31 August 2009

Couldn't post yesterday because I was catching up from taking Saturday off ;-0

Stuff I Did Sunday
Did the Cracker Barrel breakfast, did almost all of the laundry, two rounds of dishes, and went thru some old boxes. Got enough trash to fill one of the two boxes. (I think moving and rearranging at the office has rubbed off.) School paperwork, recycling, packing some of the lunchbox items.

Stuff I Didn't Get to Do on Sunday
Planned on reading & writing some, and didn't even sort the newspaper. Wanted to journal for my 2nd scrap layout but didn't get the 2nd part written. Ended up getting takeout because I didn't make chicken lasagna.

Monday
Today wasn't that great of a day. Lots of changes in the workplace. It'll take some getting used to. Trying to go with the flow!! Really looking forward to changing the calendars to a new month tomorrow.

Appropriate Quote to Insert Here:
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

45th Birthday Photos

#1The garden flagpost is in front of the house and gets changed monthly, so August is usually when I put the snazzy cake flag out. #2 I got a lot of beautiful cards from family and friends. #3 and #4 When I got home from Florida Mall, the kids had blown up balloons and taped them all around. When I came inside, they came running out and yelled, "Surprise!" How cute is that? #5 Apparently, Oreo Ice Cream Cake is now the new black. The half cake sure won't last long around here...I give it 2 days max.

Blessings Times Four

This is one of my favorite photos of Baumgardners Four. I thought I'd scrap it while I was feeling happy today - lol! I'm almost done with another page, too, but the journaling for that one isn't done yet. I'll post the photo tomorrow.



photo credit - Dorsey "Granny Old" Haas
brown cardstock - The Paper Company
orange cardstock/scalloped cardstock - Bazzill
patterned paper and large letters - Sassafrass Lass
stamping ink - ColorBox by ClearSnap
brown rub-ons - Cosmo Cricket & Die Cuts With a View
brown pen - Zig Writer
die cut frame - My Mind's Eye
pop-up flourish - K&Company
chipboard number - Heidi Swapp
letter stickers - Making Memoriess
corner rounder - Creative Memories
other: date stamper - Office Depot

Caterpillar Cake!

These are the caterpillar cupcakes/cake for our friend Gabby's birthday party. They are from Cakes by Olga, and I'll give out her business number if anybody wants a cake like this one. It was so colorful! The only thing better than the way it looked was the way it tasted! Each piece had different kinds of icing on it. Sooooo delicious and lots of fun to eat. Don't forget to click for mouthwatering closeups!

Last day of being 44

This is my last day of being 44 years old. Cheers! :)

Hoping to post again later tonight. In the meantime, Happy Friday~

Early night?!

Supposed to be my early night, but here I am, posting that I'm very tired and going to bed right after I finish up a couple li'l things. Oh geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

;-)

First and Third Grade

They've decided they're sick of posing for pictures, and chose this morning to let me hear about it. Loudly! Excuse me, but I need a little transition time to wean off the picture taking. I hear going cold turkey is really, really bad. In the meantime, I'm okay with fake expressions of happiness on the first day of school.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Don't flatter yourself that friendship authorizes you to say disagreeable things to your intimates. The nearer you come into relation with a person, the more necessary do tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to learn unpleasant things from his enemies; they are ready enough to tell them." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

(from the perpetual calendar I've had for many years)

Sat. 8-22-09

• Haircut & Color
• First movie ever in 3-D: G-FORCE! Very cool visually, very cute story
• Michaels
• Florida Mall (Hat Shack, VisionWorks, Auntie Anne's Pretzels)
• Payless Shoes
• Wendy's

Originals by John Sam

Instead of going to sleep tonight, John Sam drew these freehand and then colored them in. I think the word you're looking for is WOW! Top one is Mario and Yoshi, and the second one is Luigi and Wario. If you or someone you love plays Nintendo, you'll know what I'm talkin 'bout! ;~)

Tangible proof that genius creativity will not be thwarted by bedtime.

Mark Ellery Haas

My Uncle Mark's birthday was today. He'd be 57. He is loved and missed.

Tampa Aquarium

Sam and the kids took a day trip with Nana, Papa, Cheryl & Christina to an aquarium in Tampa. I found a link for it online, but when I clicked it, it said they were updating the site so it's not listed here. Last night I charged up the camera, so they took it and Sam got some great photos.

The kids got to see in real life how big certain fish are, how they're fed and how they swim around each other in the tanks. You could see from their smiley faces that they were having a good time! Sam loved the "face" on this manta ray and said it kinda was hanging out by the glass. The alligator one with John Sam is a genuinely funny Kodak moment. How about the tether on that owl?

It looks like they also had tanks where they grow coral. The colors were extremely vivid--I totally wish I could've seen those in person.

Last but not least, a picture of the puffer fish!

Cake photos pending

I'm still waiting for the go-ahead on the cake photos. Maybe tomorrow!

Special shout out to Sissy, who is feeling poorly. ;-) I hope you feel better soon. Nyquil is your friend. Or at least it used to be my friend when I had strep, haha.

Kids had a large day at Aquatica today. Even though they wore sunblock, they were really red when they came home. Caroline's legs looked very brown; usually she is more fair-skinned. John Sam browns up like his dad, even though his nose was a little red, too. I think some pictures will be coming along later!!

Sunday night

I'm a bit tired since we had a lot of fun activities this weekend. Today we celebrated a friend's birthday at Fun Spot. The best part was the water bumper cars! The kids also went on the merry-go-round. It was fun watching them whisk by me, laughing with their hair blowing. Caroline went twice and after John Sam's 2nd trip to the water bumper cars, he went for a ride with "Siss-a-ree" -

Unbelievably, I think John Sam and Caroline are caked out.

Coming up is our last week of summer vacation! It does seem like it went by quickly.

16th Annual Art Extravaganza

John Sam and Caroline's artwork was chosen for display at the City of Orlando's 16th Annual Art Extravaganza. All the kids from all the City summer camps submitted their creations and several were chosen from each location. It was held at City Hall. They had a large ice cream bar and let all the kids add their own toppings. It was sheer coincidence that both of them chose M&Ms. ;-) They had other photography, mixed media, pottery and both paint and pencil drawings. I wanted to take pictures of some of the ones I liked, but of course since I don't have artists' permission, I wasn't allowed.

I will feature our budding artists by their works, and then show closeups.



John Sam's:



Caroline's:

Before we went inside City Hall, I wanted to take some photos in the scenery around the courthouse. I was showing the kids some statues, and a butterfly landed on John Sam's shoulder. It flew off and landed on the ground, and he kept flapping his wings like he was just out of his cocoon and was drying them. After that, he'd fly around and kept going back to John Sam. We figured it was his white shirt. It took a lot of tries, but with a little patience, I did get some awesome ones.

8.15.09 Justin's Birthday Party

A coworker of mine asked us to her son's first birthday party. He was adorable (just like his parents). A lot of friends and family came to celebrate with Justin, and there were so many kids there! Outnumbered the adults, if I can still add! Everybody enjoyed at least four of the following six options: bounce house, chips, great food, soda & water, and cake!

Justin was fascinated by John Sam, and kept touching his hair and giggling. He smiled at Caroline and kicked his feet. We got him a cool motion book and I made him this cute & easy card:




[Bazzill; Making Memories; Paper Bliss; ScrapPagerz.com template]

Feliz Cumpleanos #1, Justin!

Five Years Since Hurricane Charley?

It seems like it's been a while, but not that long since Hurricane Charley came through Orlando. I have a few "before" and "after pictures of the house & yard, and will scan them to post later this weekend. Some of them are almost unbelievable, and it was so much worse in person. I think of how long we went without electricity that first time, and how the inconvenience and stress of that hardship and so many things took a serious toll on everybody who lived here. The other two storms didn't seem nearly as bad since we'd improved our rugged camping-at-home skills. We learned a lot, though. A generator and a window unit AC are a good combination. Flashlights that only cost a dollar aren't that great. Cold showers are underrated!

This weekend we have two different birthday parties to go to, plus an art event (details later). All this means we'll have lots of photo opportunities and you know how happy that makes me.

P.S.

Please note the new links here on the blog (Two Peas in a Bucket, Facebook and Twitter). Click them from here and you'll be directly linked to the websites :)

I hope to get permission to add some others later.

Thanks for lookin' -

For Kismet

When I Grow Old With My Dogs
(Author Unknown)

When I grow old with my dogs,
I shall wear turquoise and soft gray sweatshirts
and a bandanna over my silver hair,
and I shall spend my retirement checks on
sweet wine and my dogs.
I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair
and listen to my dogs breathing.

I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night
and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow.
And when people come to call,
I will smile and nod as I show them my dogs,
and talk of them and about them,
The ones so beloved of the past,
The ones so beloved of today.

I still will work hard cleaning after them
and mopping and feeding them and
whispering their names in a soft, loving way.
I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat like a jewel,
and I will be an embarrassment to all -- and my family.

Some people have not yet found the peace
in being free to have dogs as your best friends . . .
These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall
and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep
to greet you as if you were a god
with their warms eyes full of adoring love and hope
that you will stay and
hug their big strong necks and
kiss their dear sweet heads and
whisper to their very special company.

I look in the mirror
and see I am getting old.
This is the kind of woman I am
and have always been.
Loving dogs is easy—
They are part of me, accept me for who I am.
My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives.
When I am old, this will be important to me.

You will understand when you are old,
if you have dogs to love, too.


This was sent to me by my Uncle Mark about four years ago. He was a dog person, too. :) I don't know the poet/author's name, and the version above is paraphrased a little bit for length.

Colleen's Birthday

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Colleen! Wishing you the best and many happy returns! In your honor, I'll have you know that I hand-hemmed a pair of pants tonight! There might even be ironing involved! ;-0

You are loved, my friend! xoxo



[Bazzill cardstock; Creative Memories cardstock; Stamp by 7gypsies; Ribbon by Offray]

Highlights from Pretend Birthday Weekend

The cutest picture all weekend:

No photo available:

The Oreo ice cream cake. Once it thawed out, it was a goner. I felt dizzy from all the sugar, but in the good way, lol. I believe the word of the day was "devour."

The cutest daredevil you'll ever see on the Internet:

Best of the most recent nightmarish dress-up photo session (staged by Tia). The funniest part was how surprised the kids were when I threw my down my camera to prevent a Baumgardner sibling tragedy:

We all enjoyed the weekend at Granny's and Aunt Waura's. xoxo

Pretend Birthday

We're visiting Aunt Waura and letting the ice cream cake warm up so we can chow down!!! Granny is supervising five - count 'em, FIVE - grandchildren so I can sneak in a blog post before the party starts.

Intentionally left blank due to annoyance

Going to bed irritated since the Warden is stressing out everyone in the tank.

The trouble is, I keep forgetting no matter what time it is, it's all about him.

**end of vent** (is that the shortest one in about 40 years?! LOL)

From the back seat

I hear the funniest snippets of conversations from the kids when they're in the back seat of the car. No matter where we're going or the time of day, there's usually something funny, mischievious, or naughty going on back there.

Today Caroline was trying to talk John Sam into something, Lord only knows what. I didn't hear the beginning of it, but the part I heard went like this:

Caroline: Please?
John Sam: No, because you're just gonna be mean to me later.
Caroline: No, I won't.
John Sam: Are you going to be mean to me?
Caroline: Not TODAY...

I wasn't bluffing!

I'm sure there were a couple of naysayers who thought I was just bluffing about getting ready to scrap. I'll have you know that I've gotten the papers organized for twenty - that would be 20 - layouts.

The proof is in the pix 'cause the kids ate the pudding, of course. :)

Yes, the time really IS 11:43 p.m. *gasp*

xoxo

So many posts.....so little time

Yesterday I planned to take before & after pictures of my, ahem, piles. I wanted to show how I was getting ready to SCRAPBOOK! But by the time I got finished with all the required tasks, alas, outta time.

I've gotten out of the habit of blogging every day. I want to make time to start doing it every day again.