All Caught Up

My husband always buys me roses on Valentine's day - these are just gorgeous. They start out sort of peachy and then bloom to a bright pinkish red. I bought him cologne. We bought Declan Star Wars under-roos (he is THRILLED). And we forgot to buy the baby ANYTHING! Thank goodness he doesn't get it yet! :)

This is from yesterday, February 13th. Brendan goes hauling down the hallway to Declan's room every chance he gets. He loves it in there. Here he is, entering his favorite place on earth. It's like Disneyworld for him!

And this is my little pumpkin lumpkin from February 12th. Just sitting in his jammies before bed...playing in his own room for once!

Happy Valentines Day!

It was a Sophie day...

And on to yesterday - February 11th. I could NOT pick just one picture. My son has a standing playdate on Wednesdays with his BFF Sophie. She is a kick, to be sure. These are some of the pics from their "date". Dancing, dancing and playing Star Wars Lego on the Wii. My poor baby Brendan was trying desperately to be part of the action!

Catching up...

February 6th - Looking alike:


This may not be the best shot of both boys, but it was the best shot on this day. I dressed them in matching outfits - just being goofy that morning. Declan has started picking out his own clothes and this was his pick. So I applauded his choice and told him it was so cool that I was going to match Brendan to him.

February 7th Doors:

I just wanted to capture some shots of Brendan with his current obsession - doors! He could spend all day just opening them and closing them. He ignores all distractions (like toys and people) and heads right to any door to play, play, play!

February 8 - Zoo:

It was the first "warm" day (40's) in ages so we packed up and headed to the zoo (which we live behind). This was a fun trip b/c it was the first of 2009 and my brother came. This HOP sign is right outside the frog house (otherwise known as Amphibiville)

February 9 - Eat:

Just a cute shot of Brendan, happy, eating at dinner.

February 10 - Irene

In this picture, Brendan looks so much like my sister Irene's baby pictures - it's kinda spooky!

Composition

I'm still working out the best way to post these pics. I clearly don't have it down to a science where I take the pics, process the pics and then post them all in one day. I usually get one or two hours a week to do this kind of stuff so I do multiple pics at one time. Today I decided to post them as one JPEG. These are pics from Feb 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. They are all Declan-centric.
The B/W of him is from one of our mornings upstairs in my bedroom after I put Brendan down for a nap. Declan was sitting in the computer chair playing with one of my Wizard of Oz dolls and the morning light from the window was stunning.
The color one of him was an attempted photo shoot in the living room. In this shot, he was actually telling me that he was DONE.
The snowman shot was taken from the front porch on a sunny but frigid morning.
And the other B/W is Declan with his little friend Sophie playing Star Wars Lego on the Wii. They are both zealous little Star Wars fans!!
Have a great weekend!

"cause I'm so wonderful"

Declan is a card. He cracks me up daily. He is taking swimming lessons on Saturdays and he decided to wear his goggles in the bath - I think it might have been his dad's suggestion (he does bathtime around here). When I came into the bathroom for a peek - I oohed and aahhed and then left to grab a diaper for the baby - I heard Declan say to his dad when I walked out "I know where mommy is going, she's going to get her camera cause I'm so wonderful". Cracked me up! Of course, I yelled from the other room "Yes, I AM getting my camera, how did you know?" He certainly knows my M.O. - something cool happens, and mom grabs her camera!

The boys, the boys, the boys

Four days, five pics of boys! I haven't updated recently, but have been faithfully taking pictures. I have loads of blurry pics thanks to my desire to learn to shoot in the non-auto mode of my fancy shmancy little SLR. I am comfortable with the "M" setting (where you change the shutter speed but have a fixed aperture) but have trouble with the others still. So, here are the "best" pics from the last four days in January. (February 1 is still in "process" - LOL)

We had some big news this week - Brendan is crawling! Ah, mobility! As my dh says, we want them to grow and reach their milestones, but once they are mobile, we are really screwed! (paraphrased) Well, I'm off to bed in a few minutes. No Superbowl for me. I can't shake this fatigue, I've been to bed by 8:30 for the last couple of nights - yuck. Can't wait to see everyone's pics!

Portraits

That's Daisy, one of our basset hounds. We think she's about ten, but we're not sure. We rescued her eight years ago and we thought she was two at the time...soo, do the math! I was playing around with my camera, trying to master the depth of field when both my dogs decided that I was on the floor to play with them. First Rufus stuck his nose in my camera (unfortunately all the pics of him turned out kinda yucky) and then Daisy (the boss) pushed him over and put HER nose in the camera. This turned out sorta cute.

My little guy. He was feeling kinda blue yesterday. He had a fever and I think he might be teething. On the plus side, he is kind of crawling. He can go one "step" and then plops back down on his tummy - adorable.

And this is my big guy, what an angel. I'm feeling kind of guilty tonight because I really was angry with him earlier. He woke up the baby TWICE when I was trying to get him down for a nap....I was sooo mad and I lost my temper. He wasn't being mean, he just L-O-V-E-S his baby brother! Look at that face - what a dollbaby. *sigh* Well the best I can do is move forward and learn from it. Tomorrow is another day...

January 21, 22, 23 and 24 (phew!)

It was another cold day so we headed to the mall for a diversion. Declan got his haircut, grandma and grandpa met us for lunch at Johnny Rockets (hence the hat) and we went to the play area. Great way to burn off some pre-schooler energy!

Brendan was getting his bath with his daddy and I couldn't resist taking a few pics. Just a wet, happy baby!
Isn't the snowman great? My mother-in-law built it with Declan - she rocks! He had fun...it was the first "warm" day in a while here so we took advantage and got outside - hooray!

And another water pic - this time of Declan at his swimming lesson. We go to a great indoor pool that has water temps in the nineties all winter - it is perfect for little kids - they tend to get cold so fast in the water otherwise! I lvoe the water splashing up. I wish I had a better telephoto lens for my XTI - any suggestions?!?

January 18, 19, 20

My husband just told me that I am not very good at taking pictures of things other than my boys and I admit, he is right. *sigh* I give up! I'm just going to take pictures of the things that move me on any given day. Maybe it will be my boys, maybe it will be the snow. (I might have more luck in the spring, summer and fall when I'm not confined to my house and the landscape is more varied than snow, snow and more snow! LOL)
Declan had lots of fun playing hide and seek with Brendan after dinner.

Brendan was fascinated with his reflection in the mirror. This is not a great shot, but it was the best I could do.

I just love his blue eyes and his little face.

January 16 and January 17

This is a snapshot of Brendan, taken with my little digital Elph. We had a very lazy weekend together since he's still recovering from an ear infection. Declan had gymnastics in the morning and then we just hung out at home the rest of the day. The weather was still very very cold but sunny and bright. I can't wait for it to warm up so we can go play out in the snow!

Declan has decided to start taking pictures more too! He got his camera out when he saw me with mine. And this pic of him laying on the floor taking a picture of ME ended up being my favorite from the day. I love how I got the flash going off - fun!

January 15

Coldest day of the year so far. It was 1.9 degrees this morning and the wind chill was negative fifteen. But it's a sunny day, and very pretty to look at. I ventured into the backyard during the baby's nap. This is my garden globe that I forgot to put away for the winter - doesn't it look striking?

January 12, 13, 14

Poor baby has had a horrible cold/cough and now an ear infection. He was feeling pretty needy when I snapped this pic - my mom was holding him but he was begging me to get him and he was so hopeful when I got near, but I was only taking his photograph, so seconds later, he had burst into tears again. (I did take him then, poor thing).
More pics of my son's Star Wars Galactic Heroes. Declan got out HIS digital camera on this day and was "posing" his favorite characters and snapping some pics for his "scrapbook". I decided to take a couple of pics too! This is Shaak Ti and Han Solo frozen in carbonite.

This darling boy was helping me dust when I decided to take his picture. The fuzzy white in the lower left corner is the feather duster. He was trying to clean my camera... :)

Snow Star and Buddha

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I have been taking care of my two sick little ones for the past couple of days and I'm battling their cold/cough so I haven't had a lot of extra time this weekend but I did manage to take these two snaps. The first is of a sun star that I have hanging in my kitchen window. On Saturday we had over six inches of snow fall and it was even sticking to the screens of my window - a real blizzard - so my little sun catcher looks more like a snow star to me!



The second pic is a cute little Buddha that I have kept on my desk for years and years. My mom's best friend brought it back for her from a trip abroad and I "borrowed" it when I went away to college. I have always loved it and it always makes me smile. These days it reminds me an awful lot of my baby boy - he looks very similar when he is nude and seated! LOL

Fancy Hairstyle and Playboys

The pic from yesterday is of my oldest boy right before he went to pre-school. It was his first day back since before Christmas and he was very excited. Sooo excited that he decided to do a "fancy" hairstyle for everyone to admire. A little backstory - normally this boy likes his hair combed forward "flat". No matter how hard I try to get him to spike it up, he resists. On this day though, he wanted it spiked and "fancy". So he spent about five minutes in the mirror with not one, not two, but THREE combs. I put some gel on it and then he decided he needed some "smoothing cream" from mommy's drawer. He DID look fancy and claims that everyone told him so at pre-school.


Today's pic was just a quick snap of my two boys playing together on the floor. They are both sick, poor things, but it did not stop them from having a lovely morning together. It may not be the greatest picture but I like the movement and I love the memory.

And yes, I did resort to pics of my boys again. I'm still trying to take pics of other things, but to be honest, I just really like to take and have pictures of THEM. I'll try again tomorrow!

When worlds collide

What do you get when your 3.5 year old (well, almost four year old) plays with his Star Wars Galactic Heroes in the same space that your 7 month old is playing? Darth Maul doing battle on rainbow stacking cups. Adorable.

Epiphany

Today is the Christian feast day "Epiphany" to celebrate the visit of the Three Kings to the baby Jesus. It is also the day I took down all of my Christmas decorations. We took the tree down two days after Christmas but just got around to the rest of the stuff today. One of my favorite Christmas decorations is this ceramic set of three Santas that my sister-in-law made for me. It reminds me of the Three Kings...hmmm, maybe it is a Three Kings set and not a Santa set at all...anyhoo, I love it and I took a picture of it just before it got boxed away until next year. The End.

Pics - Project 365 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 and 1/5

Brendan and I at the rec center. Daisy (the dog) lying in the middle of Declan's train layout. The Rodeo sign at the Palace. Books from our latest trip to the library.

Project 365 First Pic

Here is my first pic for Project 365 taken on 1/1/2008 at my grandmother's house for my cousin Andrew's birthday. The picture is of the birthday boy himself. I have pictures for 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 as well, but they are in my little camera and that camera is currently at the rodeo with my husband! Alas, I can only post this first pic.
The funny thing for me about doing Project 365 is that I probably already take a picture each day. I'm really hoping to force myself to take more pictures of things and people that are NOT my children. We'll see how I do.

Project 365 at SBG

I'm going to do the ultimate photo challenge at SBG and take a picture a day for 365 days. Since I'm a horrible blogger this is a great way to force me to both take pictures AND post on this blog! LOL
Project 365 Info

Facebook

Ok, I did it - I joined Facebook. It's kooky and fun and you "run" into all kinds of people that you haven't talked to in a while. I joined the group for scrapbookgraphics and it's neat to see all the folks from the digi-scrap world on the social networking site. Check it out if you haven't already...

Facebook

Laugh

My oldest son is three (and a half!) years old and my little guy is just four months old and my husband is much older than that! Three males and me. I'm on the precipice of being overwhelmed by testosterone, football, fart humor and action movies. I grew up in a more balanced household (weighted slightly toward the feminine side) with two sisters and two brothers. I guess that it's karma that I would have two sons and no daughters, since when I grew up, I was often the tie-breaker, as the youngest, and although female, I usually did side with the boys.
So I am enjoying this cuddly, snuggly, lovey-dovey phase of having two little boys. This layout really reflects that. :)

(Credits - Flight of Fancy collab from Scrapartist and alpha by Weeds & Wildflowers

Scrapartist collab!

I LOVE the collabs at scrapartist! Each time I buy one, I am delighted! The papers are fantastic, the elements are whimsical and each piece fits so perfectly with the entire collection! Back2School is no different. Just bought it and I adore it! I am also a big fan of the quickpage album that came with it - it was made by the talented Laurie Ann (known to most of us as the ever-gracious nEEd2creAte - she also started designing recently at we are storytellers!) I copied one of her keyplate quickpage designs and made it into a full-page layout. (mostly because I print all my layouts at 8x8 and haven't gotten into doing other sizes when printing). So here it is. A couple of pics of my little guy on his first day at preschool! Thanks again goddesses at scrapartist and thanks Laurie Ann!

So many new shops...

There are so many new digital scrapbooking shops that I feel a little overwhelmed! I have a little scrapbooking budget and like to browse before I buy, but honestly I haven't bought a thing lately because it takes me so long to visit all the cool sites and by the time I am almost ready, the baby cries or my older son needs me or my husband can't find something and the next time I sit down at the computer, I have to start shopping all over again!!! So, I have links to all the shops that I try to visit but maybe there are new ones that I don't even know about! *Sigh* This money is burning a hole in my paypal, so I better get shopping!!!

Family stuff

Just wanted to put some thoughts down in writing today. I'm very blessed to have the family and life that I have. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that. I tend to caught up in the little irritations of daily life sometimes and forget to give thanks for the miracle of each and every "regular" day that I get to share with my two boys and my husband. I also have the blessing of having both my parents alive (as does my dh). We are very lucky.

We went to a big "cousin" party this weekend. My mother's sister, Colleen, had four daughters - my cousins. Colleen passed away when she was in her forties and never got the joy of seeing her children's children and the lives they have built with their husbands. My cousins are all married with beautiful children. We adore them. Sadly, their father is now ill and may have cancer (again). Everyone is very melancholy and worried about his health and grateful for every moment with him.

Which brings me back to me. I've been feeling resentful toward my own father lately BECAUSE he is in poor health! Now, hold off on the judgement for a minute - he has MRSA and he came to my house and infected ME! Yup, I just got over a MRSA infection under my arm. It was painful and terrifying. I was soo worried that I would give it to my little one (2months and breastfeeding) or my bigger one (three years and prone to scratches and cuts, like any three year old boy). The antibiotics worked on me and my boo boo healed in two weeks. My dad hasn't been so lucky and he was in the hospital twice with this infection and now is at home and on a "pick-line" at home, giving him very strong antibiotics intravenously. So that's a lot of information, but the bottom line is that I have been soo mad at him for giving it to me (not that he would EVER have done such a thing on purpose, but of course, I blamed him for not being careful enough and for visiting me with an open wound to begin with!) Now, I can see that I need to be grateful for his health (such that it is) and to pray for his recovery. I continue to be vigilant about hygiene in my own home and will do all I can to protect my sons (and dh). But I am grateful for my family and I finally can let go of this resentment towards my dad.

Tagged!

Ok, so this is REALLY late, but Donna Miller tagged me back in May and I just now am updating my blog!!! Of course, I have a pretty good excuse - just had a baby on June 1st! (see pic!) But, here is the drill - I was tagged and now I need to tell the rules -
1. List your tagger and the rules (check!)
2. List seven facts about yourself (some weird and random)
3. Tag seven people and list their blogs (hope I know seven people!)

Seven Facts:
1. I am the youngest child (of five) in my family
2. My favorite snack is "figs and almonds" (can't have one without the other!)
3. I have two basset hounds
4. I live in Michigan
5. My favorite color is orange
6. I am horrible at sports (except running)
7. I love love love to watch hockey! (Go Red Wings!)

Seven blogs
1. Mariquita
2. Beth (20birds)
3. Kelsey
4. kewljive (I didn't tag Beth, she's got a lot going on right now! Send her some loving thoughts!)
5. Cate
6. Helen
7. Stephanie

And here's my darling baby boy - Brendan! Born June 1, 2008. (a whopping 10 lbs and 12 oz!!!)

I've Been Made!

Yup, it's true, I've been made!!! I was accepted as a guest for the month of October by Sophia Sarducci!!! And if you haven't been to the shop lately, you're missing out. I count Sophia Sarducci's shop along with Catscrap as the two most underrated, highest quality, unique little shops out there! I just love their stuff! Here are some of my favorites:
Creepy Christine

Button Supplies Set

Industrial Staples


And the shoppe is so cool, they have a feature called Off-site Must-haves where they recommend products from OTHER stores! How neat is that?!?

I also discovered that they have a wonderful selection of stock photos - cheap!!

So, yeah, I'm happy to be MADE and I'm excited to post my first Sophia Sarducci layout, hopefully tonight! I'm having a hard time finishing it cause I want it to be perfect, so tonight, I load up the iPod and look for some mojo to finish it up! :)