"Mommy, how do you spell bee?"

I don't know why I don't take better pictures for you. I just like the convenience of the phone for picture-taking, I guess!

Anyway, we had Parent/Teacher Conferences a couple of weeks ago - now remember that my son is in a class called "school readiness" for three-year-old (he just turned four). At the conference his teacher told us things like the letters he recognizes and how they'll start teaching him to read and stuff that sort of goes in one ear and out the other. But one thing stuck with me - she said the word "drilling". Like I'm sitting around drilling this kid on his numbers and letters. Not happening. He knows the alphabet and he can count to one hundred. I had very little to do with that. I am not going to drill the kid. Sorry. Some people do, I get that (I got that when his teacher asked me what my "academic goals" were for him at our first conference in September). We play. We color. We paint. We go to the park and slide and swing. In the winter we sled and watch Dora.

But lately he's obsessed with reading. "How do you spell this? What does this start with?" etc. The other day I found him in my bed, hunched over with his back to the door like he was hiding something trying to sound out words in one of his SpongeBob books. So when he asked me how to spell bee, this ATC popped into my head. This could help, right? Maybe? A little? OK, maybe not but it's cute.

Gross or awesome?

It's a little hard to tell. It's that giant cupcake, and the top half is peanut butter cake (my specialty), the bottom chocolate. But since my son begged my mom to "decorate" it himself...

Yeah. It really looks like that. No, I will not be eating it. Even Liam doesn't want to eat it. Maybe Papa will take the first bite?

Another day...

Blah, blah, blah...

Pencil

Colored pencil (and a little paint)

More paint...some charcoal

March LOs for Ahhh Scrap!

This is a kit called "Creative Me" by Willow Grace Designs. Mini working in his journal, how cute is that?

This one is called "Chickadees" by One of a Kind Design Studio. I don't have many chickadees to scrap, but I haven't scrapped ANY pics of me and Suzi at CHA yet! Here we were searching for breakfast at the convention center - Suzi said I couldn't have sushi...
This is my son, being a nut (as usual). He burst into the bathroom announcing that he was an explorer. Good thing I always have my phone with me while I'm in the tub in case I need to snap a photo!
This is curiosity NOT killing the cat. He wanted to know what would happen. I told him to try it. I want to make this into a scrapbook of its own, I think. Quotes and questions from him and how we figured out the answers, something along those lines.
Since my computer died I'm scrapping with Photoshop Elements instead of Photoshop and I gotta say, I kind of missed it. It's so much EASIER than Photoshop! I mean, after three years of using it, I know Photoshop pretty damn well but Elements is SO much more user-friendly. Quick commands, a simple click to add a layer style, I heart it.

Mermaids

Blogging from hubby's computer. I'm sort of getting used to it. I may have explained this before, but his is a laptop with a badly cracked screen (my son is a maniac) and so it's plugged in to the TV. The screen too high to sit on the floor and use so I usually sit very awkwardly on the coffee table where my feet don't quite touch the floor all the way so I'm on my tiptoes trying to not drop the computer and cause any more damage. Right now I'm sitting cross-legged (did you know it's not PC to say "Indian-style"? They say "criss-cross applesauce" in school these days) with the enormous computer (it's one of those REALLY big laptops) on my lap. It's so big that it covers my entire lap and is still hanging off, so it puts a lot of pressure on my forearms.

Good story, right? I know. Anyway, here are some mermaid ATCs. More copic marker playing, I'm still pretty terrible at it, but practice is supposed to help, right? Kelly? Will practice help me?

Mini Me wants to know what happens when you mix juice and water...

PS Next time please remind me that I hate Stonehenge paper before I cut it up to use for ATC with the copic markers that hate ME, ok? Thanks.

Happy Place...

I heart these colors. All of them, any of them, any combination of them. I can't help it. I like to put colors together that clash and hurt your eyes. I don't know why...

This group of paints was sitting on my table from a journal I was making where I painted all the pages first and just seeing them there makes me happy! I don't even wanna put them away!

Is it possible that this doesn't make you smile? Daddy dressed him up and had him pose for me. This kid cracks me up!

It's good to be home!

Sunday...

First, we painted in Tami's mom's backyard! (Why not, right?? It was totally fun!)

Then I went inside and caught Liz and Rachel watching Suzi vidoes on YouTube! How awesome is that?!? I love it!

Door locks...

This is the lock on my parents' front door. It's new (ish, they've had it for a few months) and it's fun because they don't have keys (yeah, I see the keyhole, I have no idea what it's for because I know for a fact my mother doesn't have a key to this lock). There's a code you punch in and I'm all about secret codes and silly gadgets. Love it!

But do you see a tiny problem? This is it from the inside. See the little deadbolt? All you have to do is flip it. Now, my parents don't have a whole lot worth stealing - a couple of REALLY big TVs that I'd love to see some burglars trying to get down the stairs and into their truck quickly. That would be really funny. Especially since they're wired directly into the walls.

But, come ON! If you were a burglar and you saw this fancy lock on someone's house (OK, you'd have to go upstairs onto the front porch to see it because my parents' house is very odd and you go in through the second floor) wouldn't you think they had some good stuff in there? And then all you have to do is break a window, flip the lock, and you're in.

Of course, I don't mention this to my dad (OK, he's my stepdad - that's why he's only ten years older than me - go mom!) because he would just look at me like I was crazy. He's not really trying to lock anyone out, he just thinks this is a cool lock. And he's right, it's fun!

So my best friend got in last night from London at like 8pm...which would be 1am London time...it's 8:59am now...too early to go over to her mom's house and jump on her bed? I could throw things from the doorway that way she couldn't hit me. Even better, I could make Mini Me jump on her bed! Who's going to hit a cute little four-year-old?

Sadly, I have no art to show you. OK, I did a face on the plane but I was going for a Pam Carriker kind of look (huge oval face, tiny eyes, wispy hair, weak mouth) but the more I looked at her, the more I hated her. (The drawing, not Pam) Then I colored her with watercolor crayons, which I hate. (Why do I do these things? I can't help myself sometimes!!) So she looks horrible. Too horrible to even show you because you're going to think "Why the F would you do that?" and too horrible to even let her reside in my wonderful Fabriano journal so I'm going to RIP her out. No, I don't think journals are supposed to be perfect but I do think MY journal is supposed to make ME happy and this page doesn't so she's gotta go.

I've been a cranky, lazy bitch lately...not that you guys care, but I'm feeling a LOT better today! Got Mini Me watching The Land Before Time, a fave from my childhood, and we're going to Florida tomorrow...maybe life isn't great, but it's not horrible, either. Not today!

You Suck Monday

Strikes again. Computer died and it's put me in a funky mood. I'm using my husband's laptop right now, but the screen is cracked so it has to be plugged into the television and it's hard to use like this. So if I'm gone I'm not ignoring you, and if I'm NOT gone but posts are looking strange (without subjects or photos only) it's because I'm posting from my phone. Blah.