Lentz Blog

Happy Birthday Chicken Noodle

2012-02-05T17:22:00.001-05:00

Our big girl had a color blast party this year. She had some friends over to spend the night and they all had some major girlie fun.

They had brightly colored candy, tie dyed shirts for themselves with sharpie markers and rubbing alcohol and then did matching ones for their dolls, they practiced their make up skills on each other – yikes!, had tacos for dinner, watched a movie, and did a LOT of talking and playing. Hailey wanted a special cake….

It WAS pretty cool if I do say so myself.

She said earlier that the best part of presents is seeing the person’s face when they open it…

That is pretty fun. Happy Birthday girl!

Thanks Dad!!

2012-01-27T09:21:00.001-05:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen drawers.

My dad is so handy! I’m sorry you slaved away the whole time you were visiting. But I sure do love my new drawers. And my old/new laptop. And my reborn RosettaStone headset. :)

Fun was had by all

2012-01-13T00:40:00.002-05:00

My baby is growing up!! His party was a video game party (run and organized by dad, made pretty by me
After deciding on the theme, he said he wanted to play video games but have an Angry bird theme…ok….
This is what I came up with for goodie bags since they don’t sell Angry Bird party supplies, at least not around here.

And of course the cake….

The played video games and some others with a more angry bird theme. The green balloons are the pigs (they had piggie faces drawn on with markers) and the kids had to race to the chair and pop them by sitting on them. Or jumping, or getting help from friends… Apparently it was hard.

Let them eat cake. There were 9 party goers.

And then presents. Can we find the birthday boy in there? I think I see the dark red of his sweatshirt there…
Don’t you like the yellow angry bird glaring down at them? I just noticed that.

Well, we had fun and now it’s time to write some thank you notes!

The last of them!

2011-12-26T21:42:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I got really bad about posting. Sorry! Here are the rest.

This was actually on Christmas Eve, but I didn’t think pictures of carpet installation would fit very well with the overall theme, and we did have 2 things on the 24th to document so I just took some poetic license.

Yikes, I’m going to have to remove that line in this last one, but you get the idea….

DD 20

2011-12-20T21:15:00.001-05:00

The amount of candy on this thing…. but it WAS fun. It even has windows with yellow paper so the light shines through. The kids are getting pretty good at decorating and I’m getting better at construction.

Daily December 18, 19, and a preview of 20

2011-12-20T13:02:00.001-05:00

Day 18- I hate the camera on my phone, but didn’t want to lug around my big camera to the mall. I had to blur some of the pics on day 19 since they aren’t my kiddos.

What’s up for day 20?

Before picture.

December Daily 17

2011-12-17T22:50:00.001-05:00

The kids and I went to see this movie today. Very cute.

Daily December pages 13-16!!

2011-12-16T22:25:00.001-05:00

Hailey and Blake made stained glass windows. The santa looks small here, but he’s almost a foot tall in real life! The nativity that Hailey finished for me is just beautiful.

I wish I had checked my supply of oranges…. we only had 1! All three kids were huddled around it poking in cloves and saying, “why are we doing this? What’s this for? Do you eat these?” It was funny, but I do plan on getting more oranges and doing more so the whole house smells nice.

The cupcakes were yummy. Of course, we should walk up and down in the neighborhood passing them out we have so many. I’m really not sure what to do with them. I froze half of them- the ones I didn’t have frosting for… but the others. They’re just in my fridge. Lonely. Waiting for someone to gobble them up. FYI- send cash this year I’m going to need new pants.

December Daily 11 and 12

2011-12-14T23:55:00.001-05:00

Ok…. so I’ve gotten a bit behind on the posting. Tomorrow I will get a chance to take photos of day 13, and also day 14. I need light for one, and no rain for the other….

We LOVE our Jesse Tree and each night at dinner go through the reading and put up the ornament. Last year it was on our front door, but that was a bit of a pain with people going in and out, so this year it’s in the kitchen on the window. This is a great spot and it helps us to remember to do it daily b/c it’s right there. Aidan was the first for his date night this year. This is one of the kids favorite activities each year. A special date night with a parent.

December Daily 10

2011-12-11T11:12:00.001-05:00

We watched a Christmas movie and then went to sleep under the tree. Blake went to his bed though b/c he couldn’t sleep with the lights blinding him.

December Daily 8 and 9

2011-12-10T00:56:00.001-05:00

I should have posted this one last night…. it was late I was tired. We made cookies. Chocolate cut outs.

Today we made some ornaments. And I made more cookies. But those aren’t posted.

December Daily 7

2011-12-07T23:06:00.001-05:00

Today I have a double pager! I took a lot of photos so I had to…

Yikes, and I now see that my shadow layer went over on that page…. will have to fix that. That stinks. OH well.

As you can see, we went to see Santa today. The kids LOVE the santa at Bass Pro best. So do I. He is the most santa looking Santa and they have lots of activities there for the kids. Hailey wrote a letter to Santa and will get an email response. The sleigh prop outside of the store was a new thing this year that was fun. FYI, you might watch out for Robin Hood there at the top and the sharp shooter A-man if you’re out hunting. My little cowboy isn’t much danger to any beast though… but he makes a good face for it.

Day 5 and 6

2011-12-06T22:33:00.001-05:00

I was so proud of myself when I started working on this tonight thinking how I just had one a day to do and I could SOOO do this. And then I went to put my 5 at the bottom of the first snow one and realized (shocking that I did realize) that today isn’t the 5th! Yikes! What happened to the 5th?! I have no idea. Not a clue. I would have sworn I was up on this….

Another Daily or two

2011-12-04T20:57:00.001-05:00

As long as you stay on top of it, this is do-able. Of course, I say that now on day 4….

December Daily

2011-12-03T11:36:00.001-05:00

I’ve decided to try my hand at the December Daily challenge. Since I have an advent calendar with activities (or treats) for each day made up

for each day, I’ll think I’ll use those for the daily photograph(s). Mine won’t be as crafty and awesome as Ali Edwards’, but I think it will be a wonderful book of Holiday memories.

So, here are day 1 and 2.

I do need to quickly decide how to bind it and make my cover…. Do I want to go totally digital? That requires a change of page size…. since I was thinking more handmade. Handmade would be cute and I could add in other “stuff” making it a great keepsake, but not reproducible…. aaaackkk! decisions!! And I see that Blake needs a haircut. And no, that’s not our BIG tree, it’s the kids tree where they put all of their ornaments that they have made and some others too. We ended up being tired after setting up the big tree (it takes more work than I thought), and so we’ll hopefully decorate it today. So, visit tomorrow for our next December Daily!

Fall photo shoot

2011-11-04T09:43:00.001-04:00

We had some time to get fall pictures done. These are my favorites.

catching up on October

2011-10-27T11:02:00.001-04:00

It’s been a while since I posted! We’ve been BUSY. Too busy to stop. Now, I think we have some time to catch our breath for a bit though. Maybe just maybe I’ll even find some time to scrap some of the pictures!

The bug was finally able to clip a dragonfly’s wings! Sounds cruel, but it’s not. He flew off after I took these photos of my not proud daughter.

The bug getting her softball medal. She improved sooo much and LOVES softball/baseball. That’s her awesome coach. Yes, he got some grief from all the girls and parents about that horrible shirt he wore.

Then my parents made it and we went to Branson, MO.

The fish hatchery was way cooler than I thought it would be. The kids thought so too.

Who knew feeding the fish could be so much fun?! When you throw in the food,

the water just erupts in slimy fish fighting for it. Gives me the willies.

Then Opa taught the kids to skip rocks. The record was 8 times.

I just thought this was a cool tree.

The kids on a trolly. It was parked, but you wouldn’t know that it didn’t get any more exciting than this if I didn’t tell you.

Much to my oldest boys delight we went to play miniature golf. He LOVES mini golf.

Here we all are.

Down by the river in Branson. This was pretty cool. They played music and had the water fountain that did a show with lights and even the towers there that spewed fire.

We ate a lovely lunch at Big Cedar Lodge. And look! There’s even a picture of me that I don’t hate…. don’t love it, but don’t hate it either.

Then my parents left and we went to the BIG corn maze in town with our Classical Conversations group. It was muddy fun.

And now you’re all caught up to last week. Ugh! I’m still behind.

this week…

2011-10-02T21:04:00.001-04:00

Aidan had a soccer game. he says hi.

Blake had his last game- or a playdate in the sand- can’t really tell which.

Hailey was up. She is the cutest thing in her uniform!!

And today Aidan blew out 9 candles on his cake!!

What we’re doing

2011-09-22T17:12:00.001-04:00

The bug continues to LOVE playing softball. Their team is undefeated so far.

I’m not sure my tough guy likes playing soccer though- what do you think? He just loves it.

He gets right in there. Takes the ball all the way down the field and then hands it over to whoever happens to be near the goal. Ugh!!

Go! Get it!

My handsome boys.

The Arch field trip

2011-09-04T11:40:00.002-04:00

So, we went to the Arch in STL for a field trip this weekend. Here we are getting in our egg getting ready to go up to the top.

Here we are getting in our egg getting ready to go up to the top.

These little windows make me nervous. The curve of the blding makes me nervous. 630 feet up makes me nervous. ALL those people up in the top of this makes me nervous. I feel like someone needs to be in charge to make sure there is equal weight distributed on the left and right sides…but they don’t.

Our wonderfully scenic family photo at the top of the arch. What? You can’t tell we are 630 feet up in the arch? Well, if you look closely, you can see lighter areas of grey behind the kids. That’s because of the light coming in those little windows behind us. And NO, I could not have staged this photo better with the room and the people. I’m amazed there isn’t a head bobbing up in front of us.

My favorite picture of the arch I took all day. There were others. Believe me.

The last picture taken before I slammed my camera lens first on the concrete floor of our garage several hours later. Luckily the only damage seems to be the filter that was on. Thank God.

Take me out to the ball game!

2011-08-31T23:17:00.001-04:00

So, the Lentz road show has begun. That’s funny b/c I’m going to be in the car ALL the time. Laugh with me, it’s better than crying.

So, Blake’s first baseball game is up:

Don’t ask, I don’t know.

Isn’t he cute though? He sure looks good out there.

That’s his coach. I’m thinking the conversation is going something like this, “he kid, do you know what you’re doing out here?” Blake, “ummm, no…. do you?”

Ray giving him a pep talk while he gets him geared up for catcher duties. I can only imagine what Blake is saying, I’m what? What’s that? Oh, ok….. what does that mean?

Then Hailey’s first game is up. She was pretty upset about having to play softball instead of baseball but I think we’ve moved beyond that now.

That’s Hailey’s team. She is VERY excited to be no. 5. For all of you who don’t know, that’s Pujoles’s number. For those of you who still don’t know, he’s on the Cardinals baseball team.

I’m not sure you can really see her face here, but I think she is snarling.

Getting ready to bat….

And first time ever up to bat (well, third swing, but first time up) in a game. She hits it and makes it to first (top left pic in the four-some), then she steals 2nd and then 3rd, and although it looks like she’s grinning and posing for a picture there with her coach I’m sure she’s soaking in his advice and remembers every word, and then she’s off and SCORES!!! Is it called scoring? She crossed home right there in the last picture. She was sooo excited. Her coach is AWESOME!!! He is actually the assistant coach for the women’s softball team at Columbia College! Oh, and her team is orange crush. Isn’t that cute?!

school pics- kinda

2011-08-28T13:15:00.001-04:00

Our version of school pics. Blake has on a tie dye shirt that he made… he got the other one that I wanted him to wear dirty so then I let him pick.

credits: Seriously cool school by Cottage Arts.

Crazy busy

2011-08-20T11:17:00.001-04:00

Ok. Apparently we will be living in the car and on various fields all over COMO for the next couple of months. A-Man plays soccer 1 practice a week and 1 game a week. B-Boy plays baseball and practices once a week and games twice a week, H-Girl plays softball and has 1 two hour practice a week and two games. So, if you see me, wave and throw me a bag of food please- we’ll probably need it. Or a drink.

My latest LO for a blind scraplift challenge over at PC. Didn’t win this time, but she did like my frame…. I used a bunch of different stuff from various kits but all by Miss Mint over at PC.

Found Week 24.

2011-08-13T12:02:00.002-04:00

I Know everyone is wondering where week 24 is?
Well, I found it. I didn’t know that I hadn’t put it up.
So, here it is.
Credits: By Bella Gypsy At the Drop Off kit.

I won! A $5 coupon to one of my favorite Digistores!!

2011-08-08T20:59:00.001-04:00

It was a paper to digi scraplift on Peppermint Creative. I just LOVE that picture of my little man there.

Stars and Stripes kit, inspiration layout was by BoBunnyTeam at Scrapbook.com.

Baptism

2011-08-07T10:25:00.001-04:00

Hailey and I were baptized this summer. It was a great experience.

Hailey went first (kids go first).

Some of my girlfriends got in the water with me. Molly even got in fully clothed!! The boys were too busy playing on the kids play structure in the kid pool.

I adore my friend Joni. She is an amazing woman.

Summer Fun pics

2011-07-28T11:50:00.001-04:00

The Butt Buster

Ice cream melts sooo fast when it’s a 100 out.

Not sure what he is doing?? I need some more of these.

It’s a bit hard to look cool with ice cream on your lip but you manage.

How does our garden grow this year? See for yourself.

Will these tomatoes EVER turn red???

Here’s another

2011-07-24T10:15:00.002-04:00

credits: Traci’s He’s a Leader at SSD. Template Bottoms Up set 1 also by Traci.

And Adam’s wedding was Saturday. Aren’t they just GORGEOUS?! Her dress is just beautiful. I did some editing on the wedding pics, but not the reception.

I love this picture.

Awwwww. Hailey misses her Adam.

Isn’t he a handsome groom? Sooo sweet. He is just a great guy. He looks pretty good with his bride too.

I don’t dance, but Hailey does!

She even let Hailey have a slow dance with Adam. Isn’t that sweet? The DJ said to grab someone special and he came and asked Hailey to dance. Ugh. And look at Sarah dance! She’s got moves.

This little boy is from England. He was shy but Hailey swung him around the floor for 2 songs. I think Sarah had fun at her wedding. Look at her!

She danced with Amy and Nick too! Beautiful wedding. HOT but beautiful.

Getting there….

2011-07-18T10:02:00.002-04:00

Credits: A Little Help from my Friends kit by the SSD team for Lauren Grier. Template by Cindy #4.

Credits: Mini kit by Debra Tope. Owl by Cottage Arts, journaling box Brushed up Text by Misty Cato at SSD.

GOT to get caught up!!

2011-07-06T12:14:00.002-04:00

Credits: Carnival Thrills by Julie Billingsly at SSD.

More p52 Layouts and camp day!

2011-06-19T20:59:00.002-04:00

Credits: Making the Grade by Tracie Stroud at Scraporchard.

credits: OLD kit from Shabby Princess called Splendid.

credits: kit from Peppermint Creative new freebie called ‘New Do’

credits: For a challenge over at Peppermint Creative using Wild Weekend and Mr. Postman for some elements.

Seriously?! Would it be asking too much if she acted just a TAD sad? Like she might miss us just a little bit?
credits: Super simple frames by Dani at SSD.

More LO’s

2011-05-31T21:37:00.002-04:00

I used Meg’s Last Day of School for these layouts. I am doing our own yearbook this year.

More Meg layouts

2011-05-26T22:26:00.002-04:00

In the month of May I am a guest designer for Meg Mullins over at The Sweet Shoppe. So I get to play with any of her stuff that I want to, I just need to post the layouts at several locations around the web. It’s getting me to scrap more that’s for sure!

credits: Meg Mullins’ Every Little Thing- Girl. The template is one of her A lot of paper templates.

credits: I is for… being released this Saturday at SSD. I used a template of Yins.

Some new LO’s.

2011-05-24T23:20:00.002-04:00

An “older” picture, but I just LOVE this new kit by Meg Mullins at The Sweet Shoppe and it fit. It’s called The Last Day of School.

From our trip to the Parthenon in Nashville, TN.
Credits: Everyday Moments by Lauren Grier and Jenn Barrette.

Dollywood and earlier LO

2011-05-14T23:08:00.003-04:00

Dollywood 2011

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SOOTC shots from our trip to Dollywood. We had a great time Gran and Pop Pop. Thanks so much. So sorry you were sick Gran!

Love bug
credits: Love Blooms Here by Meg Mullins over at the Sweet Shoppe.

Happy Easter!!

2011-04-24T22:01:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the typo below in the week 15 LO post. I was typing it up while life with three small children was going on around me. I just needed to get it done quickly and sometimes in my hasty typing I make a mistake. I assure you, I do know how to spell their. Although I do confess to being a horrible speller.

Week 15

2011-04-24T20:50:00.002-04:00

p52
credits: Ruby Lane Designs at Funky Playground Movie Night Marathon kit and template by Kim at SSD from the 12 Days of Christmas.

Derby part 2

2011-04-18T13:24:00.002-04:00

credits: same kit as below.

Week 14

2011-04-16T13:47:00.003-04:00

Plugging ahead despite my allergy fog… maybe even better b/c of it. Ha! It’s yucky here. Everybody has itchy eyes and my mouth and throat were all itchy when I woke up. Stuffy and that awesome headache that comes with all this yellow stuff floating around. FUN.
BUT, Ray and Aidan are out at the Derby finals for Aidan’s races and I just finished the layout of his pack race.

credits: Derby kit by gg golden girls at Scrap Matters, distressed overlay by JSprague, and template by caps in the middle temps.

Week 13

2011-04-15T22:19:00.002-04:00

I know I’m behind. My goal is to catch up this week.

From Hailey’s acting class. She had a great time and played Cormac McLaggen.
Credits: Template Dec. 21st cookie, Wizard School by Traci Reed and Meg Mullins, and alpha from Build a Dream by Traci all at Sweet Shoppe.

New layouts

2011-04-06T16:22:00.002-04:00

All items from Peppermint Creative.

Credits: Little Scholar by Faith True at ScrapOrchard, alpha from grilled to perfection by Amy Stoffel, double page template by JS.

Credits: Kindergarten Crafts kit at Peppermint Creative, and stars and rickrack from Playground Pop.

Week 11

2011-03-31T13:05:00.001-04:00

credits: kit Brush and Floss by Peppermint Creative.

Week 10

2011-03-21T09:13:00.001-04:00

Isn’t he the cutest? I thought so, he looked so Irish with his hat that Blake made him.

credits: Word art by Ellie Lash an old freebie called Shamrock, and the kit is by SMJ and was a freebie called Feeling Lucky. LOVE the kit. template by Jamie Lee Designs called musictemplate.

Week 8 and 9

2011-03-13T11:56:00.002-04:00

I’ve got some catching up to do with my p52. Here are weeks 8 and 9.

credits: Everyday Moments kit by Jenn Barrette and Lauren Grier, template PODD Dream Template, paint alpha Betsy Tuma watercolor.

Credits: He's a Leader by Traci Reed, Dec. 15 cookie by Traci, and party in the playroom alpha by jannylynn

Week 7

2011-02-21T21:51:00.002-05:00

Credits: Battle for the Galaxy by Lauren G. and Penny Springman at SSD.
Template by Libby Lou crew Jan Freebie.

Week 6

2011-02-16T23:33:00.003-05:00

Credits: Font- Pea Quinn, stacked background from TR Jan11 stacked backgrounds freebie, alpha by penny springman 2 cute alphas, pink flower and balloon by Jenn Barrette Best Birthday Ever add on.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Week 5

2011-02-08T00:21:00.002-05:00

Credits: Kit- Slippery Slope by Angie and Chrissy, template by cschneider former 52 free pg. 2.

Week 4 P52

2011-02-03T13:15:00.002-05:00

credits: template Jyurko stacked, kit was Out and About Bikin’ by Fee Jardin at SSD.

Snowmaggedon 2011

2011-02-02T16:18:00.001-05:00

Sooo much fun. We got almost 2 feet of snow. I think it’s 17.5 in the flat front yard and then in areas it’s over 2 feet.

Taking turns shoveling us out.

He is actually digging a tunnel under there with his feet. It kinda looks like he just fell down though.

They are digging a tunnel on this side of the drive with all the extra snow from our shoveling.

See?

Trying to make my way to the street to take a picture of the house. It’s harder than it looks up to my knees and all.

We’re not even halfway done with the driveway and everyone is tired of shoveling already.

And more shoveling.

Blake in a sea of snow. Poor thing. I’m not sure he can move actually.

Our deck.

The dogs are having a great time. They wouldn’t go out into the yard until I walked out there first. To test the waters…

That’s gotta be a workout.

Hi Hailey!!

Thursday City Museum Fun

2011-01-30T11:14:00.002-05:00

If you haven’t gone to the City Museum in STL, GO!!! wow. It’s FUN. It’s like they took a bunch of kids dreams and just made the scenes.
Driving up to it you don’t know what to expect. It’s crazy. In the winter with ice out here though the kids and parents are all inside.

It starts out on the first floor with ocean animals and an underwater wonderland….

There’s this crazy huge slinky tunnel and that poor guy getting his nose stepped on everytime…. it’s all very organic feeling. See that metal wall behind them there? Those are the old metal lunch tubs you got served lunch out of at school.

I don’t know what the ceiling here is made of…. some kind of paper material cut into strips and tied to wire cage.

This slide is made up of the rollers used in factories…. this use to be a factory I think. You’ll see these used again soon.

That’s to the left. Up there is where to get something to eat and have the owners adorable little bug eyed dog try to beg some off of you. He’s cute though and everyone loves him. His name is Roofie.

There’s a big whale stuck in here.

And my kids in his mouth and then they run down his belly out who knows where.

To the right shiny columns, a turtle bin with real turtles

see?

Somewhere back there is this tree nest thing. Not sure how you get there, but kids do.

I bet she’s looking for her kids. And I bet they are in a hamster tunnel in the silvery clouds above looking down at her and laughing.
Yes, there are kid sized tunnels running all through that ceiling. You can hear them crawling and squeeling up there… you just can’t see them.

You can go in this shell and end up somewhere…. Warning… you might loose your kids in this place. It’s actually a really good possibility.

And there’s a tree trunk tunnel in here too. I think one of those kids is mine… maybe not though.

There are wire tunnels but Hailey hates these cause they hurt your legs.

Here’s another tunnel but I don’t know where it goes…

And a tunnel going right down into the floor. But that’s not my kid so I’m not going in after him. Actually even if it was my kid I wouldn’t go after him.

Look! A cute little froggie peaking out.
That was on the first floor. Let’s go upstairs. Oh, but it wasn’t ALL of the first floor. The coat check is really neat and there is a coy pond.

I’m not sure but I think this was in someone’s dream again. See the lizard on this column? He’s made entirely out of watch buckles. and the dragonfly he’s eating.

Look at that guy. huh. The slide there and the railings around… remember those factory spindles? I’m guessing they took them to elementary schools and had the kids paint them. Not one is alike and they are very cool.

We are now in the skateless park. We’ve passed some museum-y things that my kids didn’t blink at.

Someone should probably stop this kid with a broken arm running around on the inside of this dome. But he looks so happy.

The largest pencil in the world. It is real and works too!! So does the huge rubber eraser.

A huge hamster wheel. This is not my kid with Nancy, but it’s a good picture of Nancy.

I’m pretty sure I need one of these. I’m also pretty sure Nancy would NOT like it.

Here I got my kids to stand somewhat still for a real museum piece.

I’m just glad he didn’t grab her lower.

There’s a train in there and this guy takes it seriously. He’s a hoot buy if you’re taller than the avg. 9 year old don’t even try to get on.

The largest pair of mens briefs.

Aint that right? I wish I could show you a pic. I took at a resteraunt on my phone… you would be AMAZED at the similarity between this picture of Blake and the other (where he’s not behind a monkey mask and yet still looks EXACTLY like this).
There was a lot more museum stuff like preserved animals and parts and skeletons and skins and doorknobs and stuff on that floor.
And then somewhere (I don’t know where at this point) is the 10 story slide. But we’re in a 3 or 4 story building so what they mean (I think) is that if you straightened out this slide it would be 10 stories tall. It’s in these caves somewhere…. the caves are part someone’s dream again and part left over from the factory days.

Here is my DD in the jaws of something.

This is sooo AWESOME MOM!!!!!

There’s the slide. I think someone taped a movie in here once and these were futuristic apartments. There’s an organ. Cause those are common in caves with slides and weird animal tentacle arms coming out of nowhere. It was hard to take pics in here without a tripod that really do it justice but there are tunnels and holes ALL over for your kids (or you) to get lost in. It’s GREAT- for them.

And THAT is the amazing City Museum in STL. Don’t think I showed you half of it though b/c there’s an indoor circus (we missed the show), an art room, a huge sponge/block toddler room, it’s just indescribable.

Thursday am Eagle Watching

2011-01-29T10:26:00.002-05:00

We spent the night and went swimming in the hotel and then Thurs. am we went to see the Eagles in Alton, Ill. They come here in the winter because the river isn’t frozen over and they can fish.

This was the first Eagle evidence that we saw. It’s an old nest though but pretty large considering how high up and far away it was.

That’s what we’re looking for! Dark blogs in trees. Unfortunately you can’t get very close, but that’s probably good too. They are very well protected so you errr on the side of caution and stay back.

Here’s another!!

And with a decent camera that picture can turn out pretty well!

Look! Dark blobs.

They are pretty and it’s fun to go out eagle spotting.

That’s a big eagle! Kid-sized in fact.

And then you drive down along the river toward the ferry. We saw these two catching a ride on a chunk of ice down the river. Looks like one’s got something.

The ferry wasn’t supposed to be running but it is! Yeah for us. Brrrr for those poor men.

And then the eagle perched in a close tree took off. Of course, I didn’t catch him right when he took off which was an awesome sight, but I caught up with him.

It’s also fun to ride the ferry. Especially when there’s ice in the river.

“Mom, what if I fell in right now? Would you jump in after me?” ….. there is a life preserver tied to the side of the boat….
But with that green cast I think he’d sink like a rock, so yeah, I’d jump in after you.

Goodbye ferry man. Thanks for the ride.

I forgot my P52 last week.

2011-01-28T17:20:00.002-05:00

Here is my week 3 of P52.

credits: Chills and spills by Bella Gypsy, label was an ad challenge by Lauren Grier at Designer Digitals. The template was a June freebie by Sir Scrapalot.

BEST field trip EVER

2011-01-28T16:02:00.002-05:00

OK. This was the BEST field trip ever. Two days (who gets to do that?!) AND Aunt Nancy as a chaperone. It was crazy and fun and exhausting, and well, just see.
First we went to the Butterfly house after arriving in STL. GORGEOUS.

No, these are NOT butterflies. They are roaches. Look at That! She’s even smiling. Yuck. She’ll learn.

There are between 1500 and 2,000 butterflies at the butterfly house. Here are 2. I have more, but really do you want to see them all? These are my two favorite. And it’s so hot and steamy in there that my lens kept getting steamed up.

Like this. See the hazy film over it? That’s condensation on my lens.

And now it’s gone. I must have wiped the lens right before these. Look, he’s trying to catch a butterfly on his cast.

This was in the theater. It was educational. But very creepy. Look at that!

And then I saw this and it looks kinda like that spider wants to eat my child. Of course, I just took a picture. I couldn’t stand to look at that spider. I would be freaking out if I were him. I’m MUCH farther back though so that’s good.
Tomorrow I will post our AWESOME Eagle spotting adventure the next morning. WOW!!

skiing

2011-01-25T14:20:00.001-05:00

I want to take the kids skiiing, but I cringe at spending $$ when they’ve never been. What if they hate it? What if they’re horrible at it? What if it’s too cold? What if they’re toes are freezing off? I know the complaints- I used them. So, we decided to give them a taste at home.

Our OLD skis, freshly polished with wax, er, Endust furniture polish – it actually works!! In case you run out of ski wax in your home…

Yes, this is Blake. and yes, that’s Opa’s old glove on his one arm b/c his gloves won’t fit over the cast. And yes I let him ski down a 5 ‘ incline with a broken arm. Please don’t judge me on that alone.

Look at him go!

The best way back up the hill? Opalator!! You just sit back and grin.

Look at that stance. And that HUGE glove!! You know what he reminds me of? A crab. One of those fiddler crabs with the one large claw to defend himself.

And Hailey had a go too.

Getting some tips before braving the slight incline on skis. She didn’t’ have that huge claw to protect herself with you know.

Lego Party

2011-01-16T22:45:00.002-05:00

And the party went on even with a broken arm.

My son wanted a Lego party, but of course, none of the party stores near us sold Lego party stuff. So, I used Traci's Buid a dream kit and made my own stuff.
Signs, water bottle labels, name tags, sucker covers, 2 different treat boxes, labels for goodie bags, a centerpiece, and invites. Oh, and the Birthday banner that I didn't get a good picture of but that was very cute as well.
Some party pictures:

Fun was had by all.

No Surgery.

2011-01-14T23:07:00.001-05:00

Credits: Ouchies and Ickies by Suzy Q at ScrapOrchard.

P52

2011-01-10T16:07:00.002-05:00

So, a couple of years ago I tried the p365. Where you take a picture everyday? Well, that went pretty good til about halfway and then I started with a couple of pics in a week, but not nec. every day. By the end I was lost. So, this year I am going to try the p52. Basically a picture a week. BUT I plan on taking more than one picture (of course) and scrapping my favorite for the p52 project. Here is my first.
Yikes. I goofed. This was Blake’s Birthday so that was the 8th, which makes it week 2 and NOT week 1. Sooooo I went back and changed it and added my week 1. Look at me! I’m ahead already.

Week 1

credits: Win or Loose by Heather Roselli template is a cookie from Dec. 14th.
and Week 2

Credits: I used Independent by Clingerman and Epperson at SSD and Dani’s January template challenge template.

This week in pictures.

2011-01-09T01:08:00.001-05:00

The Year started off with a night of games. We played our new games from Christmas. Star Wars Monopoly below and then Harry Potter Clue (which is a GREAT game btw).

Goofy boy.

Sleepy boy. This is about 10 pm New Years Eve. His eyes were closed a second before I took the picture.

Then the next couple of days we played more games. This is a new and lively game from Aunt Christina’s family.

You have to earn eggs and then roll a dice to tell you where to put them and then do things like run around the table, catch an egg, cluck like a chicken, etc. See all the eggs Hailey is trying to hold? She’s good at this game.

At the end of the week was Blake’s birthday.

I made this lego cake. I’ll get to make it again next week for his lego party. It was supposed to be this Sat., but when Aidan started getting sick on Friday night we decided to reschedule. Thought we got rid of that stomach bug already…. guess not. Practice makes perfect- or better I’m sure. Oh, and I didn’t pick out the omen of death to put on the cake FYI Blake picked it out. I had Harry Potter Lego character and Hedwig.

He loved all of his gifts and can’t wait to try out our new game.

And we’re building with Legos again. We have several of these HP sets now. They really are quite cool though.

And he’s officially 7!!

That was our first week of the new year. What did you do?

A family picture

2011-01-08T11:20:00.001-05:00

Credits: Kit by Shabby Princess- Clementine, template by Kristie of Hawt Moma templates March 2010

The turkey and Mayflower are from First Thanksgiving by Jacque at the Lilypad.

One of the few family pictures we took in 2010. We’ll have to do better this year.

A new LO and some more snow pictures.

2011-01-02T17:41:00.001-05:00

credits: Battle for the Galaxy by Lauren Grier and Penny Springmann, peel and stick alpha by Misty Cato.

Don’t’ you love snow pictures? I do.

I forgot to post these yesterday.

2011-01-01T11:49:00.001-05:00

credits: Winter Wishes mini by Dani at SSD. Template by Bekka 1976

The kids reading the story of Christmas before opening gifts.

Template moutwashmambo by BG at ES. For the LO I used elements from our Jesse tree project by JLarsen at The Lilypad.

I loved this art project that we did and wanted to keep it somehow forever. I think I will frame the originals…

Credits: I used slippery slope from ES by angie and Chrissy, and template by Bella Gypsy Sketchology etCeteraetc.

I LOVED the look I got on his face! I looked over at him and he was making that really strange face… like something was NOT right.

Some new layouts with some old pictures

2010-12-30T09:33:00.002-05:00

Boy is it fun to scrap these Disney pics!! Makes me want to go back….

Credits: Spooktacular and Smell my feet kits by Bella Gypsy, template from Yin.

credits: The Happiest Place by Meg, kraft paper from Out and About Bikin, and Lynnette's cookie

credits: Candy Coated Christmas, alpha from Sweetiekins, solids from Little Joys, and template from cschneider memories

More Layouts from this Christmas

2010-12-26T16:32:00.001-05:00

Silver snowflakes from MCO Frosted at Little Dreamer, Kit is Chills and Thrills by Bella Gypsy at ES. Template freebie from Yin.

Christmas Eve and Day.

A Lot Like Christmas by Dani at Sweet Shoppe and an old template at Cottage Arts.

Christmas

2010-12-25T23:51:00.001-05:00

I went digital shopping!! Sweet Shoppe is having their semi annual Going going Gone sale and I took advantage!

Four awesome new kits. Here are two Layouts I did today using one of my new kits.

Zoe Pearn's Little Joys kit and modified Connie Prince template

Hailey’s hair looks so short, it’s all bundled in the hood I think.

Little Joys kit and Dec. 19th cookie from Sweet Shoppe.

Beautiful lights

2010-12-24T09:34:00.001-05:00

Blake loves the pyramid.

So does Hailey.

What we’ve been up to

2010-12-21T12:19:00.001-05:00

This is one I had started to scrap a while back but never quite had the right kit. Well, now I do. So, here it is.

Kit is Build a Dream by Traci Reed.

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Bowling fun with the Brokkens

Amazing form there.

who needs good form when you look this good?

There is quite a bit of waiting….

He takes the slow and steady approach. I think we all got older waiting for his balls to get to the end.

The whole gang.

This little piggie needs to eat more so he gets as big as Darwin.

This is one fat piggie.

Aidan’s German apple Santa.

Blake’s santa.

Cub Scout awards. Aidan got his Heritage belt loop, Language and Culture belt loop, and collecting belt loop. He also got a badge and pin for the 600 club for popcorn sales.

Blake got his Chess belt loop, wildlife conservation belt loop, and language and culture belt loops as well as the badge and pin for 600 club too.

Here they are picking up their popcorn sales awards. In addition to the badge and pin they each got a marshmallow shooter and a gift card to wal mart!

We’re getting excited around here!

2010-12-18T18:41:00.001-05:00

Great Santa at Bass Pro.

Look, he’s the next Michael Jordan with the tongue thing.

Bare bones house.

Add LOTS of candy and icing

And you get a crazy candy house with sleigh and reindeer.

More LO’s

2010-12-16T10:27:00.001-05:00

I have been trying to get more scrapping done so I can get caught up and try to stay caught up in 2011. Here are a couple of more LO’s.

credits: Wizard School by Traci Reed and Meg Mullins, Q4 December Template all at Sweet Shoppe.

Credits: Meg Mullins No More photos kit and Dec. 7th cookie at sweet shoppe

credits: Feeling Frosty by Jenn Barrette and Dec. 15th cookie from Sweet Shoppe.

New LO.

2010-12-11T13:25:00.001-05:00

You’ve seen the pictures but I made a LO with them. DBaldwin’s template and Penny Springmann’s Christmas Wishes.

I thought he was so cute staring out the window like that.

Pretty Bird ornament feeders

2010-12-08T11:35:00.002-05:00

We’ve made bird feeder “ornaments” before. Almost every year since Hailey’s been old enough to spread peanut butter on bread. The problem is, the bread tears, and rips, and gets drippy and soggy and falls apart when you hang them and when they are out in the elements. THIS year I finally thought we should do something different. Imagine that huh? Well, I had these chipboard ornament shaped pieces that I WAS going to make a holiday photo album with (I got them about 3 years ago- so I figure that’s not going to happen). But I had them and this falling apart problem.
So, I figured the important part for the bird is the pb and bird seed, the important part for me is pretty, and the important part for kids is the ability to do the project and see their efforts displayed UP on a a tree and not on the ground a soggy mess.

Here is a striped ornament using 2 kinds of birdseed.
So, here you go:
You need chipboard ornaments (Michaels), pb, yarn, and bird seed (2 kinds at least).

Spread pb on chipboard ornament. One section at a time. We had two different kinds of seeds and so we decided on stripes.

Dip in birdseed and squash down a bit. Then pb the other parts and dip on the other seed.

And on the tree outside they are pretty, hold up WAY better than bread, and are still hanging days later!

Trimming the tree

2010-12-05T12:07:00.002-05:00

I used Trim the Tree by Bella Gypsy from ES on these two pages. The blue LO was made using the November template challenge template from Lilypad.

This LO was made using a Yin template and KSC's Christmas Whimsy from Scrapgirls.

Photo shoot

2010-12-04T10:50:00.001-05:00

We had our annual photo shoot yesterday.

What’s in the hat?!

Darwin!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Lest you think it was all smiles and cheer….there was some crazy thrown in there too. It IS my house afterall. The dogs didn’t make any final cuts.

Things I’ve wanted to post…

2010-11-30T00:55:00.001-05:00

Well, Ray has fixed my computer!! So I have access to my pictures and can post (and do a gift or two) them here!

Blake’s spelling test. I’m thinking he’s bored, not challenged enough, or had a bad dream.

Dr. Blake. Doesn’t that look good on him?

Turkey dinner for those of you who missed it. Which was all of you since no one came to see us this year.

What kind of tree is that?!

Ok. Now, hold that tree down.

I’m pooped. It’s late and I need to go to bed.

Trick or Treat!

2010-11-02T00:24:00.001-04:00

Aidan used the Mr. Potato head method of decorating.

Hailey had Pop Pops help.

Blake did a great job with a pretty intricate mummy design. He did it all himself!

Ray got some tools out.

Even Max got in the mix. Poor thing. He was the masked purple fake dog.

Medusa’s snakes

Cowboy, Griffindor boy, and Medusa getting ready for some treats.

Nifong Park photos

2010-10-24T11:58:00.001-04:00

Last week

2010-10-22T18:26:00.001-04:00

At the girl scouts Hula Party Hailey learns how to hula. She also won a trophe!!

surfing contest.

Bradford Farm field trip. The MU extension dept. has a great farm. They have a lot of demonstrations and a great fall field trip with a corn maze and free pumpkin patch.

Scrapbooking Weekend

2010-10-18T00:27:00.001-04:00

I was so glad to have been able to get away for the weekend and work on scrapbooking. I rarely ever do layouts anymore and I need to make it a priority again. BUT. … here are some of the LO’s I did. There are 4 more, but I am having trouble opening them… seems there was a problem when they saved. Hopefully I can figure that out and not loose them.

Aidan’s Harry Potter Birthday Party

2010-10-04T10:26:00.002-04:00

Birthday boy. He didn’t want to wear his glasses.

First everyone arrived at the station.

Then were sorted into houses.

Potions class. Yucky bats eyes.

After potions class, everyone was given their spell books.
Then, on to quiditch.

Hailey found the golden snitch!

Aidan putting a spell on the cake to make it a magical one.

and look! Jelly beans magically appeared inside the cake!

Hagrid was having a problem with snakes and dragon eggs in the forbidden forest… so the new wizards had to go and capture them all.
Then it was off to Honeydukes for goodies.

Our weekend

2010-09-29T20:45:00.001-04:00

After this picture he took his purple blanket there and washed the windows with it. Was he trying to make us go away?

pththth to you too.

I love this camel. He IS all that!

Six Flags and camping pictures are in the album below. Click to see all the pictures.

View Full Album

This weekend

2010-09-19T12:26:00.001-04:00

The boys go on their first cub scouts camping trip. They are sooo excited! I think Ray is pretty excited too. I’m worried. Just so you know.

But I was making cards with my girlies so I could only be soo worried. Aren’t they sooo cute?!

Then there was a soccer game on Sat. am. Probably not the best time to play a game- after camping….

And I finally cut open my melon. It is a watermelon. Now it’s looking a lot more watermelonish. Looks yummy doesn’t it?

Around the corner

2010-09-19T12:01:00.001-04:00

“Mom! Come look, a hot air balloon”!

“yes, I’ve seen them before”.

“not THIS close”!

“ok, let’s go see.”

Yes, that’s impressive and close, but not THAT close….

But wait, look at THAT. That IS close. That’s around the corner close. That was so close that while they were blowing it up, it started to lean toward us and I was thinking, should we move?

Turns out that it was this young mans maiden voyage alone- which is a requirement before flying commercially.

and he’s off. His poor mamma with tears and a smile.

First Field Trip of the year

2010-09-15T20:07:00.002-04:00

Apples and Alpacas. They could also have added: ducks, geese, honey, and soap. This is an amazing woman. She runs it by herself now as her husband isn’t able to do much and boy is she something. And nice!
Her geese and ducks- they get put in pens at night to keep them safe. Here she just let them all out.
One of her hives. She use to have more, but they got some “thing” and couldn’t find their way back to the hives.
The apple orchard- YUMMY.

One of 3 dogs that thinks he’s an alpaca and helps to keep them safe.

Hailey got to lead around Tough Stuff.

The store has all kinds of alpaca goods, as well as her other items.
We had a great time.

MORE pictures

2010-08-11T12:50:00.001-04:00

More summer pictures

2010-08-10T18:42:00.001-04:00