My Birthday Present!

I got an awesome photo scanner that Gar got me for my birthday, I love it the thing is amazing! So off course I had to cheek out it this morning. I have really been into restoring photographs, I think it's important to get these preserved and this is my first real attempt at doing so but it turned out amazing! here is the before and after picture

I would love to know what you think about how real it looks.

Something to be proud of

So this is pretty cool, the new station that I usually watch is channel 8's KCCI in Des Moines. They wanted to have their viewers take pictures for them on Wednesday and Friday of last week for their segment the Day In The Life:Iowa. So as a photographer I felt compelled to do so. And guess what Chloe's picture of her on the play ground ready to be "done" got on the segment of Kids Outdoors! how cool is that. For me this is the first time my "work" has ever gotten on any media. I Was thrilled that I was one of the 15,000 pictures they chose from, I must be doing something right, right? anyways I have to brag some how and this is just one of my way of having something to be proud off. I am still on cloud nine! Cheek out the link

http://www.kcci.com/video/23583268/index.html

Grandpa Holland's Story

Gary Chloe and I recently visited my Grandparents in Freeport Il. It was such a great time, They haven't seen Chloe and I thought it would be a great time to just visit.

I was amazed at what wonderful stories my grandparents had to offer, I believe that it's the stories and experiences that make life sweeter, here are some of the pictures that I was able to get along with some stories. Pictures are worth a thousand words right? So here are some of the pictures that are close to my heart:)

Raymond Holland,I love this picture, although I can't imagine him ever looking this way, it's a great picture of who he was during this time of his life. I expecially love the Holland and US Army patch, it reminds me of when I was little looking at my dad's uniform when he was in army.

My Grandpa served in Germany in the middle of the Koren War and before the Veitnam War. He was one of the lucky ones, as he said that he got to be a Medic. He would help solders get bandaged up before the doctor could look at him. He is in the pharmacy where he would mix up different drugs to use!
This is his Medic truck that he would drive in when he was needed, I love the Army feel of it

Although the photograph didn't do it justice this is a monument at one of the concentration camps, in Germany. The writing is in the jewish languge (islamic or Arabic.) Pictured bellow is what looks like a field, however that is where the Nazi's would bury the decease, so sad right? could you imagine standing there?I would be speechless.


Although there is a ton more stories that I learned I don't have time to blog all of them. among some of the other stories I found out how and where my Grandma got her China that she holds so dear, and how she met Grandpa, which is a cute story for another time!

I hope that this small little post will inspire you to learn about your family stories. I had no idea my grandpa was serving as a Medic to US Army in Germany! I think that it's so neat! He served in Germany for 4 years with only leaving to go back home every 18 months, could you imagine? I am blessed to have been able to look at these pictures and get his real story and see how young he looks. I should add, that this is not my maternal grandpa, but he is the grandpa that I have ever known on my mother's side as my "real" Grandpa left my Grandma, at least I think that is what happend... I haven't gotten that whole story yet, But I love my Grandpa and it's great to get to know him better!

Morning routine

every Morning Chloe wakes up about 9 am, yes I know we are lucky! so we eat breakfast and watch our coveted Sesame Street, I am not saying this is the best habit we have I usually insist that we don't watch tv during meal times but... what can you do? Oh well.
So anyways I just thought I would share some pictures of our morning routine as it's a fun part of our day. And i am hoping to get one of these pictures on to KCCI as they are doing a day in the Life of Iowa segment and will be picking pictures of what Iowans do during their day. Who wouldn't want to wake up to a toddler?

Summer time Flip Flops

I love the beach and I am not able to go this year, bummer huh. Oh well I brought it to my feet and I can't help but to smile every time i where these cuties!

To make them you need some beads and wire or cording, I tied the wire to the end/bottom of the side of the flip flop and then started stringing on the beads a couple at a time and then kept wrapping them around until I got to the other end and then tied them on a gain. it took me about maybe 1.5 hours to figure out how to make it work and to finish so next time it should only take me the time to do it and that would take about 3o min. if you have all the design elements in mind! Of course I would love comments on what you think about my "project mommy" projects

Hair accesories

I have been working on project mommy, since 1. I never seem to "buy" accessories for my self for countless reasons and 2. I can't really wear necklaces and bracelets around little munchkin (Chloe) and 3. there are no stores in Iowa Falls to buy cute accessories for my self I decided to do my own thing.
I have been making hair accessories this pass month and I love them I have been using left over fabric from other projects. it's supper easy to make and takes less than 5 min. per head wrap/head band!
If you want all the directions you can go to
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/08/fabric-head-band.html

I also have a passion for um beads, lots of them! So when I forgot that I had some really fun butterfly swarvaski crystal findings they screamed out to me and said use me in a barret so that is what I had to do, so with some needle and tread and lots of time and patience i was able to make a cute barret. The blue one, was done with the same idea, they look great in my hair and I feel a bit more stylish!

toddlers mood swings

So my toddler has mood swings maybe it's to prepare me for her teenage years, (not all ready right) Anyways Chloe loves to snuggle hold her when she wants me too, but look out if some one else is in the room she would rather be held by any one else but me here is my example:



Yes taken minutes from each other, and you would think that I was making her mad... Oh the way a grandma can turn her world around!

Yep she is my miss independent (Shh, she gets that from me) I don't like saying that out loud!

Iowa Falls: our place to grow

I love the idea of having fresh herbs and when I wanted them this fall and winter I was surprised that fresh basil at the store was like 3 bucks for a normal amount needed for your dish! Yeah I know who in there right mind would pay that right? So I did some research and found that herb gardens are extremely easy to take care of since they have so many types of scents, bugs and critters don't normally eat your herbs! So I now am a proud herb Gardner. I hope to have enough yield to get me through the late part of fall onto early winter. so far I have planted:

Italian Basil (my fav. and plan on using it a lot in the cooking that I do! especially on or in pizza!)
Lavender (for who knows what but couldn't resist it)
Sage (we will see how that turns out, I don't know what to do with it yet...)
Cilantro (very excited to use this in my Mexican dishes and in salads!)
Parsley (so far this has been the one to grow the most, and I plan on using it a lot for any extra flavoring I need!)
Thyme (I hope to make some yummy thyme honey with it... other than that I have no idea what to do with it)

I got me herbs at the wonderful Hy-Vee Garden Center! Yes they have such a wonderful staff to help you and Rochel is awesome, she helped me plan all 6 of my planter, and told me to only fill up the planter with about 6 inches of "good" dirt and the rest can be with rocks, sand, and multch wich costs like a 10th of the price then "good"dirt! (of course dirt's on top of the rocks and stuff) Looking at those pictures it looks like I know what I am doing (I have no idea what I am doing, yep first time) Thanks Hy-Vee and Rochell!





We also have 6 lilac trees in our back yard, so of course I had to take some pictures of those! arn't they beautiful?



So now I am loving the idea of getting amazing Lilacs and watering my little baby herb garden. and it's amazing how fast everything starts growing my planters already look like they have been there for a month! I love it.