Fabulous Fall day in Ohio

I love Autumn in Ohio. The colors are gorgeous, the air is crisp, the smell of warmth coming from chimney tops, the colors are gorgeous, the colors are gorgeous and the colors are gorgeous. We went for a little hike on the river trail today and I got alot of beautiful shots.

The Falls. One thing that is different about the river water here and the river water in Colorado would be the clarity of the water... for sure. Still beautiful.

Bell

My future Botanist

My favorite shot. Would look great in black and white or sepia, I think, but the colors are just to beautiful to hide.

If you look closely you can see a rainbow right in the center.

G-man

Hairdon't

I don't know if you noticed in the birthday pictures but Bell wasn't happy with the style I have chosen for her hair so she did some work on it. She also wrote all over herself with marker. This is what happened when I told her she could not put the hair back. She kept saying " I want my hair back, mama" It was all very sad as you can see.




So I cleaned her up and took some more pictures so we could remember this forever. Motherhood is so fun.

Birthday! Birthday! Birthday!

I'm sure you already know this but 3 years is quite a big deal! There is peeing in the potty and putting on your own shoes. Lots of things to be done. To much to go into detail at great length.

Bell's birthday party was lots of fun for her. She had pizza and "bwunch"(Ranch) which is her favorite thing in the world right now. She tore through her presents faster than G-man could snap the pictures all along being quite charming and giggly. She slept with the fun bear that Aunt K got her. Actually she didn't sleep, she played... for hours before crashing.

We are seriously potty-training now so she wore no pants during the entire party. Just a shirt and panties.

Bell decided she wanted a balloon cake so I made her up cupcakes instead of the ladybugs. She loved them. She woke me up with one in hand yesterday morning whispering. "I eat cupcake?"

Buck Up...Date.

Bell's third birthday I soon. The planning is slow-going. I told Boog she could invite two of her friends from school but I have yet to call those two friends parents. I also haven't bought any of the food or any presents. We don't exactly have big parties. We have get togethers with family and maybe a few extras but that's it. At the most there will be about ten people there.

I'm going to do a ladybug cake, I think, or maybe just a bunch of little cupcakes to spell out Happy Birthday Bell. I know I can pull one of those off. I have been looking at princess cakes at www.cakecentral.com but most of those are very elaborate with fondant and everything. I am not there yet.

G-man has been doing great at work he has had a lot of business and that is always good for us. He has been palying the guitar and bought himself some recording programs. All he has to do with these programs is hook his guitar up to the computer and play. It records it. Isn't that cool?! I thought it was.

I haven't been doing a whole lot. Just trying to keep up with my domestic bliss. haha. I did make a few things though:

These little witches












I needed a pincushion because this just wasn't working. It looks like, no scratch that, it was a den of pain.














So I gave my little bird a little more character.

The Bug Is Back.

If you recall a few months ago, I wrote about my discontent with photography. I felt like I was just getting boring. I had no original ideas anymore. I felt bored... that feeling didn't last long.

As you all know photography makes my blood pump, it is my passion, it's the only thing that I am overly confident, that I do extremely well. In fact, I am getting a little teary eyed just thinking about what I can do because it just really gives me so much joy to do it. I am now itching to get my backgrounds up and get started on some stuff.

I need a camara though. I only have my little Canon digital. I would like to get a not so little Canon digital (that I want really bad) but they are unreal in price. Hopefully for Christmas I will be able to get the Canon digital that is a little lower in price, but equally as good as the one that I want really bad.

I guess photography will always be with me. I love peoples faces when a photo takes their breath away. When a mother cries because you have totally captured her child's personality. It's a great feeling to know your photos will forever be how she wants to remember her child at that age. I don't know how to describe how I feel about it.

I just love it.

Homecoming

This week-end The Girl and her beau went to their Homecoming dance. They stopped by the house for a few minutes so I could get some pictures.

And down I Went.

I have pretty much already told everyone who reads this blog about my ankle but I have nothing to blog about so I'll post pictures of the sorry sucker about a half an hour after I did it. Just so happened that I had the camara right nearby... as always. Enjoy!

The Cold.

The seasons are changing and we have all got a strange cold. I am calling it the "walking fever". It's gone around the house over the past 5 days. stared with G-man, as all of out illnesses do, went to Boog and myself and now Bell and The Girl are feeling it. It really isn't that bad, just a minor cold with a fever. Weird, huh.

Boog had her school pictures taken yesterday. She wanted to get dressed up and curl her hair but as it turns out, she doesn't like getting her hair curled. I tried to tell her beauty is painful but she wouldn't listen. Kids. *giggle*

Guitarman joined a band. They play Metal and the like. It will be fun to see him to a gig. I have never seen him in front of an audience, well, I have on tape but not live. He's totally hot. I have my own personal Rock Star!

Timmy had a birthday this month so we celebrated that at MIL's house on Sunday. I will have see about getting some pictures from her to post.

Made a few things

I have been doing alot of sewing this week. I finished a few reconstructions I started a while ago. Part of the reason I hadn't been working on them is becuase I didn't want to mess them up. They really are not hard at all. Just sew a straight line and you should end up with something decent.

Stacey's shirt started as a gigantic tank top. The picture of her in the shirt is foggy looking because little fingers smeared up my camara lens.


Jamie's shirt was just a regular sweatshirt. I used a bleach pen to put the design on it. A little tip I learned is to spread out the lines with the bleach pen because they bleed into each other and you get a blob.

Christi Thomas

Christi Thomas is fighting for her life. Visit her, donate or send a loving message. I put a link to her site in my links.

SPC: With someone

It's been over a month since I did my last Self Portrait. This months theme is to be with someone.

Bell is a sweet, sweet girl. She is all about having a good time. If it isn't fun she doesn't want to do it. Hence, my trouble with potty-training.

She has an extensive vocabulary. The other day she told me she could see her reflection in the mirror. Are there many 3 year olds that say reflection?

Interview with The Bell:

What is your favorite color? "Pink"
Dora or Diego? "Diego"
What's you favorite game? "Caillou"
But that's a show "yeah"
o.k.
Do you like Dogs or Cats? "Cats"
Do you want Mommy to stop asking you questions? "No"
No? "yes."
o.k.

Family Fun Fair

Saturday I took the girls to the Family Fun Fair. It's an annual thing the local Community college does.(LCCC)

Boog and Bell had lots of fun making tye dyed shirts, necklaces, getting a caracature done and taking in a puppet show. I had lot of fun, too because it was all f.r.e.e. For me, that was the icing on the cake.*giggle*

Speaking of cakes... I won a cake in a cakewalk. We kind of had an advantage because there were 3 of us and there were only 8 squares. We had them out numbered so it was no surprise to me when they called out my number. It truly was a cakewalk. *giggle*

Boog won a goldfish. What are the odds?! Lady luck was definitely on our side that day.

There were lots of kids carnival rides so I did purchase the all day passes for the girls. Money well spent. Bell had a grand time on all the rides but Boog was not so jovial after she scraped her elbow on a slide.

By the end of the day I was walking away with a cake in one hand, a goldfish in the other, my big bag of necesities hanging off my arm and two crying kids in tow behind me. I am sure we were quite the pathetic sight but that's the price you pay for a great day at the fair.

Blogger is being stupid and I can't load all the pictures.

Thrift Finds

I haven't done one of these in a while. I got some good stuff the past couple of weeks.

This is a gigantic bowl. I think it may be a planter.







This is a cool pictcher. I'm not sure how old it is but it's 50's or 60's. I got this, the two flower glasses and the polka dot set all at the same garage sale.










A learning puzzle to help Abby spell. I think it was originally a classroom puzzle. There was alot of stuff at the Goodwill that day for Kindergarten Teachers. I also picked up some worksheet books for Abby's teacher just in case she could use them.










The Flower glasses.







These are my prize finds for that day. I love these. I don't really want anyone to use them because at least one will definitely be broken and I don't think I could stand that.

The Big 18 and Kindergarten

The Girl turned 18 last week and we had a nice little get together with her grandparents for it. I made her a cake. I had to outfit it with the trick candles. *giggles*. We sang Happy Birthday and it was a lovely time. Oh. She actaully wore a skirt. That's what I remember most, because she looked to lady like and cute in that thing.

I can't really reflect on how she has grown from a little girl to a young woman because we have only started to get to know each other. I can say she is on her way to a great life. I hope she takes advantage of every oppurotunity that comes her way and lives life to the fullest.

Now If I could just get her to clean her room.

Abby's first day of Kindergarten went off without a hitch. I spent a few hours with her for the orientation so she was ok with me going when it was time. She looked so very cute in her little tinnies and that big backpack that dwarfed her. She made me take like 3 pictures of just the backpack.

Her teacher was very nice. (I'll call her Ms. C.) She was assertive with the children but still very kind and soft-spoken. Abby was shy at first. She wouldn't shake her hand. That's her thing though, she doesn't talk to new people. I am sure she lit right up as soon as I was gone. Her teacher was very organized. The security is strict, which is something I was worried about. You have to show an ID every day to pick up your kid. I don't mind.

She had her first school lunch (hamburger, peaches, peas and chocolate milk.) She ate the hamburger and drank the milk. That's it. The lunch is open to parents. I can take her McDonalds if I want and we can eat together. I think that's pretty cool.

I wonder if the school burgers taste the same as they did when I was in school.

I've said it before I'll say it again!

Potty training sucks. It is the bain of my existence. Why can't I just hire someone to do this part for me? Sometimes I wish I would have had a boy so that the potty training would be on Guitarman instead of me.

I can go through about 4 or 5 pairs of those potty training underwear in one day. She peed in the middle of Kauffmans yesterday so I had to spend 7 bucks on a pack of unders because I didn't bring any with me. I have cleaned up so much pee my hands are turning yellow.

Forget about #2, it isn't even on the agenda yet.

Tomatoes

This Summer I have been growing my own tomatoes. They actual plant has gotten huge. They are all about a little shorter than me and I am 5'6". These are my first plants but I would say those are some good size tomato plants. Anyhow... I found my first ripe one this week-end. I was a little excited about it even though it's a bit defective... to say the least. It has a few underdeveloped brothers growing out of its side. Boog was not deterred by them. I just hacked them off and she ate the good part. Kids.

Now I have noticed many more starting to ripen but a few have little marks in them that look like two fang teeth (wide set) that make punctures and the middle teeth on the bottom make the bite. Does that make sense? Here's a picture to help. The two smaller circles are the punctures and the bigger is the bite. Guitarman thinks it could be a cat. Does anyone know what I can do to keep small animals away from them? I would prefer to put something around them to deter but not a wiring because they are in my front yard. I will if I have to though.

Scholastic Magnets

This is my spin on these cute little things. I
used my old scholastic magazines. I knew when I bought them that I would find some kind of use for them.

I did some with random family photos too but the mod podge still hasn't dried and its been more than 32 hours since I finished them. I tried a few with some scrapbooking glue and that seems to have dried but it probably isn't good for very long. If you want to use photos for these I suggest you make a copy on regular paper and use that. It will dry easier.

















The Final Product!

Burn Baby Burn!

Remember how I said we were goin to the pool yesterday. Oh Krikey!~ My backside and the back of my thighs are so burnt. I can't sit down without mucho pain. I think I have blisters. EEk.

Boog and Bell had fun though and Guitarman had the sense to turn over so he is fine.

I'm just gonna go get some aloe. I'll be fine. *crying*

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Loving some of the best soft-serve ice cream in Lorain County.








Good one of Abby.















We planted a tree in front of our house. I am going to take pictures of the girls next to it every year to track its growth.














One of the little bags I have been making.













Playing in the pool and being mermaids.

Aaarrrrrrgggg!