Preschool Graduate

Look at that. My little dude. He is so ready for kindergarten, it's not even funny.

We gave each of the teacher's a straw tote with a towel, tumbler, magazine and a 'q & a with Declan' scrapbook page. I had fun putting it together, and Declan loved having something to give them, even if Greg thinks I'm a suck up.....

I wanted to take a picture of Declan on the last day of school in front of the tree that Greg had taken his picture on the first day of school. I was still in the hospital after having Maren when Declan started the school year - here is what he looks like today (that's his buddy Jed).
This is D on his first day of school, last August.
We all went to the school to see Declan get his little certificate. My mom was holding Maren and said when Maren saw Declan she started to kick her little legs - she was so excited! After the ceremony the kids had pizza. Jed's mom and dad told me they think Declan is the kid in class that all the other kids want to be by, and then said he was the "Brad Pitt" of the class... LOL!

He gets it from me =)

Teagan got a chance to play in the yard at the school too. I've got her preregisterd to start preschool in the fall. She. just. needs. to. be. pottytrained. I'll be working on that over the summer.

I was also trying to take some pictures of Teagan for my Willow Trader's challenge, but the kids were throwing water around and I got nervous something would happen to the camera.

Playing with my camera today...

Most of the people doing the challenge on Willow Traders are using their 50 mm lens. Well, I don't have one, but the idea is the same. I watched the DVD that Greg got me to figure the camera out the other night... the narrator was talking crazy talk like 'reciprocal' and things that Greg understood and I didn't. I did figure out how to change the white balance and ISO though which is a HUGE step for me!

This is still turning out funny, fishbowl-ish. Maybe because I'm taking a picture of 2 12x12 layouts? I did this layout at the Mother's Day Crop I went to.

An 'oldie' but goodie. I feel like I've just been posting layouts of the girls...

Here is Teagan at 1 yr old.

This was a cool challenge at Linnecards.com - scrap all of your children at the same age.

I took new pictures of some of my layouts to see the difference - very cool. I also managed to get a few really close up shots, which I had previously not been able to figure out.

Easter Egg Hunt 2008

Detail - look at how close I could get!!

Easter Bunny 2008

I would like to be on a Design Team and so I need to learn to take (much!) better pictures of my layouts, as I believe this is how you submit your work. I also have a scanner, and I know some people prefer to scan their pages, but I think the camera is just so much more fun!

I also ordered one of these pretties for my camera: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=8809914 Krisite is a member at Willow Traders. I can't wait, it's going to match all of my clothes!

Well, lookey there ------------------------------->

I got the reel smarts and figured out the html business, and the slide show worked. HOT DOG!

Okay, I'm going to take pictures and upload all my new scapbook layouts tomorrow, it took me all the spare time I had today working on this slideshow. See Sonda, I said it would be the last thing I did!! =)

Everytime I sit down to write...

an entry here, I end up trying to figure out how to add a slideshow as an element. I'd like to have MY pictures in the slideshow, see, that's the tricky thing. I can add a slideshow, and tag it, but then it pulls anything with that tag from all 567 billion pictures on Photobucket.

I'm going to join an online photography challenge on Willow Traders, so I can get my learn on how to *use* my mack daddy camera. I'm kind of excited about it, because I'm using The Secret, and so I already see myself taking better pictures!

And seeing myself as a person who only needs like 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

And as an early bird (LOL!).

Hey, I got to park right up front at Michael's the other day, and I didn't even know I was using The Secret. Oh, but that elusive Fiskar's Threading Water Punch wasn't there, so I must have forgotten to visualize myself using it......

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a great weekend, bless Greg's heart! My Mom's group met on Saturday night for scrapping and I spent the day today at a crop. I've mysteriously started to get more done at crops, than at home. It used to be that I would fret over what to bring, end up bringing way too much and schlep it all home, having completed nothing..... Who knows what the difference is, but I'm not going to complain. I'll take pictures tomorrow and put them up here, I've been crankin!

The kids (aka Greg) got me The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I finished the 3rd book in her Twilight series last weekend, and was bummed, her next book in the series doesn't come out until August 2nd. One of my online friends said this book is written for adults, so it's a little 'denser,' and since I probably am too, hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as I did her other books!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

I don't know how you do it.....

Or, "You've sure got your hands full," or "Wow, that's a lot of work" and my personal favorite; "I would never leave the house." I hear these phrases at least 10 times a week. Which basically boils down to every time I leave the house. I hear it from neighbors, strangers in parking lots, cashiers, the postman and other Mom's with less kids than me. That is *if* they can stop staring at us long enough to actually comment at all. You would think they've never seen a Mom with 3 little kids before... or is it the blond hair and big blue eyes? But I digress..... people say it like I have a choice. Yes, having 3 kids 5 and under is a lot of work. I'm quite aware of having my hands full too. Oh, and yes, I do feel lucky to have some of each sex, and no, we're not having anymore - but thanks for asking.

I'm getting wiser, with age though. I can feel it. If nothing else, I am learning what things I will think twice before I say to another human being. It's kind of like when I was pregnant, and every. single. person. asked if I knew was I having, was it my first, did I have names picked out yet, did I know what I was in for.... blah, blah, blah.

Greg doesn't get these comments, he just gets the 'divorced Dad has the kids for the weekend' type stares when he goes out with the kids. It makes me laugh, because he wears his wedding ring, so I don't know why people would think that. And, he only has 2 of them.

On another note, I'm going to a Mother's day crop at a local scrapbook store for Mother's day. I'm excited, since I haven't scrapped since I was at scrap camp, and just barely got unpacked this past weekend. I definitely need to do something creative so that I don't kill.

Everyone have a wonderful Mother's Day, and hug your kiddos tight!

Bean says her ABC's