Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Photo A Day--January 28 - 30

Here are my pictures from the last 3 days!



Monday, January 28:
Took pictures of layouts I had done previously. So, not a new layout, just a new picture.



Tuesday, January 29
Shantal at her Dance Concert. It turned out so dark. Any advice on how to avoid this? And what about fixing it? I have Photoshop but don't know really how to use it yet.



Wednesday January 30
The boys were in the shower and I just couldn't help snapping this picture. They love being together. Spencer is a great big brother to Ian.



I spiked Ian's hair after the shower and had to get a picture of it. It was too funny!


Sunday, January 27, 2008

Two New Cards

Here are two new cards I made tonight for the Freaky Friday Card Challenges over at Scrap Freak.

The first card I had to use something sparkly. And since my stickles had not arrived yet, I used some Heidi Swapp Bling. I also used Crackle Paint and Thickers on this card. It was my first time using any of the three products. I can't wait to use them on a layout.

The second card I really love. I had to use the color red. And I really love the color combo: Red, Black and White.








Photo A Day--January 27

Caught the kids and Gardner playing Twister tonight. Hannah got this game at McDonald's this weekend. Hannah was telling me not to take a picture of her butt. Although, I couldn't help take pictures. They were having such a great time.




Photo A Day--January 26

Shantal was giving the two smaller kids piggy back rides before bed.




Photo A Day--January 24

Hannah and Ian both were wearing the kids backpacks from school. They have to have certain types of backpacks here in Germany and they are big and bulky and heavy. Look how big they are on Ian. Luckily, his backpack was totally empty. Backpacks here are called "tonister".





Photo A Day--January 23

Yet another fine thing I tried this week. It is a apple pocket or something like that. It has diced apples inside and it was yummy. Not as good as the "mini schnecken" the other day, but still something to hinder my losing weight saga.


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Photo A Day--January 22

I think this is my newest addiction to helping me not lose weight during the month of January. These are called Rosinenschnekes. Basically translated to Raisin Snails. But really, they are like cinnamon rolls, without the cinnamon. They are so tasty, sweet and yummy!

Photo A Day--January 21

One of the challenges over at Scrap Freak was to take a picture of letters. I have a plague that has the letters FAMILY. And across those letters is the phrase, those we live with, laugh with, love.


Photo A Day--January 19

Every Saturday Morning, I like to make breakfast for the family . So today, I made waffles. The kids love them.


Photo A Day--January 17

The kids took Showers tonight and I got some good shots of them playing inside the shower. But not for the internet. So here are some after shots for ya.



Friday, January 18, 2008

Blog Challenge: Song

So the blog challenge for this week over at Scrap Freak was to tell about a special song that I have with a special someone. The only person I have a special song with is my husband. We watched the Movie, Pure Country before we got married in 1993. And we both fell in love with this song and ever since, it has become "our song".

I Cross My Heart
By: George Straight


Our love is unconditional
We knew it from the start
I can see it in your eyes
You can feel it from my heart
from here on after
Lets stay the way we are right now
And share all the love and laughter
That a lifetime will allow

Chorus:
I cross my heart
And promise to
Give all Ive got to give
To make all your dreams come true
In all the world
Youll never find
A love as true as mine

You will always be the miracle
That makes my life complete
And as long as theres still breath in me
Ill make yours just as sweet
As we look into the future
Its as far as we can see
So lets make each tomorrow
Be the best that it can be

Chorus

And if along the way we find a day
It starts to storm
Youve got the promise of my love
To keep you warm

Chorus

Blog Challenge: Firsts

What was your first...

1. concert? I am ashamed to admit this, but it was Richard Marx

2. car? Oh gosh, I can't remember the name of it. But my second one was a Chevy Sprint.

3. job? Mc Donald's.

4. scrapbook layout about? My Wedding

5. grade teacher's name? Hmmm, don't know which grade teacher. I'll go with my 3rd grade since I can remember that. It was Ms. Bigger. Used to call her Ms. Booger

6. pet? A dog named Casper. Got hit by a car.

7. vacation as an adult? Las Vegas for the Night. I used to work for an Airline and would fly stand by for free.

8. boyfriend's name? Scott Dixon

9. living arrangement after moving out of your parents' home? Lived in an Apartment . It was off campus housing in Provo, UT.

10. scrapbook message board to be a member on? AOL. I was a swap-a-holic

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Photo A Day--January 16

I speak a lot about the homework battle that I have every day. Here is a picture of Spencer and Shantal doing their homework today. Not a very good picture. I will have to try again tomorrow.



Photo A Day--January 15

Emma's smile is so contagious. She was loving her braids yesterday and when I said, "Let me take your picture, she was all smiles and giggles. "









All she wanted was to give him a kiss. But he didn't want her to.

Photo A Day--January 14

These are some Magnets that I altered. I put paper around them and then put rub ons, flowers, chipboard, ribbon, ect on them.

I decided I need a lot of practice taking these kind of pictures. I usually take them at night as soon as I am done with the scrap project I am working on. And the flash kept bouncing on the magnets and ruining the picture. I have to figure out how to avoid that.


Sunday, January 13, 2008

Photo A Day--January 13

Here is my photo today. Don't know what I actually think about it. But I took it all by myself.



Saturday, January 12, 2008

My Newest Digi Layout

This is Hannah's first day of school here in Germany. In Germany, the kids start school when they are 6 years old and start with the 1st grade. It is a huge deal and they have an "Einschulung" before their real first class day. It is a day to introduce them to the school.

I am in the process of making a few more pages with all the pictures I have from that day and then will be doing a page of just journaling to go with it. So you can learn more about this day when I get the journaling done.



Photo A Day--January 12

Saturday is one of my grocery shopping days. And after I got home, I thought of getting my camera. I am so glad I did.

When ones goes grocery shopping here in Germany, they bring their own bags or baskets to pack everything into. If you use the ones at the store, you pay 10 cents to 25 cents per bag.

Like I said, Saturday is one of my grocery shopping days. I also go on Mondays and Thursdays. But Saturdays is my big day. And today was an especially big day as I drove to a further out store called Real to get things like Pasta, sauce, shampoo, cleaning supplies and all in big quantities that I don't have to go again for another month.

Aldi is where I normally shop and there I buy drinks, fruit, vegetables, bread, dairy, meats. But they only have a limited variety and they don't have everything one needs.



Photo A Day---January 11

Every Friday we do a Friday Family Movie Night. The kids get to stay up a little bit later than normal since there is no school or church the next morning. It is something the kids look forward to all week.

Tonight they were watching, Aladin, King of Theives.




Thursday, January 10, 2008

I've Entered the Digi World

Over at Scrap Freak, one of our Freaky Friday Challenges was a digital Layout. Chickie gave a great tutorial and walked us through making a layout step by step. Everyone seemed to get it but me. For some reason, it wasn't working right. Granted, I had never used Photoshop before as I had just gotten it from my sister in December.

Anyway, After three hours, I had completed my first digital layout. Then, the next day (which was yesterday) I took the plunge and decided to try it again. It went much faster. And then last night, I made a third one. I don't know how hooked I am on the digi layouts, but I am intrigued enough to see if I can figure it all out and to keep practicing.

Here are my three layouts in order of completion.









Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Photo A Day--January 9th

Ian does not like binkies at all. But he loves his bottle. Doesn't matter if there is nothing in there, he wants to have it in his mouth and will carry it everywhere. Today I found him doing this. I couldn't help but take a picture of it. Two must be better than one!



Photo A Day--January 8th

Today was the kids last day of Christmas Break. They decided to use Shantal's tea seat and have a tea party while the two smaller kids were at nap. Well, I didn't even think about taking a picture of them until they were cleaning up. I found them in the bathroom washing their dishes.




A Photo A Day--January 7th

Monday, I went shopping at a store named Aldi. They have specials every Monday and Thursday. On this particular day, they had their Carnival costumes on sale. They dress up for carnival like we do for Halloween. Here are some hats I bought. they were 2.99 each and the kids LOVE them.









Sunday, January 6, 2008

Photo A Day--January 6th

My subject for tonight is Emma. She is 2 1/2 years old. She was up late tonight so I put her in my bed and gave her a stack of books. Since I remembered I still needed a picture, I grabbed some close ups of her. I couldn't decide which one of the two I liked best. I think I like the first one is slightly winning in my eyes. She is definately a cutie.





Photo A Day--January 5th

My picture for today started out being a picture of my scrap area. How messy it was. And of course, I was planning on cleaning the area and was going to do an after picture. Well, I did that. And then afterwards, I got a few more pictures taken that I had not planned on, and well, I just had to share.


Scrap Area Before


Scrap Area After



Ian has been a little bit sick these last few days. He cries an awful lot. I think he is teething. Anyway, he is way off his sleeping schedule. And then he is up until like 1am. For those that know me, know that my kids are in bed at 7pm. So this is a huge difference. I just had to take a picture of him crying. Isn't that terrible of me.



These are dads shoes. They seemed to make Ian stop crying every few minutes.




We would catch him putting on the shoes and wanting to walk around the room. If the picture is close up enough, you can still see the tears in the poor boys eyes from crying. But at least we had a few minutes of peace when he was walking.


Blog Challenge: All About The New Year

1. Will you be looking for a new job? No. My visa to live here in Germany states that I can not work while I live here.
2. What will you do different in '08? Show more affection to my husband because I love him more than he realizes since I don't show it that often.

3. New Year's Resolution(s)? Of course the same as every year: To lose weight, to control my temper, to be a good Mom and to get more organized.

4. Any trips planned? Oh, I want to go to America. That is a given. But we are also looking into taking the three bigger kids to Disney Paris.

5. Wedding plans? Nope. :giggle:

6. Baby plans? Tubes tied this year is my plan.

7. Major thing on your calendar? So far, the major thing on my calendar would be Scrap Freak's Anniversary Crop in March and then the visit from the in-laws in October.

8. What can't you wait for? The Sun to finally shine in Germany.

9. What would you like to see happen different? I would love to see my kids get a long more and less fighting. I wish they would be more loving one towards another.

10. What about yourself will you be changing? I want to become a nicer Mom.
11. What happened in '07 that you didn’t think would ever happen? My mom came here to Germany to visit me.

12. Will you be nicer to the people you care about? I sure hope so. That is one of my goals.

13. Will you dress differently in '08 than you did in '07? Probably not.

14. Will you better your relationship with your family? Once again, I hope so.

15. Will you do volunteer work? I always do volunteer work. So I am going to say yes.

16. Do you expect '08 to be a good year for you? Yes.

17. How much did you change from this time last year til now? I have changed a lot. Being new in a foreign country last year was really hard. But now, I am more experienced. I've grown a lot through the trials and hardships I encountered.

18. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now? I hope so. I need to work on keeping in touch with old and new friends. Because it is sad when we move on.

19. Major lifestyle changes? Oh please let me become skinnier.

20. Will you be moving? Nope, doesn't look like it is in the cards for this year.

21. What will you make sure doesn't happen in '08 that happened in '07? I have no idea.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Photo A Day--January 4th

Gotta love our tile! lmao




Photo A Day--January 3rd

Gardner went to the store to pick up something to try to hook up our television today. But instead, he came home with this. I am very excited as I have been wanting one. It is not as nice as what I used to use at the Gym when we lived in America. And it really is a cheap thing. But that is the point. We couldn't afford something more expensive. And hopefully it will help me get back into shape this year. I need help after having the last two kids.



Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Photo A Day--January 2nd

We have lived in our house for over a year now. We have a sauna in our basement and we have never used it before except to hide christmas presents.

Tonight we used it for the first time. So I tried to take pictures of it. It is hard to take a picture of something that has such a narrow door.

I'd love pointers if you have some to share. I'm including three pictures.





Color Challenge--White

Scrap Freak is starting a Photo Color Challenge once a month. For January, the color is white. There is no prize if you win, it is really just for fun. So I am trying to decide which picture I should submit as my entry. Which one do you like best? Number 1 or number 2?



Number 1



Number 2