Popu-lei-rity

The kids' school is having Red Ribbon Week this week. Each day they have a different fun theme to emphasize making good choices and living drug-free. Monday's theme was...


(This is the sticker they gave all the kids.)

Kaylee was insistent that she needed to have a brightly colored lei to wear. Rather than drive across town to buy her a lei at one of the party or toy stores, Mark decided we (meaning mainly me) could make her one using some paper flowers he had as extra refills for a magic trick. Turned out to be waaaaay easier said than done. After much experimentation, I finally managed to attach the flowers to one of Kaylee's bead necklaces, and the result was this...





It turned out pretty cute and was a big hit at school. She got lots of compliments on it, and her PE coaches at the end of the day told her it was the best lei they had seen all day. Kaylee was grinning and so excited talking about it. I completely cracked up when she told me... "It hurt my neck, but I couldn't take it off, because I didn't want to give up my popularity!" I guess all the hassle for me and discomfort for her was worth it. ROTFL

Finally she had enough of me taking pictures of her...



But she was back begging for more a few minutes later, when I took her hair down and she saw the crazy waves that had resulted from it being put up damp in a "circle pony tail". LOL





And then, just because she was being cooperative, a couple more gratuitous shots...





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Yesterday Kaylee brought home an art project from school that she was especially proud of. Introducing, straight from the door of our refrigerator, Mrs. Scull! (Kaylee's spelling. ;) )



She said the legs were bent because she ran out of room on the paper, but I thought it was fun because it looks like it's jumping. The whole project is so cute, but I think my favorite part is Mrs. Scull's bow and eyelashes. :D



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Wow, after all those photos, I'll have to do a mega-Matthew photo post sometime soon! He's been keeping busy mostly with schoolwork. He has a major history fair project due soon, and has just had lots of other homework in general.

Last night we spent a couple of hours studying state names, abbreviations, and capitols for the southeastern states for a quiz today. The previous region they studied was the southwest, and he only had four states to memorize, so the 12 states on this week's list was a big jump. Poor kid was so discouraraged when we started practicing, thinking he was never going to get them, especially having to also spell them all correctly. But this morning when I quizzed him, he pretty much rattled them all off instantly, only getting stuck for a moment on one of them. He was so proud! It was so great to see him conquer that. :) I hope the quiz goes smoothly for him!

October Storm

I can't believe it's October already. September flew past in the blink of an eye. Our month started out with one heck of a storm.


Journaling: A ferocious storm moved in very suddenly just as Matthew’s karate class was ending. There was lots of thunder and lightning, and the rain was coming down in great white sheets. We waited out the worst of it inside the building, then made it home just in time for Kaylee to spot a rainbow as she looked out our back windows. 10/1/09

All papers and elements by Red Leaf DigiScrapping at ScrapDish -
Papers: Fun Times Paper Pack
Alpha: Dress Me Up Alphabets - Oversized Chipboard
Stitches: In Stitches
Frame: Sliced Up Photo Frames

Font: Pea Anderson (Kevin & Amanda's Fonts for Peas)

Other random happenings:

• I took Matthew to pick out his Halloween costume yesterday. He is going to be Megatron from the Transformers. Granted, Kaylee and I had brought home a costume catalog for him to look through in advance, but it's amazing how much more painless it was for him to make his decision than it was for his sister.
  
  
• We do the computer hand-me-down cycle here. Whenever I get a new machine, Mark gets my old one, and the kids then get his old one. The kids have been computerless for about a year and a half, since theirs had died and we were unable to get it fully working again. I finally got a new machine this past spring. I had a ton of files and applications to deal with getting transferred, and then Mark also had loads of files to sort through, so just yesterday we finally got around to getting his old one reformatted and set up for the kids. Thanks to an extra un-needed flat screen monitor from my mom & dad (thanks, Grandma Karyl & Grandpa Jim!) we were able to set the third pc up on our little kitchen desk much more easily than we had in the past with those ginormous CRT's. The kids are thrilled to have their own computer again, and I'm thrilled to not have to share with them as much anymore! LOL
  
  
• Mark had some friends over for gaming today, and one of them brought along his newly adopted almost 13-year-old son so that he and Matthew could hang out together. I was worried that the age difference might be a problem (2½ years can be a lot at that age), but they had a great time playing video games. We relaxed the rules and let them play all afternoon/evening, while Kaylee played on the "new" computer. My head is still ringing with all the battle action and Hannah Montana music. I think you can guess which noises came from which activity. ;) Unfortunately for my poor head, my desk is right in the middle of it all. LOL
  

Crazy Freestyle Mischief

Jess has a new kit out called Freestylin' Fall. It's loads of fun and so versatile! Here are two layouts I did with it, and I'm hoping to find time to do at least one more, since I'm itching to use the other pieces too. :)

First up is one with the kids just being their normal goofy selves a few weeks ago. :)


Kit: Freestylin' Fall by Jessica Bolton at Funky Playground Designs.
Fonts: Blackout Serif Px and Onder Px

Next is a shot of Kaylee taken that same day. I love the sparkle of fun in her eyes. :)


Journaling: Kaylee with mischief in her eyes. 9/6/09
Kit: Freestylin' Fall by Jessica Bolton at Funky Playground Designs.
Font: Bayern Handschrift NF

The kit is on sale this week, PLUS Jess has a coupon on her blog for an additional 15% off! Such a great deal!

In other news around here... well, there really isn't much news. LOL Kaylee and Mark are still suffering from allergies, but other than that, we're healthy for the moment. The kids' homework load has picked up quite a bit now that we're getting deeper into the school year, so it feels like that's all we're doing lately.

The kids, especially Kaylee, are getting really excited about Halloween already. We went and picked out Kaylee's costume this weekend. She's going to be Glinda from The Wizard of Oz. The kids saw the movie for the first time recently and loved it, so it seemed like an appropriate choice. She actually had her heart set on being a princess from the Mario Kart video game, but they don't sell pre-made costumes as far as we know (except custom-made, which was not in our budget), and she was less than confident in my ability to sew one for her. ROTFL Can't say that I blame her. It's been a long time since I sewed, and my cheap old machine is not the best, so I'm sure it would have been an exercise in frustration for both of us. I'll admit to being a bit relieved that she didn't take me up on my offer. LOL

Layouts again

I really need to think of some more interesting post titles for when I just have layouts to post. LOL

I did my ScrapDish layouts this week. First up is one featuring Matthew doing his homework inside his "bed tent" last year. He had SO MUCH homework almost all of the time last year, and of course Kaylee would be finished with hers way before he was done with his. Since he's easily distracted, and it's nearly impossible to keep Kaylee quietly occupied for too long, he would often retreat to his room to work.


Journaling: 4th grade was a heavy homework year for Matthew, so he would often retreat to his bed to stay focused and avoid distractions (which usually came in the form of his little sister).

Papers: Radient Gradients by Connie Prince
Frame & stars: Cluster Date Frames by Connie Prince
Beads: Bead Buddies by Melinda Staley
Alpha: Stamped Alpha 1 by Melinda Staley
Staples: ScrapDish Designers Basics Collaborative Kit
All of the above from ScrapDish.
Font: Pea Anderson (Kevin & Amanda's Fonts for Peas)

My other layout this month is quite different from my normal style, but the kit just pulled me in that direction. So I came up with this pretty little thing showing off a couple of shots of Kaylee this summer.


Tag: Kaylee, 6/24/09, age 7.
Background text: you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. you make me happy when skies are gray.

Kit: Day of Sun by Carola Mondini at ScrapDish
Fonts: LD Remington Portable, Pea BethC

Thanks for looking!

First Day layout, Camp, Star Student

Howdy! I'm back with another layout! I had lots of fun scrapping a couple of the pics from the kids' first day of school with some of Jess' new goodies!


Journaling: We only had a semi-traditional 1st day of school this year. Flu the week before had meant no new clothes and no riding the bus the first morning (so Daddy could show Kaylee where her class was). But we did get our customary smiles at the front door.
All by Jessica Bolton at Funky Playground Designs.
Kit: Primarily Educational
Alpha: Basically Shadowed Alpha
Fonts: Onder Px, LD Remington Portable

Update on us... Matthew's fever and cough knocked him out for the rest of last week. He was well enough to go to his 5th grade camp this week though. They spent 2 nights at a facility about an hour northeast of here. He had a terrific time in spite of a lot of rain, with archery being his favorite part. He also went canoeing and fishing, played games, and had lots of nature lessons. He's just full of information on the prairies and plants and such now. :)

Kaylee ended up getting sick last week too. She missed school Thursday and Friday with a fever, but thankfully never developed much of a cough. She's doing fine this week, and as you may have guessed from the post title, she was selected to be her class Star Student today!! She gets all kinds of special privileges next week and just generally gets to be the center of attention. :)

I took a few quick shots of her with her certificates and let her pick which one to use. She chose this one because she thought it was funny that her eyes were so big. LOL She was trying not to blink, a tendency she inherited from her dad. ;)


We're mostly likely just going to keep the next couple of days low-key and hang out at home, especially since Matthew's still a bit drained from being sick/camp. I could do with some extra nap time myself. ;) Have a great weekend!

Sale!!!

Just a quick note to let you know that ScrapDish is having a storewide sale this week! Everything in my store (excluding Dollar items) is 50% off right now!!


Also, my entire Cardboard Bits series is currently in the Recession Busters section, marked at just $1 each. So while not technically on "sale", they are also marked at 50% off their regular price!


Thanks for looking! Ill be back with a "regular" update soon! :)

Geekin' out!

PixelWorks has a new kit out today called Geekazoid, and I squealed when I saw it! So packed full of delicious geekitude! First I just had to do a layout about how, in spite of my deep down geekiness, I used to absolutely hate computers. LOL


Journaling: I’ve always had more than a bit of a geeky side, and I was a major perfectionist and full-fledged bookworm by the age of six. As time went by, I also developed a strong interest in math, art, journalism, and architecture, among other things. I had a tough time deciding what field to go into when I entered college, but I finally settled on electrical engineering, since it seemed the most likely to provide a solid income. But while my liberal arts classes were fun and easy for me, and math and physics were an interesting challenge, I really struggled with my engineering classes. Eventually I got the hang of the complex theories and equations involved in circuit design and signal modulation, but at that time computers were still relatively uncommon in everyday life and very foreign to me. The fun I’d had learning a little BASIC in junior high and high school turned into frustration as I tried to decipher more complex programming languages, leading me to decide that I HATED computers. As I moved out into the working world, and computers got more user-friendly, I got more comfortable with them, but I still just viewed them as a tool. It wasn’t until several years later, when I discovered digital photography, building web pages, the magic of Photoshop, and eventually digiscrapping, that I truly came around. And today I can honestly say... [Hello. My name is Kim and I am addicted to my computer!]

Then I just had to come back and do a purely for fun layout using this super-cool TV! Don't the kids look cute in cyber-glasses? LOL

Text on computer: "Subjects: Matthew, Kaylee. Date: 05/18/09"
Text on walls: "Scrapped 9.6.09"

Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend! The kids and I just hung out and home and relaxed, while Mark went down to Houston for the annual state magic convention. Poor Matthew woke up yesterday with a cough though, and he had a fever by noon. Fortunately, he feels reasonably ok when the ibuprofen is working. But he's disappointed about having to miss school. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a quick thing, and he'll be able to go back in a couple of days.