lulu beans

Just playing! :)

Plus I knew my family wouldn't mind a Lulu picture!

* I need to figure out how to save them as jpegs though. I don't like these slide show things. Good thing my tech support guy will be home tonight around dinner. ;)

Learning to Scrapbook

I've been learning to Digital Scrapbook. I want to make some pages for the Artists For Hope blog and I can see now how Digital Scrapbooking can become CRAZY addictive. I do all my "computer time" while I'm feeding miss Charlotte, so it's good I don't have a lot of free time right now or I would be a Digital Scrapbooking MACHINE!

I'm hoping for some input about what would catch people's attention. Do you like the "busier" images or is better to keep it simple?

I'm also hoping people are starting to spread the word to anyone they know that creates things at home and especially those people that have a home business where they make things. I would love to help spread the word about their creations and they can feel great knowing they are helping kids in the process. It's a WIN/WIN, aye? :)

I have a few people already and I'm very excited that my friend Alexis is going to do a drawing of one of the children in the Rescue Center in Haiti to help raise money for the kids and all the devastation they've had because of the Hurricane. The poverty in Haiti is hard to grasp and you can read a little about a few of the kids who just arrived at the Rescue Center here. Everything they do is by donation only...so I'm hoping we can help them through Artists For Hope.

Also...if anyone would like to help with this crazy idea, PLEASE let me know. I know many of you have a heart for children around the world and I would LOVE to have a group to work with to make this happen. You don't even have to be near bye. I think having people around the country would only help to spread the word. Thanks for the input everyone. :)

Frida Kahlo Fun

Does anyone else love Frida Kahlo? She was an AMAZING Mexican artist and ever since I learned about her in my very first art class in college I have loved her. Her paintings are like looking into her soul and I think she was brilliant. Ok, thats my plug for Frida. You really should look at some of her paintings if you haven't before. Some are a bit shocking, but all are pieces of her life.

Kris had Friday off and he was sweet enough to go with me to El Museo Latino to see an exhibit of photographs and letters written by Frida. It was fascinating and even Kris enjoyed it. The letters had lots of medical info from a terrible accident she was in, so he enjoyed reading about the treatments and what- not that she explained in the letters. SO interesting!

After the museum we went to the International Bakery and I about fell over from happiness when I asked the lady for Tres Leches Cake and she said (in spanish) "what kind?" They had several different kinds this time and they even had Oreo. I LOVE Tres Leches Cake. Especially after we went to Guatemala and I had it literally every day. It's one of my favorite treats in life and then to put Oreos on it! Come ON! Could it be any better???

This is what it looked like about 24 seconds
after I took the first picture.
I shared a LITTLE with Bazzy and Kris. They're lucky! ;)

Agent P

My sweet little Mia has a new obsession.
Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb.
She LOVES him and can even make a spot on impression of his funny little Platypus noise that he makes. Ask her ANY time if you want to hear it...she'll do it for you. :)

I saw a Perry the Platypus shirt on clearance at Disney Store Online and we just got it in the mail this weekend and Mia HAD to wear it to school this morning.

For those of you who haven't seen the show (which you really MUST!), Perry is the family's Platypus who acts like a "mindless domestic pet" while at home, but is actually a secret agent called Agent P who has to constantly battle with his nemesis (which is now a favorite word amongst all our kids) Dr Doofenshmirtz. You really have to just watch an episode to get it...but below is a funny little video about Agent P ~ including his funny little noise he makes.

I also put the girls favorite song from a recent episode.
I've heard them sing it about 5 million times since they saw it on TV.

The Round Up

Here's our little gang at the River City Round Up Parade. The kids had a ball and Kris was happy because
the parade was under an hour this year. ;)

I was SO bummed that I forgot my camera in the mad dash to get out the door to find a good spot on the parade route. I got phone pictures...but not NEAR as fun as the actual camera.

There were lots of bands...

...balloons...

...cowboys...

...stickers...

...and the kids favorite ~ CANDY!

We walked down to the Qwest Center afterwards to see some of the fair festivities.
Here's the girls in front of a giant Bull balloon.
Don't you love the cowboy boots mixed with the hawaaiin shirt and sunglasses?

One of Mia's possible career choices for the future?
(I don't think her Radiologist Daddy will go for this though)

Inside the Qwest they had a section with baby animals and these little piggies were only a DAY old! I SO badly wanted them to put them back with their Mommy. Poor little piglets looked terrified. Sofia and Mia loved getting to see them up close though.

This is just a cool door we passed on the walk back.
It was a great day with BEAUTIFUL weather and Kris and I talked about how lucky we are to be in a city where there are so many fun opportunities for families. :)

Picture Day and Propagation

It's Picture Day at School today. It's funny how much less of a big deal this has become as the years and number of kids we have goes on. I've learned that no matter how perfect they look when they leave for school on picture day...they are probably NOT going to remain that perfect because pictures aren't until after recess or even lunch sometimes! Hair is bound to get messed up. Food is probably going to get spilled. It's just not worth getting too worked up about. So we approached it this year by letting the girls pick what they would like to wear and then explaining to them best I could how to fix there hair again before pictures start.
It's always interesting to see how they turn out.
I took a quick picture before they left.
So here's the "before" picture anyways. ;)

I also had to post a picture because I am INCREDIBLY proud that I propagated 2 plants and they are alive and even sprouting new leaves!!! I've never been good with plants. I WANT to be good with plants! I'm hoping this is the beginning of being a MUCH better plant-taker-care of-er. You know what I mean.

I commandeered (in the pirate-y sense) a clipping of two overgrown plants and placed them in water until they sprouted roots. I planted them about a week ago in this pot and I noticed this morning that both of them are very healthy and NOT dead! Yippee! I have hope!

Look at those cute little leaves! This makes me very happy! :)

River City Roundup

Is anybody going to the parade this Saturday?
I LOVE River City Roundup!

For those of you not from around here, River City Round up is a big Rodeo/Horse riding/County Fair festival that happens every year. My favorite part is the parade that is downtown. I love seeing all the horses and big horned cattle clippity-clopping through the middle of the city. Such a cool contrast.

I found some pics from a few years ago on my computer and I'm excited to take some new ones this weekend. As you can tell, my favorite thing to photograph is people.
Giddy UP!!!

Check it out!

Check out the PureNRG website. My Aunt went to their website to check them out and saw that our blog was featured on their website. The girls LOVE PureNRG so they were quite excited about this. :)

PureNRG

I happened to come across an advertisement for the Fall Festival at a Benedictine School/Church in Omaha. PureNRG, a Christian Pop Group that my girls really like, was going to be there and it was FREE...so I decided to venture out with the kids since Kris was on call and couldn't leave the house and it was a BEAUTIFUL day and I just couldn't stand to be inside.

Do any of you remember when I posted about PureNRG about a year ago? They are a catchy, Hannah Montana-ish, pre-teen, bubble gum, bounce around, happy type group. Great for the 10 and under crowd. I must admit that I didn't mind listening to the CD over and over and over and I found myself singing along with several of the songs during the concert. Maybe I should be embarassed, but whatever. ;)

When we got there, they announced that the concert was postponed from 2:30 to 3pm...so we had some time to kill, so I payed a rediculous amount of $ for my kids to play games and win little prizes, but I convinced myself it was for a good cause and at least everyone was happy and I got be outside. Having all 5 kids happy in public is HUGE and I love those moments when everyone is smiling and having fun. Plus it was that PERFECT warm-yet-cool breezy weather and the sun was shining. Ahhhhhhh.
I wish every day could be like that.
Mia gave it 2 thumbs up. :)

See. Everyone waiting patiently in line to roll little
balls down a ramp into little holes.
I didn't understand the appeal, but again...
everyone was happy and that's KEY!

Then it was concert time. Again, a thumbs up from Mia.
There weren't a ton of people at the beginning, so the girls were very psyched that they got to be REALLY close to the stage and watch the PureNRG kids dance and jump and even flip all over the place. Those kids put on quite the energetic little show!

The girls loved every minute of the concert and I enjoyed standing back with Charlotte and Bazzy and taking pictures and quietly singing along. The speakers were so loud that I didn't dare get too close or poor Charly would probably have permanent hearing loss. L-O-U-D! I must be getting old. I used to LOVE loud! Of course I was never holding a baby at any of the concerts I used to go to. ;)

PureNRG did not put into concideration that
their concert was during nap time.
Bazzy sat with his new cool tiger sunglasses he won earlier at the games and tried not to fall asleep. He didn't smile. He didn't cry. He just stared straight ahead for a majority of the concert.
Aren't the glasses great though?

I did convince him ONCE to get up and dance for like 1/2 a second. Then he headed straight back to the stroller, put his glasses back on, and went back to staring blankly at the
PureNRG gang until they were finished.

I was very impressed with these kids and the message they gave about performing for Christ and wanting to spread the love of Jesus. I think it's great to have kids like this to influence our little ones. My girls really think they are COOL and I'm thankful for that.
They had a great song they sang called "Girls Can Change the World" and it was basically about young girls banning together instead of being gossipy and mean to each other.
I hope this is one that my girls will take to heart.

Their favorite part was getting to meet Caroline, Carolyne, and Jordan (Yes...there ARE 2 Caroli/ynes)
and getting their autograph on a poster and their new CD.
Notice Bazzy DID have to be in the picture.
Suddenly he was their biggest fan. LOL! :)

The new CD is really good and the kids are already
singing along to it in the car after 2 days.
I love that they redid Nicolle C. Mullins' "When I Call On Jesus."
Such a beautiful song!

I was walking away with the kids after meeting the group when I realized my dear little Mia was missing. She decided to run BACK to the group and show them the kite she had won while playing the games. They were CRACKING UP when I got to the table and the one Caroline said "she is TOO cute" in her little southern Tennessee accent. Mia said "I HAD to show them my kite!" Like they truly should care about the kite she just won. Only Mia. :)

*They ended their concert by saying "we want all the Mom's and Dad's to come up the stage because we're going to sing one of our favorite songs that was written BEFORE WE WERE EVEN BORN." The song was Footloose, which I LOVE, but wow did that suddenly make me feel old. Anyways, here's the video in case you have the burning desire to see what this cute little group looks like, or if you have daughters like I do that just like to watch the video. ;)

Pinches and Zoo Class

Poor Bazzy had his 3 year check up today,
which I was pretty sure was going to involve shots.
He was oblivious to this possibility before the appointment and he was very excited to see "Dr. Mike" who we all love so much.

He was NOT impressed with the oversized Bugs Bunny gown that was WAY too big for him, and he repeated "I take this off now?" about 500 times before the appointment was over.
I'm not a big Bugs Bunny fan either Baz. I get it.

He passed the check up with flying colors and is finally into the whopping 20th percentile for height and weight.
Much better than 12th. :)

Then the time came for the shot. He only needed to do the flu mist and get one shot. Flu mist went great and then the nurse pinned his little legs down and told him he would feel a PINCH and he was so shocked that he kind of glared at the nurse with a "what the?" look on his face and it was over.

He wanted to show me his bandaid when we got home.
As you can see from his face, he was not
too pleased with this part of the appointment.
He kept repeating to me "I got a shot. I got pinched."
for the rest of the day.
Poor little buddy.

Fortunately it was also Zoo Class day which Bazzy LOVES, so that helped to bring a smile back to his little face. We walked around for a bit before it started and I was really wishing Mia could have been there because "her" Okapi was right by the fence today and she would have been THRILLED. I took this picture just for her.

Bazzy insisted we go see the "Nemo's" in the aquarium and he wanted me to take a picture of him in the bubble by the penguins. I love his squinty CHEESE pictures he always wants me to take lately. He knows my phone will take pictures now, so I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of these grainy phone pictures on here. :)

Sweet little Charlotte just came along for the ride today.
She was very mellow and loved being outside
in the beautiful fall weather at the zoo.
Minus the PINCH, today was a beautiful super fun day!

Aarrrrrrr

Happy TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!! :)
One of our favorite obscure Holidays
here in the VZ household!
It's also our friend Todd's Birthday,
so here's a pirate-y message for you....

"Ahoy and Happy Birthday Todd!
Wish we could meet you for
some Grog Matey! Aaaaarrrr!"

...OK, that was bad, but Happy Birthday Friend! :)

Have fun talking like a pirate everyone!

Artists For Hope

OK- this is an idea I've had for quite awhile. It scares me a little bit to bring this up...because I'm not exactly sure how/what to do to begin, but God keeps nudging me and I'm finally taking the step to put this out there.

I want to start a blog/website where artists/crafty people can donate and sell their items to bring hope to needy children. There are two organizations that I've been following and supporting for quite awhile. I became aware of both these places while researching adoption and trying to decide what country to begin our adoption process in. We obviously decided that God was leading us to Guatemala, but we began with Haiti and China on our lists also. I still have both of these places deeply in my heart and I've been trying to come up with ways to support The Rescue Center in Haiti and Love Without Boundaries. Both of these places do UNBELIEVABLE things to help children who are either severely malnourished (be prepared to see some very SAD things on the HRC website) or children who need lifesaving surgery. I think it's hard for us Americans to realize how difficult life is in countries that don't have the resources to provide the things we take for granted here. If a family in Haiti doesn't have the money to eat, they don't eat. If an orphan in rural China needs heart surgery but the orphanage doesn't have funding for the surgery, the baby dies. There isn't insurance or government aid to provide these things and for children in these situations it is difficult to have hope. That is so tragic and I'm hoping maybe this can make some sort of a difference for some of these children.

I'm hoping you guys can help spread the word about this to people you know that are artists or who create and sell something. It can be paintings, ceramics, blankets, baby bibs, clothing, jewelry, toys.....you get the idea.

Here's how it would work. A person decides they want to donate an item. I would feature that person and their creation on the Artists For Hope blog and then sell the item on our Etsy site. I would give lots of information about the artist and what they make on the blog, so that it will hopefully be beneficial to them also if they are trying to get their name "out there" or if they have a site where they are selling things as a source of personal income. All profits would go directly to the most urgent needs for either organization. Sometimes there are extremely urgent surgeries that need to take place for a child to survive in China, and right now there is TERRIBLE destruction because of the hurricanes in Haiti. So you get the idea. I would love to add other Organizations as time goes on...but this is a starting point.

I'm hoping to get a few items on the site so I can start to share it with some of the adoption forums I have been on and so other people who have blogs can put it out there too. So it might be very beneficial to the first few people featured if you want to use that as a selling point to the artsy people that you know. ;)

If you have any input on how to make this work or if you know anyone who might be interested in donating, I'm hoping to get things up and running in the next month so that hopefully people will shop for Christmas at the Etsy Site.

OK, so now it's out there. Please let me know what you think and I'd love to hear your ideas! :)

SMILE- by Sofia

This is what happens when you leave a 7 year old alone to cut grapes
for the fruit pizza you are making for Mom's Group. :)

THE Toucan

This photograph was the inspiration for the botlle cap mosaic I am working on. I wanted to try something very colorful and since I love animals and love Guatemala, this beautiful creature seemed like the perfect choice.

I took this picture in the jungle in Tikal Guatemala. What an amazing place. I was very thankful that we got to see so many Toucans, because our guide said they are often hard to find. I was also thankful we DIDN'T come across any hungry Jaguars! It was a little nerve wrecking to be in the middle of a jungle with creatures that could literally eat you! Still worth it though. ;)

Thanks to those of you who have been able to track down some bottle caps for me. I totally appreciate it!!! My hubby got me a big cup full of green ones (Mythos) at the Greek Festival, so slowly but surely my little creation is coming to life.

The Toucan will probably be a part of our "Extreme Makeover Guest Bathroom" project that will take place sometime after we finally sell our old house. I already have ideas for a few more mosaics though, including what I hope will be a huge Chinese Dragon. I never seem to have enough hours in my day for all my projects. The 5 kids might have something to do with that though. maybe.

Giddy UP

Our church has the most amazing fun way to begin our Wednesday Night Live program every year. They have this huge party with blow up bouncy castles, cotton candy, games, and my kids favorite....PONIES!!!
I took these with my iphone, so they're a little blurry
cuz I must be incapable of standing still while using it.

They LOVE pony rides and we waited in a very long line for the chance to ride on these adorable ponies. Isn't flower (and Sofia) cute?

Even Bazzy was brave enough to ride this year. He won't get any where NEAR a bouncy castle, but he was ALL about the ponies.
What a little cowboy!

Katryna loved her pony and I know secretly
she wished she could take him home.
With 5 kids and 3 dogs and 2 rats,
I'm not sure we have room for a pony too.

Mia gave her pony a BIG hug when it was time to say goodbye and then we off to find cotton candy (man I love cotton candy!)

This was my attempt to take a picture of
Bazzy and me on the choo choo train.
We'll call it "artsy".

It was such a fun night and I was SO happy to
be back to experience it this year again. :)

A Flower For Papa

Hey Papa, it's Charlotte. I wanted to send you this pretty flower over the internet because we were all thinking about you SO much today. I know you had another treatment today and I hope this one went MUCH better than the last one!

I wish I could give this to you in person,
but this will have to do for now.

Mommy got these pretty flowers from Daddy,
but she wanted this one to be especially for you.

She even let me hold it since I'm getting so big.

I really liked this and it made me smile.

It did try to attack me once... but I'm OK.

Sebastian wanted me to tell you that he loves you SO much
and he hopes your "hurt" is better.

I love you Papa and I hope you like your flower.

We're all praying for you and we'll talk to you soon!