Another busy weekend at our house. Friday night we went to the Ringling Brothers Circus at Wells Fargo Arena. It's funny...some of my best memories and some of my worst memories are in that building. The finals of the 3A Girls Basketball tournament in 2006 is something that I hope to remember for the rest of my life. The first round of the tournament in 2007 is something that I hope to forget very soon!

But the circus was fun! Shaun was a bit overwhelmed I think but Sydney loved it! The elephants were a big hit with both kids. Sydney was amazed by the acrobats from China. Then on Saturday morning we went out to Howell's Tree Farm to their pumpkin patch. We met some other families with children from China and the kids played on swings, pet the bunnies, walked through the corn maze, and then found their own pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. Daddy and Shaun found a nice sized pumpkin in the middle of the patch. Sydney discovered one that was just her size and called it her own. Then when Sydney saw that her's wasn't as large as Shaun's, she turned to me and declared that "We have to find a big honkin one" and proceeded to identify a beautiful 30 pound pumpkin.

Sydney carried her pumpkin back to the wagon and Mommy carried the 30 pounder! We have three more trips to the pumpkin patch with pre-school so I fully expect to have the most pumpkins that we've ever had.

The rust colored layout is a picture from the corn maze. It was for a challenge to just use one color for a layout over at oscraps. The other layout shows Sydney with her own pumpkin!

Credits for both can be found at http://www.oscraps.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/5782

I have the world's coolest nephew. He is such a great kid! The other night he bought pizza, pop, caramel corn and rented a video and came out to entertain his cousins! Zeb is 14. He plays ball, he goes to school and he has a part-time job! And, on his own, with no begging or coaxing, he comes out to visit his cousins! This kid totally ROCKS!

This layout is dedicated to Zeb! Credits can be viewed here http://www.oscraps.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/19803/cat/500/ppuser/5782

Shaun told me this weekend that he wanted to stay here with Mommy and Daddy and Sydney. He doesn't want to go back to Mama's home (that's what he calls his foster mother). I guaranteed him that he won't be going back to Mama's place!

The picture above is from last August while we were waiting fot Shaun. The credits can be found here.
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=185880&ppuser=4621

This is last year's Halloween. Sarah was such a sweetheart, helping Sydney carve her pumpkin. Where does the weekend go? It doesn't help that I have a cold and don't feel well... We spent 3 hours outside yesterday riding bikes and learning to cross the street. We practiced crossing the street "bunches". We still have lots more practice needed but we're getting there.

The credits for this layout can be found at http://www.oscraps.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/19230/cat/716

The credits for the layout of Halloween 1965 are http://www.oscraps.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/19343/cat/684

We bought bikes for both Shaun and Sydney a couple of weeks ago. It was obvious in May that they would both love to have bikes. They rode bikes at their cousins and just loved them. But with Shaun's surgeries, we decided to postpone the bike purchases until next year. However, when the doctor gave Shaun a final "clean" bill of health on his leg, we decided to go ahead. After all, it's too cold to swim now (unless you are Abby who was in the pool the other night in water that was 74 degrees) and yet we have a couple of good months of bikes!

The layout credits are here http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=183882&cat=1578

This picture is from last fall. I love her expression.

The other night Grandma and Papa stopped out for a few minutes. The night before, the kids had brought out lots of blankets to play a game in the living room. One of the blankets was Mom's baby quilt. I explained to Shaun that he couldn't play with that because it was special.

So when Mom and Dad stopped by, Shaun ran and brought the quilt and gave it to Grandma. He told her to take it home. Then Sydney went and took it from him and said "It's ours now Grandma." Then Shaun gave it back to Mom and told her to "Hold on tight Grandma." They did that several times. We got to keep the quilt. But it was just so much fun to watch their little personalities in action.

I used Ashalee Wall's Oooglie booglie kit for this layout!

This is one of my favorite pictures of all times. Sarah was so excited the whole time that we were waiting for Sydney. This is a picture of the two of them about a month after we came home. Sarah came out to play with Sydney for the afternoon and they were sharing some candy...or in this case, a candy wrapper. Two absolutely beautiful girls!

Credits for the layout: Ashalee Wall - Designer Glitter; Ashalee Wall - Purple background paper from Ooglie-booglie; Ashalee Wall - Frame from Undercover3 frames; Sue Cummings - Scrap Apple Week 3 for word art; Font - Angelina

It's definitely fall here in the midwest. I love fall days when it's sunny and crisp and the trees are changing colors. Unfortunately, most fall days don't look like that! And the rest of fall always makes me a little bit melancholy! (I don't get to use that word often but I think it fits my mood.)

However, with the kids, I don't really have time to stay feeling that way for long. After all, there are too many things to do. And before you know it, the weekend is over and everyone is doing baths. Tonight while Shaun was in the bathtub, Sydney wanted her dad to turn on music in the kitchen and dance with her. Daddy found a mellow station and they danced. Then, Sydney decided that she wanted Daddy to help her with her bath (Yea Sydney! and Yea Daddy!). So while Daddy washed Sydney's hair, Shaun and Mommy danced to "The Way We Were". Shaun wanted Mommy to hold him while we danced. So hold him I did.

He was looking for something a little more fast paced. But Mommy explained that this was a slow dance. And, as I held him, his eyes were above mine and I looked up at him. And I realized that I might not be there at his wedding to dance with him...the penalty for being an old mommy. But I can enjoy every minute of dancing with him tonight. And enjoy it I did!

The layout above is from a picture I snapped while we were in Milwaukee. I used it for my second round entry into the Supreme Team contest at GDS. They will cut another 20 or so scrappers on Tuesday and I don't expect to go any further. But I'm really happy with both layouts that I scrapped so it's been fun!

Everything is from Helen Ehrenhofer's kit, "Cuddle Up". The title work is the cloud filter on Cheri font. The red paper has a tear using an Atomic Cupcake action. I used a fog effect on the picture and a Gaussian blur on the frame.The journaling uses Elegant font and says "Where do your dreams take you my son? You sleep so peacefully. It must be a sweet place! September 1, 2007"

When I look at these pictures, I realize that I have forgotten how tiny Sydney really was. I don't think I knew how overwhelmed she really was at the time. But seeing her face in these pictures, I know that she was dealing with so many new things. I'm so proud of my children...both of them. They are so strong and I know that their strength will serve them so well in their lives.

We've been to Night Eyes at the Zoo twice and we've celebrated Halloween at Living History Farms twice. The first year it was just Mommy and Daddy and Sydney. Last year, Jada went

to Night Eyes with us and Sarah went to Living History Farms with us. This year, Shaun will get his first exposure to our Halloween traditions. I've got a feeling that he will love it!

I've been accepted as a team member on Ashalee Wall's CT. She sells her products at oscraps. So I used one of her fall kits to go back and scrap a couple of pages from Sydney's first Halloween. Both layouts use papers and elements from the Pumpkin Plaid collab kit by Ashalee Wall and Tracy King found at oscraps. The page with all of the photos also uses a Teri Ann Hanks Template - All Together. The font is Love Ya Like a Sister.

I have been so lax on posting to the blog. The kids do things everyday that are so cute...or so "not so cute" and I don't get them posted. And, of course, that means that they will be lost forever because I sure won't be able to remember them!

Take yesterday for instance! I got a phone call from the teacher at the new school. Sydney and Shaun are in the same classroom (at my request) because Sydney had a nose bleed. And the cause of the nose bleed was Shaun's elbow!

The way I understand it, Sydney doesn't like it when Shaun follows her around the classroom. So she tells him to get away. Then he tries to take something from her. Then she tries to scratch him. Then he elbows her in the nose. Then her nose bleeds. Then they both start crying. Then the teacher calls me.

On Monday, Shaun will go to a different classroom and we will see if that improves things!

The layout above was one that I did for the Supreme Team contest at GDS. I caught Sydney in a particularly reflective mood (maybe the only time!) as she walked from the beach to the playground at Lake Michigan. This layout uses kit from Amy Leigh Fennel called Allure and found at GDS.

The pictures in the layout are from last weekend in Milwaukee. I have more layouts to make from this past week. I need to get some layouts made from the Milwaukee Zoo. Then, both Sydney and Shaun got new bikes this week so we have bike pictures. They both started a new preschool on Wednesday. So there are pics from the first day of preschool. And Papa's 78th birthday was yesterday so we have a few pics from that as well.

The layout above uses my picture of Lake Michigan as a background. The fonts are Georgia and Chopin Script. The jade is from Ake Pangestuti and the gold overlay is from Helena Jole---both from the Journey of the Heart kit.

Here's a pic of Shaun at Lake Michigan. We had so much fun in Milwaukee. Sydney called the beach "the sandbox". Sydney is obviously living large!

Everything for this layout from Bren Boone. Bren Boone Grunge Overlay - overlay; Bren Boone Doodle Bits - file tag; Bren Boone KidO Elements - safety pin; Bren Boone Summer Afternoon - Papers and Glitter and Sun

This picture was taken over the weekend at our annual Hubei Girls Reunion. The credits follow:
Background paper - Amy Teets - O Amy
Font - Chopin Script
Tag - Carrie Stephens inked twill
Font - Angelina
Swirls - Melissa Rose