Kyle's 2nd Birthday!!

Today is Kyle's 2nd birthday! We have been teaching him to say "I'm two!" It is cool and cloudy today, which has limited some of our outdoor activities. The kids all enjoyed opening Kyle's presents and eating the Elmo cake. We are enjoying our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Handley. Yesterday, we spent most of the day outside playing in the backyard. Papa enjoyed jumping with the kids on the trampline and playing baseball. Grandma gave 3 shaggy looking kids haricuts and now they are looking great!

Justin has 2 Firsts!!

We are enjoying spring-like weather here in Michigan the past few days. It is so nice to be able

to take the kids outside to play. It helps to run off some of their abundant energy. Megan and Justin got new bikes this weekend. Justin was very excited to pick out his bike. He had lots of requirements: hand brakes, a water bottle and a blue bike. We managed to find it all but the color blue. The style of bike is called a "Troublemaker", so that is what is says across the pads on his bike.....I hope he doesn't become a troublemaker on his bike. We bought the bike as an incentive to encourage him to keep practing on his old bike with training wheels and we told him that as soon as he was ready to take the training wheels off then he could start riding his new bike. Justin wanted to give his new bike one try before we put it away and we were all suprised to see him take off and start riding up and down the street!! Yesterday, was a huge day for Justin, in addition to riding a 2 wheel bike for the first time, he also lost his first tooth!! The tooth fairy came last night a brought him 4 shiny quarters for his tooth. We knew the tooth was loose, but the reason it came out was that Justin was trying to open a Play-Dough can with his teeth. He looked really freaked out by the fact that by using his teeth to open the can he popped his tooth out. It was a good learning experience on why we don't use out teeth for such purposes!!

Magnolia's

These are pictures of the flowers on the Magnolia tree in my front yard. It was planted in 2003 and suffered from shock for a couple of years. Last year I got one blossom....so I was pretty excited this year when my tree blossomed all over. Unfortunately, the blossoms don't last long, but I sure enjoyed them while they lasted. I captured quite a few shots with my new camera and couldn't resist putting them in a layout. Hope you have a good weekend! Danielle

Rainy Day Thursday

Hi All!!

Here are some pages I have been working on this week. You will note some similarities in the pages....just different pictures :) Most of these pages were quick pages made by someone else and I just inserted my pictures, but a few I did on my own. Not much new around here. We are looking forward to the weekend, just to be home and relax.

Take care! Danielle

Friday

Here are some recent pictures and layouts of Justin and Megan playing in our backyard with their "kid" kites. I didn't make up the name....they did :) We are having lovely weather today and I believe we have more in store for the weekend ahead! It will be so nice to get outside and do some activities!! Last month Gary and I got new bikes and we haven't even been able to try them out yet.

Here are some of the layouts I have been working on from Megan's birthday last month. I am trying to keep up with this years pictures, rather than completing all the past photos I have, it makes it easier to remember what they said or did when journaling about an event.

Not much new around here. Megan and Justin went to the dentist today. Megan's check up was great!! Justin, unfortunately has 3 cavities that require filling and require two seperate visits to the dentist to have taken care of. We are usi ng a Pediatric dentist office and they are fabulous with the kids, so I am sure it will go well. Did you know they have different flavored "laughing gas" these days...bubble gum and strawberry were a couple they mentioned and he will get to watch a movie with headphones or play a gameboy while all this occurs......it makes my memories of childhood dentistry seem really archaic!! This first filling is scheduled for next week, and because the dentist insists it be early morning for the first one (more cooperative children) Justin will get to miss school.

Take care!! Danielle

Saturday

I couldn't sleep after 3am this morning, so I put my time to some good use. It is still cool out this weekend and cloudy today, so not much going on outdoors. Megan and Justin have spent most of the day in their Halloween costumes, so we have Spiderman and Snow White running about :)

Happy Friday!!

I am recovering from my head cold / sinus infection finally. Not a very exciting week around here, as I didn't feel well enough to go anywhere or do much of anything. I finished this Easter layout today and thought I would share. Have a great weekend!!

Baby Einstein

Just wanted to share the new layouts I finished for Kyle. The text reads:
Since last fall, Kyle's favorite thing has been Baby Einstein. He loves the movies,
books and flash cards. His favorite movie,Baby Monet, features the purple zebra.
Because he loved the zebra so much a friend got him this stuffed zebra, which has
quickly become his favorite stuffed animal. While the Baby Einstein movies are playing you will find Kyle watching intently, repeating the words spoken by the narrator and dancing to the music. Kyle prefers to make his own movie selections. His preferred method for this is to spread all movies out on the floor in a row while browsing through all the titles.

new scrapbooking layouts

Is this Spring???

Greetings and Happy Easter to All!!!

Not much new here, just wanted to post a few pictures. I think they are pretty self explanatory. All of the Handley's are staying their homes for Easter and so are we, so we are planning for a quiet day and plan to share dinner with Gary's family. The kids are anxious to decorate Easter eggs and for me, I am sure it will be a good photo taking opportunity. The kids are also anxious for the Easter bunny to come to our house.

I hope you have a blessed Easter.
Take care, Danielle

My Monday

It is a lovely start to the week to have a 70 degree day. However, I think it is suppose to rain the rest of this week. I worked in Justin's kindergarten class today. We used white paint and painted the bottoms of all the kids feet and put their footprints on a large piece of construction paper. Eventually, the footprints will become the ears of a bunny they are making. It was quite a job painting 21 pairs of kid feet, they were all quite ticklish and wiggly, somehow I made it out of there relatively clean and paintfree. I wish I had taken my camera with me :) I was reading a scrapbooking magazine at the table while the kids had lunch. It hadn't been very long and I noticed Kyle was really quiet. Poor kid feel asleep while eatting his cup of pudding. Rather than just clean him up, I just had to stop and grab a few pictures. I must be driving Megan crazy with all my picture taking (even though I really haven't been taking many more than normal) She covers her face, turns away and keeps telling me to leave her alone. This just isn't working for me at all....we finally made a deal that she would hold still, give me a good smile and once I got a picture I would leave her alone for awhile. Funny thing is she is the one who likes to sit down with me and look at all the pictures and scrap pages :) I am looking forward to this evening, I am joining 4 friends for an informal baby shower and dinner out at PF Chang's. I am sure we will have good food and lots of great conversation!! Justin's kindergarten round up is coming up soon and I got his paperwork filled out and turned in. Considering we did round up last year and the same paperwork I am tempted to skip, but don't want to miss anything important should there have been any changes. I am so glad we put Justin in the young five kindergaren this year. He has had the opportunity to be intellectually challenged but it has allowed him extra time to mature. Gary and I noticed recently that he has made a lot of progress in that department. Justin has become pretty cooperative and resonable but he is quite the negotiator. The past two nights he has gone to bed with his tennis racket and fallen asleep with it in his hands. I have to try to remember to catch a photo of it. Until next time, take care!!

Hi All!!!

Hello to all who read my blog!! Hope all is well with you! Things are good here. Kyle is getting over the mild sniffles and we are looking forward to a pleasant weekend. My new "toy" arrived yesterday and I am so excited to have it in hand and start playing with it. We just bought a new digital SLR camera. I have been dreaming about owning one for awhile now and so excited to finally have a Nikon D80. I have been practicing a bit and trying to read all the manuals that came with all the various pieces so I can try to learn to use it properly. So far when I have the camera set on auto I am getting great regular pictures. I hope eventually, I can learn to get some creative, awesome shots. I am sure my new camera will increase my photo taking and least for awhile (not that I have a problem with too few pictures!!!) and give me lots of material to scrapbook with. I wish I had the new camera while Justin was still playing indoor floor hockey. I was so limited with my old camera and had trouble getting any close up action shots (without a flash) in a gymnasium. Oh well, I will get all practiced up for next year. Justin is begging us to buy him or let him use his own money to buy a tennis racket and to take lessons. We don't know any other kids who play or take lessons, so where this idea came from, I am not sure. We will see how long the idea stays active in his mind and then decide whether or not to pursue this phase.

Feels like spring is getting closer

It is kind of sad when you realize winter has been going on for long enough that a sunny day with temps in the mid 30's feels like spring. The kids and I are anxious for warmer weather to arrive and stay with us. Not much newsworthy happening around here.

Over the past couple of days I am noticing that all the kids clothes seem too small. They all fit last fall, so it seems they have grown (again) overnight. Megan is getting excited for her upcoming 4th birthday in a week. Her new favorite movie is "Candyland". Megan spends her days dress in her Cinderella costume pretending to be Princess Lolly from the movie. It is necessary for Princess Lolly to carry her royal septor with her everywhere she goes. The phase is still pretty cute. Justin remains busy with computer games and drawing, that boy uses a lot of paper!!! And Kyle, well he is just very busy and into any and everything. He is very clever and can find ways to accomplish most anything he sets his mind to. While those can be great characteristics, they sometimes get him into trouble. I posted a scrapbook page I just finished of Kyle trying out some new things.

PJ Day

We are having a very lazy day at our house, so much so we are all still in our PJ's. We have spent our morning playing games and watching movies. While Kyle is napping I have to think about getting freshened up for the day otherwise supper will be here and I will still be in my PJ's. Yesterday, Gary & I took Justin and Megan to Great Lakes Crossing (a large mall not too far from our house) and ate at the Rainforest Cafe and then we went to Jeeper's (an indoor amusement park for kids). The kids had a great time and I also hit some great sales at The Children's Place outlet store. I was feeling pretty bad last week when we went outside to play in the snow and when we came back in Kyle's forarms had a couple inches of redness all the way around them, between where the coat and the mittens. I found a cute, larger coat on clearance and we got new scarves, hats, mittens and matching sweaters for all the kids......cheap :) Hopefully, I can get them all dressed in their new matching apparel for a picture session. I guess if it doesn't happen soon, I can try again in the fall I bought everything so it should fit next winter as well. At Jeeper's the kids had a great time on all the rides. Kyle stayed home with my niece, Rachel, for some much needed catch up time on his naps, the weekend trip to Chicago was a little rough on his sleep schedule. I found Kyle on the counter in the powder room today. He had emptied the tissue box into the sink and was trying to get soap our of the dispenser so he could wash his hands...I think he was trying to eat some as well. My youngest child is very quick and agile, you never know where you might find him :) He also doesn't not seem to be afraid of heights.