"Throw me some beads, Mister!"

Check out Sam's cool Mardi Gras costume! His class goes all out with the festivities, so of course we had to hit the thrift stores to come up with a good costume. I made his red cape from a velvet skirt, and the faux fur collar came from a coat. Total cost: $1.25 His "sceptor" is an old shower curtain rod with some hot-glued beads, streamers and gold tassel.

How pretty is this mama moose? She has twins that look like they're from last year, but unfortunately by the time I grabbed the camera, mama shooed them away out of sight. They've been hanging around our neighborhood this week. Don't you just want to smooch that big fuzzy nose of hers?
And for no particular reason, other than I love him. :)

What Fall means...

Photo courtesy of Maggie.

Photo courtesy of Dad.

Fall in my house means bird hunting, and lots of it. I can't bring myself to eat it, though. The boys love it, thankfully. I just can't get past the thought of it. Oh, well. More for them. :) Sam gets such pure joy from being able to "feed his family", even at the tender age of 8. He'll make a great husband and daddy one day.

Maggie's been sneaking her dad's camera oustide to get some shots of the Fall colors. I'm going to encourage her to enter some pictures in next year's State Fair exhibit.

So I've been thinking a lot lately about the huge number of kit clubs out there, and what makes them so popular. Besides the obvious factor, a true sense of style and design, what makes a great kit? Is it having exclusive items only available in that kit? Or non-traditional finds? Is it sheer quantity of products? Is it just the convienence of having coordinating supplies come to your door, like having a personal shopper?

Or do you not care for kits at all?

The kit clubs must be doing something right, because there are a million of them, and they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Having only ever bought one scrapbook kit, it just makes me curious.

I scrapped a few more layouts...I'll post them next time. For now, I'll share a few more of my favorite "scrappy" blogs. These girls rock!

Jennifer Pebbles, The Good Life

Ruth Akers, Learn to Swerve

Martha Bonneau, Mugsy Boo

Go get your scrap on!

Random stuff...

So I have nothing earthshattering to write about, but the house is quiet, the kids are still in bed, and I'm in the mood to play on the computer. :)





I'm working on another class for The Scrap Shack (Heather, I hope that's OK!). You know how you get into a mode or mindset...now everywhere I look there are idea for projects or new things I want to try. I even started carrying around an idea journal again. Something I haven't done since I worked for Li'l Davis. I have some fun product ideas I'm working on, so who knows? I might get back into it?





A sad thing to have to write about...the baby chickadees are all gone. It was too soon for them to leave the nest on their own, so we think a Magpie probably got them. We've had one hanging around the yard this week. :( We were all looking forward to them taking their first flights.





On a happier note, we're going to a wedding in Homer next weekend and staying at Land's End resort. It's the kids' first time spending the night in a hotel, and they are totally jazzed. Nevermind that we're attending a formal wedding and what'll probably be a very swanky reception. All they have talked about is ordering room service! haha

And just because I hate to post without including a picture, I wanted to share this one of Paul and Sam playing "Army" out in the yard. See Sam in the helmet hiding in a hole? haha And look how intent Paul is, whispering his "orders" for Sam to "move out". haha This just makes me smile.

Have a great week! Oh, the class for this week is full now, so if you missed out and want to take the next one, I think it'll be on the calendar in the next couple of days. I'm not sure of the themes yet, but it'll be two 2-page layouts using lots of photos again. I have some more fun ideas I want to try!

Feeeeeeeeed Me!

Awwww! The chickadee babies are about 4 or 5 days old now, and hungry! Sage got this picture by peeping at them. She had them thinking it was feeding time. :)

Not too much going on around here. We're just hanging out and enjoying the more relaxed schedule. I'm still waiting for boredom to hit the kids. For now they're content to play outside and hang out at home. We put together a looooong list of daytrips we want to take this summer, so we'll have plenty to do if they get the itch. I'm loving just being home and working in the yard for now.

Oh, somebody snatched up the fabric I posted earlier. I'm getting rid of a bunch of scrapbook extras, too. Email if you're interested in a list.

I'm teaching a class at The Scrap Shack in Wasilla on the 14th. I'm doing two 2-pg layouts, one masculine (in time for Father's Day!) and one outdoors/Alaska. If you want to come join us, call Heather at 376-4430 to sign up. I'll post a peek at the projects later this week.

Have a great week!

Seven Babies!

So far, I've counted 7 chickadee babies since yesterday, and there are still a bunch of little eggs left to hatch. How adorable are these things? They're pretty hungry, too. Look at those beaks!

My vegetables are growing! OK, I cheated a little and started some from plants from the nursery, but for the most part, these were all started from seed inside last month. I'm so excited to see them this far along in MAY! We might actually be able to harvest some in Aug.! The growing season is SO short here that things rarely mature before Sept. I planted celery, broccoli, peas, beans, shallots, white onions, peppers, yellow and green zucchini (my favorite!) and cauliflower. If I can keep the moose away, we should have some yummy veggies this summer. :)
:( I'm BUMMED about the lawn, though. I got too anxious earlier this spring, and raked it way too soon. I killed a bunch of the tender new growth from last fall. :( Remember how I raked it into neat rows? Well, now those rows left stripes across the yard. (By the way, that's not garbage in the background. It's an archery target that I'm hoping Paul will move to the back yard). So I've overseeded it and have been watering every day, trying to repair the damage. The areas that are green, though, are doing really well.

I found this picture on my camera from the llama farm, and just had to share. How stinkin' cute are these guys? No wonder Sage loves working there so much. Jubilee, Junebug and Princess. Just chillin', wondering who the chick with the camera is. heehee
Look at mama chickadee! I'm thinking I'd like a moosehair bed...it looks pretty cozy! Can you believe there are ten eggs under that tiny bird? She doesn't mind having her picture taken at all, either. Pretty cool. They only sit on the eggs 10-12 days before they hatch, so we should have babies any day now!
I planted a pot of pansies and viola yesterday. What I wanted to share, though, was the round rock in the picture. Isn't that crazy? My brother-in-law worked at a gravel pit for awhile and found this one day. He brought it home and gave it to my mom. Think how many mountains that thing must have had to roll down to end up that perfectly round.
I am adding another perennial bed along the edge of the yard. Yesterday I lined it with rocks from around our property and today I'm going to add some topsoil and llama manure to it so it's ready to plant. I want to do all native plants and wildflowers in it...iris, goats beard, fern, forget-me-not, arctic poppy. My plan is to collect them over the summer from camping trips and hikes.

OK, just wanted to share a few pictures. :) We're not doing much this weekend. The girls went camping with friends, Paul's working on a new project with a buddy, then taking up a load of materials for the cabin tomorrow. I'll be playing in the dirt. :) Have a great holiday weekend.

A busy Saturday...

We started to clear some trees from behind our house in preparation for a new patio, and I found this very cool chickadee nest. Here's Papa Chickadee feathering his nest. It's now full of moose hair, down and ultra-soft debris of all kinds. So for now, this stand of birches will have to stay put.
My husband put together this swing that was my mom's, and we decided that the oasis is the perfect spot for it. That's the bleeding heart in the center, and the poppies are to the right in the picture. There are also a few hostas, a bergenia and some goat's beard. This swing is pretty special to me because all my kids swung on it with Grandma while she sang them their favorite songs.
And FINALLY my front steps are being replaced. Halleluja! The steps were literally rotting under our feet, and have been for the past 4 or 5 years. It's just one of those items that got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. I need to paint them up to match the rest of the porch now.

We had a productive day! Now I'm off for a bikeride with Sage. Let's hope I can keep up with her. :) Have a wonderful Mother's Day.

May 10, I'll be teaching this coaster book class at The Scrap Shack in Wasilla. I'm excited to get back into doing some classes! If you're local and want to sign up, call 376-4430 for details. There'll be 3 different color combos to choose from, so if this doesn't ring your bell, there are other choices.

For the last month, Sam's been studying poetry in his classroom. He chose a rather ambitious poem to recite at the elocution, and it caused lots of angst and tearful practice sessions at home. But just look how proud he is of himself. I mean, his chest is about to burst from his shirt, he's straining so hard to show off his medal. He recited the entire thing without missing a word.

Maggie has this funny habit of naming the wild things that visit our yard. This Spruce Hen who roosted in a birch tree yesterday was dubbed Jefferson. She smuggled Paul's camera outside and took, oh, 43,342 picutres of him. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see her creative side developing more everyday.

Alrighty, I'd better wrap this up before Blogger eats my post. Have a fantastic weekend. I'll be putting together class kits, and doing poop patrol out in the yard. Don't worry, I'll wash between activities!