Anyone want S'more?!

On Saturday, my parents invited us over for a "tailgate" party prior to the night game of OSU vs. Wisconsin (away game- and we won!!). Anyway, my dad had made his chili and cornbread- always yummy, and then, built his fire pit where we roasted marshmallows for smores! It was great, and the girls ate and ate and ate. (surprise, surprise!) Alex was with Aunt Ivy at a fall harvest shin dig (thank you, Ivy!!), so he is absent from these fun shots. Afterward, we went to the elementary school I attended that they just rebuilt to play on the playground, so there are pics of that as well....

Leah loves to climb this tree in my parents yard- and she goes pretty high- here she pretends to sleep!

She really is so good at the monkey bars! She has been doing them for nearly 2 years, since she was 4, and did this circle one twice before dropping down!! It wears me out just watching her!

Fair Frenzy...

We are not "fair" people- seriously, we don't do "fairs"- does that make me sound like I am better than "fair" people?! Well, I am! Just kidding, but really, we just don't do "fairs", BUT, we did this year.

My parents forced us, actually, to go to the last one of the season, and the yearly family reunion. Growing up, this was a tradition- "THE FAIR"- we went every year, along with my grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and our great cousins. I remember these times- I remember the fun and the craziness at the fair- I loved it then. But something happened to me- I changed, and married Dana, and we became "non-fair" people. Dana has a harder time than me going to them. Not to mention that this one was on Conference Sunday. I know, I know...but we love our family, and sometimes you do things you don't always want to do to make others happy, so we did, and we survived, and managed to have a great time. Thankfully my parents paid for my kids to ride these ridiculously expensive crappy rides- and they paid for the food- which, I must admit is not bad- the funnel cake was delicious and so wonderful! That is one real reason we are not "fair" people- we can't afford it!! We just don't have $70 bucks (which is probably what they spent for a couple of hours) for some gross rides and fattening (yet yummy) food- it's just not in our budget!! How others do it is just beyond me!!

But, it is always good to see my extended family, since the last time I saw them was at my great aunt's funeral a year ago. My great uncle Don is wonderful, and I love seeing him. I got to hang out with my second cousin Sarah and her sweet family, and with my parents and Sean and Steph. It was really nice- and it wasn't as bad as we anticipated, here is proof:

The girls rode rides together ($2 each girl per ride- you do the math- crazy, huh?!)

Leah rode this kangaroo ride, as a solo rider and the ride worker forgot to take her ticket, and so she rode this one for free!

Daddy took the girls on the one ride I actually like- the carousel- and they loved it!

One trip down this long slide: $2!! Seriously, and it took about .5 seconds- Leah's comment: "Holy Cow, that was fun!!" That alone was worth the price- thanks mom and dad!!

Celeste and Brianna rode this "boat-jet ski" ride- they really liked it, though it jerked them as if they were whip lashed!

Okay, this is a "fair" person- need I say more?! The one who brings a bearded dragon with him- really?!

Oh, Deigo was there, and Celeste was in heaven!

Check out the bags of cotton candy- courtesy of Grandma, no doubt- just wait till the next pictures:

No, really, Grandma, thanks for the icky, sticky, gooey cotton candy- we love it!!

On our way out, we stopped in the sheep barn- Celeste loved it!

This was as far as her hand would go, and when the sheep tried to lick her, she snatched it right back- I took about 20 pics trying to get her to keep it still- this is one of two that I got!

#2

The 6 love the cows and this one was super friendly, but loud- they loved it!

So, will we go next year? That remains to be determined- but for now the kids have memories, lasting ones like the ones I have from their age- and that is all that matters.

Letter Tag

My friend Cassandra got me going on this new tag. If you want to play along, leave me a comment and I will assign you a letter and you have to list 10 things that begin with that letter that you love.

My letter is L, so here I go...

1. Love- This has to be first and is paramount in my life. I just love so many things- and my faith and family are foremost.

2. Life- I am really enjoying this stage of life right now- I am at home with just Celeste everyday and I am able to do some stuff that is easier with just one. I am still trying to simplify my life each day, through little things, and it is working...one day at a time, of course!

3. Lime Green- My favorite color of the summer- and trying to incorporate it into my fall wardrobe- it really looks good with brown!

4. Lap- My lap is very important to my kids- they each pick a book at night, and when it is their turn, they sit on my lap by themselves- and let me tell you...it is getting harder for me to keep Alex on it- he is so big, but he gets upset if I tell him to just sit beside me- so...I will hold him on it- and treasure that he wants to be there!

5. Light- When the power went out last month for so many families, I became more and more grateful for ours! What a blessing electricity is! I love sunlight, too- and could not live in a place where it didn't shine at least a little every day!

6. Listening- I am working on being a better listener- especially to my kids- and trying to hear all that they have to say- it is not easy...I am the talker and I need to work on being better at listening and be quiet more often!

7. Limeade- Cherry Limeade, to be more accurate, is one of my favorite things to drink.

8. Lemons- A must have in all my waters! Nothing is more refreshing to me than water with lemon and a packet of splenda!! We have even convinced the children when we go out to eat that drinking water is best, since we can make special lemonade! Lucky for us, they believe it!

9. Ladies- So grateful to be a lady- and grateful for all the women who are examples to me in my life. I am certain of Heavenly Father's love and knowledge when he assigned gender in this life- grateful I am the woman, mom, sister, daughter, granddaughter, niece, and wife in my life.

10. Lucky- I do feel very lucky in this life to have so much! I am not just talking about the people and things, but there is so much that I have here. I feel very lucky and blessed.

Pumpkin Patch Pages

So, I finally figured out Scrapblog a little better, and worked on these pages last night. They are not perfect, but good enough, I guess.

It was our annual Pumpkin Patch adventure with my brother and his family. We have gone every year since we had kids. Dana and I even went there the first Halloween we were married. This place is just a pumpkin patch, with a small area for the kids to play, but we keep going there because we all went there as kids- my dad took us and even Dana's dad took him and his siblings. It's just a memory to us, but an important one, one that our children now have in their hearts.

Enjoy!

School Pictures at Home!

Today is picture day at school for Alex and Leah- however, due to the ridiculously expensive packages, we opted to order only a yearbook, and take our own pictures at home! Here was my attempt: black background, white background, white door, candid- nothing was that great, but since my mom complained that she didn't have a "school" picture of the kids, I tried to appease her- here is the best of the best- and they aren't the best, but here is what I got after 20 shots- maybe I should've just bought the dumb package- this was hardly worth the trouble!!!

They are so cute, but so hard to photograph when posing- and let's be honest, I just have a regular digital camera, so closeups are not so easy. I took these at a distance and tried to crop, but they aren't as closeup as regular school pictures- but oh well. I will send these to Sam's and print them in wallets for family and friends- make my mom happy!
By the way, here are last years, that I purchased from school, and still didn't like:

These were re-take day, because the first time, Alex wasn't smiling, and Leah's eyes were shut. On this day, it was the day after Leah's eye surgery, and she was a tad swollen in the face. Alex's shirt is missing a button. Oh well- I remember titling last year's post: Every Picture Tells a Story...well, this year is still no exception, and instead the title of this years' should be: Mom is Too Cheap to Buy School Pictures!
Memories, memories.

Scrapblog- Another way to make cute collages!

Check this site out - those of you who are into cute pages and layouts! I just created these in a matter of minutes- it was pretty easy, but many steps involved. They have designs, thousands of options, and themes- I just chose this one to give it a try. The major drawback I found was that it took over 20 minutes to upload 20 pictures into the program, but once they were in there, it was fairly simple to navigate through and create fun pages. You can export them once they are done and then add them to your blurb book, or print them off as 8 X 10's too. As with the fun polyvore collages, this could easily be a time consuming, yet fun project! Go and see for yourself. Let me know what you think- and I will credit my sister in law, Es for starting it all!

I love the Lorikeets!

I don't love this one, but I like the pictures; I tried to change it up, but I think it's a bit complicated.

I couldn't figure out how to make the outlines of the pictures all the same color, so this frustrated me too...but overall not that bad.

I have a tendency to use a lot of pictures in my collages, so these were harder for me to adjust to, since there is fun backgrounds and stickers and all...so I probably won't use this all the time, but for some dimension on my pages, I will add them into my book from time to time. Let me know if you like it when you try it or not.

Fall Hair with Flair...well, something like that!

So yesterday, I got my hair done...seriously one of my ultimate favorite things to do! I so love getting a cut and it has been since before we went on vacation that I had it done. Luckily my good friend Stephanie is around and can spend time cutting it whenever I need her to- and she even comes to my house- how lucky am I?!

Suzanne, Jackie and I were fortunate enough to have a "spa day" at Jackie's yesterday, with all three of us in the hot seat! Stephanie started highlighting Jackie at 9:30, and then me, then Suzanne, then my cut, Suzanne's cut and finally Jackie's- all completed by 4:30ish. Okay, it was a longer than usual day, but our kids just played with each other and we had a mini girls day out! I didn't mind- and it was really fun seeing them get theirs done too. Glad I didn't take pics of that- my hair was orange for a while and Suzanne's was yellow- funny how coloring works!

Stephanie talked me into doing all over color. Now, I haven't had my hair colored in a few years- but just had a demi-permanent color (it washes out in about 2 months), and not had highlights in forever. She chose a chocolate brown with red tone...and of course a newer, shorter version of my cut:


I took these myself (shocker), but I was really trying to see if you could detect the red in it. Can you? Funny how I like pictures of me from a distance, but close up, not so much. I don't think I ever noticed how defined my chin is, and I am not straining my neck, but it sure looks like it- yuck! I guess I should've paid attention to the angles- but it is hard when I am holding the camera myself!!

Anyway, I do like it- it feels so smooth and healthy (despite having color on it), and I love the shine. Here is a pic from last week - can you see that natural hair just doesn't have shine to it? I think it looks terribly dull- and please don't look too closely at my eyes- it was an early morning with little sleep the night before. Bonnie took this one, and apparently the sun was brighter through the clouds than I thought- squint, squint!

Anyway, I am happy, and am probably going to keep it this way through the winter- it is sort of fun this short- I like the way it lays and sort of goes back to it's place even after the wind blows it! Suzanne's looks amazing, and Jackie too! It was a long day, but beauty isn't always easy, right ladies?! Can I get an Amen?!

A Great Night Out...

So, what do you think?! Autumn got me on this fun site, where in just a few minutes, I created this look- I could spend hours of time here, but this was my first time and it was interesting...hmmm...I think I will check it out again. Do it from here, and show me your collections!

Team Tailgating!

Today the kids and I went to tailgate at the OSU game. It was Leah and Celeste's first time being down near the stadium and Alex had only been one other time. We love tailgating!! It is a huge tradition at OSU (as with everything else, right?!). I have gone countless times, and it has never been dull- and in fact, this time was one of my favorites. Perhaps it was because I got to show the kids this side of the Buckeyes. They loved it, and Leah even said that it was one of her best days ever! Gotta love that!

We started out with a great parking spot (free, courtesy of our cute parking dad)- and then breakfast - a smorgasbord of treats- including cupcakes for the kids- wow-what a great mom to feed them pure sugar that early in the morning. (Another reason I will again win "mom of the year"!) Anyway, then we headed to see the team walk out of the field house and take some shots of our guys. We were in the front row and we got to see all of them walk out- it is almost like seeing a celebrity (odd, I know), but it was great- and we were inches from Laurinitis- and he is much cuter in person, let me tell ya! So then we got some free stuff, played some fun games and then Brutus showed up!! We actually got pictures with him! How cool is that?! Leah got a couple shots with the cheerleaders, which she loved, and that was even more awesome- I just loved watching them when I went to the games as a little girl, and now I am just as in awe as I was then! They are so amazing!!

Here is a montage of our time tailgating:

Oh, and the Buckeyes beat Minnesota, so it was a perfect day!!