art inspiration.

thursday random

1. The Smurfs first season is out on DVD. I am soo loving this.
2. I perfer drinking out of larger straws.
3. Spell check is finally back up.
4. Both babies are still feverish from their shots. (see post below)
5. I am freezing. It is 24 degrees out. I can't find my slippers.
6. I am working on a mile long Walmart list for tomorrow.
7. Jason had Lucky Charms for breakfast. I am having coffee.
8. I am currently working on 3 mini albums.
9. I just watched From Dusk Till Dawn. Love that Tarantino.

immunization day : (

After 2 hours, 7 vaccines, 4 legs and 6 shots later we are home. Things went surprisingly well. Both boys are growing and doing great. Ryan is 11 pounds 11 ounces and 22.75 inches long. Zachary is 10 pounds 11 ounces and 22.25 inches long. They are a pound apart. And Zachary has a bigger noggin. She also said that the way Zach holds his arms is good, he is learning to self soothe. The doctor is putting Ryan on a prescription formula to help him with tummy troubles. Also I have to shout out to Ms. Tina who went with me to help out because Daddy could not make it. She willingly took each baby in for their shots, while I sat out in the adjoining waiting room with the other baby. She was the bad guy, and I love her for that. Thanks, Hun!


But I have even BIGGER news to share today. Are you excited? Zachary has hit a milestone! He ROLLED OVER last night for his dad. Which was the 25th.

UPDATE: Since we have been home this afternoon, the boys have been irritable and feverish. I am giving them Tylenol and keeping a cool wash rag on their legs. It is going to be a rough night.

valentine mini

I did this Valentine mini book for the hubby and me. It's a Maya Road chipboard album that Jason and I painted red. Then I added some love song lyrics, black and white wallet size photos, and some stamps. Photos are from Valentines day too.

that was a close one.

Jason: "What does cheap mean?''

Me: "It means the opposite of expensive. It means that it doesn't cost that much money. Your Wii games are expensive, but your Thomas game was cheap."

Jason: "Hey- Santa brought me my Thomas game! Santa doesn't buy things, his elves make things. But not batteries, right?"

Me: "Oh yeah, you are right. Santa brought you that. Ummmmm so what do you want for breakfast?"

Jason: "Monkey bread and orange juice."

instant death.

Okay so I am totally bummed out. I just heard the news today. Polaroid will no longer make instant film. It will no longer be avaliable after 2009. Seriously I should have known this was coming, but I didn't. They just put out a new 600 camera so I thought we were good to go. You all remember my great Polaroid find. What now? Tomorrow I am running to the store and getting $100 worth of film which is only 8 packs at $22.95 which is only 80 photos. Much Love -Mandy

my babies.

These shots are from yesterday the 20th and you can see more here. Zachary is 1st photo. Ryan's are the next two.

book of lists.

A new mini that I put together over the weekend. I am a list maker. I have been so wanting to do this since I saw Elise Blaha's book. The cover is a recycled Starbucks bag. So is the butterfly. I will post it all over at flickr too. The lists are random and in no order. Very simple, paper and print.

sneak peek.

grab a cup of joe, it's gonna be a long one.

Wow. Where to start? Lots going on and to say. First I have to say that I am abandoning Project 365. But not totally. I do take photos every single day, but the process of editing and posting is a major hassle. I will leave the photos up on flickr as Random and will continue to share more. I have to say that in the first 50 days of the project, I really learned to enjoy still life photos. So those are now going to be more noted in my life.

Next- I want to let you all know (as noted by the hubby) that I do photograph both of the twins EQUALLY. It's just that some days, one baby wants nothing to do with me and the camera in his face. Sometimes they aren't as good and don't get edited, just deleted. Sometimes they start fussing before I can get them posted all at once. So if you notice a post only of Zach or only of Ryan; note that a post of the other can't be too far behind. I love to photograph ALL my kids to the point of temporary photo flash blindness.

Next- While we are speaking of photos, note that my Flickr photo account has gonna PRO. Which means I now have to pay $24.95 a year to house my photos there. It is worth it so all the far away family can see the boys. Sooo check it out often. I update it almost daily. So check it out!

Next- My spell check is still not working. So if you run into any typos, my bad.

Next- I have three new mini albums to share in the next few days, so be sure to check them out too. I am just waiting on some stuff in the mail to finish up my valentines book. I will post one new one tomorrow.

Next- I have to tell you about last night. I had a migraine. They kick my ass. My wonderful hubby rocked and fed each baby putting them to sleep. Then put Jason to bed too. Well in the middle of the night, I put a baby upon my chest. They sleep well there. I am still feeling yucky and half asleep and I hear this, "You are so beautiful with a baby on you." How sweet was that? I was smiles all night long and still this morning. That was a very sweet somethin that I loved hearing from my lover. I love that he still thinks I am beautiful at 3 a.m.

and some sweet somethings to you, XOXOOX HUGS!

ryan christian dake

zachary scott dake

Gary the Snail.

By: Jason Lee Dake from yesterday February 16th.

saturday morning routine.

So the last three saturdays in a row, this is what we have done. Jacques has had to work until about 10 each morning, so Jason and I put on Spidey 3. We both love it. Jason runs around in his spiderman suits throwing webs and jumping off the couch. I have seen Spiderman 1 so many times, it bores me to death. Spiderman 2 is still watchable, love Doc Ock. But Spiderman 3 is just awesome! I love the conflict and characters. Venom is somethin else. And although I have seen it a bunch, I teared up today when Harry died. I know. I am a dork. We took Jason to the theater when it came out. He was on the edge of his seat the whole time. We bought it the day it came out on DVD. And also a quick shout out to Julie who went on opening day to the theater. She loves Spiderman.

my handsome valentine.

Happy Valentines Day! Here is my sweetheart! He is already at school but I took some photos before he left. Click here to see more of Jason's Valentines Photos. And just for fun, here was Jason last year. We have no big plans this holiday. We have all already exchanged gifts. Jason got some candy and the puppy in the photo. I got the hubby a PDA smartphone and he got me some lovely coffee mugs that I wanted. Jason will exchange valentines at school and they are having a party. Here are the valentines for his teacher:

They are the same as last years (see here) because I only had to make two, so no creativity wasted here.. I know, Lame. Ohhhhh and then on the way home today, I saw a red cardinal.. that must be the Valentine bird of love. SMOOCHES!

twin tuesday.

Seriously the last 5 hours have been rough, must be twin tuesday.. Both babies have been awake and in a mood. But first a recap: Last night they both fell asleep around 7 pm and slept till 6:42 this morning! I woke up to change them last night and they slept right through. It was nice. Then this morning, I took Jason to school and they fell asleep in the car at 8:00 and when we got home at 8:30 Zachary stayed asleep untill 10:33, but Ryan woke up as soon as we got home.. And he didn't fall asleep until 1:04 and that was only for 15 minutes.. So now it is 3:20 and I just laid them both down. We will see how long it lasts. Be back shortly.

Welp as predicted, Ryan never fell asleep. And Zachary woke up at 4:10.

weekend creativity.

So yesterday I joined in on Ali's weekend project. And here is my final project. The butterflies are up on foam dots so they are floating on the board, but that detail is hard to see. The box is a creme colored satin Martha Stewart collector box and the punch is from her line too. I also have another smaller one that I am going to do with another punch. They will hang on my walls. You can see it up on flickr too.

2.5 months

These babies are just growing like weeds! I can't believe they are 2.5 months already. They are out growning clothes already too. So about the babies now. They both are smiling so big. Ryan smiles on cue, but Zach makes you work for all his smiles. Our nights go up and down. I usually take a baby to bed with me, and that baby will sleep all night long. But the other one usually fusses and is up quite a bit through out the night. They love laying on the floor under their baby gyms and are noticing the TV. I need to dig out all the Baby Einsteins soon. Oh and they are cooing alot. And did I mention that they are very cute? Maybe photos later. HUGS.

baby photos.

I got this photo from my Mother-In-Law today. It is Jacques at a few months old. I have a copy of this and have been trying to find it to compare. He looks like Ryan.

about faith.

I saw this today and loved this: "Because faith is not about having the right answers. Faith is a feeling. Faith is a hunch, really. It's a hunch that there is something bigger connecting it all... connecting us all together. And that feeling, that hunch, is God."

complete.

Woohooo! See No. 6 in post below. Click here to see the whole album Life Art. And I got my Starbucks. See No. 4 in post below.

friday random

1. Jason is still sick.
2. Ryan is not.
3. Zachary never got sick.
4. I had chocolate milk this morning, but wanted Starbucks.
5. My spell check isn't working properly.
6. I am hoping to scrap today and complete a mini.
7. Both babies are napping on their dad.
8. The phone just rang. We have a friend in the hospital.
9. Spongebob is all that is ever on our tube.

family illness updates..

First off, I am happy to report that since Friday, Ryan has been doing great. No fever at all, just a cough. And so far Zachary has not been ill yet.. As for Jason, he is still home from school. Tonight I decided to take him to the urgent care clinic on post, mainly because that would work better than making a daytime appointment.. After checking in, we are told there is an 11 hour wait! But after about 5 minutes, the Chief Clinical Support lady comes over and asks us how long we had been there. I said we just got there and she told me that she would refer us to an off post pediatric clinic due to the wait.. THANK THE LORD! So I called the hubby and we decided that I should come stay home with the twins and he would take Jason over to the clinic. Fast Forward: It is now 10:30 and the boys are home. Jason has the common cold. Once again, no antibiotics. We just treat the symptoms.

and then there is poor jason..

I forgot to mention that he ran a fever on Saturday evening of 102.6. I gave him tylenol and it quickly went back down. Within an hour he was back to himself. I continued to medicate him all evening though and on Sunday too. He was fever free all day, but I kept him home today from school for extra rest. So I just glance over at him 5 minutes ago and he had that pale/lethargic look and I knew it was back.. I was right 101.8. I dosed him up again and got him a cool wet rag and some cold water to keep hydrated. Hopefully it will go down again soon. I will keep you posted.

We will not be discussing the game,

but I am updating you all about our weekend. Jacques has been sick since last week and on Thursday night Ryan ran a fever of 101.4 so I called the doctor and they said to give him tylenol. It came down quickly. So on Friday they had their eight week check up at 1:30. Ryan is 22" long and weighs 10 lbs 1 oz. Zachary is 21" and weighs 9 lbs 3 oz. Both boys were given okays on growth and development. And because Ryan had a fever within 48 hours, they couldn't get their shots. Wonderful! Or so I thought...

Well because Ryan had run a fever, they wanted to give him a chest X Ray, draw blood and get a urine sample. So first they put a urine bag in him. Then it was up to the lab for blood work. The nurse put the needle in the left arm. Ummmmmmm no vein, so she starts moving it all around hoping to hit one. She found one, then DAMN the needle fell out. So now on to the right arm. Finally she found a vein, but it took several minutes to withdrawal all the blood in a series of different tubes. Did I mention I was the one holding him down? Then over to X Ray where the machine they use is from 1812. I had to hold his arms up in the air while they enclose him in a plexi glass cylinder then strap his head in with a leather band. At this point, it looks like we are making another Hannibal film. It took about 10 minutes, Ryan cried the whole time.

It is now 4:30 and we are headed back to the check up room. The doctor says "make yourself at home." That can't be good. With Zach asleep, I tell Jacques to go back to work. He takes Jason to help out. So I wait. And wait and wait. Finally the doctor comes in and says "I am so glad you came in today." She also brought in a nurse to check his oxygen levels and the urine bag, which is still on him and empty. Then she explains that his chest rays didn't look so good.. He has pnemonia. So they decide to send him to the hospital for observation and possibly a 2-3 day admittance. It is now 5:30, she wants us to go straight there. I drop of Zachary to Jacques and head over there.

At the hospital, they get me in right away knowing I was at the doctors office all day already. They get us into a room strip him down and give him a go over. Then another RN comes in and is carrying a bunch of fun stuff... time for an IV. Great another needle. I have to say, the RN did a wonderful job. So after the IV is in, Ryan falls asleep and sleeps the rest of the time we are there. He is wore out. The doctor comes in with blood test results and the white cells are off. So we wait and later they have gotten back up to a good number. Then at around 10:30 they decide that the chest x ray and lab work reveals that he has a viral pnemonia, which does not require antibiotics. I just have to treat the symptoms, which right now are none. And because he is doing well, we get to go home. It is now 11:00 pm. Ryan continued to sleep all the way home. And then all night long.

it's game day!

And we are ready for some football! I have a Patriots hat and my Brady shirt, (whom I am secretly mad crushin on.) My toenails are painted fire engine red as are my fingernails. I have on my good Ralph Lauren earrings that are patriotic. One is red/white striped and the other is blue with stars. They were a gift from Jacques when we were dating back in 2000. They were expensive and are heavy that is why I don't wear them often. And the boys are ready too...