If the slip-n-slide were a sport...

...she'd win a metal based on facial expressions alone!

Not your "normal" Easter miracle(s)

That miracle would be this picture taken at Breakfast with the Easter Bunny:

Which is the first time since this picture that she's been in the same room with the Easter Bunny without screaming:

Ahhh, the memories! Yes, that's my arm holding her on his lap and yes I'm a terrible, picture obsessed Mom. But what you can't see is that I cropped that picture down from this one, and did a little digital stamping (the Easter Bunny got a little wider to cover up part of Aidan's legs and body):



Apparently the moral learned from these pictures (much like the Tea with Santa pictures from Christmas) is that there's safety in numbers as long as you're with a friend close to your age. Mommy and Daddy (or any other adult who you routinely run to for comfort and safety) don't count.

And the second miracle: she let Miss Tina braid her hair.

And just because I can:



Learning T-ball

Katherine has her first T-ball practice on Wednesday so we've been practicing at home with her (and when I saw "we" I mean her & Charlie). She's pretty good at hitting off the "T" and does good at hitting when you toss her the ball too. Catching is another story--we just started practicing this. You can click on any photo to see it larger.



what form...what strength!



got this one...



...missed this one



the lesser known strategy of "close your eyes, stick out your glove, and hope for the best"

and my favorite! take note of how she's holding the glove out instead of wearing it--also her own strategy!

in all its glory...

Here it is, my layout, in all its glory in Scrapstreet.com online magazine

Or here: http://scrapstreet.com/ss11/3m3/easy.htm on page 41 if you want to see it in person.
I just started submitting layouts to print magazines. It can take forever to have one published. The print magazines provide compensation in the form of money or product so it's definitely more competitive. This online pub kinda fell into my lap and I'll still submit there. Some people create layouts for submitting. My goal is to create the layouts I want to and submit them if they happen to fit the call. I would think the other way would feel more like a job!

Have you heard of Pinterest?

It's a newish site that lets you save ideas and pictures and tutorials and recipes and whatever else you may find on the Internet. It's awesome!! I was using Tumblr (and still am to find stuff to pin!) but this is much more user friendly and I love the look of the boards and how easy it is to "pin" stuff to them and to find the stuff you have pinned. Not that I need more ideas of things to do to pass my time but at least now they're semi-organized!

Here's what I've found to "pin" recently:
a tutorial to make a cute summer skirt:

love this quilt:

crafts for Katherine:

Craftiness at it's best:

pom-poms made from old t-shirts



Need more time! more hours in the day! and apparently more wall space!

Wordless Wednesday: February 23rd edition

(not so easy to take pictures and tickle someone at the same time)

8 Days Late(r)

I decided to show my Valentine's home decor today. It's a little late, but it's my blog!
I made this based on something I found in the Pottery Barn catalogue. Honestly I like Pottery Barn's better than mine but that's ok. I think it needs more--more stuff on the hearts or more stuff hanging in general. I can always add to it next year.

The next thing I made with my crafty friends. We get together once or twice a month and try new stuff or projects we find online or in magazines. This was a coffee can, that was slightly flattened in a vice, primed, painted and embellished.

The next two things I made because I signed up for a Valentine swap on a blog I read. I ended up swapping with a military wife stationed in Kuwait so instead of just giving her a card (also pictured below), I made some stuff from ideas I've been saving in my head for a while. I had some free time and it went something like this: one for her, one for me!

Paper Heart Garland made with an old book and a sewing machine

Heart garland made with a red felted sweater left over from last Christmas' crafty gifts (note the craziness going on in the reflection--lovely!)
Both of these garlands were super quick and easy! Nothing like the ordeal I had made them out to be in my head. I free hand cut the hearts and sat on the floor with my sewing machine and fed hearts with one hand and pushed the petal with the other (my desk was, ummm, a little crowded!).

the Valentine card I made for her. It's called a lace cake. You make layers of lace to mimic a cake and then embellsih. I also made her a cute Valentine figure made out of an old wooden spool and a clay head with little hearts for ears. I forgot to take a picture before mailing it but it looked a lot like this:

(from here:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9RQQM6ZMliQaxoyY3yxtlzhE8Bk2G5idjRHr4ic4awKzkUZnGsE0EtzVE-69i5DbccTAuzAobmkO_sNN0VdQZVWY_fwt0087UmdmQza_Wu3abCsWcuNM0nuFXUheZ5jEOKl_XVvVNbMA/s1600-h/valentinespooldollsweettidings.jpg)

Don't worry...there's plenty of ideas left for next year! More on that later!