Steffy

Celebrating Aunt Steffy's birthday was so much fun. Doing anything with Patrick (Nathan's brother) and Stephanie is always a blast. I was seriously bummed when Ian ate some of the icing off of my cupcake when I wasn't looking, but we were all in such a festive mood, I let it slide.

Once the kids were off to bed, we had the smack-down of the decade (to date) playing these:

If you have a Wii, I highly recommend you invest in these games. Good times.

Yes, we are immature. Yes, we are much too competitive. But, we have a great time together, and I so LOVE that. We adore you, Aunt Steffy!



What's your favorite Wii game? Do you have a relative(s) who makes everything more fun?

Go Cowboys

Incredible game so far.

Stomp the Eagles. Make the playoffs. Do it for us, Romo.

What football team are YOU rooting for this season?

Miss Chatterbox

One of my favorite new techniques to spice up Yeeland is to scan scrapbooking paper into my computer, crop in Photoshop and upload it right here, just as I would a photo. I did it in the letter, above, and used the same paper to make a rudimentary frame, also above, scanned it in, cut out the center with the magic wand tool in Photoshop, and voila! Instant frame. Play around with scanning on your computer. It's fun!

Much to my delight, I stumbled upon this lovely blog today. Lisa handwrites her blog posts, and since she is a calligrapher, the result is beautiful. She inspired me to scan in the above note I wrote to Lilly, my little Chatterbox.

Speaking of inspiration, have you gotten your hands on Elizabeth Kartchner's latest book, 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges (thanks, mom!)? When I saw her layout using the Photoshop pen tool to show Avery chattering away, I immediately knew I had to do something similar with a Lilly photo. Thanks for another fun idea, Liz!

Paper: Love, Elsie--Betty Petticoat (don't you just adore the hand drawn look?). No, Elsie, we love YOU more. :)

Nathan and other BFFs

Two things:

1. Can he be more amazing? I ask Nathan to design me a new blog header. I tell him I'm thinking lollipop trees. He gives me lollipop, bubbly, wintry, berry, happy trees, with a Yeebird on top for good measure.

Uh huh. You know you're jealous.

2. Ladies: Fool-proof way to get your husband to buy you an iPod? Borrow his. Every. Single. Day. For two months. (not that I would do that, but I digress.)

Meet Frenchy, my Christmas present and new BFF, in all her hot-pink glory:

Music suggestions, please? High energy tunes are a must. Frenchy is hungry . . .

More White Stuff

It snowed again last night.

BIG flakes. The kind of flakes that stick to your eyelashes.

A snow for sledding down the front yard,

making snow angels,

burying your legs,

building a snow seat,


and getting little legs stuck.

Days like this, I'm glad I live in the Midwest. How's the weather in your neighborhood today?

2009: Year in Review

Dear Blog Reader,

In spite of the baking, painting, sewing, crafting, smiling and general merry-making you see on this blog, in some ways it was a tough year in Yeeland. In fact, I was ready to shoo away 2009 and let the fresh breeze that is 2010 blow through this house. Then I clicked through 12 months of precious, wonderful memories--memories seared into my mind and my computer's hard drive.

I was reminded: I am truly blessed. For this precious family of four--its closeness, its concrete foundation, our deep love and dependency on one other--I am thankful. Nothing the world throws at us can change that.

So bring it on, 2010. Bring on kindergarten for Ian, preschool for Lilly, the continuation of so much web and design learning and freelance opportunities for Nathan. What will 2010 hold for me? No idea. Am I ready? Probably not. But I will be.

Thank you for sharing all of these memories with me, sweet reader. Your presence means MUCH to me. Let's continue sharing life in 2010! And now . . . the Yeebird Year in Review:

Happy New Year!