Almost 2008!

Almost 2008....

As I gaze at the calendar I see we're just about wrapping up 2007 and entering the gates to 2008!
It amazes me that the older I get, the shorter a year seems! It feels like we just rang in 2007 yet here we are at the threshold of another year!

So... got resolutions?
Whatcha got on your list for '08?

I'm not a resolution kinda girl.... not my thing. I know that the moment I make 'em is the moment I'm gonna break 'em so I don't even 'go there'!!!
I'd love to know what your New Year's Resolutions are and if you've made any that you've actually KEPT in years past.......

The Witching Hour

Who has kids who, mysteriously, morph into beasts at a certain hour each day?

For us, the time begins at between 4:30pm and 5:00pm.

It begins with a little giggle that grows and grows!

Eventually the giggle is followed by a very loud,
"STOP IT"!!

The, "STOP IT!!" is then followed by an even LOUDER giggle as the little giggler continues to pester, poke and piss off her sister.

This is maddening.

The little giggler is bound and determined to cause turmoil, stress and aggrivation, interrupting the quietest of evenings and the calmness of the 5 year old.
With each, "STOP IT!!" comes even more naughtiness, and GIGGLES until it gets so bad that the little giggler winds up in time out, crying and losing a sticker for her behavior chart.
NEITHER child is innocent as I've seen the 5 year old, on occasion, provoke the little giggler.... but I often wonder if this is just a sibling thing (having no siblings anywhere CLOSE to my age, I am rather clueless to the dynamics of siblings) or if it's a stage that they'll eventually grow out of?
I have visions in my head of them, at age 22 and 24, sitting in a restaurant poking, kicking and provoking each other into a food fight.....*gasp*! And what about their weddings? Will they poke and prod, kick or pull each other's hair as each one is a brides maid for the other while they walk down the aisle??
I guess I won't REALLY know until many years from now........
According to "Life with Derek" (disney Channel) it appears that these antics will, indeed, continue at least through the high school years........
Lord Help Me............
HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mini Shopping Carts for Kids!

(The following post was inspired by a post on Kerri's Blog)

Oh Cool! The mini-carts for all the mini-me shoppers! Just lemme say EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEgads! I have one of those 'mini-me' shoppers ( 3 year old) and lemme tell ya.... those carts are just a joy! NOT!
"Why?", you ask.

6 reasons come instantly to mind:

1. She can barely steer herself. Adding a cart to the mix brings the aisle end displays to the endangered species list.

2. Oh yes.. she wants to put the milk in HER cart. She grabs a gallon, not realizing that it weighs 1/2 as much as she does and DOWN she goes, milk and all..... Did you know that a gallon of milk makes a Tsunami wave about 4 feet high?

3. Oh my bruised achilles tendons!!! Ok.. yeah well the carts don't have brakes and wow... they sure smart when they ram, full force into your achilles tendon at 55MPH.......

4. If you are lucky to make it the check out before you are battered, bruised and completely embarassed. Your sweet, darling 3 year old will INSIST that since SHE HAS HER OWN CART and she will be checking out ON HER OWN. Needless to say, a nice full blown tantrum begins as I say, "let me help you. you can't reach to put it on the counter."

5. Injuries abound as she, in her last effort of control, grabs the frozen peas out of her cart and tries to throw a 50 yard pass to the the counter, hitting 3 people in the head as it flies by, only to land on the floor, exploding sending peas flying like shrapnel in all directions.

6. Frozen peas, floor;Bad mix. The cashier presses the "RED ALERT" button as he hollers "CLEAN UP, Check out 13"
By now... my 3 year old is freaking out, My groceries are spewed all over the floor and people are glaring at me from allllll angles.

ALL BECAUSE OF A pint sized shopping cart.
*YIKES*
I RUN from them. I will go in the OUT door just to avoid her seeing them. They are things of pure EVIL!
Well, that's all for now. I need to go ice my Achilles tendons............ LOL!!

December? What ? Already?

When did that happen? I was minding my own business going about life as I generally do and I glanced at the calendar and it is clearly marked, "DECEMBER 6TH, 2007"
WHAT?!!!
DECEMBER 6th, 2007 ALREADY?
Umm, where'd November go?
It's been a beautiful Fall here. The leaves were absolutely gorgeous and stayed so for a good long time. Over the past 2 weeks I've noticed the bright yellows and oranges turning to deep reds and now they are brown. Most trees dropped their leaves during the past 2 days with the wind storm that we had. We also got a bit of snow, just enough to cover the ground and make it feel like winter. My girls were so excited about the little bit of snow that they raced to get on their hats, mittens and scarves!



I am sad that the beautiful bold colours of fall have gone, but I am also glad to see the 1st snows of winter and all of the beautiful little birds that come with that 1st wave of cold weather.
Our birdfeeders are stocked full and then, within 2 days, they are empty and in need of filling again. We have lovely little birds that visit every day. We have a pair of Mourning Doves, lots of Black Capped Chickadees, 2 Bluejays and a number of different little finches. I LOVE my quiet mornings with just me and my birdy friends. I sit here gazing out the window at the feeders and and somehow they turn my grumpy mornings into nice, peaceful ones!

Fall Photo Shoot!

I had an idea today. My idea was to drag the girls after school to a little place in the Doris Duke Estate off the public road where there's a stone gazebo with well in the woods. It's such a quaint spot, I thought it perfect for a little photo shoot!!

I am still learning the settings on my new camera so the photos aren't exactly perfect. I hope to tweak the settings and try some more the next time we have a nice, bright sunny day. As you can see in some of the photos, myself and a tree behind me were causing shadows that I didn't really notice while taking the pictures. Another little lesson learned LOL!!

Over all, it was a pretty fun little photo shoot and the girls had a blast. I learned a lot about the camera and angles and such and have a starting point for the next photo shoot. My girls were so patient with me, I am so proud of them and happy that they enjoyed it as much as I did!

Hair Do or Don't?

My 5 year old has recently discovered the art of hair manipulation ( combing... ummm.. rather YANKING!!)
Lucky for me I have circus-freak hair and yanking, pulling and tugging doesn't hurt me at all!! While we were waiting in the car, she wielded a brush and I was her 'model' ! What a way to pass some time!
Here's some of the silliness she created!

New Camera!

My poor little digital Olympus died a few weeks ago. I had admired my mother in laws Canon Elph for quite some time so decided to go check out Target to see what they had.
Well.. they had the newest version of the Canon Elph that my MIL has so I decided to take the plunge and get it.

Wow!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little camera!!! It's not the most expensive thing on the planet and it's by far, nothing like the Digital Rebel... BUT.. it's a powerhouse of a little camera and does an amazing job! The view screen is a lot larger than the one on the Olympus and there's virtually no lag time when I press the button. I hated that about the Olympus....... it didn't take the picture instantly, no matter what setting it was on, so it took me 20 attempts to get one good shot.
Just had to share my excitement about my new toy!!

Temper Tantrum!!

Wow... has your child ever had a super-sized, enormous, huge-ass temper tantrum that lasted for an hour or more?
My 5 year old has the occasional tantrum, much like the one I described above. Hers are super cell tantrums, much like that of a tornado. She starts off starting to jump up and down, then her face gets red. Her eyes get all glazed over and red, mind you, there are NO TEARS.... her tantrums are all about CONTROL and the rage that follows if she doesn't get her way!!
Most often the things that set her off are VERY minor little nothings to any passer by. This time it was the fact that her sister, age 3, joined the conversation without being invited. She merely said ONE WORD and that was the ignition to the tantrum. My 5 year went full force into an F-5 raging tantrum that lasted 40 minutes!
When she is mid-tantrum, there is NOTHING that can be done to ease the rage. She generally says one thing over and over and over and over again. This time it was, "I want to tell you something!" to which I replied, "Yes? What do you need to tell me?"
And rather than just tell me, she kept repeating, with more and more rage, "I want to tell you something!" There was nothing that could be done. She was out of control, out in the middle of the back yard where the WHOLE neighborhood could hear her yelling and see her flailing herself on the grass, kicking and screaming. My 3 year old stared at her in disbelief and my husband simply went inside!
I stood on the patio, waiting for the storm to clear for what seemed to be forever. She kept up with fierce tempo, "I want to tell you something!""I want to tell you something!""I want to tell you something!" Screamed over and over again in an eerie rhythm. It was almost like she was in a self-induced trance or something.
After being ignored for about 35 minutes she showed signs of recovery. She had demands though and was determined to show the world that this calming of the storm was HER CONTROL and hers only. She made demands that I STAY STANDING right where I was until SHE told me otherwise. I found that amusing and started to giggle which only fueled the storm back to an F-4 for a few moments until she realized that I wasn't going to cave to her demands. She gathered her senses, stood up and walked over to me, asking for a hug.
I guess they get all their frustrations bottled up to a point of explosion and when that ignition is sparked, it just goes full force until the needle is on empty!!!
Thankfully those tantrums are Few and far between!!

Boo to you and you and you and you! Happy Halloween!

If you've ever been to Disney World during October, you'll recognize the title of my post for today!

Wow! What a fun Halloween! My girls were actually old enough to enjoy trick-or-treating this year! Last year we just barely made it to the 6 houses on our own street. This year, we walked our street, 1/4 of the circle and the one behind! The girls filled their little trick-or-treat buckets and were so excited!!
One thing about taking kids OUT trick-or-treating is that I MISS OUT on handing out candy! I must say, it was quite a busy year here with kids. Even though we were out most of the evening, we still got a good amount of kids and I handed out 90% of the candy I bought.

I have to wait until I get the pictures from my mom. I forgot to take pictures of the girls in costume yesterday!! *DUH*!! What kind of scrapbooker AM I??!!

BUT.. I did get some great shots of our cat. He's definitely a team player and was in costume too!!

Here's a shot of part of the front of the house. It's not the full view. I'll have to wait till I can get pictures from my mom. I was so caught up in the girls having fun that I really didn't think about my camera!!

Ellie was a red bat (who refused to wear her wings) and Mackie was a butterfly (who insisted on wearing her coat!) This is the only photo I managed to take of them.

I can't wait to get my mom's pictures! My hubby was dressed in full Civil War uniform and carried a lantern. He stood in our 'graveyard' and when the trick-or-treaters came by, he moved just enough to freak them out ( only the big kids) Everyone LOVED our decorations. I'll take pictures tonight. Everything is still up !

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Halloween! I am already planning for next year!!

Halloween Art!

My friend Debbie is as inspired by Halloween as I am and she's created such a fun piece in honor of the upcoming holiday. I absolutely LOVE the way she did this! The mummy is so sassy and the Canopic jar is looking at her so lovingly. This piece has gotten my creative juices flowing! I'm off to my studio to see what fun things I can play with!!
Her blog is full of fantastic, vibrant art work. You've gotta check it out!!!
Thanks Debbie for your, often comical, always inspiring pieces! I can never get enough of your talent!!

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!

My husband had a conference at Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando. We decided to take a few extra days after his conference to enjoy the Disney parks!

We planned a little bit in advance so we could attend the ever so popular, "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" at Magic Kingdom. It was AWESOME!
The entire park is decorated for Halloween!

Mickey 'grew' some really HUGE special pumpkins for Fall!

They put on a special fire works display and there's a special Halloween parade as well. There are trick-or-treat stations all over the park and they gave us FISTS full of candy at each station. The girls were in AWE the entire evening! We loved that the characters also donned their favourite Halloween costumes and took part in the festivities!
Here's Mickey dressed up as a scarecrow!

And Minnie as a Sorceress!

This creepy guy was on the steamboat..... Needless to say, my girls were NOT amused!

The Halloween Parade was soooo fun! They had the villians, the haunted mansion and other creepy characters all represented! The best part was the start of the parade with the headless horseman riding down the street! It gave me goosebumps!!I wish I got a picture of him.. but he rode through soooo fast that by the time I got my camera out he was long gone.
It was an awesome night of spooktacular fun!

Scrapdragon!

My dear friend, Laura and I decided back in July to start our own challenge blog! We've been up and running since August 1st, running contests every 2 weeks with some FABULOUS sponsors awarding some wicked-awesome prizes!! Go check out our latest contest! You'll want to enter... the prize is yummy, yummy, yummy!!!

Turtle Back Zoo!

What a fun zoo! We'd never been there before though it's only 40 minutes from us! When I was a kid my parents would never want to go there because it was a run down, icky place. That was BEFORE the state bought it from the owner I guess. Now it's a County Zoological Park and it's undergone LOTS of renovations and upgrades! The zoo is mostly made up of local NJ wildlife. Bears, deer, cougars, porcupines, ground hogs and some farm animals, lots of birds of prey and local reptiles and such. They also have a few llamas and penguins and a assorted foreign animals but not many.
It's a nice place to spend a few hours of the day.

The highlight of the visit for the girls was the pony rides!!

A great day!!

October!

*Sigh* alas... it's here. OCTOBER! My favourite month of the year. I love the bright blue October skies, the warm days and crisp nights and the onset of LOW HUMIDITY again!! YES!! It's true.... NJ does have a few months of LOW humidity! (Believe it, it's true! I promise!!)








What I love most about October is the temperatures, the position of the sun and, of course PUMPKINS! I LOVE PUMPKINS! I decorate like mad around here. It's SO MUCH FUN and my whole family gets into it as well. We have the absolute BEST 'dressed' house for Halloween!! I will upload photos when we're done. It's a month long process ;)

I can't believe how fast September went by... I still can't believe it's October 1st!!

FINALLY!

Our Patio is FINISHED!
YAY! Jason finished the patio! Yeah.... it's a little late in the season but it's sooooo gorgeous and we've still got a lot of warm days and nights ahead. No matter how many photos I have taken, I can't seem to get a good one that shows the whole thing at a decent angle.
Here's Ellie coming down the steps on the side of the patio. There's a nice walkway that goes to the driveway that starts at the bottom of the steps.
I LOVE the lights that he built into the steps. There are 3 sets of steps. One set here where Ellie is heading, the one behind her that takes you into the house and then on the right in the front of the patio (facing the back yard) is the 3rd set. All have built in lighting with a timer. They go on at 5PM and off at 11PM. They give such a gorgeous glow and it's really so cozy to sit out under the night sky.
I'm just SOOOO glad it's done! We've been waiting for 6 months!!

It's a 1944 Willy's MB

And there she is in all her glory! We purchased this beauty from a WW2 veteran who just wasn't able to drive her as often anymore. He didn't want the jeep to fall to neglect. We found out about it from a mutual acquaintance before he even listed it for sale!
We've done some research on the jeep and have found that it served in France during WW2. We don't know any details of who had it or who it drove around. We're still digging for more info. Often the information like that is lost, never to be found.
So now we have the Wc54 1942 Ambulance and the 1944 Willys MB. The next vehicle we would like to purchase is a Staff Car! Every day we get a little closer to getting the museum organized, ready to get into a building and on display! It's a lot of work to organize and catalog everything but will be soooooo worth it in the long run!

I've been scrappin' a little...........

Did this one for Scrapbooking Moments in Time . I'm currently a Design Team member there and enjoying SOOOO MUCH each kit I've gotten! There's SO MUCH stuff in the kits that you can do several pages along with cards and altered items as well! In this kit I received S.E.I. papers and decided to take on a Halloween Feel. (The embellishments are Prima and My Minds Eye)

(Mackie age 21 months - Oct 2003!!)

This little thing is an altered Rolodex Card. What a fun way to dress up the mundane Rolodex! The information of the person pictured on the front (in this case, it's me! ) is on the back side of the card. Again, I used all S.E.I. papers for this with an Iron-on transfer ( white vine on my photo). The flowers are by Prima.

Claws N Paws Animal Park

Last week we had a great opportunity to visit Claws N Paws animal park in Pennsylvania! It was a 2.5 hour drive but was well worth it. It's a smallish zoological park with a lot of wonderful animals. Most of the animals are rescue animals that could not be rehabilitated and released back into the wild.

This is the only zoological park we've ever been to where the zookeepers host feeding time and the public actually gets to FEED a GIRAFFE! (Ignore the "DO NOT FEED" sign. That's there for when the zookeeper isn't present) Look at the TONGUE on this guy!!!

Mackie posing on an alligator sculpture

Look at this cute, cute little ape named Siam. She was so friendly and curious. She's 12 months old and was part of the zookeeper's lecture series. We were in the 1st row so we got up close to the animals.

Camel..oh so funny!!

Ellie became 'best friends' with this goat...

And this one....!!
Mackie and Ellie 'hatching' from dinosaur eggs!
Totally cute tortoises!
The park is mostly shaded which made for a VERY nice walking experience. We all know how it is in August in this area....HOT HOT HOT and HUMID! The shade made for a comfortable day!

Insectropolis

Both of my girls LOVE BUGS! I decided to do a search on-line for a bug museum and there just happens to be one about an hour and 1/2 from us. We put the girls in the car and headed south to:

INSECTROPOLIS!

What a great place for that bug-lover in your life! It's full of displays of real and well, not so real anymore, bugs! Everything is displayed so perfectly. The girls had a blast playing in the ant tunnel!

There were a few art-inspiring moments......... I found these displays of colorful butterflies. I'm sure I'll find a way to incorporate these photos into scrapbooking art!!

Yes.. these ARE alive and yes they are really HOLDING them. *Gasp*!!!

Mackie and the giant Millipede.

Ellie and the Hissing Cockroach

Mackie with a 'walking stick' on her elbow

Ellie holding a tarantula.

The girls loved interacting with these live critters. I was very happy to be occupied with a camera so I didn't 'get a chance' to hold one. Hahahah!!!