Another DT project...

These are 9" tall wooden letters made by Provocraft. They come white (and look great that way, too!), but I have altered these by Mod Podging paper onto them. For Abby's letter "A" I used My Mind's Eye - from the Kaleidoscope collection. Once the paper was dried onto the letter (I did the sides, too) I distressed the edges with sandpaper, then Mod Podged over the whole letter again. Finally I added some Making Memories rub-on letters to spell her name, a little organza ribbon and some mini Prima flowers to top it off. I love how it turned out and think it will look great on her bedroom wall once it's done hanging in the store for the month of November!

On Jacob's "J" I used Basic Grey Skate Shoppe paper - same technique. Again, Making Memories rub-on letters for his name at the bottom, then I tied some of the Gin-X Fabrix around the bottom and hung a mini Doodlebug tag from it (it has a picture of a little inchworm on it). I LOVE the frogs!! And the little flies! Too cute! Very boy. Thanks for looking!

Carving Pumpkins

Do I need to tell you that the kids are a little anxious for tomorrow's festivities? Jacob came sprinting into our room this morning - "Today is Halloween!!" "No, hon, it's tomorrow." "Oh." It can't come fast enough, and by bedtime tomorrow, they'll be talking about what they're going to "be" next year, while coming down from a mild sugar high.

The McMullen's will be joining us again this year from some trick or treating around the neighborhood before we part company to head to the respective grandparents houses. It's becoming our Halloween tradition, and I hope it's one that continues. These kind of activities are always more fun when you get to participate with friends (and the kids enjoy that, too!).

The pumpkin carving this morning was a lot of fun - we let our kids pick out whatever they want to put on their pumpkins, but then mom and dad are completely in charge from that point on (knives in their little hands...are you kidding??). The kids are really funny about it because they become quite attached to their pumpkin "visions." They sketch out exactly what they want to see on their pumpkin (this year I had the privilege of carving a forehead and heart-shaped eyes, while Adam was challenged with a ghost and the word BOO!), and then they draw their sketch onto the pumpkin for us to use as a template. If we don't cut exactly what's drawn, you better believe we hear about it. Fortunately they're usually satisfied with "I'm doing the best I can, sweetheart." Ah, artists...so tempermental!

Abby sketches out the plans...

The heart-shaped eyes indicate that this is clearly a girl pumpkin

Daddy and Jacob working on Jacob's pumpkin

Jacob is enjoying "family time"

The remains...

Abby and Jacob with their completed masterpieces - "Ariel" and "Mr. Ghost"

Fall has arrived!

Abby's preschool class took a field trip to Matthy's Farm this week, and I got to go along. She was so excited, she talked about it for days beforehand. Finally, the day arrived - it was quite cool, probably in the low 40's, so we had to bundle up, but a trip to the pumpkin patch wouldn't have been right any other way.

This is Abby with her friend, and future husband, Taylor Stevens. Don't they look cute together? Get used to it! ;)

Abby's enjoying the crisp weather and the exciting ride to the corn maze...

Mom and Abby take a self-portrait on the hayride - it was a great day for both of us!

Abby led me and Faith and Taylor Stevens through the corn maze. We only went in circles for a little while...until I finally thought to explain to Abby the concept of the maze..."we're looking for a way out!" "OH!" I was only slightly surprised when, after the 3rd time around the circle, I heard her ask me if we were still in Indiana...

Abby picks her pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch - she wanted a "cute, little one"

After the pumpkin patch was the petting zoo...Abby was reluctant to pet this thing. I don't blame her. He had a pretty bad attitude.

Finally...

I scrapbooked something. It feels lately that I only get to do that when my deadlines are down to the wire - only then can I make the time to get it done. I need to work on that. If it weren't for all of the working (dumb job) and house cleaning (yuck), I'd have plenty of time for scrapbooking, right? Something tells me that even without those, something else would get in the way...

So, here it is - my latest page. It's for this month's DT assignment, which is "Technique of the Month" and the technique is "monograms." The paper is Basic Grey Skate Shoppe, the letters are Basic Grey Undressed chipboard covered in the Skate Shoppe monogram letters (I Mod Podged them on, sanded the edges, then Mod Podged again). There are actually ribbons sticking off the top that you can't see because my scanner is too small. The pictures are of Jacob eating his very first push-up, which is a monumental event for a kid who's allergic to milk! I journaled about that - it's under the photo that's directly above Jacob's name. It's long so I won't include it here, but basically it's about Jacob's allergies, from birth to present. Also worth noting is that I actually sewed on this page - the large circle on the left side of the page is sew on - pretty crazy, for someone who isn't very domesticated!

Kitchen is clean. Mostly. Still need to sweep and mop, but I'm outta time. Church starts at 7:30. I get to save the rest for tomorrow! Yeah!!

My room is clean (or pretty close to it) and the laundry is put away.

The upstairs bathroom is clean and, thanks to Adam and a morning-long trip to the laundramat, most of the laundry is done.

Jacob's room is clean.

Abby's room is clean.

if you want to see something funny

CLICK HERE

Here is my niece, Adia, on her 2nd birthday with my daughter, Abby. You can almost see her thinking, "Get this kid off me...Please?" Adia received two hamsters for her birthday, along with a pretty, pink hamster castle and a pink ball for them to run around the house in. I'm not convinced that she won't "mistake" it for a soccer ball...

This is my niece, Tori, with a princess dress hanging out of her mouth...She's 8 months old already! She's crawling and standing up while holding on to things. She also has a strong affinity for climbing my stairs.

PIT Staff

Here are my good friends and co-workers at Pages In Time - front row: Keisha, Jen, Anne, Michelle B. 2nd row: Jamie, Katie, Alice, Jeri, Freida, Brenda, Jenny. 3rd row: Julie and Me.
There were a few people missing: Alexis, Michelle W., Stacey, and Pamela.

We have a great group of girls working at the store and I love spending time with all of them! You'll notice that we're all wearing/holding Quickutz t-shirts. They are courtesy of my good friend Spencer Livingston, our QK guy. He's way cool!

NO MORE TRAINING WHEELS FOR MY BOY!!

It really only took a couple of tries - me running along side the bike to help him keep his balance. In fact, I probably could have quit before I did - it was literally two times and he was off and going! The next challenge was learning to start himself without that initial push from mom or dad. A pep-talk and a couple of tries with dad was all it took and he was on his own. Now watch, it may be days before I see him again! He's now "fully" independent!!

set...

Ready...

and go...

GO!!

Want to know what gets my blood boiling?

In case you hadn't figured it out, my family and I are pretty heavily involved in our church. There are some people out there who apparently don't agree with how we do things. That's fine. Honestly, I have no problem with that. In fact, I would encourage you to read what they have to say: HERE and HERE and HERE.

Now here's what you need to know. They are entitled to their opinion. I have one - why shouldn't they? I frequently share mine. Why shouldn't they? I have a website where I can do that. Why shouldn't they?

What I have an issue with is that, when I chose to share my opinion with them in the form of a comment on one of the above linked sites, the author of said site BLOCKED my comment. Not only that, I happen to know that my friend's comment was also blocked, leading me to believe that we weren't the only ones!

It's one thing to start an intelligent discussion of topics of interest to various parties. It's an entirely different thing to start an argument by making inflamitory remarks, inciting a blog riot, and then proceeding to screen out most of the comments of those whose opinions differ from their own. It's cowardly and only proves that he or she feels that their argument isn't strong enough to withstand criticism. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me.

The road to Vegas...

...is paved with more strange things than I can even begin to cover, but this photo should help. When we arrived at O'Hare and got in line at the ticket counter to check in, we look over and...THIS!! Just so you completely understand what you're looking at - it's a poodle. Really. With hot-pink-dyed hair, a pink cowboy hat, a jester-like collar, complete with beads and flashing lights, and a STROLLER! After a couple of minutes of gawking, mouths open, jaws on floor, we noticed movement in the pink stroller. Another custom-dyed poodle! I didn't get a picture of that one, but it was green and red - ready for Christmas! Another jester-collar, but no hat. These guys flew (along with an English bulldog puppy and a greyhound puppy - all with different owners) all the way to Vegas with us. I don't know if they were on their way to Vegas for some kind of dog show, or if they were leaving one in Chicago...what I do know is that, believe it or not, this wasn't the weirdest thing I saw this week...

The view from our hotel room - on the top floor (or the penthouse, as we called it) of the Flamingo!

Las Vegas Boulevard

The view from one of the walkways over Las Vegas Blvd

The fountains in front of the Bellagio

The Paris, the Aladdin and others...

Our hotel

WARNING - this is where the SCRAPBOOKING stuff starts!!

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