A Day Trip To The Smokies

We missed the peak color of the leaves by about a week or 2 but we still enjoyed a gorgeous day in the Smokies a few weeks ago. The kids had a lot of fun exploring an old farm we stopped at for a few hours.

A Total Technology Makeover

My slight computer addiction has now been freed to reach an entire new level. I am giving Comcast the boot and I now have Verizon Wireless internet. We are also getting rid of Comcast cable (our only choice where we live) and going old school with 'rabbit ears'. Although antennas of the 21st century, I have learned, no longer look like rabbit ears but are small little silver stylish looking things so it may not be too bad to live with.

I have 30 days to try it out and see if I think I may go over my usage. Between running 2 blogs, uploading all my photos to Kodak.com and the photos I have on my personal AND business Facebook page, I may be pushing it. So for the next 30 days, I am going to have to use and upload a lot of photos to make sure in my busiest month, I will not have to worry about going over my usage allotment.

The last phase of my total technology makeover will come in a few months when I send my computer to the trash heap and go Mac. The screen is holding on about like my loose teeth used to when I was little, by one root, or wire in this case. At any moment, my screen could snap off and I will be left in the dark. But, considering how...frugal...I am, I will not buy a new one until this one bites the dust.

I hope to see you on the 'world's largest 3G network'...can you hear me now???

My First Stamping Workshop

I drove to Nashville, IN this weekend to attend a workshop presented by Michelle Zindorf. I have been a fan of her work for over a year, she makes beautiful sunset and scenery cards starting with a blank piece of white paper. Please see her blog here, you will be amazed. Many of her cards are created using a tool called a brayer which is a hand held rubber roller. By rolling the brayer in ink used for stamping, she colors her backgrounds and creates beautiful realistic scenes.


In the workshop, we were taught how to use a brayer and a few sponges to create 3 cards. We got a great set of stamps, the brayer, a white gel pen and a stamping pad for attending the class. I am very glad I finally attended one of her workshops because she was a great teacher and I am sure I will be able to put my new brayer to good use.

15 Months Old

Reed is growing like a weed and had his 15 month check up earlier this week. He is healthy and the Doc said everything was great. He got a couple of shots and a flu shot and took it all pretty well. He weighed ## lbs (##%) and was ## in long (##%).



What is Reed up too...

He acts like a dog when ever he sees any animal or letter

He now howls like a wolf when we ask him to


He can say ball, dad, mom, bubble, his version of blueberries and a form of outside and backpack.


He is still pooping on the potty regularly and pees on the potty about 5 times a day. We don't carry the diaper bag anymore which is GREAT!

He can open all the doors in the house so nothing is safe from him.

He listens very well and will pretty much follow any order you give him.



He is completely silly and makes crazy faces all the time. Mostly at Millie, he loves to make her laugh.

He screams "Dad" whenever we are out and he sees a white truck. After he yells "Dad", he will make his truck driving sound we labeled early on in his life as his Motor Boat sound.

He likes to drink V8 juice.

He now has 8 teeth.

He laughs every time he burps.

He laughs every time anyone burps.

Sibling Love

Since it was Halloween, we had to let the sugar rush run off so we let Millie watch a little bit of a movie before she went to bed. Reed was getting tired and instead of getting fussy when he is tired, he just gets snugly. He decided Millie looked comfy so he crawled up on the couch to snuggle in with her.

Halloween

Halloween is not on the top of the list as one of my favorite Holidays (take a deep breath Katie, I mean no harm) but now that Millie is 4, it is hard to pass it by without her noticing. Although my mom did a great job making awesome costumes for us when we were little, the thrill was just not there. We had to get in the car with our winter coats because it was always freezing and then we drove to...3 houses. Thinking back, my mom was really cool about it. Of course, we did not appreciate the hand made costumes at the time, ungrateful me always longed for the plastic costumes at Target that all the other cool kids got to buy. But now my mom has the neatest dress up box at her house with about any kind of accessory you could imagine.

I would like to say I carried on this tradition of high quality costumes for my kids but I didn't. Millie wore a Spider Man costume we got her for Christmas last year and Reed wore a hand-me-down Manning jersey that was Millie's that she wore when the Colts played in and won the Super Bowl a few years ago. I did think ahead enough and we got Millie a can of silly string so she could web all the people after they gave her candy.

Sorry kids, I am just not as cool as your grandma is...but I guess that is why they like her better than me anyway :-)

Got My New Lens...Finally

I know, I have been talking about it forever but I finally broke down and got another lens for my camera.


Look at the detail in that snot, it is FANTASTIC! And that is zoomed in and at night. Love it! Thanks Kelly for your assistance in this purchase, you will always be my favorite camera adviser.