horsey day

This is Larry. Megan's partner for the day.

I dropped her off at the stable this morning for her horse clinic. My boys were being good and sitting in the car playing game boys, so I was able to sit and watch the girls for awhile. They all sat on hay bales and got a lesson on the parts of all of the tack, and all of the grooming stuff. Girls and horses are so funny.

The instructor had their attention for all of 15 minutes. Then she asked, "How many of you just want to ride horses?" Then every hand when up.

I left Megan while she was grooming Larry, and then she was going to saddle him.

She is armed with sunscreen and sudafed (she's allergic to horses!! Of all things.) I think she is in for a great day. The weather couldn't be more perfect either.

Now I'm off to take the boys out to do something! :)

one little megan sitting in a tree.....

I have a song stuck in my head right now.

Rocky Mountain high.....

some of you know what I mean. In the meantime I promised a picture a day for somebody.

I know. Cryptic, but hey it's the internet.

Tomorrow Megan has an all day horse clinic where she is taking riding lessons. I talked to my mom last week and told her that it hit me while I was watching Megan trot around an arena.

I am the mom now.

It was just one of those moments that was like...... whooooosh! And you lose all sense of time. My mom used to spend a lot of time at Kyrene Stables (now gone. sad.) watching me during my lessons. Now the torch has been passed and I am standing outside the arena watching my girl.

We were both pretty excited to go to the tack store and buy her a riding helmet. I could stand in a tack store all day. The smells in there took me way back. Sometimes I miss my horsey days.

Tomorrow is a day that I would have loved, so I'm so excited for Megan. In the morning, they get assigned a horse for the day, and it will be total immersion in horse related stuff. She is stoked. :) details later!

you have to love technology.

How sad are we?

It is late.

Mike is upstairs paying bills, and I am downstairs on the opposite end of the house on my computer.

I need to ask him a question.

Do I get up, go upstairs and ask?

No. I try to instant message him. When that doesn't work, I call him from the house phone because I know that he'll have his cell phone right up there with him.

Lazy, lazy, lazy. But boy do I love technology!!! I wonder if someday I'll be able to close my eyes and just 'think' my question to him. :)

new bike!

Look at the new coolest little man on the street. - And boy is he fast!

Matthew got a new bike the other day. He was SO happy! (and by the looks of him, I think he felt like a pretty big kid.) I'm happy too because now it is so easy for us all to go on a bike ride together.

Tomorrow I told him that we would go for a long one around the neighborhood while Megan and Trevor are in school. :)

new pictures!

Some things just take your breath away. See that little girl? That is my baby girl almost 9 years ago.

Not too long ago I found a box that had a bunch of my old APS film canisters in them. Seriously, about 40 of them, some of which I had NO idea what was on them. I finally took them all to Costco to be put on disk so I can save the pictures on my computer with the rest of my photos.

It has been fun finding pictures that I thought were for sure lost. Like hospital pictures from Megan and Trevor, and a lot of newborn pictures. Look at me, all cool and stuff doing the sheet on the couch photo shoot! LOL! I hope that some of my baby photography skills have been sharpened since then, but remember these were the film days when you had NO idea what kind of picture you got.

I remember this day.... she was wiggly, which is partly why the sheet is so messed up. I don't think I realized that a 2 month old doesn't sit up by themselves yet. I tried to get pictures before she would fall over sideways. (There are a few of those!) and this is her in her blessing dress. Awwww.

Seeing these newborn pictures of Megan seriously put a lump in my throat. I had just been in bed with her talking to her about our day and playing with her bangs until she fell asleep. I wish there was a way back in 1998 to have been able to get a glimpse of the little girl she is now. Just to have been holding this little baby and know more about the person she is, her personality and everything. It has been fun learning and growing with all three of my babies, but that would still be pretty cool.

I am so excited to have these new pictures, and the chance to fix some of them with the technology of digital and photoshop. Some of my original photos have been scratched from 10+ moves, (and all of my page re-dos. Haha, just kidding Lisa!) or lighting was bad, or I didn't notice that an otherwise perfect picture has a basketball hoop pole sticking out of my child's head. :)

one more for the night

It is Survivor night... which means, scrap in front of the TV night... which also means scraplift night so I don't have to 'think' while I'm watching TV. This is becoming my tradition.

The design is a lift from ali, in some CK that I tore the page out of. The paper choices, and the family are all mine. ;)

rain!

AWESOME weather today! It has been storming on and off. (I swear, no more weather updates for the rest of the month!) And I mean like STORMING. Loud thunder, heavy rain, gray sky, the whole bit.

It started this morning when I was getting the kids ready for school. It was about 5 minutes until it was time to leave and I'm thinking, "What are we supposed to do???"

Arizonans may be a tough bunch when it comes to our summer heat, but when it gets below 40 we freeze to death, and when it rains we scatter like ants.

"Do they cancel school when it is like this?" I meant that seriously. I think I can only remember one other time when it was raining in the morning when it was time for school. What are we supposed to do? Will the kids melt in the rain?

Luckily, we had a reprieve during drop off time. Megan still insisted on using her polka dot umbrella even though nothing was happening when she got out of the car.

Now, there is some pretty fierce lightning going on out there. Loud thunder too. I know Trevor is at school right now, freaking out. He hates storms. He and I usually end up on the couch next to each other while Mike and the other two are rating the bass level of each rumble. Poor guy. I hope it lets up when it is time to pick them up or he will not be leaving his classroom until he is pried from his chair.

So.... I worked on a page today. Off and on since I have Jensen here today. I think it is funny though. I'm sure when I took this picture of Megan I never would have thought it would make it into a scrapbook, let alone blown up to its 8x10 glory. I love how when time passes, some photos end up meaning so much to you.

Here is the journaling:

(Yes, you have a diaper on your head.) This picture was taken before a bath. I realized though, when I came across this picture that it is one of the only ones that shows one of my favorite things about you. Your sideways heart shaped birthmark.

I absolutely love this about you. I have a story behind this theory. Before you were born, I was pregnant with another little baby that ended in a miscarriage. I would like to think that you knew this big brother or sister up in heaven, and that he or she was a special angel to you. One that helped you to get to me, and when it was your time to come, you were kissed by this angel. This little heart is a constant reminder of how special you are, how far you have come, and that someday we will all be together in heaven again.

Megan loves this story, so I'm glad I got it down somewhere. And yeah, it's a little mushy but thats ok.

OK. Bright light. Loud noise. I'm going to boogie. I can't even see my neighbor's house behind me because it is raining so hard! Yesssssss!

wednesday

Nothing new going on today, but I had to comment on our incredible weather. I know, I seem to focus a lot on the weather. I'm a geek. But on a day like today you can't help but NOT say anything about it. Today is one of those days that just makes you love living in Arizona.

The sky is so blue, and has big huge puffy white clouds. The trees are finally all green after a horrible frost over the winter and seeing nothing but a weird shade of brown everywhere, so there is so much color out there, along with everybody's newly planted flowers. The breeze is great, and right now I have the doors and windows open, and every now and then I go out into the atrium to remember exactly why it is I wanted this particular house.

Busy day with some errands and stuff, but it has been so pretty outside they hardly seem like things that NEED TO BE DONE.

I hate to sound pessimistic, but days like this seem short and far between. I know that summer is coming, and for right now, it couldn't be any more perfect!

Back to work!

tuesday

OK, well.... this picture really has NOTHING to do with my entry today, but I thought it was pretty. :)

Today was going to be a hectic day. I was supposed to watch my friend's baby, possibly have Activity Day after school today in which I was TOTALLY not prepared for, Mike is out of town, and I thought for sure I was going to be a mess by the end of the day because of my mental to do list.

There was a mix up of who was watching the baby this morning, so he ended up at the other woman's house who watches him. It worked out fine and I'll have him tomorrow instead. Not that he is difficult, he's really easy. But it did make it easier for me to head out and do some errands this morning with just Matthew. (Who doesn't have preschool anymore since his teacher moved during spring break.)

We stopped at Sonic to get a snack and he asked if we could sit outside and eat today. Usually something I try to avoid since we are always in a hurry, the weather isn't good, or something. (OK, I'll be honest... Matthew doesn't sit still, so it is no fun) But today.... why not? He was happy to hear me say yes. So we sat outside and had lunch together. After the yucky heat last week, today is GORGEOUS. It is overcast, chance of some rain, breezy and probably in the mid 70's. Perfection.

The only thing that made our picnic that much better was sitting there watching the construction trucks doing their jobs on the main road that is in front of Sonic. Matthew was amazed the entire time while he watched the 'digger' pick up huge pieces of concrete and drop them into the back of a semi. Each time the big chunks would fall it made this loud noise and you could see the trailer on the truck shake. Every time he would say, "Whoa! That was COOL!"

That is when I realized that was the perfect lunch, and the perfect day. I couldn't ask for anything more. I had more fun watching Matthew enjoy the trucks and being a little boy. Oh, and my deep fried mozzerella sticks and diet dr. pepper were pretty dang good too. ;)

little dragons, crouching megan.

After a little dinner therapy at Chili's I am feeling much more mellow than I was this afternoon. I still never made it to the beach in Mexico though. ;)

Tonight the kids had karate. This was the second lesson, and the first time that Megan was separated from the boys. She was too big and learning too quickly to be put with the little guys.

The boys did great during their class, and I still love to see the look they get on their faces when the instructor tells them that they have to kick each other. ---Mom tells us not too, but once we put on these sparring gloves and hold big pads we are allowed to? Pretty cool. ;)

Megan's class was hysterical tonight. They put her in with three other boys who are in the gold belt class. (I think it is the next level up from white, not sure.) Anyway... one boy in the class kept flinching when Megan came near him. She was doing everything the instructor was telling her to do, but apparently she freaked him out. At one point, he even said, "She kicked me!!!!" I felt bad. I couldn't help but laugh. This kid's face was so funny when he got paired up with Megan a couple of times.

After the lesson the instructor came up to us and said, "That girl is tough. She is going to be wicked someday if she decided to keep up with karate."

That is my dream. Have a teenage girl that all teenage boys are afraid to ask out for fear of her being able to give them a roundhouse kick when she gets mad!

I loooooooove spring break. Can you hear the sarcasm?

If I was a drinking person, today would be one of those days that I would get snokered. Seriously.

Mike had left early this morning to head to the airport. Then the doorbell rings at 7:45. It is my friend's husband dropping off their baby that I am watching today. I had set the alarm last night, but I am wondering if the cat stepped on the alarm clock and turned it off. She has done this before, and when I shot out of bed she was sitting on the side table mocking me. She probably does this on purpose.

Then the appraiser dude gets here 45 minutes early to check out the house. All fine and good, but still a little stressful since I had JUST gotten out of the shower in time to answer the door with dripping wet hair. I'm a person who appreciates getting places early, but not when I stink. My shower is priority! ;)

Apparently I am also the go to girl today. Another friend calls and has an emergency with her 8 year old daughter. So she asked if I could watch her three boys, ages 4 - 10. No problem really because her younger boy and Matthew are the same age and play together nicely outside on the swingset. The older two boys and Trevor are into Pokemon and played with trading cards and Nintendo. They were the easy ones.

But during this time, the doorbell rings. FedEx man. Why do the FedEx, UPS and postal people ring the doorbell about 5 times??? Resulting in my dog barking like crazy, and all three of my kids running to the door to see who it is? It is always a commotion.

The phone keeps ringing. Apparently Limited Too and Justice are both having 'like totally great sales!' this week that I cannot miss out on! The person leaving the messages sounds like cheerleader Barbie.

It is one of those days that reminds me of the Calgon commercials, and I keep thinking of that big old margarita that Beth had that we kept kidding her was the size of her head. Mmm mmm. Yes, that sounds good right about now. If I time it right, I could head to Mexico and be sitting on the beach sipping on one of these by sunset! Anybody want to join me?

little man

Here is my little man. The man with many new nicknames.

Matthew Scissorhands

Sinead O' Matthew

Charlie Brown

Matthew Daughtry (after Chris)

buzz boy.

Honestly, in this picture it doesn't look as bad as it really does in real life. When the sun is hitting him he looks totally bald. Mike had to buzz his head with the clippers last night the best that he could to 'even it out.' Matthew was screaming! Not because the clippers were scary, but I think it finally settled in his head what he had done. He was SO worried that his hair wouldn't grow back.

You can still see a few patches where he cut all the way down to his scalp because he has lines on the top of his head, and when he did it, the hair came out in chunks, kind of like the kid had mange or something.

I should just get him a shirt with an arrow pointing up that says: I cut my own hair. Similar to the one they sell at Target that has the jumping stick figure that says: I do my own stunts.

Matthew pulls a Britney Spears.

I don't have a picture, and I doubt I'll get one. I'm a little ticked.

Matthew was long overdue for a haircut. So today Mike took him to go get one. He comes back and I thought he looked SO cute! The girl did a really good job on his hair today. Life is good, right?

A couple of hours later, I finally got up off the couch (I'm stiiiiill sick.) and decide I'll venture outside to water a potted tree. Matthew comes out to the back patio all excited and saying, "Look mommy! I did my hair and it is almost all gone!"

"What do you mean it is all gone?" I turn around, and there he is. Standing there with a perfect circle on the top of his head where he had taken scissors and cut until he had a huge bald spot.

How did I manage to make it through two other kids who could have cared less about trying to cut thier own hair? I thought moms made this story up, surely kids don't really do this right?

Now we're trying to figure out what to do. I'm sure he'll end up just getting the whole thing buzzed, and he'll look like Charlie Brown for a few weeks.

airplanes & a barking little girl.

Even though today was supposed to be hot, we went to Williams Gateway to an open house. There were lots of planes on display, firetrucks and all sorts of cool things to look at. The weather ended up being beautiful! We stayed for a little bit, then went out and had some lunch afterwards.

Megan started coughing at lunch and seemed to go downhill pretty quickly. All of the kids were sniffling this morning, which I just figured was because of allergies this time of year. Everything is blooming right now. But... she is on the couch watching something. I'm wondering if hers is more than allergies. :( I don't want the crud in our house! We have a whole week ahead of us with spring break, and you know how when one gets sick in the family it always spreads to everybody else. :p

That is our FABO weekend so far. I hope everybody else is enjoying theirs!

It's a beautiful day!

Today started out AWESOME! Imagine my happy self when I started my computer and up popped a picture of U2! Wow... talk about GOOD MORNING! There was a story about them on the Yahoo page.

BUT... gulp.... The Joshua Tree is 20 years old today???

WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? No way.

I was in high school. Happily driving my white 65 Mustang (named Sadie, for a girl in a U2 song) listening to them with my cassette player. Damn, I was cool. I had just met Mike, and the biggest thing of my year at the time was that U2 was coming in concert. TWICE that year. One being at Sun Devil Stadium for taping of Rattle & Hum. That was also the year that I hung out at KUPD in the middle of the night with a small handful of other fans... waiting for U2 to come out after an interview.

Ah.. awesome memories. I mean, I met them, and I got a huge hug from Edge. Sweeeeeet. And a kiss from Bono. The highlight of an obsessed teenager's life. (And still a highlight, but you know you have to say that the birth of your children is more amazing, but U2 still comes in really close!)

I'm just flabbergasted that was 20 years ago. I mean, I've gotten older. Time has passed, but why do I still feel like that girl from that long ago? If you ask me how old I am I still have to stop and think about it. I really must be stuck in the 80's.

So here is to my boys. I'll be listening to them today, as usual. :)

ahhh, the smell of fall.

Have you seen this on Heidi Swapp's blog?

From Heidi:

"So in my opinion, there are 2 kinds of scrapbooking… There is the kind that is to inspire and impress… and for ‘show’… the ones that you want to dial it up a bit… try something new, incorporate cool techniques and freshies… Then… there is the ‘reality scrapbooking’… the kind that is no pressure… fun. Doesn’t take forever to complete, they flow. The focus is on capturing the moments… the memories."

Not that I can't think that up by myself, but why is it for some reason after seeing it in print someplace else you just stop for a minute and think, "Yeah!"

I have a growing pile of photos on my desk. I keep getting frustrated with them, and want to do something, but for some reason I keep feeling that I need to "dial it up" as mentioned. Then I have to remember I'm doing them for me, take a deep breath and do something. Something is at least better than nothing. Even though I torture myself and I WILL redo a page if it doesn't give me the warm fuzzy feeling when I am done with it. I just know. There is no rhyme or reason, but I know which ones are ready for a book and which ones are just 'eh.' And it will bug me like a wedgie in my underwear until I figure out what exactly it is that is off.

But tonight I am excited. My friend Jayme gave me this little candle. She knows I like candy corn and how much I love Halloween and Fall. She also likes to taunt me by singing "I don't like candy corn" which was a Moose E. Moose and Zee commercial on Nick Jr. during Halloween season. So tonight, I am going to hole up in my room, turn the AC down to a frigid temp, light my candle and pretend it is fall all over again - all while doing some 'reality scrapping.'

Trevor also has a first grade program tonight... complete with speaking part! :)

macaroni grill

It is funny how some pictures you take you don't realize will turn into a page. I just had my camera with me at lunch the other day and thought megan looked funny chewing what meat was left off of the bone.

She'll hate me for this page later, I'm sure.

Journaling:

I did a layout a couple of years ago where I mentioned that Megan could eat a steak the size of her head. Those were her exact words when she finished an adult sized steak at the Fox and Hound. Since then the girl has been growing, and eating more steak. It is one of her favorites. No longer does she order a puny hunk of meat from the kids menu. 12 and under only. Ha! This 8 year old growing girl still orders from the adult menu, and has wowed many waiters and waitresses. Papa says that he feels guilty eating a steak when he goes out for a meal and Megan isn't there to eat one too. These photos aren't posed. She actually likes to even clean off the bone.

I'm almost afraid to say that I like Scenic Route paper more than Chatterbox anymore. I know, quite the confession coming from me huh?

And it is official. Apparently last week was spring in Arizona. You have to look for it or you'll miss it since it comes and goes so quickly. All of the trees have tiny new growth on them, and yesterday..... *sigh*....... March 7th, was the first day that we turned the air conditioning on. A sure sign of summer on the way. Dave Munsey is not my friend anymore.

Nicoderm.

Just for shits and giggles. This is on Mike's blog, but just in case you aren't a reader of pilot related stuff that doesn't sound like normal english, you might not frequent there. ;)

Also because it is that time of the month (not really related to stopping smoking, but the PMSing is about the same. LOL.) Plus I just want to make Michelle laugh again. I know she enjoyed the Al Mormon one.

So enjoy. This one is funny too!

I'm scrapping tonight while pilot boy is studying. So hopefully I'll have some pages to post soon!

Nighty night!

Al Mormon

Nothing new to say, but this is pretty funny!!

before & after

I promised somebody that I would put a couple of pictures up of Trevor's room today. These are only a couple of before and after pictures that I have. I still haven't taken a lot of pictures of the other changes I made in there, but at least you can see what it looks like when you walk in. Two of the walls are red and the other two are tan. These pictures really don't show how much work was done in there, and how colorful the room is now. I'll have to get some better ones.

I also have hung a couple of vintage surf signs on that wall beside his bed, and I am working on the surfboard that I am making for the big red wall.

I'm so happy that he loves it.







I'm also done with Matthew's room now. I finished my 'altered' window covering (a roman shade that I turned sideways and re-sewed the straps on so that it would fit the width of the window.) Plus I got a cool bi-plane kite at a pilot shop that I hung from the ceiling. I promise to post some pictures of his room tomorrow! It is finally beginning to feel like home, and like we have some roots. Which feels great after years and years of moving! :)

a good mail day!

I am in love with the mailman, and the UPS man today. They both brought me goodies. I got a framed poster that I ordered, that is already hung up on the wall. I had a nail ready for it. (Just like Michelle. wink wink.)

Plus I hit pay dirt with my favorite catalogs. The only thing that could possibly make this any better would be if I got my CK in the mail. (Which should be here in another week, based on when Beth got hers. I always get mine about 2 weeks later. Grr.)

So I plan on spending some quality time with my catalogs later tonight.

Nothing exciting going on here. Happy friday! Woohoo!