The face

this is the face I get when she knows she is doing something wrong! It never makes me mad though. I think it is hilarious!!! What a monkey! We were in the backyard playing with friends today and I was giving many reminders to keep the sand in the sandbox. So Tiara gets two scoops of sand, gets up from her seat and heads out of the sandbox giving me this great face. Now, well I am telling her she needs to put it back I am hiding my smile behind my big camera and taking a picture. Do you really think she was going to take me seriously? haha probably not so much, but my girl sure is fun, and enjoying her is way better than a box full of sand :)

a sister minute

We went for a walk tonight after supper ( a tradition of ours when the weather is warm here) It is just wonderful to get fresh air and exercise and some together time as a family. I caught this sweet moment between Emilea and Tiara in the grass when we got back home. They played so nicely together and were such good friends today. They always do, for the most part, but today was extra good. Emilea has lost tooth #6, you can see the gap in the picture! She's going to look so different when she has all those big teeth in her mouth! I love sweet baby teeth, just these tiny little chicklets all perfectly in a row. She is 7 though and has now lost all of the front ones except the top middle two which is funny because those are the first to go for most kids, ah well, I always say that it is good to be different!

I'm loving Mondays

Well, I had done this great long happy Monday post and when I went to publish it it didn't work and all just disappeared! So I'm gonna try to at least say half of what I had said the first time, here goes...

What do I love about Mondays? Inspiration!!! I have never before in my life been so excited for Mondays, it's always been a bit of a poopoo day lol ! So I chose Mondays to do these challenges just to make the beginning of the week a bit brighter. If it works for anyone else that's a bonus, but it motivates me to look for new inspiration and to push myself to grow and think in a way that maybe I wouldn't otherwise. And when some of you feel it too I love the inspiration I get from your pages. So here is mine

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It is called "Spunk to spare!!!" and says: "She's no ordinary ballerina, this girl has got spunk to spare!!!" and at the bottom; " Tiara @ 4 with that look in her eyes". Tiara is such a funny little munchkin and really is totally full of spunk, she keeps us laughing all the time. Here she was dressed in her beautiful delicate ballet dress and I was trying to get some "pretty" pictures. but she waits and just as I'm ready to get the perfect shot, she grins her big grin and sticks out her tongue, what a monkey! Then I ended up capturing something so much better than the "pretty" shot. I caught that spark in her eyes, a look I just love! she is so sweet and loving but she has this spark of mischief in there and plenty of spunk! I just love it!!! I really liked the off centre balance and page-in-a-page concept from the inspiration article. I used mostly everything from Kim's new Garden collection. For a complete list of supplies click Here

Now you gotta check out these chickee's take on this ad. If I missed anyone please let me know ( e-mail link at the bottom) , and if you still wanted to get one to me I will add it here.

Dani (dmogs)

Keela

Amber Joy

That's all for now, Happy Monday!!!

Sunday scooting

Tiara loves "daddy play" it's always exciting

wheeee!

a great moment between dad and daughter

off they go!

We got a crazy good deal on a scooter for the girls today, they were so surprised an just thrilled. No reason really, just that we are proud of them and the people they are striving to be. We let them test it out in the dining room and living room before supper and they were so amazing very kindly taking turns with each other after each girl got a few laps. Even little Kaiella got on and we pushed her around, needless to say she thought it was a rockin' ride! And waved "bye!" to everyone every time we would "go" with her. She's once again not in any of these photos because she had gone to bed by the time we took the older two outside for a lesson in the front street.When I look at these I just have to say I truly love the moments that happen between daughters and fathers. So very special I love the photo of Cam teaching Emilea and she is looking at him so intently taking in every word. Just had to share the excitement of the day. I have more to show from Tiara's ballet class on Saturday but they will have to wait for tonight, I'm beat and want to get the links organized for tomorrows Monday challenge results, it will be great to share what everyone did this week.Hoping that all of you had a great weekend.

My little homie enjoying the sprintime weather!

I have to say today feels good! The air is warm and birds are chirping outside the window, the grass is turning green and the weekend is almost here! I have been loving the fresh smell after a rain and the beauty of spring all around. It makes me so happy. We have had kid-free plans for tonight with some good friends for weeks and weeks and I'm giddy that the day has finally come. With all of our flus and Easter in there I have to say my friendships have been a little neglected, and I need my friends. So tonight will be great! I had a pretty much computer-free day yesterday, lots of cleaning and Kid-fun. It was great! We had my favorite supper; pasta with four cheese sauce and farmer sausage and little home-baked buns, mmmmmmm! Oh I have new toys! I got a little lost wandering through the art store the other day while I waited for my ride to show up, and I picked up a piece of silver poster board to try using as a reflector to get some good catch lights (nice reflections in peoples eyes), and a little box of watercolor pencils. Little treasures but exciting for me.

I want to thank everyone for all the prayers and good wishes when I had my little accident and hurt my neck a few weeks ago. I know prayer works! Soon after asking for prayer here and from my friends and family around home, I began to feel sooo much better. It's still touchy when I'm not careful but much improved from the awful state I was in. So thank-you again :)

Hey, I would highly suggest checking out Jessica Sprague's blog today. She is a super ultra talented scrapper and totally inspiring to me. She's doing these great photoshop Friday tutorials where she explains cool techniques step by step really well.

just a couple more days to get the Monday challenge LOs to me ( e-mail link at the bottom of the blog), I have to get mine finished up still! This one is so simple but has so much potential and room for design freedom. I have gotten a few already and I Hope to see a few more. It doesn't matter really, but I think it's great to see where everyone goes with it and how we can inspire eachother.

Have a great weekend!

Go Bella Go!

I realized recently that I have a serious need to scrapbook some pages for my sweet baby Kaiella. I guess she has gotten so neglected in her scrapbook pages that there are quite a few people out there who think I only have two girls, not three. So I feel the need to explain my neglectful scrapbooking. This baby of mine is our first busy girl, and I mean always moving, always, always. So when it comes to inspiring photos of her I have very few. By the time I snap a photo she is running again or a blur going by. So the other day I decided to document just that; her moving, it's not deep or insightful or particularly important but it is her and this is exactly where she is at! Here is my layout "go Bella go!"

the journaling says: You are always moving,, running, climbing, falling, never sitting still! As the youngest of three girls you surprised us with you busyness, and you keep us all on our toes. Yet somehow while you are a busy little go-getter, you are also a very peaceful little person and such a joy to have around I am sure as you grow, your activity level will be channeled into the things you enjoy and mixed with such a peaceful spirit you are sure to go places girl! Go Bella Go!!!

I mostly used Kim's new Garden collection and Katie's flowers, coming to the Designer Digitals store on Sunday for a complete list of supplies click Here

So in honor of her page and the fact that some of you are just now realizing I have three girls here's a little bit about my Kaiella @ 20 months:
-Her name is Kaiella Serenity Rain- it means peaceful blessing down from heaven, and she really is. The kids call her Bella and its catchy so that's her nickname
- She has beautiful chocolate brown eyes ( like my dad) which was a total surprise in a blue and green eyed family.
-she is great at playing on her own- she loves to do mr.potato head ( recently decided she had a potato too and tried sticking the ears into her own ears heehee!) build with mega blocks, or set up little tea party for herself.
- but...Kaiella is even better at fitting into the mix, she thinks she is just as big as her sisters (4&7) and tries with all her little might to keep up, whether it may be splashing in the puddles, or playing tag or hide and seek she's always right in there!
- she is gentle and sweet and cuddly ( only when she wants to be) , a great dancer ( yeah really!) , and not such a great sleeper.

that is my baby Bella :)

don't forget the Monday challenge it's an easy one this time, I'm half done, and looking forward to receivingg more great links from all of you!

Priceless

I took this priceless photo of tiara holding hands with her great Nana at Easter this year. It is one I will always treasure. This layout is actually a 4x6 invitation I offered to do for Emilea's school for their annual grandparents day tea. Once I get them to the printer and delivered I really want to scrapbook this as a 12x12 for my own album. It is these irreplaceable moments that I want so much to preserve forever, this is totally priceless to me.

Here's a few pics from our Easter weekend this year. It was so very nice to relax with family and just enjoy our time together. The weather must have been a record warm for here! ( note: we have more than once still had snow at Easter, and one year we had a blizzard in April) So we spent most of the weekend outside, even the sickies were happy to dress pretty and get some sunshine and fresh air, and who wouldn't want to hunt for goodies? I hope everyone else was able to spend some good times connecting with loved ones too.

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a monday challenge #3

I hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. Ours was pretty quiet since we still have this crazy flu going around our house, but quiet can be good, and I still managed to catch some cute Easter pics I will share later when I have more time. I just wanted to quickly get on here and get this up. Our next Monday Challenge. This one is not an ad not a CD cover it is just a page from an article I was reading. I really like the off center balance, it is sortof a page within a page. It is pleasing to me! It can be top or bottom left or right just as long as it is off centre you can also be inspired by the rounded corners or the bright cheery colors. See where it takes you and have a little fun playing along! E-mail me a link to your page by next Sunday using my e-mail link at the bottom of the blog ( or send it to muckoskys@yahoo.ca) ,
and as always I will share what we all came up with next monday. Have a great week!
C.D.

 

a good Friday

Today is good Friday, such an important day to us. We were not at church this year though, with all the flus we have it just wasn't doable. But we did our own thing anyway, and talked together about the spiritual importance for us of this day. It has been just beautiful here and we all got outside in the backyard to have a little lunch and fresh air fun, and to get it shaped up a little. Cam mowed and raked the lawn and I washed up all the toys and swings and patio stuff, and the kids played, of course. Kaiella was totally amazed at this new outdoor world, she was too little last year to even remember that we have a backyard.

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I got finished my layout for the inspiration gallery at Designer Digitals. All of the creative team members have done Layouts with the theme of celebration. I chose to do one celebrating Tiara and the person that she is. I called it "celebrate U" and just wrote some motherly advice to her. For a list of supplies Click Here. The photo is one I really love, from our family vacation to Niagara Falls last summer. It was really humid and her hair curled up so nicely.

Have a nice Easter weekend!

And then shop some more!

So one of my dreams came true on our last morning in North Dakota ( a very superficial dream!) I was driving the van across the parking lot after having brunch with our family and then I spotted it!!! " OMG LSS" was going through my head over and over.. I got out of the van ( after parking it properly) and started running towards Cam, as he pointed up I nodded and before he could say it i yelled "scrapbooking for fun!!!" Of course, being the wonderful Cam that he is, he let me and Emilea go exploring in this marvelous little store for awhile. Wow! I found myself surrounded by all of the product that I see in magazines and just wish for- our scrapbook stores here don't carry a lot of the things I'd like to use- My heart was just a-beating ! Now I am thrilled to play with it at craft'n'coffee night this coming monday!
so much fun!!!

Shop till you drop

Sorry to be a bad blogger this week! We have a crazy flu cycling through the house so my sweet babies just want to be in my arms. I wanted to show a few fun things I picked up on our trip we had so much fun! Cam and I had saved things we needed for getting out there just cuz it's fun to find things you can't get at home. We went to target first and let me tell you, I could have stayed there for a few days!!! Didn't even see half the store but I did find the scrapbook isle and picked up a few goodies for myself . The kids got new clothes to replace the ones they've been growing out of like crazy, and Cam's mom found some really cool lamps that we got for the living room for only $14! It was thrilling!

The girls really enjoyed the pool and it was so nice to spend time together with Cam's parents, they are such kind and loving people, I am just so blessed to be a part of his family. Kaiella was waking up all night saying "weeming, weeming" translation: swimming; she couldn't get it off her little mind. We had some nice breakfasts and dinners out which is something we don't do very often at all so that was a real treat too. I have to say I'm pretty excited to do a little paper scrapping with my new goodies. It's neat, I really find that my brain works so differently with paper vs. The computer, and I grow in each medium through doing the other. Digi scrapping makes me better with paper and paper scrapping makes me better at digi. This stuff from target is nice but wait till you see what else I found!!! I'll make another post :)

a time for everything - my art journal entry

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As promised, here is my next art journal entry for Rhonna's {21} day challenge. This one was for day 15 of the challenge. After going away with my family for the weekend I was starting to feel like I had failed myself a bit by pretty much giving up the challenge completely for a few days, then this bible verse kept popping into my mind. "there is a time for everything and everything on earth has its special season" this is Ecclesiastes 3:1. I guess I just realized that although there is a time for doing this challenge and working hard at it, there is also a time where I need to be ok with letting go completely and simply enjoying my family and fun in a new and exciting setting! the journaling says: "As I return home from a weekend vacation with my family, I think of this verse. I have committed to creating a new schedule for us and sticking with it for 21 days, but there is really no way on a quick trip of shopping and swimming , eating out and sleeping in a strange place that we could even come close to the day I have planned out for us. I could be down on myself for letting up on my challenge for a couple days but instead I chose to hang on to these wise words from the Bible “there is a time for everything” and I realize how often I need to be reminded of this and just....let go a little! Our trip was a time for fun and a time for family and definitely a time to shop! now that we are back home it is once again a time to organize our day in a way that will be enriching to us all.... It is so often that I forget to just let go of what is “supposed to” happen and fully enjoy the moment. I am thankful for this gentle reminder that there really is a time for everything"

for a list of supplies click HERE
My thought for now is that I really hope you can all see the "times" in your life and embrace the moments before you!
I will try to get some trip photos loaded tomorrow and tell a bit about our fantastic little getaway!

 

Check out these pages and be inspired!

These are the ladies who have sent me layouts for Mondays inspiration , if I get anymore sent to me I will add them on. Check out these great layouts, I love how everyone sees something different in an inspiration piece. Note: Kristie is "the" Kristie...One of my very bestest friends that I talk about all the time here, and I think she should start posting her fantastic work, what do you think? Check back next Monday for a new challenge!

Kim Christensen

Kristie Kornelsen

Traci Murphy

Lauren (Pieterspea)

shabby Grace

Keela

thanks for playing along and inspiring us girls!!!

Monday inspiration #2

I should have the time to post the links to everyone's layouts who participated in the Monday challenge tomorrow, soooo that means, anyone who didn't get a chance to play yet and wants to, there is still a bit of time! and even throughout the week if you decide you want to give it a shot please e-mail me ( mailto:muckoskys@yahoo.ca) ) your link and I will just add it in! Here is what I came up with.

This is a gift for Ella she is one of Tiara's very best friends. The two of them are just a blast when they get together, and I think she has the most beautiful eyes! When Ella makes this face her mom always says she is just " pleased as punch" So I was pretty pleased myself to catch it in a photo!

I really liked the wave on the side and the circle in the middle on this ad, but I didn't want a circle photo for this one so I chose to just round the end and mirror that curve in the pp. I used most supplies from designer digitals and a few touches by Michelle Coleman, for a complete supply list click HERE

Please check back and be inspired by the other scrappers who have played along with me!

Please help the cyclone victims!!!!

For those of you who are unaware ( as I was) there was a huge disaster in Australia, Cyclone Larry. I am going to quote the info directly from Kylie Clark's blog ( Scallywag)

"Cyclone Larry category 5 hit the town of Innisfail on March 20 2006, devastating the town, and surrounding areas. Larry caused untold millions of dollars worth of damage. They are comparing Larry to Katrina (for those of you who donÂ’t know a cyclone is the same as a hurricane) Weeks after the cyclone hit, clean up is still going on, they now have most of the town with power, however people are still sleeping in the streets, and there is no sewage as yet. All money raised from this kit (except the hosting fee) will be donated to the victims of Cyclone Larry. Thank you all for your support."

Kylie got ahold of me just before we left and asked me to do a layout to help promote the kit. Now I have to say, i would have done it no matter what for such a great cause, but, in my opinion, this is also a really great kit! BONUS! You've got to check it out, it is available HERE. And here is what I did with the kit

Tiara is sosoo happy when she is happy, and this is the super happy face that she makes, I've been hanging on to this photo and when I saw the kit I knew it would be a great match!

On another note; we had a wonderful weekend away with Cam's parents! I will have to load in my photos and tell about it later.Butt for now I just wanted to get this up here ( I'm just freshly back) so I will see what kind of time I have after the munchkins go to bed, but i have to ask for your patience as I get re-organized here. It may be tomorrow before the Monday challenge links are up!Sorryy but I will do my best :)

it's nice to be at home again, Have a great Monday all!