Only Thursday?

Thank goodness tomorrow if Friday! I am wiped out. Last night I was so tired I just went to bed when the boys finally fell asleep. Although by the time I calmed down enough to fall asleep I looked over and it was 10:30...an hour later. Ugh! Oh well, it's temporary. Was planning on working on some scrapping stuff tonight but am so very tired again and think I may turn in soon. Noah woke at 6:00 am and it just seems to be getting earlier and earlier each day. Better than him being up in the middle of the night though so not a complaint, just a reason why I am not staying up so late tonight. :) If I don't wake before they do then I don't get to take a shower and get dressed...and I have to do that or I just can't seem to get going for the day.

Lots of fun new stuff out there and have discovered some new techniques and rediscovered some old so can't wait to get scrapping again. Maybe over the weekend...

Meet Bella!

Meet our new niece Bella! Isn't she just the most precious thing? She is getting to go home tonight! We are so excited for them!!!! Their lives are about to be turned upside down but it will be the best thing that has ever happened to them and we wish them all the best! Wish we lived closer so we could go and hold this precious little angel. Trying to figure out when we can go and visit now.

My little cutie watching it snow.

Snippits

Wow...the days are back to running together. I went and scrapped last night and got a page finished. One page...it was worth it though. I did get some files organized (that tends to take my first hour I am scrapping). I, like always, have too much stuff.

Kit is Changing Wind and template is Blog Template 1 by Colie's Corner
Fonts are Yorktown and Will & Grace

I am really into the typography thing and would love to spend time over the next year learning more about it. But then again I guess that will just have to go on the list...along with the 50 other things I would like to learn this year. Ya think it will happen?

We ventured to a pre-school fair today. The fair was nice, the boys seemed okay with it all. It was mostly just booths of people with info but they were taken with the noise and hustle and bustle. They even got a tooth brush that lights up...they will enjoy that I am sure since they love to bring their toothbrush to bed with them!

Learned a very cool trick for those of you who love salt scrubs. Get some sea salt and mix it with olive oil and vanilla and make your own! You can mix it with any kind of fragrance oils but vanilla is something I typically have on hand at all times. :) Put it in an airtight jar and voila...you have your very own salt scrub that will make your hands, elbows, whatever feel soft and smooth. Let me know how you like it if you end up trying it.

More aimless rambling...

Wow, yesterday was kind of busy. Good, but busy. The boys had PDO and that gave me some time to clean up around the house. Then while they napped I made a card...which turned out to take a wee longer than I anticipated thanks to the not so nifty little sewing machine I wanted to throw out the window. Note to self: Don't try things like that one the finished product unless you know they work correctly! Needless to say I tried to sew this card when it was nearly finished and messed the whole thing up. So had to remake the entire thing. Ugh! I hate things like that. But I will say instead of letting it burn me up like I normally would I just put it all aside to finish later. When I was calm and it wouldn't bother me. :)

Cameron was up half the night last night. He got up at 2:17 and didn't go back to his bed until almost 4:30. I am wiped out today but I will say I got to snuggle my little guy last night. I haven't got to do that a whole lot as they don't sit still very long...even in the middle of the night. So it was actually kind of nice in a way. I think he is getting teeth. That or he is afraid of the dark now. I am having to leave his door open to his room. Or hey, it could be five different things going on at once like it usually turns out to be. :)

Working on some fun projects that I will be able to share later. I need to get some pages done for the boy's books. So many things to do and so little time. So...off to be creative instead of blogging! But I will leave you with these cuties...

It's only Tuesday?

Well, I can no longer say my kiddos have never had an ear infection. We have our first one now. Sigh. Yesterday Cameron told me his ear hurt. We had a doctor's appointment for today anyway so I had him looked at and sure enough he has a slight one in his left ear. Funny thing is he told me his right ear hurt. :) But we caught it early hopefully and hopefully he won't hurt too much since we started antibiotics today. Little trooper that he is has still acted nearly perfectly normal with only a little but of crankiness in the late afternoon. He is such an amazing child!

This was Noah when he woke up from his nap. I have no idea what he did to make his hair so crazy but you know I had to take a picture. :)

Nothing creative to show you today. I have this stupid cold and slept during their entire nap for the most part. This stuff kicks my butt is all I can say. I hate it. But I do think taking Airborne several times a day has helped. Yesterday wasn't that bad and today was hopefully the worst of it. So more Airborne for me and off to bed!

It's a strange kind of Monday...

Didn't really feel like Monday to me. I am fighting off a cold and I think M is finally over his. Praying the boys don't get sick too. When will it all go away and leave us finally? I did take airborne several times today and drank a few cups of hot tea with honey and lemon (and one even with some whiskey). The boys go to the doctor tomorrow for shots so that will make for an interesting day I am sure.

I am on another roll here! I did this page the other night in my crafty state of mind. It was nice to do some digital scrapping, it had been a while. I had loved these pictures we took a few weeks ago and knew I wanted to scrap them.

Kit is Shy Guy by Colie's Corner
Fonts are VTKS No Name and VT Portable Remington

I am thinking I may change the pictures at the top to be all of each one of them so they have their own pages. I have been toying with the idea of doing each of them a book instead of combining them and just having it printed twice like I did with the one for their first year. I hardly ever get pictures of them together any longer and I am finding myself doing a page with only one of them in it most of them time these days (or at least when I do finally scrap). Hmm...will have to ponder this a little longer I think. Still haven't even really started their book for their second year so have some time.

Ahh...the ability to create...

Been busy making cards again! It feels so good to create again! Do something with my hands. I also realized how much of my stuff is still packed away and must remedy that soon. I need my "tools." I also realized I have a ridiculous amount of paper and must start working through that. I have stopped buying paper unless I am using it right then...so at least it's a start! So here are a few I did for our new niece.

She is such a cutie and I need to get some pictures to post soon of her beautiful little self! Please pray she gets to go home soon. I know her parents are anxiously awaiting that day!

And this fun little box I made the other day for my secret pal. And might I say I almost got busted dropping it off! I went to leave it on the front porch and don't you know the time I picked to do that someone came home! Thankfully they went through the garage and I had parked my car so it looked like I may have been at the neighbors house. Oh what fun it is to have a secret pal. Next time I will have someone else drop things off for me!!!!

What a great idea!

I came across this super cute idea and had to share it. I actually can't wait until I can do this for the boys as well. Cars come to mind...do you know they would flip out if they had car crayons???? Anyway, Lora over at My Blessed Life posted this super cool idea and if you have been throwing those broken crayons away (like I have) stop!

So I totally forgot that last night while we were eating dinner the phone rang. I thought great...hubby handed the phone to me because I thought it was going to be someone else. It said "research" on the caller ID. Cameron automatically started saying "hello, research" and of course when I answered the guy on the other end started talking 90 to nothing so I could not a get a word in edgewise. Cameron kept saying "hello, research" so I decided to hand the phone over to him. Needless to say I don't think the guy on the other end was too happy. It took him a while to realize I wasn't there and a small child was. Ha! So now you have a new thing to torture telemarketers with. Armed with your trusty chatty 2 year old!

I don't know what Cameron had seen on the TV but whatever it was he didn't like it. I caught this picture this evening and thought it was funny. They were eating vanilla wafers and having milk before heading to bed. Noah has been hungry lately and eating everything in site. I am thankful they now ask when they want to eat!

Worked on the basement today. Did lots of rearranging and now need to clean out stuff. Determined to have our house decluttered by the end of the year! I am so sick of just having stuff for the sake of having stuff. I wonder how many trips I will be making to donate things...

It is so windy tonight. We are having 50 mph winds and the people across the street had some siding blow off their house earlier today! I can't believe how bad it is. But at least it isn't raining right now. It was earlier and between the rain and wind it was so loud Cameron got upset and scared. This is the very first time either has ever been scared of weather so far.

The boys and I went through the car wash yesterday. It was pretty funny. Cameron has talked about it all day today. I asked if he wanted to go back and he said no. I don't think he liked it very much but he is having fun talking about it.

Okay, one last Cameron thing and I will go to away. He sang the whole first line of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star today! All by himself. No prompting from me. We were even talking about something else when he did it. It was so cool! I know they both love music and I pray they both like to play music and sing as they grow up.

Okay, off to work on a few things before turning in for the night...if I can sleep with this lovely wind going on out there!

Secret sisters

Aww, this is what I found on my door step this afternoon from my secret sister. How sweet! Love, love, love it! Going to have to make some cookies tonight or tomorrow for sure now. Just trying to figure out what to do for the boy's class for Wednesday. Hmm...must get that started tonight. Off to work!

This was a page I actually finished Friday night at the crop. I LOVE the sayings that Ana Aspens has created and want to use every single one of them at some point on layouts for the boys. I remember this day like it was just yesterday. The boys were just over 2 months old and this was our first little "photo shoot" mommy was doing. Noah couldn't even stay awake! It was funny and a special day to me. And of course you gotta love little boys in overalls. :)

For February, I challenged myself to take more pictures of other things. Not just of the boys. I want to learn as much as I can about composition and lighting over the next year. The more active the boys become the more I think I will want to have this knowledge. It's amazing what kind of shots you can capture with just that little bit of extra knowledge. So now I am on the hunt for good books and web sites to find useful information.

Poor Cameron last night woke up around 12:30 am. He was just crying and crying. I think I finally figured out after an hour of off and on crying that he has a 2-year molar coming in. This will be our first for either one of them. Hmm...could be part of the crankiness we have been experiencing this last week. Oh...if they could only come with manuals. The good thing is he can now tell us where it hurts so after a while last night we finally got him to tell us his mouth was hurting. And here I was thinking of giving up the binkofier. Uh...not until these molars come in for sure now! He was gnawing on that thing like there was no tomorrow. For a while there he looked like a dog you had just given a big old juicy bone to. Poor little guy, hope this one comes in quickly and the other 3 are not far behind. Just knock it all out in one shot!

Dragon you say?

My little guy being a dragon. For some reason at the end of the day both of the boys love to put these on and run around. Their Nana (thanks Nana!) brought them for them on a trip not so long ago and they will go and pull them out from time to time. It is usually Cameron who does this so I was surprised Noah did the other night. I just think they look too adorable in them not to snap pictures!

And speaking of pictures...I've found a new lens I would love to get some time this year. I am in no way a professional photographer and really never have the hopes of being one. But I do love taking pictures of my kiddos and this would be a great leans to have to do that with. Noah seems to have inherited M's red-eye thing. The only way I do not get red-eyes for either of them is to not use the flash. Which of course means I need a faster lens and lower f-stop. I know, I know, that means nothing to a lot of you. And I hardly understand it myself but the fact remains I think this would be a good lens to add since I have not added one since getting the camera a year ago. Time to start thinking of it.

Another pictureless post

Ahh...another pictureless post today. I had a crummy day until the late afternoon. Noah is hitting the terrible 2's...hard. It seems every time he gets sick the next week is pure h%#@ if I recall the last time he was sick as well. I guess he learns when he cries and stuff he gets special attention. So man is it tough to get him back on track. No fun at all for M and I. It rips my heart in a million pieces to be honest. But now we have the added newfound independence thing to add in there. Oh my. He is a strong willed child to say the least. Hmm...wonder where he gets that from.

So this evening to relive some of this stress I decided to go with a friend to a Zumba class. Very cool. I felt like I had 2 left feet but given some time could learn it. It is basically an aerobics class but using Latin dance. Which I love. I think I always secretly wished I were a ballroom dancer or something. I love it. Too bad I have 2 left feet! Oh well. Tonight brought back many memories of show choir in college and the look on Dr. Babin's face each week. He used to get so frustrated with me I know. I am one of those strange people that it takes forever to get dance moves but when I finally do I have them. You can't throw me. And when I finally get it I can put all my heart and soul into it. Which I used to do in my single days each week out on the dance floor. I love to dance...have just always been shy about it around people I know. Strange, huh? Anyhoo...loved the Zumba class and think I will be returning. I was a much happier mommy when I got home and helped put the boys to bed. Exercise good.

I am keeping my fingers crossed I get to go again tomorrow night and scrap. Ahh...2 Fridays in a row! M has to do some travel so pray he gets back time, k? See ya tomorrow with some pictures I am sure. Too tired to take the time to download tonight. Off to bed for me...

Binkofier

Binkofier. That is Cameron's new word for pacifier. M calls is a binki and I call it a pacifier so he just combined the two and we now have Binkofier. So funny to hear him say!

Noah has been having a really tough time going to sleep both at naps and at night. This is not a fun thing to go through. This afternoon Noah was crying and I heard Cameron on the monitor trying to sing to him! It was the sweetest thing ever and I just wanted to blubber like a baby. He kept saying "Twinkle, twinkle." Oh he is such a sweet child!

So I topped my pictures from yesterday...I took 96 today! Again, not meaning to but we were having fun. I decided to download the free trial of Lightroom and can I just say I am totally lost. Gave up. Glad I didn't spend the money on the program. It would be one thing if I had the time to learn a new program but I can't even figure out how to save the darn image after I edited it let alone try to figure the whole thing out. So with a big heavy sigh I am done. I am just going to limp along and enjoy the knowledge I have for now. I am worn out and really need to focus on some of the other things I have already going on instead of taking on yet another project that I will get consumed with and stay up half the night. I don't do that...do I?

I am hesitant to put this on here but am going to anyway. I came across this blog post toay and it has been with me all day today. You see, this gal summed up all the feelings I have had for some time now. I was bawling my eyes out reading it, the whole time thinking did she get inside my head or something? I will revisit this topic again soon I am sure, just not sure I can put it all into words just yet.

Feels like a Monday

All day yesterday I thought it was Sunday and today I thought it was Monday. So off track for some reason. It snowed again today, it's beautiful! Once again I don't want to get the boys out in it because Noah is just getting over this cold/whatever and Cameron I think is getting it. Some day I guess I won't be so cautious...maybe. Besides, it's only like 12 degrees out there and windy so we probably wouldn't get out even if they were better.

We now have a parrot in our home. His name is Cameron. Anything you say will be repeated. It is funny. And thankfully Noah is finally talking more. Yippee!

I took 79 pictures today! I can't believe I took that many. The boys were playing and we were at the table and they were just so stinking cute. I seriously need to learn how to edit my photos. That is next on my list of things I want to learn. :) But these were 2 of the ones I took that I am liking so far. Will play around more this week and see what I come up with.


I got to go and do some scrapping Friday night. I did 2 brag book pages for a friend and that was really all I had time to actually finish. I accidentally wrote over the file and had to recreate one of the pages...silly me! So that is what took a little longer than planned. Will have to show you what I did when I actually put some pictures in them. :)

And I have been trying to figure out today what to make for the boy's teachers for Valentine's Day. At this rate we won't even be going to class. It seems we get snow every Tuesday and so on Wednesday their class is canceled because of school delays. Ugh! I love winter here but am not liking this part right now. I am sure it will be fun when they go to real school though in a few years. Off to bed for me...

Long week

Wow, this last week was just crazy. Between Noah getting sick, the in-laws coming to visit and M's SIL going into labor it was just crazy. M and I were supposed to go out of town. It didn't happen. Noah got sick and was CRANKY! I was talking to a friend at a Superbowl Party last night and she mentioned that the steroids could be what is causing him not to sleep. OMG I pray that is so. This has been the roughest week we have had in god only knows how long. Noah cried until nearly midnight the other night. It was terrible and my heart broke in a million and one pieces. I don't ever want to have to go through that again!

So, I have been playing catch up with downloading photos, cleaning my house and going through mail. So very behind on all three! Noah pretty much required full attention this last week and thankfully Cameron is such a trooper we made it through. So nothing got done from last Wednesday until pretty much now. Oh...and they still aren't really napping! They both napped for an hour today so that is a start back in the right direction!

Okay, more updates from the last few days and pictures to come tomorrow...I am wiped out! But M is a proud new uncle and a huge congratulations to the new mom and pop D and S and baby Bella!