Scrapburbia

More magic than one day deserves

On our first day in Washington DC we walked and walked and walked from one monument to the next. We saw FDR Memorial 

The Lincoln Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial 

The Korean War Veterans Memorial

 And the Washington Monument

All of which were incredible.

I learned so much in just the few short hours we were there that night. I felt proud to live in such a cool country and grateful to the founding fathers for sticking to the nearly impossible task of insisting on a sovereign country. And certainly grateful to the men and women that served in the military and fought in wars to protect the country that our founding fathers worked so hard to secure.

It was just so cool to be there.

After our trekking, admiring, and just being together we headed back to the car

where something magical happened...

in this little grove of trees on the banks of the Potomac River...

I'm going to keep you guessing... till tomorrow 

Could you not just eat these two up!

 And just look at those little teefers...

Right now...

They like to watch Pink Panther cartoons together

They eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches together,

and laugh when Christopher throws his all over the floor.

Josh loves to make Christopher giggle,

Christopher likes to pull Josh's hair and sock him the nose...which makes Christopher laugh, so Josh lets him rough him up a little every now and then...

Whooo-boy... what a road trip.

 
Man have we got stories to tell... 

 

I do suppose that is the point of family vacations and especially road trips, to make stories to tell for years to come.

Stories like... "Do you remember when we left Suzie at the gas station in Wahoo, Nebraska? And we didn't even notice she was missing for 3 hours, that was a hoot!"

Of course I am not famous for my telling of such stories, I am famous for my inability to remember what the heck happened 5 minutes ago. I know my older brother remembers more of my life than I do... but I am also certain most of it is either fabricated, embellished, or at minimum exaggerated. Usually his recollections of my childhood don't even ring a bell. 

But I digress...

We made a multitude of great memories on this East Coast Odyssey ... but just one that I think will stand the test of time of Milne Family Road Trip History.

One little cutie pie baby turned one year old on this crazy adventure. Really it hadn't occurred to me that we wouldn't be back for his birthday... we'd only planned to be gone for two weeks, tops. Somehow we managed to turn it into a 3 week affair. So little Christopher got to have an impromptu party on the road...

In Walcott, Iowa...

In a truck stop...

Not just any truck stop mind you... America's Largest Truck Stop

 

(We did not see the 4" ratchet... thought Dairy Queen is relevant to the story)

Waiting out a tornado... yes people, a tornado. I grew up in Colorado and afternoon tornado warnings were a fairly regular thing. But I tell you what, Iowa has got Colorado beat. I have never in my life seen a storm like this before. (and for the record, if I never see one again that will be just fine.)

This was the front egde of it, as we were driving into it... on purpose. It looked like a tidal wave about to crash right over the great state of Iowa and wash us all the way back to Indiana (also a lovely state.)

It turned from day to night in 3 miles, from 85 degrees to 60 degrees in 3 minutes, and dry to "turn the faucet off" in 3 seconds. America's biggest truck stop was certainly our next stop. We raced the 20 feet from the car to the front entrance and still ended up looking like wet cats.

So, what I'm saying is, it was an intimidating experience.

It was the kind of thing that might have been considered an exciting adventure before I had kids. But now, with three babies in tow, I was scoping out the best place to hide should we hear what sounds like a freight train passing through the living room.

Thank goodness it never came to that. The sky boiled and rolled and dumped rain for a couple of hours until finally it seemed like the real danger had passed. So what did we do? 

Well, we bought a couple of packs of Hostess Cupcakes, a candle from the Dairy Queen and had ourselves a little birthday party.

Now how many people can say they had there first birthday party, waiting out a tornado, in the U.S. of A's biggest truck stop?

Probably just one is what I'm thinking.

San Diego overview...

For heavens sake.....I have had this post about 85% done for a week, and one thing after another grabs away my attention.

San Diego was so much fun, we sure packed a lot into those few fast days. We have done so many of these crazy scrapbook shows, and yet I don't think I have any pictures...

Here are a few from CHA 2006, proof that we did pull out the camera every once in a while...

Aaahhh, those were the days. Wow, what a whirlwind of emotion... it was so much fun, yet so hard.

ANYWAY... back to San Diego.   

 

We spent Sunday playing at Coronado Beach.  Cute little Christopher spend a good hour exploring the beach and digging in the sand before he conked out all bundled up under the umbrella. He only tried to eat sand once or twice before he gave up and decided it was more fun to let it fall through his fingers.

 

Day two (of the vacation part of the trip) was spend at the San Diego zoo. I was shocked that my kids preferred the zoo to Sea World. We saw panda bears, polar bears, tigers and climbed about 42 hills. And i'll tell you what, by the time the park was ready to close, we were SO ready to go back to the hotel.

 

On Tuesday we stopped by the Birch Aquarium before heading home. If I had a billion dollar trust fund I know exactly what I'd do with it.... I would build a gigantic aquarium and grow a kelp forest. There would have to be a motorized wave/slosh/tide machine to make the kelp sway in the water. Just walking into this room at the aquarium made my blood pressure drop 20 points. I could have sat staring, comatose for hours... loved it.

And of course, my tough guys. (I think my mini tough guy was asleep at this point so he missed the photo op) Then we finally, regretfully, climbed back in the car and made the 15 hour drive home.

And... I've been playing catch up ever since. We didn't get as much school done as I'd hoped and getting back on that schedule has been a little challenging. I am SO ready for summer!

Stay tuned next week(hopefully) for some exciting news from Scenic Route...
     

speed scrapping, speed blogging

My time in front of the computer is about as limited as my time at my scrapbook table... but I am not going to let that stop me. I am sure that I am not the only one juggling 42 things with little free time for scrappbooking. This layout is really fast, with lots of photos... I think even I may have time to lift this one:)

We went up Provo canyon a couple weeks ago. It was barely warm enough, but as it starts to warm up, I just cannot wait to get up into the mountains! We ended up only being up there for about an hour. After our little picnic a certain cute boy needed to go potty and the restrooms were not yet open for the season.

   

Sheesh...

Man oh man...

The list of things to share is long, however, the time is short.

My sister is doing well, she was finally able to come home from the hospital yesterday. It turned out she has blood clots in her lung... which is quite serious. I had no idea that it could be so painful, but it's good thing it is... you wouldn't want those little suckers making their way to the heart unnoticed!

We are busy, busy around here. I am finally getting the hang of the home schooling thing and so are the kids... the prep takes almost as much time as the teaching. ( I know you teachers are just laughing, because of course you already knew that!) I've really got to be organized and plan, plan, plan... which I am pretty good at, but one small interruption such as a knock at the door, a phone call or baby waking up early from a nap, can really send the day into a tail-spin.

If you home school, or have thought about home schooling, then I'm sure you have heard all the related questions. One that surprised me till I thought about it, then it made me wonder and even get a little scared  was, "Do you really want to spend that much time with your kids everyday?" And by-golly do you know what, as it turns out I do. I am enjoying the time with my kids. Truth be told the days flies right by when I am trying to pack in as much school work before 2:30pm as possible. 

I don't have a lot of extra time...but I do feel good about what I've accomplished at the end of the day.

OH, AND GUESS WHAT!!!

You know that California trip I said we weren't able to take this year?

Well... we are headed to California next week for the Scrapbook Expo in San Diego! Woohoo! If you live in the area you're going to want to make sure you stop by, there will be some ridiculously great deals in the Scenic Route Booth!

There is nothing like mixing business and pleasure AND SCHOOL to justify a spontaneous beach vacation! Amelia is studying the ocean in science...so we must go to the ocean, my daughters educational well being depends upon it. I think we'll have to take a day trip to the Scripps Institute, that seems like a pretty good place to learn about salinity, waves, tides and currents to me!

  

I remember going to the Scripps Institute Aquarium when I was a teenager. I made a life plan right then and then there... I was going to go to school there and live in a beach house on the coast. Well, I guess we all know how that turned out, but I still dream about living near the ocean. I am willing to live in a shack on the beach... no fancy accommodations required, the sound and smell of the ocean during every waking moment would be well worth it.  See you in San Diego!!!

Please excuse...

 
 

We are now officially home schoolers...

Yesterday was our first day as a home schooling family.

And wouldn't you know it, we survived.

Home schooling is something I have been wanting to do for a long time but have been too afraid to take the leap.

Afraid I don't know how to teach.

Afraid I won't be able to motivate my kids.

Afraid to come up with curriculum.

Afraid to give up most of my free time.

Just afraid I'll mess up my kids.

But I knew if I could do it right, my kids could reach so much further.

A few months ago a friend mentioned a program called K12. She had recently started it with her kids and they were already doing really well. Her boys had a lot of the same issues with public school that my kids did and she had a lot of the same fears that I did. K12 it not just homeschooling though, it is an online public Charter School. Which means they get state funding and provide you with everything from computers, textbooks, curriculum and even a teacher you can call anytime you have questions. Basically, K12 took all the hard parts of homeschooling out and left me with the fun things that I wanted to do with my kids like, extra geography and regular trips to the rec center.

 

Well, after day one I can say... so far so good, maybe even better than good. My kids were excited to do schoolwork and are looking forward to arrival of there computers, textbooks and and other surprises. I know the "novelty" may wear off eventually, but that's the cool part... we  can add all the novelty we want to keep it fun!

I know home schooling is not for everyone, but if you've ever thought about you might want to check out K12.
 

One of MANY unfinished projects...

The day before Christopher was born, last June, my mother and I were running errands. The Fabric Store is ALWAYS on her to-do list! (she has 16 grand babies and 6 of them have been born in the last two years... she makes a blanket for EVERY-SINGLE-ONE!)

Anyway... we were in the fabric store when I laid eyes on this quilt and fell in love with it. 

I was about to have a baby, and I knew it was a boy, plus I was already in the middle (okay, beginning really) of another quilt...

It took a lot of talking... but I did manage to convince myself that I could leave without the fabric to make it.

My Mom said... "It's so easy, we could put it together tonight. If one of us cuts and the other sews, we'll have done in no time!"

So I say..."I don't know, I really shouldn't spend the money on it..."

To which she replies..." Well, you have a birthday coming up, I'll just buy it for you!" So she bought the fabric and we headed out the door... (My mom does this sort of thing, she just can't help it. She loves to make people happy... In fact, this year for Christmas she made aprons (including ruffles and pockets) for all the girls in our family.  And that my friends is something like... TEN aprons!!!)

Now, I did mention that this was the day before Christopher was born, but I didn't know that then... well I sort of didn't know that. I was a few days overdue and I had had a doctors appointment that morning which was Wednesday, and he told me "I am busy this weekend, so let schedule and induction for Monday." If you've had kids, you know what 5 more days feels like when you're already past due.

Jim and I stopped on the way home to pick up some caster oil.

It happened to be the wrong kind, so my mom and I picked up the right kind, along with a smoothie to pour it into.

I didn't feel any different, I assumed that caster oil was an old wives tale and it wouldn't do anything. For a while it didn't... until it did. Not labor... but several bathroom trips. Until, finally at 3am, a trip to the hospital where Christopher was born that morning.

(any excuse to stick a cutie baby picture up there. By the way... this is the face that most folks get when meeting Christopher these days - not a big smile, or tears... just a casual "yeah, so?")

Needless to say, that lovely fabric did not get cut and pieced back together that night... it sat for several days. During those first few weeks when sweet baby Christopher slept, I was able to put it together.

That is to say, the quilt top is finished. I still need to back and bind it. But Christopher doesn't sleep quite as much these days, and when he does... there are so many other things that need to be done.

I know I'll get it finished eventually... maybe when his royal cuteness starts school?

Save the date!

About a month ago I decided that I needed to organize my albums. Over the last few years I had just been throwing layouts in so they would be safe, but since I don't scrapbook in chronological order, my albums were a mess!  Most of the scrapbooking I was doing was for Scenic Route, either classes, ads or trade show booths so they were essentially  sorted by Scenic Route release dates :)

I got very ambitious and pulled EVERY layout out of the 15 or so albums that I have and proceeded to put them into piles according to year... at which point, I am embarrassed to admit that I had a problem.

There were several layouts (several as in probably half) that didn't have dates... I know right?

How lame is that, I am taking the time to scrapbook, preserve memories, take nice pictures and safely put them in albums... but I can't be bothered to put a date ANYWHERE on the layout? And to make matters worse, when I carefully pulled back a photo to see the date on the back, I had either printed it myself and there wasn't date or the photo developer didn't include a date in the printed data. I can just see your mouth gapping open in shame and astonishment... and I call myself a scrapbooker!

But alas, all was not lost... There are photos after all and my memory is terrible but I was able to put them in somewhat correct order... thanks to these...

..."before and after" photos.

In the summer of 2005, 2 days before Amelia was starting 1st grade, she gave herself (and Josh) a haircut. As you can see it wasn't slight trimming of the bangs or maybe a little off the sides... no, no she went ALL THE WAY... to a MULLET! You can see from that classy date stamp that the "after" picture was in October, 3 months after the incident. I'm sure you've been through some version of this trauma so I only need to say IT WAS BAD... very bad. 

Two good things did come from the experience though.

1. Amelia has not cut her hair since then... I swore I would shave her head if she did, and I guess that worked. (Heaven help me I would have done it!)

and 2. As I was sorting through undated layouts I could estimate a general timeline based on Amelia's current, um... hair situation.

and well... after all of that I did learn a very important lesson...

DATE EVERY LAYOUT FOR HEAVEN SAKES!!!... so far, I have.