Chicago Skyline

from high atop the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. Last week I got the opportunity to travel with my hubby to Chicago. He had to go on business and I got to tag along. It was 3 days and 2 nights of shopping, sightseeing, and no parental responsibilities. It was SO relaxing although my body is exhausted from walking for 3 days straight. Obviously we ventured to Navy Pier one evening. Ate at Joes B-Bop and listened to live jazz music over a yummy plate of ribs, rode the ferris wheel which was beautiful and even got treated to fireworks. I have lots of great pictures and haven't had much time to go through them.

Then Friday (our first day back home) we went up to a friend's lake cottage for a planned get-together with my bible study ladies and their kids. Kids had a blast swimming and tubing.

Now it is Monday and I am trying to catch up from playing all last week. I came home to around 30 messages on my answering machine and a TON of stuff to deal with. [sigh] Not fun stuff, either. Hoping to catch up real soon!

Busy, busy, busy

That's how this past week has been - BUSY! We have been preparing for our county fair which is this week. All of my children are involved in 4-H and all of their projects were due last Saturday. Every year, I say that we are not going to procrastinate, but every year, we are working ride down to the very last moment. My (older) girls were up until the wee hours of the morning finishing up their posters. Then I was up until about 4am shrink-wrapping them. It would have bee later, but I ran our of shrink-wrap. So, we had to leave the house early enough to stop by a local educational store that will do this for a price. BUT, the stress was worth it. Both of my girls got Grand Champion in their photography divisions and get to take their projects to the state fair. Very exciting! They also BOTH got Reserve Champion in their divisions of Child Development. I am SO proud of them!

If that was not crazy enough, I decided to enter into the Open Class division with some photographs and cookies. I haven't had an opportunity to find out how my stuff did after judging though. I just hope I didn't embarrass myself!

Now, I am trying to catch up around the house and recuperate. With all the activity and the diabetes stuff that I am dealing with, I am exhausted. I am now taking insulin to help control the gestational diabetes. It has really helped, but I have to be pretty diligent with my diet. Sometimes that's hard to do when you are really busy. I keep finding that I am missing my snacks between meals that I am supposed to have because I don't remember to eat until it is too close to the next meal.

Anyway, that's been my life in a nuts hell...

Cool! A couple of my layouts were featured on the Studio Matters blog today. This is the blog for the www.scrapbookgraphics.com site and Doris Castle's designs were being highlighted. I just got a note that they picked a couple of mine to use. Very fun!

Bliss

I LOVE this picture of my daughter, Abi. Unfortunately, it was not the greatest photo, but after a bit of tweaking in Photoshop, I was pleased with the results. When I look at this, "bliss" is what immediately comes to mind.

The papers that I used here are from Doris Castle's Floral Nebula collection. They are kind of fun and unique. The "B" is from her Black Newsprint Alpha. The definition is from a brush I created. I used this brush to grunge up my white background a bit here, too.

Thanks for letting me share.

DIRT

I'm on a roll. I have really been craving to do some scrappin' so here's another one. This is another layout using Katie Mann's kit called Austin's World - Toy Trucks. Having a little boy who is obsessed with anything with wheels, I would say that this is a must have kit!

I did this as a scraplift challenge.

Journaling reads:
Even after all of the dump trucks that have visited our home, Patrick still gets just as excited to see one. There is nothing like the thrill of seeing such a big truck. He now knows to anticipate the loud “bang” as the tailgate crashes back into place and covers his ears. On this day, our excavator brought us just one more load before coming to do a final grade around the house. 5-30-06

A couple more layouts

I totally could not sleep the other night. I was exhausted, but I could not settle my mind and go to sleep! I hate that. I think the preggo hormones contribute to that. So I got up and did a bit of scrappin'.

Both of these layouts were done using Doris Castle's Pure Love quickpages which can be found at Studio Doris at www.scrapbookgraphics.com .
For both of them, I tweaked the photos in PhotoShop and used the Virtual Photographer filter on them. I like the effects that you can quickly get with that.
The top one is of my son. I snapped this photo for a photo contest with the theme of peace. He was sleeping so peaceful and sound during his nap that he didn't even stir when I turned on his lights and was snapping away!
The bottom layout used photos of my little nephew. He was sitting on his mom's lap and flirting with me and the camera. Too cute - I love his sweet little smile here.

Designer Outside the Box

I did this layout using Barb Speck's Any Which Way kit. She is the Designer Outside the Box this week at Scrap Outside the Box and this is her featured kit. She is having a HUGE sale and lots of fun stuff this week!

These photos are from our home photo studio. I snagged Anna just after her shower before bed to test my lighting and she was having fun being silly for the camera.

The quote at the top reads:
Cute is when a person's personality shines through their looks.

Journaling reads:
Anna, one could never say that you lack personality! You are funny and expressive, allowing your creative nature to shine through. We celebrate your uniqueness. May you always stay true to who you are. 5-22-2006

Trying a different size here. This is designed as two 11" X 8 1/2" pages. I kind of like it. Perhaps I need to do a whole book in this format!

Happy Birthday USA!

We had a long and fairly lazy holiday weekend around here. Saturday we went to a graduation party and then took the whole family to see the movie, "Cars." It was very fun, but a bit long for the little ones who had missed their naps. All in all a good time, though. Sunday after church we came home and some friends stopped by for a nice visit. In the evening, we had planned to go over to my in-laws for a cook-out and to shoot off fireworks. A big storm rolled in so we had a "cook-IN" and watched the hail outside. Fortunately the storm passed and we were able to shoot off our fireworks and the kids got to do their sparklers. Good thing, because the entire area was without power and we wouldn't have known what to do with ourselves otherwise. :-)
Monday, some good friends came over in the evening with their kids for pizza and another home fireworks display. I love this photo I captured from it. It was a long exposure and I manages to capture this "ghost." Thought it was kinda cool!

The 4th was totally uneventful for us and we had a lazy day at home. Now I am trying to get my act in gear. I realized that I have only 10 or 11 weeks until our new little baby makes her appearance and joins our household. So, I made my list of things I have to do pre-baby, and things I want to get done pre-baby and marked things on my calendar. I gotta get busy! Just wishing for a bit more energy! Don't know how much of my fatigue is from the pregnancy and how much should be attributed to the gestational diabetes. I have an appointment today with another doctor to discuss the possibility of insulin. Don't really want that, but I also know that I have been shorting myself food and my blood sugar numbers keep slowly climbing. [sigh] I am looking forward to the day I can eat until I feel good and full!

On the scrappin' front...I feel creatively dry. Maybe because there is just too much else going on right now. The 4-H fair is this month and I am helping the girls put together their projects. We always seem to procrastinate until the last minute to get everything done. So, I guess I will be spending what little creative energy I have motivating and inspiring my children to get their stuff done!

That's all for now, I have rambled enough. Have a great day!