Bad Day

I wrote this in Windows Live Writer which makes the photos smaller, but you can click on them for a bigger view. It is a big time saver for me when I do not have as much time to post! 

On Tuesday, I had to take all three kids with me to my doctor’s appointment. I was dreading it like crazy. Seriously. They usually misbehave so badly when we go somewhere that requires more than five minutes of sitting. I had to go. I have had migraines on and off for years. Lately though, they have become unbearable. First one side of my head goes completely numb, then my vision is disturbed and I can't even drive, and then the pain comes!

The doctor thinks that my migraines are triggered by stress so I'm trying to simplify everything. He gave me sample pills of a migraine medicine so I would not have to pay for a whole prescription of something that might not work. The biggest surprise of the day? All three kids behaved amazingly well. It was awesome.

We picked up Jordan’s new braces on Tuesday, but I think they are the wrong ones. I tried to tell the guy at the orthotics place that they were wrong, but he was not listening. I am going to have to call her doctor to get all of that figured out.

Below is the photo of the day for Wednesday. I decided that every day of Summer vacation we would do one special activity. So far we have played Play Doh, played in the sand box, and colored. Lots of fun stuff. The catch is, that the kids have to behave to participate in that day’s activities. It seems to be working so far.

Summer vacation is hard. They are so used to routine, and this just scrambles them all up! They were coloring and playing stickers for Wednesday’s activity. I edited the photo with the Honey Retro Coffee Shop action because the lighting in my dining room is awful.

Thursday, Jordan had her hippotherapy appointment. She had a blast riding her horse. Brandon and Alexis had a wonderful time playing in the lovely red dirt of the riding ring. They were driving Brandon’s toy cars in piles of dirt. I was faced with the dilemma of keeping them happy or keeping them clean. As you can see, I chose happy. Much to my detriment because later I had to get all of those red dirt stains out of their clothes. LOL

Our activity yesterday was supposed to include swimming in the little pool I bought the kids for the Summer. The little pool met an untimely end because of an inefficient swim diaper, so the sprinkler was called in as a replacement. I think they had a blast! They kept laughing and shrieking. I hope the neighbors were not trying to take a nap.

Today was not the greatest day. It started off really well, but then went downhill really fast. I left home early this morning to bring Alexis to visit with her biological brother at the park. When we got there, she got out of her seat, then I was getting Brandon out when all of the sudden the back window of the van EXPLODED. I have no clue what happened. It is insane. Insurance is not going to cover it. It will cost 300 dollars to replace, and our deductible for insurance is 500. So we are going to have to pay for it out of pocket, and we do not get paid for a whole week. Guess who will be staying home? Me!

Ronnie bought Lady to the vet this morning for another 100 dollars, and the vet says that she looks really bad, and to watch to see when she develops pain. We do not know how much longer she has. We are taking it day by day. It is five o’clock now, and I am hoping things can only get better. Here is the photo of my poor van. (I blocked out my license plate number.)

It is not all bad news though… Our little tomato and pepper plants (AKA Patches and Mirrow) are doing really well! I am planning to scrapbook about them and I took their photos today. We are getting our first flowers on the tomato plant (Mirrow).

Patches is holding his (her?) own as well with teeny tiny peppers in the center of the leaves. It will be no time before we have cayenne peppers to throw in the pot!

Jordan is ecstatic about the plants. She is very involved in the process and can not wait to eat her tomatoes. At least that is what she says…

Sing A Song

When I posted this layout in my gallery on Scrapbook.com about how much I love to sing, a few of my friends said they would love to hear me sing. (You can click on the image to make it bigger.)

Singing Joy-Noel Mingnon Challenge
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

I could not find any videos of me singing by myself, but I do have this one where I was trying to get Jordan and Alexis to sing on camera. I do quite a bit of singing myself, because for some reason when I sing, they sing louder. I would stop every now and then so the video would pick up the sound of them singing, and then they would get quiet, so I would start again. It is kinda hard to sing when you are laughing at the two crazy kids in the video. Keep in mind I am not the next American Idol. LOL I sing because it makes me happy!



I almost forgot, the song has one cuss word in it, and I always tell the girls not to sing it. That's what Jordan is saying when she says, "What happens if we sing the huss word?" I just had to laugh. She is so rotten.

Hip Hop Horray

I just wanted to pop in and say that Mosh Posh is still holding their blog party! You can win prizes just for leaving comments. There are even MORE prizes to be won if you participate in challenges.

I participated in the ad inspiration challenge. Here is the ad I chose to use as inspiration. (You can click on it to make it bigger!)

Ad Inspiration for the Mosh Posh Challenge
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

Here is my take on the ad! (You can click on the image to make it bigger!)

Preschool-Mosh Posh Ad Inspiration Challenge
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

If you are feeling inspired by the ad, I would love to see what you do! They are also have a challenge to scraplift a card from Estee. Hers is gorgeous! I had a great time lifting it. Here is what I came up with...

Smile
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

You can find the blog party at this address http://mosh-poshkits.blogspot.com/ If you go over there, tell them I sent you.

Today they are having a blog hop where you can visit the blogs of their awesome design team members!

Borderline

I finally got the .svg notebook border file I promised everyone for use with Sure Cuts A Lot Software finished. Please note that it is NOT to be used for commercial use, and please do not share the file. Instead, send your friends to my blog to download. Thank you. Here is a photo of the border after I cut it. I cut it out pretty big so you can see it, but of course you can make it smaller and weld several pieces together if you wish.



Here is the link where you can download the file.
http://www.4shared.com/file/107711448/f35e115a/MMD_SCAL_SVG_Borders.html

P.S. There are two other files in there. One a more funky version of the apron lace punch with flat sides to the circles and off center punches. The other is a regular scalloped border.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Time to share the photo of the day pictures I have taken in the past few days!

I already shared the video of Miss Jordan's preschool graduation, but here is the best photo I got of her while they were singing. The lighting is positively terrible in the gym, so it is a bit pixellated. She loves to sing. LOUDLY. Thank goodness she is actually a good singer. LOL



I almost forgot to take a photo of the day on Friday. At the last minute I took this photo. It is an updated picture of my scrapbook area. Yes, it is quite cluttered, but it is extremely organized and I can put my hands on anything I need within seconds. It is my own personal playground with really expensive toys!



Poor Lady. She has not been feeling well at all. I found three new bumps on her skin that look just like the cancers we had removed before. I am bringing her back to the vet this weekend. She does not seem to be in pain. She just acts tired a lot. Say a prayer for her if you have got a minute please. She means a lot to us!



Ronnie is a bum! Okay not really. Yesterday he took a nap in the middle of the living room floor after he cut the grass. Lady decided that he looked like he was comfortable, so she joined in the fun. I snapped a sneaky photo that he does not know I took, or he would make me delete it. He hates having his photo taken.



We had big plans to go to the park this morning on Memorial Day. We got the kids all dressed, and Jordan picked out her own clothes. (She is developing her own girlie sense of style!) When we opened the front door to leave, it was storming. Our plans were washed out. So we went out on the carport to play with their sandbox out of the rain. Miss Jordan was happy to pose for photos for me.



Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope yours is dryer than mine!

Splish Splash I was taking a bath...

I had to drop in and post this in between my normal pic of the day updates. Tonight I was taking a bath. I had my book and the bath water was just starting to cool from the boiling hot temperature I require for comfort, when all of the sudden I heard the door handle rattling and giggles from behind the door.

The door burst open, and as soon as Jordan saw that I was in the tub she demanded to be my hairdresser and wash my hair. It was really cute. It did not take her long to decide that she needed to be in the tub. She got undressed and climbed right in. As soon as Brandon saw that she was in the bathtub, he wanted in too! All of the sudden my relaxing bath got VERY loud. I was tubjacked! Ronnie thought it was funny so he went and grabbed the camera. With some creative editing I can share a photo of the two monkeys who tubjacked me.



I think that may be my new favorite photo ever!

Fame

Jordan had her preschool graduation today. After they finished singing the song and people started clapping, she got so excited that she started jumping up and down. When they started walking off the stage she stopped to take a bow. She started walking again, then she stopped to blow me a huge kiss. I think we have a future star on our hands. She just loves being the center of attention. I was so proud of her.

Sick As A Dog

Yeah, so I suck at keeping my posts down to once a week. It is just not going to happen. Hehe Here are my photo of the day updates first!

On Saturday we brought the kids out to play and Brandon left his little character from Cars on one of our stepping stones. The kids made the stepping stones a while back at their Aunt's house by pressing shells and glass pebbles into the concrete. I thought it made a great photo. I had to get down on my knees to get it on macro mode, but I think it is really neat seeing how beat up it is. Or shall we say how loved?



We spent Sunday doing a bit of Spring cleaning around the house. In the Kitchen mostly. I took a photo of the super clean kitchen after it was over. I hated having to do it, but after it was done I felt a great sense of accomplishment. (The photo was edited with a Coffee Shop Action.)



Ronnie is so funny! I think that I may have mentioned a time or two how completely car obsessed his is. He spends a lot of time looking at cars, and deciding what he wants to do with the cars we have. (Currently three of them.) When we got our tax return he informed me that we needed new tires on my van. I assumed he would order whatever was sufficient, but I ended up with Pirelli tires. On a mini van!!! He pimped my van. LOL I do like them as they are wider and give the van a more steady feel. On another note, I have to bring the van in for service tomorrow because sometimes the window will not roll up when you roll it down AND sometimes the windshield wipers do not work. I am thinking it must be something electrical. Thank goodness we bought the extended warranty.



I got this really cute photo of Brandon the other day. He got disgustingly dirty, and I had to put him in the tub in the middle of the day. He was just thrilled since he loves taking baths and kept giving me a big cheesy grin. He is a little stinker. Literally! That is enough hint right there at what he did! LOL



Today was a sick day for Brandon and I. I started feeling really bad yesterday morning. I have a fever, sore throat, and ache all over. I think I have the flu which totally sucks because Jordan has her preschool graduation pageant tomorrow and I do not want to miss it. If I feel the same way tomorrow afternoon as I do now, I do not know if I will make it to her ceremony. Brandon started feeling bad last night and has just been so cranky and whiny. Of course I am really sympathetic toward him because I am feeling quite cranky myself. Here he is passed out on the floor in his bedroom. Poor thing!



For all of you SCAL and digital scrapbook users who read my blog... I am working on putting together a border set just like the new border punches that have come out recently. Hopefully, I will be able to create a notebook border too, so stay tuned for that!

I am going to go lay down for a while. The kids just got home, and they are going to watch a movie in the front room while I lay down on the couch. Jordan's last day of preschool is tomorrow. I can not believe Summer got here that quickly!

Breaking the Rules!

I'm breaking my self imposed rule of posting every Friday to pop in and let all of my scrapbooking buddies that the Mosh Posh kit club is having a blog party! They are giving away a RAK just for posting on their blog. Be sure to tell them that I sent you. Check them out here...

http://mosh-poshkits.blogspot.com/

I am on my second month of getting kits from them and let me tell you... it's one of the best purchases I've made in a while! Check out the layouts I've made with some of their kits.

These are from the May kit...

Field Trip
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

My Crazy Life- Estee's Day in the Life Challenge
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

And these are from the April kit...

Box Fun
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

She Thinks She Can Fly
by Miracles_momma
Scrapbook.com

And I can't wait to get my hands on the June kit!

Sleepless in Louisiana

On Wednesday Brandon missed his sisters all day long. He kept asking for them. When Jordan got off of the bus, she ran to the window of their room and talked to Brandon through it. They were just too sweet. She must have missed him too.



Thursday found me racking my brain to come up with a photo of the day picture. I have taken a picture of the front of the house, so I figured why not the back? The funny thing is that I realized I caught Ronnie's "other woman" in the photo as well. See that big satellite dish on the roof of my house? That is the other woman. I get jealous of the amount of time he spends with her. If it is NASCAR season, you can forget about it!



Today I am sleep deprived. For about a week now, Jordan has been a little sick. Off and on she would just have a monstrous cough, and then it seemed to go away. Last night around nine, she started coughing really badly. Ronnie gave her a breathing treatment, but it only seemed to get worse. Around ten she seemed to be struggling to breathe, so I brought her in to the emergency room. After three hours there, she got a chest x-ray and everything looked clear. The doctor said that her allergies were making her cough, and the coughing led to an asthma attack. It was not a fun night. The photo below was taken at one o'clock this morning. She looks like she is feeling a lot better in it. LOL



I have been trying to streamline my online time lately. I am cutting down on lots of things. I will only be posting here on my blog about once a week now. Most likely on Fridays like today!

If you are a scrapbooker and have some free time this weekend, you should stop by Scrapperie.com and participate in their Spring into Summer Crop! They have prizes up for grabs and some really neat challenges. In fact, I am going to end this post now to go start scrapping some of the challenges!

Hugs,
Heather

Patches and Mirrow

On Saturday morning we woke up early. The kids have their internal clocks set to six in the morning. Ronnie went and picked up breakfast at IHOP. He declared that I was having a Mother's Day weekend, and he wanted to do something special. When he got back we had a nice family breakfast with only a minimum of spilling and arguments. After breakfast was over, we all went to the Home Depot to buy the things I needed to improve my garden. It has become a bit of a tradition for me to go pick out what I want from the plant store instead of getting cut flowers that die a few days later. On the way, Ronnie stopped to get me gas. I never pumped my own gas for the first six years we were married. He always did it for me. In the last couple of years I have gotten in the habit of doing it myself, so having him do it on Saturday made me remember how he used to do it for me, and I snapped this photo.



After we finished up at the store, we came home and unloaded everything from the truck. The kids "helped" me plant the plants and mulch the gardens. Brandon kept digging up the plants I planted to bury his cars in their place. Then when I would pull them back out he would get mad. Jordan kept complaining she was too hot to plant anything. Ronnie cut the grass, and I wrangled kids. It was quite interesting, not at all relaxing, but still fun.

Later on that evening when I went to teach at Scrappersaurus, I realized I even had a bit of a sunburn. Yay Spring! I am so glad it is warm again and we can play outside! Speaking of playing outside, that is how we spent most of Sunday. The kids played in the kiddie pool in the back yard while I sat with my feet in the pool and read a book. Brandon was so excited to get in! He would not even wait until I had his clothes changed. He hopped in fully clothed. I had to get his shorts and diaper off and make him get into a swim diaper. He was so mad! He got over it quickly though.



Do you Freecycle? http://www.freecycle.org/ We do! I picked up this really cool tool bench for Brandon yesterday for free. He was so very thrilled with it that I had a hard time getting him to come inside to eat lunch. After his bath last night, he went by the back door and cried until I let him outside to play with it again. We also donate stuff through Freecyle! It is a great way to share the things you do not need anymore.



Today's photo is of Patches and Mirrow. Jordan named the tomato and hot pepper plant I planted on Saturday. Mirrow is the tomato plant, and Patches is the hot pepper plant. See? I am not kidding when I say she names everything. The kids are very excited to be growing their own vegetables. I have wanted to try container gardening for a while. We will see how it goes!



Alexis has gymnastics tonight so I have to go help her get her homework done so we can go! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Mother's Day!

The Brandon Show

Poor Brandon... I had to bring him to the pediatrician for his two year old check up on Tuesday. He did not have to get any shots, but he did have to have his finger poked to make sure his lead level in his blood was okay. Let me tell you he was NOT a happy camper. Even his sucker did not cheer him up. He was so upset. This photo was taken thirty minutes AFTER we left the doctor's office. Usually I can get him to smile and cheer up when I pull out the camera. He loves to say cheese, but he wasn't having any of that. While we were at the doctor's office I asked yet again about his speech delay, and I also expressed concerns about his hearing again. He is a very bright little boy, he is just not talking as much as he should be and seems to have problems hearing me. So his pediatrician referred him to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor.



On Wednesday we were just hanging around the house and Brandon came up to me and started smiling and saying "Cheese". So of course I had to grab my camera. Here he is cheesing it up!



On Thursday, Brandon had a play date. I have been trying to get together with a friend of mine once a week so Brandon can play with the kids she babysits. He had a blast playing in the fountains with his new little friend. They look so much alike that they could be brothers. I ended up getting a bit sunburnt. Maybe next time I should get in the fountains too. LOL



Brandon had to go to the ear nose and throat doctor this morning. They could not do his hearing test because he would not cooperate. They are going to have to put him to sleep to get it done. He cried when they just looked in his ears with the ear thing. (I know, not the technical term.) Since they are going to have to put him to sleep to do the test, they have decided to go ahead and put tubes in his ears. (He has had many ear infections.) I had to do a hearing and speech checklist that was just awful. It turns out he is even farther behind than I thought he was, which makes me feel like a horrible Mom. I kept telling the pediatrician that something was not right, and she kept putting me off. I am really mad that I did not put my foot down sooner. Ugh. Anyway, they will be calling me to set up the date and time of the surgery/test soon. I will just have to squeeze his therapy in between the girl's therapy. Here is a photo of him waiting in the doctor's chair before the doctor came in.



I am off to go catch up on things around the house. It seems like I am behind on EVERYTHING!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!
Hugs,
Heather

What I Learned Today

This first photo I have to share is from Saturday. Miss Jordan got this Backyardigans Doodler from her great grandma two Christmas' ago. Recently it has been the object of renewed interest as she LOVES writing her letters. Her name, my name, and the dog's name have all received rave reviews. Here she is concentrating intensely.



Since Jordan loves everything to do with the Noggin TV show Ni Hao, Kai-Lan where they eat with chopsticks and learn Chinese words, I thought I would make a Chinese dinner for her complete with chopsticks and fortune cookies. She loved it, and kept trying to stab her food instead of pick it up. Alexis, who is nobody's fool, tried the chopsticks for a minute before diving straight for her spoon and shoveling the fried rice dish I made in as fast as she could. You know I am going to end up scrapbooking it. This photo of Alexis was my favorite of the night.



Today's photo is of Jordan's cool new trick. She decided she was tired of being too short to reach the drinking glasses, and being an independent little mite, she pushed a kitchen chair up to the cabinet instead of asking for help. While it is not entirely safe, you have to admire her ingenuity.



Before I go, I thought I would share a list of some things I have learned from my children today:

1. A piece of paper, a bit of ribbon, and some tape can be used to quickly create a kite that can be used indoors.

2. A two year old with a destructive streak can decimate his kite quicker than you can blink.

3. A five year old who has her kite destroyed by the above kite killer will retaliate.

4. A dining room chair can substitute for a ladder and provide grand adventures when you get stuck up there, and cannot get down.

5. Wet toilet paper provides and altogether unpleasant experience and is not at all useful until it dries out again.

6. Tomatoes make a LOT of juice when smashed on the kitchen table by an overactive five year old.

7. Tomato seeds are hard to wash out of washcloths.

8. If you are on the phone with someone important (Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs, etc.), both your five and your two year old children will decide that they need you at that moment.

9. If you do not respond immediately… be prepared to clean up smashed tomatoes.

10. In the middle of all the chaos, while you are muttering about running away to France, a smile from your two year old (that is holding his decimated kite that now looks like a crumpled paper ball on a ribbon) is enough to convince you to stay.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Hugs,
Heather

Tagged by Leah

The game is to share your very first scrapbook page and then tag 5 others. Since I digitally scrap, and paper scrap I have two to share.

This is the first digital scrapbook layout I did. I remember being SO frustrated trying to line the journaling up on the lines. LOL



This is one of the first paper layouts I did. I don't know if it's THE first, but close! Note the copious use of stickers, and only solid cardstock. Wow. LOL



I am tagging Jill, Leesa, Mandy, Michelle, and Jane! I hope everyone is having a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day! Yes, it is a real holiday! LOL

Hugs,
Heather

I hate to sweat! /Questions Session 20

I have lived in Louisiana all my life. One would think that after twenty nine years of sweltering heat I would get used to it, and not mind sweating anymore. Nope. Every time the weather gets warmer I get slightly more cranky, and a bit more stinky as well. I hate when the thermometer climbs over eighty degrees. I wish we could have Fall for the entire year. Don’t you?

I am behind on sharing photos lately. Here is Mr. Brandon on Tuesday. He was watching television like that and appeared to be quite comfortable. It must be a guy thing.

On Wednesday we went to the girls’ school for Alexis’ Terrific Kid breakfast. This is the third year in a row that she has been a Terrific Kid. The award is for children that behave especially well in class, and go out of their way to help others. Ronnie’s parents came up, and we all made a big deal out of it. We are very proud!

We also got the excellent news on Wednesday that Alexis will be moving to the gold level in gymnastics which is amazing. She is so tiny, and since she has done so well, she is in a class with older girls. It makes her appear even tinier. This brings her one step closer to her dream of getting on a team this Fall. It is something she really wants to do, and I am hoping she is able to do it. I will be so proud. However, I do NOT think I will like driving her over there four nights a week for practice. Still if it makes her happy, I will do it.

Thursday found me grocery shopping. I detest grocery shopping almost as much as I do sweating. This trip was no exception. The only redeeming quality was that I got lots of good bargains, and a few scrapbook supplies jumped into my basket as well. Shhh!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. It really does look like there are TWO Brandon’s in the pool in my backyard does it not? LOL Bubs had a play date today. It was really cute because the little boy is his age, and almost as tall as him. They were both very shy with one another because it was the first time they met. After a while they warmed up. I hope they get to be good friends.

My friend Kim came over with one of the little boys she babysits, and when he saw the “Big Kids” in the pool, he got mad and wanted to swim too. Instead of putting him in the big pool where the boys were being rough. I dug out my turkey roasting pan and filled it with water so he could splash. We never dreamed he would climb in it, but he sure did. Then he gave himself a round of applause for doing so. LOL Yes, we are definitely weird around here.

Jordan has not been feeling well at all, and to top it off I got a note from school today saying that I can keep her home from school because of her weakened immune system because of the swine flu that is spreading through the United States. She is considered special needs, and due to her lung issues if she gets sick she gets REALLY sick. We have a reported case of swine flu in our area, and I have decided to keep her home. If I did not, and she caught it. I would feel horrible. To me her health is more important than her schooling right now.

I have a video to share of Jordan riding her horse from a while back. It was the first time she was allowed to let her horse trot, and she was thrilled. (She is the second one to go on the video.) Her horse got tired halfway through, and Jordan kept hollering at the horse to go faster. She is a little daredevil for sure. Here it is…

 

P.S. Yeah, that is me talking. I know. I have an accent. LOL

Questions Session 20

Question One: How freaked out are you over the swine flu right now? Are you taking any extra precautions?

As I stated above, I am planning to keep Jordan home from school. We are not taking Jordan anywhere that is not necessary. No public places at all. I have to confess that when we went to Wal-Mart for groceries on Thursday a woman coughed near me and I freaked out. Yes, I am a germaphobe, but I have had to be cautious because of how sick Jordan gets.

Question Two: Which season is your favorite season and why?

Any season but Summer. Seriously. I do love having the kids home, but the weather, not so much. I really wish they would keep the kids in school for the Summer, and let them out for the fall for vacation. It would be much nicer.

Hugs,

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Happy National Scrapbook Day tomorrow to all of my scrapping buddies!

Heather