The Fair

It's another Wednesday which means Nick has golf and it's Girls Night. The Wisconsin Valley Fair is in town so we called up Grandma to see if she wanted to join us. Off we went to see the animals. Bennet literally screamed "COW!!!" as soon as she got out of the car. B picked out her own shoes and chose her kitty boots. I shook my head at the time but turns out it was a wise choice with all the hay, etc.

(Side note: $9/adult admission is crazy. At least kids get in free).

Bennet, Scout and Grandma
I thought the gray blue outlining the black looked so cool. When you're used to seeing them in a field from the comfort of you car you forget how truly large cows are. Bennet was simply in LOVE with the bunnies. On more than one occasion I caught her trying to feed them and actually giving them kisses (I kept thinking - oh my friend MelissaS would cringe at that :))

Isn't this just a giant fluffy rabbit? Bennet called it a kitty.
We actually braved some rides too. Bennet and I went down the giant slide. As soon as we got to the bottom Bennet said "Again again!!" The giant slide was always my favorite.
She even rode a ride by herself. Nick would be proud to know that she picked out the hottest car there all by herself.

Scout was a wonderful baby tonight. She just soaked it all in and didn't fuss at all. Just a keeper.
Thanks to Grandma for joining us. We know you were wiped out but we had a great time!

Ideal Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. Ferris Bueller said it best "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look once and awhile you'll miss it" We listened and slowed down a bit this weekend.

Saturday morning we threw some baseball caps on our bedhead and walked down to the Farmer's Market.
Bennet picked out these raspberries. De-lish!
Of course she also picked out a cinnamon roll. Look at that messy face! Amazingly enough she didn't get any on her white shirt. Miracle.
Scout sharing her excitement.
I heaer Michigan peaches are da-bomb.
At the VFW next to the Market there was an American Tribute- a Traveling Memorial It was an unexpected After we were done at the Market we walked up to have breakfast at The Mint. This sign always makes me laugh. Apparently the street is too narrow to hang the sign the normal way.
I made Nick take a photo of me to prove I was there :) Thanks to Grandma Sweeney, Bennet uses sugar packs like Lik-A-Mid :) Ah- the stuff of memories.
On the walk home Scout was plum tuckered out. Bennet jammed out to Huey Lewis on the IPod.

Today was gorgeous. Nick and I spent most of the day edging our sidewalk. It was alot of work and we ended up with alot more grass and dirt than we thought- but wow!!! The finished product looks great!!

The girls played in the sprinkler.
This is a classic Scout face. Every morning she greets me . . .

Bennet took a 3 hour nap!! Woo hoo. Then she wanted to pose for photos with Stoli kitty.

Her new face. She thinks it's the funniest thing.
I know this photo looks posed, but it was totally natural.
Two of a kind. Good gracious my legs are white!

Hope everyone else had a relaxing weekend. Sorry for the photo overload.

It's True

A quick little layout for a couple challenges at Scrap4Life and FeelingScrappy. All about my countless quirks. This paper is left over from Bennet's 1st birthday party invitations. I think I may just recycle the rest of it :)

Journaling:

I remember birthdays and anniversaries of people I barely know.

I have a bad habit of picking at my nails and cuticles.

I try to get a round dollar amount when pumpin gas.

I have to have Hot Mustard sauce with my McDonald's fries.

I can't listen to certain TV commercials so I mute the tv.

I write my grocery list in the order of the aisles.

I will rewrite the list if my penmanship isn't neat enough.

I drink my coffee in a stainless mug because I can't stand lukewarm coffee.

I have a blanket on my legs when I sit on the couch. All year long.

I put ketchup on my mac-n-cheese and grilled cheese.

Photos

Just a recent favorite photo of each of the girls.

Here is Bennet last week VERY excited about her trip to MN for Camp G&G!

Scout was loving the fact that she had the entire tub to herself.

The Dark Knight

Bennet was away at Camp (Grandma and Grandpa T's) last Thursday-Sunday. (I'll have to do a separate blog post sometime about that). Nick and I took advantage of having 1 child for a couple of days and had a date night Friday. Thanks again to our niece Taylor for babysitting.

For those of you who don't know Nick very well he is an amazing artist as well as a certified comic book fan. The man has fine art drawing skills that continue to amaze me. Illustration and comic books are truly a passion of his. His artistic skills were ignited after reading The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. (Side note: Miller also wrote Sin City, Big Fat Kill, etc). Those of you who attended our wedding nearly 5 years ago will notice that one of the CD covers Nick drew was inspired by Miller artwork.

NO SPOILERS FOLLOW

Needless to say we were excited to see The Dark Knight on opening day. I've had a little bit of a crush on Christian Bale since I was a teenager and I'm still bumming over Heath Ledger's death.

This movie did not disappoint. Simply put- they got it right. For the first time in a long time I left the theatre with chills. A superhero movie that got everything right. Nothing was overdone, everything fit. The dialogue flowed, it wasn't campy or forced. The movie was fast paced yet brought you along for the ride.

With all the hype surrounding Heath Ledger's role as 'The Joker' I was a bit skeptical. 'Yeah yeah- he'll be good'. Holy crap. Ledger's performance was unbelievable. He was downright frightening. I found myself completely transfixed when he was onscreen. Afterwards it made me sad all over again that such a great actor, father and friend was gone.

OMG! It's such an awesome movie. SOOOOO awesome.

Nick and I both give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. Get a babysitter, leave work early, go see this movie. NOW!

Cabin Weekend

Nick's mom's dream came true. The entire family up north at the cabin for a weekend. The last time they were all up at the same time Morgan was a few months old. She turned 11 on July 8th. Here we are. Mom and Dad Sweeney, 4 sons, wives and kids. 10 adults, 10 kids and 2 dogs.

We celebrated the July birthday's too. Morgan turned 11. Nicole is 16 in a couple weeks and Nick is 34 TODAY!!! Happy birthday NICK!!

Spring Swing

I am such a sucker for Then and Now layouts. So darn fun! Thanks for my scrappy friend Chere for the buttons! I did this layout as an audition for the Guest DT member at Scrap4Life
Journaling: What a difference a year makes. I can hardly believe it's the same girl. Just look how you've changed from one spring to the next. Every year the first day it gets above 50 we run to the park to swing. The 1st swing of spring. By next year you will have outgrown the little swing. Onto bigger things and bigger, better swings.

Announcing. . .

Thank you to all of you who submitted a name suggestion for my new camera. They made me smile and boy was it hard to choose. But. . . I did find something that just WORKS! Congrats to Matt for winning my challenge. A 12 pack of your favorite brew will be on its way.

I just had to name my new camera Darcy. When I'm formal it will be Mr. Darcy. And when I'm feeling saucy- Mr. D :) Of course I did a layout.

Journaling: You can call me crazy, but I can’t help it. I love Colin Firth. My heart does a little leap everytime I see him. Is it his tousled brown locks? Is it his dashing British accent? Is it that sexy come hither stare? Oh-or that playful smile? Is It The fact that he portrayed two of my all time favorite characters, Mr. and Mark That’s just the icing on the cake. As soon as I saw him in P&P I was a smitten kitten. I am such a sucker for period pieces as it is & that just put me over the edge. Or the Reindeer jumper in Bjd? That’s just too much!Nothing says heaven like a lazy Sunday afternoon snuggled on the couch with the Sweet beautiful Mr. Firth

Splash Pad

I love Wednesdays. Nick has the chance to get out of the house and have some fun at golf league. I get the chance for some Girls Only time with Bennet and Scout. I try to do something different every week. This week we went to the Splash Pad at Marathon Park. 50cent entrance fee for loads of fun. Can't beat that.

Scout crawled everywhere and had a blast getting wet.

Scout looks scared, but trust me, she had loads of fun.

This was B & S's favorite part. This little row of spouts.

Bennet has been hopping everywhere these days.

After we were good and wrinkly we took a ride on the little train. Choo choo!!!

4th of July

We had a wonderful weekend in Elk River for the long holiday weekend.

Highlights:
Firework viewing from the lawn.
Lots of pontoon rides.
Bennet played and swam. Was wet all day :)
Homemade ice cream
Star Wars exhibit at the Science Musuem and date for Nick and I.
New purple Crocs for B.
Adorable hat for Scout
Met Matt and Katie's nephews Eliot and baby Henry (of course their parentsSarah, Brian and Matt's parents Jean and Ron)
Dad flashed the neighbors
Cold GrainBelt
MattG kayaking
Gregg was home too

Thank you to Mom and Dad for an awesome weekend. We needed to relax and boy did you deliver! Bennet is still crying to go to 'Cool PawPaw's house-Car? Let's go!' Isn't it nice to be loved?

Oh and I almost forgot. I am in love with my new camera. Name to be revealed soon!

The video is 2 1/2 minutes.

4th of July 2008

Summer Days

I did this layout for a challenge over at Scrap4Life in June. I had alot of fun with the basic box of crayon colors. You remember as a kid begging for the 64 pack with the built in sharpener? Well- look what you can do with the regular 8 pack box :)

The title is a Making Memories rub on that I've probably had for at least 2 if not 3 years. The blue blooms came from my scrappy friend Char. Thanks Char- they were just the punch of color I needed.

Scrap N' Art

I was honored to have my Lil' Miss Sunshine published in this ROCKIN' awesome ezine this month. Scrap N Art. I'm on page 86.

You have to be a free subscriber to view it- but trust me. It's worth the time. Go to scrapnart.com and get signed up. Go. Now. Do it. Seriously. Why are you still reading? Go!!!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!! We hope you have a memorable holiday full of fireworks and laughter. This is a photo of Bennet from last year on the dock at my parents house. To think she seemed so big then.

New Month- New Feeling Scrappy Challenges

It's a new month which means new challenges at Feeling Scrappy. For those of you who haven't checked it out yet- come on over. There are great challenges and a welcoming community waiting for you. We have a new Positively Paper class starting soon. There is still time to sign up!

This month I'm hosting an Ad Challenge. I am inspired daily by advertising and marketing. I guess that means they're doing their job right?

This is an ad that caught my eye.

Here is my take on it. So simple. But to be honest- I'm loving how it turned out. I really wanted the focus to be on her eyes. This photo was taken with my oldie-but-goody Sony digital camera. I didn't do any photo editing. It's straight from the camera.

Hope to see you soon!