Can I Say...

that I still hate math!! Sorry mom...but it still drives me bonkers!! I know my mom is cringing right now...she was a high school math teacher when I was going to school. I can remember endless nights of me sitting beside my mom, in tears, trying to figure out my math homework...getting so frustrated because she made it seem so easy and it was SO stinkin hard for me!! And now...after spending the last 2 1/2 hours working with Pumpkin on 7 pages of her grade 3 math homework (which...I found stuffed in her bag the night before it was due) I am having very realistic flashbacks...I hope that I am explaining this to her the right way. I hope that I'm not making it totally complicated for her. I hope that I'm at least making it a little easier to understand. But sometimes I can't help but get totally and utterly frustrated with her. I'd say about 2 weeks ago I almost lost it with rounding...I mean, really...rounding to the nearest tenth or hundredth? Doesn't sound too hard, does it? I mean the whole, if the number after is 5 or above, you round up...easy peasy!! Well let me just tell you...it is NOT easy peasy to someone who is just learning that. I can't tell you how many times I had to remind her of that rule...and then explain to her that she doesn't actually round up that number after...I mean, problem after problem I had to remind her!! And I became so frustrated that we had to take a break...I just couldn't understand how she couldn't remember that simple rule from one problem to the next. I thought that this would be one LONG year of math. (By the way...my mom thinks that we are being WAY too hard on her...this coming from the woman who drove me to tears almost every single night...I guess she's learned better...and from the looks of things, I haven't...yet). But then tonight...she was just breezing through the rounding...I was SO freaking proud of her!! I mean, my heart swelled...literally swelled!! She is so smart...she just rushes through things and has no confidence in herself...but then again, I can remember being in that position; with your mother sitting over you, wondering if you are writing down the right number...checking her face, desperately seeking that look of satisfaction, and hoping that it's not disappointment...I vividly recall that. And I have to remind myself that I hated being in that position...I don't know about everyone else, but for me it's so easy to fall into that role - the one my mom played; leaning over her shoulder, getting frustrated when she doesn't get it the hundredth time...and I have to take a step back and remind myself that being in her position sucks...and maybe, just maybe, she needs that hundred and oneth time to remember that stupid rule.

I love you so much Pumpkin!! You are so smart and you totally ROCK!! And don't you forget that!!

Anyway, you know that I can't let a post pass without something scrapping related being mentioned. So first of all...I wanted to inform the whole 2 people (if I'm lucky) who read this blog that ScrapMatters is starting up it's Daily Download again!! Beginning Oct 1, you can stop by the SM forums and download a piece of this amazing kit...for FREE!! Check out the ad below:

And, for all you thrill seekers...there's a Speed Scrap this weekend...you totally need to check it out!! It is SO much fun!!

And not only do you have tonnes of fun...but you get this amazing prize...just for finishing it!!

Aren't our designers just awesomely generous?!

And now on to my latest LOs. This first one has some pictures of my Pumpkin in a pumpkin patch 3 years ago when she was in kindergarten...I can't believe how young she looks. Wow...how quickly times flies!! I used Chelle's Creations Midnight Crow kit for this...love the colours in here!

And this next one is a pic of my kiddos with their friends. We took this at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...I totally love this picture...and I LOVE this LO!! I just loved using Britt-ish Designs "Fish Are Friends" kit...it worked perfectly!!

Anyway, that's all for now...I'm off to dream about rounding!!

Fabulous Collabs

Hey everyone...I know, I know...you can get up off the floor..it's really me popping in here before a month's end since my last post!! But I just had to pop in here and blog about some fabulous collaborations that I have had the amazing opportunity to work with before they were released to the public (man I love being on creative teams)!!

First off, let me show you a little sneaky peaky of Fei-fei's Stuff's collab with the one and only Liz from Paislee Press!!

Doesn't that just look amazing?! The colours are so me right now (I'm totally in love with greys and yellows), I just loved playing with this kit. And here is a LO I made with it...

You totally need to pick this one up!! Also, make sure you stop by Shaui's and Liz's blogs for a chance to win this beauty on Sept 17th!!

So, if that last collab wasn't enough...TaylorMade Designs also did a collaboration with Paislee Press!! And the result...was just a fabulous!!

Seriously...I have been in heaven these past 2 weeks working with these amazing collaborations with Paislee Press...have I mentioned that I TOTALLY LOVE Paislee Press?! Anyway, here is a LO I made with this beautiful kit

But not to worry...I have been hard at work with my ScrapMatters CT!! I'll just show you a couple of LO's I've done recently with the amazing kits found at ScrapMatters!!

I made this LO using Sahlin Studio's beautiful Blessed kit

Awwww...Aren't my little kiddos just amazingly sweet?! I love these pictures of them, they are all 1 day old here and wrapped up in their hospital blankets with the little knitted toques (for those of you who are unfortunate enough to not be from Canada...a toque is equivalent to a beanie) on their head.

Next I made this LO using Erica Zane's Underwater Escape

This is from our latest trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium...and yes, that is a Great White!! Isn't it totally amazing...and scary?! They recently acquired this little girl when she was accidently caught in Southern California. It isn't too often that a Great White is kept successfully in captivity, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium has this incredible knack for being able to do this and release them successfully as well. I was so excited, probably more so than the kiddos...but hopefully they will look back on this LO and remember that they were this close to a Great White and didn't get bitten!! ;)

So other than that...we've been caught up in the world of youth soccer!! And I would have posted some pics of my kiddos playing...but...my little Monkey was looking at my pics on my camera, and accidently deleted all of them. Now, I was upset...but actually, it didn't bother me too long. And for anyone who knows me at all....knows I love my pictures. But it really bothered Monkey...he was upstairs crying under his blanket. I went upstairs and told him it was alright, but he was convinced that he had erased all the pictures...including his baby pictures. Poor kiddo, thought that he had erased all the pictures that I had ever taken...bless his soul!! So anyway...I'll be back next week to post some pictures of this weekend's soccer games.