Mama Elephant | Sketch Challenge #3

When Mama Elephant debuted Type It a few months ago, I had to have it. My in-laws purchased a fantastic old type writer for me a few years ago, and I use it a lot on scrapbook layouts & Project Life... and the typewriter in Type It looks very similar to my typewriter.Which is my long-winded way of saying: I love this set and I wanted to use it for this challenge. :)

I took a very literal approach to this challenge, but the "i", "heart", and "u" images matched the sketch perfectly. I used Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist patterns pack for the striped paper, and stamped Mama Elephant's Modern Backgrounds chevron with VersaMark on Wplus9's Sweet Gelato cardstock.

(Supplies - Stamps: (Mama Elephant) Type It, Modern Borders. Ink: (Memento) Tuxedo Black. (Papertrey Ink) Hawaiian Shores. (Stampin' Up!) Melon Mambo. Cardstock: (Wplus9) Sweet Gelato. (Papertrey Ink) Stampers Select White. Other: Circle Punch.)

I have been using a lot of pink lately... I think it's time to put it away and pull out some of my neglected colors! And I just found out that Stampin' Up! is retiring 10 colors and replacing them with old In-Colors. I am super excited to see those great colors come back! But I will miss More Mustard and Bashful Blue... both are colors I use a lot.

And I posted this conversation on Facebook, but I wanted to post it here as well (for my family). Jack and I have been home together for almost 4 years and I am going to miss him terribly when he goes to VPK full time in August:

Jack: Mom, do you bemember (remember) when we went to the zoo? 

Me: Yes, I remember.

Jack: Do you bemember the most awesome place I have ever seen?

Me: The zoo was really awesome?

Jack: Yup. And the sand pit at the zoo. With Ruby. And Jade. And Evan. It was awesome.  

(Can he stay 3 forever? I love our conversations.)

--

Have a great week!

So Happy to be Home.

I knew when the kids and I left for the West coast I wouldn't have time for blogging, the internet, or anything scrapbooking related... I would be too busy! Both Evan and Jack had photo shoots (check out Terri's blog for a peak at Jack's... so cute!), Abby's graduation, a party, lunch dates, shopping, play dates, and lots of time spent playing with Grandma & Grandpa.

When we got home tonight I was ready to work on a layout for Karla Dudley Designs. It felt really good to work with a current photo of Evan (from our trip), and play with a couple of Karla's new products:


[Supplies used - White cardstock: Cardstock Essentials. Frame: Frame Essentials No. 2.Brads: Frame Essentials N. 2. Stitching: Digi Essentials. Background brushes: Digi Essentials. "Play All Day" brush: Handwritten - Summer. "Summer" brush: Handwritten - Summer. "2010": Digi Essentials No. 5. Arrow: Digi Essentials]

During our l-o-n-g trip home today, a couple of funny/embarrassing/cool/weird things happened, and I want to remember them. We started our day at 4:20am (pacific time), and we arrived home at 8:00pm (eastern time)... so hopefully this is written coherently! I'm so, so tired!

1. Abby and I were trying to get through security in Seattle, and I was struggling with bags, car seats, shoes, jackets, blankets, kids, etc., etc. I looked behind me to apologize for taking so dang long and totally did a double take... Jay Buhner was standing right behind me! I must have looked like a spaz because he gave me this half smile and helped me get our bags/gear/crap through the x-ray machine. He was super nice, but both Abby and I agree he isn't as tall as we thought he was :-)

2. A woman on our second flight (who was traveling with 8 month old twin boys) asked us if Jack was an actor. I said no, and she said she thought Jack was the baby from the show Dexter! I haven't seen the show, so when we got home I did a google search, and sure enough, Jack looks just like him! Abby thinks Jack is way cuter, though, and I have to agree.

3. During our layover in LA, we had to go down a huge escalator with all our stuff (and the two kids). I stepped onto the escalator, followed by Abby. Evan was supposed to follow right behind Abby (with his own carry-on bag), but he freaked out and wouldn't get on. I'm hollering at him to get on the dang escalator, but he wouldn't... so I start to panic. The escalator is at least three stories tall, and I didn't want Evan to turn around and run the other direction. So I frantically tell Abby to turn around and go get Evan (I had my hands full with Jack and Jack's car seat)... so there goes Abby: running up the escalator as it's going down. Evan decides to sit down and take his shoes off and send those down the escalator instead! I finally make it to the bottom of the thing, and I look up to see Abby trying to make it to the top, and a security guard is asking Evan if he had been abandoned! He did look neglected sitting at the top of an escalator with no shoes & a carry-on bag. Abby finally made it to the top to rescue him and they made it to the bottom safely (and with both of Evan's shoes). I was laughing so hard (after Evan was safe and sound, of course!).

4. Our second flight was full, so we couldn't bring Jack's car seat on the plane. Abby was also sitting three rows ahead of us, so I was a little panicked about being by myself with two kids and only two seats. The flight attendant said we could ask the gentlemen sitting by the window if we could change seats so Abby was sitting with us, but he politely declined. He was really nice, but said he wanted to be by the window (and Abby's seat was an aisle seat). Evan spent the net 30 seconds fidgeting, rearranging, adjusting, and squirming, and the guy changed his mind and asked to switch seats with us! Way to go Evan... being a wiggle worm got us three seats in a row!

5. We were on a bus from the Alaska terminal to the Delta terminal, and we were passing by some construction at the airport when Evan turned to Abby and said "we are in the desert!" My other favorite Evan-ism from the day is "we are about ready to land this baby!" as we were descending into Cincinnati.

The trip was so much fun, and I know Evan is going to miss his grandparents. Good thing they are visiting next month!

xoxo,
Erin.

New Month, New House, & New Challenges

NEW MONTH

Am I the only one who can't believe it is December already? This year has gone by so fast for me. Jack is already 7 months old, Evan is learning new things everyday (he greeted me today by saying "hola mommy"; I guess he has learned something from watching Handy Manny!), and Mark is 11 days from graduating. We are less than a month away from Christmas and our move, and I have so many to-do lists going it's ridiculous.

But... I love December & Christmas, and I am determined not to let our life changes get in the way of celebrating this season. I pulled out all our Christmas/winter books today so I can read them to the kids before bed. I also ordered Evan a Playmobil police advent calendar that should be here any day (we will start it a few days late this year, but that's o.k. by me), and I have big plans to bake Christmas cookies and pumpkin bread very soon.

Mark's graduation is another event this December, and of course I have more planning to do for that. Mark wants an ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen, and I am making a few new recipes that I would like to try out before next Saturday. My parents, Mark's parents, our siblings, extended family, and friends are going to join us after the ceremony to celebrate Mark's achievements, and say goodbye at the same time. We are going to miss our family and friends so, so much.

NEW HOUSE

Our trip to Cincinnati last week was successful, and we have found a great house & we feel a little acquainted with the city. We don't have freeways here in Pullman, so the maze of on ramps, exits, connections, freeways that lead to more freeways, and merging freeways is going to be a challenge the first few months. I have gotten used to going 25 MPH everywhere :-) At least once when we are visiting our family on the West side my sister reminds me to speed up because I'm creeping along on a road that is 40 MPH, and I'm happily doing 25.

Back to the house... it was built in 1900, it's been completely remodeled, and it has a yard! That last part I am so excited about. We are going to get a sand box & a swing set, and spend a lot of time outside next summer. The boys are still sharing a room, but they have a lot more space, plus we will have a big play room for them down stairs. We also have a living room, a studio for me, and a nice master bedroom.

NEW CHALLENGES

Jack has been our little non-sleeper for the last week or so. He decided half way through our trip that he didn't like the pack 'n play, and started fighting us before nap time and bed time. He has a cough, which I think is waking him up at night, but it has gotten worse the last couple of days. I took him to the doctor yesterday, and he does have a mild cold. He also got a few shots yesterday (5 shots and one oral vaccine), so he has been really tough to get to bed tonight. I wish I could help him more. I feel so bad that he is sick and crabby, but nothing I'm doing seems to ease his discomfort. Hopefully this will work itself out and he will be back to his normal, happy self soon.

I am anticipating a somewhat sleepless night based on how many times Jack has been up already tonight (4), so I better wrap this up and go to bed. But... I can't post without showing off my two little ones:

{@ the Pacific Science Center on 11/28/09. Evan loves the car ride outside the center. It was a great way to end our trip to Seattle.}

{Another photo of Jack in his sock-monkey outfit. I can't seem to get enough of my little monkey :-)

Our Week in Photos.

Blogging comes in waves for me. Some days or weeks I am super excited about it... others, not so much. The last couple of weeks I haven't been in the mood, but I think the blogging bug has finally come back!

We've been busy the last couple of weeks with family in town, mid-terms (Mark), pre-school (Evan), snow, online classes (me), and growing like a weed (Jack):

On Saturday we hosted a mini family reunion with some of Mark's extended family. Thank you Tami, Danielle, Travis, Michelle, Alex, Zoe, Mandy, Aiden, and Tegan for spending your Saturday with us!

I don't think Jack likes his sock monkey hat very much...

Pullman got a nice dusting of snow Friday afternoon. It was about four, so it was getting dark really fast and I didn't get many great photos of Evan and Jack in the snow because it was so dark, but I like this one.

Another Evan-squeezing-the-crap-out-of-his-brother photo. Good thing Jack is a happy baby and doesn't mind being squished :-)

6 months old and sitting up on his own.

Evan and I went to a WSU men's basketball exhibition game last Monday with Cindy and Ray. Evan was so good and really got into clapping and cheering for the cougs during the second half. The skittles and juice I bought him during half time must have kicked in! At one point during the first half, LCSC had missed a bunch of shots in a row and Evan turned to me and said: "Mom, are they trying to miss?" It was super cute!

This little one got his fourth tooth yesterday (upper left). He now has three teeth on the left side of his mouth (one upper, two lower), and only one tooth on the right (lower).

Tomorrow we have a lunch date and I have a ton of laundry to finish before we take off Wednesday for the west side. Mark and I will be in Ohio Thursday through Sunday looking for houses and touring pre-schools. I think I've been in denial about this move up to this point, but the moment I step out of the plane and I am in Kentucky should be a reality check. I just hope I can survive being away from my kids for four days. My poor parents are going to get 500 phone calls during that time as I check to make sure my babies are okay!

Thanks mom and dad for taking our beautiful children for four days... we owe you :-)

Today...

... we went to Evan's pre-school open house. Evan got a chance to see his classroom full of students & play in the learning centers. He also made a name tag for the first day:

... we headed to the Palouse Discovery Science Center for a science lesson on melting (ice and a freezer pop) & some free play:

("Mommy, this is a yeild!" We learned all about yield signs during our walks along the Chipman Trail earlier this week.)

... this little guy was a fantastic traveler today & hung out in his car seat/stroller for most of the morning:

... Evan had a complete conversation with Jack about his cars & his orange juice & his school while Jack was taking a swing:

... Jack hung out on his play mat and worked on his hand/eye coordination. He is getting so good at pulling on the

toys hanging above him & making his little monkey & penguin rattle:

... Evan spent a long time playing with his Handy Manny transforming truck. That darn song is still stuck in my head:

... Evan got to use his cars as paint brushes and create a cool tire track painting. He thought I was crazy when I told

him he got to dip his cars in paint. His creations turned out great & are hanging in our kitchen right now:

... I want to share a couple of recent layouts (both have been created digitally):

We are going to enjoy the last beautiful days of August outside at the park & having a picnic & maybe a trip to Kamiak

Butte. We will be enjoying our time together.

Jack @ 3.5 months

I haven't been updating because of doctor's appointments & family in town. Thank you mom & dad for spending the weekend with us!

I wanted to post a conversation I had with Evan at our physician's office on Friday:

(Evan needed to go potty & insisted on doing it completely by himself... he even shut the door and left me in the hallway).

Me (talking through the door): "Evan, how are you doing?"

Evan: "I going pee!!!"

Me: "Are you okay?"

Evan: "I all done!!!!"

Me: "Wash your hands!"

Evan:"I. TOO. SMALL!!!!!"

I walked in and he is reaching over the counter, too short to turn the handles on the faucet. I think the entire clinic heard our conversation... but I love how Evan's vocabulary & comprehension has improved dramatically over the summer. I think I have my parents and sister to thank for that!

I will post more later tonight or tomorrow.

-E