Laura Vegas

first up … a layout that i finally finished today. i’ve had this out all week and just wasn’t finding time or energy to finish it. i actually had the entire jar of buttons and clips emptied on my workspace all week … i never leave things out like that. lol!

i wanted to use some of the fun making memories tropical travel collection. we never travel anywhere tropical … but this photo of alyssa from a family swim day worked perfectly. i also threw in some pattern paper from the noteworthy collection … love that scalloped edge! alyssa was not too thrilled with the fact that i had written "swimsuit bikini babe" on there … but i was really drawing a blank and just wanted to get it done. lol!

in other saturday stuff:

• alyssa had an excellent soccer game today. this year she’s played more at mid-field … and she seems a little lost there since she’s played forward for 4 years now. but 2 weeks ago the coach put her in at forward … and within about 5 minutes she had scored the most awesome goal. one of those goals where she dribbled it down, past a few defenders, and put the ball right in the far corner. perfect! and today she was doing so good again. her team won 1-0 … and she scored the one goal. it was another awesome goal … just the same as the one 2 weeks ago. so proud of her!
• sarah also did good today. she scored a great goal … with some really great assistance from a few girls on her team. unfortunatley they lost like 9-1. lol! her team is having a little bit of a rougher year. a lot of young players on her team … on the lower end of the age group. and you should have seem the other team they played today … about 4 of the girls were taller than me. crazy. and the coaches (my good friend barbara and joe) are having a hard time with about half of the team … they just don’t seem to listen. like today when they were telling them what positions they were at … and within a minute they had no idea where they were supposed to be playing. lol! i said i would make some sticky labels that they could just slap on their shirts … that way if they forgot they could just look down and read their position.
• dropped the girls off at ashlens house tonight for her birthday party … a sleepover. i do hope they’re being good and getting along. lol! ady was taking a nap when i got there. jenn was going to wake her up … and i told her i would go get her up. ady looked at me kind of crazy … probably wondering what the heck i was doing in her bedroom. lol!
• joe cleaned the house for me today. one thing i have learned in the past year with this stupid chronic pain disease is that there are just some things i shouldn’t be doing. a few weeks ago i decided to mop the kitchen … wanted to do my share. good lord … i got about half way done and was flat on the couch. lol! joe has been great about taking over certain things for me. he does all the vaccuming, cleaning rugs, and mopping. and i never have to ask … he just does it every saturday. a lot of weeks he does the bathrooms for me too. i stick to the dusting, bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, etc. and all the picking up and organizing. i did do 4 loads of laundry today which seemed like a lot … not sure how we made that much.
• since i had some free time tonight … i decided to get out for a bit. i’ve been really couped up and admittedly going a little stir crazy here. so i went to the mall … i never go to the mall. lol! i was shopping for some jeans. have i ever told you how much i detest shopping for jeans? there are just so many different kinds … and fits … and washes. i did find a pair that fit pretty good … so i stuck with that brand and found a few more pairs. one of them is even a smaller size than i usually wear … probably just the cut … but still makes me feel good. lol! since i shop in juniors i’m used to the sizes being a little bigger … so i try not to feel bad. if i ever do go into womens i wear a totally different size (as in 2 whole sizes lower) … but they’re never as cute. anyways … tried them all on again when i got home … and i think 2 of them will work. the other 2 are going back. lol!
• i also found a couple of really cute hats. yeah … i’m back with the hats. as some of you know i started losing quite a bit of hair around a year ago … probably due to the stress with all the health problems. so for a few months i actually wore hats every day. the hair did eventually start to grow back and i had about 4-5 inches of new growth. some crazy, weird growth though. but the past 2 months or so … it’s been coming out in large amounts again. sad, i know. but the 2 hats i wore all the time last year … i’m kind of sick of them. i ended up coming across these really cute hats tonight at some small store. funky plaids with some great colors … and only $8. i was so excited and bought 4 of them. the one i was most excited about has brown, turquoise, and pink. but when i got home and tried them on … that one didn’t thrill me as much. lol! the fit seemed a little small … seems to make my head look too tiny. i don’t know … maybe it has to grow on me since the fit is a little different.
• when i was walking out of the mall tonight it was pretty late … about 8:00pm. i came out the wrong door so i had to a ways to walk to get to the van. and it was dark. and there weren’t too many people outside. then i started to hear music in the distance … the "phsyco" music. i kid you not … it was as if i was in some horror movie and this was the moment the killer was sneaking up on me. then i realized they put up a halloween "store" of some sort on the far end of the parking lot under tents. lol! i really thought i was losing it!
• my intention was to start on some scrappin assignments tonight while the girls were gone. doesn’t look good considering it is 11:00pm right now. lol! i am usually up till about 1:00am on the weekends … but not sure how much i’ll get done tonight.   

maybe if i got off the computer … i will get something done!

before i share some random photos from this morning … let me remind you these are not my best work. lol! but they’re real life … real daycare life anyways.

miss adyson watching out the front window … she probably heard something and had to check it out. and just something i’m thinking about … i want to repaint my 2 green walls in the playroom to the original beige i had before. i was so desperate for color … i have so much oak in my house it’s crazy. but with all the black touches i’ve added, i’m ok with the beige now.

adyson and haley busy with their computer work. lol! i swear they do more work on their computers than i do … hard to imagine. of course they love to turn them on and hear barbie talking to them. but then they wander off and leave them. and every few minutes we’ll hear barbie still talking … "hello, are you there?" … "do you still want to play" (which ady will hear from the next room and yell "NO"). and i just noticed something blue on adyson’s ponytail. i didn’t think she had a barrette in her hair today … and then realized it’s the necklace hanging from her ponytail. lol!

miss haley. when she isn’t clinging to me and demanding to be held … she gets super busy playing. that girl can make the biggest mess. she just goes shelf by shelf … and pulls down whatever she can reach. she’s 11 months now … and really is the cutest little thing. she’s going to be walking soon … and i know i’m in for some trouble. oh yeah … and she screach’s like crazy. i know it’s her way of talking to me … but she likes to do it when everyone else is sleeping. lol!

i know … nice picture there kids! i’m not sure why … but they like to spend a lot of time by the front door. not trying to get out or anything. lol! sometimes i don’t mind … it’s much better for pictures (even though this one isn’t great). and just picture a 3 month old baby off to the side … because that’s where he was. he got his picture taken too … i just havn’t asked permission to share him yet.

here’s adyson … informing me very dramaticaly that the "other kids" have made a big mess! and those necklaces … those have been wildly popular with the kids this week. even the boys! i at least try and give them the blue one … that doesn’t make it quite so wierd, right?

adyson and james. and those necklaces again. and that "doug" keychain that always seems to be around. and tell me you just don’t love the orange look of my furniture?!?! i hate it so much. like i said … my house has way too much oak in it. so this is how most of my pictures turn out … with some orange glow to them. i’m done with the oak look … i’m all about the black furniture lately.

and this was from the other day. hate the "flash" look i got … i must not have bounced my external flash the right way. and the family room is absolutely terrible for photos … it has no natural light at all (even though it has windows on 2 walls … just not the right walls). and check out the red-eye … i’ve never had red-eyes in my photos. i don’t even know how to edit it out … never needed to. lol! adyson was totally vegged out. i would say she was watching tv … but she really doesn’t watch it much. at least not with me she doesn’t … belive me, i’ve tried. lol! and notice her important stuff she has … her blanket, her baby, her milk, her phone, and her microphone. lol!

and i know i said i wouldn’t gripe the rest of the week. but i figure by the time you got through reading all that and seeing all those photos … maybe you’re not remembering my promise … or even paying attention for that matter. i only have one comment. it’s pretty general i think. not about anything specific. and i have to remind you that i really do love all these kids here. and i know that i take the best care of them … and i do it with lots of love. and i’m great with kids … super funny and very easy-going. but it’s also a job … and no one loves their job all the time, right?

here’s the thing though … every day it goes through my head at some point that i’m really not cut out for this job. i just have a hard time having all these kids dropped off to me every day … and the parents go out and live life all day long … and then come pick them back up all refreshed and ready to spend the rest of the evening together. and yet i’m so drained and exhausted … that i’m too tired and stressed to live my life … or spend the evening with my own kids. i have no time to think … no time to get anything done … and no time to get out of this house and do anything. the life is literally sucked right out of me every day … usually by about noon. lol!

ok … my one comment is done! i’m sure i’ll bring it up again … but i just had to get that out for tonight. i do have some other funny photos to share … so i’ll do those in the next day or two. i also have a ton of emails to catch up on … so if i owe you one, it’s coming … i promise! looking forward to the weekend. soccer … and quite a bit of scrapping assignments that i have to find some time for! 

wanted to share one of the new kids around here. this is matthew … the boy i mentioned that cried by the window a few weeks ago. i’ve known matthew for a few years now through soccer and softball … his older sister and sarah have played together.

he’s a pretty funny boy. very talkative … has to ask tons of questions about every little thing i do. thought i’d jot down a few of the comments he threw out there just today.

• "i got these new shoes for "30 gallons" at the store. i said i ain’t wearing those baby shoes anymore" (as we were walking to the mailbox)
• "my mom is taking a lot of time to pick me up" (said about 47 times a day)
• "you go this way, and then that way, and then go in the traffic, then this way, then go down, and over that way, and then go in the parking spot" (said as he repeatedly pointed left and right … explaining how to get to his mom’s work)
• "do you have the ladder truck? i told you to go buy me a ladder truck" (his dad is a firefighter so he’s all about the fire trucks)
• "this fridge is awesome. did you get it for 30 dollars" (referring to the fridge in the dollhouse he was playing with)
• "you need to empty your garbage … it really smells bad" (said after i had already emptied it … do you think all those diapers are leaving a lingering smell? lol!)
• "and the lady said "don’t step on my hoses .. yeah" (talking about someone at the firehouse)
• "they have all kinds of things at taco del mar. they have tacos, burritos, chips, salsa … but they don’t have quacamole" (his uncle owns the local restaurant and that’s where his mom has been working some to help out. i swear the kid is a great walking advertisement for them!)
• "hey you … look at me" (said to me whenever he didn’t have my full attention)
• "after my mom comes today to pick me up i’m never coming back here again. i don’t like it here"

that last one was hilarious! i know he didn’t mean it … he just misses his mom!

i know i have so much in life to be grateful and thankful for. but for right now … i need to vent a little. so i have 3 things to gripe about .. and then i’ll have nothing but happy stuff for the rest of the week. lol!

first the slumber party. i know you’re all dying to know how the slumber party went. alyssa had 6 friends come for her party. she had a couple of friend that didn’t come … and they told her at school on monday that they "forgot". how sad is that? and she was just at one of their slumber parties the weekend before. anyways … the party went pretty good. i think the highlight was when i walked the 8 girls down to my brother’s house to watch a movie in his huge "theatre" room. it really is just like a theatre … i won’t go into details right now … but trust me. the low point was probably the fighting later in the evening. yep … fighting at a slumber party. who would have thought?!?!

maybe it’s one of the negative perks of doing daycare for a living in your house … you come to realize that all kids annoy you when they’re around too much. lol! i’m so used to hearing the bickering, fighting, and mean-ness (is that even a word?) that comes with having a few girls together every day. so i think i’m more sensitive to it … i hate to listen to it … and i don’t want to put up with it. i wanted to put everyone in their place … and yet i didn’t feel like i knew some of them well enough to do just that. and part of me didn’t even want to mention it here or bring it up … because i know the mom’s read my blog. lol! so i’m totally not naming names … and i really don’t want to cause any trouble or blame anyone. this is truly just good ole’ venting … "blog style", since this is where i put my thoughts. i swear.

it was really just too many girls trying to be in charge … trying to make too many rules … and trying to boss each other around. and that never works … never. there was yelling … there were some "shut up" phrases tossed around. we even had someone who had no interest in the party at all. and poor alyssa … i really felt bad. she is so much like me … avoids trouble at any cost. she let’s others do what they want and walk all over her … even if it’s not ok with her (yep … totally like me). she just kept sitting there letting everyone else try and rule the show … and she would just say "it’s fine". the poor girl even ended up sleeping way on the side by the bathroom. isn’t the party girl supposed to be in the middle of all the fun?

i kept telling everyone "this is alyssa’s party". i know that may have embarrased her. but i was really upset … and i just kept thinking that this would be the part of the party that she would remember most. the bad part. i hope not … but i’m afraid so. because it’s all i’ve thought about. i wanted her to have an awesome night with some of her favorite people. and i know she had fun too … but that whole thing really put a damper on things.

on to the second thing … my leg. you remember i did something to my leg about 6 weeks ago? i was actually saying it was my knee … but i feel like i should say my leg now. because it’s not the knee itself … it’s the stuff behind the knee. all that muscle or whatever is back there. and remember the doctor said there didn’t seem to be anything wrong? well … that doctor must have been an idiot. because there is definatley something wrong. i have about 10% degree of movement. ok … i don’t think that made any sense. lol! basically i can bend my knee about 4 inches total … i can’t straighten it out … but i can’t bend it either. i can’t put pressure on it … i can’t balance on my left leg. you should see me climb the stairs. lol! i can feel something pulling in there … almost feels like i tore something.

and you should see me getting around. i basically spent half my day on the floor with the kids … and the other half picking up and carrying kids. i was joking with joe today about it. i can’t bend down to pick the babies up. when i am holding them … i can’t get back down on the floor while holding them because i can’t bend my leg. and when i am down on the floor … i can’t get back up while holding them. don’t get me wrong … i do it. but i’m not sure how sometimes. 

long story made semi short … i’m a mess. i swear i’m calling and making another doctors appointment … with a real doctor this time. lol! and i’m demanding an x-ray. of course … when exactly can i get to the doctors? i have no idea. i’m so trapped here sometimes … can’t even get out to the doctors. lol! i know i can call my mom and she’ll watch the kids … i do have her help sometimes. but i always feel bad leaving so many kids with anyone. that’s why whenever i do make an appointment for anything … i try and make it when i have the least amount of kids … and the easiest kids. but when you have 8 different daycare kids to work around (including a new baby) … it’s hard. and my days are 10-11 hour days … so that doesn’t leave much time. and then there’s soccer and all that other stuff in the evening. and joe has to work and sleep. we’ll see how well the scheduling person can work with me when i call tomorrow. lol!

edited to add: just made a doctors appointment for this afternoon. unfortunatley the only appts they had were right around the time school gets out … otherwise i had to wait until friday. so i have my mom coming by to watch 7 kids! how bad can that go?!?! lol!

i totally forgot the third thing i wanted to gripe about. lol! must have been a real doozy. how this … don’t you hate it when you find a new tv show that is really good … and then they cancel it? or it just disappears and you never know where it went? is it cancelled … is it coming back … do you get to see the end? i have my dvr all loaded up right now … all the new and returning shows that i want to record. but there was already one show that i thought was really good … and after 2 weeks … it’s gone. so sad.

ok … i’m done. i feel better getting all that out. doesn’t help i feel like i havn’t talked to anyone in days. last week i was plugging in my laptop in the kitchen (where i usually have it on during the day to check in here and there) … and one of the 4 yr olds asked me what i was doing. in all seriousness i told him … "i’m turning on my link to the outside world". kind of sad … and yet so true!

i had a few assignments i wanted to work on last night … but couldn't get my mojo going. so i decided to just play around with some fun products. here's the end result.

just love this large circle paper from the new making memories noteworthly collection … i think it's in the process of shipping now. i was lucky enough to get to play with a little bit of this collection a few months ago … and i just love it. now i just need to get my hands on the embellishments to go with all the papers i have! and yes … this is a 12×12 layout … one of the few 12×12's i've done lately. but i just couldn't bear to cut too much of that circle off!. lol!

and i made a promise to a friend that i was going to try and use my glitter on a layout. i'm so anal and such a neat freak that glitter tends to scare me. lol! i have a few bottles picked out and sitting on my desk waiting for me. but everytime i start a layout with the intention of using it … i somehow don't get around to it. but i did use the making memories glitter alphabets and flowers on here … does that count?!?! lol! also used some of the heidi swapp rhinestone words and circles. i've been hoarding those … thinking they're too pretty to use. hate when i do that. lol!

that's it for now!

i promised to share my 2 new layouts … so here they are.

just had to print up these goofy pics of sarah and scrap them. this page kind of went in a different direction than i planned. with the photo paper i print on i have to use glue dots to adhere my photos to my layouts … my regular adhesive doesn’t hold. so once the photo is adhered … there’s no turning back. i really wanted to move this photo collage though … but i worked around it and am happy with how it turned out. this entire layout is making memories products … both older stuff and some new stuff.

i had these pictures of adyson printed just a few days after taking them … but the layout got put to the side for a while. i love these well-worn tags from making memories … i have tons of them but rarely use them. and the new little bag of autumn leaves buttons i found at target had the perfect colors to match. love the green buttons … i never seem to have the good shades of green in my jar. i figured with the lined paper that i should really handwrite my journaling … but i really didn’t want to. glad i did the journaling strips … just looks cleaner to me.

thanks for letting me share!

and our second birthday girl this week … my baby, alyssa! actually sarah would be considered the baby of the two of them … but i’ve always called alyssa "my baby". well … she’s not a baby anymore. and how old is she?

poor thing doesn’t have enough fingers anymore. lol! she’s the big "11" years old today. i know i say this every birthday … but where the heck does the time go?!?! i told her tonight as i was tucking her into bed that she was getting so big. she said that no, she wasn’t getting any bigger. so i said that she was getting so much older. she said that her body just wasn’t agreeing with her age. lol! poor thing is still so tiny … shorter than her little sister in fact (who is almost 3 years younger). but i always tell her that big things come in little packages.

insert note to self here: remind alyssa to always take her retainers off before taking pictures! not quite as pretty or decorative as the braces were!

she really didn’t want to bring any attention to herself today … so she refused to take the cookies i had bought for her class. bad enough you can’t take anything homemade to the schools these days … i actually went and bought cookies and then she didn’t want them. so now we have 48 cookies (only because she has 35 kids in her class) … store bought cookies to top it off. lol! and i thought it was funny that she asked if i’d be there to pick them up after school (like i have ever NOT been there) … and i said i was going to be there with a huge bunch of balloons to greet her. she was yelling at me "don’t you dare do that"! i was totally kidding around. but then her dad came out right before school got out … and he mentioned that he was going to get her some balloons and carry them over to get her from school. lol! and he was totally being serious. good thing there were no balloons in sight!

then the usual fun birthday stuff … homework, daycare kiddos, soccer practice. lol! they picked up her favorite dinner on the way back from soccer … kfc chicken and mashed potatoes. her big gift was from her dad … a mp3 player of some sort. i know nothing about this kind of stuff … but it even stores videos and movies on it. he got some of her favorite cds all loaded up … and the new soccer movie "gracie". she got a ton of new clothes … some really cute shirts and hoodies. a couple of movies, a new cheetah girls cd, a electronic game thing they like to play on the tv, and a couple of mini backpacks for carrying her important stuff (nintendo, mp3, books).

her party is saturday. both alyssa and sarah have later soccer games this weekend. and then we have about 8 girls coming for a sleepover. how loud does that sound?!?! bet joe is glad he has to work that night. lol! i figure with 10 girls or so … i’ll have to have them sleep in the playroom downstairs. nothing but floor space down there. i told alyssa i would just sleep on the couch in the family room … and she looked horrified. told me to sleep upstairs … she didn’t want me "listening in". yeah right … i’m not about to leave that many girls downstairs by themselves. lol! shouldn’t be that bad though. i’m not one of those sleepover moms that let the kids stay up all night long. maybe 1am if they’re lucky. certainly not the 4am that alyssa stayed up until at one recent party. lol!

stop back by friday afternoon … i have a couple of new layouts to share! thanks for stopping by!

our first birthday girl this week is miss ashlen … can you guess how old she turned today?

yep … 9 years old today! i don’t know where time goes … seems like just yesterday she came here for the first time … she was only 6 i think. i’m going to get all nostalgic here. lol! anyways … happy birthday girlie! love ya!

she was in such a good mood today. jenn picked up donuts for her to bring for her class at school … and she had some left over. i thought it was too cute that every time a daycare parent came to pick up their kid she would ask them "would you like a donut to celebrate my birthday?". lol! i’ll admit i celebrated her birthday way too much today … i had a donut … and i also helped adyson polish off the donut holes she brought with her this morning. lol!

and i actually got a picture of the two cutie sisters … ashlen and adyson. it’s a total flash picture … and ady wouldn’t look at me. but it’s still a cute picture!

and how’s this for a picture of the gang! 7 members of the gang anyways. lol! you have to click on it to see the larger version. look at haley … i laughed so hard when i saw this. her eyes all squinted shut … and she’s all pissed about something … probably the fact that i wasn’t close by. lol! and james is of course looking off in the distance … the boy won’t look at the camera for nothing. ady either for that matter.

so yeah … these are the 7 reasons why i’m always so tired every night. there are more though. 2 more actually. and a new baby starting next week … a 3 month old boy. how fun will that be? haley and ady are going to be in for a little bit of an adjustment … they won’t be my only babies anymore. will have to share more! lol!

but it’s all good. love these kids … even if they do suck the life right out of me! lol!

i was going through some photo folders today … checking out how far behind i was on my editing. i came across this photo of ady from a few weeks ago and thought it was too cute.

she was actually blowing me a kiss! it’s funny how just a few months ago she was extremly stingy with the kisses … i literally had to steal them from her. but lately she lets the kisses fly all over the place. we’ll be walking to school and she’ll just toss them out to people driving by. lol! love it though.

need to get the camera back out. i go through spurts where i take a ton of pics … and then i take none for weeks. guess it makes sense … take a few weeks to go through the hundreds i took in just a few days. lol! we have 2 birthday girls here this week … ashlen tomorrow and alyssa on thursday. so i’ll definately get some pics of them. remember that "birthday princess" shirt sarah wore on her birthday? i tried to get ashlen to wear it tomorrow … but she said she already has an "outfit" picked out … can’t wait to see.

i won’t even bother trying to get alyssa to wear the shirt. the girl’s going to be 11 years old. can you just imagine what she would say to me? eyes rolling all over the place and an annoyed look on her face … along with a "stop it mom … that would be sooooooo embarrasing"!!!

today we threw my parents a 40th anniversary party. by "we" i mean my brother, my sister-in-law, my sister, and me and joe. i give most of the credit to my brother and his wife … because they really did all the work. i failed miserably on pictures … but i did get these few.

check out this cake! the detail was amazing … i hated to even cut into it. i friend of my brother has her own business creating these masterpieces … and how cute a name is babycakes for a business.

these little pastries were so cute. i’m not a fruit person … so i didn’t have any … but they looked so yummy. actually … why didn’t i try the chocolate one?!?! lol! may have to track one of those down.

 

gorgeous flowers! they smelled good too … have one of the green potted ones in my kitchen right now. i’m admittedly not much of a flower person … so joe knows to never buy me flowers. but they do pretty up my kitchen!

that’s pretty much it on my pictures. any picture that had a person in it … didn’t turn out. how sad is that? i think my problem was that i had my 85mm lens on … because i loooooove that lens and it’s my favorite lately. but 85mm gets you pretty close … so i was really having to back up way too much to get anything in the frame. so i switched over to my 28-135mm lens … which i equally love … but isn’t as fast as the other lens. and since i can’t remember the last time i used my external flash … i really didn’t think to put it on. but i should have … i should know better than to take a picture inside with no flash. lol! hopefully my sister-in-law got some good shots. i had to laugh because she was using her film camera … who uses film anymore?!?! lol! i shouldn’t say that since i fought the whole "digital" thing for a long time before i gave in.

and this was my photo display i put together. we wanted to display some photos of my parents from way back when … before they got married. my mom had scanned most of her photos onto the computer a while back … even scanned in slides. luckily these printed pretty good. we put this out by the sign-in table along with their wedding album. this is about the only thing i was responsible for … and i waited until friday afternoon to start it. i think i had my brother worried … i kept telling him "i’ll get to it" … and he kept saying "it’s getting really close". lol! i told him i had the design all in my head … and not to worry. well guess what … the design in my head ended up not working out.

but this came together so quickly. these are 16×20 canvases that i had covered with fabric ages ago and never used. i actually have 4 total … and i had them propped up in the playroom after finding them in the closet … figured if i set them out i’d figure something out to do with them. i was sitting there with the kids on friday and i realized they’d be perfect. i covered 8inch chipboard letters with pattern paper and added a few sheets of 12×12 paper and some ribbons/trims. i think it came out great. although i didn’t think to ask if they had a spot to hang it up later.

back to the party. it was the perfect day … perfect weather (considering it rained here a ton yesterday). gorgeous decorations. yummy food. delicious desserts. tons of my parents closest family and friends. i think they had a great time! congratulations to them on 40 wonderful years together!