Downy Woodpecker

Saw a little downy woodpecker in the tree in our front yard this evening. Never noticed him before.

Here is what I found out about him

The Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens, is the smallest woodpecker in North America. Adults are mainly black on the upper parts and wings, with a white back, throat and belly and white spotting on the wings. There is a white bar above and below the eye. They have a black tail with white outer feathers barred with black. Adult males have a red patch on the back of the head.

Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian

I took a class called Finish Line Scrapbooking at Creating Keepsakes Convention last year and completed a 6 X 6" album of a family reunion in just 2 hours.Stacy maintains that because of the number of photos we take with digital photography we are all behind if we scrapbook chronologically. She works in themes instead of time. Listen to a free podcast of an interview with Stacy Julian about her approach to Photo Freedom

Still a few seats available

Still a few seats available for a day long Scrapping/Stamping Event

in Arkona Ontario. Sat. April 5

Contact Eliz at 519 828-3799 or

Lizz at 519 828-3850

A rose is a rose

We presented this rose to Jenna after her skating performance yesterday. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Easter morning

The best part is still the Easter egg hunt!

Easter treats

I'm not very good at

cake decorating but had to give it a try this Easter. Aaron helped me with these. We'll take these to Granny's tomorrow for our Easter Brunch.
(Good thing Arthur replaced the bottom element in my oven this week or they would have been burned)

Nothing says Easter like flowers

The Easter cactus is in my dad's sunroom and its no accident that Arthur and Jenna are in the background of the hydrangea I bought for my mom and dad. I also bought one for Arthur's mom.

When I brought them home Arthur commented that I probably would have liked one for my house too. I may go back on Monday and get one for myself.

Strathoy Skating Carnival

Aaron took some photos of Jenna in her skating carnival. He was disapointed that they were so blurry but I know how difficult it is to get clear photos of skaters and they move past you. I think he got some pretty good shots.
They skated to Singing in the Rain and Here Comes the Rain Again.
We will have her professional portraits to show later. Jenna had me order the Carnival video because I was in the dressing room with the girls so didn't get a chance to see the whole show.


ps Eliz, Jenna was thrilled with her red and pink varigated rose. Thanks for reminding me to get a flower for her.

Have a great holiday weekend.

I don't know where the last week has gone. Spent my 3rd week in training for a Crisis Counsellor position at a Women's Shelter and have not had much energy for anything else.

I'm glad its a long weekend so I can spend some time with family. Hope you all are able to spend some time with the ones you love.

Could spring really be near?

I woke up this morning to the sound of birds singing outside my window. Not sure if this means spring is really near but really hope so. I have also heard from others that robins have been sighted here in Southwestern Ontario. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Some March Break Fun

Got to do some March Break fun things today. Arthur went to London with me and waited while I had a job interview and then we went to pick up Aaron and Jenna at my Mom and Dads'.
While at Chapters we noticed the Hannah Montana 3 d movie was playing so took a chance to see if there were any seats left for the 2 oclock show. Sure enough there were so we went in .3-D, they weren't kidding. Just like the movies they show at Disneyland drum sticks, guitar picks and confetti looked close enough to touch. After that we went bowling and then out for dinner.
It was a fun day and sort of made up for the rest of the week while I was working days and Arthur was on nights.

My son the enabler

It's March break and I'm in training for a new job every day except Friday, so the kids miss out. Jenna did spend the day with a friend and Aaron spent the day working on his stamp collection and burning a hole through a leaf with his magnifying glass. Glad his dad was supervising.

We were supposed to go swimming after supper but decided because my son was still coughing so much it might not be a good idea.

I had just picked up my Stampin Up order and he asked if he could mount the stamps so I could stamp tonight instead. He does a good job so it kept him busy for a little while. As for stamping tonight, I think I'll just put up my feet and watch some television with the kids instead.

More All Occassion Cards

More cards from the All Occassion Card Class by Skribbles and Scraps in Sarnia.

Set your clocks ahead tonight

Its daylight savings time earlier than usual here in Canada. Set your clocks ahead 1 hour tonight. Its also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

(This clock reminded me of The Golden Compass we saw last night.)

High School Musical Layout

What better thing to do when a snow storm is raging outside? Scrapbook of course.

The photo of Sharpay and Ryan slides behind the middle photo of Aaron and his friend Eric on the left side of the layout.

All Occasions Cards

Lizz, Eliz and I went to an all occasions card class at Skribbles and Scraps in Sarnia on Thursday evening. This class had been rescheduled due to weather and now it looked like everything was ok to go. It was fine on the way there but on the way back we ran into fog patches that made driving dangerous. We took our time and made it home safely.

I'm glad we went. Where else would you get to make cards with 3 Liz's and 2 Gerries?

Here are just a couple of the 12 different cards we made.

Registration for Great Lakes Mega Meet May 8,9,10

Eliz and I had so much fun last year we are going again. We've also conviced Lizz to join us. I just did the registration and we are taking 3 classes. That leaves lots of time to shop, shop, shop. I also hear there is a new Archivers store nearby. The convention is in Novi, Michigan(Detroit) May 8,9,10

http://www.megameet.com/glmm/register.html

Its been a whirlwind week

Its been a whirlwind week with training for a new job, having to drive through a snow storm and a job interview on top of the normal week of things. My head is spinning but I am looking forward to going to a card class that had been cancelled last week due to weather.
I'm home tomorrow so can catch my breath. I'll post some cards tomorrow.

March Pagemaps are available,

March pagemaps are now available. There are also new cardmaps available too. Having a bit of trouble getting in to the site so will try again later.

Don't know how much time I'll have to be creative in the next few days. I'm in training for a new job and if today is any indication, I'll need time to just relax. I'm not used to learning new policies and procedures. I'm really excited about this opportunity and will have time to be creative soon enough.

Enchanted

Jenna, her friend Gabby and I had a girl's weekend. We saw the movie Enchanted and then went to dinner at Swiss Chalet. It was a nice change of pace.