My So-Called Life

Thankful

In celebration of Thanksgiving, I created this layout last week.  All products are from Designer Digitals and for a full list of credits, please click on the link here: Thankful



This photo was taken last Thanksgiving. I can remember how sick Emma was with bronchitis in the two weeks prior.  You can't really tell here, but her lips were so chapped and cracked from being sick - poor baby.  Thanksgiving was the first day she really felt more good than bad. 

And here we are, a year later, and she is sick again. :(  Since she had the flu and then pneumonia in late September, she really hasn't totally recovered.  Then on Saturday night, she woke up crying with an earache.  Even a healthy dose of Motrin lasted just a few hours.  So off we went to the doctor Sunday morning to find out that her left eardrum was on the verge of rupturing and that her right was also infected.  She was still slightly wheezing, and had lots of chest congestion.  I swear, I feel like I practically keep her in a glass bubble, and make sure she takes her meds, and she still gets sick way more often than she should. 

I feel like this, and then I have to remember that Ryan was always sick as a little kid.  He always had fevers and tummy bugs, and boy, did he miss a ton of school.  Doctors and friends kept telling me that at about 7 years old, children's immune systems will finally kick into gear, and they won't get sick so often.  And you know what?  That was pretty much Ryan's experience.  Now, he hardly ever gets sick.  He used to have so many indoor/outdoor allergies, and now, he's hardly ever bothered.  I'm SO hoping and praying that this will be Emma's experience.  Of course, Ryan never had asthma like Emma does, but I've even heard from plenty of people how they have outgrown their asthma as well.  Crossing my fingers for sweet Emma Lou.... xxxxxx

I would love to hear from any blog readers what your experience or your children's experiences have been.  Does it get better the older they get?  Have your children 'outgrown' their asthma?  Hoping to hear some uplifting news.

Happy Wednesday!

Thanks for the Remembories

Emma Lou managed to tickle my funny bone once again the other day.  I was calling her to come to the kitchen to take one of her allergy medicines.  Finally, after the 3rd time, she came running to me.  When I asked her what she had been doing, she replied,

"I was reading my remembories in my room, Mommy."
"Your 'remembories'?" I asked.  "What are your 'remembories'?"
"You know, Mommy...my book that has the remembories.  I'll go get it!" and she ran back to her room.

I had no idea what she was talking about so I was totally caught off guard when she brought back this little 4"x6" photo book we had given her when she was a baby.  I'm sure you've seen one; it's made of soft squishy plastic, bright colors, a cute little handle, and each page has a clear plastic insert in which to display a photo.  When she was a baby, we filled it with pictures of her, Ryan, myself and Roland - you know - to help her identify her family.  So I guess she knew it was filled with MEMORIES but got that word confused with REMEMBERING. 

I did explain to her that the photo book held "memories" not remembories.  And you know what she said?

"I know, Mom...that's what I said."



Cheeky little monkey. 

In other news, I may have neglected to mention that not even a week after the football season ended for Ryan, he was trying out for the basketball team.  He's never played and really thought he wouldn't make the team since over 40 boys were trying out.  Being the athlete that he is, however, he managed to impress the coaches and made the team.  Yay! I'm really proud of him!  The bummer is that practice is at 6:45 in the morning - ugh.  Not so fun.  I have to hand it to him, though, he's been great about waking up at 5:45 each morning. 

His first game was last night, and boy, was it a good one!  They went into overtime but ended up losing by one point.  :(  There will be many more games though so his team will definitely have a chance to redeem itself. 

Here are some photos from last night.  Bear with me as I practice my indoor sports photography - that's a whole new ballgame (no pun intended!) for me!


And, of course, I can't post without sharing a layout.  Here's one I recently created for Designer Digitals.


Full credits can be found at The Perfect Pumpkin at Designer Digitals. 

Any big plans for the weekend?  I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, as I'm old enough to be Rob Pattinson's much older sister (no, not old enough to be his mother unless - I know what you were thinking!), but I'll be kicking off the weekend tomorrow night by seeing New Moon with my SIL and her SIL.  Should be fun!

And, of course, my to-do list for the weekend is long - wish me luck! ;)  Have a great one!

But I'm Too Tired to Say Amen...

"Time for bed, Emma," I said.

"I'm going," she muttered grumpily.

"Did you brush your teeth?" I asked.

"Yes.." she said as we moved toward the bed.

After she crawled in, I reminded her to say her prayers. 

She answered, "No."

"Emma, say your prayers," I urged.

"Uh un," she shook her head.

"Emma, why don't you want to say your prayers?" I asked, starting to get frustrated.

"Okaaaaay..."

She manages to recite Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and adds a few personal notes but doesn't say Amen. 

"Emma, say Amen so you can finish your prayer."

"No..." she says as she struggles to keep her eyes open.

"Emma, just say Amen and then you can go to sleep."  Now it's become my mission for her to say Amen - I don't know why, lol!

"No way!" she breathed angrily, half asleep.

"Emma Grace, say Amen." Inside, I'm cracking up over this whole exchange.

But Mommy, I'm too tired to say Amen..." she finally says.

Well, there you have it. 

Ooooo, my little Emma Lou!  I never know what she's going to say on any given day.  She definitely keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

And here she is in a fairly recent layout though the pictures were taken over the summer. 



Everything here is from Designer Digitals.  For a complete supply list, please visit Beautiful Braids at Designer Digitals. 

Have a fab Monday!  It's going to be a long one for me...wah...

Some Layouts and a Sale!

Well, I wish I could have posted about this earlier in the weekend, but a sick little girl (she ate some moldy turkey from a newly-bought Lunchable - long story for another time but consider me ticked!) prevented me from getting much computer time this weekend. 

Nevertheless, I'm here now, and wanted to share some layouts and let you know that there is still time to take advantage of the quarterly sale at Designer Digitals.  Just about everything in the store is 30% until Tuesday morning, 6am!!   Plus, there were so many new and fantastic items introduced this weekend; double incentive to shop! :)

Here's a layout of Emma and her beautiful (yes, I'm biased) natural highlights.  Where she gets this hair, I do not know...

For a full list of credits, please see Natural Highlights at Designer Digitals. 

And here is another football layout of Ryan.  This was taken after their last game about a week ago.  I'm just blown away when I look at this photo.  Where did my little boy go?

For a full list of credits, please visit Quarterback at Designer Digitals.

Some of my fave photos of Em are in this layout. This was for the Saturday Scraplift a couple of weeks ago at Designer Digitals. 

Full credits can be found by visiting Life Itself...at Designer Digitals. 

I'm hoping to get a couple of pages done this week.  All the new stuff in the store is really inspiring me to create. Now...if my crazy schedule will allow me some creative time this week...

Happy Monday!

Halloween 2009

Busy, busy, busy....that's all I am these days, but I wanted to show some photos from Halloween.  Here is Em in her pink kitty cat costume.  She had such fun coming up with "cat poses" and leaps and twirls in the air. 





Ryan and his friend decided to hang back from trick-or-treating and hand out candy (and scare kids).  Here he is with a predator mask and the afro wig he wore last year hiding behind one of our hedges and waiting for his next victim!



Em and I had a good time in the kitchen Friday night and Saturday morning.  We made these ghosts out of vanilla chips - super easy!


And here are the cookies we made from scratch and then decorated.


And though I probably won't scrap these photos for a while, I did manage to finally scrap LAST year's Halloween photos. 



All supplies are from Designer Digitals.  For a full list of credits, please visit Halloween 2008. 

And I don't know about you, but I'm still trying to get used to the time change.  I haven't been able to stay up as late as I usually do which is driving me crazy.  I mean, I'm WAY more tired than I should be, and it's throwing me out of whack.  Oh well, I'm sure it's only a matter of time to adjust.  Hopefully soon...