January Photos of the Month 2011

So I decided to go ahead and continue with the photos of the month. I think I am too lazy or busy or something like that to do the popular 365 photo challenge that everyone seems to be doing these days. I figure that this method worked for me last year so I am going to continue with it. 

 Icicles 2 different days, 2 different ways.

E's latest sculpture, a mouse with swiss cheese. Actually I was thinking a cute little mouse but what she gave me was more like a rat!

Ash, thought that the dog needed reading glasses. 

My world covered in snow looking like a giant marshmallow. 

E, Made a dog house from a box. The dog never did go inside!

One more sculpture. Give a dog a bone!

December Photos of the Month

Here they are, "better late than never", I always say.

The kids filled the advent house with Lego mini figs.

 I think this will end up being a Christmas card next year!

Skye LOVES playing in the snow for 5 minutes.

Our tree this year. mostly paper hand made ornaments.

 A few lights and a popcorn garland.

Christmas cookies, some of the ideas came from blogs I follow. 

Others were our own designs. 

Experimenting with my camera. I never got the desired effect.

 Not happy with the technical aspects,

But I love the way this photo makes me feel. Cozy!

Snow on December 30th, 2010 at 6am.

Snow Babies on December 30th, 2010 at 8 am. 

Snow Babies on December 30th, 2010 at 8:50 am.

(E with her cousin S)

Well that was the last installment of the "2010 Year in Photos"  I'm not sure if I should continue to do it or not. I really enjoyed it. I didn't think I would follow through with it for the entire year. BUT I did! I wonder sometimes if I could do a photo of the week post? too much work? Not enough dedication? Maybe if it ain't broke I shouldn't try to fix it. I will have to ponder this for a few days. 

November photos of the month post

Well it is the second week in December and I am finally going to post my November photos. I think I am getting back on track with things. 

We have been graced with spectacular sunsets, right out our living room window. I love to take photos of the sky, whether it be raining or blue with puffy clouds or rich with striking colors. 

Elyssa is my sculptor. She can sit for hours sculpting with her clay. She made this one afternoon. Sometimes I will let her sculpt while I am reading her literature, portion of her school work, to her. A while back she did a face that looked like Van Gogh. Now she comes up with this cute little parade of penguins. I don't have room in the house to store all of her sculptures so I encourage a catch-and-release type of practice. Sculpt and release!  We are not using a clay that dries either so they are not a permanent type of art. 

The next day this guy showed up. 

I decided to try out a mini photo shoot in the front yard. I hoped that with the leaves and the colors it would turn out great. Although they did not turn out exactly like I wanted them to. I am happy with the results. 

That is all for this month's photos. 

October Photos of the month

Look at me trying to get all caught up!

October

Is the month of tricks or treats..... hence my first story!

My husband was trying to light the bbq for me. It was Sunday, October 31st. I kept telling him to get his face out of the bbq away from the grill. He just gave me that, "I'm a man I know what I am doing" look.  Well suffice it to say a fire ball came straight out of that bbq right into his face. We both jumped back, and I admit I  screamed like a girl. He got singed everywhere, his eye lashes and brows, arms, beard, mustachio, hair, behind his ears. And it smelled horrid. I laughed until I cried. Ok, after I made sure he was alright, I laughed until I almost wet myself...

 The kids decided they wanted to be gnomes for halloween, here they are posing as grumpy gnomes. 

Our good friends Christa and Jesse brought their kids to a get together we went to and they brought the twins as Thing 1 and Thing 2, little marshal was the cutest cowboy but some how I failed to get his picture. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Christa was not even the tiniest bit afraid to spray the babies' hairs blue. 

 Seems like the only time Justin and I get a picture together is if we are going out on a date night. Which are far and few between!

Our Pumpkin Carving Party, end result. Fun was had by all and JJ brought his famous homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were YUMMY!

 I had to have a hat for a Madd Hatter tea party, it was our version of a ladies night out combined with a halloween party.  This is the hat I made out of a Winco paper bag, and scraps that I had lying around. 

Julianna wore this hat to the tea party. Her sister wore it while skating in the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. It was a hit and got passed around a lot. 

Some people are going to think I am going to hell after this next picture.... yes I dyed my daughter's hair blue because she wanted it done and because it is just hair.  I even put a little bit of blue in my own hair. 

 I painted a butterfly on my face again this year for halloween. It kinda matches the blue in my hair too. 

That is it for October! See the post below for September. 

I have also taken a ton of photos for November already so I will be getting all my ducks in a row for that post at the end of the month. I want to do a post on the baby shower I just hosted for my friend Mandy as well. and put up the recipe for caramel apples. 

September photos of the month

Well my computer had technical difficulties and that is all I am going to say about that. Anyway all of my photos were on that computer, so I was not able to put up a September Photos of the Month Post.  I am happy to announce that my regular computer is up and running again thanks to my wonderful husband.  So with out further adieu, 

SEPTEMBER

I signed up to participate in an Apron swap, It was my first time ever and I was really excited because the theme was Alice in Wonderland. Let's just say things did not go according to plan and I was not able to participate. The sign up was right before Abi's accident. Anyhow the hostess of the swap contacted me after seeing my post about Abi and told me that she had people who had volunteered to be an Angel and create my apron and send it to my partner for me. It was an incredible blessing and a wonderful surprise when I got a package in the mail a few weeks later with my apron and goodies in it.  In the box was a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a set of heart shaped measuring spoons, a mad hatter necklace, Alice and the rabbit paper dolls, and some hand made note cards. Along with a gorgeous apron as well. 

My husband organized a campfire worship and we had a good turn out. We set up a campfire pit behind the church, put out a few tables with some lemonade. Everyone brought treats and snacks as well as hot dogs to roast and we all had a great time singing around the campfire. 

 Cheva, Nate, Scott, Danjuma, Justin

 Abi, Jolene

My good friend had her baby shower after her twins were born. I had picked up this vinyl wall stickers for part of her gift. It brought me to tears to see that she put it on the crib.

My kids have been loving the game cuponk, only we are too frugal ok cheap to purchase the real thing. So we made up our own. Only ours consisted of a 44oz. drink cup, and 6 ping pong balls. We have enjoyed it so much that we decided to make some for birthday gifts. We decided that we could not use a drink refill cup from the gas station because that would be a bit tacky. So we went to the store and scoured the aisles for something suitable. We came up with this box, which just happens to have a convenient locking lid, about $3. and 6 ping pong balls, about $5. In total the game costs about $8 to make and saves about $7 off the retail price of the Cuponk. 

We made up our own trick cards and included them in the box. 

  Well I guess that about wraps up September!

I have not abandoned you! and Photos of the month

I feel like I have totally abandoned this blog! It has been over a month since I have posted. It is just that I have been super busy and I feel like I never get caught up. I never posted my september photos of the month because my other computer died with all photos inside. My bad I know they should all be on disks or uploaded to a site somewhere or backed up on an external hard drive or something like that. Fear not they are not completely gone it just needs to be repaired. Well I will attempt to put an october photos of the month together even though I just feel like I have been interrupted. 

And then my husband came up with a genius idea I will post about in a few days... I can't wait to show you what it is. I was so impressed!!!!

But on to the photos for October

I dyed my hair blue. not all of it mind you but a couple of streaks. And yes it is permanent but it's all good. It is just hair.  

And Elyssa got some blue hair too. 

The kids wanted to be garden gnomes for halloween.  And I have to say this was the easiest costume ever!!!!

"Thing 1 and Thing 2"  Christa and Jesse with their gorgeous little things!

Elyssa has taken up the clay and she love it. This was her Van Gogh.

My madd hatter tea party hat. I made this from a paper bag and scraps I had laying around.

This years halloween butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by. I will be posting that project my husband came up with in a couple days.