365/58 Ornament Scrapbooks

Saturday I did some finishing touches on the exteriors of the scrapbooks that I'm prepping for the Boyne Crop. (Now only 60 days away, can you tell I'm excited?) The books are to highlight the kids ornament collections, I will never be able to remember the details of why I purchased each ornament for all 4 kids so my hope is that I can document it while it is fresh in my mind. I only have JD and MJ ready, I figure the little girls only have a few ornaments so far and theirs could wait until later.

Ornament scrapbooks

I used Franklin Covey planner storage binders (see photo below). I was originally planning on using an old book and gutting the pages and adding a binder mechanism like these Junk Binders but I had the storage binders just sitting here and they worked perfectly. I did take the instructions from here and adapt them to the storage binders I used. I so loved how they turned out that I went to Ebay and found more for future projects.

365/57 Temporary solution

Friday I had had it! Syd has become a climbing machine. She pushes the dining room chair all over the house and just climbs up and gets into whatever she can. After the second time she pushed it up to the fridge door and nearly cleaned off all the papers, magnets and picture, I realized that the chairs where going to have to go. I know it is not pretty and it drives me nuts to see them up there but it also has stopped the climbing for now. I hope this phase passes quickly.

Temporary solution

365/56 Entertainment

Thursday Syd pulled all the bibs down and tried to wear as many as she could. She carried these bibs around most of the day. It was just so cute to watch her holding them up to her neck as she would reach for another and another, none of which were fastened so they would all fall off when she let go of them. I was surprised that she never got upset or tired of repeating this over and over again.

Entertainment

After two days of have the bibs spread all over the dining and living room I have moved them higher so she can't reach them. It was fun while it lasted though:)

365/55 Study time

Wednesday JD brought homework home. With him attending S.P.A.R.K.S after school it is not often that he has unfinished work but tonight they took the kids ice skating so he had no time to work on it at school. I believe it was English vocabulary words.

Study time

365/54 Blissful

I love peeking in on the kids when there are sleeping, they look so peaceful. I took photos of all of them tonight but the little belly button peeking out from CJ jammies made this photo as my favorite.

Blissful

365/53 It is huge!

Monday my Epson Stylus 1400 arrived! I have wanted a large format printer for awhile now but did not know if it was worth the money, if I would use it enough. I used the HP printer at the scrapbook store to print text around the outside of my 12 x 12 layout and I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to do this more often and the scrapbook store is about 45 miles away and with the girls it would not be easy so having my own made more sense. The foot print of this printer shocked me, it is huge, 12 deep x 24 wide. Let just say it is good thing that Hubby moved his office as the printer takes up the majority of the table. I was thinking I would tote to crops with me but the size of it has me reconsidering.

It is huge!

Staples is running a great deal on printers over $199.00 right now, if you give them your old printer you get $50 more dollars off! I did not have a printer to give them but my brother gifted me one to turn in, is he a great guy! This deal brought the price down to $159.00.

365/52 7 Medals

(This one will be short) Sunday night Apolo got is 7th medal! As always I was on the edge of my seat the whole race. I will miss the Olympics when they are over.

7 Medals

365/51 The Joy

CJ and Syd are close in age, 13 months and 13 days. These two play pretty well together considering their ages but then there are these moments when Syd gets such joy out of annoying her sister. CJ was playing quietly in her car by herself. Syd came over and just wanted to get it the car as well, it is only a 1 person car. CJ kept pushing her out and telling her no, instead of getting upset Syd decided to just annoy the dickens out of CJ! She would just reaching in and pretending to grab at CJ sunglasses, all she had to do was get close and CJ would scream which made Syd smile and giggle. I can see this happening many time in the future, Syd gets to much joy from it for her to stop:)

The Joy

365/50 We did it!

Friday CJ danced along, as usual, to the ending of Dora "We did it! We did it!" She is is just adorable to watch. I catch her through out the day singing softly to herself and it is usually the Dora theme song, she just giggles when she sees we watching. I want to remember her this way always:)

We did it!

365/49 MOO

Thursday morning I snapped this photo of the inside of our fridge. We had 4 and a quarter gallons of milk and Friday afternoon, as I type this, we have 2 and an eighth gallons left. We drink a ton of milk in our house to say the least. We go to the grocery store just for milk minimum of 3 times a week. I think we need a cow:)

MOO

365/48 We got The Pulse back

After 9 years of Direct TV we have found a need to leave them. They no longer offer XM radio, they replaced it with Sonic and it is just not the same. Now we probably listen to the music stations on our TV more than the average household does. From November to January we tune into the Holly station during our waking hours and the rest of the year it is The Pulse. Sonic could not compare in our eyes so we have jumped ship and now subscribe to Dish Network. I did ask the sales lady when their contract was up with Sirius radio and was told they have no plans to change music providers, I hope it is at least more than 24 months as that is my new contract length! Not only do I have The Pulse back (channel 6012) I also will be paying $20 less per month and can watch our recorded shows on both TV's instead just on the bedroom unit! So far I'm a happy lady! Now if I could just figure out the remote I would be even happier.

We got The Pulse back

365/47 V-day clearance happiness

CJ and I found these gems at the grocery store valentine clearance rack. I of course was searching for cheap chocolates and she had her eyes on something more showy. 65 cents brought her a little joy and they are oh so perfect for her personality. I'm not so sure she will take them off for bedtime:)

V-day clearance happiness

365/46 In the mix

Monday the all the kids were rough housing on the living room floor. Normally Syd steers clear when things get rowdy but tonight she jumped right in and enjoyed herself! Look at her expression she could not be happier.

In the mix

Bra & Panty card

I made this for Hubby, he got a kick out of it. I found the template here, but I first seen it here all blinged out. I laughed out loud when I seen it. I took the template and traced it in Make the Cut and cut it on my Cricut, way easier than scissors!

Front of card

Inside of card

Thank you, Pink-ee for the template.

365/45 Pick-up locale

Hubby has been trying to keep up his training but work has really gotten busy and he does not get to run as much as he wants to. He did get in a run to town this afternoon. We prearrange a pick up time at the usual locale, his dad's shop. He ran about 5 miles today and his foot is okay. Sometimes it hurts after he runs but it is getting much better. He is planning to race in March, a 10K I believe, I hope his foot is completely healed by then.

Pick-up locale

365/44 My little crush

Ok I promise not to have a Olympic TV shot for every POD of the nest 14 days but I have to admit I have a very small crush on Apolo Ohno. I just had to record the moment he knew he won the silver medal and tied Bonnie Blair winning 6 medals total in the winter Olympics! This race had me on the edge of my seat with my hand at my mouth so I would not yell out. Speed skating is one of my favorite sports to watch, and especially short track! Way to go Apolo!

My little crush

365/43 Olympic Junkies

Just a warning we are Olympic Junkies, we love them! For the next 16 days our TV will be tune to them and we will cheer on USA and the Dutch (Hubby has a soft spot for the Netherlands). We actually cheer on most any athlete, the skill and commitment it takes to compete in the Olympics is awe inspiring. We will listen to all the side stories about the athletes and at times sit on the edge of our seats as it comes down to hundredths of seconds (think short track). We were struck mute as we tune in for the opening ceremonies to hear that there was a death on the luge track. What a tragedy, our heart go out to the family of Nodar Kumaritashvili.
The opening ceremony was wonderful and it kept us up way too late, but we will watch until the end most every night simply because this only happens every two years (we love the Summer Olympic as well). Just think at the next Winter Olympics in 2014 our kids will be 17, 15, 6 and 5. Oh my goodness I think that thought is enough to turn my hair gray!

Olympic Junkies

365/42 ballerina

Thursday the girls got into the dress up box after they got up and Syd wore this red tutu all day, even wore it out to pick up and drop the older kids. Her and CJ were dancing around the kitchen so I was trying to get her to pose for me and she was trying to copy what I did. CJ was great at the poses but Syd would barley move before she would stop and just watch CJ and I move about. She looked so darn cute wearing the tutu all day. We will have to get the dress up box out more often.

Ballerina

365/41 Pasta Night

Wednesday we had pasta. Syd is still learning to use her silverware and this is the messiest meal we can make for her. We make this an average of 3-4 times a month and we have a special routine for pasta night. Once the food is done cooking and the table is set I start the water in the tub. The girls go from high chair to tub (after we scrape of all the chunks of Syd she is allowed in the water), CJ is getting much better at eating messy foods and she would not have to bathed immediately but she would not let Syd get a bath without her at this point. Today was not as bad as it can get, she sometimes rubs it in her hair!

Pasta Night

365/40 Winter hair

Oh boy, do the girls have winter hair. Every time we take off their fleece hats their hair stick straight up and they are shocky. Syd even let out a yelp when she touched me and got zapped, the poor thing. She looked at me like It was my fault. I am longing for spring.

Winter hair

365/39 His favorite spot

Monday Hubby worked from home. The girls love to visit him when he is hidden away. I think he would sit in here all day if we would just leave him be. So far making him this desk in our bedroom has been great for his productivity and for phone meeting. Sometimes it is hard to get him to "come home" and leave work but we can always hang out with him. When he has an early morning meeting I get booted from the bed and the glow from the screens is a bit bright but we are working it out.

His favorite spot

365/38 unofficial tradition

Today we all had lunch at mom's to celebrate my step dad's Birthday (a year from the big six-o). Homemade chicken noodle soup, 2 kinds of cake and 4 kinds of ice cream, yum yum! I did not get a shot of the birthday boy (why, I don't know) but I did get a shot of the unofficial tradition that goes on nearly every time we all gather at mom's. Brent gets to cut Shiloh's nails, and she does not like it much! Why does he do it? Because nobody else wants to battle with the dog to get  it done! Shiloh was calmer that normal today though. I usually pay to get our dogs nails cut or Hubby gets the task, black nails are hard to cut.

unofficial tradition

An Awesome Flower card

I got this cut file from "Kris in Alaska" on the Make The Cut forum(link the the post). She posted it at the perfect time as MJ's locker partner's birthday was this weekend and her parents own the local flower shop! Perrr-fect! I even made my first envelope from scratch for this one. I want to thank Kris for the wonderful cut file and for sharing it with all of us.

365/37 1 year anniversary

It was 1 year ago today that we adopted Ruby. She is a beautiful dog. She has also fit right in to our chaos we call our house.

1 year anniversary

365/36 Behind the camera

Friday I was trying to take a photo of the girls sitting with Hubby on the couch. Syd just wanted to see what was going on behind the camera, she loves to look in the little screen and poke at it. So I turned to camera around and snapped a photo of her and I.

Behind the camera

365/35 Many things to do in 2 hours

We had nearly nothing to do all week as far as errand or appointments, and them Thursday between 6-8 pm we had a full schedule. Here's how it went:

• 5:30 - Hubby arrives home, changes to run,
• 5:50 - JD arrives home
• 5:50 - Loaded everyone in the van
• 6:05 - Drove through Micky D's as dinner was needed fast
• 6:15 - they dropped me at the blood drive
  
• 6:20 - Ran to the grocery store to get milk
• 6:30 - Hubby drops MJ off at the library for tweens
  
• 6:40 - Ran back home to drop off milk and pick up the forgotten reflective running gear
• 6:45 - Back to town to drop off JD at the library
• 6:55 - ran back to the blood drive to grab me
• 7:00 - Drop off Hubby up town so he could run
  
• 7:05 - I drove back to the library to wait the the older kids to get done at 7:30
• 7:40 - Kids and I are waiting; thinking we are picking Hubby up
• 7:40 - Receive the call- Hubby is home, where are we? (Waiting for you)
• 8:00 - Arrive home to put the girls to bed on time

and the rest of the week is just as quiet as the first part of the week. Thank goodness we live in a small town and everything was in a 6 mile radius

Many things to do in 2 hours

365/34 Muti-tasking

This is how JD talks on the phone and plays he PSP. This phone call lasted 90 minutes and he barely said 50 words. His pal and him were listening to music! It is a good thing we have roll over minutes to use up. He is going to get a limit put on the phone calls from now on. The teenager years have just begun, Give me strength!

Muti-tasking

365/33 Ilove Valentines

What do you get when you combine 4" circles of aluminum foil, 48 " of white string, Sweetheart candy hearts, Hersey Kisses, scrapbook paper and this pdf file?

Tuesday's POD of course! Or better known as, MJ and JD's Valentines for their friends. I was blog hopping the other day and found a new blog to love, How does she which had link to a blog post by Full of Bliss. MJ seen the pictures and wanted to make 30 for her class and once JD seen what we were making he wanted a few to give his friends (I was surprised by this). After we bought the supplies MJ found out that her class is not have a Valentine party so she is taking them to share at snack time on the 15th.
These were easy to make once I found a way to quickly cut the click wheels out (I don't have a 1.5" circle punch but my CM Circle cutter worked just fine after my SIL reminded me of it). The kids helped me make them, JD liked my tape gun a bit too much & MJ kept reorganizing hers by color but that is the quirks of my kids:) They also both had very creative ideas which helped to finished product look better. This is the first time we are ready for Valentines day on the 2nd of February!

Ilove Valentines

Here is a closeup of one of JD's Iloves, he went for non-Valentine-like papers.

362/32 Bedtime overdue

Wow this cold is causing all sorts of problems in our house. Most all of us is stuffy, congested and fussy. The girls and I had a long day with not much sleep so bedtime came early and it was still overdue! The girls were laying down to get changed before bed and they were both just a howling so I grabbed the camera to capture the way we all feel today.

Bedtime overdue