Somethings Gotta Give

Have you seen that movie? I netflixed it and watched it last night. I'm not sure what I think about it. It was cute enough. Acting was just ok. Story was pretty good but at times it dragged on. Wasn't really sure that I was happy with the ending. I guess I liked it even though.....well.....do I NEED to see elderly nudity? I mean, granted, it's definitely comical and not offensive (to me at least) to see Jack Nicholson's butt. But that AND having to see Diane Keaton flailing around, screaming like a banshee and FRONTAL nudity? OMG did I really see that? LOL! Although I must say, she is my aging icon. Now that is someone who handles aging with grace and class. But my point is...this movie was rated PG-13. I thought two nude scenes (especially one including frontal) would be an R rating? Does it not count if it's wrinkly? Can we not count on our rating system anymore? I need to start previewing my films on screenit.com I think. Just in case.

So today's post is just a bunch of random stories, pics and layouts. It probably won't be very cohesive so I'll just do blurbs and ramblings.

* Kyla likes to play games now. She likes to try to catch our hands if we make them "crawl" towards her. And she likes dance when I sing the song "Lollipop" (that's definitely her favorite song, followed by the theme to Wonder Pets). She'll be on the other side of the room and I'll hear her making a clucking sound with her tongue which is her little signal to me. I'll look at her and smile back, make the same sound and she'll laugh. Then we go back and forth like two birds or something.

* Speaking of birds, we realize now that Kyla has Erick's hair type. Now that his hair is cut short, when there is no product in it, it looks exactly like Kyla's. It's thick but kind of fluffs up with calicks. Reminds me of a little cockatiel. My poor girls. Kyla got Erick's hair and McKenna got my Dad's hair (very fine but very wavy!). They're both gonna need lots and lots of styling product to control these crazy little heads.

* Kyla said a new word! She's been saying the typical "Mama" and "Dada" for a while now. But yesterday she said DUCK!! That was McKenna's first "other word" too. So while I was giving Kyla her bath yesterday, I held a toy duck in front of her and repeated "Duck" over and over. At first she tried to copy me but just made a clicking sound with her tongue. Then I'd repeat "DDDDuck" and she said "DUH" And I praised her and then said "duCK" and she said "CK". I praised her again and repeated "DUCK" and she said "DUCK!" I was so proud of her! So then I tried "CUP" and she said "Cuh" and I said "CUPPPP" and she said "puh". And then she lost interest with the game. = D But I thought that was pretty good for being only 8-months old!

* As of yesterday, Kyla had no interest in sitting. Today she woke up from her afternoon nap and she is a sittin' fool. She's been pulling herself up on her knees so that she can grab things that are higher up and she's been sitting all over the place too, with no help! But what she really LOVES to do is crawl. She is a master at the army crawl. She gets around the quickest with that. But about 30% of the time she does a normal crawl on all fours. Her favorite place to crawl to is her sissy's room.

* McKenna, for some reason calls me "Miss Lady". LOL! I don't know where it came from but she'll say "Here ya go Miss Lady" or "You're welcome Miss Lady!"

* We are (at the moment) in the bathroom because she's taking a bath. This is how she asked me if she could take a bath:

McKenna: "Can I wear my p.a.n.t.i.e.s" in the bath?"
Me: "No, we don't put those in the bath."
McKenna: "Can I wear my butt in the bath?"
Me (laughing): "Yes, that you CAN take in the bath."
McKenna: "Hmm.....I'd like to take a bath please. I'm nice and dirty."

She always claims that she is "nice and....." nice and dirty, nice and clean. She just told me that her bath is nice and comfortable.

* She also asks for things to be "fresh". If she wants something new, she asks for it to be fresh. "I'd like some fresh waffles please." "I'd like some fresh milk." "I'd like some fresh pants." She's big on descriptive words I guess! LOL! Just like how her princess costumes are "milky smooth" (silky smooth).

* McKenna is ALL about fairies these days (a nice break from Disney Princesses, I must say!) We got her this book a long time ago and she's just started to be really interested in it. She asks to eat "cake and biksicks" (biscuits) like the fairies. And today I let her watch my copy of Fairytale: A True Story (I love the story of The Cottingley Fairies, which this movie is based on) and she's just entranced. She says she wants a fairy birthday party which is what we did for her first bday. LOL so I guess if she decides to have that kind of party again it will be easy enough!

But watching her take to the magic and wonder of the stories made me realize that now is the time to create my toothfairy story. I've always wanted to do this. We're going to buy a small lantern and tell her that there is a fairy that lives in it. And whenever she loses a tooth, the fairy will light up to signal to the tooth fairy that its time to come pick up a tooth and leave a gift. I think our kids will get a kick out of that. And then of course we'll do something creative like sprinkle glitter on their window sill so that they can see traces of the fairies presence. Just for fun. Childhood should have some sense of magic and make believe in it, even if it takes a little fibbing on my part ; )

I did get around to making those flower headbands for the girls. They're both pretty silly but the girls had fun trying them on and posing for the camera. Lots of giggles. I got a ton of pics but these showed the headbands the best.

McKenna's:


Kyla's (hers looks SO funny on her bald head! LOL! Plus I think I need to sew the flower down a little more flat on one side because this is sitting on her head like she's a munchkin from the land of Oz.)


And here is just a cute shot I got of Erick and the girls last night. We went out to dinner at Tokyo Lobby for our friend Paul's 33rd bday. My girls don't eat sushi but they love rice, orange slices and green tea ice cream. LOL! Anyway, the photo:


This is how my girls look all the time these days. They love to "wrestle". Well, Kyla likes it sometimes. The other times, McKenna gives her no choice.

McKenna loves to try to pin Kyla down for kisses. Kyla will try to dodge her and then McKenna will plant one anywhere that she can (her back, her foot, doesn't matter) and she'll say "I got you my little baby sister!" or "I love you so much my baby Boberson" (Boberson, pronounced BO-berson, is a nickname that we somehow gave Kyla. I don't even know how we got that.)

I promise that the next time I update my blog, I'll have Kyla's 8-month photo page up. I just finished up the housecleaning for the week and made our menu plan for the week. Just gotta get grocery shopping, two loads of laundry, and a scrap or two out of my system and then I can get to work on it. Erick is off for the next two days and McKenna's last day of school is Thursday. So I should hopefully have some freetime in there! Oh! And I wanna read my new Taste of Home magazine. I love, love, love this magazine. Highly recommend! I always get the best recipes and cooking tips from here.

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Recent LOs

Bohemian Chic

Credits: How cute is this kit by Carrie Stephens and Dianne Rigdon. It's called Bohemian Chic. Cardboard Rounds alpha also by Carrie Stephens. Other alpha is from the "Girls Lie Too" kit off of the Hers cd by Kim Christensen and Meredith Fenwick (slightly recolored). Brush strokes by Michelle Coleman. Photo action by Photoblast. Font is 2peas Brainless.

The Starfish

Probably one of the most flattering things anyone can do is give you a special photo to scrap. So you can imagine how flattered I was that Angie (wags) let me scrap this gorgeous picture of Kate.
Credits: I used the Sweet Sarah paper pack by Kellie Mize; Antiquated Swirl brush by Michelle Coleman; Fiber by Angie Briggs (from Orange Blossom kit); Sequins by Christine Haskell (Liddy's Loft); Inked edge action by Atomic Cupcake; Princess Pants font by Jen Wilson (title); The Gingerbread house for the monogram; Susie's Hand font for the poem.
The poem I wrote specifically with Kate in mind. It's called The Starfish and it says:
The jewel of the ocean and treasure of the sea,
In soft sands does she lie, a rare beauty indeed.
Grace is her trademark and courage her being,
She rides with the waves and clings to her dreams.

Favorite Things
This is an AAM page that Carrie wanted from each of her CT members.

Credits: I know, we've seen this pic scrapped before. = P But I needed to do an AAM page for Carrie Stephen's CT and the photos I took for it ended up being all wrong for a layout about my favorite things. So I used this instead and I'll save the other pics to scrap another time. I used Carrie's Bellisima kit. I just love how you can get a dozen looks out of a single kit with Carrie's designs. I chose the kit because it was soft and feminine and my layout ended up being warm and rustic. I always love the process when scrapping with her designs.
Anyway - stitching is from Carrie's Love Potion kit (recolored) and the staple by IOD. Photo filter by Virtual Photographer; Wild Tear action by Atomic Cupcake. Fonts are 2peas Fleamarket and FG Script Elegant. The tags list my favorite things: Musical Artist: Van Morrison; CD: The Best of Leonard Cohen; Magazine: InStyle; Yankee Candle Tart: Country Linen; TV Show: LOST; Snack: Chips & Black Bean Salsa; Song: Into the Mystic; Movie: Cool Hand Luke; Author: Alice McDermott; Book: Jane Eyre; Restaurant: Gustav's Jagerhaus; Indulgence: Shopping & pedicures.

And I wanted to share the precious layout that Angie did for me in the photo swap. You need to read the meaning behind her layout theme so I'm just gonna link you right to her gallery. See the layout here.

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Question of the day....what is the weirdest thing you like to eat? This question is inspired because McKenna thought I was CRAZY to eat scrambled eggs with cheese, salt, pepper and tobasco. Not that that is a weird thing to eat but she seemed rather apalled. My weird item is probably spicy pickled eggs dipped in ranch dressing. Erick used to eat pickled eggs when we would go to Goat Hill Tavern and one night I was curious so I tried it and loved it. So as long as we've been married we frequently buy spicy pickled eggs (you can get them in the deli aisle of the grocery store). And during both of my pregnancies, I would CRAVE at least one a day for the first two weeks. So what weird thing do you like to eat (pregnant or not, doesn't matter).