"Happy birthday, America!"

That's what Amanda greeted me with this morning. We decided to celebrate with a special Red, White & Blue drink, which we saw featured in Family Fun Magazine. Love that magazine, by the way.

::Happy Birthday America Drink::

Cast of characters:

-cranberry juice (I bought the no-sugar added kind)
-blue Powerade
-club soda (the original recipe calls for diet 7up, but I refuse to give my children diet anything - bad stuff)

-pretty glasses filled with ice (the taller the glass, the more dramatic the end result)


Directions:

1. Pour cranberry juice in the bottom of the glass.
2. Carefully and slowly pour the Powerade onto the ice - this will ensure that the colors will not mix.
3. Pour the club soda/diet 7up onto the ice until the glass is filled.

The end result:




The judge's verdict:

"I give it two thumbs up, America!"

Abigail's world is shaken

We had a pretty strong wind storm blow through our area the other day. Everything outside was subjugated to a thrashing. When we went to inspect the damage, this is what we found:

Since this has happened several times before, and we've put the pieces back together with relative ease each time, everyone just shrugged their shoulders and prepared to work. But for Abigail, who spends each day in the playhouse, this was quite devastating to see.

This is her story.

....................................................................

"What? Something happened?"

"This could be pretty serious. I'd better go investigate. Could you please come with me?"

"Oh my. Oh my. My wonderful playhouse. What'll I do."

"I need to go help my big sister get it back to working order. I'm coming!"

"Why are you just standing there with that camera?"

"Really, we have work to do! It's a state of emergency!"

"We'll fix it. Together we can do anything...."

"Wait. Why is big sis sitting on her duff?"

"Where's she going?"

"Great, she's distracted with that gymnastics stuff."

"Can I get some help please? We have to get this playhouse back together!"

"Please help me - put that camera down."

"Who knows my pain? I guess I'll have to do it myself...."

Luckily, Abigail didn't overload because Daddy put the playhouse back together.

Our hero saves the day again!

Saying goodbye to friends, and a tutorial

This month, we said goodbye to a family from our church that really touched our lives. We shall miss them, but know that they are only an email - or a few plane rides - away. I had the privilege of making a little address book for them as a going away gift.

Here's a little tutorial on how to create one of these address books in Photoshop. I happen to be a CS3 user.

1) I opened a new 12"x12" document, and divided it into nine 4" squares using the blue guide lines:



2) Then I opened a new 4"x4" document. This is where I created each of the 18 layouts, flattened them, then moved them onto the 12"x12" document. I had two 12"x12" documents when all was said and done:



3) Be sure to save a .jpeg form of these layouts at this point. I took them to Costco to be printed. Once I brought the two 12″x12″ pages home from Costco, I cut them down to 18 indvidual pages and set them aside. I took the cardboard insert included in my prints envelope and cut them down to 18 4″x4″ squares, and painted the edges with white acrylic paint to give them a finished look.

4) I then adhered the photos to cardboard pieces with double-sided tape to make each page hefty enough to be handled without creasing. If you are concerned about acidity, you can use the Make It Acid Free Spray on the cardboard to do just that.

5) Using my trusty Bind-it-all, I added the coil and bound all the pages together. Voila!

The finished result:












If you get a chance to follow this tutorial to make yourself a similar project, I'd love to see it!

Enjoying this moment

It's been a long time since I've graced this blog, hasn't it? While I like to wax poetic here with the goings on of our little family, summer activities keep us hoppin'. I have tons to catch you up on... little by little.

::Amanda::

So last night, we had some down time after church, so we played the Somebody Anatomy Game. (Thanks again for getting this for us, Julie!) Amanda had a blast and produced a zillion questions beyond my measly grasp of anatomy. So we went online and printed out some anatomy coloring sheets, which Amanda excitedly colored in bright strokes. Fast forward a few hours right before bath time. Amanda had a furrowed brow and the telltale look of anxiety. "What is it?" I probed. "Momma, could you please empty the bathroom trash?" she pleaded, holding onto my legs. I walked over to the bathroom to look into the trashcan - in it were the coloring sheets that she so painstakingly had colored. "They're scaring me."

The offending body parts:



Ron and I did our best to refrain from bursting out laughing as he walked the scary body parts out to the garage. But of course the camera had to record the event. {wink}

At this point, I don't think Amanda will be choosing medicine as her profession. But go figure, as Daddy is a bit squeamish of blood, especially his own. We'll see how her interests develop.

::Abigail::

Abby spent an hour in the Play Center at our local Rec Center while Mommy worked out. Upon returning to pick her up, the ladies that care for her and the other children commented that her true colors are showing. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Oh, she's been chasing other kids down, trying to take away binkies and terrorizing them." No hiding it now... she's definitely got some Korean blood in her.

I am having too much fun watching these girls grow. I don't know how much longer I can stifle these laughs. I just might burst.