Aussie's art work

This is a picture Aussie drew today.

It is of Link fighting a purple goop monster (that he made up). Link is from the Legion of Zelda a video game that Daddy plays with the kids when he comes home from work. He likes to say that it encourages them in their reading.

We are excited about this picture because it is the first really colorful picture that Aussie has created. He is 6 years old and is becoming quite the artist.

We are entering this in a homeschool blog carnival being hosted by my friend Shez. You can find the information about it here.

another layout- I'm on a roll

I saw Stephanie Howell's layout similar to this and I knew I just had to copy it! I love the other one she has pictured with it as well.

The journaling reads:

Takes Tiger Lily everywhere she goes * Loves doing crafts * Loves playing Zelda and Mario Kart * Wants to do girly things without her brothers * Loves to draw and write in her diary * Likes fries, chicken and sunflower seeds.

Something Fishy!

The other day one of those educational kids' cartoon shows came on and

Ashley said, "Hey there's something fishy here!"

I said, "What?"

She said, "This is kind of fishy...I think this show is making me learn something."

You gotta love it!________________________

Also there is a new challenge blog out there for kids! YAY! This is so exciting! It's called Kids Can Scrap. And Ashley has already made 2 layouts for it and here they are:

What's really clever about this layout is a drop of black ink got on her picture and she covered it up by making a glitter necklace. Isn't she clever?

The journaling on this one says, My name is Ashley I love birdies. I just LOVE the little people she drew down in the left corner. Those are sticker dresses.

She hopes she wins...I do too. But I told her that it is not based on how well she did, but that whoever participates gets their name in a hat...etc..etc.

Blog Candy from Beates Verden

Check out this blog candy from Beates Verden.

She's having a contest over at her blog. But I'm just going to be honest with you....I don't want you to win (well unless you are going to share it with me) because I want to win!

Oh alright go ahead and sign up! I would love to see someone I know win this.

My sillies

These are my sillies at church on Sunday.

Daddy started reading the Hobbit to them.

And these are t-shirts that one of Greg's workmates gave to him (new). The kids LOVE to wear Daddy's t-shirts to bed- Hey it save us money on pajamas! And all those red cross t-shirts are coming in handy!

And here are a couple of layouts I did yesterday and today.

bummed

UGH!!! I think you know why!

There are fireworks going off around our house.

I don't feel like celebrating!

I want a DQ blizzard!

Come play with me

Ok so this is the challenge...

Use 3 or more smaller than normal pictures

Use glitter glass (a bright color if possible) {I knew Dana had glitter glass so for others playing along you can use glitter if you don't have glitter glass.}

Use a Bold color (this could be the glitter glass or patterned paper)

And scrapjack this layout from Dina Wakely ...

I've got mine done, but I won't share until Dana has hers finished. If you would like to play link up here. Like I said this is just for fun and is motivating us to scrapbook more. I'm too poor to offer any prizes. So just come have fun with us.

scrapbooking challenges

Ah how I love challenges!

I did this one a little while ago. Dana and I decided to give ourselves challenges. She picked two layouts that she liked and we had to try to combine those layouts. One had the title split and the other had flowers going down the page. This is what I came up with.

We are doing another challenge if you would like to play along let me know. We don't give out prizes or anything, we are just doing it to keep ourselves scrapping.

Here's a layout I did for one of Doris' classes. I even used the picture she took at the kids' birthday.

This was a fun challenge. You had to use a piece of junk mail in your layout. I happened to get a mini catalog for personalized notecards. All those rectangles are various notecards.

And this was loosely based on a challenge Doris and her friend did. You had to use fall colors with a twist (which I didn't do the twist) and use cardboard and other stuff. And it was also for Jann's challenge to use a b&w photo and use lots of texture to make your picture shine.

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

Wow! It seems like this holiday just keeps going and going this year!


Yesterday after school we went to
Murfreesboro square to Trick or Treat. We have never done this before. It was VERY busy!
Everyone paired up with a buddy and either held hands or tails.
All the businesses stand outside and hand out candy.
They got so much candy that their bags got too heavy to hold.

And at the end was a big inflatable slide, where I just sat down on the ground to rest and didn't think I could get back up!

They took a break in between slides to eat some candy.

They are showing me their favorite candy.

THEN as soon as we got home, Greg took the kids out for Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. I made dinner and stayed home for the entire THREE people who showed up at my door. That's not including my 3. I was SO extremely exhausted!

When Greg got back, we ate dinner and I crashed HARD! I have no idea what time it was. The kids came up and put candy on my shoulder.

Later when they were getting ready for bed, I heard them say, "Hey you didn't eat the candy we gave you." I was OUT!

But earlier today Greg got 2 surprises at work. When he got to work their was a gift certificate for $50 for a steak house that we have never been to before on his desk. He got it for helping one of the big bosses at work over a weekend. Then he won a $25 gift card for Target for having one of the best costumes. They said he won his because of his acting. SO.....It looks like I might have a nice birthday (wink)!!!

football

This terrible picture actually warms my heart!

This is the first and hopefully not the last time that Greg sat down to watch a football game; and he even invited his children to watch.

His best friend Wes is really into football and Greg is kind of trying to get it.

Normally he would be the one in the stands with a book in his hand and earplugs if he had to go to a sports event.

But notice that Titans t-shirt? They had code blue at work on Monday, so he wore my shirt.

They managed to watch the first quarter and then they took a vote and went to play Zelda.

The kids were funny. They were trying to play football in the house with anything but a football. Things got a little out of hand when they started to use Tiger Lily and Ashley cried.

Anyway, it's a start! Maybe someday my kids will watch a football game with me.

They were all excited when we told them the Titans won. 7-0 Go TITANS!!!

Chuch today

At church today they showcased one of our member's painting (Geri Sturgeon). This painting is very symbolic. When you look at it at first you don't see the details. If you pan up to the right corner you will see 3 crosses (sorry my pictures are so bad). When you pan down to the lower left corner you see a person reaching up to God.

In the middle there is a loosely drawn black dragon that represents Satan. And the white is God's love flowing down like a waterfall delivering his child.

I can't give it justice like how she explained it, but it really got me thinking. This person, whom I never saw before, uses her gift of painting to relay her faith. She has a gift for painting and she uses it for God. It got me to think how can I use my faith in what I do in my scrapbooking? Yes- I could do a few blatant layouts that share my faith, but I want to incorporate something into all my layouts. I'm not sure what it will be yet. I thought of the 3 crosses or a dove or something. Something that for people who know me can play "find the symbol". And for those who don't know me, if they see it will make them wonder. But most importantly for the story to be told by others or by me that I put a little bit of my love for God into everything I do.

If your a scrapbooker- I want to challenge you to try this too. Let's see what we can come up with.

And now for some cute pictures of my kids...

Not Identical Twins!

They are NOT Identical Twins!....











They are identical Tigers! (says Ashley)

Ashley joined the Daisies Girl Scout troop. She absolutely LOVES it! (Mainly because there are no boys!!! ) It is something she can do without her brothers. Well and it is right up her alley, they make lots of fun crafts (like this headband). So I decided to make her a special dress for her and one for Tiger Lily too. Yes- Tiger Lily has a headband too.

Ashley asked me if I could make a white shirt and white tights for Tiger Lily. - I said, "NO!" Hey I had to draw the line somewhere! Good grief!

Halloween Fun!

Wow! Can we say Wiped out? I have to say that I'm glad to get back to a normal schedule tomorrow.

I have sewed enough for the rest of the year.

Yesterday I made outfits for Tiger Lily and Moose and an outfit for Ashley (to be shown in another post). Today Mason wanted a special candy bag for him. So I sewed him one to go with his outfit.

Last night we went to the YMCA for a Halloween party. The kids played lots of games and jumped in the inflatables and got some candy. And tonight we went to Trunk or Treat at our church. They LOADED up on candy! They played lots of fun games to get candy. They had ring tosses and football tosses and bean bag tosses and candyland and even twister. I love how our church makes this such a fun time. I know when the kids get a little older we will want to participate in decorating a spot. They had hot dogs and YUMMY chili it was a great night.