Happy Easter!!!

We had a wonderful Easter that started with a visit from the Easter Bunny, who brought baskets of goodies AND newborn baby ducks to show us!!!  We enjoyed a wonderful church service and were happy to give up our usual pew to see such a packed church!!!  We enjoyed dinner with my paternal grandparents and cousins and then the afternoon hanging out with my husband's paternal grandma and TONS of cousins! 

Marissa and I made these eggs and stayed up way too late on Saturday night!

They turned out SOOO amazing!!!  I spent $3 at the local thrift store on silk scarves and an old bed sheet.  Here's the tutorial that I used.  FYI-your eggs need to be boiled before you start.  I'm gonna be on the lookout for some cool silk ties, shirts, and scarves over the next year!!! 

He Said/She Said

Daddy, talking to Ryan:  Where do you learn this shit???  (I don't remember what he was doing)
Marissa: Me

Marisssa: YELLING: RYAN JOSEPH!!!  YOU DON'T TAKE THINGS FROM PEOPLE!

Ryan: Wiggle Wiggle Go!  (He says this a hundred times throughout the day, he LOVES this Yo Gabba Gabba song!  He starts wiggling and yelling as soon as he sees Yo Gabba Gabba!  I think I've decided on a theme for his 2 year Bday party ;)

Photo Book Pages

These are some pages for my Photobook Scrapbook.  I made some blank pages to add in recipes later.  I also made pages of ingredient substitutes.  I really need to get some more of the recipes from my family to make more recipe pages!

Cooking with Kiddos

Marissa is always wanting to "help" me in the kitchen.  Last night she helped me to make spaghetti.  She poured the sauce and helped stir it being very careful not to get burnt on the hot stove.  She also buttered the garlic bread!  These pictures will be GREAT to add to the photobook cookbook I'm working on!

Baby Shower Card

I was sooo excited to finally get back into my scrapbooking room last night!  That was until I discovered that my Gypsy had a cracked screen!!!  I was sooo disappointed when I couldn't use my cricut b/c I'd loaned out all my cartridges to my mom and a friend of mine!  My friend did end up having the cart that I really wanted so I was able to get it from her last night and continue working on a Baby shower card for a friend from high school.  The shower is this Sunday.  I was interrupted to go on an ambulance call before I was done with card, but still managed to come home and finish it!  Here's the card:  Sorry for the bad cell phone pic!

March 2011 Digi Layout

In January I started making a layout for every month, this has been pretty easy to keep up.  I LOVE photoshop templates!  They make it sooo easy :)  Here's my March layout:

Family Picture Planning!!

I scheduled family pictures today with Capture by Kayla!  They are not until the end of May but I did get outfits ordered for the kids and I today and I'm sooo excited!  I still need to look for something for the hubby, but have plenty of time for that ;)

VIDEO!

I was pretty sure that I was destined to NEVER be able to actually burn any of my little video clips to DVD, after trying a couple different programs that wouldn't accept the file type of my video.  I'm sure there is some way to do it, but I'm just a little technology ignorant in that department.  Today I discovered Windows Live Movie Maker, came built in on my new laptop, super easy, does JUST what I want it to and then a tiny bit more, I can put all my clips together and create one video with them to burn to a DVD :)  I can even add a Title Page, captions anywhere and still pictures.  I am SOOOO excited, I can't wait to start making my own home videos!  I also discovered that my camera wasn't set to the best video quality and I'm really happy with the result of changing it to the best.  Good thing I got that new 16 GB SD Card!!!

He Said/She Said

Marissa- "Ryan, you're SOO adorable, I think I want another baby brother" 
               "We don't want Ryan to grow up, because he's TOO cute!"
               "RYAN JOSEPH!"-This is a pretty frequent Marissa quote :)

Ryan has been saying more and more new words EVERY day, he has been repeating everything and even
         some of the stuff he doesn't say I know he understands, like if I say, "Ryan, will you get mommy her    
         phone, he'll actually bring it to me!" Ryan started saying, "sock," he puts an extra C in there though and I'll
         just let ya imagine what comes out!  He also learned to say, "yeehaw," when he's riding a horsey and he's
         totally obsessed with his, "boots."  Great Grandpa and Great Uncle Johnny may have a farm helper soon!

Playing with Photoshop!

I bought Photoshop Elements 9 a few weeks ago and have been trying to get it all figured out, I'm starting to really get all the layers down, I think.  Here's a little something I edited today, I"m pretty happy with the outcome!

He Said/She Said

I think every day my 3 year old daughter says something that cracks me up!  I thought I'd start a weekly post of the things the kids say that make me laugh, a few that make me cry, and maybe a little bit of the in betweens.  Ryan is not quite the chatterbox his big sis is yet, but I'm sure it won't be long, he's saying new words ALL the time.  I thought this was a neat idea after seeing the quotable quotes post on Erin's Blog Sunny Side UP.

A conversation Marissa and I had in the van approaching our intersection:
Marissa: I see my house!!!
Me: Who's house is it?
Marissa: Mine
Me: Well actually it's my house and Daddy's, but we share it with you because we love you.  When you turn 18 you have to move out and go to school and get a job and buy your own house, but it can't be very far away b/c I'll miss you.
Marissa: (Gives me a look that I can't describe and makes me feel like the worst parent ever since my 3 year  old was taking this conversation VERY seriously!)
Me: It's a really long time until you turn 18, you'll be a lot bigger then.  You can go to college like Aunt Rachel when you turn 18!

Today while talking about my 47 year old uncle who lives at home with my grandparents I decided I didn't regret this conversation.  When asked what she's going to do when she turns 18, she now proudly announces, "Move outta the house"   I hope I'm not causing any psychological damage, since really I'd probably let her live with me until the end of time, MOST days anyway.

My Major Hairstyle Change!

I have a tendency to let my hair grow out REALLY long and then on a whim get it all chopped off!  I'm really loving my new style now though, so I'm planning to keep it up, which means more than 1 trip/year to the beauty salon! 

I Dig You Template!

It's taken me a few hours this afternoon of playing with photoshop to figure out how to create my own template, but I FINALLY got one made and scrapped a quick page!  I had to search shutterfly for some pics for this, I bought a new laptop so I don't have many pictures on it yet.  I hope to make many many more templates to share!  I've got to work tonight but sometime I'll figure out how to share the psd file via blog with ya!

Click on the template to download for free!  Enjoy :)

My HOME MADE Camera Strap Slip Cover

I hadn't really thought about getting a strap cover for my camera, but then I saw this post on Sarah's blog and decided I HAD to have one!!!  I have a little experience with a sewing machine, I've pieced a few quilts, I made a few clothing items in high school home economics which weren't exactly wearable.  I found these fairly simple instructions for making your own camera strap.  My strap by all means did NOT turn out PERFECT, but it is usable and I LOVE it.  I especially LOVE the way it feels when I put my camera around my neck as the regular strap kinda rubs and isn't really very comfortable.  I plan to make several more of these, I have a whole box of scrap material begging to be used!!!  I may even get a little fancier with the next one, making ruffles, using 2 different fabrics, maybe some minky, OH the possibilities!

Text Added!

I did figure this out and it turned out that my text tool was changed to text layer mask.  I hadn't been right clicking on the tool so I didn't know that I could even change options here.  SOOO glad I figured this out and now I have a little more complete looking layouts!

Photoshop Elements 9

I just bought Photoshop Elements 9 last week!  I'm sooo excited to start editing my pictures with it, but I have SOOOO much to learn about it too!  I have figured out how to use it for making Scrapbook pages, except I had some trouble adding text to it.  I made these pages using templates, which I'm in love with right now!

Grandkid Photo's!!!

I took these pics for my inlaws a couple weeks ago.  They recently did a MAJOR remodel of their living room and wanted a BIG picture of all 4 of their grand kids to hang above the couch.  My baby boy wasn't feeling well the day we took these and I don't believe my daughter had a nap, so getting just a few shots was a miracle!