My collective life

Maverick Update

2008-05-29T11:59:00.003-05:00

I posted a few months ago about Maverick Thomas... he was only 12 hours old when his bassinet burst into flames at the Hospital here in MN. He suffered burns on 17-18% of his little newborn body.

I just wanted to update you...
I got an email from his parents today thanking me for posting about Maverick. They included Maverick's 3 month photo. I won't post the photo here because I don't have permission, but let me tell you he looks amazing! He looks so healthy and happy. Such a beautiful smile. I am so glad that he is recovering and doing well. Way to go, Maverick!

Just checkin' in

2008-05-11T15:18:00.004-05:00

Hey you guys! Sorry I haven't been posting over here much. I have been busy planning for our schooling next year. I have decided to go with Charlotte Mason inspired homeschooling instead of the virtual schooling we have done the last two years. We've been doing lots of Nature Study to get us in the swing of things.

Lots of new posts over at my other blog, if you want to see what we've been up to!

New homeschool post

2008-04-30T16:58:00.004-05:00

There is a new post over on my homeschooling blog. Check it out!

Homeschooling my 2

Just popping in!

2008-04-29T00:32:00.004-05:00

Hey! Just thought I would pop in and say hi to my bloggy readers!

Guess what. Its snowing. In April. I the Spring. Snow. *sigh*

Nonetheless, we got a lot accomplished today. I had been thinking of trading my Conversion Van for something smaller... an SUV or minivan. My only "beef" with this van is the parking. We live in the City and it won't fit in many of the parking garages here. So I usually have to park far away and walk. But, after thinking on it, I decided to keep it. We really want to do some traveling and camping this Summer and the big van will be comfy for that. And it really is in good shape. And we have put quite a bit of money into it, so its running great. So anyways, I decided to fix a few little things that we had been letting slide.

1) Someone stole the stereo out of it a few months ago. :( So we picked up a new one and Dave installed it for me. Its pretty cool. It even plays MP3s. I am thinking it will be fun to put some of the music we are studying in school on there to listen to in the van. Or maybe even audio books. Hmmm...

2) I bought me a card reader so that I can put MP3s on my SD Card for my stereo.

3) Dave was able to fix my cigarette lighter while he was in there. Now we can charge Nintendo DSs and cell phones! Yay!

4) New batteries for my alarm remote. To protect my new radio!

Next I need to go get my oil changed, do a tune-up... oh and Dave needs to go through the wiring and see why my dome lights don't work. Other than that a sticking a few screws in trim here and there we're good to go! I think we will be happy with the van. Especially the next time we decide to drive out to PA to visit my family! 1000 miles. One way.

So that's about it for me today.
There are a few posts over on my homeschool blog you could read if you're bored... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolingmy2
There will be another one within a day or two... we're going for a nature walk on Wednesday with my nature study group. So watch for that.

Seeya!

My new blog

2008-04-18T10:17:00.003-05:00

I have started a new blog. No, I'm not moving again! This blog will be for our homeschooling and nature study things. I will continue to post here... I will guess it will be less often, as most of our life is school related, but we'll see how it goes. If you're interested in nature or homeschooling... or if you just want to see what we're up to when I'm not posting here you can visit us over there. I posted about our nature walk yesterday, by the way. :)

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolingmy2

Check this out!

2008-04-11T14:52:00.003-05:00

Dave and I took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo the other day and this Lynx was in a playful mood.

The kids were running from one end of the glass to the other and the Lynx would chase them and pounce on the glass. It was so fun to watch! And so cool for the kids to be that close to a wild animal. Here's a photo I took of Tyler and the Lynx eying each other.

Silly Dress-Up Baby

2008-04-10T19:25:00.004-05:00

Here's little Miss Emily sporting Mommy's socks and Brother's hat. Isn't she gorgeous? :)

Sorry I haven't been posting much. Lots going on around here to keep us busy! I'll try to get back into the swing of things quick.

Oh! I started a Nature Study group. If you live in Minnesota and use nature in your homeschooling check it out! CM Nature Study in MN

Homeschoolers: Wanna win some Rosetta Stone!?!

2008-03-21T00:45:00.000-05:00

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

Just a couple of things...

2008-03-18T16:58:00.003-05:00

Hey! Quick couple of things...

Have you seen this place?? Paper Back Swap. Its so fun! You can swap books (they don't have to be paperback) with people. I am drooling over here! Wanna drool with me? Click that link above to join. When you list 10 books for trade they will give you 2 free credits to get you started... then when your books get chosen by someone you'll get credits for each of them as well. And I'll even get a free book credit out of the deal! Win-win! :)

ALSO

I want to hear from all of you homeschoolers out there. We are doing a virtual school this year and I am not happy with some aspects of it. I am researching other methods for next year. I would love to hear your thoughts! I am sort of intrigued by the Charlotte Mason method. Comment here or email me at mommy2tyler @ comcast (dot) net. Thanks!!

Nice little surprise...

2008-03-13T18:27:00.004-05:00

The kids and I took a ride down to one of our favorite fishing spots here in The Cities and we saw this when we got there...

I'm still kickin'!

2008-03-05T17:09:00.005-06:00

Did you think I fell off the face of the Earth? Well I didn't! I'm right here. Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I guess I just got caught up in life. I'll try not to let it happen again... no promises though!

So here's a list of sorts to get you up to date...

~Emily is walking. Look out!
~Emily now has a vocabulary... it consists of "Hi", "Ow" (Spoken as I comb her hair. Learned from her big brother.), "Mooooooo", and "Bow wow wow" (Translates to "Bow Chica Wow Wow" from The Chipmunks. Pretty durn cute if ya ask me. :) ).
~Tyler has 3 loose teeth!
~Tyler has learned the secret about Santa... which led to the secret about the Easter Bunny... which led to the secret about the Tooth Fairy... which led, well you can see where this is going. My little guy is growing up. *sigh*
~School is going good and is so much fun. I love being there with Tyler as he learns... and learning right along with him most of the time!
~The kids and I are going to see Disney on Ice tomorrow.
~We are in the process of starting a business making custom fishing rods. Wish us luck!

I think that's about it for us. I'll leave you with a photo of the kids and I at Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America yesterday...

Make me merry Monday

2008-02-18T09:58:00.003-06:00

Its that time of week again! Make me merry Monday! Help me spread merriment throughout Blogland, won't you? All you have to do is blog about something that makes you happy. That's it! Easy as pie! Then head back to this post and leave a link in my Mister Linky so that we can all visit you and see what makes you merry.

Oh, and here's the code to add my nifty little badge to your post...

<a href="http://mycollectivelife.blogspot.com/" title="Make me merry Monday"></a>

Now... what makes ME merry? Well, this week my income tax refund is making me merry. I am enjoying having a little extra to play with. Some "fun money", if you will. This is something we don't usually have. And this is something we won't have for long. So we are enjoying it.

My income tax refund makes me merry. How about you?

Make me laugh Monday

2008-02-18T09:47:00.002-06:00

Its make me laugh Monday over at Absolutely Bananas. This little clip has been making me laugh...

Kick his ask.

Ma & Pa Kettle - Math Whizzes

2008-02-07T17:40:00.000-06:00

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival Winners

2008-02-04T14:03:00.000-06:00

Thanks to a random number generator we have winners!

Here are your random numbers:

31 17

Timestamp: 2008-02-04 20:02:38 UTC

That means our winners are...

susan1215

AND

Linda

Congrats! I will email you girls in a sec! I need to know what colors you would like your leashes to be and where to send them when I finish them.

Thanks to everyone for playing!

For those of you who did not win... all is not lost. I have decided to take orders for my custom Nintendo DS Stylus Leashes! If you are interested email me. They will be very reasonably priced and made to your specifications. You will not be disappointed!

EDITED TO ADD:
I have emailed Linda.
Susan1215, you did not leave me an email address in your comment and there is not one on your Blogger profile. If you read this please email me! If you know Susan, please have her email me! If I don't hear from her by tomorrow I will be forced to choose another winner... I specified in my contest post to be sure you leave me an email to get in touch with you if you win. Thanks!

Bloggy Giveaways Carnival

2008-01-30T10:49:00.000-06:00

Shannon over at Bloggy Giveaways is hosting a Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. There are 792 giveaways to sign up for as of right now, people! Amazing.

So, what am I giving away you ask? Well, my giveaway was born out of necessity. We all have Nintendo DSs here... and my 7 year old is constantly losing the "pen" to his. We tried many things to tie it onto his DS, but nothing was durable enough. SO I came up with these Nintendo DS Stylus Leashes. They are handmade by me from hemp and have glass beads. I thought I would draw a couple of random names and make them a custom leash. These will work for both Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite systems.

All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment on this post! Easy as pie! I will draw 2 random names on Monday, Feb.3rd. You don't have to have a blog to enter, just be sure that you leave me an email in your comment so that I can contact you. Oh and this is open to US residents only.... sorry.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you will come back!

Edited to add:
For those of you who don't win the contest... if you are interested in these leashes, ya all might be able to gang up on me and sweet talk me into taking orders for them. :)

Winter Fun

2008-01-27T23:10:00.000-06:00

With the high of 38° F today we decided we would get out and enjoy the day before it gets cold again (like tomorrow's high of 10° F). So we gathered up Tyler's best friend, Jacob, and his Daddy and went sledding. Everyone had a good time. Even the Daddy's got to go down the hill a couple of times. I had Emily bundled up in her carrier and she really liked watching the boys go up and down the hill. A couple of photos of the boys...

We even had the chance to get a family photo taken (Thanks, Manny!). I am pretty sure this is the only photo we have of all 4 of us...

I was playing with the video feature on my camera too. I hadn't messed with it before. I put a couple on YouTube just to see how it worked. Here's one of the boys going down the hill together...

Maverick Thomas

2008-01-25T19:58:00.000-06:00

Keep this little baby boy and his family in your thoughts and prayers, won't you? Shortly after he was born, he was lying in the hospital in a bassinet under a warmer, with an "oxygen hood" to supply extra oxygen when his bassinet started on fire.

From the Star Tribune...

"The baby boy was only 12 hours old when fire burst out in his bassinet at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids on Tuesday.

And he was only 14 hours old when he was rushed to the Hennepin County Medical Center burn unit, the youngest patient ever treated there.

By Wednesday, the boy named Maverick was in stable but critical condition with burns on 17 to 18 percent of his body, as hospital and fire department officials scrambled to find out how an accident like this could happen."

More info here.

Government on Display Exposition at the Mall of America

2008-01-23T23:21:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to let anyone in the Twin Cities area know about a fun expo going on this weekend at the Mall of America. We attended it last year and it is chuck full of educational opportunities and fun! Lots of government agencies are set up educating and giving out freebies. There is going to be a display from the National Weather Service too with all sorts of fun things to learn about. Maybe we'll see ya there!! :)
Here's the blurb from the Mall's site... info and updates can also be found here: Government on Display Exposition

Saturday, January 26 - Sunday, January 27

The 9th annual Government on Display Exposition at Mall of America® is the largest government event ever staged inside an American mall. United States citizens will have an unprecedented opportunity to meet and talk with elected officials and public servants in a public forum.

More than 20 federal and state agencies, including Minnesota's U.S. Congressional delegation, will be represented at the Expo. A naturalization ceremony, in which 30 immigrants will become U.S. citizens, kicks off the Expo on Saturday, January 26 at 9 a.m. in the Rotunda.

Saturday, January 26 - Sunday, January 27
Mall Hours
All Courts

Edited to add:
In case anyone is interested, Kristi Yamaguchi will be the Mall of America tomorrow afternoon signing autographs. More info here.

PSA: Inflammatory breast cancer

2008-01-22T10:02:00.000-06:00

Did you know that you do NOT need to have a lump in your breast to have breast cancer? I was surprised to learn this. There is so much hype about monthly breast self-exams but, while I know they work, I have never once heard mention that you do not need to have a lump to have cancer. Not once. Until today. I was doing my normal blog reading this morning, and when I got to Mommy Needs a Cocktail she was telling the story of Susan. Susan has inflammatory breast cancer. Susan is in surgery right now, right this second, having a double mastectomy. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she fights this horrible thing we call cancer. If you Twitter you can follow Susan... she was updating up until she was wheeled into the OR just a few minutes ago. She posted back in July about this cancer and I wanted to share it with you all here, because I feel it is important to get the word out...

We hear a lot about breast cancer these days. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, and there are millions living with it in the U.S. today alone. But did you know that there is more than one type of breast cancer?

I didn’t. I thought that breast cancer was all the same. I figured that if I did my monthly breast self-exams, and found no lump, I’d be fine.

Oops. It turns out that you don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Six weeks ago, I went to my OB/GYN because my breast felt funny. It was red, hot, inflamed, and the skin looked…funny. But there was no lump, so I wasn’t worried. I should have been. After a round of antibiotics didn’t clear up the inflammation, my doctor sent me to a breast specialist and did a skin punch biopsy. That test showed that I have inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors have never seen it before and consider it rare. “Rare” or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d’orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you’re concerned and want to come in to rule it out.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It’s not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we’re pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It’s important not to miss this one.

Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it’s trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known before six weeks ago.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.

P.S. Feel free to steal this post too. I’d be happy for anyone in the blogosphere to take it and put it on their site, no questions asked. Dress it up, dress it down, let it run around the place barefoot. I don’t care. But I want the word to get out. I don’t want another young mom — or old man — or anyone in between — to have to stare at this thing on their chest and wonder, is it mastitis? Is it a rash? Am I overreacting? This cancer moves FAST, and early detection and treatment is critical for survival.

Thank you.

The purple text above is from Susan's blog and is her own words. You can read the original post here. Look around her blog. She has alot of posts about this cancer, and they are very insightful. She also posts about her beautiful family.

Like I said, lets all keep her in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers today as she goes through surgery to fight this thing.

UPDATE: This just came through on Twitter...

whymommy in postop. i'm alive! 8 minutes ago from web

Randomness

2008-01-21T20:03:00.000-06:00

Hey! I know. I know. I did it again. I went awol on y'all. I'm sorry! Please forgive me! Ok? Thanks! You're the best. :)

So... what's new...

Do any of you suffer from depression this time of year? I am having a really hard time lately. I'm broke. I have no friends. My family is 1000 miles away. I've been sick with a cold for weeks. Someone stole the stereo out of my van last week. I could go on and on... and being cooped up due to sub-zero temps does not help matters. My kids are just as bored as I am. And it shows. We're going crazy over here! I only hope warmer weather comes soon... and my tax refund would be nice too. Then we can get out of this house and do something. Yay!

On to the randomness...

I re-discovered Twitter. Its kinda fun. I added it to my side bar over there <-- You can even "follow me". Fun times, people!

I also re-discovered Sk*rt. Great way to see what's going on in Blogland and beyond.

I discovered Paperback Swap... thanks to Kim over at Life in a Shoe. Great way to recycle your used books and get some new ones in the process! You list your books and, when someone requests one, you mail it to them... then you get a credit to use to request a book of your own from someone! I added a link in my side bar over there --> If you click it and join I will get a free book credit when you post 10 books. Thank you very much. :) Oh they are giving new members 2 free credits when they list their first 10 books.

I have been having a ton of fun with YouTube too. I discovered vlogs. Who knew! You can even view YouTube videos from your phone!
Funny, I even have Emily loving YouTube and Google. She likes to search for babies and puppies to watch. hehe

Have you heard this little girl sing? She was on the news here last week. Pretty talented!

I redecorated my little ole blog the other day. I used digital scrapbooking elements from the girls over at Digital Scrap Garden. Oh, and check out my little signature at the end of each of my posts. Pretty cool, huh? You can make one of your very own here. Thanks for that link, Kyra!

What else have we been up to... Hmmm...

Tyler is into U.B Funkeys. They're fun little guys. He has a little collection going that he bought with Christmas and birthday money. I'm actually impressed with the originallness (Is that a word? Maybe I should have said originality. Oh well.) of them. We tried the Rescue Pets E-Pets route and it got boring for him. After a few days. Not good. These funky little Funkeys hold promise though.

Dave and Tyler are rocking on their new hobby. Woodworking! Dave has slowly built up a few power tools for them and Tyler really likes spending time out there building things with Daddy. He even has his own work bench. Too cute! Dave came across his old Hand Andy Tool Kit the other day... he was so excited to hand it down to Tyler. They have built a birdhouse, a bird feeder, and a squirrel feeder so far.

What else....

OH! Oh my gosh! Its Make Me Merry Monday! I almost forgot again. Bad me. What makes me merry... this is a hard week for this. Well, this may seen superficial to some, but right now my Nintendo DS is making me merry alot of the time. I got the new Zelda game for Christmas, which is a cool game... and Dave and I have been playing True Swing Golf together in the evenings. Kinda fun. Helps pass the time.

So... My Nintendo DS makes me merry!

I know its late, but if you want to participate in Make Me Merry Monday the code to add my button to your post is in the post below this one (Because its been a week since I last posted. Nice.) I will add a Mister Linky here on this post so you can add your blog's link... then we can all come visit you and see what makes you merry! See how nicely that works? Ok... go on then. Blog and be merry!!

Make me merry Monday

2008-01-14T12:36:00.000-06:00

Hello, Blogland! I know. I know. I have been slacking on this. Its just been a busy time of year what with the holidays and 2 birthdays within weeks of each other. Forgive me, will you?

So today is Make me merry Monday! This is the day each week when we all share what makes us happy. It might be a material thing, or a place you like to go, or a person in your life, a time of day, anything that makes you merry. So share, please. All you have to do is blog about what makes you happy and then pop back over here and leave your link in my Mister Linky at the bottom of this post so that we can all come and visit you and see what makes you happy.

Here is the code to add my cute little badge to your post (like above).

<a href="http://mycollectivelife.blogspot.com/" title="Make me merry Monday"></a>

Help me spread merriment throughout Blogland, won't you? :)

So, what makes me merry you ask? Well, over these past few weeks, I have had the privilege of being a part of two very special celebrations. My baby girl, Emily, turned 1 year old on December 21st... and my son, Tyler, turned 7 years old on January 13th (yesterday). Watching them enjoy their special days made me very happy and proud to be their Mom. We didn't do anything fancy, just lots of friends and family and fun. But the glow on their faces told me I did a good thing.

So, being a Mom makes me merry.
How about you?

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

2008-01-13T21:34:00.000-06:00

Today is my big guy's 7th Birthday. He had a full weekend of playing and fun!. His best friend, Jacob, came over yesterday and I took the two boys to Chuck E. Cheese's for the afternoon. Jacob spent the night and we had cake and ice cream this afternoon. He got some good presents too... toys and woodworking tools and even cash! I think he had a good Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Hello?

2007-12-25T18:43:00.000-06:00

This is Emily calling you on her new phone to say
Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

2007-12-21T20:11:00.000-06:00

Happy 1st Birthday, Emily!

My silly baby

2007-12-14T22:13:00.001-06:00

Hard to believe she will be a year old a week from today. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Another test blog from my Treo

2007-12-13T09:22:00.000-06:00

Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not. I have not even started my shopping. I know. I better get a move on. Especially since Emily's birthday is Dec. 21 and Tyler's birthday is Jan. 13. Busy times.

2007-12-13T09:06:00.001-06:00

This is a test mobile blog from my Treo.

Baby it's COLD Outside

2007-12-05T11:46:00.001-06:00

Dec. 2, 2007
We got our first snow of the year today. The cold weather
made a trip to the local K-Mart for a warm hat for Emily
necessary. She isn’t too sure about it yet, but I
think she’ll get used to it! I sure think its cute!

Its Make Me Merry Monday again!

2007-12-03T10:35:00.001-06:00

Its that time of week again! Its Make Me Merry Monday! Help me spread some merriment throughout Blogland, won't you? Just blog about something that makes you merry and then come back here and leave your link in the Mister Linky at the bottom of this post. That's all there is to it! Then we can all come visit you and see what makes you merry. So, lets do it!

This week crafting and decorating with my family is making me merry. If you read yesterday's post here you will see some of what we've been up to. Its so simple yet so fun! We all sat together and traced our feet and hands and made reindeer. How silly is that!? But, you know what? It was fun! It was fun to see how creative we could get with them. It was fun to see Daddy get involved, as he usually misses out on our crafty times. It was fun to see Tyler thinking of how to make his deer look cool. Then Tyler and I made a tree with cut out hands from each of us... and we went on to make decorations for the tree. We finished up our "mural" with some old fashioned paper snowflakes. Tyler and I enjoy making them online, but it was fun to see his amazement as I unfolded each one. He said "Wow. You never know what its going to look like until you unfold it!" :)

Crafting with my family makes me merry.
How about you?

Happy December!

2007-12-02T23:03:00.000-06:00

Happy December, Blogland!

Today has been a festive day of decorating for us. I gave my blog some holiday cheer, as you can see. We also had fun crafting some decorations for the wall above our couch. That wall has become our canvas for holiday decorations... it changes with each season. Here is what it looks like now...

What's that? You want to get a closer look at our handiwork? Okie dokie!

Here are our reindeer...

Yes, those are our feet and hands. Daddy, Tyler, Emily, and I all sat here and cut out our own hands and feet and then decorated our deer. Pretty cute, hey? :o)
(Yes, Daddy's deer has its tongue hanging out and a tag on its antler. Leave it to him to make a dead deer. lol)

Now feast your eyes on our Christmas tree...

Yep. Those are handprints. Many, many handprints. The decorations are made my Tyler and I. I especially like the little white angel near the top... Tyler made that "because Emily is an angel". Awww.

Tyler and I also cut out the paper snowflakes above the reindeer. He loved that. We've done them online HERE, but it was way cool to actually cut them and then watch them unfold. He was amazed... "you never know what its going to look like!" he said. Fun times!

Well, I hope you enjoyed our silly craftiness! If you are in MN, enjoy the SNOW!!

P.S. Tomorrow is Make Me Merry Monday!

He's one awesome big brother

2007-11-26T21:58:00.000-06:00

So, last year we went on a school field trip where the kids put on a play for the parents. One of the lines in the play was "Its too hot to live!". That's been a staple line in our household since then. Its so versatile... you can say "Its too cold to live!".... or "You're too silly to live!"... or my favorite "I'm too old to live!" See? Where am I going with this you ask? Well, here's a conversation from earlier today...

Me: (groaning as I get up off the floor after changing Emily) I'm too old to live!

Tyler: I'm too tired to live!

Me: Emily, what about you? Are you too little to live?

Tyler: No. She's perfect.

:o)

Make me merry Monday

2007-11-26T09:16:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday, Blogland! Its time for Make me merry Monday! If you'd like to play along just blog about something that makes you merry... then come back here and leave your link in the Mister Linky at the bottom of this post so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry. You can find the code to add the above badge to your post HERE.

So... what is making me merry this week...

Family time. We have been blessed this past week or so with being able to do some family things together. We've ate out at some awesome restaurants. We've gone bowling. We've played pool and darts. We've had Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to do things as a family unit. I have enjoyed doing just that lately.

Family time makes me merry. How about you?

Digital scrapbooking

2007-11-25T19:46:00.000-06:00

Just popping in to share a couple of layouts I created over the last couple of days...

Lots of fun stuff going on over at Digital Scrap Garden. You should stop over!

Oh! Don't forget that tomorrow is Make Me Merry Monday!

Thanksgiving FuN!

2007-11-23T13:23:00.000-06:00

So, Wednesday night Daddy got it in his head that we should go bowling. Now, I am soooooo not a bowler... BUT my sweet little boy gave me the puppy dog eyes, so off we went to the bowling alley. Tyler had a blast and has not stopped telling me how he LOVES bowling. Tyler and Daddy bowled a game and then they talked me into bowling one with them. It wasn't too bad... I had more fun watching Tyler though.

I bought Tyler a Lariat Lanes t-shirt as a souvenir. He was so excited he had to put it on right then. NOW he had a "bowling shirt". THEN... then.... are you ready for this?? As we were leaving the man behind the counter gave Tyler his very own bowling pin! Can you believe it? He absolutely MADE my little boy's day. Tyler has shown everyone his pin... it holds a place of honor on the shelf right beside his bed.

On to yesterday... Thanksgiving was awesome. Lots of food... lots of family... some friends... lots of fun. A friend of ours joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards he and Dave decided they would like to play pool. So we all loaded up in my van and headed to Southtown Lanes where they have pool AND bowling. We arrived and realized bowling was really expensive, so the guys played pool and Tyler, Emily, and I ate and played darts. Tyler offered Daddy a little help with pool game as well. ;)

An unconventional Thanksgiving... but tons of FUN!

In other news...
You'll notice a new ad at the bottom of my blog. I was intrigued by the ability to spotlight toys that are Made in the USA and Lead Free. So check it out. And, if you are so inclined, click it a few times... you'll get to check out some cool toys and I'll make a few cents! Win-win!

Also, Digital Scrap Garden is having a Black Friday sale! 50% off the entire store!! They are also offering a free collab kit with any purchase! AND another free collab kit just for joining the forum over there! Awesome stuff!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T11:25:00.000-06:00

May your Thanksgiving day be full of
family, friends, food, and fun!

------

Today I am feeling most thankful for my children.
I love you Tyler and Emily.

OopS! Its Tuesday!

2007-11-20T17:20:00.000-06:00

Its Tuesday. That means yesterday was Monday. You know... Make Me Merry Monday. Oops. I totally forgot. So sorry! Anyways.... I found this little graphic just now and it fits me.

I often wonder how we survived before we had computers and the internet. Its the first place I go in the morning. Its the last place I am at night. I read the newspaper here... I pay my bills here... I talk to my family and friends here... I get directions and maps to places here... I shop here... I plan our days here... I check the weather here... I school Tyler here... I scrapbook here... I work here... Pretty much everything I do at least starts here. And now I can do alot of those things with my cellphone too. Does that make me a bad person. No. A nerd maybe, but not bad. :o)

My computer makes me merry...
on Tuesday and every other day of the week.

Edited to add: If you want to post a Make Me Merry Tuesday post, go for it!! Just leave us a link in the comments for this post so we can come visit you. I promise to be on time next week.

Yesterday's creations and todays blahs

2007-11-14T09:40:00.000-06:00

Well I had a bit of a creative day yesterday. I created 2 new digital layouts using templates. I hadn't used a template before and it was sort of fun! A great way to do digital layouts if you don't have alot of time. I used Purple Frog's new Art Inspired Templates. She is offering them free on her blog. This first one is our new hamster (who still doesn't have a name, by the way). I used the New Members Kit that they are giving away FREE to everyone who joins the Digital Scrap Garden forum.

And another one of my kids on Halloween. This one is made with Ladybug's Autumn Bliss kit and Purple Frog's Glitterfied Swirls.

I also made myself a wallpaper for my new cell phone! I used a free kit from Raspberry Road Designs. I think it turned out cute...

In other news...

I feel BLAH today. I think its going to be an all-day-jammy-day.
The hamster is doing great. This is the third day in a row I have been handling him without him nibbling on me. Yay! Tyler still can't really hold him because he is still a bit scared and tries to bolt when he gets nervous. But he's enjoying petting him and watching him run around in his ball. We might try him out in his littlle hammy playpen one of these days.
Tyler is doing good in school. He's so durn smart!
Emily has 8 teeth now. She's ready for her first Thanksgiving dinner!! She's getting good at pulling herself up and standing on just about anything in her reach... no steps yet though.
My mouth is STILL NUMB. It will be a week tomorrow since they extracted the teeth. Hope it comes back to life soon.
Sprint replaced my phone for me on Monday... with a brand new phone that's the next step up from the one I had. I am now the owner of a Treo 755p. Yippee. It seems to be working great.

I think that's all for now! Have a great day, Blogland!!

Thank you, Ladybug...

2007-11-13T10:23:00.001-06:00

Thank you for the friendship tag, Ladybug!

Make me merry Monday

2007-11-12T08:56:00.000-06:00

Its that time of week again!

Play along! Please? Let's make Blogland a merry place today! Blog about what makes you merry... it could be a person, a place, a food, a thing, an event, anything! Then leave your link in my Mr. Linky here so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry! Oh, the code to add my badge to your site can be found here. Send all of your friends and family over to play along too! The more the MERRIER!

So, what makes me merry? Lets see...

I think I am leaning in the material object direction this week.
My cell phone makes me merry. I have a Treo 700p. I love my phone. It is my life. It contains my life. It holds my calendar, my address book, my checkbook, my photos... I nad GoogleMap an address with it and get driving directions... I can surf the internet with it.... I can get my email with it.... I can play really fun games with it. Its my alarm clock. Oh, and its also my telephone too!! :o)
The reason I am so into my phone this week is because it isn't working properly! Grr. It freezes and turns itself off without notice on occasion. Very frustrating. My phone and I will be visiting the Sprint store today to have it fixed or replaced. Then I will be merry again.

When my phone works properly it makes me merry.
How about you?

The continuing saga...

2007-11-11T17:33:00.000-06:00

So I'm pretty sure that if something can go wrong for me, it will. I had a rough Summer and its continuing right into the Fall for me. How nice. In the last 6 months I have had 4 surgeries, blood transfusions totaling 6 units, and enough drugs to... well, alot of drugs... including antibiotics, steroids, and even Cocaine. Simple and routine procedures have just been going totally wrong on me for some reason. Last week was no exception. After spending last Saturday night in the ICU over my tooth I went to the oral surgeon and had the tooth extracted on Thursday. All went well with the surgery. EXCEPT... here we are 4 days later and my mouth is still NUMB. Can you believe it? I was a nervous wreck Friday morning when I woke up and it was still asleep. Wonderful, I thought, now they've messed something up and my mouth will be paralyzed for the rest of my life. Go figure. I was on the phone to the oral surgeon's office the moment they opened... and finally got a call back around 2:30 in the afternoon. The nurse tells me that my roots were really close to some nerves and sometimes the nerves get "bruised" during the extraction, but its temporary. Not to worry. Easy for her to say. So I ask her how long it usually lasts. Guess what? Could be a week... could be a month. So I guess I just drool away till it decides to wake up. No problem. No problem at all. Seriously though, have ya all ever heard of such a thing??

Oh yeah, I scrapbooked yesterday... I am loving this digital scrapping! So fun... and no mess!

We got a new pet yesterday too. We're accepting suggestions for names!!

Get ready for Make Me Merry Monday tomorrow!!!

Question of the day...

2007-11-07T17:55:00.000-06:00

Tyler: "What's the same about pee, poop, and potty?"

Mommy: (wincing) "I don't know, what?"

Tyler: "They all start with P!"

Come on. Admit it. That wasn't the answer you were thinking of either. Was it?

---

Here are a couple of layouts I created yesterday and today...

These are both made with a fun NEW kit called Peach Mocha. Its a collab kit designed by Purple Frog Pizzazz, Ladybug Graphix, and Flutterby Designs over at Digital Scrap Garden. They all have previews of the kit in their blogs. The best part is... they are giving this huge kit away for FREE with any purchase this month! Go! Grab it! Now! :) You won't be sorry! Its got DUCT TAPE!

I go in the morning to have these 2 teeth extracted. I'll let ya know how it goes!

Make me merry Monday

2007-11-05T09:26:00.000-06:00

Its Monday, Blogland! A time to think about what makes us happy. Its time for....

Play along! Blog about what makes you merry... it could be a place, a food, a thing, an event, anything! Then leave your link in my Mr. Linky here so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry! Oh, the code to add my badge to your site can be found here. Send all of your friends and family! The more the MERRIER!

So, what makes me merry? Lets see...

Given the weekend I have just endured, I have to revert to the old standby. My kids. My kids are my life. And as much as I'm supposed to enjoy a little break from them, I just can't. I miss them too much. I miss tucking them into bed. I miss waking up to the crawling into bed with me for our morning snuggle time. I miss watching them play together. I miss watching the baby eat... her little fingers shoveling it in. I miss hearing my big guy's stories and seeing the "art" he creates for me daily. I miss listening to them make each other giggle. I just plain ole miss them, darnit!

My kids make me merry. How about you?

I used street drugs over the weekend

2007-11-04T15:35:00.001-06:00

So on Friday my tooth started hurting. I knew I had a bad tooth and had put off having it extracted. I figured I should stop putting it off and called and set up an appointment with the oral surgeon on Monday (tomorrow). Friday night I felt a little swelling starting, but not bad. Saturday night I went to bed with a little swelling on the side of my cheek, but still not terrible. During the night things turned for the worse. The swelling moved over under my chin and began to block off my airway. I was having trouble swallowing and talking. So off to the ER we went. Where I had a CT scan, which confirmed that I had an abscess that was compromising my airway. I would be admitted. To decide where I would be admitted the ENT doctor needed to go down my nose with a camera to see how bad it was. So she comes in with this little bottle of stuff to numb my nose. She dips 4 long q-tips into the bottle and sticks two of them in each of my nostrils. Very fashionable. Then it happens. I glance over at the little black bottle on the counter and it is clearly marked COCAINE. Did you do a double take? Cause I sure did. "Does that bottle say COCAINE on it???" I say. "Why yes it does." says the doctor. Like its nothing. Just cocaine. No big deal. "But don't worry, its only 4% cocaine." she adds. "Well thats more than my body has ever seen!" I reply. So here I am snorting cocaine. Nice. After which I was given many many bags of Steroids intravenously. For the swelling. Cocaine and Steroids. What a weekend.
Oh by the way... I ended up spending the weekend in the ICU. For a tooth. Leave it me.

And the Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway winners are...

2007-11-04T14:31:00.000-06:00

First of all I want to take a second to thank everyone who visited my little ole blog and signed up for my giveaways. It is so appreciated. I hope some of you will continue to visit me here! Ok, without further ado.... the random winners of my giveaways are....

The winner of my grab bag of 40 coupons is...
the saunders family of Plenty to Praise

The winner of my personalized digital scrapbook layout is...
jamie of Our Liberian Adoption Adventure and Princess Ruby

Congrats, you two! Look for emails from me in the near future!

B is for Big Brother

2007-11-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

Page kit: Blossom by Flutterby Designs at Digital Scrap Garden
Letter tile: Flutterby Designs at Digital Scrap Garden
Fonts: Tracy, Turtle Club

I am constantly amazed at the relationship Tyler and Emily have. I am an only child, so I have never experience the whole sibling thing. Its pretty neat. :)

Oh and keep your eyes on the Digital Scrap Garden. They have some awesome stuff planned for this month!

November 3rd is Digital Scrapbooking Day!!

Tricks and Treats

2007-10-31T10:09:00.000-05:00

Trick or Treat, Blogland!
From my little magician and his bunny rabbit.

I took the kids to Fall Family Fun at Calhoun Square here in Minneapolis on Sunday. It was fun. Pumpkin decorating, singing and dancing, trick or treating... all the makings for FUN! And it was all FREE, which never hurts the fun factor for Mommy!
So, now the real trick or treating goes on tonight. You know the tonight I mean. The low of 32° tonight. Ugh. Nice trick, Mother Nature. So I don't know what we'll do. Tyler is so looking forward to trick or treating with his baby sister on her first Halloween. I am thinking maybe we'll hit the Mall of America for indoor trick or treating. I don't know. I'll let ya know what we decide.

Until then though I have a treat for you!!

Welcome to my second Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway! This time around I have a grab bag of 40 coupons! Who can use some coupons?? I bet you can. And you. And you. And YOU! So all you need to do to be entered in my drawing is leave me a comment right here on this post. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you, blog or email or something. I will choose a winner randomly on the morning of Saturday the 3rd.
And don't forget to sign up for my other drawing HERE.
You guys, there are 525 drawing to sign up for as of right now!! You better go get started!

AND

REMINDER! Today is the last day of the $2 or less sale at Digital Scrap Garden!! Don't miss out! Everything in the store is $2 or less! Wow!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
The winner has been announced HERE.

Make me merry Monday!!

2007-10-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

Its that time of week again. A time to think about what makes us happy. Its time for....

Play along! Blog about what makes you merry... it could be a place, a food, a thing, an event, anything! Then leave your link in my Mr. Linky here so we can all visit you and see what makes you merry! Oh, the code to add my badge to your site can be found here.

So, what makes me merry? Lets see...
One of my favorite parts of the day happens around 10pm. The kids are in bed. Its peaceful. I can watch what I want to watch on TV... I can do things on the computer without interruption... when I go to bed I can lay there and relax or play games on my phone. Its quiet. Yes, I love the "me time" I get each night. It makes me merry.

What makes you merry?

The ultimate freebie!

2007-10-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer is doing it again!!! The Fall, Y'all Bloggy Giveaway is under way! Head on over to her Bloggy Giveaway site and play along! Details can be found here. Then GO HERE to sign up for the giveaways and host one of your own! The fun will go on throughout the week, so you can hold more than one giveaway if you want! There are already more than 160 giveaways to sign up for!!!! And its just starting!! This big y'all... BIG.... HUGE even! Run over there! Now!

So, I guess you want to know if I'm doing a giveaway, huh? YES! I am! What is it, you say? Well, I have decided that I will give one lucky random winner a personalized digital scrapbook layout! Fun, huh? You can see some of my work over in my sidebar to the left and in my previous posts. The winner will send me the photos and journaling and I will work my magic! I will send it to you in several formats so that you can print it, post it, or whatever tricks yer trigger. All you need to do to enter the drawing is leave me a comment on this post! Be sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you win, blog or email. I will choose a winner randomly on the morning of Saturday the 3rd. And keep your eyes open, I may have more giveaways up my sleeve. :o)

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
The winner has been announced HERE.

Happy Saturday!

2007-10-27T19:47:00.000-05:00

Not too much going on in our world today. I ran to the Sprint store to have them look at my phone... its been freezing a lot and even shutting itself off now and then. They only had one tech working and I had to leave it there for 2 hours! I was in a strange area, so I had no clue what to do with the kids for 2 hours. I spotted a Toy World and we went in there and walked around a little. I asked the girl working there if there was a park or playground anywhere close. Well! There happened to be a really nice park right out back of the mall! So we strolled around for a little over an hour then headed back over to the mall and had McDonalds. I finally got my phone back and it seems to be working. I told them I'd be back if it wasn't any better!!

I did get a layout done this morning before we left...

Page kit: Blue Bird Bliss by Purple Frog Pizzazz at Digital Scrap Garden
Fonts: Vintage Typewriter

Speaking of Digital Scrap Garden. There is some new stuff in the Garden Shop today!! Those girls are talented, I tell ya! Don't forget to keep an eye on their blogs for freebies too. The links are in my sidebar.

So we are home and settled in for the night. I plan to do some more scrapping tonight so get ready for some creations sometime tomorrow! Hope you all had a happy Saturday!

New hats & a digital scrapbook freebie alert!

2007-10-26T14:13:00.001-05:00

The kids got a box in the mail from Grammy & Grampy yesterday. They always find cool little trinkets to send. This time they each got a new hat. :o)

Grampy bought Tyler this cool Marine hat at the Crawford County Fair in PA.

So Grammy had to go on a hunt for a hat for Emily.

Tyler wanted to try taking a picture... (ignore my wet hair, please)

In other news...
The girls over at Digital Scrap Garden have some awesome freebies on their blogs today!! Run, don't walk, over and grab them!

Ladybug has a beautiful quick page for you made with a new kit she is working on.
Flutterby has a gorgeous page kit called Ultimate Passion just for you.
AND
Purple Frog has a whole pile of paper clips for you!

And they're all spotlighting my layouts today too! *blush*

Meet Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle... or maybe you'd rather not??

2007-10-25T20:18:00.000-05:00

So we started reading a book called Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle in school today. It seems there is this woman... she lives in an upside down house. Her clothes are all brown and wrinkled. Alllll of the kids in the neighborhood come to her house after school each day. While they're there they cook, paint, brush Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's hair, iron her clothes, cut firewood, dig for treasure in the back yard... all sorts of "fun" stuff. All the while Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle sits in the corner on a chair with a crown on pretending she's a Queen. It also states that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle knows all of the kids in the neighborhood and hardly any of the grownups. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this??? I know its just a story, but still...

I did a little more scrapbooking after story hour...

Page kit: A Splash of Color designed by Ladybug Graphix at Digital Scrap Garden
Fonts: C39HrP48DhTt, Little Trouble Girl BV, Scriptina

Page Kit: Spooktackula by Flutterby Designs at Digital Scrap Garden
Font: Boring Showers

Good news!

2007-10-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

The girls over at Digital Scrap Garden have informed me that I am their first Garden Gal! I am so excited to be on their team! If you get a chance, stop over and see me at my new creative home!

Wish me luck!

2007-10-23T22:10:00.000-05:00

So I took a chance and tried out for the creative team over at the Digital Scrap Garden today. Wish me luck! I think I'd be a great Garden Gal, don't you?? Here are the layouts I created for my application. I got to choose a kit from each of the 3 designers there to work with. You can click on them to see larger views over at Flickr.

Covered Bridge
Page kit: A Splash of Color by Ladybug Graphix
Font: Segoe Print

Beautiful Sweet Emily
Page kit: Blue Bird Bliss by Purple Frog Pizzazz
Butterfly cutting template: Just Some Shapes by Peachy
Font: the Blue Cabin

2 lil Pumpkinheads
Page Kit: Spooktackula by Flutterby Designs
Fonts: Cafa Rojo, Tootlebug, the Blue Cabin

PS
All of these kits are only $2.00 right now!! You can click on the name of the kit under each photo to view the whole kit in their store. They have some really cute stuff over there and its all on SALE!

You might also want to keep an eye on the designers' blogs. They often post digital scrapbooking freebies there!

Purple Frog Pizzazz
Flutterby Designs
Ladybug Graphix

A new blog and new weekly FUN!

2007-10-22T15:49:00.000-05:00

I would like to welcome you to my new blog! My Collective Life... this blog, much like my life, will be composed of many topics. Pretty much anything that is happening or comes to my mind! I hope you will enjoy it here. I have lots of fun things planned for us! One of which is....

{drum roll}

And guess what? Today is Monday! I know its a bit late in the day, but work with me, will ya? It took me awhile to come up with the idea. So anyways, each Monday I will start a post here telling you all something that I like. It might be something I like to do, or something I like to eat... or it maybe some place or something we enjoy as a family. You get the picture. Something that Makes me MERRY, hence the name. Then it will be your turn. Go blog about something that makes YOU merry! Oh, and you can put my nifty little badge (see above) in your post using this code...

<a href="http://mycollectivelife.blogspot.com/" title="Make me merry Monday"></a>

Then head on back here and leave your link in my Mr. Linky so we can all come visit and see what makes you merry... spreading merriment through all of blogdom!! Everyone can play, if you don't have a blog just leave your merriment in the comments!
See? Sounds fun huh? So lets get started, shall we?

I love to take the kids to the park. We have a local park that we call "our park". Its a nice small park. There are always nice people there... and respectful kids. Alot of stay-at-home moms and dads frequent the park. I have met fellow homeschoolers there as well. We recently joined a homeschool group that is going to be meeting at another local park every Monday, so we may change "our park" as we get to know the people in this group, but for now it is this park that we call our own.
One thing that amazes me about the park is how Tyler always makes a "friend" while we're there. Always. It makes me think about how nice this world would be if everyone made friends so easily, ya know? But anyways...
I love to watch Tyler play and pretend with the other kids at the park. I love to put Emily in the baby swing and watch her giggle as she swings toward me and away from me. I love to watch her face light up as the kids run past her. I love to bounce on the springy-teeter totter-thing with Emily and Tyler on the other end.

Playing at the park with my kids Makes me merry.
How about you?