more celebrating

we had another birthday in our house this week. Aidan, my oldest, turned FIVE years old. i don't think time is just flying by....it's picking up speed!

he's had an exciting week too. i really think it started on Sunday...he had a fabulous time playing with his cousin, Jacob that afternoon. the two of them keep planning sleepovers....but their mama's aren't quite buying it yet. can you picture what it will be like for us another five years down the road? speaking of roads, that leads me to Aidan's highlight. big enough that he has remembered the incident for several days and waited until today to share it with his 'best buddy'. we stayed about an hour past the kids' bedtimes, then headed home in some light snow. yes, it has been snowing! still!! we found an icy patch of highway and had the most incredible near miss of our lives. there were so many "what if's" that we had to stop thinking about them and just be thankful that we were okay. we were in a series of vehicles that were involved in a crash and we were the only one NOT hit. angels watching over us? plenty i do believe! watching one car get hit by a fast moving vehicle out my side window and then watching the same fast moving van slide right in front of our car...after we had driven into the ditch. between all the cars involved, there were 7 children. none hurt seriously. another miracle. i was surprised at the reactions of our kids. they took the entire event in stride. it was a long wait because we had called 9-1-1 and had to wait for the emergency vehicles. then we had to fill out accident forms. both kids were sound asleep by the time we approached the city.

i think that late night did not help the kids to fight the recent cold virus to hit our home. they both woke up the next morning with the sniffles. they were pretty tired that day too. i kept them both home from school the next day. and the next day! which also happened to be Aidan's birthday. rotten luck? or was that good fortune? the jury is still out deciding that one.

since he was home and had lots of time on his hands, i decided to let Aidan open his present that morning. thank you Scholar's Choice gift registry! he had picked it out himself a few weeks ago and it had been wrapped and hiding since that day. he was a happy kid. then he asked me where the other gifts were. hmmmm....kiddo, you don't always get everything you want....




i couldn't get a good photo of him unwrapping the gifts. my other arm was busy....




......consoling this sad sister. she has just now learned the excitement of unwrapping presents and didn't want to miss out on any of the fun stuff. tough lesson for her. it made it very tough to take photos! (isn't her hair crazy?! i am not sure what happened in her dreams the night before. it won the 'crazy hair award' by a landslide.)




this is the second cake for his 5th birthday. he took cupcakes to school today. the cake and icing and decorating were done to his choice. i decorated the cake using the same plan. yellow sugar in the centre and rainbow sugar on the edges. i also had some gold icing gel...reminded me of a galaxy....so i wrote his name using it. and added the silver balls.


now we can concentrate on halloween and christmas in the near future.

our front porch is all decorated in the fall colours. just because i found the stuff on a super cheap sale at Michaels yesterday. i also bought pumpkins. however they both must have frozen. with all due respect....i should have been thinking more clearly. they were being kept outdoors. in below zero temperatures. now, do i return them? or keep them, as a reminder of my own stupidity?

as soon as the kids' quiet times are finished tomorrow, i plan to take them outdoors. Aidan was given a scavenger hunt that he has been wanting to do. i REALLY want to get more photos. i am hoping to find some trees that have yellow leaves.

have i mentioned that most of our trees still have leaves and the leaves are STILL GREEN? bizarre. even more bizarre is to see the green with the snow covered landscape. it has to be a record of some sort.
wish us luck!

i'm dreaming

of photography lessons....



i've been noticing some amazing photography lately. some people have an eye for detail and it shows. and then some of those people actually know how to get the most out of their camera. and it shows. and then there are the people who know what a good photo actually looks like.


and then there is me.


i try.


digital cameras have saved me. like the day i snapped nearly 300 photos of Kiara....just to make sure i got ONE good shot! can you imagine me explaining to Kristian why i just used ten rolls of 35mm film and spent a couple hundred on developing costs. and if you knew me well...you'd also wonder how i could explain it to myself. because we know that i would never have taken that many photos in the first place if that were the case!! yes, i would have bought just one roll and crossed my fingers that i got lucky. besides, what would i do with 299 bad photos?! more than likely there would probably be some kind of support group for me. scary thought.


so now i can snap off a million photos in a few minutes. and the only cost is my time. (seeing as the camera has been paid for!)


and then came adobe photoshop elements. oh yeah.


i can take photos that actually show the face. there is no blur. eyes are open. smiling. nothing busy in the background.


and then i can play around with them in photoshop.

at this point i should mention that i do not have a fancy shmancy camera. it is just a point and shoot. 5.1 megapixels. this is working for now. one day we'd love to have one of those heavy cameras that need their own suitcase....haha. seriously there is a lot of stuff that can be done with a simple point and shoot.

like this. and i caution you. i am FAR from an expert. just a gal who likes to play and see what happens. sometimes i develop the masterpiece. and other times i trash it. to keep my self-confidence at a high level i also don't like to keep track. it would be sad.


so here is a shot straight out of the camera. (yes after i turned the image on my computer!)



like i said. all the basics to me are there. there is a little blur in the hands. but other than that, not too bad.

and here is the same photo after some photoshop alterations. i used a "recipe" i got from pioneer womans' photography website. and a trick of my own..."adjust color to skin tone", works magic in some photos if they include people.(still working through Scott Kelby's book....but saw this recipe first and am playing around with it right now...until Scott tells me otherwise....man i am such a follower....) the jacket is a little scratchy. but since it is denim i like it.

really, this is where i could stop. and usually do for regular photos.

but why stop when there is more to add....like this!

then a little burn on the edges. this is my new thing. still working on this one too.

and this has been fun. add text. move the text. play with the settings.

and here i added some brushes. photoshops' version of stamps....in "roxanne-speak". (which is a language most people would benefit from knowing....and would help me out a ton....)

in case you have forgotten how cheap i can be...these brushes were downloaded for free. i have paid for some, but i don't pass up a free deal either. honestly...pay for a digital camera--but i think the majority of us have these now anyway. download some free photo-editing programs to test out, or buy adobe. download free fonts, brushes, overlays, etc.

here is the comparison of the photo straight out of the camera and the one that has been photoshopped.

right now i am trying to put together photos for Kiara's final month baby album layout (see...you are starting to understand "roxanne-speak"..not that hard....really). and it should be fun because they are summer photos. but for some reason i can't get my mind to relax and just enjoy cropping. i'm worried that the problem is that i have read too much about things to do with photoshop that i'm being too perfectionistic about it all. ugh! i have also chosen the paper before i developed the photos. and one of them is a transparency overlay with the coolest frames....and i need to crop them to fit. yeah, that is part of it. but i think i need to lighten up on the photoshopping....just want to start putting the page together.

because then i get to do her first birthday page.

and then i need to go through the digital photo album and actually develop some of the photos from the last 9 months.

hmmmm.....maybe the problem is that i'm thinking too far ahead?

i think i need to lighten up and just take this one step at a time. story of my life!!

anyways, you can download a free trial version of adobe photoshop elements here. i hope that i have inspired you to play around and do funky things to your digital photos. Nitty Gritty Jody also mentioned a free site on her blog the other day. it looks like fun too.

okay no excuses. go have some fun.

and i'll take it easy and just enjoy putting this one page together. and not think about my to do list.

and to add as a post-script....Kris and I actually love reading Scott Kelby's book. sure we are learning stuff...but he is totally funny. i think you might even enjoy his humour if you were allergic to photography. no exaggeration. Sherri, i can't believe you forgot to tell me how funny he is!

and the deadline is up for ordering sausages or perogies. i know i should have told you earlier. that is what happens when you are lazy. i am trying to learn. this is an instance when telepathy would have been very useful. plus it would allow me to continue to be lazy, right?

happy st. patty's day

this was always a fun day when i was in school. and i still enjoyed this day when i was teaching. the kids had more spring in their step on special days like this.

so i think i feel more caught up on my sleep from Saturday. i had energy to do some scrapbooking...so that is good! the girl's night out was so inspiring.

i just bought crackle paint and gimmer mist last week. and i am terrible sometimes at remembering to use some things. i did remember to try out the new edge distresser. and i remembered to use the glimmer mist after the page was assembled. i think it worked out better that way, actually.


here is the close-up photo of the glimmer mist on my flowers. it gives a bit of a sparkle....or glimmer! it is a spray. it curled my flowers a bit. but i like the effect of it all. so great when things work out well.

if you want to see more photos just head over to the projects page. it is with the baby album pages. i'm also posting it on SIS and 2Peas.

Aidan is going crazy doing his crafts. he asked me for a wallet yesterday. he has no money. more than likely it is a case of "you and Daddy have one....why shouldn't i?". i saw one made out of foam, ribbon and velcro in martha stewards good things for kids. we'll try it out. maybe i can convince him that all crafts do not need tape?!

back home again

and happy

my parents dropped off the kids tonight. i think they are equally tired. but they all seemed to have developed a closer bond with each other.

not long after they left i saw them pull in front of the house again. the gwamparents and the momma did the most horrible thing ever. i called Aidan to finish getting his pj's on and come to the window because grandma and grandpa just drove up again. then my dad dropped off an item they forgot and left. well.....by the time Aidan was ready, he ran into the living room and burst into tears when he saw that they were driving away without both of them coming in and talking to him. i felt badly for him that he didn't understand the situation....

at least everyone enjoyed the time.

i think Aidan will share more stories about the time away in the coming days. as i tucked him in bed tonight he said,
"i stayed a gwamma and gwampas house a LONG time didn't i?"

i replied that he certainly did. and then i asked if he wanted to have stayed longer.

he simply said,
"yes." in the most tired voice you can imagine!

and so i work again tomorrow and the kids have another grandma coming to hang out.

do you think they will get spoiled?!

what will they do when it is just mommy to hang out with again. next week will be a total letdown for them.


i love this page of Kiara's. it is from her baby album. and it is part of a two page layout. check out the other page here.

provincial election day

in Alberta.

this one will be interesting i think. will the PC stay in power, or will the LIB become the leaders. personally i doubt the NDP or Alliance have strong enough platform or candidates to gain enough seats. our LIB candidate came to our door yesterday. he also served the previous term. nothing to complain about there. but the PC candidate seems to be interesting. if the winner who sent out the greatest amount of advertising and who put up the greatest number of signs takes it, then the LIB will stay in this riding. hmmm....wonder what the results will be?!

so i managed to add months 3 and 4 to the baby albums in my projects blog.

it has been so long since i've put any layouts up....
Aidans are pages from 2005 to 2006.
Kiara's pages were done in 2007 (the ones posted so far).

it has been fun to compare their photos. i tend to scrapbook based on emotion of the events. so the design of the layout means something to me too. and i'm relieved to know that my style is not stuck. phew! that is the way i was feeling lately. i was starting to think that i did the same kind of thing over and over. it is crazy how many new techniques are out there now.


this layout i finished just last week. the photos are from when Aidan was around 18 months old.

i have a lot of new supplies to work with...just need to brave my cold basement and get my groove going.