Happy Monday-after-Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is back in the swing of things after a weekend of fun and food. We spent the weekend in South Dakota. We stayed with Mark, June, & Turner this time - it was a lot of fun! The kids (big and small - ha!) had a great time playing Mark's new Wii. In fact, Noah had so much fun that he asked Santa for a Wii, and Santa said, "Yes." Hello, Santa. Hope that toy shop is busy churning out the impossible-to-find Wii's for all the good little boys.

Noah and Quinn had a little birthday party on Saturday night. Great Grandma Shirley made Quinners a little doll cake. It was adorable!



Noah had a Star Wars cupcake cake. The black frosting was interesting. Especially when we let the little guys go to town with it. :-)



We also took all the kids to see Santa. Noah, as I mentioned above, was more than willing to talk to the guy in red. Quinn sat on his lap but wasn't too sure about things. Turner, Jackson, and Griffin wanted NOTHING to do with that guy. In fact, Bob was taking photos and couldn't even get Griffin (with me holding onto him and acting as his human shield from Santa) in the picture! June bought a new camera, the new and improved version of mine, so hopefully she has a few shots where you can see me and G off to the side. And I have to say, it was a lot of fun to go camera shopping with June. I have some serious camera envy going on!!



I also bought a new knitting book to make Quinners a hat, and I knitted up a storm on the drive to SoDak. I need a better picture to show off the hat, but you can sort of see it here.



Then I decided Turner needed a hat. I didn't get it finished there, but the drive home was enough time to put on the finishing touches. G is my reluctant model - I bribed him with a promise of McD's chicken nuggets for lunch later.



I am also going to make Jackson a hat but don't have the yarn yet. Stay tuned for more pictures (of course).

If your kid is a cousin to my kids ...

he is now *famous* ... or at least has appeared in one national magazine. :-) Check out the latest Scrapbooks Etc. to see this layout in print!


I was assigned the layout on the right as inspiration, and the layout on the left is my interpretation.



Note: I have this photo in a frame in my living room. It cracks me up!

For the 3 people who read this blog that are not related to me by blood or marriage ...

or for any of you that might scrapbook ... even if you are related to me ... I have some free passes to Scrapafaire to give away so you can check it out. I'll give them to the first 25 people who leave me a comment. I've always wanted comments on my blog. Sometimes I wonder if I'm talking to myself! :-)

ETA: If you want a free pass, leave your email or email me directly so I can send it. Only 4 days left (I think). Thanks for the posts. Totally made me smile!

A quick trip to the Cities ...

Grandpa and Grandma came to the Cities last weekend with Tracy. We were able to run down for a quick visit.

Grandpa was quite in love with Miss Quinn. He said, "She speaks with her eyes." I love that. I think I see a scrapbook page in the near future.

Here are a couple of pictures. Stupid hotel room lighting ... but the one where he is kissing her makes me melt.



In other news, life is getting back to normal here. Last week was crazy busy. Between my class, Bob's class, Halloween, Halloween parties, going to the Cities, and Bob and Noah going to a hockey game, we barely had a chance to breathe. This week is looking much more laid back.

I checked out of reality for a few days to finally read the last Harry Potter. Man. I'm so sad those books are finished. I really enjoyed reading them.

And in case anyone forgot - happy birthday, Mom! Here's a page I did about you that was in the DW 2007 Calendar. :-)

Pre-Halloween fun.

Hi again! No, don't unplug your computer. This is really a new post, within a week or so of the last one. :-)

The kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes for the school Halloween party on Friday night. Here they are, in all their Star Wars glory. Quinners was a huge hit at the party - lots of "oh, how cute is she?!"

Happy Halloween to all of you!

Princess Leia Lessinger

It has been brought to my attention that I need to update my blog. Consider it updated. :-)





I only have pictures of Quinn's costume so far ... hopefully I can snap a shot of Noah (as Obi-Wan Kenobi) and G (as Yoda) in the daylight tomorrow.

PS: I made the dress - made my own pattern and sewed it up. Impressed?

PPS: I also made the buns. But I'm sure you figured that out. Ha! I got the idea from this Etsy shop.

September is here ... and almost gone.

Where did it go??? We have been crazy busy. First, I worked at the Mall of America for a scrapbook show in mid-September. Then I went to Las Vegas for Memory Trends last week. I actually flew out of SoDak because I drove the kids over to Grandma & Grandpa's house. Well, Griffin and Quinn went for a visit. Poor Noah had school and had to stay home with Dad. He did get to go to class when Bob taught on Wednesday night, so that part was pretty fun.

The trip to Vegas was awesome from a "get to visit with friends" standpoint. Jenn Bertsch, Leslie Lightfoot, Becky Novacek, Kelli Crowe, Tracy Kyle ... what a cool bunch of girls. The show itself was teeny tiny and very slow. I worked in the Autumn Leaves booth, like I usually do, and also walked around with my "Scrapbooks Etc." hat on for a bit to make a list of favorite products. There was some cool stuff there, even though the show was so small.

Flying home on Thursday was horrid. I called Bob from the airport as I went through security, and he said they were heading to the basement because of tornado warnings. Yikes. My flight was delayed but we eventually got into the Cities. It was a bumpy bumpy ride. You know it was a rough flight when a huge plane is bouncing around. Everyone clapped when the pilot finally got us on the ground. The bad news is that I flew into the concourse furthest away from where I needed to be to catch my connection to SoDak ... and I had less than 20 minutes to get to my boarding area. I ran. Literally. Kicked off my heels (I was still dressed for working the show) and RAN. I am seriously out of shape. And when I got there ... the pilot was standing at the gate desk and said we didn't have a gate agent. And that the flight was delayed (despite the fact it showed as "on time" on the displays). ARGH. So we waited and waited, and finally left the Cities about 40 minutes late or so.

As I was trying to get to SoDak, Ray and Laura G. were trying to get to our house in MN. They were delayed as well, and finally got into the airport late. They rented a car and made it to our house around 2 am. I made it to my parent's around midnight. And of course, I had to kiss G and wake up Quinners to cuddle her. They were in the bedroom across the hall from my parents (both in the same room). Since I am not the quietest person, I figured my parents heard me come in. Especially since I tripped over a pair of shoes in front of the door and nearly wiped out. But I guess not, because after I went to bed (about an hour later!), Mom got up and was worried. She even tried to call my cell ... before realizing I was already in the house. Why didn't they sleep like that when I was in high school? ;-)

Friday morning, the kids and I drove back to MN. We hung out with Ray and Laura, and then went to Valley Fair on Saturday. If you don't personally know Noah, this story will not seem impressive. But if you do, you better make sure you are sitting down. He went on the Power Tower. It's like a 275 foot drop. We went together, and he was braver than me ... I got to the top and started freaking out, especially because they held us up there for a bit. Noah was looking around and enjoying the view. Of course, I enjoyed the drop down to the bottom, and he didn't like that part so much. But can you believe it? The Power Towers? My 6 year old? WOW!!

Griffin didn't like the rides at first, but he eventually started to get into it. We let the kids pick their favorite to ride again one more time before we left. Noah picked the Tilt-A-Whirl. G picked "the cows." Which in G-ese means the merry go round. :-)

So that was the not-so-short synopsis of what we have been doing. Bob is still teaching his class. I am going in for an interview to teach a class at a local business school - not sure what will happen with that, but I can't refuse an adventure. :-) The kids are good and fun and all that wonderful stuff. :-) Here are a few pictures.



Super cute butterfly jammies from Old Navy (and supercute little Quinners). She's teething. She's had the 2 bottom teeth forever, but now the top 4 teeth are coming.



G, in the pink sunglasses he found outside (they belong to the neighbor girl). Goofball.

Sweater weather?

No, not really. It was 70 degrees here today. But I finished up this little sweater for Quinn so I needed to take a picture, of course. Here it is - the Baby Hoodie by Blue Sky Alpacas . I used Classic Elite Waterlily ... lovely yarn. I don't know if it is going to be baby friendly or not, but I couldn't resist the colors. Besides, I bought it on the way to SoDak, when I realized I had forgotten the pattern for my bonsai tunic and had 7 hours of riding in a van with nothing to entertain me. Total impulse purchase. Griffin saw it and said, "Mommy, Quinners wear yarn shirt?" - how cute is that?



Other than that, we are gearing up for school. Noah and I did his school supply shopping over the weekend. He is quite excited, although he's concerned that the 1st grade room is smaller than the kindergarten room and therefore not as good.

I've been putting finishing touches on the powerpoint document for the online scrapbooking class I'm teaching at Scrapafaire. This time I'm teaching a class on design. Here's a peek at one of the layouts I'll be using to illustrate the concepts.



In other news, we are 95% sure that Bob will be teaching his first ever university class this fall. You'd think we'd be 100% sure, since the class starts next week. We'll know for sure by then. Ha! Anyway, he had a chance to teach last year, but it fell through at the last minute. He's hopeful that this time it will happen. The class is about information technology. Bob has always wanted to teach, and he's good with people, so I think this is going to be a great experience for him.

Table and chairs for 5, please.

I have a dining room table and six chairs! Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

Quinn also has a special spot now. We bought a "space-saver" high chair. Saving space wasn't necessarily the priority, but we liked the idea of having her sit at the table with us. I think she approves. :-)

Gotta love a bonfire.

Our friends Ray and Laura are in town for a visit. Tonight we did a little bonfire in the backyard with the neighbors. Mmmm ... s'mores. I've been wanting s'mores since I got back from the lake last weekend but it has been windy.

Ray played football with Noah and Trev. Football is a loose term. It was more of a "let's pile on Ray" sort of game.


Note G and his lawnmower, completely ignoring them. G actually mows in pattern sometimes - he is quite fascinated with mowing and watches Bob from the window so he sees Daddy go back and forth. Little mimic.



Quinn scootched around and looked cute. As usual.



Plenty of s'mores were eaten by all, and now the kids are in bed. Yay!

Here's a couple of quick shots from last weekend at the lake.

Mark - getting some air.



Turner on the boat (where he likes to take a nap).



The kids watching tv as the night wore down.

July is here.

It is actually cool today - in the 60's this morning. A nice break for the heat!

As I type this, Quinn is licking the legs of the table and the boys are playing some sort of yelling/running/action figure game that involves lots of growling. We have also taught G to speak like a pirate. It is too funny.

Last week was busy. The kids and I went to stay with Mark and June at the lake for a few days. We had a blast. Mark and June are awesome hosts and I love hanging out with them. G literally did not wear a pair of shoes from Thursday until Saturday. Now that is a good trip. I took a ton of pictures but I need to look through them and pick some good ones to post. Maybe in the next day or so.

Then on Saturday it was Rock-fest in our town. Griffin LOVED the parade. He was a candy-seeking machine. Noah had fun too, especially when the Pepsi people gave him an entire 12-pack of pop. It was Africa-hot and humid but definitely worth it. We also stayed up late to watch fireworks (well, late for the kids - ha!). It is always a good show. The neighbor kids and our kids had glow sticks and ran around the backyards in the dark like little crazy people.


I am in scrapbooking crunch time right now. I am doing page samples for an upcoming trade show, and I am about half done. Here's a layout that went up at 2peas today ... I designed the paper in the background in one of my digital kits. I made the flowers for another kit - both kits can be found here and here.

Isn't she cute?

I know it might be a bit controversial to pierce the ears of babies, but I have been thinking about it since she was born. So yesterday (when June and Jackie were here for moral support), Miss Quinn got her ears pierced. I actually got cold feet a few minutes before it happened. Who wants to inflict pain on a baby? But she only cried for a minute, and so far it has been just fine. She eats and sleeps like normal, and it doesn't bother her when I clean them or turn them.

June said that she is just learning that beauty can be painful. Ha!

Summer is here.

The weather yesterday was fabulous, and we spent the better part of the day outside. I took a few (ha! when do I ever take a FEW??) pictures. Here's little miss Quinn in her polka dot hat.



Noah started t-ball last night. I have volleyball on Tuesdays, so I couldn't go. He was so excited when he got home ... told me all about it. Griffin managed to fall down the bleachers. Luckily, no broken bones or significant bruises.

Noah is officially done with kindergarten. Grandma Judy, Grandpa Terry, and Aunt Jackie came to his graduation ceremony. It was a nice little (short) presentation. Noah's teacher makes each kid a scrapbook. These things are pretty impressive. They have artwork, pictures, monthly summaries of class activities, and must be a TON of work. Very cool stuff. Bob was manning the camera and got some good shots of the graduation. The St. Cloud Times was there, too - the Rockville kids made the front page of the paper the next day. And so did Bob. :-) The photographer took a picture of Bob taking pictures. Bob thinks it is because we have a cool camera. Hee hee! You can see the pictures here: St. Cloud Times photos Click on the "next" button to scroll through.



And this kid ^^^^^^^ slept until 9:30 this morning. I need him to teach that skill to his little brother and sister. :-) Have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day!

I took some pictures of the kiddos on Friday. This one is my favorite - look how Quinn is touching G, that look on G's face, the way Noah is overseeing everything. You can see their personalities, each and every one!



And this is Quinn at 4 months. I might be biased, but I think she may be the most beautiful little girl EVER. :-)

A local photographer was doing free sittings for photo shoots for moms on Friday and Saturday this week. I had stuck a flyer in my diaper bag but forgot about it, so when I called on Thursday there weren't any spots. But luck was on my side - she called on Friday morning about 10:30 and said she had a cancellation for that afternoon at 2:00. So I scrambled around the house to find something remotely matching for me and the 3 kids to wear, got myself ready, got them ready, and raced out the door. The funniest part? We ended up running to JCPenney (the photo shoot was set up in a temporary location at the mall) and buying white shirts for me, Noah, and G. Quinn wore her little white/lemon Easter dress. I get to see the proofs next week. It was chaotic but a little fun, and I hope there are some good pictures. :-)

Have a happy mother's day weekend!

NSD

Yesterday was NSD (National Scrapbooking Day - and no, I'm not making that up). I didn't actually scrapbook, but I was part of the festivities at twopeasinabucket.com. Jackie Bonette and I hosted an online chat at 3 pm. We had prized to give away for different things. One of the challenges we posted was to show a picture of your letter sticker stash. So here is my picture, with a model for a sense of scale. :-) My model also liked to chew on the letter stickers. Lucky for me I have plenty. Ha!

I also wanted to mention that BHG Scrapbooks Etc is part of a fundraiser for breast cancer research. You can check it out at scrappink.com. Definitely a good cause.

Random photos of the little ones.

Here is Quinn, demonstrating her "deer in the headlights" look.

And here is G, eating "chiptsths." The phonetic spelling of the way he says it is not possible with the alphabet as we know it. But it involves lots of "th" and "sh" and possible a "f" noise at the end of the word "chips." He is eating cheddar and sour cream chips in this picture. But I don't think the flavor matters much. He loves ALL chips. And he frequently asks for them for breakfast (no, I don't let him have chips for breakfast but some morning it could happen).

And here is our big boy, reading. He can read pretty well. This page is one I did for the creating garden at twopeasinabucket.com.

Last but not least, here is my latest pair of socks. I know, I know... you are all waiting anxiously to see what I am knitting. But hey - it is my blog, right? Hee hee!

Have a great weekend!

Miss Quinn's room ...

is getting closer to being completed. It is now painted. And what a saga that was! Marcy came to help me, but our plans were totally thrown out of whack by problem after problem. First, the old wallpaper border was a HUGE pain to get off. I have no idea what the issue was, since we put it up the "right" way because we knew it would eventually come down. Next, the orange paint took forever to dry. We painted the first coat on Saturday and finished around 6 pm. We figured we could recoat around 10 pm. Um, no. At 10 pm it was still tacky. And at 9 am on Sunday it was still tacky. I was about ready to panic. Thankfully, the paint eventually dried. The paint department at Home Depot told me that orange and red take longer to dry because of the colorant. That would have been a handy little tidbit of information to have before I started this project and decided to paint 3 walls orange, and red/orange/yellow/brown squares on the other wall. :-) Then there was the issue of getting the orange to cover evenly. I painted those 3 walls at least 3 times with orange. It was a project. But I think the end result was worth it - I LOVE the grid. I am now on the prowl for the changing table or dresser, whichever I can find that I like. And I still need to make the curtains. But it's coming along.


When I'm not painting (HA!) I've discovered a new love. I knit socks. Yes, socks. The sad thing is that I'm off season ... can't wear socks when it is so nice outside! The kids and I have been spending a lot of time out in the fresh air. Griffin can't bear to be inside ... he stands and the patio door, pounding and yelling "I go swing! I go swing!" until someone takes pity on him.

One more picture. I bought a "new" swing for Quinn off ebay. So the old swing is in the toy room, waiting to be moved into the basement. Last week, I was in the living room with Quinn and the boys were playing in the toy room. Noah came and said, "Mom. Come here. You have to see this." And he was right. I rounded the corner of my scrapbook island and saw my little goof. Talk about your kodak moments, eh? :-) I'm pretty sure he exceeds the weight limit, but since it isn't far to crash I figure I'll let him have his fun.