This is My life

Another Early Post...

We are heading to Omaha for the day tomorrow and we are leaving early, so I decided to post at night again.  Better for you early gals anyway, right? 

A little bit of this and a little bit of that for you...

First...some awesome non-scrapping product recommendations!  Ice cream must be on my mind because I have TWO ice cream treats to share with you.  First, we all walked to the store the other night to get ice cream and decided to try these.  They are sooo yummy and they are great because there are no dripping cones or spilt bowls. 

However, they are not very good for you (or me!) so after just two tiny pieces I enjoyed  THESE instead.

Sorry for the small picture, it is all I could find.  They are English Toffee Bars and they are only 2 points and super, super yummy!

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Okay, enough ice cream talk.  I am making myself hungry! 

We had a good weekend.  This past week was really hard on me -- just feeling down on myself and the kids were making me a little crazy.  So Jason, being the sweet guy that he is, took the kids out for most of Saturday so I could have some MUCH needed quiet.  I just needed to refocus, get some work done, and just relax without hearing "Mommy" 500 times an hour.  I LOVE being mom and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  But if you had asked me on Friday, I probably would have gladly given them to any stranger who offered to take them.  The quiet on Saturday worked wonders, though, and we had a fun day together today.  Church, some fun time at home, a swim for dad and the kids and laundry for mom, then a picnic in the park.  Good times.

Tomorrow we are going to Omaha for the day to celebrate Caleb's birthday. He turns three on Tuesday but since Jason has to work we are celebrating tomorrow.  We are headed back to the AMAZING PIZZA MACHINE, to Target, to Archiver's, and maybe to the outlet malls.  Our biggest goal for they day (other than to just love on our little guy) is to find him a train table.  We have looked at a few but none of them are quite what we want.  So, we'll look and see what we can find.

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So, I scrapped a bit this weekend!  First, on Friday night I finished my mini album.  This is my first truly hybrid project.  I participated in C.D's MAKE AND TAKE challenge at her CK blog.  She provided a digital 4x6 card and just gave us the challenge to "dress it up."  Well, as usual, I went a little overboard!  I made a whole album.  I just wanted to celebrate these last few months we have had as a family and thought that this was the perfect opportunity.  I had SO MUCH fun doing this!  It was a little challenging, since I don't have paper scrapping supplies, but I got creative and raided the craft closet.  The album pages themselves were the biggest challenge. In the end I cut up cereal boxes and glued the backs together to make nice sturdy pages.  I can't say Jason was thrilled with the bags of cereal sitting in the pantry though.  At least it was a worthy cause, right?

After I made a total mess of my dining room doing that project, I opted for some cleaner digi-scrapping activities!

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Well, it's about that time.  Jason is already asleep so I should get going.  Long day ahead of us!  And just so you know...

Have a great Monday!

Somebody take away my scissors!

:)

Please don't worry about me, I will not be a paper scrapper.  However, this hybrid stuff is a little too much fun!  What started as a simple little hybrid project for C.D.'s make-and-take has turned into a full-fledge, take all day (and then some) type of project.  I am not done, so no pictures yet, but when I finish (hopefully today) I will let you see what I have been up to.  I am surprised that I am actually enjoying it.  It is a different kind of art, different skills and creativity needed, but fun nonetheless.  It probably helped that Alaina was gone all day -- no one who wants to "help" and no one to fight over supplies with!  That is one of my main reasons I love digi so much -- when you have little kids it is so hard to get out (and then leave out) all the supplies.  The kids are constantly getting into stuff. I LOVE doing craft time with Alaina, but it is hard if there is something I am really working on (rather than just doing whatever she is doing).  Anyway...

BEFORE I started that big project I did scrap a bit. 

Credits can be seen HERE

That is my grandfather reading to my sister and I when I was five.  It was really fun to find this picture because whenever I think of my grandfather, I always think about how much he loved to read to us.  I have lots of memories of sitting the in the chair at his house (in this particular picture we are at my house) and him reading to us.  Not silly little kid books....he read good children's literature (he was an English professor at N.C. State University).  Anyway, I need to find all my kid photos (I am sure they are lying around my mom's house somewhere) because I REALLY want to record these type of stories.  When my kids get older I want them to be able to look in my albums and learn about my history, and theirs.

And then a super simple one...

Can I tell you how HARD it is for me to scrap pictures like this?  I have all of the kids "professional" pictures laying around, unscrapped.  I don't know...they just don't inspire me.  I get the pictures done because, well, to be honest, because I am sad that my parents never did it for me.  How lame is that?  Lame being the part  that  THAT is the reason I do it. And, I haven't had any pictures done in a LONG time (really need to do that).  Anyway, I do it so my kids have them later, but really, those people never capture what is really in my kids.  They take the picture at the wrong time, don't capture the real moments, and although my kids are adorable (yes, I know, I am biased), those pictures just don't make me say "Oh my goodness, I could stare at this forever." 

This picture is one I am glad to have, though.  Four generations of Phillips men.  I hope that Caleb will treasure this as he gets older and I hope we can get a similar one with Levi in it.

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So today...lots on the agenda.  I need to finish my 'lil project so I can clean of the dining room table, LOL!  Then lots of the little life things.  I am hoping to take the kids to gymnastics today, run errands, and figure out what we are getting Caleb for his birthday on Tuesday.  Having four birthdays in one month is a little crazy :) I also DESPERATELY need to make a hair appointment, and apparently I really need some exercise.  My sister Sally asked me (based on the photo of me and Jason from the other day) if I was pregnant.  LOL!  Or rather, I should be crying.  No, not pregnant.  Just that pooch of a tummy that I would love to blame on the kids but really I should probably blame it on a few too many trips to Fazoli's.  Speaking of my sister, she makes the most amazing hand-painted letters.  She is now selling them on Ebay so go take a look.  They are all so amazing!  She also does custom murals for people and businesses.  Take a look around HERE and you will see why I didn't think I had an artistic bone in my body!  Make sure you got through a bunch of the pages.  AMAZING.  Okay, back to the letter.  You can purchase them HERE.

Aren't they amazing?!

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I hope you all have fabulous day (and weekend!)

Posting Early...

...I should be in bed right now (it's 11:15 pm) but Jason has the bed covered with clothes...playing the old game of "what fits me" as we are sorting through our things.  It's fun to see all the stuff that is now to BIG for him (due to Weight Watchers).  However, it does mean he is in some serious need of new clothes. And getting him to buy new clothes is NOT easy. But I digress.

Since I can't go to bed, I figured I would just post tonight and then the morning will be free and clear to take it slow, maybe go running, enjoy my coffee. 

So, I scrapped today!  Yea!  I had bunch of other stuff to do today and I spent lots of time with the kiddos and so when it was finally time for bed (for the kids ~ 7:30) I told Jason I was busy for the evening...scrapping!  I miss it so much when I go for days in between.  Need to get my fix.  But before I show you those LO's, I have to admit I did the impossible today -- I paper scrapped!  LOL!  Alaina wanted to have craft time and get all the paints out, so I figured, what the heck?  Now, let me explain a bit of my scrapping history.

I saw my first "scrapbook" page when I was a junior in high school.  Two of my friends (in our cool little group of six)

got involved with Creative Memories over the summer. When we all got back together right before school started, they showed the rest of their albums.  I was in AWE.  I LOVED it and knew I wanted to do it.  So, in high school I started "scrapping."

This is what most of my pages looked like! LOL!

Now, I have to say, that although they are severely lacking in artistic merit, I am THRILLED that I did it and I saved these memories.  THAT is the most important thing to me.

Anyway, I continued to scrap this way for years.  I didn't do it very often, but I loved to collect supplies.  Mind you, however, my idea of "must have" scrapping supplies was:

LOTS of colored papers in every shade
Decorative scissors in any shape they come in
Markers
Alphabet Stencils

That's about it. That was all I needed and all I used. I called myself a scrapper, had tubs of stuff (mostly paper and pictures) to prove it, but didn't get a whole lot done.  In my first two years in Malaysia I scrapped two pages.  Yep, TWO. And they look eerily similar to the page pictured above. 

Anyway, fast forward two years into my digi-scrapping life and I realize that I never really was a paper scrapper...or at least not what I *now* think of as a paper scrapper.  So when I say I made my first paper page today, it is definitely a newbie effort.  And although I admit that there was a little bit of fun, getting messy, and having to give up my indecisiveness, I can't say I am putting the laptop away any time soon!  I could MAYBE see myself doing so hybrid stuff, especially with stitching (I am soooo in love with stitching) but I think that for the most part I am really and truly a digi gal.  I soooo admire what paper scrappers can do.  If I could make my stuff look like theirs, I would do it more.  But I can't, and I can't figure out what in the world they do with all their lumpy-bumpy pages (gorgeous as they are).  What? Do they get like 10 LO's in an album?  LOL!  Anyway, here is my first (and very likely last) attempt at a 100% paper page.

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Tonight I came to my senses and got back on my trusty 'lil 'puter :)

When we were at the Children's Museum last Friday there was a huge world map hanging up.  So, I had all three kids (who were born in different countries) point to the place they were born.

Credits can be seen HERE

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Credits can be seen HERE

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And I did this quick two pager about our visit to the capital :)

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Well, okay, looks like the bed is cleared off and Jason is almost ready to call it a night.  So, I hope you all have a great day and enjoy the little things in life.  I know I am trying to -- trying not to get down on the things in life we can't (or aren't good at) controlling and focusing on all the little blessings in my life.  It is the cumulation of little things that really make me happy...the hot coffee in the morning, an email from a friend, hearing the funny little things my kids say, watching their little personalities bud, etc.  Enjoy it all.  This is my life.  I will EMBRACE it.

Want to see one of the things I am trying to embrace...Caleb's crazy obsession with his wheeled toys.

Bye!

I guess I need to scrap...

....because it is going to be a stretch to find some way to make this post NOT a picture-less post.  But, I haven't scrapped in days OR taken any pictures!  Ack! What is happening to me?  LOL!  No, no big deal really.  Just catching up on life and spending some time away from the "other" loves in my life (the camera and 'puter).  I even *gasp* bought some stuff at Hobby Lobby the other day to play around with since I loved doing my CD Album so much....maybe this altered/hybrid/paper stuff isn't that bad.  We'll see...

Anyway, I did complete two HUGE projects yesterday!  Yea!  Feel so good!  First, at Jen Caputo's suggestion I converted all the .psd files for my layouts to .tiff format.  Apparently, .tiff offers a lossless compression (meaning no data is lost during the compression) and yet it drastically decreases file size. 

The other thing I did was to go through all the "real" pictures we had.  I am getting ready to send them to this place that I read about on Tara Whitney's blog a few months ago.  I think she was just telling people where she got stuff printed and I went to look at the website. I saw that they offer an awesome service for scanning photos.  You can have up to 1000 photos scanned for $50!  Now, I have a scanner but I do NOT have the time or desire to sit there and scan 1000 photos (or more!) But they have a high speed scanner thingy and so they can do it really fast at 300 dpi.  After going through a lot of my photos (let's see...all our India picture for 3 years, all our candid wedding photos, all the pre-digital photos of our kids, and a bunch of old pictures my mom gave me) I ended up with around 1800.  So, I decided to go with their prepaid box that holds more and then I won't have to pay postage, either.  I don't know if all my pix will fit, but we'll see.  If not, some can wait until I do it again when I go through all my high school and college pictures.  I am soooo excited for this!  I really want to work with some of these photos but I really don't want to scan everything.  I'll let you know how they turn out!

I worked on some other stuff, too.  I am going to be making some quick pages for Atomic Cupcake for her to add with her kits.  She had another gal doing it but she can't anymore so I will be helping out.  Got those almost done yesterday. Also, did lots of the everyday stuff...you know, dishes, cleaning, calling, emailing, laundry, and lots of playing with the kiddos.  I finished the night off with a movie which I spent most of the time thinking of all the other things I could get done if I weren't watching a movie.  Apparently, I am not good at relaxing!

Before I go, I did scrounge up a picture for you. Jason's mom took this right before they left the other day. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  Can't believe it is Wednesday already!

One week old...

This is the layout that is in the first edition of the new DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING magazine by Simple Scrapbooks. 

This is little Levi a year ago today.  So sweet, so innocent.  He is a totally different kid now...walking, talking (well, okay, saying "WHOA!" every few seconds isn't totally talking, but, you know what I mean :), clapping his hands, playing peek-a-boo, and climbing up slides.  The time goes fast.

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Anyway, as I sit here and type I have a bunch of bandaids on the palms of my hands.  Um, yea, maybe there is a reason I haven't put on rollerblades in probably eight years!  LOL!  Yesterday we were out for the whole day and one of the things we did was to go to this little park that has a mile loop around a lake. Jason and the kids had their bikes and since we are probably waiting until we get to Florida for me to get a bike, I decided to dust off those rollerblades that I have had since college.  After all, if they didn't get used I would really be forced to get rid of them.  Eight years of no use is a pretty good reason to get rid of something, especially when you are in purging mode!  So, I strapped that babies on and went.  And really, it was a lot of fun.  I made it around the loop once and then I was on my second trip around, trying to catch up with the family (who with one kid on training wheels and another riding a tricycle, were definitely on their first loop!) I started thinking that as fast as I was going, and as out of practice as I was, I was VERY thankful that I hadn't fallen.  In fact, I stopped right then and thanked God for my safety and asked for continue protection (I have a strong aversion to pain!  LOL!) Well, a minute or two later I was on the  bridge.  It is wood and has a curve to it.  I was coming down and knew that there was a bump as you switched from wood planks back to the cement.  I was contemplating just riding through the bump but then at the last minute I made the decision to try to step OVER the bump as I was going.  Yea, bad idea.  I tripped and fell right on to the cement.  Not that nice smooth sidewalk cement either -- more like that bumpy and rock filled street cement. Ugh.  I cut my hands up pretty bad and they BURNED for the rest of the day.  Of course, the water at the park wasn't working so I had no way to clean anything out.  Oh well.  Some neosporin and some bandaids and I am good to go!  And really, it was pretty fun.  I think they will move to the "we're keeping it" pile :)

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Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday.  Hope you enjoyed your little goodie :)  I will close the comments on it now.  Remember to pay it forward when you get a chance!

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Sorry to keep this so short today, but Alaina has left for school and I see a long and hopefully productive day ahead of me.  I have a list a mile long of things to do and I can't wait to check some of it off!  I love feeling like I accomplished something!  I hope you all have a fabulous day!

I'm glad it's Monday...

...that feels weird to say.  Usually I am dreading Mondays...it means that Tuesday is looming and THAT means that Jason goes back to work.  But today is Monday and I feel happy...happy about a new week, fresh air, and lots of time to get things done.  I guess I am just really into all things new.  I definitely love a change of pace, so last week with Jason's parents here was really wonderful, but I am now excited to be back in a routine.  Back to knowing what is going to happen when.  And glad to eat a little on the lighter side!  LOL!  When I have guests I am not good at "going simple" and so I end up eating waaaaayyyy too much.   Anyway, I'm rambling.  And I need to stop because I have LOTS of other stuff to mention. :)  But first, let me share a quick picture of the kids with the grandparents right before they left.

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Next...the blog. It got a little makeover yesterday.  I REALLY needed it.  It still needs lots more work but I am pretty Typepad illiterate and don't want to spend more time trying to figure stuff out.  So, any typepad gurus out there?  I need some help!  LOL!  One thing I changed was the column width.  I used to have the center column set at "fluid" but since I have a 17in screen on my laptop it would make my header off center to me and that drives me nuts.  So, I fixed the center column to 500 pixels (the highest typepad will let me go).  The only problem with that is a bunch of stuff is now cut off from previous entries (the sides of my LO's).  Oh, what to do?  Be annoyed with a header of center or have stuff cut off?  Hmmm...oh wait, I did just think of something that might fix it.  I'll try it later :)

The wonderful little goodies in my header were made by the talented Meredith Fenwick.

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So, we all know my love pf Photoshop (that includes Elements and CS2).  I am just continually amazed at the powers of this program. I especially love the photo editing capabilities...taking and "okay" photo and making it great.  But not only that, making it great in DIFFERENT ways.  I took a bunch of photos of Alaina yesterday and found one I really liked.  So I played with it for a bit and here are the results...

Just having fun.  I couldn't tell you for the life of me what I did to these photos...they weren't just canned actions (though that is not to say I didn't use any actions...on a few I did but I mixed and matched and did lots of other tweaking and I have no idea what combination of stuff I used!  LOL!)

But, if you want to see "I can't believe someone actually MADE that" talent try perusing THIS site.  This guy is incredible...

Um,yea....he MADE this...with Photoshop and Illustrator. That is NOT a photo.  Now why someone would want to spend 11 months and 2000 hours creating this 15,000 layer 1.7 GB file when you really could just go to Chicago and take a photo of this same scene is a little beyond me, but in any case, WOW.  The power that is in the hands of a graphic artist.  And to think I get excited when I get my shadows "just right" and it looks like my photo really is laying on a piece of paper!  LOL!

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A little digi shopping...as I have said before, I don't really shop all that much for digi supplies. I get (and have received in the past) a lot of amazing things from CT's I am on.  And since I don't even have time to do all those things justice, I have a hard time spending more money on MORE stuff.  Plus, there is sooooo much wonderful stuff out there that I get a little overwhelmed and then don't shop at all.  There are so many talented designers out there and I want to support them all. But I can't! So I just  buy a little here and a little there and try to use different designers.  And then there are those designers that I am so familiar with and so I know that anything I buy from them will far exceed my expectations.  Lisa Whitney is a FABULOUS designer and so when she releases new stuff (which sadly isn't very often) I know I will like it.  So I didn't hesitate to pick up her new stuff this weekend...

Aren't those stapled ribbon frames AMAZING?  LOVE them!  I cannot WAIT to use them!  Somehow, when I was at Scrapartist, a few other things ended up in my cart.  Now how did that happen?  LOL! 

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Okay, after almost TWO YEARS of digi scrapping I FINALLY printed some of my LO's!  I couldn't pass up the sale at Scrapbook Pictures so I went back and forth on how many LO's to print. I finally decided on 200 (not even close to how many LO's I have).  They were here in THREE days and I am in LOOOOVVVVVEEEE.  Oh my goodness.  Seriously.  It is just so amazing to see the pictures OFF the computer.  The quality of the printing is AMAZING.  I could not be happier.  I spent Friday night putting them all in albums.  Last summer I bought a bunch of wonderful linen albums when they were on sale for $5.00 (originally $25.00) and the LO's just look so pretty in those gorgeous albums all next to each other. WOW.  And i LOVE seeing the kids look through the pictures.  What an amazing feeling!  So now I am SUPER tempted to go and get more printed.  Seriously, only $.99 for an 8x8!  Incredible. 

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No new LO's for you today.  I didn't scrap at all this weekend. Hopefully I will have time tonight!  However, this week is all about catch up for me.  Soooo many little things that have piled up.  And then there are the BIG projects -- like sorting and packing!  I started going through baby clothes yesterday and I am getting rid of SIX huge tubs of clothes.  I am tired of moving these things around when they may or may not ever be used again.  For instance, even if we do have another girl sometime and even if I were to get pregnant now (please no) it would be like five YEARS before she could wear the stuff that Alaina is growing out of right now.  Do I really want to keep it that long?  Will I really still love it then?  Probably not.  I kept a few things I know I would want and I am keeping all the stuff of Caleb's that Levi is moving into but I just got rid of the rest. We will be donating it all along with a bunch of other stuff.  I am soooo ready to purge!  I love moving for the fact that it makes me clean out and get rid of stuff.  And every time we move I get bolder and bolder about what I am willing to get rid of.  I love fresh and uncluttered!  But with three kids and a tiny house, that isn't always easy!  But I am determined!

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Okay, well, my time here is up!  I have kiddos to attend to and a fitness center to visit.  I did NOTHING last week exercise-wise and I am feeling it!  And with summer just around the corner my body is in desperate need of a little tune-up.  Or rather, a very large tune-up.  Ugh.  Winter clothes make it toooo easy to hide the extra pounds!  But bathing suits and shorts don't lie.  So tread mill here I come.

I hope you all have a FABULOUS day! 

And in honor of Kellie and little Miles, whoever leaves a comment today (make sure your email address is activated and current on the comment section) will receive a coupon to my shop.  And at random, I will pick someone to receive a $10 gift card to the store of their choice (digi or otherwise).  Kellie, I love you and my heart aches for you.  I hope Mile's HEAVEN DAY was a time of feeling the presence and love of God.

It's not just BIG...

...it's FAT!  LOL!  When I made my first FAT PACK I just had this massive collection of templates going.  Jason started referring to it as the FAT PACK and it just stuck.  So, now I unveil the FAT PACK 2!  After weeks of not feeling like I could create a template if my life depended on it, the creativity fairies visited me and this is the result!

And here are some of the awesome LO's my CT has done with it so far!

And here are some of mine up close :)

So there you have it! And just for my blog readers, here is a 30% of coupon for the FAT PACK 2 just for today and tomorrow. 

IWANTIT!

It is case sensitive, so beware!

I hope you all have a fabulous day!  We are off to Lincoln for the day...a little Target shopping, the Children's Museum, some food, and some fun.  Have a great day (and weekend!)

A Quick Recap...

Things here are going good!  We are enjoying time with family and the general change of pace. I like change...it's good to get out of the same 'ol same 'ol.

Levi's birthday was a lot of fun.  We went out for ice cream, ran some errands, went to the library, out to dinner, and then home for cake, ice cream, and presents.  A few pictures...

(I love this one of Levi! It just makes me laugh...standing on the table, ignoring his gifts in favor of his bottle, his jeans with the button that does not stay buttoned.  It is just a "this is just life" type of picture!)

And I LOVE this one...me and my little guy at the exact moment he turned one.

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I haven't done any scrapping...trying to stay off the computer as much as possible. But I did get a chance to finish Levi's CD album. I have never done an altered project before and I have to admit I really enjoyed it!  Can't wait to make another one! 

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Well that's it for me today!  Lots to do!  Hope you have a great day!  And be sure to check in tomorrow for my new product release.  Did I mention it is FAT?  LOL!

My Little Guy is One...

...and I am a little sad.  Why do the little ones have to grow up?  Why oh why?

See HERE for the whole story of one year ago today...

And here is a little LO I did last night...

Credits can be seen here

Have a great day!

Making Headlines...

My little girl.  I told her they picked her because she was the prettiest girl at the circus.  She said, "I sure was!"

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After the circus we were walking out of the arena.  We wanted to stop and sit on the ring to take a family picture.  One of the oh-so-nice (insert eye roll here) circus people was kicking everyone out saying they needed to tear down.  Now I am all for letting people get their work done.  But the circus had been over for less than five minutes so it wasn't like we had been hanging around forever.  We've been really excited to take the kids to the circus and we (and lots of other families) just wanted a family picture.  It wasn't to be....not really the most family-friendly people I have ever met.  Anyway, after this guy was shooing us away, a lady came up to us.  She had said something to Jason but the first thing I heard was her asking Alaina what her favorite part of the circus was.  I thought it was someone from the circus, doing a little customer feedback, and I was about to *politely* tell her what I thought of not giving families a chance to take photos.  But then when Alaina told her she liked the flying trapeze the best she asked her if she would like to say it on camera.  Then I realized that it was the local news station.  NTV (out of Kearny) "interviewed" my beautiful little girl.  I use the term interviewed quite loosely here...they asked her all of two questions: 1) What was your favorite part of the circus and 2) Would she like to come to the circus every day.  Actually, they also asked her to spell her name, too, but that was just so they could have the correct spelling.  She did great! 

We skipped going to Target (sniff, sniff) so that we could make it back home in time.  We knew we had a big grocery trip to do on the way home so we hurried.  We got home a few minutes after 5:30 and rushed to set up my laptop so we could record it.  We watched the whole thing but didn't see her.  We figured that it either wasn't on or it was in the first few minutes.  At 10:00 we set up the laptop again hoping it would be on the late news.  10:30 came and still no Alaina.  And then for some reason the news went late and at about 10:40 there she was!  Too bad the computer stopped recording at 10:30!  I'm so sad we didn't get it...but at least we got to see it!  She was so sweet :)

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Okay, now with that story out of the way, let me back up.  Growing up, I went to the circus quite a few times.  We lived in East Lansing (home of Michigan State University) and so the circus was a HUGE ordeal...three rings, every animal imaginable, elephant and camel rides, 50+ clowns, the whole shebang.  So, I really didn't know that all shows were not like this.  So imagine my surprise when we get to the arena yesterday and there is ONE ring.  Then, my surprise continued to grow as I saw only TWO clowns the whole show, there was ONE elephant, 2 dogs, and 5 horses.  That's it for the animals.  Really, it was kind of a sad little show.  And don't get me wrong, it was a RINGLING BROTHERS production. I guess Nebraska isn't worth all the extras.  It was still a decent show, though, and actually, for my little kids it was probably better.  They didn't have to spend the whole time figuring out WHERE to look and watch. It was all right there.

On the way home, though, Alaina did say she liked it but then added quickly, "But it wasn't the show of *my* dreams"!  LOL!

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Well, that's all for me today.  Lots to do.  Jason's parents arrive today.  Levi's birthday is tomorrow.  Ack...time is slipping away!

I will tell you this, though...a BIG, dare I say FAT product is coming out on Friday.  I love it, but I think that if I see another template in the next few days I may feel a little sick :)

Have a great day!  And I will say again, I may not check in every day this week.  So if I am not around, just know I am having a great time with family!