Joyful July

Lots going on this month! Summer movies, (Harry Potter next week) Summer school, Summer vacation, and Summer giveaways! I have really been enjoying the slower pace of my two summer school classes. They are pretty basic but still interesting and fun. The kids and I are spending a little time outside everyday. I have found that by going outside in short spurts they are managing very nice little tans without burning and overexposure. Tonight we all made a little fire and had smores. The kids don't really like them. Go figure. Erick spotted a huge piece of wood behind the shed, so we fished that out, and dumped it on the fire. Tomorrow morning we will do some more yard work. All in all, its a nice blend of fun and relaxation and projects this summer. One of my kids favorite things about summer is the Popsicles! Speaking of which, (nice segue right?) Paper Popsicles has an AWESOME giveaway this month on their blog. Pretty awesome right?


They also have another great sketch this week for a card. Here is my interpretation.
Then for the sketch over at ICS (Inspirational Card Sketches) I made this little cutie using the tweets digital designs from Paper Popsicles.
I also got this cute mushroom digital design as part of a prize for winning the card sketch last week. I made this card for Erick, who is truly the fun guy in my life. (get it, funguy??) He thinks its mostly funny that I made a card for him, just so I could put that saying on it. LOL!

Run.Run.Run

You may recall back in May I mentioned that I was preparing to run a 5k. That was for a race that was in June. That race came and went. And I did not run. I got sick, quit training, and sorta gave up for a time. I tend to be the type of person who gets a hairbrained idea, wants very badly to follow through, then gets hung up on roadblocks and ends up taking the easy way... and not doing something. I hate that about myself. Soccer when I was 10, Track when I was 12, Partylite as an adult, and countless other endeavors or events. College was on that list too. I told Erick when we got engaged, to please help me make sure to go back to school someday because I didn't want to have that regret my whole life. So I am working on that one.

I also have this theory, that if you tell someone about something, that something is likely to not happen. Its a way of jinxing yourself. You know, my kids are going to sleep so good tonight... agghhh, don't say that!! It wont happen then.

So, I opted not to mention on this here blog that I was in fact, preparing for another race. The Carmelfest Freedom Run (4.5 miles). I went back and forth about participating. My sister Lucy and I had this idea that it would be cool if we could run together. Then we realized we should make our other sister, Vicky run too. We opened up the event to the whole family, and in the end, it was the three of us. The race was yesterday... (really? seems forever ago) in Indy (Carmel). I haven't really been running much lately, kinda pooped out and thought I might not do the race. But in the end, that voice in my head that reminds me how much I hate to quit, or not follow through, got me to do it. (That and Erick's encouragement, as well as my sisters). My goal was to run 3 of the 4.5 miles. I figured I would alternate some walking with running since I am somewhat out of shape.

Well, I managed to run the whole way! Victoria was 4 minutes faster than me and Lucy, and I caught Lucy at the final stretch, and we sprinted to the finish, and she beat me by one second! It was so cool to finish with her, with Victoria right there cheering us on. This race was tough, I would say its in the top 5 most difficult things I have ever done. (3 of those would be delivering babies). I was not very fast, I finished the race in 55:55. I might have actually had a better time if I walked and ran, I don't know. But I didn't want to stop running, because I thought I would not be able to start again. It was so cool, and I actually look forward to the next one.

I should mention, both of my sisters have had new babies within the last 9 months! (And they still beat me!) They are my heroes!

We had a great 4th of July weekend, we got together with all our families and had so much fun. I will post more pictures later.

before the race, feeling jitters and excitement, mostly jitters.

My awesome chip that tracked my speed.

The participants afterwards, several hours afterwards, see how cool we are?

Before I left the hotel for the race, Jed told me to try to win, and to try to be faster than Vicky and Lucy. So when he saw my participant medal, we was very excited that I won. You know, I did win. I ran further than I thought I could, and did something I didn't think I could do.

I love nature. A photo Essay.

I don't know that this is exactly a photo essay. But it sounded cool right? I dont really like nature. I dont like bugs and gross little critters. (I do like flowers and seeing the seasons change through trees and such though) Last week I found a dead bird in the yard. Then a few days later an animal that I thought was a mouse was dead in the driveway. Ella and I deduced that it was in fact, a mole. A baby mole. Dead. Gross. Yesterday a bird flew at the window by my computer and just sat there. He was on a ledge and then when I moved, he left. Today, a small yellow finch kept flying at my bedroom window. all day. no joke. I saw him fly at it and rest on a ledge. He pecked at the window. The cat noticed, Jed noticed, then later when Erick got home, he noticed. Pretty bird, weird behavior. I think this would be a better photo essay if I had more pictures. But who wants pictures of dead animals? I should get a picture of Ella's impression of the dead mole though. That is awesome.

A couple weeks ago we saw a big ole ground hog in the backyard. nasty. I found some mysterious critter poop in the yard today too. I think it was ole Puxatawnie's. So what did I do to rid myself of all these disgusting nature-ish issues? (Did I mention that a bird has been stuck in our garage for about a week?) "Say hello to my little friend."
I took this sucker to my three nasty bushes in the back of the house. Breeding ground for earwigs, crickets, spiders, and mean birds. Although, I saw a robin wandering on the porch after my extreme trimming, and he seemed sort of lost. Sorry dude. But don't worry, we have tons of other bushes. (until they meet my friend). You can sorta see the bottoms of these bushes in the below photo.


This picture shows the bushes showing through our windows. Gettin the idea of how giant these suckers were yet? I didn't think about before pictures.
and... ta da!!! Gone!!! Obviously need to do some sweeping, cleaning, and maybe some mulching??? What do you suggest here? The dirt is VERY sandy and loose. Wild green onions keep growing there and I have to pull them. I can't believe how much it opened up that patio. The stone squares are not ideal. But seen's how these bushes were annoying me for 4 years... one thing at a time. See that giant mass of bushes in the background? Remember this post? Lots of good pictures there. So, yah, time to trim those too. But seeing those past photos helps me see that with some maintenance, we can get things looking decent again.

I sprayed weed killer on the cracks of grass and weeds... so I am waiting for them to die. I think I can actually see patio furnature out here some day. We have a built in gas grill and gas light on this patio too, that we dont use - they dont work. Any ideas on getting these out of the ground? geesh. I love retro, almost as much as I love nature. (yes, sarcastic inflection).

Ok, well, my mid-term I am supposed to be taking dissappeared, so I blogged instead. Ok. Night.

Summer Movie Madness

I love summer movies! I love that Erick loves summer movies as much as I do. We took the kids to see the new Disney/Pixar movie, UP. I was very skeptical of this movie. I hate how the previews are so vague. Well, if you haven't heard, it's a wonderful movie! So cute and sweet and funny. We skipped the 3D version, and that was just fine with me. This cutie boy just cracked me up! If you haven't seen it, go. By far, my all time Fave Pixar movie!


We also got to go see Transformers Rise of the Fallen. This was such a cool movie! And so fun to see it in the theater. When the first one came out, I didn't really care to see it in the theater, and once I saw it at home, I wished I had! So Erick and I got to go out and see it. (Thanks to my sis for watching our kids). It was just as cool as the first one. This is a movie poster I had to make for a school assignment in the Spring, so its a fake, but kinda cool anyway!


And then of course, probably the movie I am most excited to see...

I have decided to read Book 6 again, before the movie comes out because I don't remember a lot from this one. The last time I read the book before seeing the movie it annoyed me. But this time, I am prepared for the movie to be altered from the book, and I am ok with that. The movie trailer actually looks really awesome! I just read the scene where Katie Bell gets cursed from touching the necklace. The movie scene looks cooler than I imagined it in my head.

Summer movie madness! Its the best! What are you looking forward to seeing? What have you already seen that you enjoyed?

Eye Candy

Here is a digital page I made using some newly acquired supplies. I took this goofy photo of the kids and played with it, making Ella in color, and her bros in black and white. I wanted to make her the focus of the photo. This was from my attempt at capturing a decent Father's Day shot. The kids were driving me bonkers, but now I have some fun pictures to work with.
I actually like the plain backdrop of the garage door.

This page I made this morning, just playing around with that same photo. I cropped Ella out, and made a dark vignette or border around the edges of the picture. I know I once thought digital scrapping was not for me. But these pages were a lot of fun. You can get so many more supplies for a great price. The pages come together pretty quickly. Especially if you were already going to be working in Photoshop to edit a picture or something.

But I will never leave my roots of traditional scrapping. Lately I am just going crazy having fun making cards. They are so quick and really work with my time frames these days. This week's blog challenge over at Paper Popsicles is to make a card based on a sketch. So here is this card I whipped up. All the papers were from my stash of scrap paper, which I love to use up! Do you like my copyright watermark? Its a simple Photoshop action I created.
I had to do that for a homework assignment.
If you have Photoshop and want the action, drop me an email.

Oh and my photo ledge I like to use for my card pictures has been overrun by a giant, hairy, demanding monster. Looks like I have some competition for camera time. But now you can at least see the little birthday hat sticker that is inside the card.

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday we took Erick to the nearby Superhero Museum. Then we spent 45 minutes looking for a missing park. Don't ask. We ended up at our favorite local park, and the kids had the playground to themselves. I love that! The kids got E some superhero shirts and a new watch. Today has been a day of relaxation and fun. We played in the water hose a little, brushed the dog, and watched some movies and made cupcakes. This year we got a picture of the kids printed that we included in the fathers day cards that we sent out to the dads and granddads in our life. I also whipped up a card for Erick. I managed to make it based on a sketch contest for Paper Popsicles too. I LOVE to multitask!

Multitasking aside, I have to express my gratitude to my sweet husband. He can walk in the room and suddenly give the kids 10 different things to do. They go crazy over him. I don't blame them, I do too. He has a magnetic charm that dazzles us all and makes us giggly and happy. This morning we piled on our big bed with bouncing children wiggling all over the place. Luke stood up on the bed in his whitie tighties and said while looking at Ella, "I love you Mary James!" and web slung an invisible web on the wall and started to climb up. (spiderman/mary jane, get it?) Erick and I looked at each other and just cracked up. Yesterday was our 9 year wedding anniversary. I can't remember what Erick said to me when he proposed, but I remember the day we picked out our bed at the mattress store before we got married. We looked at a king size bed and both laid on opposite sides of it, and looked over at each other. We talked about imagining the space between us filled with children. We joked about all the space between us. The bed seemed huge! This morning I was so grateful for that huge space, because indeed the bed was full of children! I love my little family, I love my sweet husband, who endures a lot to be married to me and knows I endure all the same with him. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

I read some hilarious comics in today's paper about Father's Day. My favorite was Foxtrot. If you click on that link, it has today's comic on their home page. Sooo funny and made me think of my dad. My dad. He's awesome! I recently went to visit him for the weekend, all by myself. It was nice to have some quality time with just him. I brought back books that I snitched from my dad's library, plus some things from a few shopping excursions. When Erick saw me bust out my new sunglasses and their case, with a monogrammed R on it, he smiled and said, "you're spoiled!" He said it in an endearing way that made me feel good. Mostly, growing up, I was not spoiled by my dad. He didn't have the means to shower us with material things. What he did spoil us with was always making sure we knew he loved us. He was an endless example of how to work hard and earn your way through life. After my parents got divorced when I was 8 or 9, my dad made a point of making the time he had with his girls worthwhile. He called it 'making memories'. We took bike rides out in the country to see uncommon birds, we would go to the driving range and hit some balls, or he would play 9 holes and let me drive the cart.

My dad served in the Army during the Vietnam war. He was in Thailand when my oldest sister Victoria was born. He hurt his back while serving, and while we are very thankful that it was not in the middle of combat, the benefit is that now, that back injury is paying for my education.

My dad has had many ups and downs throughout his life. I have seen him overcome the battles of a rough childhood, the burden of not having much money, and he has always been steadfast in working, working, working to get to where he is today. And when I called him this evening to wish him a Happy Father's Day, he was there, sitting in his comfy chair, watching golf on tv. :) A much deserved break for my hard working dad.

My father in law is a wonderful man, who is always an example of how to live a good and righteous life. He is very supportive of us, and of Erick especially, and dotes on the kids in his own special way. He is always ready with loving words, encouragement, and kindness. I am so thankful for his strong example of what a father should be.

I am blessed to have many good fathers in my life, who provide many wonderful things for me and my family.

It's 8:45pm on a Friday night

and I think I could go to bed right now. Wow, how old am I? Goodness.

Luke is 'potty trained' hurrahhh!!!!! Jed is the one who really made it happen. Go figure. Brothers.

Tomorrow we venture into the unknown and visit a superhero museum. Am I the coolest wife or what?

Oh and last but NOT least... tomorrow is our 9 year anniversary!