Story Dice

I got this idea from Crafty Crow and it is such a neat idea. I thought it would be fun for Millie to do and fun to make so since we had such a beautiful day today, we sat out on the screen porch and made these.

So what are they? Each person gets a dice (die?) and rolls one. Then that person starts telling a story having something to do with what ever was rolled. If a house was rolled, your story has to have a house; a kite, about a kite...you get the drift. If you roll a letter, you have to think of something that starts with that letter and use it as your story theme. When one minute is up (or however you decide to play) the next person rolls their dice and continues the story from where the first person stopped making sure to incorporate whatever image they rolled.

The set I was looking at had hand painted images on them (never going to happen with this un-artistic gal)but I thought is was a great chance to use some of my small rubber stamps. I also thought it would be neat to have a photo on each one. I made Millie a set of 4. Each block, or dice, has one photo, one letter and 4 rubber stamped images. Millie picked out the letters she wanted on each one and the stamps she wanted. I lightly sanded the edges and corners of the 1" blocks. After we stamped them, I covered them in Mod Podge to give them a bit of a shine. That is also how I put the photos on, giving that side a few extra coats.

We were going to use them tonight at bedtime for her story but she was so tired she just wanted to go straight to bed. Oh well, hopefully we will get to try them out tomorrow night.

I Have No Will Power

So I waited about...2 days. I ordered the camera last night, but I blame Becky. She mentioned a web site where she buys her camera items and I had already scoped out that site before she mentioned it. They had the camera for LOTS less than local stores and even included a free 4 GB memory card. I figured it was too good to be true but when Becky mentioned the site and confirmed it was legit, I ordered it last night. I can not wait until it gets here and I will be reading the manual online so I will know all about it when it arrives.

I Want It Bad

...but, I am still waiting. This does not mean I won't get one soon, but I was checking around and it sounds like Best Buy runs a special once in awhile on it where they include a free lens. I am not sure how often they do this so I am thinking if it does not happen next week, I may have to just get it. The good news is, I learned a few techniques today when I went to Wolf Camera. Apparently, the camera I have is pretty good if I use some of the features I did not understand, ISO for one. I still have not figured out how to navigate to it within my camera settings, but when I do, it is supposed to help with some lighting issues I am having for Millie's soccer photos. Also, for those of you who did not know, the more you zoom, the less light enters your camera so in an already poor lighting condition, zooming will only make it worse, who knew? (yes Kelly did, I am certain of it).

So I took Reed out this evening as my guinea pig and I messed around with some aperture settings (my new favorite thing about photography). My camera does not have near the range of aperture values an SLR would have, but it was neat and I liked what I was able to achieve. I also found (by mistake) my camera would do sepia and black and white so that was kind of interesting as well. Here are some photos of my drooling subject.

And I think I have not mentioned that Reed does have 2 teeth now and enjoys eating dill pickles and re-fried beans from our favorite Mexican place here in town.





You can see my teeth in this one!

Paula's Handmade Memories

I just wanted some of you to know that I have changed my Paula's Handmade Memories blog a little. I decided to make it something worth checking out other than just ordering cards. So, every few days I play a challenge hosted by a fellow card maker and I play along. Check it out if you are curious.

They Call Me Number 3

Millie had her first soccer game/practice last night. She was very excited all day and when we got there to sign her in, she got a shirt with a number 3. She was thrilled because that is Henry's number. She could have related any number she got with a train but having 3 like Henry was pretty special because he is one of her favorites.


They started off with a group discussion about "No hands in soccer" and "No toes in soccer". After that they did some warm ups and then kicked the balls back and forth form one goal to the other. There are only 8 kids in the group so it is a nice size and all the kids were pretty good and paid attention. Millie was happy that her friend Ava was on her team but when it came time to play, there was no time for socialization, she had soccer to play. She can not wait to go back next week!

Just Photos

My mom and Jacob left this morning after Millie went to school. I took the time to go through a bunch of photos from the weekend. Millie and Jacob are some silly ones!

World's Fair Park

My mom is visiting for a few days and brought my nephew with her. We decided to go to Fort Kid today at World's Fair Park. J.J. and Millie had fun and Reed finally enjoyed it when we let him chew on his sunglasses. The Knoxville Museum of Art is right across the road from Fort Kid so when they needed a potty break, we headed down to the museum and played at the big Lite-Brite Wall. They had a beautiful glass exhibit there but I just found myself saying "Don't touch that!", "Get away!", "No, don't touch!"...so we went back to the kids area where it was much safer.

Potty Time

Reed really enjoys standing and playing his piano. He will, however, let go with no notice and fall backward so I have to sit next to him ready to catch him. Rick feels that we should just let him fall back and smack his head against the floor. What Rick does not realize is that Reed is 8 MONTHS OLD and it is not the time for teaching tough love lessons that cause brain damage. We will save that for when he turns one.
Reed has been pretty faithful in peeing during his bath every night so tonight, I sat him on the potty before his bath. After only about a minute of sitting there, he went. I almost did not notice because being a boy, it did not tinkle down in the potty but shot straight forward against the little potty seat and just ran down. At least it did not shoot out the front! I guess we will keep this little routine going and see how he does. Millie started using the potty when she was a little over a year and was potty trained just past 2 years old. I have heard girls are easier so hopefully starting Reed a little early will yield me a potty trained 2 year old.

The Snot Monster

Reed is such snot monster right now. I don't think Millie has even ever had a cold this bad. He was doing better yesterday but today he is much worse. He coughs all night long but at least it does not wake him up. The Dr. said the cough could last up to 3 weeks but the snot should end by 10 days. Well, we are on about day 9 so that means he will be better tomorrow?

He also has this tongue thing going on now where he rolls it over to the side. It reminds me of Rick and his "Thinking Face" as I call it. Rick tends to just barely stick his tongue out and touch his bottom lip when he is really concentrating on something and when Reed does his little tongue roll, I know he must really be thinking about something. In these photos, he was trying to get the camera.

Weekend Trip

Reed made some forward motion today on his hands and knees. Crawling is only a few days away. I am not too worried about the lack of crawling because Millie never did crawl. I am worried about the fact that the boy still has no teeth. This worries me because a friend had a little guy who decided to get 8 teeth all in at one time and it was not a fun experience so I hope this is not going to be the case for us.

Millie got a progress report from school today and I feel like I caused her to miss getting a perfect score. There were about 50 things they were evaluated on, they either could do it or needed practice. Well, Millie would have had a perfect score except for one little item "Needs more practice"...using scissors. This is totally my fault. I have failed her as a parent. For those of you who may live under a rock, I make cards and scrapbook a lot. So, my craft area has scissors and sharp things all over the place. When Millie "helps" I always tell her "Don't touch the scissors". So, she has never used a scissors in my company because I don't want her to think it is ok to grab a pair of mine if I happen to leave them out. I feel bad, I am failing her already, I always knew I would make a horrible teacher. So, I am going to buy the girl a pair of safety scissors this weekend and she will know how to use them come Monday.

And, I went to IL over the weekend to visit friends. I had a great time! Rick stayed home with the kids and this is what I find on my camera when I get back.




It kind of makes me wonder if I should leave again. Yep, it was worth it!