Page for Charlie

This is a scrapbook page I put together for Charlie from his "missionary" photos.
One thing I haven't figured out yet in photoshop is how to save my pages in jpeg, but still have a high enough resolution to send them to print. In psd it is many M's, but saved in jpeg it is only K's. I really would like to print out some pages like this to put in picture frames to put up in the boys room - but my own printer isn't that great, so my task is to figure out how to get better jpeg resolution.

Page for Tom

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After




















I don't know how to use the papers for scrapbooking yet, so I'm just using white backgrounds. The great thing about digital is I can go back and change this later if I want.

Tom is my smiley boy - and he has the cutest smile. This picture is from 1 1/2 years ago when he was two years old. The only reason I know that is thanks to digital photos that tell you when the photo was taken, otherwise I would have no idea. Looking at this picture I wouldn't have guessed it was from so long ago.

I love photoshop because this was an okay picture when I took it, but a few tweeks in photoshop and I like it so much more. I added the original photo to show the difference. I don't like that this blog puts pictures in opposite order - like how I decided to put in the original photo and it's at the top of the page instead of further in my post - I don't like that because it means if I don't prethink out where I want pictures to be they are in opposite order than what I want.

I have to brag on Charlie for a minute. On Sunday we had family council and set a few goals for this week. One of the goals was to be better helpers - to be quick to obey - when mom and dad asked the boys to do things. Charlie has been doing a great job at this goal. In the past when I've asked him to help do dishes he complained and whined that he didn't want to. This week he has not complained at all and he even has done it right away without procrastinating. His chore is to unload and he can do it all by his self - he just puts the dishes that go up high on the counter and I put them in the cupboard for him. He doesn't like to load up, because he doesn't like touching the dirty dishes - even though I rinse them first - so Tom is the load up guy.

Today I cleaned the bathrooms and the boys helped. I sprayed the cleaner and they used the rags to wipe everything clean. They fought over who got to scrub the inside of the toilet, luckily we have two, so they each got to do one. I love such happy helpers.

More digital layouts

I think I'll have to start a collection of my digital scrapbook pages someplace else so I don't bore everyone with my new hobby - but it really is fun and easier than I thought - at least using premade pages, I've yet to put together something like this on my own.

I found some great recipes today - a bread recipe, granola and graham crackers. We used to make graham crackers growing up and homemade are soooo yummy - try them - you'll be hooked. The one thing is I need to find the cool cutting tool that my mom has - it rolls along and scores the dough so that they can be broken apart.

Third times the charm

I've already posted this picture twice - but this is the first time I've used Photoshop on it. I'm really having a lot of fun with photoshop - and I'm extremely appreciative of Jessica Sprague's website that is such a great help with wonderful tutorials and free downloads. I've spent way too much time today with my computer - but I didn't neglect my kids - we still did chores this morning and our morning devotional. I took Charlie and Becca with me, while Tom was at preschool, to buy flowers for my flower garden by the front door. I put dinner in the crockpot at lunchtime so that we could have dinner. After a couple hours at the computer, while the boys colored and played and Becca napped, we then went to the park. I then spent more time on the computer until dinner and bedtime. And now that the kids are in bed, and Jeremy got called in to work, I'm back at it. I'm really excited at how much I've gotten done today - it's been awhile since I've been so productive.

My second Digital Layout

This is just a layout with out any paper background. I'm curious to try printing these out and see how they look in printed form.

My first digital layout

I am taking an online digital scrapbooking class that teaches Photoshop Elements. Thank you Marne for giving the heads up about this class. It's really neat because there are video tutorials that take you step by step through the process and show you where to find things - it is so much easier than trying to read it out of a book. Today's lesson used a pre-done background paper - we just learned about putting on the photo and words. Future lessons will teach how to do it all from scratch. Thank you to all you other digital scrapbookers for inspiring me to be brave and try digital.

Favorite picture for today

I took a lot of pictures today, but this one is my favorite, even though Becca is faced backwards, there is something about this picture that I really like.

Our Day

Yummy!


We made cinnamon rolls today. I've only made them once or twice before. They really aren't very hard - I don't know why I thought they would be. The boys love to help 'cut' them. We use dental floss to cut through the dough. Charlie remembered this from last time and ran to get the floss when I started to roll the dough up. They did a good job and I only had to help with floss placement so that they didn't make the roll size too big.
Becca showing some attitude - she's doing too much of that lately - little miss attitude.
Here is princess Becca. She found the hoop somewhere (I really don't know where she got it from) and put it on her head. Every time she would tip her head up it fell off and she would retrieve it and put it back on.

The boys wanted to make jello - they each wanted their own flavor, so we made two pans of jello and made it jiggler style so they could cut it out with cookie cutters.

Teaching our Children Reverence

I would like to thank Brittany for posting an article from Orson Scott Card about reverence. This is something we've been working on with our boys for the past year and they have made tremendous progress. I found this article to be very helpful - especially because it had concrete ideas as to how to train children when they are young. I've always known that it is important to teach them when they were really young - I was just at a loss as to how to do it. I think the main thing I took away from the article is the importance of taking an active role in parenting and not just hoping that our kids will 'get it'. It takes concentrated effort to teach and train our children. I think the main thing that has changed for me is that I've adopted a new 'attitude' of being an active trainer, rather than just allowing myself to get annoyed at my children when they are being mostly reverent, but still annoying and distracting.
Today, when I took Becca out of the meeting I didn't let her get down and run around, like I might have in the past. It seems so innocent to let them run around - they are little, it seems hard to make them sit for so long, etc., but it is not teaching them how to behave at church - it really does just reinforce that going out into the hall is more fun than sitting with the family. Previous to reading this article I would have thought that Becca was too young to start training, she's 17 months, but she does understand a lot more than I give her credit for, and this is a good time to start training her in good habits so that I won't have to untrain her in a few months from now.
Here is a blurb from the article that talks about a pattern to follow.

The pattern I'm about to tell you works. I have never seen it fail. My wife and I have used it with four children who are amazingly good, loving, happy, righteous, creative, free-spirited, and patient -- in short, civilized. We have also seen it used by friends and family members, with similar effects. The details of the process are infinitely adaptable; the fundamental principles must be followed without fail.

Set Clear Rules. You have to decide exactly what standard of behavior you are going to expect of a little child. Once you set these rules you are as bound by them as the children are. You must follow them yourselves.

Our family's sacrament meeting rules for toddlers are fairly simple: Because sacrament meeting is a time that belongs to the whole congregation for the purpose of learning about and communing with the Lord:

1. No talking out loud.

2. No interaction with people on other benches.

3. The child never touches the floor.

4. Silent reading and drawing are the only permitted activities.

5. No food or drink during sacrament meeting, ever.

6. Partake of the sacrament.

7. Any activity that results in laughter or loud noise must stop immediately.

8. No hitting or hurting of anyone, by anyone.

9. Bathroom needs, diaper changes, and physical injuries are the only acceptable reason for leaving the meeting, and only long enough to solve the problem.

10. Willful violations of the rules result in removal from the meeting and containment.

The "containment" is explained in his article and it is only for young toddler age kids. It seems like a nice gentle way to get a message to the child that sitting in sacrament with the family is better than having to be taken out in the foyer.

We follow most of them, but really need to work on the 'no child touches the ground' - I really need to help my boys sit - they are like yo-yo's all over the bench and it drives me nuts. One rule that we are more strict on is leaving for the bathroom. Sacrament is only just over one hour long and I think kids can wait to use the bathroom - if you start letting them leave, they start using it as an excuse to leave, or it plain just becomes a habit to have to leave during sacrament meeting. I know this is true, because if you watch it usually is the same kids that leave each week to use the bathroom. We have our children stop at the bathroom on the way to sacrament meeting and tell them that they cannot leave until after the final song. My boys are 5 and 3 and it is very rare that they have ever left because of a true bathroom emergency.

Missionary Tom

Here are Tom's "missionary" pictures.
Today was Stake Conference. I was happy that my boys did quite well. We took their new bags that I made - the crayon roll was great - the crayons stayed all together (except every time that Becca tried to empty it out).
The lady that sat behind us gave me a note at the end of the meeting. It said,
"What a beautiful family. Your children are full of love. What a precious gift Father has shared with you. True they are strong willed and determined - but this must be; that they may stand in these last days - and Return With Honor to their Creator. When the day seems it will Never end - remember you are equal to the task He has given you. Prayer is our staple in life. It will heal and strengthen us as we look to Him in all things. What faith our Father has in you!"
What a beautiful note. Even though I thought the children had done quite well at being reverent, I was in and out many times with Becca, and this note was a great boost to me. I'm going to keep it and read it on those days when I don't feel that things are going so well.
Being a mother is a great challenge and it's nice to be reminded of the great gift we have been giving - our children - and the great responsibility we have to teach them. I'm thankful for support and encouragement from others.

Becca Turtle

Becca had me put this sweater on her, then she started pulling on it like she was trying to take it off. When she got it up on her head she left it there and started prancing around. It was so funny, and she knew it - she was doing it for the laughs. Her walking around with that on her head reminded me of ET.

Crayon roll

To go along with the activity bag that I made for the boys I made these crayon rolls to keep their crayons all together. I saw this idea on the web a few weeks ago and thought it was nice, but once I was already in sewing mode making the bags it didn't take much longer to throw one of these together. I couldn't remember where on the web I had seen them, so I just googled 'crayon roll' and lots of sites came up. The website I found most helpful showed pictures of the different steps of how to do it. It took me less than an hour from start to finish. I just did it tonight and the boys haven't seen it yet. I hope it will help them from having to dump out all of the crayons all over. In this handy roll they can see all of the colors and can reach for just the right one.

Kids activity bag

Yesterday I was at an Expo and saw some kids bags that were in fun prints and had pockets on the outside for holding their crayons. They cost $30! ouch. I looked at them and thought maybe I could try to make them.
I took the kids to the fabric store to choose their own fabric - Charlie choose army material and Tom choose dinosaurs.
I checked the web and found a few websites that gave me an idea of how to make the bags. After a little bit of trial and error I figured out how to make them and they turned out very well, I was pleased with how nicely they turned out. I put the pockets on the inside - one large pocket and on the other side a pocket with slits for putting in pencils and crayons.
Charlie loves to draw and I hope this bag will help him keep his things together instead of leaving them all over the place.

Future Missionary

Last week I went to buy Tom some new church shoes and I took the boys with me to the store. After we found Tom a pair of shoes I remembered Charlie needed a new white shirt. While I was finding a shirt the boys were trying on suit jackets. "Mom, we need to get these." I thought they looked nice, but didn't really want to spend the money to buy both of them a suit - I couldn't buy just the jacket, they didn't have black church pants, they usually wear tan pants. I gave in to their pleading and begging and bought them each a suit.
I love how handsome they look wearing them and now they look forward to getting dressed for church and looking their very best.
Last Sunday when Charlie was getting ready he said, "Mom, you know what I look like? I look like a missionary". I thought he did too.

Have a good cry

Today was one of those days. I didn't feel well - I was sick yesterday, threw up and everything and today I was in recovery mode and was very tired. My children were extra rambuncious and wild and fighting and making messes like crazy. Then came the moment when I "snapped". The boys know that they are supposed to keep drinks in the kitchen - but you know kids, they will try to get away with whatever they can. Tom poured some soda in a glass, I saw him with it and reminded him to stay in the kitchen. I went down the hall to my bedroom and a moment later I heard a thud and Tom started to cry. He had gone downstairs with his drink and got tripped up or something and bumped into the wall on the landing. Of course his soda spilled everywhere. He said he had hurt himself, but I was too mad about the soda everywhere to care about him at the moment. I sent him to his room. Then Charlie did something or other, and I yelled at him and to top it all off Becca came by me whining and crying while I was trying to clean up the steps. I sat on the steps and started crying, feeling like such a mean mom - yelling at my kids and being so mad. When ever Becca hears me cry she starts crying. This brought the boys out to see what we were crying about and then Tom started to cry. "Why are you crying mommy?" he kept asking, but I couldn't say anything yet, I was still too emotional. So the three of us were crying and Charlie comes over and gives me a hug. So all the children are gathered around me and most of us are crying - and at that moment I felt love, and the anger and the frustration left and I was thankful to my children for gathering around me in my moment of need. And for about the next five minutes they were as good as gold.

File Folders

I also found a great site that has lots of file folder activities and games to have on hand.

Sculptures of Christ

The St. George Visitors Center has on display an amazing sculpture display of various scenes from the Bible of Christ. The artist is a woman, Angela Johnson, from Arizona, who took up sculpting just 10 years ago. Her artwork is amazing. Click on her name to go to her website where you can view these pieces, or if you click on the visitors center you can see the pieces that are on display here. Seeing them on the internet is nothing compared with seeing them in person. The piece titled "Come Unto Me" is a life size sculpture of Christ, akin to the Christus, and when I stood in front of it and looked up into His eyes it was like I was truly looking into Christ's eyes - they were kind and loving and healing.

Our new pet

This is Thumper, our new pet bunny. My cousin Jacy has bunnies, and the boys loved holding them. I felt bad that the boys have been begging for a dog, but I just can't commit to that. A bunny seemed a much better option. So far the only problem is the boys love it too much. They are always carrying it around and are fighting over whose turn it is. Thumper puts up with the boys affection, but I don't think he really likes it. I think he prefers to stay in his cage, away from loving arms of little boys, but I am impressed with how patient the bunny is and how tolerant he is.

Charlie and Tom do everything with the bunny. They love to hold him and watch tv. I thought this camera moment was so cute when I walked by and saw the boys reading a book to their bunny. They would love to sleep with the bunny, but I draw the line there, mostly for the sake of the bunny. In fact, today I announced it a day of rest for the bunny and only let the boys have the bunny out for a short time. I think if the bunny is going to survive the love of my boys, I'm going to have to impose time limits.

Becca is a true Taysom

Becca is a true Taysom because she loves to ride on a tractor with daddy just as much or more than the boys do. This was expected with the boys - that they would love boy things, such as tractors and dirt. However, I didn't expect Becca to love tractors so much.
Yesterday Jeremy borrowed a tractor to grade our backyard (I'm hoping we'll be ready for grass in the next couple of weeks). Becca was helping me with the garden, but kept wandering off towards the tractor. Finally Jeremy stopped and let her sit behind him on the seat. For some reason the motion of the tractor always puts our kids to sleep. Soon enough her head was bobbing around and Jeremy stopped so I could get her and put her down. I got her into her bed and she seemed like she was going to stay asleep, but a minute later she was wide awake and I took her back in the yard with me. She wanted on the tractor again, and after 10 minutes or so she was asleep again. This time I just laid her down in the yard to let her keep sleeping. But again, after a minute she woke up. She wanted back into the tractor again. This third time, when she fell asleep again we just let her stay in the tractor and sleep bobbing around as Jeremy kept working.

It's a Girl!

Well, I never did post the result of the poll - boy or girl?, or say what my prediction was, so here's the recap.
I did think it was going to be a girl - so the voting was even - 3 said boy, and counting me 3 said girl.
The ultrasound showed the baby to be developing well and everything looks like it should. He showed the face in 3D and it was so cute to watch the baby opening her mouth and kept sucking at her fist.
I am exactly halfway today - 20 weeks and that is exactly what the baby measures. The due date is September 1.
One reason I'm so excited about a girl is because she and Becca will be so close in age - 21 months apart, the same as Tom and Charlie. There is a bigger gap between Tom and Becca, 2 1/2 years.

Now the next thing we have to do is come up with a name. What are some girl names?