november it kit...

i know i always say this, but this kit was my favorite month ever!!!! as my brother said, the it kit is the schnizit. that means awesome, right? lol!!! i'm a little nervous repeating that since it's something my brother said. ;) this kit has a beautiful tag designed by denise and it's an it kit exclusive. i'm saving and hoarding mine, because i know what a few of next month's papers are and i know it will work so beautifully with them. but the projects the team did with the tag and the october papers are so gorgeous too! check them out here... (it kit gallery)

happy birthday, kelly!!!!!

hope your day was wonderful!!!

thank you becky!

becky posted on her blog about how she learned photography. i have read some of the same books she has and looked at a few online photography websites, but now i am totally hooked on ilovephotography.com. i'm already learning tons of things i didn't even know i needed to know. in a post in the just starting out forum an amazing photographer named cheryl jacobs wrote this:

- Never compare your journey with someone else's. It's a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never "arrive". No one ever does.

- Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons, and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacence.

i think that can be applied to so many things!

i don't know how i can do a photography post without a picture so i'll post this one of my sister-in-law and her family from grandpa k's wedding this weekend. i have some other ok shots from the wedding too, but this one was by far the best. it was a dark, rainy day so i really struggled. not to mention i just have A LOT to learn! i used mindy bush's actions and frame.

mr. wilson...

isn't he a cutie? he was such a good boy today! even though he had to spend an hour in the car before bagels he still sat like a good boy, eating becca's pickles, playing cars with kelly, sharing denise's ella's pretzels and giving loves to miley.

he's fascinated by little babies, and today he was giving gentle pats to a teeny baby boy at ella's preschool. which was much sweeter than the last time he saw him and tried to steal his binkie. ;)

wednesdays are hard on our schedule because by the time we get home from preschool and eat lunch it's 12:30 or 1:00 and we have to leave to get anna between 1:30 and 1:45. wilson was happy and it was a gorgeous fall day, so we decided to walk to get her. ella's feet were tired (as she says) so wilson walked 3/4 of the way to school. that's almost half a mile! when we got to school he was waving and saying ba-ba (bye-bye) to all of the kids.

we picked up "signs of autumn" on our walk home. wilson almost made it, but he fell asleep holding his stick in his hand. he's always so happy to go to in his crib when he's asleep. he usually lets out a sigh and lays spread eagle with his blankie on his cheek. when i go in to wake him up he always says, "oh!" and starts scrambling to grab his blankies and his binkie. so i have quite the load to carry downstairs!

after taking anna to ccd we stopped by the grocery store. he loves to pay - he always reaches for my wallet and gets out my card. he loves to hand it to the cashier and he waits to get it back. and then he usually tries to pay again. lol! thanks, sweetie! once is enough!

he loves to help me cook - he still yells out "COOK!" all of the time. tonight he didn't care to sit in his highchair to help cook, but he was hanging around my legs giving them random hugs and kisses from time to time. we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner (thanks for the idea, kelly!) and he ate a little bit of it! and a jar of baby food and some bread and butter. i'm SO amazed at how much he can put away. he eats more than ella!

speaking of ella, she has a bit of a cold and wilson and i had to run to walgreens during bathtime to pick up some benadryl. (i don't think it helps her cold all that much but it helps her sleep so that's good). all through walgreens he was giving everyone he saw big huge grins. i think he made almost everyone in the store smile. yep! i love him!

i love being able to blog to capture a little day in his life at this age. of course this will all go on a scrapbook page someday. when he's older and i can get a little scrapping in without worrying about him crawling up to dance on the table. ;)

(ps - his hair isn't really red! but the sun was hitting it in a weird way and it was exaggerated when i tried to edit the pictures on my laptop. all of my favorite mindy bush actions are on the upstairs computer and i had to blog downstairs since the cubs are on. lol!)

we'll be celebrating the wedding of kurt's dad louis to barb this weekend. congratulations to both of you! we are so happy for you!

it's also mimi's birthday on saturday (hint to john, chuck and andy. i hope you didn't forget!) i wish her a very happy birthday. (but she can't read my blog on her old computer.)

we'll be cheering on our hawkeyes and cubbies as well. it will be quite an exciting weekend i'm sure! hope you have a great one!

time for an update!

it's been a bit crazy around here! we had a nice weekend at home. anna has stopped sucking her thumb completely. it was all her own decision, and i think that made all the difference. i'm so proud of her! and it's such a GREAT thing! but of course, as always, it's still so hard to see her grow up just that much more. anyway! her reward was a webkin, so kurt took everyone to help her pick one out on saturday. the rest of the day was spent learning about the webkinz site and watching the cubs and the hawkeyes. at least the cubs are doing well!

sunday the girls and kurt went to church and the zoo and willsie and i had some good snuggling time. while watching george, of course. :) he is learning so many new words! he has started yelling, "grrls. grrrrrrrrrrrrls!" when his sisters aren't in sight. it's so cute! he loves them so much! we're not going to talk about what happened sunday night. i'm afraid i've lost all hope for my bears.

monday was the craziest of the days! wilson and i had a ton of errands to run during preschool. so then he was all wound up and didn't want to nap. after school all of the neighbors were so excited about the webkinz, and it was hot and humid and they just wanted to play inside. so i said ok. usually they are so good! and really they were yesterday too. but there was a lot of running and chaos and an overflowing toilet. during it all i was also trying to finish up my page for the stand up and scrap challenge and fix dinner and bake cookies. hee! we had a bit of a more relaxing day today. other than the security system people being here for a few hours upgrading our system. normally that wouldn't be so exciting, but of course wilson wanted to "help." hee! ella got to have a few minutes jumping on the neighor's trampoline by herself during wilson's naptime. it was a little chilly this afternoon so i think she thought her little pink scarf would keep her warm. lol!

IT's here!

the october it kit! here are my projects. be sure to check out the gallery - everyone's projects are amazing!

troy bolton jr.

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

have you ever seen that commercial when the mom is shopping for school supplies and that song is playing in the background? ella starts school tomorrow! woohoo! we have enjoyed some really special one on one times these past few weeks while anna's been in school. but she is ready to play with someone other than boring ol' mom for a change. lol! and wilson and i are looking forward to getting a big coffee (well NOT for wilson!) and having some bonding time over grocery shopping, bagel wednesdays, and maybe a few friday morning trips to von maur. :) now i should say i am a bit worried that all will not go as planned since wilson HATES shopping. and he especially hates von maur! i'm not sure how that can be - how can anyone not like von maur?! but i'm sure we'll love our time just the two of us.

another reason why this is such a fun time - the hawkeyes, bears and cubbies are all playing at the same time. and the cubs are actually still in it! although they haven't been doing so hot lately. and well da bears weren't so hot today either. but the hawkeyes are 2-0! and it definitely feels like fall football weather is here to stay. i love it!

it's also flea market season! well at least a few of my favorites are this month. i had to miss out on the venice flea market this weekend. i was so disappointed! but becky, kelly and i got to hit a great estate sale on friday and i bought an adorable pink table and chairs for the girls. i can't wait for the girls to see it - they are going to flip! it will work perfectly for tea parties and disney princess monopoly. the chairs are a much more accommodating size for me and kurt, and even anna who is growing out of the little one. in october my mom and i usually go to the what cheer flea market in iowa. it's held 3 times a year, but we haven't gotten to go in a long time. i just love going shopping to find bargains and treasures. but mostly i love junking so much for the experience. i love getting to spend time my friends and my mom. i love seeing their faces light up when they've found the perfect thing. i'm always so inspired by their ideas and insight. i had such a great time with kelly and becky on friday - thanks, girls!

even though it's still early, the girls are already looking forward to halloween. so far we've decided anna is going to be a cowgirl (since our neighbors gave us some adorable boots they have outgrown). ella says she's going to wear her stephanie from lazy town outfit again. wouldn't that be great to not have to buy a new costume?! we'll see, though. something tells me that might change a few 100 times. ;) wilson got the monkey costume from old navy last week, so he will be going as george. i need to do a page about wilson and his love of george. i think when i do i'll use for inspiration this adorable one that denise did about her curious sam. i love it! wilson comes down in the morning pointing to the tv and saying "george." and when george is over he finds his curious george book and carries it everywhere. i'm a little afraid george is giving wilson way too many ideas! but it's so sweet to see how excited he gets every time he catches a glimpse of his favorite little monkey. so when i saw that monkey suit from old navy i knew wilson had to have it. he even has a little "nanana" in his pocket. how cute is that? :)

ps - i hate posting without a picture but i haven't done any editing lately. maybe i'll get a chance to do some tonight. although it's not likely - wilson's teething has been really bad this week. he's been up for at least an hour for all but two nights since the friday before last. so 7 nights without sleep. keep your fingers crossed that those things pop through and we can all get back to normal!

pps - as i linked to denise's blog i forgot i wanted to mention that she has opened and etsy shop. she does the most beautiful watercolor paintings and has used them on some tags and cards. check them out here: Denise L designs.

blue manchu...

this little monkey man LOVES popsicles and bananas and anything that is super dirty and messy. and lately he's into trying to climb onto anything he possibly can. including the coffee table, the desk in the kitchen and the kitchen table. he's too much! and as i get him down from the table he usually gives me big hugs and loves. yep. i'm in trouble!

i've been tagged...

becky tagged me - so here are 8 random facts about me...

1. i secretly love most of the disney channel movies the girls are so into now: high school musical, the princess diaries, even (or especially) the made for tv ones like ice princess and right on track. and oh! princess diaries 2 (on now) was written by shonda rhimes! of grey's! so it can't be all bad, right? :D and speaking of really bad movies i love, the cutting edge is on that list too. :) i do love a few good movies too!
*eta - matilda is on tonight and the sound of music is on all labor day weekend. woohoo! :D

2. i love to read even more than watching movies. this summer i discovered goodreads.com. i haven't gotten to read nearly as much as i've wanted to, but i love getting to see what others like.

3. my first car was a 1969 camaro that has been in our family since it was new. i could beat everyone off the line at the red lights back then, except for the other guy in school who also drove a '69 camaro. i think he only beat me because his was an ss. ;)

4. in college i lived with 3 guys. but not like that! i was an electrical engineering student, and there were only 3 girls in my class, and one was married. we tried to have one of the other ones as a roommate for 1 year, but it ended badly. my roommates were great guys - very protective of me, almost as much as my 3 brothers are. we had TONS of fun too! :D

5. i still have 3 more? :P what else?... hee! well i'll default to the one everyone pretty much knows. i HATE birds!!! that's really on my mind today, because the zoo aviary has some new really pretty HUGE pink ones that ella just HAD to go in and see. half of those pink birds were perched on the exit doorway and the other ones were swooping at us! ok - well probably not swooping at us, but i was still freaked. lol! i think i hid my fear pretty well from the kids, but i did kind of race out the door fast. :)

6. back to tv. :) i watch soap operas. hee! my grandma and mom have always followed all of the shows on cbs. i am only keeping up with the young and the restless right now - they do take up a lot of time! it's fun to at least be able to talk about that one with my mom. i can usually imagine what gram would be thinking as i watch.

7. i can't cook. at all. i'm trying to learn, and i am finally learning how to cook a few rachel ray recipes, but for every one i succeed at i think i have at least 3 goofs. thank goodness for take out! :D

8. i was a ballerina. hee! i studied ballet, tap and jazz until i graduated from high school. i'm so excited that anna is going to start ballet and tap this year! i think there are so many benefits. I learned so much about discipline, confidence and grace from ballet. Not that I have that much grace, but imagine how much worse I'd be!

ok, so now i get to tag other people, right? ok! i tag:

kelly p

denise

becca

bridgette

tall anna

gabby

( you're all welcome! ;) )

just in case...

you've been wondering what ella's been up to while anna's at school.
she didn't know anyone was watching.
this concert when on for at least 15 or 20 minutes.
it was quite the song too!
i love her. :D

i took these pictures through our dirty window with the screen on.
so some of them are pretty grainy and dirty.
they were awful sooc, but i used one of mindy bush's actions on them.
and what a HUGE difference!
they just make editing pictures so much faster and easier.
i love her photo borders too!

first day of school...

you can tell anna was SO much more relaxed this year, can't you?! what a difference a year makes! i am SO proud of her!

play it forward...

it's the 15th, which means the it kit studio has posted next month's kit! i had SO much fun with IT again this month! the stamp designed by denise is SO versatile! it breaks into 3 pieces too. i love that! i love how she used it in combination with the journaling stamp from the august kit on her project here. there are so many amazing projects in the gallery. check it out! here are the projects i made with the kit. i had a lot of fun with the hambly transparency and the little labels. it was hard to photograph, though! all of the little buttons and round paper pieces on the calendar are attached to magnets so everything can be moved around and changed. i got a little button magnet happy! before long our whole fridge will be covered with button magnets. lol! a little psa if you ever want to make your own magnets -- buy the ones in the craft area at walmart. there are 2 different packs that i found work really well. they are pre-cut as circles and are in 3/4" and 1/2" sizes. i'm sure there are other good places to buy magnets than just walmart, but the magnets on the roll that you cut off and the magnets by the sheet from hobby lobby did not hold well at all for me. hee! ok! i think that's all! thanks, kelly, for another amazing kit! :D

hellooooooo....

ella is standing right next to me (she hasn't been much more than a few feet from me for the whole week). and she looked up at me and said, "hellloooooooo! i'm boooored!" yep. it's definitely time for school to start. 4 more days for anna. but e still has a whole month of summer left. heeeelp! :D

lots of random stuff...

2007-06-30-2344-34

2007-07-14-2150-18

this summer has been a whirlwind. i can't believe we only have 2 weeks left! our weekends have been packed with family visits and lots of fun. in the past month we've been to charles city, ankeny, and i got to go to chicago last weekend. i have a lot of fun pictures to post from charles city and ankeny, but i haven't been organized enough to sort through them all yet. so here are just a few, but maybe more to come soon.

we had such a great time in charles city! kurt's sister and her family from washington state came, as well as his two sisters and families from des moines. 7 kids and 7 adults in one house - and 2 teenagers and 2 adults there but staying in another. at least we weren't outnumbered! :) we ate lots of great food - kurt's brother in law is a chef and i'm afraid he gets stuck with all of the cooking when we get together. he let anna help him make creme broulet (sp?). she's still talking about it! charles city is such a quaint, neat little town. they have a HUGE july 4th celebration. we didn't make it to much of that, but we did sparklers. we also chased lightning bugs, played mini golf and did the slip n slide. we also enjoyed a lot of toga's special jungle juice (what did we call that again?). some of us enjoyed it more than others (steve!). :D

we also were in town for ankeny's summerfest. uncle john and aunt tall were there and we had a great time then too! we went to the parade, the carnival, fed the ducks, and enjoyed our iowa / grimes peaches and cream sweet corn. we went to the mall and got to have chick fil a too. we don't have one of those in omaha and the girls really miss it. lol! we also just enjoyed hanging out at mimi and papa's and getting to play.

last weekend i got to go to chicago for the craft and hobby assocation's summer show. kelly brought a few of us it kit girls and we got to help her pick out stuff for her kits. we had SO much fun! thanks SOOO much again, kelly, for taking us with you! the booths were full of gorgeous layouts and projects - so much inspiration there. and seeing all of the latest products all in one place - it was overwhelming and so fun at the same time. it was so great to get to meet people face to face that i know online and friends of friends. except i was sooooo sad that i gave kp the wrong cell phone number! :( i am just a mess! we'll meet next time for sure!!!

this weekend was pretty quiet. i finished up the last harry potter and we did some school shopping. i spent quite a bit of time on this fun website - goodreads. now i have a huge list of books i want to read. i'm not sure my family will be very excited about that - i tend to get really engrossed and they get neglected. lol!

ok - now that i've written a book of my own! lol! have a great week!

jdrf

as many of you know, my dear friend becca NEEDS a cure for diabetes. she does amazing work for this cause. this year i get to participate with her during the walk for the cure. here is a letter i'll be sending out to a few of you. if you can, please help by clicking on the link and donating. thank you!!! here is the letter:

Greetings!

I'm writing to you to ask for your support in a very special cause.

This year, I'll be taking part in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes along with a half-million other walkers across the country. Our goal: To raise $90 million to help fund research for a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications.

Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating, often deadly disease that affects millions of people--a large and growing percentage of them children.

Many people think type 1 diabetes can be controlled by insulin. While insulin does keep people with type 1 diabetes alive, it is NOT a cure. Aside from the daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes, there are many severe, often fatal, complications caused by the disease.

That's the bad news... and yes, it's pretty bad.

The good news, though, is that a cure for type 1 diabetes is within reach. In fact, JDRF funding and leadership is associated with most major scientific breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes research to date. And JDRF funds a major portion of all type 1 diabetes research worldwide, more than any other charity.

I'm writing to ask for your support because now more than ever, EACH of us can be a part of bringing about a cure. Each of us can make a real difference

Won't you please give to JDRF as generously as you're able?

Together, we can make the cure a reality.

Thank you,

Holly Koenigsfeld

Please visit my Walk Web page if you would like to donate online or see how close I am to reaching my personal goal:

http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=86714219

poor ella!

it was HOT today! and yesterday. and both girls were exhausted from being out in it. so i'm thinking that was a little bit of the reason behind this story. but it could just be ella's amazing imagination. the girls were playing with the neighbor kids in the backyard. they had hoses going and there were little mud puddles everywhere. ella came running into the house in frantic tears. i was sure she had slipped and fallen. but then she started telling me that she thought her friends and anna were really turning into frogs. and she was hysterical and SO serious! she told me they all had eaten frog eggs and then crawled into a hole in the mud. and when they came out their feet were covered in mud and they were already hopping. and she didn't think anything would be able to change them back. of course the big kids were just playing a game, and the frog eggs were just candy. but poor ella was terrified. it took me almost 20 minutes to convince her that they really weren't frogs and that everyone would be ok. bless her heart! even after i thought she was convinced i saw her standing by the window and watching them just to be sure. i felt so bad that she was so upset. but at the same time i was amazed and proud. because if her imagination would allow her to believe that someone could turn into a frog for real, i wonder what other amazing possibilties are floating around in there.

the august IT kit...

is for sale starting right now!!! everything in the kit is SO gorgeous! click here to check IT out!

happy birthday wilson!!!

i can't believe he's already one!!! here are some unedited pictures of him eating his cake. he wasn't too sure about it at first so his sisters had to show him how to do it. he dug right in after that! lol!

happy fourth!

hope you all had a great one! we grilled iowa chops for dinner and had this wonderful dessert - red, white and blueberry trifle. i somehow messed it up and had really runny filling, so i added another brick of cream cheese and a little more sugar. it turned out ok! my cooking is getting better - at least now when i mess up i know better ways to fix it. lol! tonight i'm attempting chicken tenders for the second time. the first time set off smoke alarms. so keep your fingers crossed for me. lol!



after dinner we did sparklers, snakes and smoke bombs. and watched as our neighbor boys lit off lots of big loud fireworks. anna LOVED it! she did a lot more sparklers than ella, but i didn't manage to get a picture of her because she wouldn't stand in one place long enough. she was so excited. ella did much better this year than last. she's still pretty afraid of the loud booms, though. it looked like a war zone in our street when they were all done. and amazingly wilson slept through the whole thing!

happy birthday ella!!!

i'm a few days late - it was july 1. we were at grandpa k's for the weekend. aunt lisa, aunt debbie and uncles cory and toga helped throw together a great party! she LOVED all of her presents and of course her barbie cake. everytime she opened a present she gasped with excitement. she is so cute! i can't believe she's already 4. she's growing up soooo fast!!!

chasing fireflies...

friday night we let the girls stay up late for a "special treat" (lol!) to catch fireflies. we had so much fun! as i'm sure you can tell, ella was a tad freaked. when one touched her she shrieked so loudly! we all were laughing so hard. anna wasn't a bit afraid, though. she kept them in the jar next to her bed for a night and fed them grass. it really took me back to the days of being a kid. we let them go tonight. but they can't wait to go out and get more. :)

eta: candi asked about how i managed to get this picture -
i took it with my rebel on manual with my 50 mm 1.8 lens (i wish i had the 1.4 - especially for this!)
the iso was 1600, the fstop was 1.8, and the shutter speed was 1/40. that's why it's quite a bit blurry. well and the girls are blurry because only the lid of the jar was picking up enough light to be able to get the camera to click into focus. i tried manual focus on a few pictures. that didn't work so well with my moving subjects! lol! a tripod would have been good - but there was that moving subjects problem with that too. ;) i took a TON of pictures but only managed to get a few with the fireflies lights actually glowing. i am glad i got lucky on a few! :) ooh - i also shoot in raw. that way i was able to more easily adjust the exposure after the picture was taken. straight out of the camera it was really dark. i also adjusted the levels and the brightness and contrast. i used neat image to remove some of the grain. it was quite a bit grainy, though, so a lot is still there.

the play IT forward july IT kit...

is SOOO fun! and gorgeous! this is the project i made with IT. becky novacek posted on her blog about keeping a gratitude journal. i just think it's a wonderful idea! the july IT kit also includes custom word stamps that are the CUTEST font and they fit perfectly into the 7 gypsies oval scroll stamp. i love them! i think i'll just post the cover here. the rest is in the IT kit gallery and also in my 2 peas gallery if you want to check it out. the IT kit gallery is filled with other AMAZING projects and pages!!! be sure to check IT out! :)

walnut!!!

the antique show in walnut, iowa was today. i met mimi there and we shopped until we dropped! it was HOT and crowded, but we had SO much fun!!! we got there right around 8. we made a beeline to our new favorite vendor - thanks to becky for reminding us about her. we sat and watched the vendors unload the truck. people were snatching things up as they came off! we ate lunch right across the street from their booth, and there weren't a lot of things left at all! in fact after lunch we felt like a lot of the booths were picked over. but we were sooo tired and hot that maybe our opinions were skewed. it was a FUN day for sure!!!

first popsicle...

his expression seemed to say he wasn't too sure about it, but he sure snarfed it down! :)

fred astaire in training?

a willsie funny...

this story is from kurt. as he was putting wilson to bed tonight wilson grabbed his binkie out of his mouth, threw it as hard as he could - hard enough to hit the wall across the room, laughed, waved, and said, "bye, bye." stinker!!! kurt had to put his face in wilson's blanket to hide his laughter. wilson just said his first really clear bye, bye today. guess he had to practice. lol!

pictures....

i just learned how to use screen and soft light overlays on my pictures in photoshop. (yes, i'm behind the times. hee!) i've had a ball playing with the ones i took today. i swear i did not pose that picture of wilson reading kurt's espn magazine. he looked at country living first. now that would have been a picture! lol! anna took the one of wilson and i. she's getting good!!!

a few funnies from today

anna was ready for dinner early tonight and kurt is late as usual, so she was going on about how she was staaaaaaaarving (i did feed her a HUGE lunch and a snack!). ella came along and started offering to feed her - only with wilson's baby food. lol! ella was giving her the options - pears, bananas, chicken and rice, and anna would reply back, "no thank you, madamoiselle." those two are tooooo much! they have been playing with the neighbors, outside for the most part, for the whole week. i am glad they are having so much fun. but sometimes wilson and i get lonely without them! :( we are enjoying each other a lot, though. when we aren't interrupted by them coming in and out 50 times. i can hear my mom's voice when i yell at them, "in or out!" and "don't slam the door!" lol!

one more...

and apparently rosadita's dad lets HER sleep with her backpack on.

tonight's ella comment...

kurt was trying to help her pick up the pace and head up to bed and she said,
"you are NOT the boss!!! the real boss is God and Jesus and Santa!"
well...she has a point.
lol!!!!!

look out world...

wilson's walking! he took his first steps last week and he's up to 6 or 7 now. i'm sure it won't be long until he's off and running!