Friday, July 31, 2009

random post ahead...

So between finishing up the room reno, getting ready for birthdays, reunions, weddings and fall things have been quite busy. We were so happy to have Ron back from his trip, the kids and I missed him like crazy. We spent the next couple of days just being together as a family. One of those mornings we were having coffee out on the deck (our favorite summer tradition) when he casually mentioned that he saw a cool moth by the shop. So I went to take pictures :) Normally moths freak me out something terrible and Ron thinks its hilarious but after a bad camp experience moths and I just keep a respectable distance from each other. But this one was very cool.
It was huge and had the coolest fuzzy antennes, Ron told me what kind it was but I forget what the name was. He did say that they are pretty rare up here.
Look at how cool those markings are! Just click on the picture to see them bigger. I got quite a few photos before our cat started bugging it so Ron moved it to a safer location.
We also built a swing set for our kids. You would have thought with us having older kids that we would have had one by now but nope we didn't :) and will me starting my new venture this fall it will definately come in handy. We weren't too smart though, we put it together on the hottest day of the year. So instead of taking the estimated 4-8 hours it took longer because of building a sand box around the set, shovelling 10 yards of sand to a depth of 10-11 inches deep (for safety reasons), and taking swimming pool-food-water breaks, we didn't finish it until about 10 at night even though we started at 8 in the morning. Its not that easy to build something like this while watching 3 kids and do all that they need. But its done! And really what good is a swing set if it sits in the shop all summer?
And just a funny random Owen shot...this is his moose call. Which in actuallity is the center of my angel food cake pan ;)

Friday, July 24, 2009

Finally a scrapbooking post

So all my creative energy has been caught up in redecorating and organizing my house. I decided to spend the last day and a half scrapbooking. Its been so long! I took out my May kit from the Memory Workshop and went to town. I also decided to not reinvent the wheel and just do what I love to do :)
Love these photos of Owen, they are some of the new pictures that I have up in our room.
I had to look up what the word sublime meant and it fits Abby so well it means: adj. inspriring awe: awesome

Abby and Nadia fooling around at Great Grandma's cabin at the lake
Love this photo of Owen <3
some of my fun pictures of Ethan on the boat
Some new papers from Cosmo Cricket called Lil' man.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

room pictures

Here's my project that I did this past few days to keep me busy while my dh was away on a fishing trip. Cause having 3 kids at home doesn't keep me busy enough. Unfortunately blogger always loads my photos backwards and I forget to put them in the order I'd like so my "before" picture is at the bottom. Here's the comforter/pillows that I bought at home sense for a really great deal. Dh and I opted to get rid of our duvet because quite frankly they drive me crazy. The duvet always shifts inside the cover and I have yet to find a solution to this problem.
One of my new decor projects. I picked up this frame at home sense for $10 and took new photos of the kids on Thursday, printed them out and added some scrapbooking paper to some of the photos. I used Kaiser Kraft papers in the greens that matched the room/bedding.
I also stained my furniture that we bought from Ikea about 10 years ago. Dh and I like simple wood furniture and this was unfinished pine that I had just put a clear coat of protector on. So I sanded it and stained it to match my free standing mirror. I can never keep my mirrors finger print free, can you guess why? Also I've got new 5x7 photo frames and put new pictures of the kids in them.
The view from the door. I bought a new blind and installed it myself. Boy that sucker was heavy! The empty wall should have 2 floating shelves on it but I do need dh there to help me install them. The kids aren't that great at keeping things level so that I can put them up. I do have some green bottles that will probably go on the shelves.
Here's the before shot. This was my terra cotta tomb that drove me crazy. It was just too dark for my tastes. This is also the old duvet that will be donated.
I really love the calming look of the room now. I'm not sure about the matchabilty of the paint and the comforter. I took the cushion in to match the paint but I find now that the paint is on the wall it seems almost too minty green for what I wanted. It needs a bit more olive in it, but it could be my lighting. Just debating about getting a different bedding set and selling this one but I'll wait to see what dh says.
I also managed to clean up my scrapbooking room that was collecting everything else but scrapbooking stuff in it. Happy to have things more streamlined and clutter free. I hate clutter but it seem to mulitply in my house no matter what I do. So looking forward to dh coming home tomorrow night, we've never been away from each other longer than 4 days since we've been married 11 years ago. Apparently I can't sleep alone very well. I've been getting up at 5:30 am without meaning too. Lucky me :P

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Photos from the weekend :)

Lately Ethan has been obsessed with Calvin & Hobbes...can't you tell?


definately scrapbook worthy
Just hanging around the campfire at my Grandma's cabin, the only ones missing were my brother and his family.

Abby & Nadia...2 peas in a pod
The homemade kayak was a huge hit. The boys just loved it and it was something different that they could do. I think that Gabe went out 7 times or perhaps more.
My sister auditioning for Canada's Next Top Model? Gotta get those spider webs out of the outhouse.
Her audience. Owen was quite impressed.
Look! He's doing the wave :)
Enjoying a cookie, I think.
Catch of the day. Abby was thrilled to get a reed. Might have to instruct the girl on the finer points of fishing.
Abby & Nadia doing some cartwheels.
I think that I'm going to do a layout of this with a succession of photos.
Gabe in the kayak "parking"
Nadia went out but sort of lost control of the kayak.
Good thing she's got a big brother to come and rescue her.
After that we added a rope to the end of the kayak for the girls. Here's my Abby.
Shocking to realize that your kids are big enough to pilot a kayak on the lake on their own, albeit with a rope.
My favorite photo of the day. Not perfect by any means but I love it just the same. Here's my sister on the kayak.
We took the kids on a walk/scavanger hunt so that Grandma could have some peace and quiet. Its a walk softly and carry a big stick kind of thing.
Enjoying smores at the end of the day. We seem to do that a lot lately. We had just a great day topped off with kick butt fireworks which I didn't take pictures of because its nice to just enjoy them once in a while. Thrilled to have more photos to scrapbook :)

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Some recent pictures of the kids

Finally a post about the older 2. I took the kids to my Grandma's cabin on the lake to get some new photos of them. I had high hopes of getting some nice ones of the 3 of them but taking pictures of an uncooperative 13 month old doesn't always work well. My beautiful Abby. Lately she's taken to doing a whole lotta posing that looks, well, posed. It was nice to catch something a tiny bit natural from her.
My Ethan. Who seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He's so concerned about hurting other people's feelings that he tends to forget about his own and then gets overly dramatic about it. Any hints for teaching him to find that balance will be welcome.
One of the few good ones of the 3 kids this makes me smile because Ethan and Abby are always so helpful with Owen.
Finally a non-weird smile from my Ethan. Lately its all about the Calvin & Hobbes impressions. I'll post some photos to prove it.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

July kit layouts

I was so honored to be asked to be a guest designer for the Memory Workshop(www.memoryworkshop.ca) this month. Sandra puts together the most wonderful kits that are jam packed with great scrapbook supplies! I've been hooked since my first kit last October. This month's kit features a Canadian company called Harmonie which has beautiful products!Doing double page layouts is something that I stuggle with so I was stepping outside of my comfort zone.
My extremely talented cousin Adrienne Ulliac (of Photography by Adrienne) took these pictures when we got together for a smore cookout. Thanks for the pictures!
I'm quite partial to one photo layouts so this is more my style.
My funny little man all smuthered in strawberry smoothie.
Love these photos of my dh. I took these photos about 3 years ago when we took a quadding trip up to the Athabasca River.