Planting Seeds!

I have really fallen off scrapping wagon.  I have piles, well files of pictures unscrapped.  I just don't have the mojo to sit and figure out what kit to use? I seriously think I am gonna open a template and add the pics and pour colors on the layers to match! and hit print! ha haha
That being said, my hubby just finished a bible study on studying your bible and we as a group took apart the parable of the soils.  I felt the need to make a page for my art journal to keep the points in my heart while they were fresh.  I used the Art Journal Provisions #39, from Tangie Baxter and Amanda Sexton 

There are some exciting things coming with Tangie Baxter and SherrieJD tomorrow:

I hope to see my fellow caravaners this Thursday for the Campfire Chat:

Birthday Catch Up!

We have birthdays July (Mr. E), August (Abs and Annabo) and September (G-man).  I ask you to sit and enjoy a quick view of those special days this year!
I think I did Eric's, but my memory is fading, so here is all 4's in a birthday recap:
Eric chose cash over presents this year! He is growing up!

My kids are a bit addicted to cake balls:

Eric ate 14 of them! I could gag! But he may be 14, but he still gets that smear of chocolate around his mouth like he did when he was 4! I love that part!

August brings the girls giggles to an all time high.  Having your birthday on a Sunday is tight! They had to wait until after morning service and after eating (the girls chose Red Robin...yummmmmmmmmmm) for presents, since they had already received the cruiser bikes earlier.

A straightener for their hair was a happy gift, but the best came from their brother who was pretty happy about being able to give (he is a lawn mowing man in our neighborhood and making some pocket change)

The girls squealed when they saw the present from Eric:

Individual bags of Flaming Hot Cheetos! I mean they SQUEALED!! I took a picture of Gabriel to capture his emotions:

Ah, the fact that he was still 11 and his younger sisters were 11 was not sitting well!  He had to wait 19 days for his birthday, it was torment.
Later that day, the girls also had yeah, cake balls (insert insane mother)

We were out of candles, from the old teen ager using them all...so the girls got ghetto candles, matches shoved in the cake ball, one each for 11...bha ha haha

Finally, Gabriel's big day turning 12 happened.  He barely slept for the two days prior.  He was beyond excited about the day and more excited about this thing called a RIP stick? He is so good on this thing. 

I was ready for the cake balls this time!! Too ready!! We had candles, but the darn things were so cold, Tony had to drill holes with a skewer, so the candle could go in!

But G was happy, as he isn't a big sweet eater anyways, so Eric took some pictures of the big blow out the candles:

He only wanted 4, good thing, cause those candles were a fight to get in the ball!  So after a lovely meal of grease and carbs at Gabriel's choice at Long John Silvers, we had cake balls!
Whew....so they are done for this year.....next up...oh yes, mine!! oh hmmmm

My new Set up! Don't hate me cause it's beautiful!!

Geez, we moved everything this week.  The kids cleaned their rooms and rearranged.  My dining room got blasted and scrubbed and my office nook edged out about 14 more inches.  I am slowly taking over the dining room.  Actually, it is because I now share the space with another computer desk.  I keep telling myself I have more room.

Here you see my new babies, they aren't identical, but they are beautiful. Dual screen set up. Let me explain the desk. You are about to step into my brain.  You can at this time, STOP, bring your mouse to the green circle with arrow and go back to where you were before you came to this site.  I warned you.  Some people don't really want to know the inside story.

 

 Going from left to right, our stereo system!! You can tell music is not big here, it is mostly for my AM radio and XM old time radio shows.  Behind the radio is a fan, as I get hot head and cold feet.  I have slippers under my computer for that.  Under the radio, my adding machine, as I still do my checkbook the old fashion way.  Toilet paper roll, for those sneezes in the AM.  A perpetual drink.  Pile of letters and note pages with to do lists on them.  Under the fall screen, you find previous stated check book, a box with my daughters broken gold ring that broke 1 day past the guarantee. My eye drops. Then see the rulers! I never really believe the rulers on my photoshop, I check them often.  I also scratch my back with them.  The ever present pair of glasses on my desk. The calendar is the tasks from Tangie.  My mouse looking so cute. There is an easy button from Staples that bothers my hubby that I can't pay full price for anything, but can plunk down $5 for a stupid button.  OOoops, I almost forgot, under the right screen, the one with a website, I think it is DST? (scrap forum) on it.  see that large white dot? Look on the base, see it? That is Abby's last tooth.  I save all my kids teeth in a box.  I am kinda tearing up a bit, cause my babies are growing up on me.  That blue huge thing? That is the monster, my honeys old computer.  The one he made videos on for church, oh yeah, processors that are humongous and video cards that make photo-shop swoon in delight!

The LAUGH on the wall was a present from my family for my birthday years ago, and I look at it often!

Thank you for taking the short trip, and please come again!

Somewheeeeeeere over the rainbow...........way up hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!!

Your welcome, now that song will be in your head! That and others from the Wizard of Oz!  I love the movie, and like most of you remember family night around the television to watch The Wizard of Oz!  Tangie Baxter has taken those memories and dropped them right smack in the middle of Halloween! Delightful!! Hallowe'en in OZ

I was completely blown away at this kit, and had the best picture of my oldest son, in a scarecrow costume last year.  It was one of those moments, that you look at the pic and realize, uhm maybe I pushed to hard for him to participate?

For the record, the boy has a reprieve and will be handing out candy this year!

GSO for Patience

That's it, I am done with clusters and multiple layers!! I am going with clean and fast layouts!! I made GSO Standouts today for my Patience Grasshopper layout, done with Studio Tangie's kit of the same name!

 

Thank you dear Sandra for picking my layout! It is a real rush to have someone look at your layout andlike it enough to copy and paste and leave sweet comments! Thank you again!

Mom Declares In-Service Day

Not even a full month into school, and I declared NO SCHOOL today! Why? Here is my TO DO list for today:

1. Reinstall Printer to my new to me computer (Hubby gave me his, and transferring all my stuff onto it!) DONE thank you dear hubby for fixing my problem...darn protection thingees

2. Story of the World mailed to my friend. (See it is going out today, I promise Christine)
2a. Go to Post Office BOXed- will be at P.O. tomorrow am

3. Letter to a friend in need, with pics (if my printer cooperates) oh the pain, she wrote me today...and I have heaps of guilt, will sit tonight and pour my heart out to her! Yeah! I wrote a 2 page letter and sent pictures!!

4. Checkbook-reconcile (if I get quicken to agree with new computer) Pushed to tomorrow!  Quicken up to date! checkbook tomorrow morning

5. Do the next 6 week calendar pages for homeschool.  (Sounds hard, but it is just a daily do list for the kids, we check off as we complete) Thursday evening after our ES(helper for Charter) comes.

6. Move books from HS rolling cubbie to the bookcases hubby got me from Craigs List.  Have I mentioned how spoiled I am?? uhm nope  Well they are no longer in the cubbie, and stacked in the living room, 1/2 in the bookcase

7.  Chickens.  Wings Clipped and tractor moved! Have to wait til they are sleeping...lol, so will do when Hubby has next day off, but he moved the chicken tractor for me!! woo hoo

8. Hooks up in girls room DONE
 (is actually on DH honey do list)

9.  Find out where and hours of dump, for hubby-clearing side yard with the boys. DONE-side yard is beautiful....all the broken down things are gone!!

10. Kids are swapping beds and cleaning rooms top to bottom! Loads of laundry! Smell of clean sheets!
DONE-12 loads of laundry, sheets, curtains, blankets and towels!  Scrubbed baseboards in both rooms.  Kids brought out 3 huge black bags of stuff, plus a box full for Goodwill!

11. Fun tasks for Tangie-DONE with some, can play more later

12. Take pics of desk.  Have to wait til I hang my LAUGH and clock! Clock hung, and LAUGH also, pics taken!

13. Prep for phone calls tomorrow.  Orthodontist for Gabriel, Yearly check ups for all 4, Eye doc appointments. Total put off til next Monday!!

It was a full day! I am totally exhausted and looks like Wendy is cooking tonight! I have to go to Walmart still for laundry detergent! lol,
WEnt to WINCO at 4am~

Flying Pigs and Patient Grasshoppers? Tangie what??

Tangie Baxter is ONE amazing woman! I am on almost a daily basis awed by her creativity and ability to (it seems to me) wave a magic wand and magic happens.  A kit full of wonder.  This weeks was no exception.
First up, is Patience Grasshopper.  Oh yeah, I see David Caradin, with the pebble in his hand, talking with his disciple.  But this kit, takes the phrase, Patience Grasshopper and brings it to our lives.

My son, Eric is now 14, and he really is a responsible boy.  He has these moments of just contemplating.  I caught one in a picture last month, and have wanted to scrap it for a while:

(just a note, the frame is from Creashen and I bought it!!! Now, don't faint)
So............this next kit...you already scrolled to see it...it is just fun, fun, fun!  I fell in love with the fluffy piggies!  It is called This Little Piggy!

Now these are both mini-kits, but so full of frivolity, you can really play!  I did two layouts.  We finally got CS5 and I had been watching tutorials all night.  I finally have text paths.  I had a blast playing, and I know I will go overboard on the bells and whistles, but they are fun!

and then this one also: notice the overdose of text paths...

To BEE or not to BEE! WE BEEd

We took off for Wheatland, population  2,275 for Labor Day learning!  The little town of Wheatland is about 25 minutes from our door step, to the home of a fellow homeschooling family.  GM and her son C, invited us out to help and watch the honey harvest!  Oh you know I was all over that.  

We have just finished the butterflies and the bees are next for our science!  Perfect timing!  So to Wheatland we went!

That is the back of Abby's head and that fine looking bee catcher is Gabriel.  Excitement was building!!

 

Eric got into it, I mean he loved it...Anna, well, not so much. 

 

Eric had just a hat with cheese cloth, the old fashion bee hat...I put a shirt over Anna's head, but she waited with me, while Eric took pics then she went to the orchard to watch the process.

This is the smoker, it has a piece of smoldering burlap in there, and they pump the smoke on the bees, to calm them down a bit. You see, the queen bee, she gets a might mad, when her hive is being destroyed and sends out pheromones,which  tells the other bees to attack whatever is doing the damage to her hive.

Eric took these right up there by the hives.

See the bees? oh my they were so loud and angry!!

Poor Gabe, his head got to hot, and he got a massive nose bleed...it was hot! That is one of the reasons, it had to be done today.  We are due for a cold snap come Wednesday, and you can't get the honey out of the frames.  How do you get the honey out? Keep watching!!  The great extractor is next!

Each of the frames of honey combs are placed in this drum and spun and the centrifugal force pulls the honey out and to the bottom of the cylinder.  The bottom is a spigot. Some folks get ones with moters, but they are very expensive, this is all done with brute force!  It keeps the combs intact.

There is a crank that is right there by Anna.  You crank that till it gets a whirling and then let it go...then look down to see the nectar:

Now, the bees are all around still, but no longer mad.  They are just wanting to get the honey back, the combs and the wax!  So they are buzzing all around, but not on you, just picking up the honey and bringing back to the hives!  They will replace with new frames, and these bees, rebuild! I was blown away...they rob back! They are a bit crazy about getting the honey and do kamikaze dives into the honey as it is coming out of the spigot.  They got 5 gallons of honey, and we were honored to bring a quart jar home with us.  I am so excited.  We all ate some of the comb, and liked it, but the honey...oh the taste...my mouth is watering thinking of it!

Here is a funny video of the extractor, a bee going for a ride, and the poor bee coming out the spigot (a bit like a Willy Wonka part), and if you look close, you will see my Abby with a praying mantis on her arm also!

I almost forgot, we had only one get stung, Eric. It went thru the gloves. The bee gave his stinger and his life to protect the hive!  G put some itchy spray on it, and Eric pulled the stinger out, without a tear or a bit of pain on his face.  He is so tough! I tell you!

 

Blowing Ink without Hypervenilating!!

I think I was in 5th or 6th grade, and we did art with ink.  The teacher poured a glob of ink and gave us straws and we blew lines around the paper! I remember I did what looked like a wooden fence and some trees.  I loved the way it looked.  We then had to add to the ink the next time for Art, and I had owls and leaves and different Autumn things.  It was a good memory.  It all came flashing back with Tangie's newest kit:

INK-CORPORATED {An Ultimate Art Doll Collection}

 As soon as I saw it, my brain went on, oh I have to do this mode!  I opened a quick canvas and this is what popped out:

 

 I love her! She is just saucy, sassy and all the other condiments! 

Catch Up!

School started August 16th, and it kinda snuck up on me....the Saturday before we got this in the mail:

I had to think, live things being shipped to my house! Perhaps there is an unwritten law or rite of passage that makes you really and truly a homeschool home.  Having live things shipped to your home, must be in the top 10 list!  We had 5 caterpillars!

In a few days we would have cocoons, and know everything there is to know about the Painted Lady Butterfly.  I quickly went to Enchanted Learning, and downloaded everything about the Painted Lady, the caterpillar and all the things that were about this little life lesson! The 3 younger kids had science.  Whew!  The first week was scheduled for me! Eric already has Apologia, (from Christine, we did the first 2 weeks last year, loved it and wanted to do it in depth this year, so we saved it for his high school).

There are so many experiments in this curriculum, and he has to do them on his own.  Eric loves that part!  He has a captive audience:

Dad had just got off work, and Tony loves Science as much as the next, he was getting into it.

The balloon was not cooperating, and the gas wasn't making it go up.  Eric was not amused at the lack of oomph!  Then it did a little blurp and it popped up! 

ERic is reading off the laptop, what is supposed to happen, and you can see the balloon, doing what it supposed to do! Fill up with some kind of gas.  I was taking pictures, and all those gases run together in my head.  The final part with the candle and no oxygen, and adding the gas from the balloon, didn't really work as plan, but it was fun!

Then it was back to Grammar!  Gabriel in his new hoodie!  This is my boys favorite thing, a hoodie!