More new kits (and I actually scrapped)

I bought Gina's new kits at Digital Design Essentials on Monday and actually used them already. I'm quite sure that's a new record for me! I have so many new kits that I haven't used yet. In fact, I've started a list of all my kits. I need to find some way to better manage what I have. I'm terrible at updating my organizer in Elements so I have to rely on my memory, which is always a dangerous proposition for me! LOL Anyway, I'm making a list of every kit I have and what layouts I've used them on. I'm scared to actually know how many I've purchased in the last 4 months, but hopefully it will be good motivation.

Here are a couple of LOs I did today, both with the new kits.

Paper and doodle border: DDE's Book Bag Essentials.
Doodles: Taran Conyer's Doodle Stamps VI. Font: TKDoodle.

Everything is from DDE's Little Chickadee. Font is Susie's Hand.

In other news, the weather has been awesome. The kids are loving playing outside. Andy's sinus infection seems to be getting better. He's still doesn't seem 100% but he's definitely better than Monday and Tuesday.

I'm sure there's more, but my life feels pretty boring right now. I'm settling into a decent routine now that Neil's back to work. We all miss having him home, but the nice weather has certainly helped the kids not whine for him too much. :)

I think I'll go work on some more photos till Alex wakes up to eat. I have tons that need to be edited.

Sometimes it pays to be cheap

We met my Mom and Dad in Iowa City yesterday to visit and introduce Alex to his Grandpa. It was a quick trip, but we had lots of fun. And also some adventures I don't care to repeat any time soon.

When it comes to hotels, I'm not a total snob, but I also don't like to stay in cheap motels. I'll always pick the Ritz over Super 8, but sometimes neither is really an option. When we meet my family for a weekend, I usually find the hotels for us. I tend to go middle of the road in whatever Iowa town we're meeting in. That usually means Holiday Inn, Baymont Inn, etc.

For some reason, when I was getting the hotel for us Thursday night, I went cheaper than normal. I'm not really sure why. Money's not tight right now and it was only 1 night. But I was drawn to the TraveLodge for some reason. The price was good. The location was a little farther from the mall and restaurants we usually visit, but I knew we wouldn't have much time for that anyway.

Thursday was an unually hot day for April---90 degrees and very humid. By early evening you could tell a storm was brewing in the distance. We ate dinner, did some quick shopping and headed back to the hotel to hang out for the evening. By 7.15, there were tornado and thunderstorm warnings being announced on TV. The tornadoes were farther north so we were more worried about the hail they were predicting.

By 7.45, the sirens started going off in Iowa City too. We grabbed the kids and went down to the first floor. The kid (and I mean that literally) working at the front desk didn't know where to send us so he called for help. Before he had an answer, the sirens were off and we went back up to our room. Shortly after, they started going off again. This time my dad decided he wasn't going to go so Mom and I got the kids and went back downstairs. The hotel had opened up a meeting room for the guests to sit in and there were several people there already. We took along a comforter from a bed so the kids made a fort under a table and played. They never really were scared. It just seemed like a party to them.

We stayed in the room till 9.30 when the warning ended. We were hearing scattered reports from people about a roof blown here and a fire there, etc. But we really didn't know much more than that. When we watched the 10.00 news, we were amazed to see that Iowa City had been hit by tornadoes! There were buildings down, debris everywhere and no power in most of the city. It seems that by choosing this hotel farther from the action, this cheap hotel which was actually quite nice, we managed to be safer than most people in Iowa City that night. We never lost power, we really didn't even see any wind damage outside and we certainly didn't hear or feel the tornadoes that ripped through town about 3 miles away.

I'm not sure why I chose that hotel, but I guess it's good to embrace your inner cheapstake when it strikes. It certainly worked well for us this time.

We survived and I'm crazy.

Neil went back to work today so it was my first full day with three kids, my first time taking all of them to the bus stop, the first time I went out alone with all three. All in all it wasn't bad. We played at the bus stop, they were great during hair cuts and I actually managed to make a real dinner for us. :)

It all went so well that tomorrow I'm going on a road trip with them by myself. Yeah, silly, silly woman I am. We're meeting my parents half way. We'll stay overnight in a hotel (which is always a highlight for my kids) and come back after lunch on Friday. It's only 3 hours each way so I don't think it will be too bad. Emma and Andy are actually good travelers; they have to be if they want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. Alex should be able to go 3 hours without eating (as long as he sleeps) so we should make it OK. Of course, I probably just jinxed myself.

Photo Shoot Blues

So I did a photo shoot Saturday morning before Emma's party. I can't believe how hard it is get a good picture with all three kids. These aren't great, but at least they cooperated for the most part.

Happy Birthday Emma

I can't believe Emma is 6 today. It truly boggles my mind that six years ago I became a mom. In some ways it seems like forever and in others it seems like yesterday.

Emma was up early today. Since she got her American Girl doll on Sunday, she wasn't really expecting too much, but we did manage to surprise her. Alex gave her the Hair Care Kit, Andy gave her Coconut the dog and we gave her the gymnastics outfit. Yes, it was an obscene American Girl birthday around her. Oh well, the smile on her face made it all worthwhile.

Neil was up early to buy Munchkins for her treats at school. He also picked up her favorite donuts (chocolate frosted with sprinkles) and had 6 candles in it when she came downstairs. Totally new, totally fun and I think we'll make it a birthday tradition. The kids love donuts and we get them for a treat once in awhile so it sounds perfect to me.

Quick update

It was a glorious day today. I think spring may finally be here to stay.

The kids played outside, Neil worked in the garden and even Alex enjoyed some fresh air. We planned to eat dinner outside but we waited too long to get it going so we ordered pizza and had a floor picnic inside. :)

A couple of photos of the day...

Emma has not let Leia out of site since she got home from school.









Alex enjoying the fresh air while watching Andy dig in the dirt.









And as promised to my family, a picture of our new fence...

Emma's Excellent Adventure

Emma's birthday is Tuesday and we'd been secretly planning a surprise trip downtown to American Girl Place. But last week she was switched into another gymnastics class (more about that later) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then we thought we'd go Monday when she got out of school. I remembered last night that I have my six week post-partum appointment tomorrow afternoon, so that shot that plan too. So, last night we realized that our only time to go was today. Not exactly the place I had planned for a Sunday, but for our little princess? of course we'd do it.

When the kids got up this morning, we told them we were going on an adventure. I whispered to Andy that we were going to New York City, which Emma heard, so for quite awhile that's what they thought. We rolled out of the house about 10.00 and made it to the city by 11.00, not too bad. We weren't sure where the store was so we circled the block and found it. I told Emma to look out the window and her eyes got huge when she saw the store. We found an overpriced parking garage and got all of our crap out of the van and into the stroller. By now it's nearly 11.30 and Andy is hungry. Didn't help that he saw a McDonalds as we were going to the garage.

We had a quick lunch and then took off towards AGP. Emma still wasn't sure we were even going in. I'm not sure if she just didn't want to get her hopes up or what. But we asked if she'd like to check it out and she said yes. :)

That place was a madhouse! I'm telling you it was insane. And the girls were all pretty polite, but the moms, damn! they were pushy. Since Alex was in the stroller we couldn't squeeze through tight crowds. As I politely stood waiting for a large group to pass and a woman pushed past us, literally moving the stroller, while dragging her poor daughter along. Ugh, I hate people like that. Anyway, we walked around the Just Like Me section and finally found the display of dolls. We found the one Emma wanted and I'm still not sure she believed she was getting it. We got in line, paid and Emma had her doll.

She was actually pretty overwhelmed with the crowds in the store so we didn't many pictures. She's so much like me; I was always very self-conscious getting my picture taken as a kid (and still hate it!) so she didn't want to pose, but we did make her do a couple. I reminded her that I needed to scrap the day so she grudgingly gave in. :)

Introducing Leia Marie Vickers. (She named her all on her own.)

Emma's quite thrilled that our house now has 3 boys and 3 girls. LOL






After AMP, we walked to the John Hancock Building. We thought they'd like to go the Observatory and look around. Of course, since the day turned out very sunny, lots of other people had the same idea. We waited in line for tickets for about 10 minutes. Then they announced that it was a 20 minute wait for the elevator to go up. Since we had at least another 15 minutes in the ticket line, we decided to bail. Andy was very tired since he didn't have a nap yesterday. I was worried we'd finally get up there and he'd immediately want to leave. Turns out it was a good decision. We sat down outside for a few minutes and then headed back to the car. Andy was really tired by the time we got there and fell asleep almost instantly.

We drove to Lakeview to show Emma where we lived when she was born. After a quick stop to feed Alex in the car, we headed back to Lake Shore Drive and then made the turn west toward home.

Emma has played with Leia non-stop since we got home. She's done her hair, changed her clothes and carried her everywhere. It's very cute. She called Grandma to tell her about her big adventure. She told her, "I still can't believe that mom and dad spent $87 on a doll for me. They must really think I'm a big girl and deserve it." Awwww. Honestly, that's it exactly. She's been such a big help with Alex and has grown up so much in the past couple of months that we feel like she's ready to actually take care of a doll like this.

All in all, it was a fantastic day.

The Painted Penguin

Emma celebrated her 6th birthday with her friends from school today at The Painted Penguin. They all had lots of fun painting their ceramic "things", running around and being loud as only kindergarteners can. I say after her party every year that I could never be a teacher of this age. LOL I love doing the parties but man, am I tired when they're all over.

Busy Day

Geez, it's not even 8 am and I'm already tired thinking about today. The drywall guys are coming to fix the nail pops this morning. The builder is really late getting stuff done off our one year punch list (should have been done in October). I'm not complaining though. We had more settling this winter so there's more for them to fix. Better them than us. :)

Our new fence is scheduled to be built at 9.00. I am so stinking excited for it. It will be nice for the kids to be able to go out without me. I'll still watch, but this will give all of us a little more freedom this summer. Plus it helps keep out other kids when we want to.

Alex's social security card came yesterday so we have to go to the Post Office to apply for his passport. Neil and I both have to go so that we can swear that we're his parents and everything on the app is true. I've been so annoyed with most of the bureaucratic crap we've had to deal with, but I do think this a good rule. Both parents have to be present to apply for a passport (or bring a notorized document giving permission). I'm sure it does cut down on one parent being able to get a passport and leave with a child.

The hutch and chair for Emma's new desk is also ready to be picked up so at some point Neil will have to take all of the seats out of the van and go get that. It will be nice to finish her room for her. She's been such an awesome help with Alex that I really want to reward her. We're making a real effort not to force her do too much, but she just keeps taking on responsibility herself. I know what it's like to be the oldest so I don't want to make her grow up too much too fast.

It's our day to drive Andy and the neighbor boy in the morning so one of us has to be ready to go at 10. I really hate that job. The boys get really wound up and loud and it drives me crazy. It's been nice having Neil do it. Between bed rest and his paternity leave, I think I've only done it twice since Christmas so I shouldn't complain.

I'm off to fold laundry. I'll be back with photos of the fence later.

Monday recap

So I seem to suck at updating, so I'm going to try to add a little something before bed. Maybe I'll be able to get something up once a day that way.

Today seemed like a busy day, but I feel like I didn't accomplish that much...some laundry, a quick photo shoot after Alex's bath, posted all of the DT layouts for April. (I coordinate the DT for an awesome online store. Check it out for paper supplies.) I had a 3 hour nap too! Alex is eating every 2.5 to 3 hours so my nights have been rough. Add the total exhaustion from CKU and it's no wonder I slept so long.

Anyway, I just started going through the pictures from today, but here's one. I still have so much to learn on the Rebel XT. I seem to remember a couple of settings, but forget to check something else. The first bunch I took today the ISO was still set at 1600 from shooting Emma's gymnastics last week. GRRRR. Since they were so grainy I did a faux lumo effect and then an Optik filter to try to make it look like it was supposed to be that way. LOL Not sure I was successful, but it here it is anyway. Isn't he adorable? I can't believe how big he's getting.


I annoyed him endlessly tonight. He was sleeping on the couch while I folded laundry. He looked so cute that I started taking pictures. I still have to download them, but I think I may have gotten some good ones. I had to use the flash, but I did remember to fix the ISO so hopefully there's something there.

We've got a big day tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.

Tired, but Inspired

I'm recovering from CKU-A today. It really was a cool experience. I learned LOTS, made some really cool stuff and met some great people. I have barely started unpacking all the swag and I need to print photos so I can finish all of the great mini books.

I did Heidi Swapp's SHE album track and have a lot of work left on it. I have most of the elements done for each page, I just need to put it all together.

I'll post some photos later and also desribe my SHE book. It's going to be awesome when I fiall finish it.

Lots of family-time catch up to do. I really missed the kids and Neil. I'm used to not seeing Neil during the day, but it was strange to only see the kids a few minutes in the morning.

TTFN. ;)