAYzf5qpWZLrEhfcaz_LgJ-NELu6TgUH0y0_woSkOcp03Wbm65i5/s320/2010+Feb+20+276.jpg" /></a> Still at the zoo:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFkAp76H3Y0Jgqu6uNaML6KtOBhy6kIf7V2esIAvwmMkugMlAIhhlyPX22CHOgjvWzmRdUdFL9C4eVziybdU6b5xA13oehpv2ukTJCvbKag2_JVfaCdNfLSmTN6FOgJ4ve9EaWolMlF-i/s1600-h/2010+Feb+20+096.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627149212979426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFkAp76H3Y0Jgqu6uNaML6KtOBhy6kIf7V2esIAvwmMkugMlAIhhlyPX22CHOgjvWzmRdUdFL9C4eVziybdU6b5xA13oehpv2ukTJCvbKag2_JVfaCdNfLSmTN6FOgJ4ve9EaWolMlF-i/s320/2010+Feb+20+096.jpg" /></a> Brian at the zoo<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYw5ZOd-XfBCzl-cxFRduZkmM9pW_g35R869ijWa7DlkTxp-RA0G_1fuN1URDdERknKAaWyRm2vqZpVeMAIpdYxEaL7Afz6Z3vRniVjNPLltNZ3ZGG8HkoOXwhpxyawnrQaiL5tYmEaHuh/s1600-h/2010+Feb+20+089.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442627144123856514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYw5ZOd-XfBCzl-cxFRduZkmM9pW_g35R869ijWa7DlkTxp-RA0G_1fuN1URDdERknKAaWyRm2vqZpVeMAIpdYxEaL7Afz6Z3vRniVjNPLltNZ3ZGG8HkoOXwhpxyawnrQaiL5tYmEaHuh/s320/2010+Feb+20+089.jpg" /></a> The jogging stroller is very handy at the zoo in winter: two boys fit snuggly, blankets too and you can cover the front with the rain cover thingy. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWG_N33EJ46u0MovTjKxddsV71SZZ6haHHTkYQt1XE6vXuj4_Rjmd0KuOK8uWRmrbBjH3RldcktLuPpidrGlCX-5qZMRiz26XnFjphKUT18jHIuSNKq23MMDROm3Si0s36HKXKgzGkkPdy/s1600-h/2010+Feb+20+088.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442626601481773250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWG_N33EJ46u0MovTjKxddsV71SZZ6haHHTkYQt1XE6vXuj4_Rjmd0KuOK8uWRmrbBjH3RldcktLuPpidrGlCX-5qZMRiz26XnFjphKUT18jHIuSNKq23MMDROm3Si0s36HKXKgzGkkPdy/s320/2010+Feb+20+088.jpg" /></a> This is Declan in bird house at the zoo (I just like saying "at the zoo")<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOPppfL1Vogiy7LXF3lBf0bZgouZY4c6CeILcLb60JA8Jt_qSI4kwpDUsG9cpsoiLtAo8CwrK_LHepxDoyVxVPQSL3mXHoIAroFktjnezLI9w9OpTZqX-Z5CDCax0JaGH2S6v79eDMcEl/s1600-h/2010+Feb+20+050.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442626585771269042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdOPppfL1Vogiy7LXF3lBf0bZgouZY4c6CeILcLb60JA8Jt_qSI4kwpDUsG9cpsoiLtAo8CwrK_LHepxDoyVxVPQSL3mXHoIAroFktjnezLI9w9OpTZqX-Z5CDCax0JaGH2S6v79eDMcEl/s320/2010+Feb+20+050.jpg" /></a> In front of the butterfly house, you know where:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWY4wDW5O7KnA-Py2EZ5FWmf3mIqyz9tesmgnd4f-SO2DQFtj4A3QArgaqV5T4c3436xCbmL-XtXSwwmOtC8gItVWspx0HCoWWIANMhazi3MSdx-wPnIQLQw5Pz4r5BKcLuKBafsA0O_Br/s1600-h/2010+Feb+20+006.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442626588511958770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWY4wDW5O7KnA-Py2EZ5FWmf3mIqyz9tesmgnd4f-SO2DQFtj4A3QArgaqV5T4c3436xCbmL-XtXSwwmOtC8gItVWspx0HCoWWIANMhazi3MSdx-wPnIQLQw5Pz4r5BKcLuKBafsA0O_Br/s320/2010+Feb+20+006.jpg" /></a></p><p>Our dogs enjoy the snow too! Here is Daisy eating some:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHr4Ugz5f5n1fYNRYk4uUjB_Obw3UMixaFxdb01gJipJZmHy2D48tPdrQdPux-qMVnKQcWFSKqmQrN3QIBVZ0xeDHCTkMUacNvCPM2rpNgwcIgi021X0M8wCt1puhOxmzo5eIBGcmpYbO_/s1600-h/2010+Feb+16+025.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442626577215078930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHr4Ugz5f5n1fYNRYk4uUjB_Obw3UMixaFxdb01gJipJZmHy2D48tPdrQdPux-qMVnKQcWFSKqmQrN3QIBVZ0xeDHCTkMUacNvCPM2rpNgwcIgi021X0M8wCt1puhOxmzo5eIBGcmpYbO_/s320/2010+Feb+16+025.jpg" /></a> And Rufus coming in for his close-up. Snow brings out the puppy in our nine year old basset hound. He runs, romps, barks and begs for someone to play with him. He does not seem to tire of it ever! :)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVro4Jsaw8TzuVDfexj7Ic9zGyCAiC1_4cYKEmxngzbFALnSBtyhhkMB7CjofZPPUEMNEXKuk6pkgxVWAo3MDcUyPvdqDQV5CggdCeaw_usjmlhPQ90AXcMTyZSeZHqiFF26tsjziAFjdH/s1600-h/2010+Feb+16+024.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442626572672493618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVro4Jsaw8TzuVDfexj7Ic9zGyCAiC1_4cYKEmxngzbFALnSBtyhhkMB7CjofZPPUEMNEXKuk6pkgxVWAo3MDcUyPvdqDQV5CggdCeaw_usjmlhPQ90AXcMTyZSeZHqiFF26tsjziAFjdH/s320/2010+Feb+16+024.jpg" /></a><br /><br /></p>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-83512909564758047382010-02-17T13:11:00.003-05:002010-02-17T14:03:19.284-05:00Where did I leave off?A common question of mine lately. "Where did I leave off..." with my knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, blogging and embroidering. I start a project, get distracted and go back to it at a later date. It is all good though. It is Good to have projects to work on. It is Good to be distracted because those distractions are typically my sons or my husband or cooking or cleaning - in other words, my life. And my life is all good right now. I have been lately realizing how blessed I am to be HERE, NOW, in this moment.<br /><br />Ok, so a quick recap of Valentine's Day is in order. Brian bought me the most beautiful flowers (see pictures). Pink and peachy roses and tulips (he always gets me pink and peach since those are the colors from our wedding day) from him, sunflowers "from" Declan and daffodils "from" Brendan. Brian said that Brendan "chose" the daffodils because of a book that we read that has daffodils in it. I have told Brendan, while reading said book, that daffodils are my favorite flower. And Brendan, in turn, has told Brian, while reading said book, that those are "mommy favorite". So sweet. Meanwhile, Declan was "educating" Brendan about which flowers were the tulips and which ones were the roses. He explained that the tulips wear their leaves "like a dress" and the roses wear their leaves "like a collar". That kid is brilliant - I never thought of it like that at ALL. He came up with that gem all on his own.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM6odZZe2oRDIXN-IA6M08rAiQIaSRLyHZsB3ZuFjB3OzCUI32KGUzX8fKwL82TQloZ48X-5Bl2aplIoB1ONeYQn-vLX66WiqnxoZqsVvOLNVpd3DAW2ZF5TW90Xf-hgTbxp0QTQpTmzJ/s1600-h/2010-Feb-16-014_edited-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439288414862928402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM6odZZe2oRDIXN-IA6M08rAiQIaSRLyHZsB3ZuFjB3OzCUI32KGUzX8fKwL82TQloZ48X-5Bl2aplIoB1ONeYQn-vLX66WiqnxoZqsVvOLNVpd3DAW2ZF5TW90Xf-hgTbxp0QTQpTmzJ/s320/2010-Feb-16-014_edited-1.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimAJjcaPMkyEZkZBs8x4h6ICluYk-lFu9_fs3VnGivs2k80I6PW1XXatwfS6R2qpxF_-lJiCTJL4evzwD52NkMBm3pWH3ulzOE_GX9DbRhEARiJnbJKVkwV96dmPmowxFnVcjgtcjCKK_r/s1600-h/2010-Feb-16-013_edited-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439288411773961074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimAJjcaPMkyEZkZBs8x4h6ICluYk-lFu9_fs3VnGivs2k80I6PW1XXatwfS6R2qpxF_-lJiCTJL4evzwD52NkMBm3pWH3ulzOE_GX9DbRhEARiJnbJKVkwV96dmPmowxFnVcjgtcjCKK_r/s320/2010-Feb-16-013_edited-1.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWC4PWL4RkEbBbID0t5rdelkH5CIG-rqEtjScyJEg5jlqHP2ecmfvP7S0p1Zfhao9OviVRNeiQncRAGdnyaN6JyC-T5DPm-eQFPl48I5CcKNmkBQ2XQbb6lvrGRw223B3yJbuYaGQgw7g/s1600-h/2010-Feb-16-007_edited-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 273px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439288397851479090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWC4PWL4RkEbBbID0t5rdelkH5CIG-rqEtjScyJEg5jlqHP2ecmfvP7S0p1Zfhao9OviVRNeiQncRAGdnyaN6JyC-T5DPm-eQFPl48I5CcKNmkBQ2XQbb6lvrGRw223B3yJbuYaGQgw7g/s320/2010-Feb-16-007_edited-1.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_OkqYfC-ZjeVlomgmgIHBlFxl3Xch18ZZv-wGIJ-biEPWOqPUTuApRAZQSNUUS24_tccdNUA8RF1kGhCuJJ5jFJTISocY_k90_-18mAnhWAIPCMY_dqY9xb8DpTnU8rtKt0DtpSXhXTNz/s1600-h/2010-Feb-16-006_edited-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 257px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439288390854772354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_OkqYfC-ZjeVlomgmgIHBlFxl3Xch18ZZv-wGIJ-biEPWOqPUTuApRAZQSNUUS24_tccdNUA8RF1kGhCuJJ5jFJTISocY_k90_-18mAnhWAIPCMY_dqY9xb8DpTnU8rtKt0DtpSXhXTNz/s320/2010-Feb-16-006_edited-1.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBe5CAkU3N_RJ1P6DjNTmJVX54YdRrxd92qRFDhvP5o-R8DUfPpRhIxiZxV1cyRtLyU81AFo_fPIq-WOAQhyphenhyphenFGYx9iUkK4LNXo3dw2JX-1M_LlxIdHk-hcgbxKVhPsHtZzI0vEUeqFQu9/s1600-h/2010-Feb-16-004_edited-1.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 318px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439288383319637554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKBe5CAkU3N_RJ1P6DjNTmJVX54YdRrxd92qRFDhvP5o-R8DUfPpRhIxiZxV1cyRtLyU81AFo_fPIq-WOAQhyphenhyphenFGYx9iUkK4LNXo3dw2JX-1M_LlxIdHk-hcgbxKVhPsHtZzI0vEUeqFQu9/s320/2010-Feb-16-004_edited-1.jpg" /></a><br />And today is Ash Wednesday. I took the boys to church this morning to get ashes and talked to them about Lent and this season leading up to Easter. We talked about sacrifice and doing things so Jesus knows that we appreciate what He did for us. Declan volunteered to give up meat along with the grown-ups today and on Fridays. Now, that is a big sacrifice for a kid whose favorite rhyme is "What do we eat? We eat MEAT!"<br /><br />Brian is making his traditional Lenten sacrifice of all beverages aside from water. So no coffee, no juice, no pop, no milk, no beer, no wine, no tea. It's a big sacrifice for him, and frankly for all of us, since his addiction to caffeine is HUGE and therefore, the withdrawal is HARD. He gets grumpy and I don't blame him but I am praying that it is easier for him this year and that he doesn't let it get the best of his mood and his enjoyment of our beautiful children (and wife, nudge nudge, wink wink). I am proud to say that he is also volunteering time for the church fish fry and for the homeless shelter. He is a good man.<br /><br />You can see why I am feeling so blessed lately. I have a beautiful life, now time to get back to it! Where did I leave off, again?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-88732201385161013562010-02-03T09:43:00.003-05:002010-02-03T13:16:12.018-05:00BendaroosWell, it's February already and I'm way behind on my blogging, photography and digital scrapbooking goals for 2010. I had hoped to create one new digi-scrap page per week and to post one "really good" photo per week. On the plus side, I've been very busy in other creative areas. I'm almost done with my very first knitting project. That's right people, I've graduated from practice pieces to something "real". In my case, a much needed glasses case. I've completed several embroidery projects, even a canvas tote bag. And I've been creating paper "art" in the form of inchies and cards. I'm feeling very blessed lately.<br /><br /><br /><br />Speaking of blessed, today is the feast of <a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=28">St. Blaise </a>and in Catholic tradition, we took the boys to mass to get their (and our) throats blessed. There was just one other family there, and lots of elderly people and some other "singles". I felt very peaceful while in church and since the blessing was for the throat, I couldn't help but think of my friend Beth who is battling throat cancer. Love you Bethy!<br /><br />We also turned in the necessary paperwork for Declan to start kindergarten in the fall. It is surreal that he will be in the "big" school soon. This time with my small boys is so precious and fleeting. I must bemoan the fact that the boys are growing up often because Declan is quick to hug me and declare that he will NEVER leave me and that he will always be mine. Love that kid.<br /><br />And on to the title of this post - <a href="https://www.bendaroos.com/flare/next?tag=ossmgotm">Bendaroos</a>. I just have to share the love we have for Bendaroos. I will declare that buying these things was the best $20 I ever spent. What is a Bendaroo, you ask? Well one Bendaroo is a string covered in wax. Lame, right? Well the TV commercial (like ALL TV commercials) made Bendaroos look impossibly cool to Declan. <br />Let me share our history: Before Declan's fourth birthday, he watched some television on Nick Jr, and Nick Jr, unfortunately, has (*gasp*) commercials. One of the commercials was for Bendaroos - which were only sold on TV or online at the time. (Now you can get them at Target or Toys R Us). Declan was smitten and begged for Bendaroos for months and months. He talked about them all the time. He often wanted what he saw on TV but generally only as long as the commercial was right in front of him. But he never relented in his quest for Bendaroos and would randomly recite from the commercial. So, for his birthday, he got Bendaroos! (And what a reaction - he was psyched!) I was skeptical-mommy and never expected Bendaroos to live up to the hype. I only bought them so Declan could feel that JOY when you finally get what you always wanted. I figured he would play with them for a few days and them get over it. <br /><br />Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Bendaroos are FUN! And portable! And they don't make a mess! And even baby Brendan loves to squeeze them and bend them and unwrap big balls of them. You can spell your name with them. Stick them to paper. Stick them on your walls. Make jewelry (rings, bracelets, rings). Create animal buddies. Wrap Star Wars actions figures in them and pretend that they are frozen in carbonite (a peculiar household favorite). <br /><br />I find myself telling other moms about Bendaroos whenever we are out and about. Bendaroos have created quiet, well-behaved children at church, restaurants, Dr.'s waiting rooms, in the car, watching siblings gymnastics' practice, etc. Moms often ask me what those "things" are that keep the boys so engaged and quiet and then I become Infomercial Mom. I admit it, I am sold on these things.Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-46371029964102019472010-01-18T08:00:00.004-05:002010-01-18T08:55:15.893-05:00Knitting and other adventuresSo, I am still determined to learn to knit. I practice every time we go somewhere in the car as a family - Brian drives and I knit. I'm horrible. I admit this. But I keep plugging away. I am not only determined to learn to knit for myself, but because I want to teach Declan that you CAN learn to do something, even when it's hard for you, if you just keep trying. There's a very catchy tune from a kid's show (Yo Gabba Gabba) called "Keep Trying" and I hum it to myself when I am contemplating the knotted mess that I call my "knitting". (I tried to find the video for keep trying, but no luck on youtube but here's a pic of the Yo Gabba characters on my windowsill).<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilF45FU0fvaTi2fYrkOfWxrc2Y2uLPWgzLwlOeSVbBEHmJcIQsQ6N5BQTR2-hMWzGTUw8Q6V5zh9auulvRIt-wV9H3nNSzOeaJjFn-Day4zNsd2DvUgJWk-Ef2MqlY87cG9cQFbHuy55Ja/s1600-h/2010+Jan+07+108.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428073984076410786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilF45FU0fvaTi2fYrkOfWxrc2Y2uLPWgzLwlOeSVbBEHmJcIQsQ6N5BQTR2-hMWzGTUw8Q6V5zh9auulvRIt-wV9H3nNSzOeaJjFn-Day4zNsd2DvUgJWk-Ef2MqlY87cG9cQFbHuy55Ja/s320/2010+Jan+07+108.jpg" /></a><br />So, I keep trying. My sister, Irene, knows that I am trying to learn to knit and so she talked about it with her husband's family one day. Her husband's brother is married to a lovely lady from Italy named Tina. Tina's mother, Melina, lives with them. Irene had a small birthday party for her daughter Ashley on Saturday and she invited Tina, Melina and family. They told Irene to tell me to bring my knitting needles. Well, to make a long story longer, I got a private lesson from these knitting wizards on Saturday night. They are so quick and so neat! I was in awe. Tina's husband calls them knitting nazis. He says that Melina and Tina sit down in the family room while he is watching football and whip out completed socks, blankets, scarves, hats, sweaters - you name it! Well, I learned a lot from them, despite the language barrier (Melina speaks almost no english and Tina's english is not perfect, especially when it comes to knitting terms LOL). I successfully completed a row under their watchful eyes! Hooray! But when I tried to replicate my success at home, I was disappointed. Ultimately what I learned is that I need to suck it up and get actual lessons. So that is what I am going to do. There is a little knitting shop about a mile from my house, called Ewenique Knits and they offer classes. Sign me up Scotty! </p><p><br />What else has been going on? Well, we FINALLY took down all the Xmas decorations in the house. We got the tree down on the 26th of December, but just got everything else (nativity, nutcrackers, mantle stuff, etc) put away yesterday. Brendan got up from his nap, took a look around and said "Ho Ho Ho - Where?!?" Too funny.<br /></p><p>Still hand embroidering - it is seriously fun and easy. After a non-productive knitting attempt, I always take refuge in a quick embroidery success! AND, Declan does it too! He said he wanted to try so we went to the fabric store and got some big tapestry needles and his own embroidery hoop. So far, he's done his own name, a football and a monster. I just thread the needle for him, hand him the fabric (in the hoop) and he follows the lines that have been drawn on with pencil. Very fun and cute! Here is what I WANT to do and am working up to do:<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5OsmQiqdqAPlj2Bi6HnKHLs81G8Ofudi5Dsgb4RGnattNj_C1IcovIIFJ8x2NESmpeewWNguG-5tP82c9FRLlMLou0Tr-U9ruBKUhqPRY15s250hJTOypvqWldU79DrzVhCss_Y5aTzzj/s1600-h/floraltote_stitched.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 296px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428076797195839442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5OsmQiqdqAPlj2Bi6HnKHLs81G8Ofudi5Dsgb4RGnattNj_C1IcovIIFJ8x2NESmpeewWNguG-5tP82c9FRLlMLou0Tr-U9ruBKUhqPRY15s250hJTOypvqWldU79DrzVhCss_Y5aTzzj/s320/floraltote_stitched.jpg" /></a> From this place Sublime Stitching...<a href="http://www.sublimestitching.com/floraltotestitched.html">Floral Fantasy</a> Isn't it lovely? <p></p><p><br />Today is a holiday, so no school for Declan. He wants to know what we are going to do that is "fun and exciting" to celebrate. So we are having a picnic on the living room floor for lunch. Should be interesting with the 20 month old.</p>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-13733848713522236392010-01-14T15:11:00.003-05:002010-01-14T15:27:41.112-05:00Hand Embroidery MadnessWell, I am recently obsessed with hand embroidery. I don't know how I got here, but here I am. I bought an embroidery hoop yesterday. Sketched a cartoon monster last night. Sketched it again this morning with a fabric marker on an old green pillowcase and went to work. I mostly used a split stitch which I learned from a youtube video. I'm super geeked b/c I can add details to all sorts of my clothes, the boys' clothes, tote bages, etc. And it's wicked easy! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8gSJhWUoPnULM2G7jkBe_4osbmeYTSoC9c5yTxdOLx96LVREMO3fu3640-SfEOEQcA8FvWuCNfk57n4ti6tt54dHTlK1zPDZ8DwAvj6UD4P-fgEYpd8005g_RvMVutYCREY_b-qoyAuO/s1600-h/embroider_monster-Edit.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 232px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426693874988434050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8gSJhWUoPnULM2G7jkBe_4osbmeYTSoC9c5yTxdOLx96LVREMO3fu3640-SfEOEQcA8FvWuCNfk57n4ti6tt54dHTlK1zPDZ8DwAvj6UD4P-fgEYpd8005g_RvMVutYCREY_b-qoyAuO/s320/embroider_monster-Edit.jpg" /></a><br /><div></div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-52285418534708215002010-01-08T13:41:00.002-05:002010-01-08T13:52:02.840-05:00Fun in the tubPosting this here for you Beth! Just some eye candy...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRTM3B75WwjVzwzNfHmHmPoc-rQyb7t-9dhdVSqWunfHLsivqOSIeB6ZynrahSeMbNrdbmoBse5ARfIsG5JBZDVBzJZyTsRzY0GTM_kqC_PE2N0jkmkZhPzmUaJG-96d6lyelG1-rEo2-/s1600-h/D_B_beautifulcandidbath.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424441455168209682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRTM3B75WwjVzwzNfHmHmPoc-rQyb7t-9dhdVSqWunfHLsivqOSIeB6ZynrahSeMbNrdbmoBse5ARfIsG5JBZDVBzJZyTsRzY0GTM_kqC_PE2N0jkmkZhPzmUaJG-96d6lyelG1-rEo2-/s320/D_B_beautifulcandidbath.jpg" /></a><br /><div></div>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3224002363743559423.post-83657094712269576882010-01-04T09:43:00.003-05:002010-01-04T09:46:24.590-05:00Snowy day<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElbVPOZaDuNveQ5Pg9mTUCPuuOf456HdY3Lvygai2OPoZHdsKHouxZcnIrguoE-O2YP1mCGcKySAqt2-WzaEOhhHQj2smFSOQ005wfGMRzIKvrl3Kwq2bDpd6tUVDVs95Kw9a4McTXouE/s1600-h/2009+Dec+29+030.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422896023031670258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElbVPOZaDuNveQ5Pg9mTUCPuuOf456HdY3Lvygai2OPoZHdsKHouxZcnIrguoE-O2YP1mCGcKySAqt2-WzaEOhhHQj2smFSOQ005wfGMRzIKvrl3Kwq2bDpd6tUVDVs95Kw9a4McTXouE/s320/2009+Dec+29+030.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCH0jEOlHaSzLt8ImpPDC3QIUDbCUHzNUdV1VqtZ1g1z_IOde6rrZ-U6V73EzsneYxJPuhNVwLHHruQD4eaLJT-qF4xCLLtEoQ-ChOLex_yrOZxgSJ8oCbHRLu_V5Xteskjx_CSs8ej-s_/s1600-h/2009+Dec+29+020.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422895934437573282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCH0jEOlHaSzLt8ImpPDC3QIUDbCUHzNUdV1VqtZ1g1z_IOde6rrZ-U6V73EzsneYxJPuhNVwLHHruQD4eaLJT-qF4xCLLtEoQ-ChOLex_yrOZxgSJ8oCbHRLu_V5Xteskjx_CSs8ej-s_/s320/2009+Dec+29+020.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLA4-EiXXr-uwhYXcVFznTp4mYEhFJ4axMnHGeUiy2CBB_wJksjOl287nTKWJnDGsF3ELhnHn3fKvbXdd_IaZnUHYR5ucwHSrUv9JTiVqpsCx1-VYrD9CXEaKl2Mycnb2hx88g5FU7gidZ/s1600-h/2009+Dec+29+018.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422895929833869442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLA4-EiXXr-uwhYXcVFznTp4mYEhFJ4axMnHGeUiy2CBB_wJksjOl287nTKWJnDGsF3ELhnHn3fKvbXdd_IaZnUHYR5ucwHSrUv9JTiVqpsCx1-VYrD9CXEaKl2Mycnb2hx88g5FU7gidZ/s320/2009+Dec+29+018.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_Gmc1zvc2yK0cmZjQ7-ijp2s0UT1gW5xBMLP3L-wJcSvfUeXwJUR9jm-ify6h6aR2CpmRLzfBnN9XP2WIBHkNXdw5Up9ZoUbyVIHqjyWFnla7vNYszuXbV8Y-PiRkfj32ZswkKgrKNan/s1600-h/2009+Dec+29+017.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422895922107520322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-_Gmc1zvc2yK0cmZjQ7-ijp2s0UT1gW5xBMLP3L-wJcSvfUeXwJUR9jm-ify6h6aR2CpmRLzfBnN9XP2WIBHkNXdw5Up9ZoUbyVIHqjyWFnla7vNYszuXbV8Y-PiRkfj32ZswkKgrKNan/s320/2009+Dec+29+017.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOmY3i-k30QxIQeSeZjx-AE-E_Cu7hrO8VUZOVGKuGxren_rm_x3ZxNrUSmElx16Dj7K9LvfU3Yg7uHKX81YhHUrZGorSmnk4MsukZqIRuiUyuy3cVXm8Xga-siqJw4sg0r3nXv8i5KuRw/s1600-h/2009+Dec+29+016.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422895920911579058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOmY3i-k30QxIQeSeZjx-AE-E_Cu7hrO8VUZOVGKuGxren_rm_x3ZxNrUSmElx16Dj7K9LvfU3Yg7uHKX81YhHUrZGorSmnk4MsukZqIRuiUyuy3cVXm8Xga-siqJw4sg0r3nXv8i5KuRw/s320/2009+Dec+29+016.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif39QeWwbwsp5C2vX2YbE8Fyf7QCCYpSfnpi9J9vEqpeYlv4X93KX5waEAeJfv-FRk1M_OWq9Im4Aenra8UzsXqe4Pk5fQjj8xcrzgeOysIi0GSqG72TWwu3BOfGFUmkVLw_oY3yQFZKUN/s1600-h/2009+Dec+29+014.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422895915018648642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif39QeWwbwsp5C2vX2YbE8Fyf7QCCYpSfnpi9J9vEqpeYlv4X93KX5waEAeJfv-FRk1M_OWq9Im4Aenra8UzsXqe4Pk5fQjj8xcrzgeOysIi0GSqG72TWwu3BOfGFUmkVLw_oY3yQFZKUN/s320/2009+Dec+29+014.jpg" /></a>Decomomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08375440133358376740noreply@blogger.com1