The End of 2008

It's hard to believe that this year is over. So much has happened. I didn't really realize it until the news programs started doing their year in review programs. We had a real nice Christmas day. We spent the morning opening up presents and then we headed to Grandma Ross' to open more and to have lunch. The kids were very happy with all their gifts and have barely asked to even watch any movies.

The next morning it started SNOWING!! Yes we even had snow at our house, but it didn't stick. Rob and I ditched the kids at Grandmoms and he took me up to Oracle where the snow was a few inches thick on the ground. I had a absolute blast.That is where this photo came from. I really wish now that I had taken shots of Rob cause he played my assistant and oh what an assistant he was. As I was trying to get certain shots the snow was blowing towards me. Rob came to my rescue by using our big umbrella and providing me some protection. I took tons of shots and most have even more snow in them but this is one of my favorites.

On Sunday after church we took the kids and headed up to Mt. Lemmon to play in the snow. Wyatt had never played in the snow before and did he take to it like a duck to water. As soon as his feet hit the snow he climbed up a hill and took off on a hike. We found a pristine patch that hadn't been played in and we had snow ball fights, tried to make a snowman(my skills are rusty) and Kelly and I made snow angels. Except for Rob the kids and I were wet from the snow but we had fun. The mountain was PACKED. You could barely get turned around and the sides of the road were bumper to bumper. We didn't even try to go to the top. Once again Rob became my assistant and he would pull over and wait for me as I would sometimes have to back track to get some cool pictures.

One of the coolest spots that we stopped at was nothing but a wall of ice and icicles. It was soo gorgeous.

As we headed down we made stops so that I could take more shots. I plan to go up again on a slightly cloudy day to get other shots that were too hard to try that day.

By the time we came down the mountain the police had closed the road going up for safety and were still turning cars away.

So that night Sunday/Monday we had a hard freeze and the next morning I went out again to take more photos. This is a bougainvilla from my neighbors house that was so pretty with the color of the flower and the frost and the sun shining down. I got a couple of other cool shots but this is one of my faves.

On our trip to Mt.Lemmon I exceeded 10,000 pictures that I have taken with my camera! I can't believe it. I have learned so much in the time that I have had it and this year I plan to learn even more.

So Rob and I want to start this new year off right and so we have been very busy this week. Rob has finished tiling and grouting our bathroom shower. Next is to seal the grout and any caulking this weekend. I have been working on cleaning up the scraproom so that I can set up the cricut permanetley and actually be productive this year. Also we took down the tree and all the decorations today. I swept, mopped and my living room has returned to normal.

We are starting the year clean and fresh. I will not be making any resolutions so to speak but a promise to myself. To be happy, and to work on making myself the person I want to be.

May this coming year be all that you want it to be.

Happy New Year, with love C

From our home to yours we wish you a very lovely Merry Christmas.

(One of many awful attempts for a xmas card photo)

So I'm screaming mad. So mad I could kick or beat up someone.
Why?
Last month I signed up Wyatt for the busy bodies preschool at Clements Center Tucson Parks and Rec. It used to be you only signed one month at a time and when I signed Wyatt up only January was available. I went on tonight and the F**king preschool classes are filled to the end of MAY!! Wyatt is only going to get to go one month. I'm so damn mad. I have no idea when they opened up the rest of the spring sessions, and to sign up for all the spring classes would have cost me $270. Monthly payments I could handle but not all at once.
Now I won't get to see Wyatt in his little cap and gown like Kelly. He won't be getting to experience some of the fun that Kelly did. After his month is up Wyatt will be asking me everyday when can he go to school. This just sucks. And worse is there isn't a damn thing I can do.
Just trying to keep up is right.
I constantly feel a day late and a dollar short.
I just want to yell at someone.
In Febuary I want to show up and make them take him. (I won't but it's a thought)
Sad part is they only have 20 openings(10 per class) between the Mon-Wed + Tues-Thurs classes. And I know some of those kids go to both sessions. I'm just venting now but I am calming down. I'm half tempted to call and find out when the opened the rest of the spring sessions.

Here it is in all it's glory!
Chelsea @ 5 months. She smiled, she sat nicely with Mr. Bear, she's adorable, she's all mine.
At five months we are consistently sleeping through the night. We have started baby food and will enjoy applesause, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and bananas. Doing very well in the eating department. Growing like a weed. Chelsea is starting to outgrow some of her 3-6 month clothes. Chelsea loves to laugh at anything Kelly does to amuse her but Chelsea really just wants people to be around her.



So last night Inez came over for dinner. As she was leaving she made a comment to Kelly that Grandmom would sure like it if Kelly, Wyatt and Chelsea would be good for mama and let mommy take a Christmas picture of them. So I decided to attempt again. We didn't even get one shot off before Rob sat down and said, "set your timer". Ummm....no makeup, my hair had been up. Rob said he didn't care let's just get this shot done. ;]
So we turned it into a game and this is our most clear shot. So I uploaded to Wally world and should be able to pick up our cards today.
One thing to check off the list.
Now that Chelsea is down for her morning nap I'm gonna go clean up Wyatt room (and maybe get rid of some toys). he he he.
Carrie

So I took Chelsea's five month photo the other day and I decided to do it in RAW. Well when I saved it I saved it as a Tiff file. Blogger doesn't recognize tiff files and now I'm having a hard time changing it to a jpeg. So I can't upload any photos yet. I will figure this out.
Otherwise it's the typical holiday season, so much to do and so little time. I sometimes just want to hole up in the house and be a hermit.
I'm struggling on getting a christmas photo of the kids to do our christmas cards. Tried yesterday and it was a disaster with me in tears and ready to beat my children. All the complaining and they won't even look in my general direction. I just got sick of it. I'm going to try and do each child individually and then make a card.
So I'm sorry that this post has no pictures I'll try to get some ready later.
Carrie

Okay, please stop throwing tomatoes. I realized yesterday that I haven't blogged since the beginning of the month. So a fast monthly recap.

week 1- election, you all know that one. on the 8th Mom, Chelsea and I went to Phoenix for the MS Walk.

Here is the Ren gang. there was also Stars Wars characters, the Ghostbusters, Marines, etc. I really like the zoo and we are planning to go back before it gets hot. I really liked the zoos Tiger. the dude CLIMBED the tree.

week 2- came back from Phoenix and was really out with a cold/sinus infection. To this day I am still struggling with the mucus family which does NOT want to leave. I'm not sure what week it was but Pop (Kim's dad) has asked Rob to be his best man when he gets married in April, and asked me to be his photographer. Cool! I asked him if he would buy me a new camera. HEHE At first he was like easy, "how much?" when I said about four grand he choked and sputtered, but he didn't say no. ;)

week 3- Kelly had half days and conferences. She is doing great and her teacher Mrs. Watt says she has grown so much in the last year. I'm very proud of her. Inez came back from her vacation. Struggling and trying to get back on track with my Artists Way stuff. Rob came home from homegroup leaders meeting saying that the church wants a cd copy of all my nature photos to be used for back drops for songs and meditation. How cool is that?

So I have been spending more time outside working and planning shots. I can confidently say that I like nature photography better than any other. I'm sure my kids would approve and agree.

I rearranged my living room to prepare for the tree which will go up next weekend.

Chelsea rolled over for the first time this week and has also started to eat solid foods. We have tried applesause and bananas besides the rice cereal.

we are now entering week 4.

I'm fairly ready for the gang to invade on turkey day.

Playing at the park, need to lighten up photo, when I was taking sunset pictures. So now that we are in week 4, I'm more on track and I'm hoping to get some xmas photo shots done because I want to send out photo cards this year.

So my apologies to Julie, Mom, Kristie, and whoever is looking from Grand Rapids, Dad and anyone else for me not posting much this month.

Hugs and K's, Carrie

This is so typical of Chelsea, her and Mr. Bear just don't like to share the camera. This is also the best shot of her and Mr. Bear. I might try again later.
Oh her shirt says, Yes I'm cute, it's okay to look.
The rest of the pictures were taken outside in front of my black sheet, which now needs to be washed again.
I couldn't get the kids to really cooperate but they had fun for about 30seconds before they both decided to play in the yard.

Congrats to President Elect Barack Obama. May you be the Change we want to see in our country. May you unite us like no other has before.

It's going to be an interesting four years. I'm still nervous and excited.

Election Day

Today one of these two men will be named our next President.

To be truthful, I'm very nervous. Someone wrote that they feel we are at an amazing point in our history and she feels amazed to be a part of it. In that I totally agree. That is why I have pushed to scrapbook my thoughts about this election.

Today either the first black man will be named President or we will have the first woman Vice President.
But back to why I am nervous. My nervousness is based on many things: One, on certain people in this country who will stop at nothing to kill a person because of his race(if he wins). Two, national security, terrorism and.. war. Three, this depression we are in now and what the future holds.

As a voter I'm tired of all the mudslinging, give me accurate facts when you accuse the other candidate and give me what you stand for and let me decide.

The news showed this morning that these two men have been campaigning for almost 2 years. That is insane. Do you realize that by this Presidents second year he would have to start campaigning all over just to be renominated for his party? Wow.

No matter what, we are on the brink. Another page in history is about to be written.

What do you have to say?

Let your voice be heard for future generations.

C

Three little monkey's all dressed up, to fill there bags with candy and later puke it up.

Bad rhyme, I know and no, no one got sick. All candy has been in moderation except for mommy's consumption. Damn fun sized Snickers bars.

I'm thinking of having the kids dress up again so that I can get better pictures. Don't judge me( :) ), they happen to like their costumes. Last year both kids would put on their outfits just for the heck of it.

We had a good haul and the kids did real well. Kelly's elegant witch costume seemed to get bigger as the night wore on but she liked it.

Wyatt as Mr. Incredible was a trip and do ya know he wore that mask ALL night long.

Chelsea was a cute little cat. She did just the best, she loves going for walks in the stroller and was game to go along with no complaints.
We have been slacking the last few years, we usually have decorations up weeks in advance but the last couple of years we seem to get all the work done in one night and I must say it's not our best. Hopefully next year we can get back on track.

That is me holding Chelsea, I was trying for my version of Jason. I can't even watch those movies anymore.

Mom was done as her usual witch and all the kids seem to like it. Unfortunately Mom had a paper that had to be done that night so she couldn't hang for long, but I hope she had fun

Friday morning I had to take Chelsea back to the doctor to get a shot and while we were there the older kids got their flu shots, now Rob and I have to get ours. We all hate shots. The older two didn't know they were getting shots so it wasn't lots of carring on.

Chelsea is weighing in at 13lbs and 4 ozs and 24 inches long. Right in the middle of the growth chart for her age at 4 months. Chels is already teething and I'm about to start her on cereal any day now.

I plan on taking her monthly bear picture in the next couple of days.

Well, tomorrow is the big day, finally. I am so ready for this election to be over. Good luck to both candidates. I do feel sorry for Obama though, his grandmother passing away the night before the election. It will be bittersweet if he wins, and his grandmother didn't live to see it. I'm sure either way,win or lose, she was very proud of him.

I better get going, I want to watch the SNL presidential bash tonight and I printed out photos of both candidates to do my scrapbook page.

Happy election day tomorrow! I wonder how President Bush feels right now?

C

So every picture taken at the pumpkin patch is a little blurry, what's up with that?

Kelly has ring around the mouth, chapped lip style, and Chelsea got some of her shots that day. All of us are having allergy issues except Chelsea, so we are not the most fun loving people to be around. We sound awful but feel okay.

I got a backdrop stand from ebay that arrived today. I can't wait to have enough patience to really try it out. I don't have it fully extended but it is a 10'x12'. Now I need to slowly buy muslin backdrops to use with it. hehe.

Yeah, Braxton was real thrilled to pose for me. Course a few minutes later the dog was laid out asleep on the fabric.

I'm working on a layout idea that showcases both presidential candidates and how this election has changed our country and that no matter what history is about to be made.

This is the story for our grandchildren, this is what scrapbooks are about.

How many times have we heard from our g-parents about WWII or living through the Great Depression? Vietnam?

Yes, everyday is important, but I think we are missing some points. We not only need to document everyday life but what's making history around us and how its effecting us.

Off my soap box.

Oh boy is this month flying by. We've been fairly busy around here. I've been taking shots of miss C, Wyatt and Rob got to go on a train ride, I took a scrappin class, Kelly is back with Daisy scouts. I went with Kel on a class field trip. We (whole family)went and cheered my friend Julie on as she ran 10 miles for the Get Moving Tucson run/walk. Had a great dinner with other friends from church. Celebrated my friend Karens b-day by making bracelets at beads of courage, that was inspiring. It just seems that time is flying. But we are having fun.
Went with the kids and picked out Halloween costumes, they are going to be so adorable. Braxton had to be emergency rushed to the vet. somehow the dog dislocated his back leg knee caps. He is doing great now and we are not even sure how it happened.




Please excuse the bad shot. I had forgotten to take it off night mode, from Wyatt's train ride when I took this shot of Julie.




Way to go Jules! I'm proud of you.

I am still working on my Artist's Way classes and I have been staying off the computer so that I can focus on my creativity. Of course now that we are also getting rid of cable I should be even more productive. At least I hope so.
So that is life in a nut shell this second. I will try to compose something better when I'm not bouncing a baby on my knee. :)
C

My all about me album. I wanted to use bright colors so I primarily stuck with the KI Memories Pop Culture and Bloom lines. The little tabs are by a company called Urban Lily and the line is called Happy. I couldn't find any paper that matched so I found one that I liked . Now the pages are in order but I completed all the tab/token questions that they asked. If you like you should be able to click on each picture and see it bigger







Now on Saturday I went on my first Artist date. This is where I get to be by myself and do whatever I want for about 2 hours.
I chose to go to a local nursery called Mesquite Valley Growers. The people there were so nice and welcomed me to take pictures. Of course I also bought a beautiful mum and pot that called to me. I was very happy with the way some of the shots turned out and I plan on framing some for our living room.



I noticed that some of my favorites were in the purple range. I told Rob they would look good in a bathroom. He said as long as it wasn't ours, as opposed to the guest bathroom, he was fine with it.
The photo with the bouganvilla (sp?) is now our new screen saver, that Rob picked out. I'm really wanting to go back and do this again.
On the way there all these negative thoughts started to run through my head and once I got going it was so freeing and I was very happy.
Heck, after I got home and uploaded I wanted to drive back and take more shots.





So last night was Kelly's first night with her new Daisy troop. It was rough getting started but by the end she liked everything and this morning keeps asking me her troop leaders name so she can tell her teacher and classmates. I really hope this is something she can grow from and enjoy.
Rob said that Wyatt was asking about Boy scouts and how he was going to join them.
One thing that surprised me was that parents didn't have to stay. Well this being Kelly's first time she was trying to cling to me and I was trying to shove her forward.
When we first got there they did the opening ceremony. This is the color guard bringing out the flag to doing the pledge of allegience and then the girls scout promise. By the end of the ceremony Kelly was rubbing away tears. I think she was very overwhelmed because she didn't know anyone and she is surrounded by twenty plus girls (both juniors and daisy's were together). By the closing ceremony, retiring of the color guard and flag, saying the promise again and then a freindship song, Kelly was doing much better. So we will see next time. I already told the leaders I would hang in the back until Kelly was completely comfortable and then I would just start dropping her off and let her grow on her own.
So I'm off. I'm pumped to go be creative and want to get things done.
Love C

So our Saturday was fairly busy. The munchkin turned 3 months and we took the required bear picture and the bigger rug rat had her sixth birthday. I still remember the day she was born, which is a good thing because I seem to be forgetting everything else.

Picture #2 the party table. Just before the party started I went out to the dollar store to see what Pooh stuff I could find. I picked up glow wands, pooh color pencils, mini m&ms, and tigger and pooh pez dispensers. I then went to the other dollar store and scored by finding My friends tigger and pooh super sleuths coloring books. So I threw these all into goody bags for all for kids. I was so happy to find the coloring books because they matched the theme of the party. See because there isn't much out there yet I went to the Playhouse Disney website and downloaded placemats and such to help out.

As we were waiting for the cousins to arrive I dragged the kids kicking and screaming (not even close) to the backyard for some pictures.

Picture #3- Wyatt being Wyatt.




Picture #4- the birthday girl herself- Gave me some great shots and had some fun with the camera. Was uber excited and drove us crazy with the, are they here yets??



Picture #5- Chels- smiling and cooing so much lately. A fairly happy baby until bed time and then lots of fighting sleepy time. She is almost sleeping through the night. Holds her head up very well. Love making her smile.

Finished my mini album that I made about myself. I might post pictures later.
Now I saw a cute idea about a pumpkin album that I might give a try.
I'm still working on the Artist's Way tasks and morning pages. Doing pretty good about letting my creativity out and not spending so much wasteful time on the computer.
Also Kelly has been invited to a new Daisy scouts troop. I am soooo excited because I know the leader and she is fantastic. We are going to learn so much and have a blast. Our next meeting is Monday the 6th.
So I'm off, Wyatt the terror has made a mess while I've been typing. How he does it so quietly with me right beside him is a mystery.

So this is what Kelly and Wyatt did this afternoon. Both were soaked to the skin but loved every minute of it. I think it rained for a good half hour.

Would you like to see my creativeness this week. Now to you they may look like I just laminated pooh characters. Oh contrare, First you cut out a black base, so you know where to put everything. Then you have to cut out each individual color that makes up each character and then gluing it all down. Very time consuming but I did my best to make them look as correct in color as possible.






I told Rob there was a reason why I bought so many packs of papers. I also made the Pooh cake this afternoon but I'll take photos of that tomorrow.


So my baby girl is 6 so I thought I would have her answer 6 questions about herself

Now picture Kelly standing in front of you twisting back and forth with a cheesy smile on her face:
1. What is your favorite color?
purple (usually it is blue)
2. Favorite movie/t.v. show
Piglets Big Movie
3. Favorite Disney Character
Ariel
4. Favorite food
Apples
5. Favorite Animal
Horse
6. What is 4+2
6 :)
Happy Birthday Kell bell

So I've been kind of busy. We went to a lobster picnic a couple of weeks ago and I'm trying to get more shots of all my rugrats together.

I haven't taken any photos yet but I can show you what I've been up to. I used my cricut and cut out 10 pooh characters for Kelly's birthday party Saturday. I have made a basic happy birthday banner that after I'm done posting I will go string up. Rob and I made confetti rice krispy treats for Kelly's class plus a batch for at home. I'm working on my Artists way tasks and morning pages. As of yesterday I am fostering a couple of dogs for about 2 months. All pictures will come later.

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger. Of course the midget doesn't always make things easy, right now I'm typing one handed and bouncing her up and down. So this will probably be a short post.

Tomorrow is Kelly's 6th birthday and on saturday Chelsea will be 3 months. Tomorrow I will bake the Pooh birthday cake and get it decorated for the pizza party. I promise I will have pictures.

I'll be a better blogger.

*Warning*- Heavy Subject

A couple of years ago I took a course called Potters Wheel. Potters Wheel is a five day intense therapy session for individuals or couples. It is life changing and very hard but so freeing too.

You know we think we have a handle on what is going on in our lives but through this course you find out about things that happened in your childhood that have shaped you into the person you are today and how to move past that childhood pain to become the person God meant for you to be. By the end of the five day course, You think, you laugh, and most especially you cry. On the last day amidst many tears the facilitator Patti asked me a question, "what is the one thing you fear about yourself?" My answer was my passion.

I feel as if I have all this passion built up inside that just wants to burst or spew out and I would lose all control to tame it down (make any sense?)

Most of my life I have let the devil on my shoulder tell me I'm not good enough or I can't do it. This has also led to some laziness on my part. It's easier to say I can't then it is to just do it. Even if the rewards far exceed the small effort it took physically.

So for the last two years I have prayed, I have tried to work through that devil that tells me I'm not good enough. Right now or I'll say the last few months I have wanted to break the cycle. I want to wipe my slate clean and redo most aspects of my life. I want to redecorate my house, I want to improve the amount of fun I have with my kids, I want to free my passions and instead of sitting around I want to scrapbook and to sew, yes sew. I want to see a change in the pictures I take and the scrapbook pages I create. I want, no need to get our family story down on paper for future generations. I want to get moving.

It takes more energy to be extraverted than introverted but I need to be the person I was a long, long time ago, she pops up occasionally and I find myself happier when she comes out, but she also tires me out because I'm not used to expending that much energy.

About a month ago one of the many blogs I read was starting a online book group based on the book "the Artists Way" by Julia Cameron. Well the book arrived yesterday and I started to read it. This book has been used for more than 20 years and has helped heal or open up artists from all walks of life, a creative workshop. What surprised me was that it is a faith based book. There are ten basic principals, one of my favorites is number five, Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift to God.

So beginning this weekend I will begin to discover and rediscover my creative self.

Along with this book I have also picked up Randy Pauschs' book the Last Lecture. For more info about either the author or the book just google it.

I watched the interview and heard all the reviews on how this college professor, in the last act of his life has changed or touched so many others. I cried when I heard of his death and the three small children he left behind. I look to the legacy he has left for all of us. So this is another book that I hear will really speak to me. Fall is a season of change( and my favorite time of year) and this fall I want to change. Life is too short to be filled with woulda, coulda, shouldas. I want myself and my kids to see or say WE DID.