3 Layouts

Trent is the subject of the first two pages. Isn't he just the cutest, the sweetest, the squashiest thing ever!!  The first page uses Aja's new Pumpkin Patch Mini Kit, which you can get for free with a $5 purchase at her store now through 10-31. The link to her store is on the right.

The second page uses Creashen's adorable Bye Bye Birdie Kit.

The final page showcases my naturally beautiful daughter, using Catherine's Woodland Retreat Kit.

The Case of the Missing Kids

In the last post I established the fact that peace and quiet is a luxury at our home.  I was enjoying one of these rare moments Friday evening after cleaning Janie's house.  I got home just before sunset, tired and ready to sit down for a while.  I told the kids to enjoy the cool, fall air and play outside until dark.  

I went in the house and did just what you would expect, sat down on the couch with my Macbook in my lap, surfed and wound down a bit.  After a while I thought I could hear a faint sound that sounded like the kids screaming.  My kids are loud and they scream and yell a lot (it's imperative that we live in the country), so I've learned not to panic each time I hear something suspicious going on outside.  If they need me, one of them will run inside for help.  

Sitting there in the room that's almost dark by now, I'm reveling in the fact that I'm alone, all alone! Ah, the glory of it!  All alone with no one to bother me, no one to ask me to do something, no one yelling at me. But what is that strange, far away din that sounds like "Mooooooooooooooommmmmm!!!!"  And it's nearly dark by now, where are the kids?  Overcome with curiosity and a little trepidation, I got up and went outside.  

I went out the back door, but no one but the dog was in sight, who begged and pleaded with me to play with him.  I quickly apologized and went off in search of the kids.  I walked around to the front:  nothing, no one.   And then I heard it again "MOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!."  It was a chorus of all three of them calling for me with an urgency that made my heart jump!

I ran in the direction of their screams, up the drive way to the front field.  I couldn't see them, but I knew they had to be sitting on the other side of the hill in our front pasture.  I kept running, praying with each step that this was just some kind of joke.  What kind of predicament could they be in that could possibly prevent all three of them from coming to the house?  Whatever I expected it was surely not what I found when I topped that hill.  

There they were, all three of them sitting in the grass, shivering from the cold, clutching their bare, sticker covered feet!  I couldn't contain the giggle that emanated from the deep sense of relief I felt and the comical sight they made.  I didn't laugh for long, because Trent was really upset.  He got the worst of it:  stickers in his hands and feet and even on his little rear end.   He was so distressed, tears streaming down his sweet, little face "Mom what took you so long?  We've been yelling and yelling for a long time."  Talk about the guilt trip of the century!  I bent down and pulled all the stickers out of him before moving on to Kristen and Tyler.  I told them to stay put and I would be right back with their shoes.

I don't know how many times I've told them to wear shoes outside. They don't listen.  They know the risks and they choose to gamble! What's a mom to do?

The Burden of Deceit

The peace and quiet that settles over the house after the kids are in bed is a treasured commodity  around here.  Wednesday night, I was just settling in for a few moments of that luxurious P&Q when Kristen came bursting from her room, tears streaming down her face, her lip quivering like a leaf in the wind.  She barely managed to say "mama, I have to tell you and daddy something."  I braced myself and said "what is it, sweetie?"  Through another torrent of tears she said "remember that time the light bulb burst in the middle of the night.  Well, it didn't happen like I said."  "Okay, how did it happen?"  "Well, I was playing and washing one of my doll's dresses and put it on the light bulb to dry."  Me- "And it shattered the bulb?"   "Yes."  "And you lied about it?"  "Yes."  "Why did you lie?"  "I was afraid I would get into trouble."  "Why did you decide to tell me about this now?"  Through the final and most intense flood of tears, "I couldn't hold it in any longer."  

My little girl had been carrying around this burden for months.  It ate at her in the stillness of her bed.  These thoughts, along with guilt of my own, for understanding the fear that she felt was caused by knowing that I would have been very upset and angry had she told me the truth, crowded my mind.  For you see, I remember that night when she broke the light bulb and she had to come and get me out of my bed to tell me.  I don't remember her explanation for its breaking, but I do remember being concerned for her safety and making sure that all the glass was carefully cleaned up.  Had I known that she was playing when she was supposed to be in bed and taking the globe off of her lamp to dry a wet doll dress, I would have been just a little less concerned about the glass and a whole lot more concerned about her disobedience and foolishness.  And I'm not very nice when you get me out of bed, unless you're sick or bleeding or have some other emergency that you couldn't help!

We discussed how the truth is always better and how she learned two valuable lessons through all of this.  Never put anything on a light bulb and always tell the truth.  Deception is a cruel burden. It's the truth, no matter how hard it may seem, that sets you free.

2 Pages

I seem to be totally inspired by the photos I took of Kristen and  they just really go well with the new kits my designers are releasing. Here are two pages and I'm working on another.

Everything on this page is from a brand new collab between Aja Abney and Emily Merritt, Fairy tale. It's on sale today at Scrapartist and We Are Storytellers.

This page uses a new kit by Sausan Designs, Sweet Grunge. You can find it at Catscrap.

Together

Trent's Turn

Here's the baby of the family.  Ain't he sweet?

Tyler's Turn

Today, I took the boys to their grandmothers for their turn in the spotlight. Here's a few captures Tyler, my oldest, my ten year old baby, who is really growing up quickly!!

Black and White

Here's a story board of b&W photos from today's session.

What do you do when God gives you an angel?

You take her photograph, of course! I have been planning for several months now to photograph Kristen in this dress. My original plan was for the spring, but when she broke her arm, we decided to wait until she was cast-free. She hasn't worn a cast since mid April, but I've just been putting it off for one reason or another. Today, I decided to just do it. I fixed her hair and we headed down to Grandma's where I thought we would find better backdrops and props.

I wanted to accomplish a few things with this shoot. First and foremost was to capture some beautiful photos of my princess. Secondly, I wanted to practice my photography skills. I was mainly concerned with my metering, as it seems that I always have to brighten every photo I take after I import it to my computer. I was very pleased to find that I did much better this time. The biggest struggle I had was coming up with poses! I hope to get better with practice! Practice, practice, practice! Here's just a small sampling of the photos I got tonight. I cropped all of these to 8*10 and used Christian O'dell's Lightroom Presets. You can find this awesome set of presets for sale at Catscrap.

While I'm at it

I may as well tell you about two new kits! Nikki Beaudreau has released a fabulous boy kit, entitled Rock-It Science. Here's the page I made with it-



Creashen's released another wonderful kit at Catscrap today, Bye Bye Birdie. Here's the page I made using it-

Neglect and a Freebie!

I'm so glad this blog isn't a living thing, depending on me for food and water, it would be near death's door by now! I'm not going to spend a lot of time feeling guilty and trying to explain why I've been so remiss in taking care of this new commitment. It would be a waste of time! All I can do is start afresh and try to do better in the future, right!? Now on to the good stuff--

Check out Catherine's Blog and download this awesome freebie that coordinates perfectly with her new kit, Woodland Retreat.

A Little Digi-News

One of the most talented and friendliest of all the scrappers in Digi-land started designing just a few weeks ago.  Everyone involved in the Digi-world knows her and admires her for her beautiful and creative art and the wonderful inspiration that she brings with each and every page.  Yes, I'm talking about Catherine aka Chud23. Her designs can be seen at After 5.

You can imagine how excited I was when I received a PM from her asking me to be a part of her Creative Team!  I wasted no time in sending her my answer, lest she changed her mind! lol Here are two pages I made using her kits. Friends for Life consists mainly of Zen Attitude and most of the items on Be Bold are from Girls' Retreat, released just a few days ago.  

Little Davis's Pizzeria

We've had a lot of fun rowing Little Nino's Pizzeria this week, especially knowing that we'd be making our own pizza for our final lesson. Have you ever thought about all the lessons to be learned from eating pizza? No, I'm not talking about the lesson I'm sure we've all had to learn a few times when indulging in Pizza, namely, overeating leads to guilt and weight gain. Instead, I'm talking about nutrition, food groups, digestion, managerial skills required to run a pizza business, measurements, fractions. We even learned about homonyms, such as need and knead. The list really could go on and on and we covered most of that and more in our short daily lessons, all the while having fun together!

And to top it all off, the kids did an excellent job making the pizza. It was absolutely delicious!! It looked home-made and rustic, which is just two of the things that give homemade foods so much charm! They all helped rolling out the dough for the crust. Kristen was in charge of the Spinach Garlic Mushroom Pizza (my favorite), and the boys shared the responsibility of putting together the Canadian Bacon and Pineapple Pizza.

 

  

 

 

By Popular Demand

Coconut Cream Pie-

2 C Milk

1/4 c Corn Syrup

4 Tbs Corn Starch

1/2 C Sugar

2 Egg Yolks

1 Tbs Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

11/2 C Coconut

Mix 1/2 cup milk, corn syrup, corn starch, sugar and egg yolks to form a paste.  Stir in the rest of the milk and cook over low heat stirring constantly until boiling.  Then remove from heat and add butter, vanilla and coconut.  Pour into your pre-baked crust and top with your choice of whipped cream or meringue.  For maximum enjoyment, hide from family members and keep it all for yourself!!  

My dear sweet, sister Tammi says this is the BEST coconut cream pie ever and I'm inclined to agree with her! Try it for yourself and see if you agree.

Lots of Pages

I've gotten behind on posting my Layouts here. There is lots of exciting news in the Digi-scrapping World this week. A brand new store, After 5 Designs, opened yesterday with a ton of fabulous scrappers making their debut into designing: Catherine, Camilla, Amanda, and Jen Anderson along with long-time designer Amy Hutchison! I'm so excited for them and wish them nothing but great success. Holly Designs is guesting at Catscrap, so I have the opportunity to use some of her wonderful designs! Nikki has released a new product at The Digichick today, some beautiful Tied and Twisted Ribbons.

Most everything on this page is from Catherine's new Kit Summer Evenings-

This page uses Nikki's new ribbon and lots more of her goodies-

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of Elie on the piano at Janie's.  This page uses mostly items from Creashen's newest kit, Afternoon Cha.

A page using Milla's new kit, Autumn Leaves-

A page using one of Aja's new kits, Bella's Nook-

One final page that features Kristen decked out on her 4 Wheeler. Everything on this page is from Holly's new kit She's So Quirky.

Anytime you'd like to see the full list of credits or want a quick link to one of my designer's products just visit my DST Gallery.  The link is located on the right hand side.  There you'll find all of my pages with their credits. Thank you so much for looking and reading!  :-)

Pumpkin Panache

I was trying to come up with a catchy title for this post and Pumpkin Panache kept coming to mind. It sounded good, but I wasn't entirely sure what panache meant. Here's what the dictionary had to say on the matter: panache- noun - flamboyant confidence of style or manner. I think it kind of fits. What do you think? Well anyway, it sounds good and that's the most important thing!

I love autumn. I love the the green leaves changing to a rainbow of golds and reds; the cool, crisp feeling in the air; the leaves swirling in the wind as they make their way to the ground where they crunch underfoot; the shortened days with the sunsetting in early evening; and I love pumpkins. Pumpkins just embody fall to me.

The best thing about pumpkins is all the goodies you can make to eat with them! And never forget how good they are for you! They are loaded with fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. So when you're indulging in Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving you are really doing your body a favor.

In the past, I've eaten Pumpkin Pie (duh), Pumpkin Butter, Pumpkin Muffins, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Fritters, Pumpkin Bars, Pumpkin Roll (thanks Mom) and Pumpkin Fudge. I've even made and eaten Pumpkin Soup. This weekend I made Pumpkin Ice Cream with crunchy Pecan Topping that is really good! I also made Spiced Pumpkin Bread that turned out delicious! That is really what this post is all about! It was so easy and delicious that I thought I'd share the recipe. What made this recipe stand out from ones I've tried in the past is the addition of orange peel. It gave the bread just a touch of citrusy freshness that really complemented the pumpkin and spices perfectly!

If you try it, let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Spiced Pumpkin Bread 

(Cooking Pleasures magazine)

1 3/4 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/3 c sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter, softened

1 c canned pumpkin

2 eggs

2 tsp grated orange peel

1/2 c toasted pecans

Heat oven to 350. Spray 9" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Whisk the first 5 ingredients together in medium bowl.

Beat sugar and butter at medium-high speed  4 minutes 

or until light and fluffy.  And pumpkin, eggs, and orange peel.

Beat at medium speed until well blended.

Slowly beat in flour mixture at low speed just until blended.

Pour batter into pan and bake 60-65 minutes or until edges pull

away slightly from sides of pan and center springs back when lightly touched.

Cool in pan 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely before adding glaze.

Glaze--

1 c powder sugar

1 tbs milk 

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp orange peel

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Pour over bread and enjoy!

We've Had the Sickies

Trent has been complaining about pains in his stomach off and on since early Tuesday morning. A few times a day he would act like his stomach was really bothering him, but just as quickly as it came upon him, it seemed to dissipate. Friday was a different story though. He laid around most of the day and was even running a low grade fever. He ended up throwing up and having diarrhea more than a few times. My washing machine has been busy and he's taken a lot of baths!

He is better today, but still not feeling great. He has eaten a couple of servings of Chicken Noodle Soup and jello. He has had diarrhea, but no throwing up today. So he is definitely on the mend!

My kids are so seldom sick, that they really feel a deep sympathy for each other when they get sick. Several times Kristen and Tyler have asked about Trent and expressed how badly they felt for him. Kristen has gotten him several drinks and anything else she felt like he may need: blanket, pillow, etc.

Last night, Trent laid in Kristen's bed as they listened to Adventures in Odyssey. They both fell asleep and I decided to let them be. They looked so sweet that I couldn't bear to disturb them. At 6 this morning, I heard a knock on my door and Kristen telling me that Trent was in the bathroom sick. When I got up, she was refilling his cup with Sprite. When he had settled back down and said he was feeling better, he laid down in Kristen's bed again. They told me that they were going to lay there together and watch the sunrise. Now that is music to this Mama's ears. One of her babies is sick and the other is taking care of him like a mama bear caring for her cub, and all the while they are making memories together and strengthening their sibling bond! I count that as an answer to prayer and just one of my many blessings!

Some of Me

I found a little time this week to make a page for the Digi-Dare 99  Challenge. The rules were scrap three personality traits about yourself or someone else: good, bad and ugly.   Include a photo of that person, include some kind of messed up paper (crease, crinkle, tear or fold), something that sparkles, minimum of 3 different alphas of the same color. 

I had to choose 2 of my 3 negative points to highlight and only one of my many positives! That was tough!! lol It really is kind of embarrassing to post personal faults online for all the world to see! Especially when all they know of me is what they see online!  If any of my siblings are reading this, then they will testify that I came by these traits honestly! Mom and Dad both yelled some and griped a little, but we always knew they loved us and our love for them never wavered.



Most everything on this page is from Nikki's new kit Shabby Sunflowers for sale at The Digichick.

Astronomy Lesson One

For our science studies this year, we are using a wonderful book entitled Exploring Creation with Astronomy. The kids are having so much fun with it! Justin bought a very nice telescope and we've viewed Jupiter, Venus and the moon so far. For actual class time, they have learned the definitions to words such as astronomy, solar system, gravity, gravitational pull and satellite. We've discussed the various reasons why God made all the wonderful things in our solar system and how mankind has used them throughout time. They are memorizing the planets in order in relation to the sun with the fun mnemonic, My very early morning just started under Nancy's pancakes.  :) We've been introduced to Copernicus and Galileo and we've learned about NASA.

Today as we wrapped up our first of thirteen lessons, we made a model of the sun and planets with balloons. It was a lot of fun and work blowing up the different sized balloons. To no one's surprise, Tyler was the most successful in blowing up the balloons.  :)  It really gave us a good idea of the size of each of the planets. Our Saturn is way too big, as Jupiter is by far the largest planet, but that's just how it worked out. We discussed how much bigger Jupiter is than all of the other planets, so much bigger in fact, that all eight of the other planets could fit inside it. We also talked about how much bigger the sun really is and how our model couldn't possibly accurately reflect its size. It would be entirely too large to hang from our ceiling.  I think we're off to a great start with Astronomy and looking forward to the next lesson!

Birthday Wishes Do Come True

With there being only 10 days separating the boys' birthdays, we've always had one big party for them both. And since Tyler's comes first, we've always done it closer to his birthday. No amount of explaining on our parts has ever convinced Trent that this was actually in his favor. He's never understood why that by the time his birthday came all the fun had already been had. This year he insisted that we have his party ON his birthday!

A few months ago I asked him what he would like to do to celebrate. It took him all of about 20 seconds to come up with his answer, "ride 4-wheelers at Wizard Wells". Inside, I moaned because I know how hot it can still be in September, but we got pretty lucky. The day was warm, with a high of about 90, but with a light breeze and lots of shade, we were comfortable.

The kids rode their 4-wheelers for a few hours while we relaxed and chatted.

Here's a few photos of the kids on their 4 wheelers-

Trent spoke of wanting nothing else for his birthday other than to have a party on HIS birthday at Wizard Wells (riding 4-wheelers) and a Batman Computer. Grandma Janie made sure the Batman Computer wish was realized. He was so excited when he saw it.
Aunt Julie made him a cake decorated with 4 wheelers. It was cute! Looking forward to seeing the cake that she makes is always a lot of fun! She has spoiled the kids by decorating their cakes for all of their birthdays since 2001. That's a lot of cakes! Thank you Aunt Julie!

7 Years Ago

Today we celebrated Trent's 7th birthday. Yes, it's true, even if it's hard to believe, my baby is seven years old. He's tall, lanky, comical, silly, sweet and getting more independent every day. Seven years ago, he and I were in the hospital relaxing and just enjoying each other. I took tons of photos, but thanks to an error on my part, I don't have any of those to share. Instead I'll show you some from his first few days at home and then tomorrow I'll share pictures of the birthday party we had for him today. What a sweet, perfect addition he was to our family.