OK, OK, I know it's been awhile!!!!

And I've decided to bring back this awesome song by the very talented (although, not very cleverly named, "Bare Naked Ladies") because I had to own this song this week after having it on my slider here on the blog a few months back and found the download for .99 at Amazon.com (Yes, they have music downloads, it was news to me also). I included it in our yearly family slideshow that I finished this weekend because it just reminds me of our life for some reason (not because of the lyrics, but because it was on my blog for so long, LOL!)

I've been working hard this week to get all my duties done, as mother, wife, digiscrapper, housecleaner, scout mommy, friend, employee, senior class coordinator, and even student (we're suppose to still be on break). I just finished reading 8 chapters today (I thought it was 7 until I opened the file) trying to catch up on school before my classes start back on Tuesday. I've been organizing, cleaning, and putting away Christmas since last weekend. I had several goals for the weekend, all of which I accomplished, thank goodness.

1. Did all the laundry (and it was so much quicker with the new machines!)

2. Got Zoe's new girl scout uniform all put together, patches on, etc.

3. Reading and research for class

4. Cleaned the house

5. Put away the last of Christmas

6. I brought home all the senior files (all 57 of them) and went through each file to document how these guys are doing on their projects this year, and tallied their hours up, hard to explain, but basically, I'm keeping an eye on them.

7. Got some designing done (secret stuff...you'll see later)

8. Got Sarah and my collection "Winter Dreams" from last year revamped and ready for rerelease at SBB this next week.

9. Finished our family yearly slideshow and burned copies for the grandparents.

Other than that, It's been cold and slushy, and icky outside. Jeff took the kids up skiing yesterday afternoon because I had an awful earache and didn't want to brave the cold air. I worked on my files instead and got sucked into "America's Next
Top Model" reruns on VH1, which is so unlike me, really, but the photography was absolutely amazing!

Max and Lily Entertain
us this week! Here are a couple photos to share. These two are inseparable. It's kind of sad really, because I think that Lily thinks that Max is another puppy, so when he gets down on the floor with his face into hers and growls he often gets scruffed up a bit in puppy play. I think he is learning, but I'm not positive of that. Anyway, here Max is today in Lily's crate, which she seems to think is hilarious.

This next one is funny. Max had a sleepover last weekend at his friend Dylan's house and Zoe had one at her friend Mandy's house. It was so nice for Jeff and I to go out for dinner and we even caught a "late night" movie at the theatre. Anyway, the next day both kids came home so exhausted and fell asleep. I found out later that Max and Dylan had woken up at 5:30 a.m. Yikes! He came home, was sitting in his hanging chair in his room and apparently fell asleep and fell out. Here he is (Lily by his side) in the early evening!

and lastly, here's one of Lily after Max slipped a pair of glasses on her while she was snoozing this afternoon!

Layouts Done~!
I've got so many layouts done the last couple weeks, but most of them I can not share with you because they are either....

A. Secret layouts for an upcoming ezine or newsletter

B. I didn't keep track of what goodies I used and didn't get them uploaded to a gallery to share. eeek....mindless scrapping for pleasure, I love it!

but I did do this one for Sarah's chat on Friday night. Her challenge was to use "perspective" in your photo, and here is the photo that I took this summer, looking down off my BIL's deck at all 8 cousins by the pool! I wanted to get it into the slideshow for this year, so I was happy to have the inspiration to scrap.

Cousins

everything comes from SBB's collab kit "Rustic Sophisticate"

The Mystery Birds are Back!!!
but not such a mystery any more! OK, this same flock of birds (I'm assuming, they look and sound alike anyway) have been gathering across the street in the top of the big Catalpa trees every winter now for several years. I can never get a good look at them, but their call is distinct and there numbers many (probably about 150 or so). Julia and I often see them on walks this time of year too, and to the best of our ability of expert birdwatching we assumed they were a wax wing of some kind. Well. I took some pictures with my nice 12x zoom the other day, and just opened the photos tonight. These are definitely a waxwing. Further research found that they are most likely a "Bohemian" waxwing which travels in large groups in the winter and was white on the edge of their wings (unlike the Cedar Waxwings that we are use to seeing). They get their name from their nomad type behavior of traveling in large groups like gypsies and are commonly seen in the norhtern US states in the winter! Hmmmm Julia, sounds like our bird. Here's a link to read more, but it was an exciting discovery for me anyway! The close ups here are blurry, but you can see the white on their wings.

and talking about birds....
NO KIDDING
Jeff came in the house the other day and told me there was a Great Horned Owl in the neighbor's tree. I ran out (didn't bring the camera, it was too dark by then), and sure enough, you could see the silhouette of the giant bird in the tree next door. The first thing I said was, "Jeff, we better watch out for Lily", and no sooner than I finished my sentence the bird swooped down towards us. The kids and Jeff and I all ran towards the dogs and the owl went up and over the roof of our house and landed on the tree across the street. Now I'm freaked. I've been researching and apparently these owls (which we always seem to have around this time of year) have been known to eat raccoons and skunks. Our neighbor (who's tree it was in) has two poodles and a miniature Schnauzer. I'm thinking we are a feeding ground. Yikes! More later.

Have a great week!