Capture the Details

a sneak peek

For my circle journal friends.....

My theme is Just the Facts and I based it on the 1950's TV show Dragnet. Just the facts, ma'am.  :-)

just wanted to share

this cute picture that I took last night. I took the kids to see the baby ducks again and my! how they are growing!!! They are no longer soft and downy. You can feel the feather quills emerging when you hold them. Sarah had her favorite yellow duckie again and I caught this moment of her showing the duck to Ben. :-)

week 16

this week's challenge: get someone else to contribute

(click on image to see the whole thing)

He draws all the time, except when I ask him to! Good thing he likes his fruit! :-)

my baby girl is 8

Sarah's 8th birthday. My goodness. She opened her present from Benny this morning before school. Littlest Pets are her absolute favorite right now. She loves them. She takes them to school everyday and her friends bring them as well...they have a 'littlest pets club'. This is the one she got from Ben...

Her family party was tonight. Here she is when we sang to her.....

and blowing out the candles....

There are a bunch of new littlest pets strewn across the living room floor waiting for a little girl to come play with them tomorrow before school. She got a bunch of them from her daddy and me and from her nana and pappy. Maybe some of them will get lucky and get chosen to go to school with her tomorrow! :-)

WOW!

I just checked the Creating Keepsakes Valley Forge Convention page to see how the classes were filling up since registration opened today and would you believe both of my classes are full already?! I am astounded! I know from previous years that people switch classes, so sometimes a seat becomes available. If you were interested in my class just keep checking and watch for 'seats available' under my class page. It's called Life is in the Details. I am so excited!!!!! :-)

exercise 9

I am hoping that I am not alone...... I have a ton of stickers. Letter stickers, word stickers, sheets and sheets of stickers. I really challenged myself for our current exercise. And now, I challenge you....

This week I ask you to dig deep into your stash. Find some stickers that you've had 'forever' and use them. Mix them with new stuff, alter them, get creative!!!  Here's what I did...

I've had this sheet of Debbie Mumm stickers since Amy opened Kinnon Keepsakes over four years ago. I used Ranger glitter glue to add some pizazz to the flowers. Here's the one on the photo frame...

and the grouping of stickers at the bottom...

For the title I used a bunch of things - new American Crafts rub-on letters ('you bring'); word stickers ('sun shine') that I've had for a long time (I'm not sure of the maker, they aren't labeled); more Debbie Mumm flower stickers.....

and looking from the opposite angle, a older Making Memories sticker ('bliss') and a newer, glittery one ('&'); the 'happiness' sticker I've had for quite a while too (label says Sticko)....

and, a close-up of the bottom of the photo frame....(same products as above)

Can't wait to see what stickers you find in your supplies and how creative you get using them!

In case you missed these, I want to mention a few additions to our past exercises (and forgive me if I'm missing anyone).... Bek did a great job with 'four truths and a lie';  Gigi's LO for 'unrelated photos tell a story' has me seeing stars (check it out and you'll see what I mean); Sarah just added her '12 months 12 moments' album and she has it off to a great start with an April moment; and just caught this one, too - Stacy has her 12 moments 12 months album posted.

Thanks again to all who play along with me! Have fun creating :-)

gonna take some gettin' used to

the new me.....

wow.

I can see fine print again. I can do my art work without putting my head into reverse to see what I'm working on. I can see the computer screen much better. I can see the screen on my digital camera now. Best of all, I can see Sarah and Ben and Todd clearly when I'm hugging them up close.

I feel self-conscious because of the newness, I've never had to wear glasses before. But it's so nice to be able to see clearly again. :-)

13 years ago today

I married my high school sweetheart.

:-)

39!

Today I am officially 39.

happy birthday to me ;-)

What a beautiful spring day today. 75 degrees and blue sky. The kids and I were in and out all day. Gardening. Going for walks. Playing. (Todd, unfortunately, had to work. He did make me a delicious birthday breakfast before heading out, though.) Sarah and Ben got the Radio Flyer wagon out after lunch and Sarah was pulling Ben around the driveway. Then I pulled them both around for awhile....I'd take them to the top of the small incline and aim them and let them roll down to the flat part. I'd jog along the side and grab the handle when they slowed then pull them back to the top again. As I was jogging along the one time Sarah said to me, "See, mom - you can still run." She made this comment because I joke that I'm getting old. Little did I know that that comment would indeed be true later in the day. Oh, how true.

See, here they are. Innocent fun.

I guess I should describe our yard for those of you that aren't familiar with it before I continue my story. We have 7 acres on top of a hill. Our driveway is very long, about 530 feet. It comes up from the road in between the two neighbors that live in front of us...a right-of-way. So, our yard starts behind theirs. Up at the top, where the land levels off is where our house is. There are some little slopes here and there but the main 'hill' is in the front.

Okay, back to my story. Later in the day Todd came home from work and was in the living room watching TV. I went back out to the driveway with the kids and they were playing with the wagon again. I told them I didn't want to pull this time, I was going to watch. So, I popped the back hatch on the Jimmy and sat there reading my book while they did their thing.

You know how you're there, but you kind of tune things out? Well, I was engrossed in my book and they were right there, in front of me, so I did that 'tune out' thing. The next thing I know, they had made enough momentum going down the little slope that they got close enough to the big slope. And, I found out later, Sarah helped things along ("I just wanted to see what would happen if we started going down the hill") by nudging the wagon forward. As I realized what was about to happen I leaped off the back of the Jimmy like a gazelle and started running after them.

They don't call it a Radio Flyer for nothing. The wagon picked up speed so unbelievably fast and the kids were screaming and I was running flat out like I haven't ran in years and the thing kept going faster and faster. Thoughts were going through my head...

...ohmygodthestreetatthebottom

....areanyoftheneighborswatchingthis?

...aretheygonnagethurt?

...ican'tbelievehowfastmyfeetaregoing.....

Pretty far down the hill they veered off towards the grass just as I was about to reach them. My hand caught and slipped then caught again just as they crashed into one of the three foot tall pine trees that we have lining the driveway.  I dove like Superman to hold onto the wagon. The kids went flying out as the wagon hit the tree. The wagon tipped over and my hand was stuck in the back of it. I layed there and when the kids jumped right up and came over to me I laughed like I haven't laughed in a loooooong time. I just layed there and laughed.

Well, Todd saw the whole thing. He heard the kids screaming like something was wrong and he tried to get out the front glass door that was locked. He saw me booking after them, the crash, and me laying there and not moving. He thought oh no, I'm gonna have to take her to the hospital on her birthday.

As it turns out my neighbor directly in front of us saw it, too. Todd said he was watching and you could tell he didn't know if he should be coming up to help or not.

Here are the grass stains from my dive....

I'm a little sore and I have scratches all over my arms. The kids are fine. Thankfully no one was seriously injured.

So Sarah's little comment about me still being able to run is very true indeed. I can run like the wind!!!!!! That was enough excitement for this 39 year old body. :-)

party

Sarah's birthday party for her friends was this afternoon. She had two girls from school over for the afternoon to play. Her theme this year is Spongebob. The girls put eight candles (plus one to grow) in a cupcake and we sang to her. The cupcake...

And the look Sarah always gets when we sing happy birthday to her..

I used a sponge to stamp on a brown paper bag and they each colored their own Spongebob...

This was what I put their goodies in. I took a bunch of pictures of Sarah because the light was so nice and this is one of them...

Her family party is this Wednesday, on her birthday. Eight already. wow :-)