He scrapped! :)

Tyler must have been crazy bored on Friday because he came up to me that afternoon and said "ok, how do you scrap a page?" I looked at him and said "are you serious?" He said he was and I walked him through the basics. He picked out a template, the photo, and the papers and elements he wanted to use on them. He even changed the colors of the doodles...I was seriously impressed! :) My first page was terrible...his looks good!

So...without further ado, I present to you Tyler's first scrapbook page:


Aren't you impressed? I just hope he doesn't think he's going to get to take away my computer time so he can scrap! haha!

croup.

cough, sneeze, wheeze, run a temp, sneeze, cough, wipe noses, watch lots of movies, cough, sneeze, whine, cough, sneeze...lots of snuggles. That has pretty much been our day since Thursday morning. Both of my kids have croup. They sound like barking seals and have had some trouble breathing. Their high temps have made them pretty lethargic and we just snuggle & watch movies. We have family coming in town for Memorial Day, but I have a feeling we're not going to be able to hang out with everyone since Mason still has a temp this morning. Millie still looks terrible, too. Croup is so not fun!

I decided to get out of the house for a bit yesterday since Tyler was home and the sun was shining. I threw my hair up in a ponytail, threw on my running shoes and (don't laugh) ran. I ran for almost a mile and then walked a couple more. It felt so good to be outside & getting some exercise. There are lots of hills around here...and I am feeling it this morning! My rear and legs are sooooo sore! I think I'll opt for Pilates this morning & hopefully attempt the mile again tomorrow! My sister in law, Stephani, is an avid runner and every time I see her I can't get over how great she looks. I really need to get my rear in gear and do something! My elliptical machine is used more as a clothes hanger than an exercise machine...it's ridiculous!

I've been on a healthy eating kick...and we've lost some weight around here! I've lost 14 pounds & I know Tyler has lost some, too! My magic secret...don't eat everything in sight & portion control! We've also switched to whole grains--breads, cereals, pastas--and have been using ground turkey instead of hamburger meat for a lot of our meals. (of course, I say this as I'm drinking a dr. pepper & just ate a cinnamon roll...there are exceptions! :) )

Millie's birthday party was a lot of fun last Saturday. We had a Dora Fiesta! We ate taco salad, taquito's, chips and cheese dip/salsa, and fried ice cream. It was yummy! The weather was perfect & I'm so thankful for all of the friends and family that came. I know gas isn't cheap right now & it really means alot that so many travelled up here! Our house is really getting "girlified" with all of the new baby dolls & girly toys! (Mason loves the stroller! LOL!)

This is my last week of babysitting this week. We have tomorrow off for Memorial Day & hopefully my kids will be feeling better for them to come on Tuesday. It's going to be so weird not to have Carter and Bennett around here everyday...I know Mason is really going to miss having his buddy around. We'll definitely have to get together this summer! I'm doing their family pics on Saturday and am really looking forward to doing a new session!

Want to see some new pages?






and here's some layouts from vacation...I'm obviously terrible at trying to do a vacation recap, so enjoy the pics instead! Haha!







Enjoy your memorial day weekend...I'm sure we'll be coughing and wiping noses! :)

I'm so sad...

for the Steven Curtis Chapman family and the loss of their little daughter, Maria. I walked in the bedroom to tell Tyler about it this morning and I just started crying. They have done so much good for those trying to adopt and I know I have a soft spot in my heart for adoption. They are such a loving, amazing family & I hate that they have to bear this pain. I am so grateful for the hope we have in Christ that we will be reunited with our children again someday...but that wait can be so long and so hard.

If you haven't read the story, the news link is here: http://www.comcast.net/articles/music/20080522/Chapman.Daughter/

They have a blog set up for remembering Maria here:
http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/2008/05/index.html

Lots of prayers are heading their way!

New layouts & scrapbooking news...

Here's a few layouts I've made recently:















and for some fun scrapbooking news...
I got an e-mail that one of my layouts will be published by digital artist magazine for the month of June! Woohoo!!

Also, I am a guest for Mira Designs at The Digi Chick for May & June and am having a lot of fun using her products! It has been right at 2 years since I started digi scrapping and I have been going full steam ahead ever since! I am as addicted as ever! :)

A little session with Abbie...

One of the joys of being sisters with a photographer is that she just might drag you out and make you get pictures taken! :) I wanted some more pics of teens for my site, so I told Abbie that we were going to go out for pics before her piano lessons. We didn't have tons of time, but we got some great pics! Here's a few that I have edited:









and, Abbie is really not a Hillary Clinton supporter...we just thought this spot was funny! :)



I'll get some more posted in the next day or two for you, Abbie! :) Thanks for being my pretend senior model!

We were in Dexter this weekend for James' graduation from SEMO. It's hard to believe it's been 4 years since he graduated from high school. Time really is flying! We had a great visit with the family...and Mason loved getting to talk to James' farmer grandpa! Congrats again, James! My kids are going to love having a rich uncle!

Vacation Day #2

At this rate, I'm never going to get done with our vacation recap! haha!

We woke up, packed the van and headed up to Moline, IL to visit the home of John Deere. We went to the John Deere Pavilion & the collector's museum. Mason LOVED climbing in and out of tractors & just seeing everything up close. We had saved some birthday money for him and he got to go shopping in the John Deere store. He bought a John Deere Crawler Track Tractor, a tshirt, and a hat. We had lunch at the Riverwalk steakhouse & then headed out for the rest of the drive up to the Wisconsin Dells.

Once we arrived at the hotel and got checked in, we did a little exploring. We went to check out where the waterparks were. We opened the door and were up on a balcony that overlooked the indoor waterpark. We were all standing there looking at how cool this place was...and Tyler and I turned around to find Mason who was now completely without clothes. He must've taken his clothes off in 2 seconds flat! He thought the pool was like our tub, I guess! :) We had to quickly get him dressed and explain to him that we wear swimming trunks to the pool!

We finished up walking around and then we headed out for dinner at Uno's pizza. I won a gift card from a Jen Wilson contest online, so we had free dinner that night (see...scrapping does pay off!) It was so yummy!!! I think I could've eaten Uno's every night!

We drove around for a little bit and then went back to the room to crash. It was such a busy day!

Here's a 2 page layout of our day at Moline:

My grandparents were on David Letterman!

My Uncle Sean is amazing...he has a zillion photos on Istock and they are showing up everywhere! My Grandma and Grandpa's pic was on the David Letterman show on the 21st of April. Click on this link and forward it to the 8:20 mark where it talks about longevity. My grandparents are the second couple pictured...cool, huh?

And, if you click on this link for ABC news, they are on there, too.

Gotta love my famous Grandparents!! Congrats Sean...I'm constantly amazed by your work!

(vacation interruption)

I interrupt this vacation recap to show off some layouts I've made lately! :)

And...Mason and Millie are feeling much better today! Finally!












and that, my friends, is what happens when you forget to blog regularly! :)

Vacation--Day 1

I know I said I'd update last night, but I forgot Lost was on! :) Whoa...it was one crazy episode! Did you know that you can watch all of the seasons (1-4) on abc.com? I HIGHLY recommend them!

Ok...back to vacation recap. I'm going to try to do it day by day. This will hopefully help me remember details when I scrapbook!

On Sunday, we went to church with our friends Kevin and Valerie, and then we went to Valerie's dad's farm. They grilled yummy porkchops and lunch was soooo good! Then, Mason & Millie rode around on the Gator, the tractor (with the planter attached) and on a horse. Mason loved every minute of it. It really makes me wish we lived out in the country. It was so nice to not be in town and just let the kids run around. The weather was gorgeous & we all had such a wonderful time together. Valerie's dad, Kevin, was so sweet with Mason. Mason adored him and followed him around. Mason made sure he wore his overalls and John Deere boots to the farm, too. It's unbelievable at just how much this kid is fascinated by farming! We stayed until late afternoon when the kids started getting tired.

Here's some pictures from our day:




After we got home, we ate dinner and then went to visit Miles' grave. Mason took Miles a John Deere tractor and Millie took flowers. We showed Mason Miles' book and he kept saying "I want to see Miles" "Where's Miles?" "Miles is my brother? I want to see him!" But we just kept saying that Miles is in Heaven with Jesus, and he would say "But why?" and you know what...I don't know how to answer it. I don't know why.

We went home and spent the rest of the night packing to get ready to head to Moline! (aka Home of John Deere)

Sick day 3.5

Poor Mason has been sick for 3 and a half days now. He crawled into our bed Monday night/Tuesday morning with a fever and he has kept the fever since then! Once he takes his Motrin, the fever hangs out at 99.8-100.5, but once the Motrin wears off, he's back up at 101-103. Ugh! Today has been a little better...the highest it has been is 100.9, so we're hopefully getting there! He's been extra tired and crabby...espcially once the Motrin wears off. We haven't been to the doctor since it appears to be a virus since he doesn't have any other symptoms. Millie was at 101 last night, but seems to be better today. For some reason, it just doesn't want to leave poor Mason! He was so lethargic the other day that he had me carry him to the bathroom and anywhere he wanted to go...he was too weak to walk. I'm just really hoping he gets over it soon. It's hard watching your babies be sick!

I've been wanting to get on here and recap our vacation. We had a wonderful time! Thank you to everyone that participated in Smiles for Miles...it truly takes a sad day and makes it a much sweeter day! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I got caught up on picture orders and I'm in the process of editing a wedding for our friend Valerie...but I'm going to try to take a break and start posting pics and stories of our vacation tonight!