Great Weekend

It was a great weekend! Dinner out with the fam on Friday night... Got my mini-book kit from Kristina Contes yesterday and was SO excited to get started on it that I printed out some photos and got started making it last night. Love, love her style and the choices of materials that were included. I got up and finished it this morning! Love when things come together so quick. Some of the other people who purchased the kit are also posting photos in a flickr group.
Today Wendy and I went over to Des Moines for the annual art show. It was fantastic as always. This year I was especially blown away by the quality of the artists. We had so many favorites - and I came home with a new George Lowe mug and this clock!! Isn't it great? We even filmed a video while we were there as part of this project! More photos on my flickr. Have a good week!

new blog layout?

I was ready for a change. What do you think? Kinda fun to be able to put a photo up there...

B & K

I made this last weekend at the Reminisce Birthday crop. The wedding scrapbook is ALMOST done. The last layout is literally laying on my table as we speak. Then, just a little journalling and detail work to do, and it will be finished. Yippee! It's fun to flip through, since I've been working on in for so long. Hopefully we will enjoy looking through it for many years to come.

The paper, rub-ons, and stickers are from the Love, Elsie line - a current fav - it is romantic and fun at the same time!

Thanks Josh for suggesting the Canon stitch program - between scanning the 12x12 in sections, rotating, resizing and stitching, it is a long process, but I think it works well - and I didn't have to pay for it! Bonus! Happy Friday!

Immersed in the preschool world

I'm really enjoying my new job so far... the kids, my coworkers, the schedule, and being able to *play*. This is a little "jungle" I set up on one of our tables this week to try and encourage some creative play when the kids arrived. Of course, they don't need too much help with that.

Tomorrow, I'm unveiling a big surprise for my class- Hermit Crabs! I picked up all the necessities at the pet store tonight and they are ready to crawl anywhere. I'm anticipating a heated debate for naming, and hopefully some in depth study of their eating and behavior habits.

Black cow and Poison Ivy updates

Black Cow story #2, originally uploaded by Kirsten W.

I know you were all excited for the second installment of the black cow saga. I used the same pictures as a story starter for my other class on Thursday. It is so funny how it can go such a different direction from the same beginning.

After a week of poison ivy, I am finally starting to feel better. I went in to the doctor on Thursday afternoon to have it looked at because my face was so covered, and it was still spreading on my arms and back. She ended up putting me on an oral steroid, which I guess dries it up. My face is 90% better, and in general I am much less itchy... on the road to recovery. Yuck - hope I don't have to experience that again anytime soon!

Mom and Bethany came over for a crop at Reminisce on Friday and Saturday and we got lots accomplished! The wedding scrapbook is SO close to being finished! Also scrapped some graduation and pictures from Easter. Bethany made a couple mini-books with photos from the hilarious photobooth program on the MacBook and mom almost finished a book about our trip to Chicago last summer. I'm planning to scan some of the pages - and post them soon!

Helloooo big black cow...

This morning I walked out of our garage to the sound of loud mooing. I looked over and was surprised to see a group of cows by our fence. Our property borders a farm, but we haven't had too many cow sightings yet. I couldn't resist creeping up to the fence for a closer look.



I told my little preschoolers about it this morning and showed them the pictures. After I told my version of the story, then we decided to write an imaginary story together about the big black cow!

Ben Folds + John Mayer = a good night

Last night I made a trip to Des Moines to see John Mayer and Ben Folds with mom and Bethany and her boyfriend Frankie. We went out for sushi before and had a great time at the concert.

Ben Folds opened... he has a fantastic energy on stage and plays a mean piano. When Bethany took this picture, he was up on the piano directing the crowd to sing in three-part harmony.


One of the highlights of his set was his cover of "Such Great Heights". Found this clip on YouTube - he has lots of fun with the synthesizer.

John Mayer played all the hits, of course, but he also did lots of jammin' on the guitar. He is really a great musician, and it is feel good music. We thoroughly enjoyed the concerts - with the exception of the irritating teeny-boppers in the row in front of us.


Unfortunately, I also came down with my first case of poison ivy yesterday. Apparently the more you are exposed to it, the more likely you are to develop an allergic reaction. It is really miserable, especially because it is mainly on my face! I picked up some cream to treat the rash today, so hopefully it will be short-lived!