Christopher Always CRACKS Me Up!

I hope I did it justice, lol!! I'm going to hide all the journaling (see HERE) behind the page. I didn't want to detract from the photo;)

Anyway, Jen Wilson has "assignments" to go along with her new Academy line of products. The biology assignment was to scrapbook a layout about change or growth (well, if you use your imagination, he's learning about anatomy, heehee) and to turn a picture into a scientific diagram. In case you cannot read the tiny print coming out from the diagram: "future proctologist?" (Fonda's idea), "the most fabulous grin," "gluteal cleft: the featured area of anatomy"

Many thanks to all who contributed all the fabulous title ideas, for without you, this layout would suck (haha!)
Jen Wilson:
Academy: Biology paper
Being "Be yourself" was the model by which I made, from scratch using various JW solids (academy, spoon-dipped, laundry line), my "This Butt's for you"
Delighted buttons and circular word art
Picknics admit one: ticket
Creative Fortune jewels circle
500ml.org frames and brushes: frame brush
butterbrotpapier and Chatterbox chippy circles fonts
Ariadna Wiczling (Scrap Girls) date stamp

TFL!:)

This is What I Deal with...

Disclaimer: I will freely admit that when I saw this picture that Jeff took while we were on vacation in the Twin Cities a couple weeks ago, I came closer to PIMPing than ever before, I was laughing so hard.

Description: The Children's Museum in St. Paul is wonderful! This was one of the last areas we visited, and is set up as a town with post office, grocery store, restaurant, bus station, etc...oh, and a doctor's office. Well the crutches were taken by a girl and her mother, who proceeded to parade around on them (nostalgia here...I acquired somebody's old crutches as a child and had ENDLESS fun walking around with them. In the days before PC, I wrapped my arms and a leg with ACE wraps and went around on crutches for Halloween. I knew even then I wanted to be something medical when I grew up.) So the only enticing thing left in the doctor's office were 2 dolls. Christopher proceeded to disrobe them and was absolutely delighted to poke at their "bottoms" (Miss Delphine at preschool says we say bottom, not butt...he took that one good message to absolute heart and NEVER says butt unless he's with a certain friend...who just happens to be the reason why Miss Delphine had to say this to begin with two years ago!) LOOK, look at the baby's bottom....LOOK, LOOK! This is the most fabulous grin he's had on his face in a photo for at least 2-3 YEARS!!!! (What is it with a scrapbooker's child not liking to have his picture taken? Is this some special curse?)

Request: If I'm going to scrapbook this one, I need ideas from those way more creative than me...bring it on! Oh, and I'm thinking this pic DEFINITELY makes an appearance at his high school graduation and wedding *evil laughter*

Raucous Laughter

Michael's Raucous Laughter
Disclaimer: Movie taken with a cell phone (thanks Jeff!) at Target. Michael is pretty much wetting himself laughing hard when Jeff puts the paci in the doll's mouth and it comes popping back out again! (Meanwhile, Christopher is checking out the LEGOs on the opposite side of the aisle)...yes, dolls and LEGOs are apparently in the same aisle at our Ames Target, go figure. Michael likes it!

Feed the Cute Little Doggie

This one's for the reader's of Janet's blog:) Check out her post on "The Look". This is also in honor of Uno, the Westminster top dog of the year! (The first beagle to do so!) Anyway, our video was shot by DH in 2001.

Our Very Own Captain Underpants

Disclaimer: I asked Christopher if he wanted me to scrapbook these photos since he's in his underwear, and he was excited for me to do so. I plan to pull out that fact when he is a disgruntled teen wondering why the HE** I scrapped this:)

This was a from scratch layout by me for a challenge on the Jessica Sprague class...
Journaling: We’ve never read Captain underpants, but
I think Christopher certainly qualifies here
for a junior sidekick.
Whoever thought only girls have
the market on fashion sense should take a
closer peek: jeans on the head
fire cape (compliments Grandma Carol), &
underwear to complete the ensemble.

Supplies: Sweetshoppedesigns.com Carnival kit (exclusive to Now We're Rocking class members), and #6 from Jessica's 100 list (See http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/hundreds-of-scrapbooking-ideas/ ). The fire is a standard (I think) custom shape with a gradient...any tips on how to make it better would be most appreciated!:)



Again, a challenge for Jessica's class...the cover and journaling pages were ready-made by Jessica...all I had to do was add my journaling, I added a couple photos to the front cover (hers was bare), and assembled the pages. I don't have her permission to share the link for the album pieces and instructions, but I know it originally was a freebie over at CK (I think)...comment on her blog at http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/ if you are interested and we'll see if she's still distributing it to non-class members.

I called this 3 pages for my one-a-day goal for January:) It took quite a while to figure out which pictures to print, add titles to a couple photos, turn a couple sepia (and recolor parts of one photo), and assemble the whole thing.

One more photo to go tomorrow and I'm at 31 for the month!:)

TFL,
Cheri

Henry Doorly Zoo

In September, we went to The Henry Doorly Zoo with my parents and had a wonderful time. Some of you have seen the following info before, and if so, just skip it:

We spent the weekend in Atlantic and Omaha. Growing up, one of our summer "vacation" items was going to the Henry Doorly Zoo. We took Christopher 2 years ago, and went back with my parents this weekend. We had a great time and actually had less than 1/2 the whining we had last time, though we had one more child (tried to convince Jeff that if we had a third, there'd be even less whining, but he wasn't convinced...hm...)

Anyway, I have to share the one absolutely disgusting revolting horrible thing that happened that still gives me the heeby geebies (sp?)...this'd be better in person, but I really can't wait to tell it: So it was "Coca Cola Days" in Atlantic, which is big-time entertainment in a smallish town, so the Super8 (ie the decent) motel was full, so we were stuck at the Hawkeye, a locally run, fairly clean but rather run-down establishment. When we visit my parents, Christopher usually stays with my parents and Jeff, Michael, and I stay in a hotel b/c my parents just don't have the room for us all.

Anyway, we get to the hotel, unpack, and lay down with most of the lights off to convince M to go to sleep...and I feel like my back is slightly damp. Well I know I'm not sweating, so I get up to investigate. To the touch, the bed really isn't damp, but I know what I felt. Jeff says he feels fine, but I have the presence of mind to sniff my nightshirt...OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSS!! It's URINE!!!!!!! Heebie geebies, rip the shirt off, run to the shower!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, solutions: The Hawkeye office is closed for the night; we cannot ask for a different room. We cannot invade my parents, b/c we don't want to disturb C...if he doesn't have enough sleep, he'll be a nightmare at the zoo (like he was 2 years ago when he didn't sleep well the night before we went). We can't stay at the Super8 b/c they are full. Oh, hey, maybe Wal-Mart is good for something...I wonder if they are open 24 hours here in hick-ville?! I could go buy a mattress pad, pillows, and sheets for the second bed, which seemed clean and dry but we weren't about to believe that with any level of confidence! Well we never found out, b/c we couldn't get the phone to dial out and Jeff's cell phone oddly wouldn't connect to the Wal-Mart number in the phone book either. I went out in the van to see if they were open, but Super8 is right across the street, so I went in to ask if they'd had any last-minute cancellations (Mom had already checked on this a few hours before and they hadn't). Well they did, but it was 3 times as much money (b/c it was Coca Cola Days) and a smoking room.

I called Jeff and asked his opinion, not crazy about spending the additional money, though I said I'd get our Hawkeye money back in the morning. Also not crazy about repacking and moving down the street. Then I notice Super8 has a table of old linens for sale! I ask the clerk if they had been washed, and she assured me the owner was a neat-freak and yes, they were just washed. I purchased a thick comforter (nothing wrong with it, they must have just redecorated or something) for $5 and a sheet for 50 cents. Back to Hawkeye...We sleep on the "wrong" side of the comforter underneath us, even up over the pillows, and the I trust it to be clean sheet on top of us, with the rest of the Hawkeye blankets on top of that. I figured I'd have nightmares about bedbugs or other creepies, but we both slept well, and M was fine in his playpen from my parents' house with their sheets. (Hawkeye is so primitive I don't think they have any provisions for children).

And this morning I got back a significant amount of our original $39! Jeff pointed out that I probably misunderstood the clerk and thought he said "You're in room 17" when he really said "Urine room 17".

So guess where we are never staying again!? Perhaps next time we'll all go stay in Omaha the night before:)

Well I must be an official geek now- as of last week, my laptop was FULL, as in would not let me download things, could not even open a file in Photoshop. (Help, Santa!) So until I have a better solution, some of my digital scrapbooking files will have to live on the desktop.

In the last week, Michael's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. We know he understood most of these words before then but had yet to say them himself. In the last month he's become very good at parroting what we say, but he's now crossed the border into talking on his own initiative. Example: While shopping at Hy-Vee the other day, he pointed to the bakery and said, "cookie," plain as day. He remembered a time or two ago when Christopher was along and they got cookies. Michael even asked politely "pease" at the bakery and received his prize.

Scrapbook pages above:
Top left: Christopher with Jill (my sister-in-law) on her hospital bed right after Lucy was born. Journaling reads:

When I met Lucy 4 days after she was born, Jill mentioned she was glad she had a girl b/c if she’d had a boy, she was sure he would be “gross” like her friend’s son. Jill was full of praise that Christopher isn’t “gross” like that.

After returning home, I had to email Jill back: Jill, I thought you were thankful that Christopher isn't "gross"...but I just scrutinized the pictures from Lucy's birth day and lo and behold Christopher is sitting in your hospital bed with a WHOOPIE CUSHION!…

Jill’s reply: I don't consider that gross. I can't explain it, [the friend’s son] just is gross. That is funny though. Here I am on the day I give birth, playing with a whoopie cushion with my nephew. He was hiding it in my bed covers. I can practically imagine my speech at his wedding. :)

The layout at lower left shows Christopher and me making the carrot cake for Michael's first birthday party. Jeff stood up on the counter to get the way cool picture (very creative...two thumbs up, Jeff!)

Another two thumbs up to Jeff for the picture of Daisy...he'll have to explain the technique in the comments section, but it involves a special program that integrates 3 pictures together...one purposely underexposed, one right in the middle, and the third overexposed.