{more photos} Days 15-18

Day 15--The kids are out of school for Fall Break, so we went to visit Grandma in Mona for the day.

We saw another praying mantis, and this time took a picture:

Day 16--Buddy was very loving to Squiggle today; they were constantly holding hands, and he was giving her hugs & kisses throughout the day.

Day 17--Buddy & Lulu playing on the trampoline. We never know what activity they are going to come up with next...here Buddy is riding a trike around the trampoline while chasing Lulu.

Day 18--We got Squiggle  a job at a haunted house--are you scared?!

Squiggle found two tubes of lipstick and applied the make-up in this fashion. I just wanted to scream "Nnnnnnoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This is also a great picture of Squiggle's new hairstyle--baby mullet.  She has lost her hair on top, but the back is still growing--oh the joys of being a toddler.

{more photos} Days 3 & 4

Day 3 :  Again, more that one picture...I have decided to change the rules and will no longer apologize for more than one picture.  This first picture is of Squiggle looking so serene--not a common pose for her.  I have numerous pictures of her where at least one body part is blurred or her whole person is a blur and not looking at the camera.  Squiggle is a VERY busy girl and rarely has time to sit still for anything.  I had gotten the camera out to take a picture of her using the broom and dustpan, but alas, she didn't hold still long enough.  Then she toddled over to the window to watch Lulu & Buddy jumping on the trampoline.  She just stood there singing to herself and looking oh-so-adorable.

Next we have a classic Buddy/Lulu interaction.  They have both decided "play fighting" is a fun activity while jumping on the trampoline.  Although I have warned against it, they continue and yesterday no one got hurt, so here is a photo collage of "play fighting" and enjoying it:

Day 4: Okay, I'm cheating today. I actually DIDN'T take any pics today, but I wished I had my camera when Buddy & I saw a praying mantis on the sidewalk. 

Fridays are kind of laid back for us, since we only have to get one child to school and we have more time at home and time to walk Lulu to school. On our way home, we spotted a praying mantis holding perfectly still on the sidewalk. It was really neat to just stop and examine one of God's little creatures. So, this is my photo of the day, even though it's not my photo! Lesson learned--don't leave home without your camera when doing 30 days of photos!!!

{more JOY} SIX!!!

LULU IS SIX!!!!! Okay, so it's been a few days now, but it still seems 'too old' for my oldest to be six years old.  During the past year Lulu has really matured and often acts like she is 6 Going on 20--guess that is to be expected by the oldest child who is a girl.  

Lulu is a great big sister who loves to help Squiggle and loves to teach Buddy new things.  She loves learning, pretend play (currently let's pretend Kindergarten), riding her bike, jumping on the trampoline, drawing, coloring and any craft you can arrange.  She has to pick out her own clothes, design her hairstyle daily (or multiple times during the day), and loves to be in charge.  

For her sixth birthday she wanted to go out to dinner at The Olive Garden (because she remembered yummy breadsticks from last year) and then to Thanksgiving Point Farm to watch the cows being milked.  Remember, she is quite enchanted with horses and all things on the farm currently, so we were back at the farm for our fourth time this year.

At first she didn't want to try to milk the cows on her own, but after some coaxing and watching Dad do it, she gave it a try herself.
This is my favorite b-day picture, taken right after she opened her present from Buddy--a basket for her bike.
Okay, I'm kind of embarrassed to post this picture, but here it is--the Purple Pony Cake.  Lulu picked out this cake online and I thought it was a little odd, but she just loved it and was not persuaded to another, so this is her birthday cake.  She picked out the frosting color, the red mane & the general cake.  She always knows what she wants!
G&G know Lulu is obsessed with horses, so they gave her a Barbie & a horse.  So against my wishes, we now have a Barbie in our house--at least she is wearing modest clothes!
G&G M gave Lulu some beautiful handmade gifts: this gorgeous dress w/matching necklace, a butterfly necklace and a warm blue sweater.  She is one special girl!

It was a great birthday and Lulu really felt loved!  We do love her and are so grateful she is a part of our family.

{more digi} Me again

I realize I have a few LO's I haven't posted on my blog.  I completed another Speed Scrap tonight and wanted to post this LO of my mom with her grandkids (just one missing).  We love having my parents home and never tire of spending time with them.  Here we are at Thanksgiving Point Gardens two weeks ago:

Here are cousins again, as we watched the Steel Days parade together:
And more pics of our vacation to AZ.  This LO was made with Andilynn Designs new kit Hot August Night.  After spending the hottest part of the day walking around the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum we really felt like we had 'survived the desert'!
This next LO was one I completed for Speed Scrap last week.  Lulu loves posing & I wanted to make this LO have a magazine/glamor feel:
This summer Lulu has become enamored with horses.  While on vacation we told the kids they could choose a souvenir hat & Lulu chose this pink cowgirl hat w/turquoise beads--she wore it everywhere and is quite proud of it.  She is even taking it tomorrow for Show-and-Tell.

That's all for tonight.  Buddy started preschool yesterday, but Rob has my camera tonight, so I'll have to post a cute pic of him later.  He wasn't even nervous and really seems to enjoy his class!

{more Joy, more chaos} Our lives will never be the same

Yes, this is our Kindergarten Diva.  Lulu started kindergarten this week, and although she is probably the oldest in her class as she will be six in a couple of weeks, it still just seems weird that she is old enough to go to the "Big School".  But she is so excited, and so ready to be in kindergarten, we are all excited for her to start on this new adventure.

Her second day of school she came home with two fundraisers for the school.  For some reason this just hit Rob & I--we are now back in school with semesters, back-and-forth every day, school holidays, parent-teacher conferences, etc, etc, etc--including fundraisers!  Some things never change--they are still selling the same wrapping paper I sold when I was in elementary school!  So, we are all ready to embark on this new adventure, realizing our lives will never be the same again...

{more chaos} We're alive, are you?

Okay, so I've been quite on the blogging front for awhile.  This is what we've been up to during the month of July:

And this is what we've learned this month:

• Our favorite family ride at Lagoon is "Dinosaur Drop"
  
• Lagoon is even more enjoyable without a stroller (*special thanks to G&G for watching Squiggle while we were playing*)
  
• It is better to ride "Rattlesnake Rapids" while the sun is shining & very hot
• Squiggle loves the train ride in Mona
  
• No matter how passive your kids are, they can still come home with plenty of parade candy
  
• Second-Cousins are fun! They are closer to our age.
  
• Lulu & Buddy already have rocker names: Roxanne & Rock, respectively
• AF Steel Days Parade is waaaay fun, especially when you get to sit in the shade
• Squiggle is CRAZY about animals & doesn't seem to mind any animal sucking on her fingers, licking her face, etc.--we're not sure where she came from
  
• Goats LOVE to eat corn & can't seem to get enough
  
• Calfs are really slobbery while eating corn out of your hand, alpacas are not.
• Hanging out with Grandma & Grandpa D & living so close to them is VERY FUN!
  

So we had a fun, busy, event-filled July.  It went by really fast and now we are preparing for Lulu to start kindergarten & Buddy to start preschool.  We are also traveling to Arizona with G&G M.

{more love} Aspiring Photographer

In February, Lulu decided she wanted to be a photographer when she grew up (along with preschool teacher, dance teacher, mom, etc, etc, etc).  Anyway, she took possession of my camera for the day and had a blast.  She set up a photo shoot and pretended her stuffed animals were her customers who brought their children (other dolls/stuffed animals) to have their picture taken.  I scrapped this LO to remember the joy:

After the joy this elicited from her little five-year-old body, we asked Ashley if Lulu could have her old camera.  Ashley agreed.  Today Lulu wanted her camera and kept herself quite busy.  I heard her say repeatedly, "Do you want your picture taken?".  As I was never actually heard a response I wasn't sure the exact pictures taken.  Until tonight.  I was clearing of the memory stick in anticipation of our BIG DAY when I saw some adorable pics I just had to share.  This is a collage of pictures she has taken during the last few months.  Notice she enjoys using a blanket as a backdrop.  Where did she get this idea?  I believe from my adorable friend Heather.  We went to Heather's house in December to have our family pictures taken.  Heather had set up a studio in her front room, so when Lulu takes pictures of her friends she sets up a studio as well.  The picture of Buddy and I was staged, in other words she positioned us and gave us props to wear.  She is a serious photographer.  Take a look...(click on the picture to see it larger)

{more joy, more chaos} We moved!

First, do you see how many days we have left until Mom & Dad get home!  This is our countdown chain as of last night--very exciting!!!!

It has been a pretty crazy week.  Last Saturday we moved our furniture, etc to our new house!  Lulu also lost her 3rd tooth this same day!  A very exciting, chaotic, stressful, tiring day.  But, we are here in our new house now and we are really enjoying it.  We are still back-and-forth trying to get Mom & Dad's house ready for their return and we still have lots of boxes to unpack, but we are here!  We all have clothes to wear, (limited) food to eat, we can watch TV, color, play with toys, and read email--so we're doing pretty well.

Lulu actually lost her tooth in the moving mayhem, but luckily the tooth fairy found her tooth at Grandma's house and left her $1 there.

I did manage to complete a few LO's this week.  After unpacking and/or cleaning all day I needed a break and some me-time after my kids were in bed & Rob was in Vancouver.  This first one I completed Anilynn Designs new kit " Little Lovebirds" that was released this weekend.  This is our family picture Heather of Heather Clark Photography took for us last December.

I completed this next one for a Speed Scrap at ScrapMatters last week.  I got started really late (after cleaning all day with the help of Ashley, Brett & Liz--THANKS guys!) so it's nothing special, but the pictures aren't very good quality, so I kept them small because it is still a fun memory even if the camera did not cooperate.

Most of the LO comes from "Holly, Jolly, Ho Ho Ho" by Andilynn Designs.  Full Credits Here.  This last LO I completed for the template challenge at ScrapMatters.  I flipped the template and made it into a two-pager.  For Lulu's birthday last year we went to the zoo, then to Olive Garden and stayed at a hotel.

Full Credits Here & here.

Also, Squiggle has finally decided to walk!!!!  She has been such a champion crawler for the past five months, that she hasn't seen much of a need to walk--only 2 steps here and there.  On Friday I took the kids to Rob's parents house for the afternoon and she decided this was the time to really start walking.  She kept practicing a little yesterday, and more today, so hopefully I'll get a cute video of her soon.

Just a quick post to share a couple of LO's I've completed and haven't posted here yet.

Credits Here
I took this picture on Squiggle's first birthday and just love how the light is illuminating her sweet face.  Looks like she is imagining a bright future ahead.  Credits Here

{more love} Obituary for a fish

Goldie

Jan 2008-June 2008

From the moment she came into our lives until the moment we said goodbye, Goldie was an active goldfish with a love of swimming in circles and eating multi-colored fish flakes.  Lulu's first pet which she brought home from a preschool field trip to the pet store.  It is rumored there would be a contest to see whose fish survived the longest.  At the end of the preschool year Lulu's Goldie was the only fish still swimming.

Final remarks at the burial included:

Buddy, "Goldie, my love you"

Lulu, "I love you too, Goldie"

Me, "Thanks for being a great pet, have fun with all your fishy friends in heaven"

In lieu of flowers, please give your favorite pet a hug (or any random animal you find).

I completed this LO commemorating Goldie's life before her passing.  I think I'll edit and add some final details at a later date. Credits here

{more love} BSD spells...

Life as a mom is very interesting, entertaining, loving, and at times HILARIOUS!  Here are a few funny things my kids have said recently:

Lulu: "That was embarrassingly fast!"

Me: "What does 'embarrassingly' mean?"

Lulu: (a little sheepish) "really fast"

Me: (with a smile) "Do you know what embarrassed means?"

Lulu: (after stuttering a little) "No"

********************

Buddy: "Mom, I spelled 'baking soda' all by myself!"

Me: "Wow, that's great.  How did you do that?  Did you look at the container?"

Buddy: "No, I sounded it out.  Look...B-S-D; bbbb-Baking sssssss-SoDa. bbbb-Baking sssssss-SoDa"

:) :) :) Big Smiles all around :) :) :)

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Lulu: "Buddy, do you want to be my husband when we grow up?"

Buddy: "Yeah"

Lulu: "Okay.  And Squiggle can be our kid"

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Lulu: "When I grow up can I be a mom, a preschool teacher, a gymnastics teacher, and a ballerina?"

Me: "Sure; you can do whatever you want." :)

Inside my head: "Sure, but you might end up at a mental institution pretty quick.  Maybe just limit yourself to two jobs at a time."

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Buddy: "Mom, you don't know if we got you a massage for Mother's Day or not.  You don't know, do you Mom?!"

Me: "No, I have no idea" (wink, wink)

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Isn't being a mom great?  Especially when you are reflecting on the day and everyone is asleep--LOL!  

After a crazy, stress-full week last week; I took the kids to a nearby children's garden.  We had a lot of fun and took some cute pictures, BUT my desktop is having issues and my laptop is not recognizing my memory stick.  Soooo, those pics will have to wait.

{more joy} I'm a winner!

First let us say "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!" to all the wonderful women who touch our lives. We Love You & Thank You for being wonderful women--enjoy your day!

Last week I completed this LO for a quote challenge at ScrapMatters.  The quote reads, "I kiss you and kiss you, with arms round my own, Ah, how shall I miss you, When, dear you have grown." -W. B. Yeats

I thought this pictures of my parents with Buddy & Lulu at the airport were perfect for this challenge.  Before they left they just kept thinking about how much their grandchildren would grow and change while they were gone.  Well, now it is less than two months until they come home and Buddy & Lulu have changed--plus they have THREE new grandchildren, two of which they have only met through webcam chats.  We are all very excited for them to return; I guess that's why I could finally scrap these precious pictures.

Yesterday I found out I was a co-winner of the challenge!  That was a fun early Mother's Day present to me as I got to go shopping for a new digi kit :)

Credits for the LO here