Exploding Box

Check out the box I made for my friend Lori's Wedding. :)

Isn't he the cutest???

The boy has been bragging. He has told anyone with ears about his sink adventures this weekend.

In Kindergarten, they practice writing in a journal everyday, and I must say, reading his day to day entries can be quite funny. At the begining the page that melted my heart "I wish my mom was here" (Ahhh... so sweet!!!)

Gradually over the year, he is usually playing with his friends and will talk about his toys. This was Monday's entry:


In case you can't read from the scan, here's what is says:

Me and my dad are at hom and fixing the sink.

What a cutie! 6 is such a great age!

We are looking ahead as we set up the business goals for ACL photography. So we are trying to look into the future 5 years and set goals to where we want to be. As we are doing this, I keep thinking: Time is flying by so fast. 5 years will be here before we know it.

I tried to capture a few things in our house that most likely will not be here in five years.


First thing that comes to my head is "Fridge art" There have been a few dozen trees that have given their lives for the sake of art. But before their final resting place in the recycling bin, they are given the place of honor on the fridge.



5 years from now Abby will be heading towards her 15th birthday. She is already starting to pull away from little kids stuff, and it won't be long before she decideds she's too old for bratz (Oh I'm so heartbroken over this! *yeah right*)



Caleb will be going on 12. Hopefully by then he will have outgrown his terrible twos and stop doing stuff like smushing a brand new glue stick all over his carpet. FYI: Glue stick does not come out of carpet... Just another fact you learn when you have a little boy :) So most likely this carpet won't be in his room either.



Our kids love to play games. Already I can start to see the pile of games gradually becoming more and more thinned out of the preschool games. 5 years from now games like: candyland, care bears, memory will be a thing of the past.


And last but not least, Lilly, the baby will be 9 going on 10. That would be Abby's age now! Wall art will be painted over with a yellow and the preschool scribblings will be gone, but not forgotten. :)


As for Jim and I, we will be around 35, parents of a high schooler, middle schooler and elementry schooler.

Am I Sad about this??? Not really. Life is fun when the kids get older. Bring it on, and hopefully we'll all survive. :)

Been Busy...

Spring break is over tonight, so it's back to the school grind again tommorow. I am Sooooooo not looking forward to this. :(

The sink is not completely done. We need to find some kind of adhesive remover to take the old yellow adhesive around the edges of the vanity off. You will notice that the sink is no longer blue! The nice new, shiney sink is making the 70's blue toilet and tub look really bad. The tub isn't too bad, b/c we can cover it, but that toilet.... Yuck. :)


The fence is completely down now and we spent the better part of yesterday tearing it apart,and getting the old wood shed ready for demo. Spring clean up is in a few weeks, so It has to be done soon. :)

Now we are on a hunt for rail road ties. This summer our project is to build a retaining wall out back. Don't know how well that's going to turn out. It's probably going to be a lot of work. It will be worth it though when it's all done. :)

DIY- a bathroom disaster

Things they don't tell you in the Do-it-yourself shows on tv:


*Small easy jobs easily turn into big costly ones. For instance, your child clogs the drain on the bathroom sink by shoving her tooth brush down the drain. A simple fix... Remove the pipe, take out the object clogging the pipe and return for normal sink usage right???? Wrong! The potential for things to go wrong is high.

*Take age into consideration When you are dealing with the original pipes, they can be brittle, co roded and break easily.

*You heard the phrase "everything and the kitchen sink?" Apparently the bathroom sink has heard this too. Bathroom sinks are temper mental and when feeling left out they have been known to break, just so they can get some attention too. And you know, you can't replace the sink without replacing the cheap faucet too... It adds up quick!

*do not be shocked at the price tags
Who knew that a nice faucet would cost 2x as much as the entire sink. I sure didn't.

*always plan an emergency trip to the home depot or Lowes. No matter how small a job, a trip is usually required

*beware of Home Depot or Lowes employees They can be less than helpful, sending you home with a half inch pipe, when you need a 1/4 in pipe. Make sure they don't put in your hand the wrong thing.

*Check all major purchases before leaving the store There is nothing worse than making the travel to the bigger, better, more well stocked store. You find what you need in a price that will not break the bank. You load it in your cart, drive 25 minutes home, open it from all it's shrink wrap and bubble tape to find a 2 huge cracks. This always happens when it's 8 at night and too late to take it back. So there your project sits. The bathroom is torn apart and you can do nothing until tomorrow.


Seriously, I'm going to write the DIY network and tell them they really need a show all about what can go wrong with normal everyday fixes. I'll even offer our house as a set... Goodness knows that they could probably have 3 seasons worth of episodes on our little fixer upper alone. :)

I passed!!!

After a nail biting week, totallly bombing my finals I got my grades back today.

I passed...not the greatest grades ever, but I am totally ok with that.

I'm a happy girl and doing the happy dance. :) The rest is cake from here. :)

Xoxo from the soon to be graduate

Jen

Finals, Scrapping, photography and a little Buble.

24 hours from now, I am going to be one happy momma. I will be free, free, free of school work for at least a week. And then next term should be cake compared to the past two. Both classes are electives, so there is no Big huge monster accounting concepts to drive me insane.

It's been a marathon of take home tests. 4 weekends in a row couped up in the bedroom, pulling my hair out trying to wrap my brain around this stuff. Oh, I'm just so ready for June...

Enough of the whining already... Onwards and upwards:

I took a book break this weekend and took a half hour to work on my scrapbooking. It was good to pull out the paper and work again. :) Creative Chaos is my scrapping blog. Check it out. :)

We also started an online portfolio for ACL photography. We should have it up and running by the end of the week. If anyone is interested in portraits this spring, please let me know and we'll set something up. We want show a range of subjects (ie, more than just OUR kids). Free portraits... who could pass on that offer???

I uploaded some different music. I needed something mellow to chill out with. And I do love me some Buble... Not only is he absolutely adorable, his name is so fun to say... Say it with me...Boo-blay, Boo-blay... Now doesn't that just put a smile on your face???


Adios muchachos...

xoxo

Jen

Kiss me, I'm Irish...

Your Leprechaun Name Is:

Little Cloverhopper

What's Your Leprechaun Name?

Well, the mad dash was on to find everyone something approrpriate to wear today. Caleb, not so much a problem He comes down in his eagles jersey. He is the easiest of the three when it comes to getting dressed. Granted he doesn't always match, but there is never any drama involved.

Lilly on the other hand, I don't think she owns a single green thing, except for a pair of pants that she wore on Thursday, so they were out. I suggested we raid her brothers closet. His favorite color is green and we could find something in there for her. Her response? "Mooooommmmm, I'm having a St. Patrick's day party, I can't wear BOY clothes to a party! I want to wear a dress!" So fashion won out on green. She wearing a dress with a *hint* of a blue-y green in the plaid. She's quite happy with that. The teenage years are going to be so fun with her... I can see it now.

Abby was a different story. It's the last day of the PSSA testing, so the APT is throwing a beach party. Of course, the party is not thrown on the 70 beautiful out side day... Nope. It's cold, wet and currently snowing. So I won't let her wear a tank top. I won't let her wear shorts, no matter how much she begs. She doesn't see the logic of preventing illnesses by covering up when it's cold outside. After a slight fit, she improvised and put her jean skirt on with a white top and then put on a flower hawian necklace thing. **update: I just got a call from the school, they are sending the kids home early because of the snow... That means they axed the beach party. She's going to be so upset. :(

Frankly, all this fuss about clothes is just too much to deal with on a friday morning. I'm totally ready to jump back in my pj's and sleep the day away.

Demo is good for your frustrations...

The ugly red fence is gone!!!! Well, Kind of... It's still there, but no longer up :)

Apparently, Hammers are good for your soul. Who knew? You think I would considering I work in a construction company. My handi-work:

I was frustrated on many levels yesterday:


1. it was 70+ degrees outside and beautiful and I had to go to class
2. I'm so tired of flying through extremely hard accounting concepts that I will never EVER use.
3. If for some odd chance I do use these weird concepts, they made this wonderful thing called computers that will do all the hard work for me, rendering my hard work pointless.
4. Computers are not being taught, so when I go to do my business books, I will have to "wing" the computer part by myself... Isn't that what I'm paying to learn???
5. Both Caleb and Lilly had a horrible day at school and came home with notes.
6. Abby is doing the PSSA tests this week and after testing all day comes home cranky (who could blame her... State wide testing is assinine, but that's a whole new blog)
7. I'm so entirely sick of doing the whole "work/school/make dinner/School/come home study/Pass out routine. I know I'm nearing the end, but three years, good greif enough is enough already.

So, I took that hammer and I hammered my heart out. The kids were beind the slider, amused. Caleb was funny. Picture him in his best Kindergartener tattle tale mode: "oooooo... mommmmmm.... I'm telling my teacher, you're not supposed to break stuff."

And he's right. You aren't supposed to break stuff, but that fence had it coming. It was rotten, falling apart and horrible. I coulnd't take it any more and so I pulled out the hammer and bang, bang, bang, down she came. I felt much better afterwards. Too bad I had to follow that rush by heading out to class. :(


See that falling down shed? It's days are numbered. As soon as the weather is warm enough, I'm coming after it. I'm gonna knock that puppy down and then I'm going to make Jim clean up the mess *just kidding honey!*



Hmmm....I wonder if they make purple hammers???????

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Unedited and uncut, fresh from the playground:

Picture of the week

Titled: "She's got the whole world in her hands"

How to make the Solar Sytem in a weekend-Part Two




Step 5: Attach rings to the ring planets. We embossed vellum to give the rings more glitzy bling. :) Totally not necessary, however we have a bit of a bling addict making our project, so any chance to add bling she jumps at.



Step 6: Using wire , attach the platform to a ring and hang it up. It's helpful to have a tall Dad around to reach where you can't. :) Dad will also be helpful with the stringing the wire through the styrome platform and planets.






Step 7: Don't forget the details. There are points to be earned with creative details. Tranforming a teddy bear pendent into a space shuttle and making a moon around the earth are sure to bring in extra points.



Step 8: Stand back and admire a weekends worth of work. You took a simple assignment and made it beautiful, glitzy and glamorous. After completing this assignment you have truely earned your title of "crafy beaver"

The making of the universe...

How to make the solar system in a weekend- Part one


Step One:Go to the craft store and stock up on foam balls, paint and wire. Begin painting base coat

Step Two: cut several planets in half. This allows for the placement of the rings. We'll do that later on.


Step three: Begin applying additional coats of paint to make the planets look like more "planet-y" Skip this step and your solar system will look more like painted foam balls- we are in 4th grade now and painted foam balls are for Kindergarteners.



Step Four: You can never use too much glitter! Remember that. Glitter is our friend. It is what will make our far away planets look icy, it will give the sun a reflective glow. It will make the black sky appear as though it has thousands of twinkling stars. Glitter is a girls best friend.

**Disclaimer- glitter is not as reflective to the camera as it is in real life.**



Stay tuned for part TWO of our galaxy tutorial tommorow.

Baby Face...

It's been a long, long, long week. We seem to be over the worst part of the sickies.

I thought it would be fun to post pictures of all of us at one year old. :) Aren't we so cute? What ever happened???

***Baby Jimmy***




**Baby Jenny***




***Baby Abby***




***Baby Caleb***




***Baby Lilly***

Sickies

Lilly brought the sickies home and decided to share with all of us. Wasn't that nice of her?

Better go spray your monitors with some lysol... Wouldn't want to pass it on. LOL :)

Purging and Defying Gravity

Not much going on today. We are playing catch up on some things around the house that have been sorely neglected over the past few months. I shouldn't say me, It was Jim really. I've been couped up in the office trying desperately to get my school work done.

Anyway, We usually go through and purge the kids toys twice a year. Get rid of the broken/missing pieces and/or baby toys and make way for Christmas and birthdays. But with Jim working 2 jobs and me in school that didn't get done this fall and the kids rooms have been impossible to keep clean.

So, as I type, the kids are nestled into their freshly washed sheets that are still toasty from the dryer. Their floor still have vaccum lines, and their stuff is organised, and where it should be. I'm savoring the moment because I know that morning will come. The kids will get up and by 7 am the rooms will be "Kid-i-fied" again.


Jim has been practicing some different techniques he is learning in his class. He took these shots of Finn this morning.





Isn't that such a great shot of him mid air?




I'm tell you, this cat loves to jump. He's crazy, crazy, crazy. Almost as crazy as the boy in the background.

New music

Well, I figured since St. Patrick's day was rapidly approaching that I would update my playlist with some good irish music. The cranberries have been a favorite of mine for years. :)

Dates and cute pictures.

Some dates to put on your calendar.

June 13, 2007- A Wednesday night I believe. At 7:00 pm is my graduation ceremony. It's held at a big venue, so if you would like to come let me know and I'll get you tickets. I need to know soon though.

June 30, 2007- An "It's about time" graduation party. :) We are holding it in the our favorite park, minutes from our house, as shown in picture above. I just called and reserved and we have the best pavillion nestled in between 2 playlands for the kids. There is a sandbox play yard for the younger kiddos and a big kids castle for the older ones. Having it at the park will be less stress on the cats and me as I won't have to worry about them getting out with kids going in and out.

And here are some fun pictures of Caleb's Nanny and pappy weekend my mom sent to me.