wanna hang, man?

wanna hang, man?

i was hanging with emma this afternoon in her room - that has stayed clean for more than a week straight. she wanted to play hangman on her white board, so i gladly obliged. now, i will mention that the hooked on phonics stage does make hangman a little tougher. in this world of hangman, you spell awesome with 4 letters... osum. so you've gotta be on your toes, or you'll be hanging from your neck!

you've gotta love having a 6' x 8' white board in your room... how fun would that have been as a kid?! love her little pictures. makes you feel special to see her mommy & me pics. melts my mommy heart.
when she got tired of hangman, it was coloring time. while i took some pictures of her new chandelier i picked up at a vintage/flea market boutique last week. so very princess-like. :)

new growth

new growth

stan and the girls planted some starts for our veggie garden a week or so ago, and yesterday we peeked under the lid to find the little beginnings of our future tomatoes. it always amazes me to see new little plants pop out of the ground and reach for the sun... spring! we've got a pair of ducks in our pond, our cherry trees and rhododendrons are starting to bud, and with any luck the weather will warm up just a tad here soon too! :)

happy spring!

monsters vs. aliens

monsters vs. aliens

we literally go to the theater once or twice a year. movies come out onto video so quickly. not to mention renting them is so much cheaper. plus you can screen them if you need to, and oh my the amount of snacks to can consume for under $20 increases tenfold! all that to say, it's kind of a big deal to the girls when we actually do catch a movie in the theater. (and boy did it take a lot to say just that! lol) we went with my sister & her fam to see monsters vs. aliens. it was cute & funny. we liked bob (the blob guy) the best. it wasn't the most amazing movie in the world, but it was worth it for a fun family day out. just some cute goofy fun.

mirror, mirror

mirror, mirror

mirror, mirror on the wall... who is the silliest of them all? it's really hard to say who is the goofiest of the two of us. man-o-man, looking at these pictures, we really do look a lot alike! we hung up the big black blanket in the kitchen and went to town with some silliness!




i did some more messing around with my speed light (nikon sb600) today. the girls got tired of posing for me (barbies were more exciting, i guess) so i was left with the only person who wasn't whining about sitting still for pictures... me. so i tried my hand at back lighting. this was the only one where the flash was actually behind me and not coming out of my armpit. lol. baby steps into the whole world of lighting. next time i'll have to find a less wanna-be subject. :D

the little things

the little things

it started raining this afternoon, and when i looked out my kitchen window this robin was sitting in the rain. i opened my window as quietly as i could, but he flew off. lucky for me, he only flew a few feet over to the top of this little tree. his beak just stood out so much from the green grass. a pretty little picture of spring. {minus the giant haystack look of the pampas grass in the background}

also go another shot of my fantastic husband in his uniform when he got home from work. he's such a good sport about letting me take his picture, and man do i appreciate it. even with the grief i give him about wiggling around more than the kids. :D i appreciate all of his support on all of the little things. sometimes it's those little things that really seem to add up to make life great. and he makes my life great!

just for kicks i figured i'd add one more of the urban shots. such a different feel from out here in the more rural parts. definitely a street to revisit for more pictures, though. the colors are so pretty.

cinderella in the spring

cinderellas in the spring

it's spring outside... or so it says on the calendar. it's still been pretty cold outside, although we did catch a bit of a break today. it was in the mid to upper 40's and the sun was out. woohoo! the girls had their friend emmerson over this afternoon. they ran around in the backyard, dug up some old duck decoys from somewhere in the yard, and threw them in the pond... loads of dirty spring fun.

they played pickle ball for a bit, but the court really slippery with moss and pine needles from all winter... so they decided to play evil queen & the servants instead. one kid bossed the others around while the swept the entire court off. how cool is that? now if i can come up with a way to bottle and sell that game, and i'll be rich!!!

seriously, though... this game is cool. they did a really good job with it. they kept switching off who got to be the servant with the big broom. lol. cracked me up.

i got this picture when i was pegged with the part of evil queen. they all wanted to be servants... what's a mom to do, but play along... poorly pulled off british accent and all! :) they told me i had to return to "yell" at them and punish them for not having their jobs done. hot dog! i did my best, but really it's pretty hard to do without being amused and thankful all at the same time.

little miss torrey holding her broom, taking a break from being cinderella.

urban girl & mike wazowski

urban girl & mike wazowski

the girls had a half day today, and stan flew really early... so we got to have a wednesday afternoon lunch together as a family. what a nice surprise. after lunch stan and torrey headed out to our garden to get it ready for some veggies later this spring. emma and i headed down to the spare room vintage flea market store in everett to see if we could find a chandelier for her room (which we did!). they couldn't get it down, so someone will be bringing it up our way this weekend. :)

the store is in the older part of everett, so we walked around a bit and got some fun pictures, had coffee at this funky coffee shop called zippy's java complete with the dalmatian roaming around. it was surprisingly nice after a crazy down pouring of rain all morning. i took way too many pictures, and had a hard time narrowing down a few to put up. i may add some more later on... but this is what i've got for now.





and then enters... mike wazowski. (if you haven't seen disney's, monster's inc. this won't make much sense.) so yesterday i happened to end up getting filmed for a local show called evening magazine. well they were doing this story on facebook, and i guess they needed an intro. since we don't have any channels on our tv, a friend of ours recorded it for us. boy did i pick the wrong day to wear flats. lol. i'm pretty darn short, so short that when they put that little station identifier in the corner of the screen... it covered part of my face (hence the mike wazowski comment). when we watched it this evening stan lovingly added, "...i'm on the cover of a magazine! ow!" the girls and i got a big laugh out of it.

if you don't mind giving up a couple minutes you'll never get back... here is the video. (oh, and never mind the "noel rocks" at the end. our friend made this video, and it's all i've got. lol) :)

how random is that?

how random is that?

i was in snohomish today checking out some antique stores with my mom, and evening magazine (a local show lifestyle type show) was out there filming. as we were walking by, john curley asked if i was on facebook of all things. i said, yes... and well, tomorrow there will be a little snippet on the show. from antiquing to facebook. who knew there was any kind of connection there? it was pretty random. hopefully i don't look too lame, but i'm betting i will. :D

of course i was toting around my camera, so my mom snapped a pic for my picture of the day. talked a little camera shop talk with the camera guy, too. i should have took a picture of my mom and her little puppy while we were out too. next time, i guess. :)

i did get a quick shot in one of my favorite stores there too. they have the cutest mix of old and new there. :)

flash

i ordered a nikon sb600 speedlight (flash) recently, but today i just got around to figuring out how to use it wirelessly with my camera. man, this whole flash business is a whole new game. i'd checked out a couple of books from the library on lighting, but i feel like they're written in a whole different language. i need something more simple for learning the concepts of lighting first, i think. any suggestions? i'm thinking about picking up one of these cheat sheets for starters.

i did get it on my tripod with a diffuser. not entirely ideal, but better than mounted on the camera for sure. then there is the whole thing about where you put it in relation to you... what angle should it be... how much power should i give it... if and what should i bounce it off of? so i'll be messing around with it to learn more about it.

so these were the first few shots i got using my speedlight today. i love how it picked up the brightness of their eyes, and kept the details without washing them out. :)

i think this shot of emma ended up a little funky. her face looks like i used the flash, i think. although it did bring out her pretty blue eyes. she's pretty much perfected this pouty look. i love it because it is so "her" with her sunny smiles and her pitiful looking pouts. it's all out there on her sleeve, just like her mama. :)

stan got up super early to fly this morning. (by early i mean, he got up around the time i've been known to go to bed.) but he did get home a little earlier than normal, so we got a little time to hang out before the girls got home from school. so i got to listen to him play his guitar for a bit. just another one of his amazing talents! :)

blue eyes & blankets

blue eyes & blankets

holy hot man alert, batman!!! got this picture of stan yesterday while working on some pictures for another project. i asked for a serious face (you should have seen the ones right before this one). i'm really surprised he held the serious face long enough for this shot, because right after that he busted out laughing. anyway, he looks pretty darn hot i think!

in a great attempt to clean our girls' rooms... and maybe get them to keep them anything shy of what emma calls the "dump junk yard"... we went to target and picked out some new comforters for their beds. we came home, did a lot of throwing away, reorganizing, rearranging and this is what we got. emma went for the princess look, since she plans on being a princess when she grows up. {although she may not be the kind who gets to live in a castle, she says} we'll be rummaging some flea markets in the coming days for some more fun accessories. anybody know of a place to get a reasonably priced pretty chandelier?


and torrey went for a "grown up cool" bedspread. i'm thinking we're going to have to repaint the walls since the baby pink doesn't seem to go with the new look. she has a bean bag chair that i now want to recover in some funky pink fabric. so i'll have to be on the lookout for some. we'll also be doing some vintage shopping for her room. you can find the coolest tables and goodies on this cute street in snohomish full of antique and second hand shops. my favorite is one called joyworks.

blustery day

blustery day

we've had such crazy weather this winter, and it continued today. we had clouds, wind, rain, hail, sunshine and about 45 seconds of snow. we're usually so much more mild here. but i guess we all get our moment in the sun. {ha!}

emma was outside playing with this babie-type doll after school. she wanted some pictures with it, but i just couldn't do it. (i took some, but that little doll is so creepy looking! it's got this chucky type face. scary!) so i got one of just her in the wind. i've got people coming for my card class here in just a minute, so i've got to jet off. happy friday!

a few cards & a page

a few cards & a page

did a little craftin' today while the girls were at school. i have a stampin up card club night tonight. so i needed to design a few quick cards for that. yah, i'm that much of a procrastinator! but that's pretty much how i roll.



i think i'm finished with this page. it seems like it's missing something (besides the journaling), but i can't seem to put my finger on it for now... so i think i'll keep it how it is. and maybe when i add the journaling it'll "feel" finished. but now i'm just rambing on about nothing! i just downloaded some pictures of emma playing with her baby doll outside in the wind. so i'm thinking once i'm done with my class, i'll work on getting one of those up for the picture of the day.



layout supplies:
patterned paper: basic grey (brown), making memories (polka dot); frame & journaling circle: pink paisley; alphabet stickers: american crafts; rub-on: october afternoon; chipboard heart: sassafrass; felt bird: maya road; flower: prima; other: sewing machine

happy friday everyone!

kicking myself

kicking myself

i got this pic of torrey in the afternoon breeze after school today. i love it. she's beautiful, as always... though too grown up looking. she's going through this toothless smile phase right now. must be the age. so many changes at 8 years old!

i could kick myself for not bringing my camera when i went to visit a friend of mine down in ballard today. it's such a cool city (just north of seattle). she just moved their recently, and i got to see her new place & neighborhood. i just can't believe i forgot the camera! i left it on the counter on my way out the door. grrrr. next time i guess. she lives within walking disance of so many cool shops and sights. i'll be sure to bring it next time.

oh, and thanks for all of the comments over at tsr (the scrap review). it meant a lot to see so many blogging friends over there! thank you, thank you!!!

we have a winner...

drum roll please... i am happy to announce that julie schellin is the winner of the big box of glitzy goodness! congratulations julie, and thank you random.org for deciding the winner for me. there were so many great springtime ideas, it helped add some extra sunshine to some rainy cold days we had! thank you all for playing! email me your addy julie, and i'll get your package of fun sent out!

julie.schellin said...

planting annuals and adding to my perennial cellection - I love having lots of colorful flowers in my yard

March 16, 2009 6:10 AM

i volunteer {almost} every week at the girls' school... helping in the classrooms & chatting it up with pretty much everyone in sight. i'm sure they fear wednesdays! lol. i do love watching the girls' in their classes, with their friends, with their teachers and doing their work. it's just a fun side of their lives to get to be a part of. since i pretty much always have my camera with me, the girls are used to me snapping away, and i'm pretty sure they don't even hear the click of the shutter anymore. almost like white noise to them, i think. anyway, i caught this one of torrey doing a writing assingment today in class.

one last whoo hoo for the day. it's a fun one for me, i've been very nervous/excited about my first review article over at the scrap review... well, it posted today. check it out if you'd like. let me know what you think!

going green {literally}

going green
{literally}

happy st. patrick's day. hope you had as much green fun as we did today. for dinner we went for the all green all the time dinner. green mashed potatoes (that looked a little too much like play dough), green pork chops, salad with all green veggies, and green beans enhanced with green coloring. something tells me that consuming this much green food coloring in one meal may have interesting outcomes, but it was a fun little change of pace. we have pistachio pudding for dessert, too.
this afternoon i took a drive by myself to enjoy the sunshine that decided to make an appearance today. i caught several thousand snow geese in a farm field honking away. so i pulled off to the side of the shoulder-less road (the local farmers aren't fond of people doing this) to get a quick picture. it's such a cool thing, and one of those things that always *honks* spring to me. (sorry, i'm so lame. i can't help it.) while i was out i got a call from emma's teacher telling me about quick party they were having. so i zipped over there to get some pics.

i could kick myself because i had a camera/computer uploading hiccup, and didn't check to see if all of the pictures were there before i reformatted my memory card. i lost about 10 of my pictures... and 10 that were really darn cute, too. :( a good reminder to double and triple check before reformatting. darn it.

the sun hung around long enough for stan to wash the cars this afternoon. nothin' like a good lookin' guy (who you get to be married to) washing cars out in your driveway. pretty hot, even if it was still pretty darn cold outside.

be sure to check back tomorrow for the winner of the glitz giveaway & check out the scrap review tomorrow for my first review there. :)

cleaning & other dirty words

cleaning
and other dirty words

after work this morning, one of my very dearest friends came and helped me do some more organizing in my scrap room. i'm terribly lazy about putting things away... so things collect into piles upon piles. as the months drag on, the project gets ore and more daunting. when it starts to get overwhelming, then i am less and less likely to actually start. i'm sure there is some kind of clinical name for this type of cleaning-avoidance... but i digress...

anyway, my very dear friend, jennifer, came and helped me sort out a bunch of patterned paper & cardstock that's been begging to be put away. i couldn't hear it's faint cries for help. likely because it was buried under stacks of other schtuff. :) anyway, i'm pretty sure i' a social cleaner. i can get so much more done if i'm working with someone else! i now have all of my orphan sheets and mega stacks of unsorted patterned paper and cardstock in it's proper homes. yea! i have those great ikea expedit shelves in my scrap room, which i love, and they stay nice and organized. it's just the whole putting-stuff-away skill that has long eluded me. so hopefully i'll be able to keep up with putting stuff away for at least a little while.

thank you jennifer! i'm so lucky to have a friend like you!

**oh! and today is the last day to throw your name in the hat for the drawing for a box of fabulous glitz fun! i'm loving reading about everyone's spring-time favorites. it's somehow making this cold spell a little more sun shiny! so make sure you post on THIS thread before wednesday!**