Day 25 and more snow

We woke up to snow this morning. Most of it is gone now. Most years, snow in January, even a few flakes, would amaze people and probably shut down the city. This winter, we had so much snow in December (more than a foot) that the novelty is gone. I think a good gage is the kids reaction. I got up and told Christian that we had snow last night and his response was "oh, I already saw it." Usually he would run around with joy. I decided to still take pictures because this is the first and hopefully last snow of 2009. I took the above picture of our cat Luna during her morning hunt. She sits at the window during a couple of her waking hours every day to "hunt" she looks out the window, does not want to be touched and waits for birds and squirels. When she sees something she crouches and makes wierd sounds.
Here are few more pictures. I am thinking about doing a garden journal/scrapbook kind of thing this year. I thought some snowy garden shots would be a good way to start. I often have more failure than sucess, so the idea of a garden journal is rather optimistic for me.

Day 24, my Blackberry and a layout

There has been so much talk lately about our President's Blackberry and how he refuses to give it up. I decided to take a picture of my Blackberry. I would think President Obama has a bit more masucline cover. My one piece of advice would be to make sure that if you send a text, make sure you are sending it to the right person. If I make an error, it is just a brief issue. If he sends a text to the wrong person, it could cause an International Diplomatic incident. Could you imagine intending to send a text to Gordon Brown and you really send it to Fidel Castro?
I took some pictures from Christian's class yesturday and did a layout with them.

Credits: Kit: Brickworks by Lindsay Jane Designs, Template by Hummie at Hummiesworld and text path by Shelley Rae Custbert.

Day 23 - Lego Class

Christian had a homeschool Lego Class today.

Each child was encouraged to make a creation beforehand to share with the group.

Here iis Christian sharing his Star Fighter. He talked about and answered questions.

After the show and tell time, each participant got a Lego Set (all the same) to build. Today was Anakin Skywalker's Fighter Ship.

We worked on building it for a while at the class. I do not have much patience for these Lego projects and my blood sugar was quickly dropping as we reached lunch time. We packed it up and brought it home where David helped Christian finish it while I went to the gym. (We hit the dollar menu at BK to help the whole blood sugar thing)

Here is the finished product.

Liam also enjoyed playing with Legos and building things.

Day 22 - the tale of floppy toe

This is my small toe AKA floppy toe. I had a bone spur removed from the toe in 1992 and now one of the bones is missing in the toe. The toe gets its nickname, because whenever I do something like stub it or drop a vacum on it, it gets swollen and floppy. When I walk after one of the injuries, it kind of drags behind the rest of my foot for a few days.
You can see the scar for the procedure in the top of my toe and after looking at this photo, it is obvious that I need to clip that nail.
Here is my week three layout...

Credits: Project 365 Blanks by Lucky Smith

Day 21 and a layout

Liam worked on and off throughout the day yesturday and worked on the above Duplo creation. He decided that he wanted to build a McDonalds. I know that there is an M in there and he also said that there was a Christmas tree in there. The closet in the their room has mirrors on it. Liam wet his pants and woke me up at 6:00 am to help him change. I grabbed the first pair of pants I could find in the dark, while I was half asleep. He got a pair with a giant hole in the knee. I did not realize that his leg went through the giant hole in the pants. I need to go buy some patches and sit down and spend some time doing clothes repairs.
Here is a layout I did with some pictures from Christian's Birthday party last month.

Credits: Birthday Bash by Tracey Monette at scrapbook-elements.

Day 20 - a moment in history

We did a bit of U.S. Government for our homeschooling today. We got to see the peaceful passing of power from one President to another. If you stop and think about it, that is huge. Presidents have passed power peacefully from one to another for over two hundred years.

Days 18 & 19, more beach pictures and year in review layouts

We are back from our camping trip and here are my pictures from Sunday and today. When we drove up to our yurt yesturday, the welcome committee was ready. They were always close by. We had to be careful that the boys did not box them in. I used an extention cord to hook up our popcorn popper to the outlet in the yurt last night and made popcorn on the porch and four of the little guys were circling. This morning when we left they looked kind of pouty because we did not make a big breakfast and spill it everywhere.
The second picture is of Christian and Liam at the mouth of the Columbia River. We stayed a Ft. Stephens. This area is famous for two main reasons. 1. Lewis and Clark wintered in this area. Ft. Clastop where they stayed is just a couple of miles from here and 2. This is the only place on the continental US to be shelled by the Japanese in WWII.






The photos above are from Seaside. We tried to do some clamming, but the clams have moved on. The bumper crop was not hanging around this weekend. It was so windy today we did not want to go crabbing either. The boys had a great time hanging and playing on the beach. As you can see by the bare feet and light clothing, it was quite warm and there was almost no wind.






I took these photos at the beach at Ft. Stevens during sunset. The remains of a shipwreck are on this beach. Christian also found a catepillar here.




I took these pictures at the Russell Battery which was part of a military base from 1904-1944. The others are on the beach by the Columbia River.



I took these in Astoria. We walked on the path along the Columbia. The railroad crossing sign cracks me up since it is right in front of the Columbia river. The bell and anchor are part of a Maritime museum.
Here are the 2008 Year in Review Layouts I did for Christian and Liam

Credits: Poppy Page Kit by Jannylyn Brokken, Template by Stephanie Ogren

Credits: Just Cuz by Jannylyn Brokken, Template by Moriginals, Frames by Flergs and Stitching by Pineapple Plantation (From Daily Digi Download)