That's a Snowball?

So, we finally get a wee bit of snowfall during the day while the kids are at school. Big, heavy flakes dropped from the sky. When it was over, we received MAYBE 1" of snow. With that in mind, tell me how my kids created these snowballs?

Weekend in Lexington

So, I just finished up my bi-annual weekend in Lexington cropping away and preserving my memories in the kids' albums. The nice along weekend usually begins on Thursday mid-day. Unfortunately, I had to attend a meeting, so I didn't end up leaving town until around 4ish...so I arrived in time for wine & appetizers. I think all "get-a-way" weekends should begin this way. I quickly unloaded my stuff, claimed my favorite bed (as we all typically sleep in the same arrangements), tossed my supplies at my spot realizing I left all my paper & memorability at home, then headed over to the kitchen to have a drink of whatever was being poured. After a couple of quick calls, my paper tote was going to arrive via Yvonne the next day. So I settled into my chair, keeping my glass & others full as Kathy & Joanne made artichoke dip & stuffed mushrooms. Needless to say, we didn't need to heat any more appetizers...new plan...save those for Sunday lunch. So after about 2 hours, a couple bottles of wine, and many mushrooms later, it was time to head back to the cropping area to see what I can do on my albums. Kathy graciously offered the use of her paper until mine arrived. So, I went to work.

When packing up on Sunday, I determined over the course of the weekend, we put together a plan for Emily (my daughter--no she wasn't there) for her organization, received the cure-all for teenage acne, determined it was okay to drink wine at lunch time if we didn't have a Bloody Mary at the beginning of the day, got Kathy's iPod working so were could listen to more than the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Johnny Mathis, Journey, Barry Manilow, & the soundtrack from Bridget Jones #2...after we got it working, Kathy received the download tutorial to add more songs via iTunes & cds, we proceeded to skip the other songs as we had listened to them 6 times, except for Barry...there is never a such thing as too much Barry. Other things from the weekend, I found out what song will be played at Joanne's funeral, that keeping a daily journal is a "MUST DO" for the interest for future generations, and NEVER download Photo Shop 7 from the internet as you have no instructions to follow and the online tutorials require subscription maintenance fees.....No, I am not the one using Photo Shop...I use Creative Memories digital photo line of products....but it was interesting seeing a "teeth whiting" enhancer and a "blue skies" enhancer tool...the question was "how do you use them?"

So in the end, after many bottles of wine, several Bloody Marys, and a Long Island Ice Tea or was it two, I cruised along utilizing 1 roll of Photo tape, 3 rolls of Tape Runner and completing all of 2007 in Andrew's book, and made it to Halloween 2007 for Emily, completing a total of 63 pages altogether...a new page completion record for me. Boy, I love those Power Palette as well as those late nights staying up until 2:00 a.m. I wonder if that is why I've needed mini-naps this week...hummm.

Now I return my attention to my digital album of Scotland (already on page 31) and then I'll start prepping for my next retreat in January where I hope to complete as much of 2008 as possible.

A Leafy Type of Day

So, here is what happens when the weather is nice, the breeze tumbles down a bunch of the leaves from your tree, and you have a little artist in the family.

Just a bummer for Richard who is on leaf duty....maybe a big wind will come tonight and blow it all into the neighbors....humm hope my neighbor isn't reading this :)

Halloween

So, imagine if you will, Halloween night...trick or treating hours between 6-8 pm for our town and we head out when it's still daylight for the first hour of trick or treating. On top of this when I walked out the door at 6 pm, the thermometer read 68 degrees. First Halloween in a LONG time that I wasn't bundled up wearing gloves.

This year the bobsy twins (Emily & Emma) decide to be Mimes. So for the past couple months, Emma's mom and I had been working to complete their outfits. We were very successful with finding needed attire...of course all at various stores. They didn't win the prize at school this year, but they had the best Mime costumes compared to others. Come to find out, there were 7 other girls dressed up as Mimes. I thought that was highly unusual until I asked them if they mentioned what they were going to be....of course they were telling people...hence the reason why there were 7 others.


Andrew got his wish this year and was the Evil Jester. The headpiece was still a bit big but with some cardboard and extra tying around the neck :), he was ready to go. Of course with the temperature being warmer than usual, the mask and headpiece were off before we made it to the 10th house. I told him next year, no masks....I have been carrying them for the past few years. I think he really wanted the Jester stick that went with the costume.



Of course the third member of the family, Cubbie, couldn't be left out. We took him T & Ting with us, which that isn't going to happen next year, and he had to have his own little costume too. So being the little piggy that he is, he was a Pig...and we called him Babe. He pleasantly marked his territory all over the neighborhood, who knew a 9 pound dog had that much liquid in him.