some cool sites

I was surfing and came across these really very amazingly cool sites. your imagination is the limit here.

1. http://tiltshiftmaker.com/


Isn't that so cute! You can take any picture and make it look miniature. Love it! I tried it some of my pictures but i don't have any that work well with they system. You really need one like the example above. How much does it cost?? FREE

2. Recycle art
What a great idea for a kitchen. I tried something like this with my laundry room but it's one of those projects that live in my head, maybe someday you'll see it here. You should click on this link so you can get a better picture of what it is. How much does it cost?? FREE

3. Rastercize a photo
Ok, so if you go to this site you'll see that it this process is called 'rasterbation'. I'll say it right now, I don't want to hear it. I know they could have named this a million other things and why they chose this, I'll never know. I'm thinking it involved a late night, beer, and some guys who thought this would be so funny. Regardless, the photo rasterbation is pretty cool. Basically, you upload a picture and they 'rastercize' it (basically, make the photo into a ton of dots) and you print it out in 8 1/2"X11" sheets and put them back together like a puzzle. Check it out for yourself. How much does it cost?? FREE

4. Water color from a photo



I don't have a good website that has both a before/after picture and instructions but you get the idea. It's definitely worth getting a cheap Polaroid camera at Goodwill though. Basically, you take a picture with the Polaroid camera and while it's developing you take something hard and rub little circles into it. Once it becomes fully developed, it appears to be a watercolor. You can then make a color copy of it to the size you want to frame. I've seen one that my friend did and she did it of her first home. How much does it cost?? FREE (if you have the camera and film)

Well, that is all for now.

Have a good day and I'll see ya next time!

I have very bad blog etiquette!! A hundred apologies go out to Ashley at lil blue boo! Let it be known that she is the brains behind idea #1, #2, #3 and photos #1 and 2. She has an AWESOME site with lots of fun ideas for you DIY crafters!! Thanks Ashley!

maya's concert

Last day of school!

I guess I can't deny it any longer. I have 2 kids in junior high now. That makes me sound old.

Jacob will be in 8th grade. I remember my 8th grade year. It was one of my favorites because I went to school with the same group of kids (pretty much, anyway) since 1st grade. We only had one 1st grade class, one 2nd grade class, one 3rd grade class... etc. My kids are growing up going to a school that has 4 4th grade classes, 4 5th grade classes... You get the idea. They are still tight with the kids in their class but not like I was when I was their age. Here is a picture of my 8th grade class. I remember we had to FIGHT to get a dance that year. We had one and it was so fun!



I have no pictures of Jake because he goes to junior high now. He takes the bus to and from school and he's kinda on his own over there. I never met all of his teachers! So weird to me! He got to go to Wild Waves with his class for the last day of school. I tease him because it cost me $25 and did he go on any of the rides? No. Did he go on any of the water slides? No. All he did was walk around, talk to his friends and go in the wave pool. That cost me $25!!!! (Plus extra for food!!!)!!! Brat!

Molly's last day of school was a little more exciting. I had planned for all eleven girls in her class to get to ride a limo. It would pick them up after school and drive them around and be back by 1:30. Well it was supposed to be a surprise but these are tween GIRLS and they can't keep their mouths shut! So pretty soon, everyone knew. A couple of them asked me a few days before, "Mrs. Picinich, what time is the limo coming?". I told them, "Look, I'll be honest with you. We had planned that but since there were so many girls who couldn't make it, we decided to cancel it. Sorry girls, I know you were looking forward to it". I left it at that, knowing they'd go and blab to all the others what I had said.

So when the time came for me to meet the girls at school and let them know what was really going on, I had a little extra something for them up my sleeve.

Their teacher dismissed the boys from the class and I was left with all of the girls. They were all so excited to get to ride on a limo, you could just see it in all of their little faces. I had everyone hand me their report cards (now they couldn't leave) and I told them another (white) lie. "I know you all think you know what is going on but I need to tell you that you have no idea. The original plan was to let you girls ride in a limo for a special treat. Since you guys read notes that were not intended for you to read (the permission forms) and had to tell all the other girls all about it that's not happening anymore. Instead of the limo ride you girls are volunteering your next two hours to helping the teacher's clean out their classrooms."

They were sooooo mad!! A couple of girls tried to leave but couldn't because I had their report cards. Another girl just started to cry. No, I did not feel bad at all!!! Of course, Molly knew I was lying but didn't say a word.

Then we all went outside and they saw that I was lying and they all got so excited.




And here are some pictures of Maya and Macey's last day of school. Next year they will be 5th and 2nd graders. Wow!
These are all the girls in the neighborhood that walk to school together. No boys!!

This one is for Deanna. When she went trick or treating with us she loved the fact that there were so many kids running around the neighborhoods, like you see in the movies. That is how it is every day on the way to and from school.


Mrs. Sonovich and Maya. Her husband teaches 5th grade. I requested him for Maya... we'll see what happens!
Maya and her buddy Jessica.
Lexi and Molly. Best buds.

Her dad, embarrassing her.
Molly shaking the principal's hand.
Getting her certificate from her teacher.
Mrs. Shepherd and Molly
I can't find Macey's picture with her teacher so I put in her school photo.


Congrats to all of you!! Jake, Molly, Maya and Macey all got AMAZING report cards! I am sooooooo proud of all of you!!

One crazy weekend

Jason and I are the kind of people that don't make or stick to plans all that well. We have great ideas but either lack time, money, motivation or good planning. We did not want that to happen on this beautifully sunny, long weekend! So we threw around ideas like Friday Harbor, Westport, Pike Place Market, Snoqualmie Falls.
Jason had to work on Saturday so the kids and I (and Laura and two of her kids) drove up to Westport. I always forget how windy it is there so we were cold but the kids got busy playing and forgot all about it.a> Isn't this a cool fort! There were a few of them on the beach. the kids had a good time trying to add on to it.

From left to right... Molly, Maya, Macey, Teagan, Tristan, Jacob

We got home pretty late after visiting with my Aunt and my Uncle and going to get something to eat so we got a late start the next day. We woke up and picked up jacob from Laura's house and drove into W. Seattle. Our plan was to drive down to the beach and catch the water Taxi to Seattle. After driving around and looking for a parking spot for a very long time we finally found one. It was right next to where the Water Taxi comes. Well... if you remember, we are not good planners. I realized (as Jason was putting the car in 'park') that I had forgotten my purse at his parent's house. So, we decided to just drive over. Turned out to be a much less expensive way to go. We paid $5 for parking, the water Taxi would have been $3 each!

After living in Seattle my entire life, I have never bought a fish from the flying market so Sunday was the day for that. Here is our dinner, flying through the air. From where I was standing it got all the fish gunk on me. Yummy.

Here's the flowers I picked up. Aren't they so pretty!

Here's Molly and Edward. It really is him. I now he looks like one of those livesize cardboard people, but not this time. he's real. Don't mind that silly $29.99 ticket on him. He must have just purchased that shirt and forgot to take the tag off. Silly Edward!

Monday we got an even later start. The Strauss family invited us over for a bar-b-que. We had so much fun! Their kids are a blast! no pictures from this event. I was just enjoying myself!

I hope your Memorial Day weekend was wonderful. I did take the time to remember those I've loved who are no longer with us. Tim, Gloria, Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle. Thank God for everyone who has served our country!!! Thank you!

Dear Mama and Papa

Hi mama and papa

Daisy here, I'm having so much fun. I can't believe you guys don't go away every weekend and leave me with my Auntie and my cousins. I didn't realize how popular I was.

Today we had a good time and the sun was out! My cousins, Macey and Maya, had baseball games so we spent most of the day at the fields.

Maya got the game ball. They said she did a great job as catcher. Whatever that means.

Here's Maya up to bat. Auntie Michelle kept telling me to keep my fingers out of the fence. Why did they put a fence there if they didn't want me to put my fingers through it???
And Macey up to bat here. I think I better get these girls' signature now before they make it to the bigs.
Later, when we got home, I took a bath and a nap. I was talking to myself a lot in my crib so Auntie had to come in and tell me to be quiet and go to sleep. I was having a good conversation too. But when I woke up I got to go play outside with my cousin Macey.
Here's me and Macey.
Oh, here I am at my cousin's game. While I was playing at the park with Molly and Macey I pooped. Not just any poop. I got it all over back and clothes. It felt good to get it all out but I was not happy about getting it changed because the sun was in my eyes. She was quick though, it's like she's done it before or something.
During Macey's game I got to hang out with Molly, Maya and their friends. They were very nice to me and kept telling me how cute I was. I kept telling them that I hear that a lot.
Ok, here I am back at home again. I think I'm going to grow up to play baseball. This thing fits me great!
While I was playing, Nemo got grass on it. So I had to shake it out. I took care of it.
I did a lot of running around and pretending to be an airplane.
All that running makes for two dirty feet. I took care of that too.
Macey picked me a flower.
See, I'm having fun!!
Oh, some people are saying that I look like Macey, what do you think?
Well, that's all for now. Auntie Michelle says that you two are on a DATE. I'm not exactly sure what that is but Auntie tells me I won't be allowed to go on any until I'm 35. That is fine with me, I'm having more fun here. I'm sorry you're missing out on all the fun on your boring old 'date'. XOXOXOXO
Daisy

6th grade camp!

Jason and I have an agreement that he got to do 6th grade camp with Jake and I get to go with the girls. After going with Molly last week I really wish I got to go with Jake too! We had such an awesome time!
Camp Arnold has a TON of fun things for the kids to do and our schedule was jam packed FULL of them. Another part I really appreciated was the fact that they let us parents join in on the fun.
We started off with the rock wall. Molly just scooted right up there like a little spider. It was a little intimidating for me, but how can I stop halfway through with a bunch of 12 year old kids watching me? I'm glad I made it to the top.

The absolute scariest thing I did was the Giant Swing. I watched all the other kids being pulled up 30 feet in the air and then letting themselves go, swinging back and forth. 30 feet is way up there. Plus it was just pouring rain at this point. Fearless Molly that she is, had no problem (while my heart was beating a hundred times faster than usual just watching her). But I did it, and I was happy to have my feet on the ground. I think the hardest part was climbing the ladder to get strapped in!

The zip line I was ready for. Again, the hardest part was climbing the tree to get to the platform. I wish the platform was longer so I could get a running start. That was so funnnn!!

We also did some team building exercises. The kids had to figure out how to get the whole class on this 'deck' of wood at the same time while keeping it balanced and keeping the edges off of the ground. The other team building exercise was to get everyone from one end of these criss-crossed wires to the other end. First they had to get everyone on at the same time, then the ones who had made it all the way across had to get down and help the last ones across. Both of these activities started out with arguing and pointing fingers. They quickly learned that this was not helping and that they needed a plan. They chose a leader and everyone else got quiet while that leader told them where to shift their weight or what to do to accomplish the task. They were able to get both assignments done fantastically!

I was so proud of the kids on the nature trail too. Most of the other classes came back saying how boring it was. But our class loved it. Nature is amazing. We saw a snake, beaver dams (which we were not allowed to call 'dams', we had to call them 'lodges' but I thought that was dumb so I kept calling them dams. Sorry, I'm a rebel at times), evidence of wildlife, wildflowers... I think some of the kids understood that we just don't see these things every day around here so they appreciated it.

Molly got to do some archery too. I didn't get any pictures of this because I was taking my turn on the zip line at this point.

I have to say that I was a bit worried about spending 3 days in a tiny cabin with 11 twelve year olds, girls can be so cruel to each other. They were great though. We had a toilet paper fashion show, shared one tiny bathroom with no arguments, slept fairly decent and cleaned up afterwards wonderfully.

I don't have a 6th grader next year but I want to go again anyway!

Maya's party

Maya had her 10th birthday party yesterday. We took Grandma Eileen, Maya, Macey and 5 other girls to see Kent Ridge's performance of High School Musical. My niece, Avery, played the part of Taylor. She got to sing too and she really did a fantastic job! I'm so proud of her.

The girls were pretty excited about seeing this musical. Kent Ridge has a large amount of kids who are involved in the performances so they use the whole auditorium as their stage. So there is singing and action going on all around you. After the performance, the girls took their autograph books around and had the cast sign their books. Avery also got the whole cast (and everyone else in the lobby) to sing Happy Birthday to Maya. She loved it!!

If you are looking for something a little different to do for a birthday party, I really recommend going to your local high school's drama program and see what shows they're doing. And don't forget to let them know that you'll be there as a birthday party. They may be able to do something special for you. Macey has already asked to go back for her birthday party. All of the girls had such a blast!