Catching Up

The problem with treating my blog like an online scrapbook of sorts, is that I get bogged down with chronology (is that even a word?). I feel like I can't move forward until I've covered everything that's already happened - but a lot of events are worthy of a great entry, so on days when I can barely string to words together (let alone sound intelligent or witty), I just save it for later.

Can you see the vicious cycle???

So, humor me as I catch up on the last 5 months of my life. It's really more for my benefit than anything else. Maybe then I'll be able to move forward with my blog life.

If I were really tech-savvy I would have a video clip that fast forwarded through these events, complete with music -- but I'm not, so you'll have to use your imagination.

We took the kids to see The Boss! This was their 3rd concert - their first was Toby Keith, and earlier this summer they went to AC/DC. They spent hours making signs. No...they didn't get shown; our seats were too far away - but they had fun making them.

Yes, my overtired son FELL ASLEEP mid concert. Out cold. He slept for about 4 songs - it would have been more, but I forced him to get up to see Bruce perform with the Dropkick Murphys. (I didn't want him to complain that I made him miss the best part of the concert).


My in-laws took the entire family to Atlantis Resort for 4 days!!! We swam with dolphins, conquered the slides, relaxed by the beach -- all 14 of us.

School started, and while my two boys were happier to go back than this picture would suggest, Mia was super excited to go!

My mom came to visit! We took Mia to the American Girl Bistro - so girly.

During our Expedition Everest trip, we visited this magical place...
What is it, you ask? Give Kids the World - the most amazing, fun, pixie dust filled place that ever existed. It's deserving of several blog posts, and I can't wait to get back there to spend some time volunteering.
The best part of the Expedition Everest trip (no, it wasn't running)was being able to see all of my Mom's Panel friends. All 16 of the 2009 group and several of the 2008 group made it down for this fun weekend. Plus, I got away with Fred for a few days as an added bonus.
The weekend of our 10K, we stayed in the same hotel where President Obama was speaking. This car? He wasn't in it - he was in the next car. He waved at us - sadly Fred missed it while he was taking a picture of this car.

HALLOWEEN - Thing 1, Thing 2 and Cinderella - yep, I made them all - never again (someone remind me that I said that next Halloween).

My baby turned 3!!! Another birthday another chance for me to make some insane cake.
You can see last year's creation HERE. And don't worry - if anyone thinks I'm favoring my little girl - the boys get the same effort, I've just been too tired afterward to blog about it.

After Thanksgiving, we took a trip to visit our favorite Mouse.

When we got back, Fred got an early Christmas present - SNOW!!!
Lots of Snow

Then it was Christmas...
There you have it a quick recap of major events that were worthy of a blog post or 2. I've set the bar pretty low, so my blogging should definitely be more consistent in 2010. Although, I'm already a little behind on that "post a week" resolution (sigh).

Wordless Wednesday: More photoshop fun

I know - it's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but I think I like the before photo better. I'm not much for the "hand-tinted" vintage look. Maybe I'll try playing with a photo that doesn't have a person in it. The glowing stars around the head were just part of the assignment.

Look what I can do!!!

So, we have this great computer. My husband has an AMAZING digital camera. He's a super technology geek (I mean that in the best possible way - I am in awe!) who designs incredible websites in his spare time. Me? I can email, resize pictures to have them printed, and surf the web.

That's where my technology skills end, seriously. But one of my favorite scrapbook gurus, Becky Higgins, alerted her readers to a FREE (yes free) 2 week photo editing class given by Jessica Sprague. If you don't know who that is - well, she does some pretty amazing digital scrapbooking, and although I'm still a paper & scissors kind of gal, I could stand to learn a few tricks.

I've actually considered paying to take one of her classes before, but I was afraid I would never get around to doing the assignments - money wasted, so I put it off. But this opportunity is PERFECT. No pressure! If I do the assignments - GREAT! If life gets too busy or I don't like the way she teaches, nothing's lost!

So far, so good. Our first assignment was to add a PNG frame & word art to a photo. The tutorial was super easy to follow, and I really like the way my photo turned out. I can't wait for tomorrow's lesson!