A moment-in-time, with kid stuff.

I took this photo this morning because I want to remember. I love the randomness of all this everyday clutter, taking up space on our living room ottoman. The bits and pieces of what the kids are into these days. Little treasures of their everyday life. The kind of days that tend to zoom by us. The kind of days in which we seem to not remember these types of little details. It's not just a warm beautiful autumn day I want to remember. It's this part of our daily lives on a warm beautiful, autumn day that I want to remember.

 

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re-do, part II

Let's try the video again.....learning curve.....of course there were more steps than just the simple "post this" button from picasa. Who knew making a movie of an ocarina song could lead to such giggles. He was cracking up, I was cracking up listening to him crack up. Very funny stuff only a parent could love.

I love this kid.

To think 10 years ago we held him so carefully, we thought he was so fragile. First time parents. Overwhelmed by the surroundings of the NICU. So grateful when we were able to take him home with us (about 3 weeks after he was born). We wanted everything to be just so --- so perfect.
And it is.
And I must be thinking this because days like today and days like the ocarina day recording remind me how lucky we are. Even though its definitely not perfect all the time.
And that's okay.

Learning, part I

Learning something new..well actually learning to use some of the features on the picture software (picasa3) that we have had for a while. It took the encouragement of my son and daughter to get me to explore these fun features. I must admit I was somewhat reluctant at first but now I am having fun with it. We have a youtube account now. My setup and email and he gets to have all the fun of filming playing his ocarina. All inspired by his love of the Zelda video games. That's his love right now. One of his favorite things. Glad to help him have fun and learn at the same time.

One thing I noticed is that children are so natural around all the features of any software and technology in general. Its so easy for him to figure things out whereas I might be there for hours hemming and hawing over what if I click this? or that?

This a little movie/practice I made of his bloopers.

Night At The Museum : Rochester, NY

Friday night the Rochester Museum and Science Center and Strasenburgh Planetarium was all ours. Really! Which of course led to all sorts of "Night at the Museum" jokes the whole night long. This was for our daughter's girl scout troop "space explorer" campout/sleepover. What a cool experience!!! Participate if you ever have the opportunity.

I have always loved the Strasenburgh Planetarium and have taken the kids there several times. I have fond memories of school field trips as a kid. But to sleep there all night?! OMG - I was a kid all over again. The Space Tunnel - I was there. The excitement as the planetarium's plain white dome "sky" turns to a twinkling night sky -- had it. This close to a mastodon you can almost imagine it breathing and hear its footsteps - yep.

The scouts get a special Star Show (just for them), hands-on activities that go along with the space explorer theme, Q&A time, and freetime to explore the museum exhibits. The museum at night is just an awesome experience. No one else was around just our troop (plus about three others) and the museum security. There were two employees there to help guide the education part of the program and go through the evenings events along with the troop leaders and moms that came along.

Just very well done. The RMSC is a gem here in Rochester. We are so lucky to have this caliber of exhibits.

Random April

just some photos from the last month or so.
... signs of spring
...favorite shade of blue + yellow
...cool boots for puddle splashing
...earth day poster contest
...Domo? little brown monster (go look it up on youtube. its hysterical)

Voter: " #371"

That's what the volunteer in my district said after I signed in and I went over to stand in line to cast my vote. I stood there taking it all in. I considered it one of the most memorable and significant election days ever. We made sure the kids were part of it too.

Yes, Tuesday was a very exciting day....regardless of whether your candidate won or not. Volunteered at the bake sale/fund raiser for our youngest child's school, helped early morning voters get their sugar and caffeine intake so they could stand in the long line. Went to work in the afternoon to take down old cards and put up the Christmas and Holiday cards. Ironically, I also had to take down all the "summer" cards which included the "Politics '08" line. I can't say I was sad to see them go. But a few were LOL worthy.

We as a family ended up going out to cast our vote around 5:45pm that night. We took the older kids with us. In the back of the car both of them were figuring out how many years it would be until they could vote. And who they would vote for. Nine more years buddy. Ten more little lady. They did get to participate in voting at school which made them even more excited to see the real thing. Our daughter asked if she could go in with me, they allowed it (I was surprised), but of course she was not allowed to touch anything. However, she did blurt out in a loud-ish whisper, "You're voting for Obama Mommy?" "shhhh, yes dear." We were a house divided though.

How great it was to see them, still so young, so excited to be part of something.

{Halloween pic: our little bumble bee running through the Seneca Park Zoo wooded area}

Fall is almost done dropping its beautiful autumn color here, get out and enjoy it. About 70 degrees here today, but rain projected for the weekend (that's so rochester!)

just words + photo tells a story

Its amazing, when you remove all the other worries (what goes here, what matches this. etc) how easy it is to focus on your story. After all isn't that the reason why those of us who scrapbook do it in the first place?


To follow along or read more about this, visit one of my fav scrapbooking blogs here.



The challenge was to use just one other embellishment (or none). Since I speak about the pillows that my mom made in the story I added a small piece of the leftover fabric we used for the red pillow shown in the photo. I thought it was a nice addition. Plus every time I go look at the page I reach out to touch the fabric {its a soft. light weight, corduroy}.

The journaling was done in MS picture it! {can also be done in ms word}, letter stickers for the words "favorite spot" and The fabric is on the page using "zots" small, flat, round, adhesives.
strip of patterned paper is from Websters Pages, pink lemonade.

The "simple" doctor visit

So yesterday afternoon went like a little like this:


2nd visit to the pediatrician's office in 5 days because of bad cold symptoms

$30

promising french fries to get you out of the waiting room with the choo-choo train.

$3

promising a stop at the store when you were crying inconsolably because we were headed home and turned right at the light instead of left (the way to grandma's house)
(that's about 8 min of crying folks)

$11.80 {for pullups and "tay-toe chips"}

A peaceful car ride home in addition to knowing you don't have strep {which would've cost me more money}
of course,

Priceless

To Wii a Mii

The big gift on Christmas morning was our Wii { -- because we all enjoy this silly thing called a Wii} Even more fun than playing the Wii games is the fact that you can design your own you...or as it is called a Mii. All the Miis that get created end up all together on one screen where they sort of walk around...looks like they are going up to one another and such. You can go in and "check on them" as my kids like to do. You can create more than one...this is too fun, one for each side of your personality. heehee. So we were a little bored and had a little fun creating new Miis to mingle with our real Miis...is this getting confusing???

my son: "look ma, your other Mii is laughing"
me: "cute"
my son: "lets change it"...[proceeds to give me all sorts of virtual makeovers, liposuction, botox treatments, disguises, beards, hairstyles, eye transplants, etc]

me: "ooooh, hairstyles, change my hairstyle....how about that one?" [pointing to the short cut]
my son: "um, that's just creepy"
me: "huh??"

my son: "you like that hairstyle? well okay then"
me: "why not? she's cute. Name her Mabel"
my son: "really, that's just creepy"

Okay so she really doesn't look like me at all except for the messy hair. but. but. she's my imaginary Mii friend.
okay.
I wish I had the freckles.

Knifty Knitter Makes a Card; Loves a new book

Happy 2008!

Just enjoying that "its a brand new year" freshness that comes with every January. I love the start of a new year, the new calendar, the renewed sense of purpose, and the chance to reflect on the end of a year and make goals for the coming one.

I always spend the last week of the year and the first week of January in that kind of reflective mood. Did fun things with the kids, went to our most fav place, Strong National Museum of Play, bought our yearly membership as a family present to ourselves. Can't wait to go again with just the little guy.....he wanted to linger and explore things waaaaay deeply....not bad, just that the other two are like butterflies. They flutter from one exhibit to the next with too much speed for a weary mommy. Its definitely a two adult trip. One takes slow and easy guy and the other takes the speedsters.

Wanted to come update the blog but really was liking the break. Towards the middle of December I remember putting alot of little things off until "later" {until January} And now that January is here....well, I felt a bit overwhelmed and needed to regroup my priorities. Kids were home so we had alot of fun-together time. Made a few cards. Went through the stash of craft supplies and found something I hadn't tried out yet. My mom had given us the "knifty knitter" Flower Loom {by provo craft} in a goodie bag for Halloween so we decided to try it out. I made the flower that is on the card with a little bit of yarn and tada a cute embellishment for a card or scrapbook. Okay, so maybe this loom's been around a while but I thought it was a cute idea I hadn't seen anywhere.

I've also been looking over all the photos from the past year, burning them on cds is the next step -- {they number in the thousands!!! OMG!!)but sadly most of my favorites haven't even made it into an album or anything...gotta work on that. It does start to seem overwhelming but I know it doesn't have to be. So many stories, memories and wishes for the coming years......so that will be one of my creative goals in 2008.

One of the Christmas presents I gave to myself was the latest book by Ali Edwards "Life Artist:scrapbooking life's journey" In it a multitude {its brimming} of motivation and inspiration to get working on my creative goal. It was apparent in the first flip through the pages that I had made a great purchase {always love that feeling}. Almost like she could read the mind of this scrapbook challenged mom of three, saying now-what-do-I-do-with-all-these-pictures? I single out the words "huge project" as I randomly stop at page 135 and read these words {regarding a huge project} "....I reminded myself to stick with the basics and focus on the photos and the story." Yes! That is exactly what I needed to hear. This is by far one of the best creative juices book out there. Again, I'm really pleased with this purchase...so happy:)

And Because I usually start reading from the back of books and magazines, this means, really, just a few pages in I was already in love with it :)

the photo shoot-07

Every Christmas ever since 1999 I've {tried} to get all the kiddos in the shot....some years went better than others. The results are usually hysterical and I can bet on one good shot in 50 to be usable for the traditional card.....but lately I've seen the beauty in the not so posed shots because they show the side of the kids that is "real"and so fun. Well, I can tell that they are either getting used to the whole "mommy needs to take a "nice" picture idea" or they are simply growing up {gulp, no way} so they are more apt to play along. For a little bit at least.

So this year marks the first year that I only took a limited number of shots {probably like 14 instead of 50} and on the very first try I actually have all three looking at the camera!!!!! That is so major cool!!! So, I've neglected blogging for a while this week to finish up the cards....having a little trouble with walgreen's quality and cvs prints.....finally just did them up here at home with our Epson printer. I'm a little behind as usual :)

Slide show below......I converted some of them to black and white on my software...then there is the last one...of my two oldest just cracking up at lil'guy. I'm sure he will get his revenge some day.

The start of {toy} shopping season! Scary!

This year's shopping will be so much different than previous years....now more than ever I really am going to go the handmade, artfully {thoughtfully} crafted route. The information on unsafe toys has given me plenty to think about this week as I start looking for that special something to put under the tree. Our kids know that they will get maybe one or two of their most special "wants" even though their lists are usually very long. This year the older two went through the all the "toy" books that have been delivered to the house. I was flipping through it the other day and was like, "No, probably not, nope, probably has lead, oooh, maybe, oops, that's been recalled...." and so on.

This will probably be my one post this week now that the kids are home for vacation. I had to check a few things off my to-do list for my son's cub scouts group. One of which was to prepare for next weeks collection of Toys for Tots. I set out to do a little research so I could put together a reminder flyer....the official website and other communities across the country clearly put emphasis on toy safety this year more than ever.

I discover that the list for recalled toys is incredibly scary! More so than I thought. So as I am reading through the various recalls when I notice one of our polly pocket toys is on the list {that one's gone from the toy box}. One statistic I read was that 80% of the toy market is in China. Not everything from China is bad news of course, but that number is way higher than I ever thought.

So I think my "reminder" flyer ended up sounding more of a public service announcement for the parents of our cub scouts. {I just hope no one thinks I am being preachy}

I decided on including a list of resources and links they could go to for more information and I also added a little blurb about what not to get.

With this year’s growing concerns over unsafe toys for our children we ask that everyone continue to be diligent in carefully selecting appropriate toys. There is a huge amount of information on the internet regarding unsafe toys and what to look for. Here are some of the tips:

Sometimes the toy will show the following labels that indicate the product met testing standards. Look for signs that the toy met standards...American National Standards Institute (ANSI),ASTM International (ASTM)

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Choose from responsible companies; those doing a lot of quality assurance. Stay away from toys with small parts, magnetic pieces, Aqua Dots, and toys containing play jewelry or charms. After reading the lists on several recall websites I would also recommend you check labels of craft kits very carefully and stay away from “dollar type” stores or discount toy stores.

Who are the responsible companies, I thought? Brands I trust? Two of the names I didn't see on those recall lists were Hasbro, and Playskool. Well, I hope this is a serious wake-up call for the toy giants. There are those being extra stringent now, but what about during the production and manufacturing process??? I also hope that this opens up more doors, somewhere in the future for the folks here in America and Canada who are making wonderful handmade toys.

Helpful Resources for Parents [The following helpful resource is from lists that were already complied on several of the websites below. I found it very useful and I added my own at the bottom.]

Federal Govt. Recalls | Recalls.gov

Toy Hazard Recalls | CPSC

American Academy Of Pediatrics Recalls

Lead Poisoning: What It Is | WebMD

Toy Information | ToyInfo.org

Toy Directory Recalls | TDmonthly.org

Mattel (Fischer-Price, Barbie, Hot-Wheels)

RC2 (Thomas) Recalls

About.com Toy Recalls

Toy Safety Tips | Toytips.com

Toy Safety Tips | Dr. Toy

Spot Lead Posioning Signs | Parents.com

Oppenheim Toy Portfolio

Toy Wishes Magazine

Toy Industry Association

Some additional sites I found useful:

www.toysfortots.org

www.greenlivingideas.com

www.thebostonchannel.com/toy-troubles

www.wbztv.com/consumer

more of the girls' cards

Yes, a little construction paper, yarn, glue, glitter and beads go a long way...
My little girl made the flag grouping....it included a big paper flag, a card with stars and red, white and blue ribbon, a beaded "bracelet" and a keychain beaded thingie.....as we were packing the items away she says to the scout leader that it is a "set" and do not separate the pieces. The leader was like "okay sure" while looking at me and smiling. I couldn't help but be so proud of my little future designer. "Like, don't split up my line, okay?"

from make a difference day

Our girl scout troop project -- crafting cards and flags to send to the soldiers.

Portraits of a Full Weekend

1 -- Rochester's Best Combination of Art Festivals
the long running clothesline art festival + the new indie market = so much creative energy.
On Saturday after our outing I felt like coming home and making something.

2--our 8 year old boy in awe of the ivy covered buildings near the memorial art gallery. even though there was some kinda shmutzey stuff on my lens and the sunlight was blazing over the top of the building I like it -- looks very mystical. he really wanted to climb it -- thought the ivy was very, very cool.

3--fresh veggies that I have to cook and or freeze. I decided to cook {for a change}. Peppers, potatoes, onions, garlic. All grown right around here {fall is always a better time to do this domestic task called cooking in my opinion :)}

4-- Reflections on a visit to the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall. it is a replica of the memorial in Washington DC and it is traveling the country -- in Rochester this weekend and someone had said it was very beautifully done so we went.
among all the emotions that come to mind while we were there we also tried to find a way to explain to the kids what they were seeing to help them understand that its not just a wall with names on it. {we haven't been to washington, DC with them yet so this was a first for them}
I have one child that asks alot of questions {our daughter} and one that listens and takes it all in {our son} So as we made our way down the walk I overheard her say to him -- "All these names are soldiers that died, and all these people are in heaven" and he says, "Yeah, I heard about it, there is alot."

I was a little kid while the Vietnam war raged on, my parents being nearly new immigrants to this country were not personally involved, and I never knew anyone who had been in this war until much later in my life. But this is what I remember from the early 70s; I played with one of the neighbor girls and her brothers and other siblings during those earliest summers I remember. They were a fun family - lots of kids. My little sister was not born yet so I was an only child pretty much and It felt so good to play with a bunch of kids. The dad would always talk over the fence with my dad, possibly comparing gardens of homegrown veggies and compost piles or maybe how he made homemade wine. Whatever they talked about it was always friendly.
One day they were gone.
Just moved out and left. They left a void where the friendly used to be. No one knew where they went. Then, later, but I don't know how much later, we found out that they moved to Canada. Took the family out of here.
I missed my friend. I didn't know and understand until later just why the war would make someone do that. But I still missed out on a friend back then. I don't think the neighborhood was ever quite as fun.

All that makes me wonder about the long-lasting effects of war on us.
As I got older I met other kids that had dads, brothers or uncles involved. When I was older still I worked with a woman whose husband had been in the war. I commented one day on my plans for the weekend that included going up to Toronto to see Miss Saigon. She got this look on her face. Said she could never go see that after what her husband told her about his time there. My husband currently works with a Vietnam vet, he will occasionally share things with the guys but mostly says he "doesn't like to talk about it."
These days positions on the war are so varied -- and I'm not trying to make a commentary here.
But I wish leaders would learn from the past. Wish some of them would reflect more on what long-lasting impact is taking place right now in our current generation.
Kids get it in their own way. They shape their views from our reflections; good and bad. I hope we will we have a generation someday that does not rely on wars to solve problems. Will we ever have that? I wonder.

So the word for me this week is Reflect.

first day of school

It wasn't that they were miserable about school, or anything like that, it was just that Mommy was out there snapping pictures in her jammies {the mommarazzi} and little brother was out running around in a pull up and nothing else. "Maaaaaaaaaaaa, the bus is coming?" {translation : mom go back inside with that camera and yer green pajamas, pleeeease! and take the nekked toddler with you!}
But, its funny to note that this morning when I sent this picture via email to family and friends I cracked a joke about them being whiny, and later I was thinking, man I just love those little faces.
I love, love, love, them

a fun friday

today's choice of colors.

hope I can get some cards done today.
this combination of colors was grouped together by
my little artsy daughter.

She makes me so proud - in that proud artsy momma kind of way. She painted the lizard picture for her big brother's birthday -- he loves lizards. I just that was so cool and cute. They fight over everything else, but pokemon and lizards keep them happy. Go figure. She even wrote a little notecard that goes along with the painting. Little 1st grade girly notes from a little sister to a big brother. I'm keeping that one for the scrapbook.
























[green lizard climbing a tree, by squeaky, age 7]

Being Mommy

Tyring to catch up today -- neglected blogs, neglected reading and all...cards to make, birthday presents to get. The top one is for a friend expecting her second. That's my hand and little guy's hand together. Love that photo so much. Use it here and there for some photo cards I make.




But there has been too much going on.....just the normal flurrey of a family of five though, nothing out of the ordinary -- its the everyday stuff. And even though as I type this I know there is a small window of time to finish before someone comes to bump me off (the computer) I begin an entry anyway. Right after I refill the little one's bowl with fishy crackers. There. Now I'm good for a least 5 min. Its the constant interruptions, on some days, that make me not log in at all. I just never finish what I start on days like that, and that is so very frustrating to me so avoidance sets in. Stop. Refill milk. "Mommy, moe fishee cacker." Then just when I think I'm gonna loose it...he follows the demands ever so cutely with .........."Puweese" and "Tank You" "You're welcome sweetie" I say. My frazzled mommy heart all but melting away the "losing it" part.












Spring time brings the usual school/scouts/afternoon activities/outdoor fun for everyone. In particular our school's PTA starts gearing up for end of year staff/appreciation luncheon and I totally like to be involved in that since there is always some kind of papercrafting involved. I'm on label duty again for the third year. I have so much fun thinking up a new label design every year. When choosing the volunteering opportunities this year I choose the Art Show/Sale, next week. I was elated when the art teacher called today to put me in a spot for the night. Seeing the kids faces light up when they see their art work up is a beautiful thing. Can't wait. And finally we are trying really hard this week for "TV Turn off week" that's right - week --- not just one night. It is actually going well. The warm weather is cooperating and they can go outside to play. Last night there were activites at at the school -- games they could play that don't involve TV/video games. As the principal called it "games your mom and dad used to play" Yep, we had to. Only three channels, no video games. I do not like to give cable and video games a bad rap though. I think we just need to teach our kids balance in a world with so many choices at their disposal.

So today I surfed a little UTube (interesting stuff)

got a little mommy blogging time

babysat another 3 year old that plays with little guy so well

expecting three more home from school in about 20 minutes.

deep mommy breath.

add more fishy crackers to the grocery list.

then snack time starts again for the school agers.

okay -- so I won't get back to the computer until everyone is in bed.

bedtime is a good thing.

spring time is a beautiful thing!

:) bye

Work and Play

Trying to get some stuff done on Friday with a little, busy, curious, monkey boy who's 3. Who happens to only want to consume peanut butter and cheesy crackers, though not at the same time. Who's new thing is to throw the peanut butter jar accross the kitchen, it doesn't break, like everything else he trys to throw, so he thinks its cool. I suspect. Who's idea of potty training means needing to take every piece of clothing off, even socks. Even though you don't actually stay on the potty long enough to count, we need to celebrate with m&m candies. Only the green ones. Only after you put them in a neat row. When you finally decide its okay to put all your clothes back on we try to watch a favorite dvd. Yelling very loudly "We Need Curious George!!" doesn't help mommy find the dvd faster. And just incase you missed the good parts, we need to loop it all afternoon while you play with legos, not really paying any mind to the dvd, just want it on. Just because you saw Curious George sliding on a toy car doesn't mean you have to try it too, does it?

So I didn't get much done with a gift album I'm working on, but I took pictures while not getting much done. With little guy's assistance. Pity we often wish the terrible two's and three's etc would hurry.....but its days like this, memories like this that I know will someday be such a treasure. So I have to write it down.

He's so darn cute and loveable.
A zippy, zingy, curious, accident prone, naughty, little loveable monkey.


{Yep, that's a toy car under his foot}

about two weeks behind

went to my digital stash for a quick post-halloween layout. sometimes i play around with the pictures, digtal papers and fonts as a way to help with the paper version. on paper i might doodle the arrows in.

font:depressionist3 and journal, downloaded from the internet
paper:part of the robyn england "my roots" kit from scrapartist.com
pumpkin: oogeleyboogely kit, also from scrapartist.com
cool overlay: from a site named "tasty tattoos" that I just stumbled upon one night, {not sure if that's the full name. going to check it out again later.}