MAGGIE HOLMES Photography and Scrapbooking Blog

Look Who's Here

It's Nan!

We are so happy to have my mom here this week! Brian and I are going to Hawaii with some friends so my mom came to stay with the boys!! She came in early so that we could spend some time together before we go and it has been so great to have her here!

We have done a little shopping but mostly we have just been hanging out and enjoying the time we have together. The boys absolutely love having her here - she reads to them, watches Tyler play his Play Station games, helps them with their homework and projects, helps them put their puzzles together. And Nathan just loves having someone else to show off for. He walks around like he is the king of the house - thinks he is so smart and big and so grown-up!! It's cute!

Thanks for coming Nan!! We love you!

Matthew's Hair Cut

So, here are the promised photos of the hair cut that Matthew gave himself a couple of weeks ago.

First of all, if you need an explanation of Matthew and his personality and his tendency to do mischevious things, I refer you to the "Naughty Newt" post from last year.

We tucked Matthew in one night and thought that he was sound asleep when really he was giving himself barber lessons.

I went up to go to bed and I saw a big towel wadded up on the floor of our bathroom. I opened up the towel and inside it were the clippers that we use to cut our boys' hair and a bunch of light brown hair that looked to be about the length and texture of Matthew's hair.

I went right to Matthew's bedroom and he was laying in bed acting like nothing had happened. I pulled him out of bed and this is what I saw:

I was sick to my stomach especially because I was trying to grow his hair out a little bit and it was just getting to the point that I liked it, and his hair takes forever to grow!!

But, honestly, I wasn't surprised. Matthew has been doing things like this for as long as I can remember. He really is not a bad-natured boy, he is just mischevious and busy. He has to being doing things all the time and if I don't have him occupied doing something productive or good, he will find something not-so-good to do. And it's not that he is trying to do something harmful. He just figures that he has seen us cut his hair with the clippers 100 times so he might as well try it too. And you are probably wondering why the clippers were out but they weren't. They were put away - far away - where we thought little boys couldn't get to them. But, you see, Naughty Newts seem to find a way to get their hands on things, no matter how tucked away they are!!

We love and adore our little Matthew and he definitely keeps us on our toes! In fact I put a little table and chairs in my scrap room just last week so that I could give him "projects" to do while I am in here working on things. That way he is busy coloring or doing something good and I can keep my eye on him! It has been working out really well!

The Naughty Newt lives on!!

Matthew

I just wanted to share my new favorite photo of Matthew.

As you probably know, Matthew is our most energetic, most animated, on-the-go kid and he is usually pulling the huge "cheese" grin from ear to ear when I try to take his photo. So, I just love it when I actually get a shot like this of him - relaxing for just a second, taking a breather and killing me with those amazing eyes of his.

This one has already been printed and is going in a frame tomorrow! I love this little guy!!

Oh, and if you can tell that he has no hair, (I cropped most of it out) it is because he took the liberty of getting the clippers out and buzzing his own hair the other night when we thought he was asleep in his bed!! I do have photos of that to share but just haven't resized them yet. Check back for more on that one! lol!!

And, I also wanted to say a huge thanks to all of you for your sweet comments about my house and the mirrors! It is so fun to share things like that with all of you and you all really make my day when I get your comments!!!!!!! Thanks!!

9 Round Mirrors

Our house is a 2-story but on the main level we have a family room with vaulted ceilings that go all the way up to the top of the house. It feels really spacious and open, which I love because we spend a lot of time in there....
But it also means that we have had this huge empty wall above our couch and it has been on my mind ever since we wrote our offer. I have been thinking about all kinds of different things I could do and have been trying to decide what would look best. I knew that if I tried to put any kind of artwork up there it would have to be BIG or it would just look tiny compared to the wall.
Well, I bought this awesome round mirror at IKEA when we first moved in and I have had it hanging in the hallway. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was still thinking about the wall, and I thought it would look cool to hang 9 of those round mirrors up there in a big square!
So, I took Nathan with me back to IKEA (while the other two were in school) and I loaded my cart with 8 more round mirrors!! I admit, some people were looking at me kind of strangely and one lady actually asked me what I was planning to do with all those mirrors. I think people were a little surprised when I just kept getting more and more mirrors! But, the bonus is that IKEA has such great prices and it ended up being a lot less expensive than some other things I had looked at!!
So, I brought the mirrors all home and I admit that they all just sat in the family room for at least a week until I actually hung them. I kept wanting to do it with Brian because I knew it would be easier with two of us, but honestly we just never found the time. Then one day while he was at work I got the sudden urge to just do it so I borrowed a ladder from a neighbor and went to work! It was a pain but when I get the energy to do something like that, I typically just go for it whether I have help or not.
I hung the bottom center one first, decided on what I wanted the spacing to be and then went to town! 9 mirrors later I ended up with this:


I am so happy with it! It really just made that whole room come together and it looks so dramatic. That room is open to the whole main floor - the kitchen and the dining area so you can see it from everywhere. I also love how the light bounces off the mirrors and it makes the room feel even more open and bright!
So, anyway, that is the story of 9 round mirrors - if you actually took the time to read all of that! lol!

And, I just realized that there is actually a part 2 to this story. When I took the one mirror out of my hallway, I was left with another empty spot so I had to come up with something to go there.... you'll have to wait to find out about that because my kids are calling, but I will say that there are more circles involved!!

(I also have to say that the walls in these photos look kind of pink for some reason and they are really not that color!! They are more of a tan with a little grey to them. Don't know why they look pink??)

Self Explanatory......

I
Love
You
Mom!!!

New Challenge and Contest!

I did the challenge over on the MM Blog this week.

I really had fun with this one so be sure to check it out!

Plus, there is a prize involved!!

Everyone who does the challenge and uploads their layout to the MM gallery will have a chance to win some of the NEW MM SUMMER PRODUCTS! We will put all of your names in a bowl and draw one lucky person to receive the products!

So, head on over there and get scrapping!! I can't wait to see what you all do!!

Hugs!

School Starts and Scrapbook Layouts

Tyler started school last week - July 24th. We have him enrolled in the Kindersteps - Pre K program through the school district. He goes for half the day every day - just like Kindergarten. This is really his first experience in a "typical" learning environment because he was in the Carmen Pingree School for Autism the last 2 years in Utah. Although we are a little nervous because we are so protective of him, we feel that he is ready and that this is the best thing for him.
I was so excited for him and a little sad at the same time because he is growing up so quickly. He is getting so big and so independent. He just marched right up to the school and got in line with all of the other kids. He was so proud of himself and so excited!
His teacher, Mrs. Heuter, is so sweet and nice and Tyler really likes her. He had a great first week and she said that he is doing perfect!!
The first day we asked Tyler if he had made any friends and he said he didn't know their names. Then by the third day he told me that he has 22 friends and he listed off a bunch of them - Wade, Taylor, Zach, Chase, Cameron. We are so happy to see him loving it and adjusting so quickly and that he seems to be fitting right in!!
It is amazing how observant he is of all the little details around him. He can come home to me and tell me with exactness what his teacher said - "The beautiful girls had to walk to the blue bucket and put their backpacks in and then the handsome boys had to march to the green bucket and put their backpacks in." He will tell me what story they read and the songs they sang and he can almost recite them word for word! That part of his autism is really fascinating!
I love how much he is communicating and how much he tells us each day. It is so great to see the interaction and the two-way conversation skills that he has developed compared to where he was just a couple of years ago! The third day after school he got in and said "Mom, a friend of mine..." and then he proceeded to tell me a story about something his little friend did. He is so grown up and so sweet! We have always worried about him having friends and him having good social skills so it was such a relief to already hear him talking about his "friends."
I did this layout yesterday of the pictures I took of him on his first day. His favorite color is red and he picked out this new shirt to wear! I love the first picture of him on the left where you can see his little hands holding onto his backpack! So cute!!

I also did this layout yesterday of Nathan crawling up the stairs. The pictures aren't the greatest cause he was moving so quickly but I just had to scrapbook them! He is growing up so fast too! He has been going up the stairs for a long time now but still can't really go down. We have tried to teach him 100 times but he just doesn't want to do it.
The journaling says:
climb, stop, turn around, wave, climb some more, stop and wave, giggle, climb to the top, sit down, cry... cause you can't get back down
He is such a funny little guy!!
I picked up some of the new Scenic Route paper yesterday at Scrapbooks Etc. and was so excited to use it! I love all of it!!