fun with photoshop

When it is time for me to get serious and study (test at 0700 tomorrow!) I always manage to find something to distract myself. Today it was photoshop. I like to watch tutorials and then try to copy them. This one was supposed to be glamor shots. I'd love to try it again on photos taken outside. But for now I really am going to go study.

Cute kids

I snapped some pics of the kids before their school pictures.

Abby 7th grade

Jordan 5th grade

Megan 3rd grade

I wish you could have seen the "look at me! look at me!" dance Yogi was doing during the pictures. So here are some with him too.

I may be a little biased but I think they are beautiful!

Caramel and Candied Apples

We spent tonight carameling and candying apples. Its the first time I have done them with the kids so I'd forgotten what all went into it. The kids had fun unwrapping carmels and watching. You don't have much time to get the caramel on before it hardens so Ben did most of that. Then the candy coating is in essence sucker syrup so it was 300 degrees when it went on. Ben and I hurried and coated the apples and the kids all pretended to eat poison apples and die. But the best part is the eating of course so fun was had by all!

I have all but given up on catching up on this summer's activities. I still have hope that it will happen but for now I am going to try to blog as I go. It was a busy summer and school is getting busier and busier as it goes along. I look forward to the day when all I have to do is work full time and be a mom!

Lots of catching up to do!

I haven't blogged even once this summer. Abby and Jordan both had birthday's too. Well, I have 2 weeks left of school and then 2 weeks off so I will have a major blog catch up then. But for now I have to post my new favorite ice cream recipe so I won't lose it!

getting better already

Well, 3 stitches and a little reconstruction and she is looking better already. I'm glad I took her in so quickly. The dentist thought that her lip would heal on its own but that stitching it together would reduce the scar. I was impressed that he could "re-make" a tooth and have it look so natural. Now I think I just need to wrap her in bubble wrap and we should be good to go.

Sad!

Megan crashed on her scooter on the way to school today :(

OUCH!

Someone is feeling right at home

Well we made another addition to our family. He was given to us by someone at my work because he was too aggresive with her other cat and she thought he might be the gopher killer we were looking for. So far all he wants to do is hang out inside. As things warm up I might kick him out into the great outdoors to see if he will fulfill his duty as rodent patroller. But for now I think he has settled in.

His name is Norbert. I asked the kids if they wanted to change it and all that we came up with was Snowball and Killer and neither one has stuck. So, Norbert it is.

Spring Break 2010

Ok, I know it has been a while since spring break but I just haven't been able to make the time to post about it. I've started before but the pics take so long to upload I gave up! So now here it is:

We went to DISNEYLAND!!

Smile for the camera!

I said smile for the camera!!

Here are the kids in front of Cinderella's castle.

Yes, those are coats at Disneyland!

And here we are in front of the C A L I F OR N I A.

We spent alot of time standing in line.

We had a lot more luck this time around catching the Disney Characters.

Here they are with Minnie:

The Brother Bears:

And here is the whole crew with Woody:

The kids had fun chasing each other around in the bumper cars.

Bryce may have had a little bit TOO much fun!

The kids in Mickey's House:

The Teacups:

Driving their own cars!

And here's Megan having too much fun:

Here is one of our Splash Mountain pics. The kids loved all the big scary rides. By the 5th day there we even got Megan on the California Screamin' which is the biggest roller coaster there.

The Grizzly River Run

There is a sign posted that says,

"Warning, you WILL get wet; you MAY get soaked."

So Megan rode the biggest rollercoaster but there is one bigger, scarier ride that some of us would never even consider getting on. The MALIBOOMER. It shoots you 180 feet straight up in 4 seconds. Thanks but no thanks I say. Jordan on the other hand thought it looked like a good time which was good news to Ben because that gave him a riding buddy.

And they're off. I was just glad that Jordan didn't vomit. He said he loved it though.

What would a Disneyland trip be without an amazing fireworks show right? They did not disappoint and there we times when the night was as bright as the day!

After we had spent our 6 days and packed up all of our things we headed out to Newport Beach. We spent literally 10 mins there, but hey, we were there right.

Then we spent 2 days in Vegas hanging out with 2 of Ben's brothers and their families.

Megan had a slight run in with a wire supporting a tree but she was a trooper and we were just glad it wasn't worse!

I had to include this pic of what the boredom of driving led Miss Meg to. I thought it was pretty creative and after the other two saw it it kept them occupied for about 2 hours trying to see what else they could spell.

We had so much fun and would love to go again. It was so fun to go with Bryce & Mindi's family and Meloni and Peyton. We would love to get everyone together next time!