Slap and Scrap

May 25, 2010

We're having a heat wave!

We broke a record yesterday, so we broke out the slip 'n' slide. With the heat index reaching 100º, the cold water sure felt good to the kids. We did the sprinkler today, and that was fun, too. Summer has begun...

posted by SlapandScrap @ May 25, 2010 | 0 comments | |

April 13, 2010

Alex's Last Day of School

Alex had his last day of 3-year-old preschool today. He had such a great year, I'm sad to see it end. He grew up a lot and made some new friends along the way. I hope we can get him registered for next year's session. The teachers are fantastic and they offer a great program. It's kind of funny looking back how I took his first day of school picture and Alex cried and wasn't cooperative. This morning, however, he was all smiles and full of excitement. What a difference just a few months makes.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Apr 13, 2010 | 0 comments | |

April 11, 2010

Easter

I only uploaded a few of the Easter pages I made at our church's craft night. I guess I spent too much time socializing and not enough time creating quality pages (they are pretty plain). Oh, well. At least I had a great time with the other crafters.

My family came here for Easter. It was a nice weekend. The weather was gorgeous on Sunday - very fitting for the occasion.

I'll try to get up more pages later. My program is kind of being slow for some reason.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Apr 11, 2010 | 0 comments | |

March 24, 2010

Children's Museum

We took a trip to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul on Sunday to celebrate my birthday. Honestly, we only went that day because it was Target Free Sunday, so all we had to pay was for parking. Nice! The kids enjoyed it as usual. Emma loved the chalkboard. Out of all the exciting things there, that was her favorite. And Alex loved the water play area the most. He asked to go there first. Sometime this summer, the Wizard of Oz exhibit is coming, so I'm sure we'll be returning when it comes.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Mar 24, 2010 | 0 comments | |

March 20, 2010

Horse'n Around Playing Hockey

It's Final Five time here for the WCHA, and Alex is into full-swing practicing his hockey skills. We watched the Minnesota State Hockey Tournament last weekend, so he picked up a lot of pointers for his own play. He just put on his roller skates and off he went! He even skates better than Emma! Our neighbor told us to start saving our money now so we can afford the hockey leagues later...

posted by SlapandScrap @ Mar 20, 2010 | 0 comments | |

March 15, 2010

Spring is Here!

I guess I have been slacking a little on my scrapbooks. Well, I finally have something to take a picture of - Spring! It was 60º here yesterday (Sunday), but silly me got so giddy that I forgot to take my camera outside. We even grilled out, it was that nice. Nothing says warmer weather like some carcinogens on your food! The kids and I ventured outside this afternoon. It was cloudy but still 52º. They were so happy to open up their playhouse and to be able to play in the sandbox once again. We have a lot of snow mold this year, but that didn't stop us. I got to enjoy some tea and an Agatha Christie book (a whole whopping 2 pages because the kids kept bringing me food from their "cafe"). At least the days are getting longer and it is lighter out later. Now, if only the pool and splash pads would open up, life would be perfect!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Mar 15, 2010 | 0 comments | |

February 19, 2010

Hats

So Alex and I, being stuck in the house for yet another day due to illness, decided to be silly. Alex wanted to try on hats, so we found as many as we could. He kind of got stuck on his second choice, the blue hat. He just has a cold, not really a big deal, but annoying enough that we shouldn't be out spreading the germs. I'm so glad it's Friday and Emma and I have a play to go to tonight with one of her friends. I get out of the house, even if it is with children!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Feb 19, 2010 | 0 comments | |

February 16, 2010

Valentines

I posted some of Alex's valentines he made at school and home. He's still working on his cutting skills, but he did all the work himself. We just got back to our regular routine after a 4-day weekend. We went to an SCSU hockey game on Saturday night and even saw Blizzard (the beloved Huskies mascot that Alex adores), but he got away from us before we could get a picture. Maybe next year!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Feb 16, 2010 | 0 comments | |

February 6, 2010

Brownie Cupcakes

Alex saw a can of frosting as we were walking down the baking aisle in the grocery store on Monday, so he begged me to bake cupcakes that afternoon. Well, his cute little face won out, and we baked cupcakes when Emma got home from school. We had to use pink and green frosting, of course, but both were good anyway.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Feb 6, 2010 | 0 comments | |

January 25, 2010

Weird January

I haven't posted in a while. Our New Year got off to a very frigid start (-30º or lower for actual temps). A few days ago we got rain/sleet, and now it's snowing. Go figure! All I know is the roads that finally thawed from the deep freeze in early January now have a thin coating of ice on them. That's fun to drive on... :(
I uploaded our Gingerbread People pages. I wanted to do some cool extractions with them, but I'm still figuring out how to use my software. I don't think it's quite geared for scrapbooking. Oh, well. Maybe next year...

posted by SlapandScrap @ Jan 25, 2010 | 0 comments | |

December 26, 2009

Merry Christmas!

OK, so this post is a day late, but Merry Christmas anyway! My parents and brother were supposed to come here, but they ended up stuck at home in a blizzard. We were supposed to get 12-20 inches of snow, but the storm track moved west and we ended up with 10 inches and some sleet on Christmas Day. It was 35º! We haven't been that warm since November! We all had fun playing in the snow for several hours on Christmas Eve and Day. It was the perfect snow for snowballs, snowmen, and sledding, since it was so wet. It was a pain to move off the driveway (thank goodness for snowblowers), but we made it through the storm safely. It was a nice, quiet day at home, spent watching A Christmas Story over and over and over (it's one of Alex's favorites). At least we were able to make it the Christmas Eve Mass before the roads really got sloppy.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Dec 26, 2009 | 0 comments | |

December 15, 2009

December Snow

We finally got enough measurable snow to go play outside. Luckily we went outside yesterday before it got too frigid today.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Dec 15, 2009 | 0 comments | |

December 13, 2009

Emma found a new hobby!

Emma came down with a non-descript virus on Friday. She had just a low-grade fever and a headache. Later in the afternoon she felt good enough to play on the computer. She wanted me to show her how to use SBF - big mistake! Now I can't get any time on here to make my pages! She told me now she understands why I spend my extra time on the computer. She made 7 of her own pages in about 90 minutes. Now, they are not highly artistic by any means, but she does well for a 6-year-old. Soon, she'll be making better pages than me! She wants me to post some of them on my page for her. So look for some new pages by Emma soon!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Dec 13, 2009 | 0 comments | |

December 6, 2009

Wagons!

We took the kids to Home Depot on Saturday for their kids workshop. They had fun building wagons with Mom and Dad. They are not painted yet, but they still turned out pretty cute. Alex wasn't too into the project, but he brought his little Bobcat to help pass the time. Next month's project? Wooden calendars!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Dec 6, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving Pictures

I'm trying to upload some of our Thanksgiving pictures. I can only load one page at a time, so it's going slowly. We had a fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids went bowling on Friday night, too. The best part? The homemade hockey sticks Grandpa made. It was the first thing Alex picked up when we got home.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 30, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I hope you are thankful for the many blessings in your life, too.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 26, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 24, 2009

Updated software!

So, it gets even better. Supposedly we found an old link to download Photo Plus 9. A rep called our house yesterday to tell us that they now have PP 13. Since we found this link by mistake, they offered us the latest update at a third of the retail price (minus the amount we already paid). So, I'm about to get the new software soon. I guess it's even easier to use. I can't wait to try it out. I've done a few more extractions and some artistic stuff for the family portrait challenge. Check it out!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 24, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 21, 2009

New software!

I decided to get a little better software for photo editing. I'm still not up to the challenge of Photoshop Elements, but I'm giving PhotoPlus 9 a try. I still like Picasa, but it doesn't do extraction and some other things I wanted to try. I'm still getting the hang of it, but it's fun learning!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 21, 2009 | 0 comments | |

Our Wedding

I had a nice night out last night doing some scrapbooking at our church's craft night. I wanted to just play around with some photos, so I made some pages of our wedding. Since that was 7 years ago, and I have a beautiful album my mom made already, I probably won't print these out. I did have some fun, and the ladies at church were impressed with some of the effects. That's huge, because nothing I do ever really impresses anyone! I also got them uploaded quickly because my darling son was up at 5 AM this morning! I can connect to the server pretty quickly at 6 AM! If anyone has any tips on getting a child to actually sleep in, let me know. :)

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 21, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 15, 2009

Sleepover

The kids finally got their way. I guess they've been begging Filip for a few weeks to sleep downstairs in Emma's room on a Saturday night. Dad finally gave in last night, so I quickly snapped a picture after they fell asleep. It's nothing fancy, but we got a kick out of the Bob the Builder and Cars pillows in the pink bed.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 15, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 9, 2009

Photo Editing

I'm too cheap to buy Photoshop software, so I found a free download. 30 minutes into the new program, I uninstalled it from my computer. I was so frustrated. Then I found Picasa by Google. It doesn't have all the features I want, but it's free, and I easily learned how to use it. So I edited the Sleeping Angels picture just for fun and doctored up a few others. I still need a lot of practice. I did one of Emma's pictures from our trip to the park last week. I'm not sure if I like it, but I rarely like the outcome of my own pages anyway! The kids and I had another fun afternoon at the "fish" park with some other friends. It was busy since the weather was so mild (64º).

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 9, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 8, 2009

Carving Pumpkins

It's kind of gloomy out today, but we carved our pumpkins outside (less messy that way) anyway. Emma loved the gooey, stringy mess. Alex wouldn't go near it. Go figure! Now we're baking up some pumpkin fries (not going too well) and I have some crock pot pumpkin soup planned for tomorrow night. I'm also baking the pumpkin seeds tomorrow for the kids to share with their classmates. Yummy!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 8, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 7, 2009

My Method

I'm really getting into digital scrapbooking. I figured out how to download some new elements that I can use on my pages. I even made some templates for Thanksgiving and Christmas already. As I'm looking through the collections and other people's pages, I realize I'm a pretty boring scrapbooker. This is a result of two things: 1. My mother has all the crafty talent in my family and she didn't pass along ANY of it to me! and 2. My main goal is to document as many pictures, along with documentation, as I can. I just can't see printing out one little picture amidst a whole bunch of other elements. I know it makes for a great-looking page, but this just isn't my style. And since I'm printing out my own pages (hence the letter size, the biggest my printer can print) I try to use my (expensive) ink wisely.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 7, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 5, 2009

November Park

OK, I'm kind of addicted to this new type of scrapbooking! I think I've created more pages in the last 6 weeks than I have in the last 6 months. I wish I could do my pages in a 12x12 format like my scrapbooks, but my printer can't print that large. I'm checking out other online options for printing the 12x12s. At least my memories are getting preserved, right? - and not just sitting in a box somewhere not being enjoyed. We had a fun afternoon at the park. The weather was pretty mild -54º- so we were there for about an hour before continuing the play back at home. Besides, I needed to clean up some more leaves, but that's another story...

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 5, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 4, 2009

New Pages

I wanted to post my Halloween 2009 scrapbook of four pages, but I could only upload the pages if I did them separately.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 4, 2009 | 0 comments | |

November 2, 2009

Halloween 2009

I'm trying to upload my newest scrapbook, Halloween 2009, with no success. I'll keep trying and hopefully it will be up in the next few days.
The kids had a fun time trick-or-treating in Finley. Alex wasn't too into it at first, but then he warmed up to the idea. I didn't even think he would go. He was going to dress up as a bumblebee, but then said, "I just want to be myself." Filip did manage to get one of his pullovers on him, so we said he was a monk. After about 10 houses, he had enough. Later back at Grandma's, he told her, "I'm tired of picking candy!" At least Emma had fun with Grandma's neighbor girls. Two houses even gave out money! It was a lot better than trick-or-treating here.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Nov 2, 2009 | 0 comments | |

October 26, 2009

Cupcakes

I uploaded the cupcake pictures from our baking session this month. Due to all the rain, we've had to move our fun indoors. The sun finally came out today, but I think more rain/snow mix is in the forecast. I think the weather people just say rain/snow mix with possible partial sunshine/clouds just so they can be right some part of the time! Anyway, the kids keep asking to make more cupcakes, so they must have had a good time. They got the idea from the book Pinkalicious, which we've read, oh, about 200 times since spring...

posted by SlapandScrap @ Oct 26, 2009 | 0 comments | |

October 23, 2009

I did it!

Finally, I got the 3-page scrapbook of Leaves to upload! My Internet keeps kicking me off with the cloudy weather, so I was having problems connecting to the site. I took these pictures October 20 in our backyard. The kids had a lot of fun.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Oct 23, 2009 | 0 comments | |

October 20, 2009

Leaves

Today, the kids and I did some raking in the backyard. The fall colors are just beautiful. They had fun jumping and rolling in the leaves. I hope this wasn't the last nice day of the year!

posted by SlapandScrap @ Oct 20, 2009 | 0 comments | |

October 19, 2009

Minnesota weather

Well, we didn't really have summer, and it seems like fall passed us by, too. It snowed the first week in October, about an inch. It melted quickly, but the threat of snow remains. Fall did return briefly yesterday when it hit 63º. A real heat wave! We've had a lot of rain here lately, too, so the kids and I have focused on doing more indoor activities. I hope to get some of those pictures posted soon. I'm still new to this digital scrapbooking thing, so I hope it gets easier the more I do it.

posted by SlapandScrap @ Oct 19, 2009 | 0 comments | |