Loaded with fun

The weekend! Usually we look forward to it. This weekend, though, has not exactly been loaded with fun.
Yesterday we drove to Ohio for a memorial for my grandfather. He passed away in Florida a few weeks ago, and they held a memorial for him in Springfield, Ohio yesterday afternoon. It was a long day of lots of driving there and back again, with all the fun of a funeral sandwiched in between.

Today Lucas and I loaded up the van FULL of stuff to drop off at Goodwill. I mean full. 3 bikes, a scooter, shelving, 5 bags of clothes, boxes of frames, a hall tree, drawers, 3 bags of books, a big doll house and all the fillings, and at least 10 bags of toys. And a tv. And a suitcase. Full. I must say, it feel SO good to have all of that stuff sorted out and cleared out of here. Insert sigh of relief here.

To make our day even more exciting, in a little bit we are taking the van to get new tires and an alignment. Oh the fun never stops around here I tell ya!!  *lol*  Really, though, it is MUCH needed, and I know we will both feel better while he is traveling if we know that the van has safe and reliable tires. Plus, we are going to try to salvage the time and make it fun, even though new tires usually means a small fortune and a long wait. The place we're going is close to stores, so we're going to walk over to Lowe's and maybe Meijer or Best Buy and kill some time together.

Here's hoping your weekend is loaded with fun! We're trying to make the best of what we have to work with around here.

Back in action...again.

I feel like a stranger to my own blog... like I've managed to sneak backstage, but I really don't belong here.
Since I last posted a month ago, I figured it was time. I'll ease back into things, and share some layouts with you today. But I AM now operating with a new planner (I'll try to come back and share about that), so perhaps I can actually begin to plan some blog time into my craziness that I call life.

Anyway.

Can I tell you something? I love Halloween time. I love the colors. And I love the decorations. And I love the candy. Oh, sweet candy! And I love the digital kits that come out at Halloween. (No, I'm not saying this to be a sales person... it's the truth!)  Something about the kits - the black and gray. The purple and orange and green. The angsty moody kits, the fun and kid-friendly kits. They all make me happy.... maybe because I have a very complicated personality that is both fun and kid-friendly as well as angsty and moody? I digress...

So anyway, that being said, this has been a good week for me. TLP's designers have been releasing tons of fun Halloween goodies this week, and I WANT.THEM.ALL!  I have already snagged a few of them, and have major plans (maybe next week while Lucas is traveling... I always seem to think that's when I'll get to play, and it always seems to turn out that i have ZERO free time when he's gone) to go back and grab a few more. For real, you should go check them out. They're having a big Halloween bash, with giveaways and games and prizes and whatnot.  Fun times, my friends.

Okay, so I managed to find time yesterday to finish 2 pages! What?! Two pages in one day is unheard of anymore. So, yes, I was pretty excited about that.

Click layout to view credits

Click layout to view credits

Best Pumpkin Milkshake Ever!

The kids have been wanting homemade milkshakes. We have pumpkin. So, we made up a pumpkin milkshake. Here's what we did...

3 cups Low-Fat Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
1 Cup Pure Pumpkin
1 tsp Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg
3 TBSP sugar-free caramel topping
1 Cup Skim Milk

SOOOOOO tasty! Really. Yummy.

It comes out to be about 220 calories for a 1 Cup serving. This recipe makes 4 cups once it's all blended together. This will definitely be made again in the coming months of pumpkin goodness. Yum!

Over the river and through the woods...

Lots has happened since my last post (I would hope so, since it's been about a month!). We've gotten a fence in our back yard (which has made the puppies and the kids VERY happy). We've paid for and started the process of Sebastian's braces (*eeep*)! We've had lots and lots of football and soccer and gymnastics and homework.

In the midst of all of the schedules and school work and so forth, we've managed to steal away a few pretty special moments. One of those came on a day when Sebastian had an orthodontist appointment. After his appointment, he and I were the only ones home (the younger 2 weren't home from school yet), and we decided to take the dogs on a walk. Sebastian wanted to go down to the river, so that's where we headed.

By the time we got there, the poor puppies were panting because it was SO HOT outside! So rather than just walking over the bridge that crosses the river, we decided to venture down to the banks to let them cool off! And we all had a BLAST!

I've mentioned before that Dublin isn't exactly the most sure of the water, so I was not expecting the outing to go the way it did. He ended up going into the water (right in the midst of some little rapids, no less) to chase a stick he saw floating by. That venture out into the unknown led to about 30 minutes of romping and playing in the river water. Eventually Sebastian even got in - shoes and all - and played with the puppies... I guess he just couldn't resist the call of the fun and splashing!

Eventually, the three of them had wandered all the way downstream to another little beach on the other side of the water, leaving me on our starting side (because I was not in the mood to wade through the water with the shoes on). I ended up crossing the bridge while they made their way through the woods, and we met up in a clearing on the other side. It was a great afternoon... the kind I wish we had more of!

I only had my cell phone with me for photos. If I would have had any idea things would have gone this way, I would have been more than willing to have carried my good camera along on the walk. Oh well. Bad pictures are better than no pictures at all, right?!

Sandy Bottoms

Last weekend we made a trip to Ohio for a day with family. While our schedules have been crammed full lately, I'm SO glad we made the time to get there. We had a great time!

It was the first time we had traveled with both dogs (other than to the vet). It was also the first time either of the dogs had had a chance to play in water. While Weimaraners are water dogs, apparently Dublin did NOT get the memo. He's not such a fan of water. Translation....hates it.... so much so that when we go running, he will run around rain puddles so he doesn't get his feet wet. Seriously. He's not a fan. So we weren't sure how this pond playtime was going to go. As it turned out, it wasn't so bad after all (although I'd say he's still not a big fan of water).

First things first... right away he and Arya sniffed out a dead crayfish under the dock. Dublin snagged it, tossed it up on the beach, and proceeded to roll all over the dead fish like it was his long lost friend (see its claws sticking out under his cheek here? Ewww). Weird. And gross. But apparently it made him happy (just look at his goofy smiley face in the 2nd picture)

For the longest time he watched safely from the dock as the kids splashed and played. He wanted so badly to play with them, but he just wasn't willing to get wet in order to do it. So he looked on longingly, wishing he could be part of the action.

This is my niece, C.

And goofy Meagan, of course!

 

And C's little sister, D. The girls had a great time playing together all afternoon! 

Finally, at some point, Dublin decided that  he would test the waters. There was a football that he wanted, so he very cautiously tiptoed in. He never dared to go out far enough to where he couldn't reach and was required to swim.... that is until I scooped him up and plopped him out into the deeper waters. He swam just fine, but wasn't too happy about the whole thing.

Let's face it... this is NOT a look of joy on his face. But hey, at least he retrieved his football!

Arya seemed to have less of an opinion on the water in either direction. I think she was okay with it, but she didn't go in because Dublin wasn't going in. Plus, she had quite an affinity for the sand and was perfectly content to dig down into the sand and make a cozy little spot for herself.

Cracks me up!!! She looks like a cartoon character!

So, that, in a nutshell was our day with family. We went to the park and did family photos. We cooked out. We went swimming. The kids played on a big giant water slide. And the dogs ran around outside all day in a cloud of happy puppiness. It was a great day! So worth making the time to get there!

Of course, I had to get the memories into my 2013 album. Here's my 1st page... Dublin and his crayfish.

(Click to view credits)

The 1225

These are OLD photos - I pulled them out of the 2009 archives (and I can't beleive it's been that long since we took this trip)! I was prompted to go digging for these pictures based on the fabulous train doodle (see it there in the photo strip?) that Mirjam of Pink Reptile Designs released this week! I saw it, and instantly this fall colors tour came to mind. What a great day! I will never forget how awe-inspiring those 2 steam engines were as they rolled into the station rainy darkness of early morning. Indescribable really. So anyway, I dug out a few of my favorite photos from that trip and put together a quick layout. I think I need to go back and properly document that trip. Perhaps this is the first page of that. (If only I had infinite free time *sigh*)

(Click to view credits)

Life with 2 Weims

It's been 3 weeks since we picked Arya up from the airport, so I though I'd give an update.  Adjusting to the new puppy has been going pretty well so far. For the first few days, Dublin did lots of fly-by sniffing, trying to figure out why she wasn't leaving. I guess after he figured out she was planning to stay for a while, he decided to give her a chance.

Right away we saw him take her under his wing, so to speak. He taught her how to play - very important to a Weimy. He was super gentle with her, while letting her be as rough and tumble as she dared. It was great! She also learned to walk on the leash much more quickly than he did when he was a puppy, and we think it has had a lot to do with walking them together. She watches EVERYTHING he does, and she tries to emulate him. Other than zigzagging back and forth when she's not walking right next to him, she does a great job on leash!

She's also sleeping through the night, and she is kennel trained!!  They "go in" every morning around 8:30 or 9:00, and they nap until about 1:30. That's in line with my work hours, so we intentionally chose to get them on that cycle. It has worked wonderfully! Now she willing trots into her kennel when it's time to go in. Anything for a little peanut butter treat!!

Andy potty training.... she is doing GREAT! She has gotten the concept of going to the door, ringing the bell, and going potty outside. The only issues come when we aren't paying attention. If we miss her attempt at going to the door, she will go in the floor. We are confident that as she grows and gains more control, this will dissipate. She's super smart, and has trained easily!

All in all, now they're BUDDIES! Two peas in a pod. Mutt and Jeff. Beavis and Butthead. Whatever you want to call them. Playtime is funny stuff. There's lots of this....

Hey, what does she have? 

Let me see if I might want that....

Yep, I wanted that.

 And there's LOTS of tug of war... sometimes Arya even wins!

And there's lots of hanging out together once they've worked out their crazies...

All in all, we're so glad we made the crazy decision to get a second Weimy!!  How could you not love this baby face??

Our Happy Place

Here it is, the beginning of August, and I have FINALLY finished my album for the 1st 3 months of 2013. That's not really all that great of a time table, but hey! Done is done, right?! I decided this year to to a combination of Project Life pages and regular scrapbook layouts. I just merged them all together in one book and printed the book. The benefit of doing it this way is that everything is in one book, all nice and neat. There's no need for a separate album for Project Life and other layouts, is there? ???
The downside to taking this approach is simply this: EVERYTHING has to be done before you can print anything. I had to go through all of my photos for the 1st 3 months and make sure I had everything done that I wanted to do. Every weekly spread. Every individual layout. Everything. That takes time. More time than I anticipated... although maybe that has something to do with not having a lot of free time anyway??  Maybe.

So, here's the last layout I did for my 1st 3 months of 2013:
I have a whole series of photos (no surprise there) of one of our walks to the woods. They were some sweet pictures that I couldn't stand to exclude from our album.

This is what it will look like in the album...

So, as soon as the page was done, I uploaded it to my Shutterfly album, saved it, and ordered it. It looks like I should get the book sometime on Monday! I'm excited to finally have book in hand, something to look at and hold and look at some more.

Now, for devising some genius plan for getting caught up. Because at this rate, it will be mid 2014 or later before I get done with 2013... that can't happen! Or, it just might happen... we'll see.

Kids' Room Redo

Last Saturday, the kids loaded up in Grandma H.'s van, and headed off for a week(ish) of summer vacation adventure. That left Lucas and I (and the 2 knucklehead dogs) at home twiddling our thumbs (paws?). What to do with all this quiet free time?  I know!! Let's totally gut and redo all 3 bedrooms! Yeef!

To be fair, we had already painted Sebastian's bedroom the weekend prior, so we only had to paint 2 rooms. But still, there was LOTS of gutting and reorganizing and purging to be done. LOTS. Why do my kids have so many stuffed animals? There are some questions in life that can never be answered.

At any rate, we worked hard and painted for HOURS on end. Truthfully, if I don't have to paint anything else for a while, I'll be okay with that. (Sadly, I have projects lined up out the door that require my painting attention... a few days off to rest the hand, and then it's back to work for me).

The kids got home from Grandma & Grandpa's today, and they were seriously excited and surprised! Meagan actually squealed. She's not a squealer. We did tell them that after all the hard work it took us to get all the trash and junk OUT, it was NOT to find its way back IN. We'll see how long that holds out before we're asking them to clean it up again. *sigh* If only theory and reality would line up in real life. *lol*

So here it is... the big reveal...

Sebastian's room:
Yes, it's a very yellow wall. And pretend like his furniture is all sanded and nicely painted a dark brown/black color... that's one of those painting projects that I mentioned a minute ago. This was actually my grandparents' first bedroom suit together when they first got married. When I was in high school, my grandmother redid it for me, and now here it sits in Sebastian's room. It's maybe not the most stylish of colors currently, but it's solid wood... you just can't beat that!

This is the view from the door...

Isaac's room:
Isaac never asks for much. But when we were picking out the colors for his room, he asked for a bright green wall. Um...really? Bright green, huh? Like I said, he never asks for much. If this is a request that means enough to him that he would actually speak up and ask for it, then I guess I can at least TRY to oblige. As it turns out, I really like how it turned out. Yes, it's bold and loud, but it fits him. When he saw it, he was thrilled! He said one of his favorite things about the room was his big green wall. So, no, I will not be painting my own bedroom bright green, but if he's happy, I'm happy!

The view from the doorway...
We moved his bed. I wouldn't normally position a bed so that it blocks the view from the doorway, but this seriously is the best placement for it. It makes the rest of the room feel so much bigger like this.

I think this is my favorite little niche of the room. I love the symmetry. And the books. And that he finally has a shelf to show off HIS trophies (try having a big brother who needs steel braces to support all the darn medals hanging on his wall). Isaac doesn't do sports that involve individual awards, so he really only gets the end-of-season trophies. And still, he has never had a place to display them and be proud of them. Now he does.

It's hard to see, but the sheets have blue, green, and gray stripes on them... that's where the inspiration for the big green wall came from... the green stripes in the sheets. And one lonely green pillow. *lol*

Meagan's room:
Meagan has said for the past year that she wanted to have an ocean room. In her mind, this would include seaweed and mermaids painted on the wall. In my mind....not so much! *ha*  I did my best to really bring a beachy ocean feel to the room without going overboard (and no seaweed!). I LOVE how it turned out! Especially tonight, when we were able to turn the lanterns and candles on, and enjoy the peaceful, quiet darkness...so magical. I would have loved to have a room like that as a child (I better be careful...if I get started on my childhood room woes I may never stop! *if you only knew*).

The view from the door...

 I had this fishing net from a birthday party we did a few years ago. I still have to work on getting it to hang just right, but this is the gist. And I plan to weave a few seashells in there as well. She needs seashells, which is a concession I am willing to make. We hung the lanterns in the corner using Command Strip clear hinged hooks. We simply stuck the hooks to a flat spot on the ceiling, and hung the lanterns with fishing line. They have battery-operated LED lights in them, so I'm SURE they will be turned on for bedtime! The candle by the fish tail is also an LED candle. And we also have little tea-light LED candles that change color. Fun night lighting going on in this room!!

I found this fish and the glass candle dish at Pier 1. They make me happy. Currently, the fish actually has a broken fin that needs to be soldered back on, but he still looks cute as he is.