YES! I have a SON! - and he brings me flowers. Before she mentions it, I have another son who will be tomorrow's picture of the day. :p (Maddy keeps me in check, although she doesn't realize yet that boys seem to RUN from the camera, which is why I always have pictures of Megan, who runs TOWARD the camera.) I promise there is no favoritism going on, which is why I think I need to do a page someday about this very thing. If I ever hear, "Why aren't there more pictures of ME???" I'm going to show my boys the hundreds of pictures of them that are blurry, or have a hand over their face, or they think they are being silly and making funny faces that make me grouchy.

******

Today we went to the park. I have another little boy over today, and the weather was pretty nice. Since getting his new bike, Matthew has found freedom and asks me ALL THE TIME if he can go for a ride around the block.

We stopped at the park for awhile, where he found a bunch of bushes with flowers on them. He yanked this one out of the ground, fell on his butt from pulling it so hard, and brought it over to me. Awww. Nothing is cuter than a little fist with a flower in it. :)

Oh, and notice the little tiny hairs that are finally coming back on his head?!?!?

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!

three times the charm, right?

Hmm. Well in real life the letters don't go off the page, and FLY isn't crooked. Scanners are so weird.

Anyway... today I went to a friend's house. A lady in our ward, who every single Wednesday has anybody come over to work on whatever they want while the kids play. Some were knitting, some making cards, some not doing anything at all, and me... scrapping. Or at least adhering a photo collage to a piece of cardstock and doing a rub on title.

I didn't bring much to work on. Plus I didn't bring my stash of embellishments. Just rub ons. So I put this together. I know these photos have now been on my blog 3 times. Once from Matthew's birthday, once when I learned how to do a photo collage, and now in layout form. But hey, another piece of paper that is off the top of my desk and into an album.

Right now I seem to be more about getting some of these 'event' layouts done. I don't scrap in order, but my kids look through my albums A LOT and their favorite pages are the events that they remember doing. So I'm kind of scrapping heavy on those right now.

The best part of today is that Matthew had a blast! His friend from preschool was there, and I honestly didn't hear from him for 4 hours. The backyard is like a toddler haven complete with treehouse/swingset, sunken trampoline, sand box, and various ride on toys. AND I got to have some adult conversations during daylight hours! Yay!

activity day!

Can I just tell you how much I love my calling at church? I don't think I ever came right out and said anything on my blog, but some of you know that I am an activity days leader. Pretty much every other week I get to play and have fun with 16 8-11 year old girls.

I was paired up with a woman who is the -be all end all- of planning. Seriously, this lady was the Daisy leader when Megan was in Daisy Scouts. She is amazing.

Like today. We went to the church family history center next door to the Mesa temple. The girls all started out kind of quiet like they didn't think it would be fun at all. I mean they just all got out of school, so how fun does it sound to go to some old library, right?

A few minutes for a talk about what the center is about, and then they were all allowed to go search on the computer for some of their ancestors. Most of the girls were able to find somebody, and they just thought that was the COOLEST thing ever. I wish we would have had more time, because as we were getting close to needing to leave, they were all wanting to look up birth certificates and marriage certificates for their great great grandparents. It really is fascinating stuff, and I wish I knew more about finding information. My mother in law used to work there, so she is an expert. It was confusing for me and the little bit of information we found, so I bet once you know what to do you can find even more incredible information. Like how a person died from the death certificate. Just amazing.

So then we headed home, a caravan of three MAVs (Mormon assault vehicles) my car full of girls, windows down and singing along with the Hanna Montana CD. :)

I believe I am officially 'scrapped out' for the week. I have had the sea world photo collage sitting on my desk for such a long time. It feels good to have it on a page and put away finally. Look at how little those kids are! :)

I have been enjoying using a lot of the baby pictures that I found. I don't really feel like I need to 'keep up' with my scrapping, but when you get some done from so long ago I do get that sense of pride and accomplishment that Megan pointed out the other day! LOL! Does that mean I win?

I think you can read the journaling if you click on the picture of the layout. Unless you like to squint. ;)

The one of Megan in the bathtub (yes that's my 8 year old!) is a somewhat lift of the awesome Joanna Bolick. By the time I finished the others I wanted a no brainer scraplift.

Psst. Michelle. Notice that I used the Heidi Swapp journaling blocks! I use the manilla ledger ones all the time, who would have thought those cute pink ones would bring me so much happiness!

So now my brain hurts. It might be time to focus on painting walls upstairs for a few days now.

i LOVE kids.

Maybe she is practicing for the teenage years or something. Last night I asked the boys to pick up a pile of hot wheels and put them back in the bucket that they belong in. Of course there was a chorus of "Uuuuugh" complete with pouty faces and slumped shoulders. OK, if I make it FUN they'll want to do it right?

"Let's see who can pick up the most hot wheels!!! Woohoo!" - and they quickly start running around picking them up tossing them in the bucket.

When the frenzy is over, Trevor asks, "So what do we win for picking up the most hot wheels??? What is the prize?!?!?"

Megan, who has been sitting on the couch watching the whole thing pipes up with dripping sarcasm, "A sense of PRIDE and accomplishment." (like... duh!)

"Trevor... meet pole."

One that I have been working on during the day today. - While the little ones were watching a bit of TV.

Trevor had this huge, swollen spot on his forehead. One of many bumps, bruises and scrapes and I'm sure there will be a million more to come. Hopefully no broken bones though. ;)

Here is the journaling:

"Trevor... meet pole."

It happens at least once a week. I pick Trevor up from school and there is a new band-aid somewhere on him. I'm beginning to wonder if he just likes to hang out in the nurse's office or if this is something totally normal in the life of having boys. Boys play hard.

I asked Trevor why he was sporting the cool neon band-aid on his face. Like it was a badge of courage his reply was simply (like it was no big deal) "I was playing tag and I ran into a pole on the playground." Ouch.

- and a bit of Basic Grey for my girls Lisa and Beth. ;)

Isn't technology awesome?!?!?

A couple of days ago I found a box with a bunch of APS canisters. I knew these were from around the time when I was pregnant with Megan, and when Trevor was a baby. I had a few of the original photos, but thought that most of them were lost forever.

Can I just say how much Costco has changed my life??? I took the APS film to have them put on to disk. Now I have them digitally in my computer, where I can fix some things on the photos AND reprint them when I want! Woohoo!

So now I have a whole slew of baby photos to work on. Maybe someday soon I'll actually have my baby albums done. Matthew was lucky enough to be born during the digital camera age, so there are a TON of pictures of him as a baby. Poor Megan and Trevor, I tried to take a lot of pictures on the old film cameras, and I did get a lot... but so many were missed because I didn't know if I had captured what I wanted to.

I'm trying to keep my baby layouts super simple, since you know, they are baby layouts. I always like simple baby layouts. These are a couple of my favorite pictures of Trevor when he was a baby. It is hard to look at these and realize that he is the six year old that I just dropped off at school this morning! He still has those big, wide eyes. :)

a lesson in diversity.

I think I mentioned these two on valentine's day. My friend Jayme was laughing the other day when she was over and watching these two play together. Missy and Isis. I figured I should write a little something about them, because really they do make me laugh every single day.

Missy seemed a little sad for the couple of years that her dog friend Dixie (our beagle) had been gone. She was old and having health problems and had to be put to sleep. Missy, Dixie and Katie had grown up together since puppyhood.

Enter: The cat. I don't even know what it was that made me change my mind. I never liked cats. I had severe allergies to them when I was little, and even though it got 'better' as I grew up, I still got really itchy and sneezy around them. Better meaning that I didn't poof up and have a hard time breathing.

I started to notice within the past few years that I could stand being at a house with cats in it. Maybe this allergy was getting better. So we did it. We got a cat. Can I just say now that cats are awesome? They really are funky animals, and totally hysterical. We even added another one: Charlie Alpha Tango = CAT. We just call her Charlie. Charlie fetches, and meows when you even look at her. (She lives upstairs, since her and Isis don't get along at all.)

Anyway... I think Missy has found a new best friend. Isis. They are inseparable. They nap together, and play together. Isis will go up to Missy when she wants to play and chew on her tail, or rub up against her face and then leap back like, "OK, come chase me!" Missy, will chase her, and even put the cats head in her mouth and make noises like she is attacking her. To somebody who doesn't know that they are playing, you would think that they were killing each other.

The only time they get annoying is when you happen to be in the middle of the chase. I swear I have almost been knocked down by these two when they go running across the house or down a hall that I happen to be in at the same time.

Who would have thought that Missy the tough pig herding dog would have found such a little friend in a cat. I wonder if Dixie and Katie are up in doggie heaven wondering what in the world happened. Aren't dogs supposed to chase cats?

they're here!

In honor of Beth's post that was in honor of my post about couches... Haha!

It is funny that they don't look as enormous in the pictures as they really are. Even the delivery dudes said, "I didn't know they made couches this big!"

That leather recliner in the corner used to dwarf our other couches. - Or the recliner that I lovingly refer to as "Fraiser's dad's chair." Although this one isn't ugly or held together with duct tape. I don't know what a recliner ever did to me in the past, but I used to love on Fraiser how he hated his dad's chair. We would have gotten along just fine. I promised Mike that he could have his chair when we got our house someday. He never forgot.

Actually I do know... the recliner just throws a kink in my "must have everything line up" including furniture OCDness. BUT. I am learning to live with it, and actually do sneak sitting in it on the nights that mike is out of town. Shhhh!

I am so happy that these are HERE. I love them. These are finally ones that weren't handed down or bought in a pinch. I picked these out, I thought about them before hand and counted down the days until delivery, just like having a baby.

PLUS ... my scrap girls are coming over tonight! Which pretty much means that not much scrapping will be going on but more than likely eating a lot of sugary foods and holding Maddy's new baby girl Sadie. Who is finally making an appearance tonight! I get first dibs on holding!

Woop! Woop! Couch day!

I went out this morning to kill some time while my youngest was in preschool. Guess where I went?

Target. Are you all that surprised?

I found the CUTEST acrylic cups with hearts on them. OK, actually I knew the cups were there, I was just hoping that they would still be there since the valentine's stuff went on clearance for 50% off today.

I have no idea why, but the acrylic cups that they put out for each holiday make me so happy. They feel good in your hand and I even swear that they make drinks taste better! Even water. :p

I love Craigslist. OK, not as much as Michelle even though she claims to not spend the same amount of time there anymore. I have to admit that that girl has found some AWESOME stuff from there. I have no idea how she does it, but the stuff that she has found has made her house look gorgeous.

I love it though because anytime you get a wild hair you can pretty much sell anything on it. Last night Mike mentioned that our couches are coming today, so we better get rid of the old ones. He put an ad up and I am not kidding those suckers were gone in a half hour.

Now my family room is bare until this afternoon! Couch day! Tonight I am going to bond with them, as I eat popcorn while watching people starve on Survivor, and drink out of my new heart cups. Life is so dang good. :)

valentines day.

happy valentines day! I think even the dog and the cat are into it this year. This silly cat adores the dog. Follows her around, plays with her and right now is snuggled up next to her in a sunny patch out in the atrium.

AND Mike is actually home for the night! It has been a rough couple of weeks. He leaves before 6:00 in the morning and sometimes doesn't get back until 10 or 11 at night. So tonight was a nice surprise. So were the roses that he brought for me, and this vase of little pink carnations for megan. She had the cutest smile on her face and was SO happy to get flowers from her daddy. She has really been having a hard time with his new hours. Really missing him. He gives her flowers every year for Valentine's day too. (The boys get taken care of too, they just aren't as sentimental.)

Oh, and have I mentioned that my new couches come tomorrow?!?!?! Wheeee!

Happy valentines day to all! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO!

because I'm the mom.

Because *sometimes* you just want to sit down and watch an episode of CSI all to yourself, and not have to share!!!!

This was a note that I found last week at the end of the stairs. Usually we watch something all together, like American Idol or something kid friendly, and have popcorn.

This night the kids were in bed, it was late, and I had the munchies. Yeah, even during some graphic, bloody crime scene... popcorn hits the spot!

I know everybody else is on pins and needles just waiting for the much anticipated (by me!) season 4 of Kim Possible starting today! ;)

Is kim going to be able to handle the tweebs (Tim & Jim, twin brothers) starting at Middleton High?

Does Bueno Nacho get the bendy straw back?

How does Bonnie handle the new Kim & Ron dating thing????

Oh my gosh!

(I know, I'm a nerd.)

A what?!?!?!

My dog was in need of a bath. Big time. The thing is, she is not fun to give a bath to because she sheds SO badly after a bath that trying to catch the hair before it goes down the drain is a job for one other person. It has been too cold to give her a bath in the yard with the hose, and the mobile grooming people that we called last week never returned our call. So...



the other day I was in the car with Megan and Trevor. I had seen this car wash a thousand times when I passed it, and even 'thought' I had seen a sign that said SELF SERVICE PET WASH. Huh? Could that be right?



I turned in. I had to check this out.



Sure enough, along side the stalls to wash your car, are two stalls with a huge stainless steel sink and a ramp. A menu of shampoo/conditioning/flea & tick rinse, etc. Plus a "soothing" dryer to dry your pet. If you call hurricane force winds coming out of a vacuum hose 'soothing' to an animal I suppose. It gets the water out of their hair like those fan dryers at a car wash! Pretty cool!

So that was our big time family fun today. Take the dog to the self service pet wash. I'm not so sure that Missy had as much fun as the kids did, and yes, I had fun getting pictures of the whole ordeal. I highly recommend this for family home evening. ;)

And who knows.... maybe next week it will be the cats turn!!! (just kidding, for the animal rights people.) ;)

They are home! (and I need caffiene!)

I'm sitting here waiting for Matthew to get dressed. Mike and Matthew got home after midnight last night. Matthew was hard asleep when he pulled into the garage last night. He woke up and gave me a funny look like he didn't know where I came from! He was so tired, and he went upstairs to go to bed. This morning I have been hearing about all of the fun that he had at Disneyland with his daddy the past couple of days. It sounds like they had a great time. I plan on having some pictures printed for him later today, and I'll put them in a small book. I did this after we went on Thomas, and he spent hours looking through the pictures.

I am craving a diet pepsi like crazy right now. Yes, this Coca Cola girl has since moved on. I needed to make a change. My body just can't take the sugary regular soda like it used to. So I am taking steps, small that they are.... to better drinking health. I started drinking diet soda. (Lots of water too, but lets face it.... water isn't always that exciting.) Believe it or not, diet pepsi tastes so much better than diet coke. It makes me kind of sad to not frequent McDonalds as much as I used to. I have noticed that now when I order something for the kids that the guy who used to work the register at the first window is now gone. Now you order and they take your money at the second window where you get your food! Do you think that because of my $4 a day habit being gone that they had to let an employee go?!?!?!? ;) I'm sure I was a big chunk of his weekly paycheck.

Off to the grocery store with my little guy. It is so good to have him back home!!!!!

valentines.

I finished up my valentines that I started late last night. The little boy that I was watching today took a nap and let me do a little bit of scrapping. It always feels strange to me to scrap during daylight hours. This is usually a nightime thing. ;)

Mike is also on his way home, so I am excited about that. He had been in California with Matthew since Sunday afternoon. They went to Disneyland!

When Megan and Trevor turned four, he took each one to Disneyland. Just a special trip with each child and daddy. I love how the other two still talk about going there with him, so I can't wait to hear what matthew has to tell me later today!

Infact, Megan and Trevor were both so good about not being upset about them not going. Trevor didn't say anything at all, and Megan said, "I know I had a special time with daddy, so it is Matthew's turn." Such a big girl. Truth is... if it were me and I was 8 years old, I would be incredibly bummed!

We have all had such a good time the past several days. I got to spend a lot of time with M & T that I don't ususally get to spend with them since Matthew tends to monopolize my time. I really enjoyed being able to reconnect with these guys. You know what? I have cool kids. I just love them so much.

9 more days until new couches!

Sore.

I don't know if it is the bike riding, or the painting. Which requires some moves on top of a ladder similar to ones I have seen in Cirque du Soleil. All I know is that I must be getting to dang old for this. I absolutely cannot feel my butt or my legs today. Walking hurts. Sitting hurts.

On a good note though, another room painted and Matthew will get to see it tomorrow. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Target? I went there today for underwear and tape. I was happy to come across a couple of aisles of clearance bedding!! Woohoo! I had an idea in the back of my mind of what I wanted to do for Matthew's bed. It was a yellowish quilt from the surfer guy collection. No luck finding that, but I did find a really cool Woolrich faux suede down comforter. 50% off. Yesssss! It is the same color as the surfer boy quilt, but this has the softest microfiber side. - and yes, I checked, and rechecked.... it is machine washable! Perfect for a little boy. Then I got some cool khaki pillows little pockets in them.

I also stopped by Devine Memories today and die cut some things for Megan and I to make Valentines for her class party. I'm hoping that we get started on them tonight before I totally procrastinate and we are doing them at midnight the day before VD! I like to think I'm on the ball - occasionally. ;)

weekends.

Can I just say that this was a great weekend??

On Saturday we went out in the front of our house to ride bikes and scooters. Trevor for some reason hated riding his bike after the first time he learned how. He had a bad fall and was convinced that he wasn't going to ride it again until he was a teenager. After a little crying and coaxing, he finally got on it yesterday. Now of course, he LOVES it. (The first thing out of him this morning was asking when we were going to go for a bike ride.)

Then yesterday I finished painting Trevor's room (pictures soon to follow, but blogger isn't letting me post them for some reason.) We got his curtains hung and moved his video game stuff into its own 'gaming center.' Last night when he went to bed he told me how cool he thought his room was! That felt good, and I have to admit that I like hanging out in there now too.

Today Mike and Matthew went off to a super secret place. (I know where, but I'll reveal tomorrow.) So I had Megan and Trevor by myself. We went out for lunch and then did a little shopping. I kind of kept hoping that Trevor would forget about bike riding, but then I realized that I didn't have Matthew with me! So I could actually go on a bike ride past the front of our house! We took off on a 4 mile trip, over to a park where we played for a little bit and then rode our bikes back home. This made me realize how I can't wait until Matthew can ride his bike and we can do this more often. It felt soooooo good to be outside.

Tonight I am going to finish painting Matthew's room, so when he gets home tomorrow he'll be surprised that his room is done. Kind of like extreme kid room makeover. He isn't expecting it at all. Plus I plan on going to a pilot shop tomorrow and getting this really cool plane to hang from his ceiling.

It just feels SO good to have had such a nice weekend, and to have been able to have spent some really good time with the kids. :) I admit that sometimes we get so busy on the weekends that hours can go by with them doing nothing but watching TV or playing nintendo. I always feel guilty after a day like that, but sometimes that is the only way to get some of those big weekend projects done. They are just too little now to let them go outside without one of us being there.

Now, getting geared up for a new week! :) - and only 11 more days until new couches! Woohoo!

music.

Shocker! U2 has temporarilly been ejected from my CD player in the car. I have been listening to Chris Daughtry that Mike downloaded for me the other day. (Thanks Mike!)

I still think Chris was robbed. Then again it isn't like he is suffering without having the American Idol title. ;)

Also in heavy rotation right now is Green Day, which was sparked by the U2/Green Day song The Saints. I heard it at Chili's the other day (of all places) and came home and directly put it in the CD player at home. I forgot how awesome that song is. I wish they would do a whole album together! Mmmm.

I'm not dissing my boys, they are just getting a little break. ;)

9 more months!

Hey, just a reminder.

Halloween is 9 months away.

For some reason that just doesn't sound that far! Yay! I'm saying this as I still have my pumpkin pillow that Beth found at Target, next to me. :)

I don't usually have Halloween stuff out this time of year. I'm not that crazy about it, LOL! Matthew fell in love with this pillow and confiscated it before I could put the Halloween stuff away. It is usually on his bed, but for some reason it is down here with me tonight. I guess just to remind me.

I also heard the kids talking about spring break today! Is this for real? When is that... in March?

I am all kinds of confused.

Wheeeeeee!

Another day of not much going on. T man is home sick again today. We had a lot of good snuggly couch time yesterday, and today looks like it will be the same. Which is ok because it is overcast and drizzling. Add to that one 6 year old who smells like strawberry shampoo, and dressed in one fuzzy cozy robe.


This past weekend Mike and I went flying up to Laughlin. It was a date night, and we went up just for dinner. We went in this really cool plane that Mike calls the 'mini cooper' of airplanes. It is small, but really fun to fly in, and Mike says just as fun to fly. I'll take his word for that!

We had a nice dinner up there and then headed home.

Coming into Phoenix from the direction that we were coming was so pretty. You can actually see the glow of Phoenix at night from so far away. When you finally come up on it, it is just gorgeous. - Mike had called in to get permission to do a touch and go at Sky Harbor airport. That was FUUUUUN! We came in behind a 737, and I loved being out there with all of the big planes. We landed and then went right back up again. I have to say that I admire those air traffic controller people. They are the masters of multi tasking. When you realize they are talking to you, plus all of the other planes up there getting them lined up to land. The neatest thing was when we were taking off from there, and I looked back. All of the planes that were getting ready to land looked like fireflies. It was cool.



our ride for the day -

Nothing exciting going on here. Which sometimes is good. Especially after picking up the kids at school today. I came around the corner to get into the pick up line and there was a fire truck with lights on (Our favorite truck # E252) I have to say that is the worst feeling in the world, and I know that every parent who came around that corner had the same thought as me:

Please don't be my child. Not that you want anybody's children to be hurt or sick enough for the fire department to be called, but it is such a sinking feeling when you don't know what is going on.

I don't know the whole story, but apparently the little girl is fine. But it just makes me happy to say that 'nothing exciting is going on here today.'

Well, maybe one thing... and I am totally giddy. :) New couches. Mike and I picked some out this morning. I absolutely cannot wait, even though I am trying so hard not to think about them since they won't be here until the middle of February. I have to agree with Matthew who didn't understand why you go to a store and don't come home with them. I want them now! But I have to be patient. Which I am not so good at. ;)

I love being a homeowner. Isn't it funny how some things that used to be so mundane are so exciting once you have a house? Like couches... and rocks. You know, after going through the landscaping process I know a little bit about boulders. Big rocks are EXPENSIVE. I drive by other houses, or shopping centers that have huge boulders and I know that a big old rock probably cost several hundred dollars to over a 1,000 for one about the size of my youngest child.

And how in the world did it end up to be Friday already????

a correction.....

I must apologize for my huge mistake on my last entry. BETH contributed the heart brad! ;) And what an awesome heart brad that it is! I believe it makes the WHOLE page! I have to give credit where credit is due. ;)

I also have within arms reach, the very cool tube of Cherry Coke chapstick that was in my little swap item from her too. So I'm sure that was part of my inspiration for that layout. :)

a 10 minute layout!

I SWEAR it looks so much better in real life!!!

I wanted to try a layout that didn't scream 'Kerry' the linear scrapper. This one was actually so fun to do.

I found this old picture of Megan when she was 3 years old. (Ignore the hideously ugly couch) I miss those days when she was that little. So many things went through my head. Man, I spent hours crying because I never thought I would hear her talk when she was that age. We went through a year of therapy. In her quiet little way, she was still my sweet, happy baby girl.

This was also a time of transition when Mike and I were dirt poor. So unfortunately I don't have many pictures from that time, and developing was expensive.

*****

I used a bunch of things that were sitting on my desk, along with a few things that I got in a swap with my friends over the weekend. The Heidi Swapp words and the heart brad are from Michelle. Thanks Michelle! And the transparency and the tag I bought in Prescott.

The journaling says:

Megan loves all things girlie. Dress up gowns, feather boas and shoes. The more fu fu the better. Sometimes she will get dressed up and I get to eat lunch with a princess - tiara and all.

work in progress.

What a FABO weekend! Me and the girls headed up to Prescott for a scrap getaway at Lisa's house. As always, she is such a great host. Yummy food, and her house is GORGEOUS! Not to mention, there was snow on the ground, and little snow flurries when we went out to do a little shopping at her scrapbook store up there.

We left early on Saturday morning and Beth and I stopped to get all of the road trip necessities. Sodas, Starbucks, and pastries. It was just four of us this time, so we all were able to ride in one car.

Maddy was missing this year, but she had a pretty good excuse. She had her baby! Congratulations Maddy! Now I am expecting her to bring Sadie with her to the next crop so I can do some serious baby holding.

And Kaelene! She had a good excuse too! She got married! Wow. A lot of changes going on in our little group right now. Congratulations to her too!

Believe it or not, we all actually got quite a bit accomplished. I started 3 pages that I need to still do journaling on and add all of the fun stuff until they are complete. To me that is the best part, when you are almost done and you already have the foundation of the layout. I didn't have all of the embellishment stuff with me, so that is why I am finishing the pages up here.

It is always fun to spend time with these girls. Especially the amount of time that we got to spend together over this weekend. If a road trip doesn't tear you apart because you can't stand the thought of spending another minute with the people you are stuck with, it brings you closer together. (It was the latter with these girls by the way....) They all crack me up, and the things we talk about are equally funny. I love that scrapbooking has helped me to meet these people. I am lucky to have such great friends. (A little weird at times, but I love them anyway.) ;)

******

On another note.... but still going with the road trip theme.....

if you haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine. DO. NOW. I am always at the tail end of seeing great movies anymore since I rarely make it to the theaters unless it is a kid's movie. So when this came out on pay per view I couldn't wait to see it. OH MY GOSH. I can't even explain it. It is just an incredible movie. Every emotion...laughing so hard, then crying, then you just want to go squeeze your family at the end. (Also for me, it made me miss my VW even more!)

So another week begins.

hummingbirds.

When we moved into this house, there was a hummingbird nest in the ficus tree right outside the window. I got into the habit of checking all the time to see how mommy bird was doing, and if the babies had hatched yet. Finally one day, I put up the feeder, kind of in hopes that the mom wouldn't have to work so hard to go find food. (I mean, I would have appreciated if somebody moved the refrigerator closer to me when I had infants right?)

Since then the evil landscaping people have killed my ficus tree, and I put a new one in. It is much smaller right now, which kind of bums me out.

But the hummingbirds keep coming back. Lots of them! I still love to watch them, and they actually get kind of mad at me when I am out in the atrium. They will buzz and hover right by you like this is their spot... not yours!

Today it is raining, and I don't know if it does anything to make them more active, but they have been stopping at the feeder like crazy. Providing cheap entertainment for both me and the cat who doesn't realize that she can't jump through the arcadia door.

So I just wanted to share a picture of one of my visitors today. They are the cutest little things!!

In the Wiggles world.

I have good dreams, I have bad dreams. I have COOL dreams where I get to hang out with U2 and Edge and I are the best of friends. Last night though, all I can say is that I must really be exhausted. This has been a crazy couple of weeks. I have been really tired, and it is starting to show.

I spent all of last night (I would wake up and then drift back off into the same dream) as a stand in for one of the Wiggles. Now I haven't watched the Wiggles in years because Trevor was the last one who was into that. So I have NO idea where this came from. I just got a call, and had to replace Anthony for a few shows because they knew that I had seen them all and knew all of the words. I had the blue shirt and all. I swear, dreams are so dang weird. :p

Go Matthew! Go!

We've never been to Michigan, have no ties to it, and none of us are even into sports. But Matthew HAD to have this hat. He would stop and look at hats when we would go to Target. When he got a Target giftcard for Christmas, he decided that he wanted the hat.

Why a Michigan hat? Actually, to him it isn't that. It is his favorite color (blue) and has a big letter M on it for Matthew. That is how he knows that it is HIS hat, and not his brother's. (His brother - L.A. Haha!)

I have to admit that he looks adorable in it, and he doesn't like to go out without it most of the time. Which in a way makes me cringe because we always get asked many times while we are out if we are visiting from Michigan. Pretty far from it actually since this little boy is a sixth generation Arizonian! Most people just kind of giggle when I tell them the story behind the 'M' hat.

A NONsleepover.

That is about what it was. Megan had a friend spend the night last night. It is a new girl who moved into her school right after Christmas break. They have been inseparable since last Monday.

The story that this little girl comes with just reminds me how important family is. How important my children are to me. This little girl couldn't live with her mom anymore. Her mom has a drug problem. She would go to school dirty and the other kids would make fun of her and throw sand in her hair. Long story short... she was officially adopted by her grandparents. They just moved here and moved her to a new school to get a fresh start. This is what amazes me. They are nice NICE people, and I admire them so much for stepping up to the plate and making a decision like this when they were in their retirement years. It can't be easy, but I'm positive it will be worth it. And so nice that this little girl won't end up lost in the system.

This poor little thing, you can tell, comes with a lot of baggage. She tries so hard to be friends with everybody and even tried paying Megan $5 for being nice to her after just a couple of days of school. :(

She was so polite to us. It just breaks my heart to think of what kind of life she has had already, at just 8 years old.

Just go hug your kids. Realize what a blessing children really are. They can go through so much and still have the sweetest little spirits, and trust us even when their trust has been broken by so called adults in the past. I am so incredibly lucky. Really.

Brrrrr!

It is freezing cold. In the 30's outside right now. Does not make for a happy desert dweller. I am going to go hide under a blanket for awhile.

Until then, here is a picture of my little stinker today. :)

This also goes to show Beth's theory that Arizona really does have a season called Fall. Today was a perfect day. I noticed when I had driven by my ward building earlier in the day that many of the trees had dropped a lot of leaves overnight. It looked so pretty with the bright green winter grass.

So when I picked up Megan and Trevor after school, we drove by and got out to play in the leaves. The kids had so much fun! They ran through them listening to them crunch under their feet, and the boys made a big pile that they would run and jump in. It made for about 30 minutes of fun, and a chance for me to get some pictures of the kids. (Megan calls me momarazzi since I am always following them around with a camera.)

I have to add that it is truly frightening how much Megan looks like me in this picture. Seriously, if those were green corduroy bell bottom pants and a necklace made of macrame', that is what I looked like at the same age! Genetics are a weird, crazy and funky thing!

blah blah mornings.

A new semester at school. It is hard to believe. The funny thing is, in this photo they look much less enthusiastic about going to school than they did in the first day photo!

It could also be that we ALL are having a hard time adjusting to getting up early again. Christmas break spoiled us. Me especially. Megan was so helpful, and when the kids would wake up in the morning she would make toast or pour cereal for everybody. Which made it possible for me to sleep until 9:00. Those were the days. It almost seems unfair to be up before the sun is even up right now.

I'm hopeless. I need caffiene.

*****

Punch buggy gone BAD.

Does anybody else's family play Punch Buggy? You know, when you are out and each time you see a VW beetle you are supposed to yell PUNCH BUGGY! I think the old rules are you are supposed to actually punch somebody next to you and yell it, but I have changed the rules in our family to no hitting.

Anyway... our point system goes like this:

Old beetle: 5 points.
New bettle: 1 point.

Today after we picked up the kids from school, Mike asked if I wanted to take the kids and do an errand with him to North Phoenix. OK, technically it is 'family time' and I knew we would get dinner out of it.

We are playing our game, and I am all smug because *I* have 13 points. It is always pretty exciting to get a 5 point car, let alone 2! I was pretty stoked. Mike only had 3. He was driving, so he had a handicap, but he yells faster than I do, so it works out even. I also might add that this particular game was getting so heated that the kids bowed out and we decided to do teams instead. ;)

So feeling bad for the poor guy, I come up with a new rule. "If you see a VW THING, you get 20 points!!!" I haven't seen one in years, so I figure I'm pretty safe with coming up with this silly rule. I was throwing him a bone, right???

Would you believe we passed by a VW restoration place???? In less than 10 seconds, Mike calls PUNCH THING! PUNCH BUGGY....blah blah blah. I stutter and can't even call a one point bug. I'm just yelling, "Aaaa! Aaaaa!" Mike got FIVE 5 point old beetles and a freakin' THING! 45 points in one shot. Next time I'll keep my mouth shut. I'm a sore loser. :p

I know....it's long. Grab a soda and some cookies or something and read.

Before Megan was born, my mother in law gave me this great book. It is called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It has been well read, and has marks on the cover from being carried around in suitcases from the trips it has taken, the moves to various houses, and several pages are dog eared. It is a simple book, each month kind of has a theme, and each day has a date and you can read just one page. It is a cool book to have throughout the year, as it starts on New Years Day. I also have enjoyed that over the years that I have owned this book, the meaning of it changes with your life.

Can you tell I love this book? Anybody who is into the current trends with scrapbooking would really like it. It is kind of along the lines of what Ali talks about with the everyday stuff being important.

Today's little entry is titled: Standing knee deep in a river and dying of thirst. Here is my favorite paragraph from the page:

The revelation that we have everything we need in life to make us happy but simply lack the conscious awareness to appreciate it can be as refreshing as lemonade on a hot afternoon. Or it can be as startling as cold water being thown in our face. How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee deep in the river of abundance?

Then I peeked at tomorrows entry, which made me think when I was sitting on the couch just relaxing and looking outside earlier today.

How happy are you right now?

Do you even know? Most women know what makes their parents, partners or children happy. But when it comes to an awareness about the little, specific things in life that bring a smile to our faces and contentment to our own hearts, we often come up short....

blah blah blah...

then this:

What is missing from many of our days is a true sense that we are enjoying the lives we are living. It is difficult to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we genuinely love. We must learn to savor small, authenitc moments that bring us contentment. Take the time to slowly arrange a bouquet of flowers in order to appreciate their colors, fragrance and beauty. Sip a cup of tea on the front stoop in the sunshine. Pause for five minutes to pet a purring cat. Simple pleasures waiting to be enjoyed. Simple pleasures often overlooked.

Let us grasp a new idea this year. Let us grasp the awareness of what it is that makes us truly happy. Let us consider our personal preferences and learn how to recoggnize, then embrace, moments of happiness that are uniquely our own.

I know that this is an epic long blog entry for me, and thanks if you have read it all! LOL! I love this book. It is kind of like an owners manual for life. It reminds you of things when you start to get busy and caught up in other things and whooshes me right back to a level where I know that I am OK. I normally don't get all this 'woo woo heavy' on my blog, but in everything I have been doing today I keep thinking about it.

So the small everyday moments that make me happy include: getting an email from a friend or family member, that first moment after school when I pick up my kids and everybody is happy to be going home, watching my cat lay in a patch of sunshine coming through the window, (Laura knows the spot since she and the cat had to fight out who got to sit there!) snuggling with my kids on the couch on cold days like today, completing a layout that I LOVE, and that first sip of a coke in the morning! I know there are more, but those are the first that come to mind.

I'm scrapping tonight. So I'll post something later!

head vs. heart

I am not allowed to go to Petsmart ever again.

Last night after dinner we went to Petsmart to get some food for the cats. First of all, Megan and I head over to the horse stuff. I miss having a horse sometimes, and just the feel of picking up a bridle or running my hand over a saddle just FEELS GOOD.

Then over to look at the kitties. (You know, because it really isn't a store, to the kids it is an indoor zoo where you have to go look at all the animals, fish, birds.....) OK, so I KNOW I don't need anymore cats. Remember me? The one who used to hate cats? Well there was a big yellow tabby named Benjamin. He looked like Morris from the old commercials. He was cool. I had to be strong. No more cats.

Then a little yellow lab puppy that was supposed to be in the training class comes running up to me with total cuteness. Mike and I have said that when our current crabby dog is gone, we will get a lab. Not that we are hoping for anything to happen to missy, we are just planning you know.

I get over the giddy little puppy and Mike finds me. He tells me about this woman who was getting rid of a 3 month old black lab puppy. Oh noooo. Please don't tell me that. Mike and I kind of looked at each other, kind of like a staring contest to see which one was going to give in or be the sensible one. I wanted to give. I was this close to giving. A lab puppy??? CUTENESS!

Then I realized how little time I have as it is. A dog let alone a puppy takes so much time right now. I finally had to be the hardass and say we didn't need a dog. Especially if Mike is going to be gone for lengths of time.

So, I am never going there again. There is way too much temptation.

small rant.

Small rant. I swear, 2Peas seems like a bunch of old women sitting around trying to think about things to gripe about. Grrr.

Except Michelle and her happy post about Cathy Z'z blog being back! (Which I am totally giddy about too!)

forever friends.

Wow, that dark photo really shows how much lint is on my scanner!

This is quite possibly the easiest layout ever, heck it's almost criminal! All it is, is a photo and a sheet of 7 Gypsies paper. I really liked how the words fell on the paper along with the photo, so that I didn't want to add anything else to take away from it. I like to pretend I spent hours in Word layering all of those letters. ;)

This is just one of my favorite pictures from the day after Christmas when we were outside playing with new toys.

New Years Day!

I could probably copy and paste my entry from last year, since that is exactly how last night went. All that waiting up until midnight, only to be dissapointed by the total lackluster welcome of the new year by our neighborhood. Let's face it, we are a typical suburban neighborhood with lots of little kids. There are some parties, but for the most part I think people just fall asleep and wake up in the new year.

The kids stayed up and we stood outside in the cold. Finally we yelled happy new year and went back in. Mike and I were SO tired, but kept trying to stay up since the kids were excited. About 10 minutes before midnight he said, "I should have thought about this two hours ago...change all the clocks back two hours so we could have gone to bed at 10:00." Next year I am going to remember that. We could even turn on the New York station on the satellite to prove to them that it was officially a new year. Heehee!

*****

Today we took the kids out to lunch and then to Freestone park. We brought their new scooters with them. They were so funny. Instead of staying on the sidewalk, they found these huge dead grassy hills that they would ride the scooters down. They had a great time. The best is that they wore themselves out running back up the hill before going down again! Hopefully that means tonight an earlier bedtime for them. They need to start getting back into a schedule anyway since school will start again in another week.

Megan got a pair of Heelys yesterday. They are the shoes that have the skate wheel in them. She has been practicing so hard to get the right stance to actually skate on them. It must be a lot harder than it looks. I secretly wish that I had a pair. Could you imagine being able to push a cart around Target with a pair of those? Not that I want to cut my shopping time in half, but think of the square footage I could cover with those! Wheeeeee! I could knock down any other woman headed towards a clearance endcap like one of those roller derby girls.

Happy new year! I am actually so happy that 2007 is here. Not that 2006 was bad, I'm just happy to get a fresh start. To know that there aren't any major holidays or birthdays in our family for several months. I don't even have any resolutions to speak of. I know what I need to do, but if I write them down or even label them as resolutions, I'm bound to give up on them. I have to admit that I plan on doing the 'photo a day' thing, since, well, I pretty much do anyway. No big jump for me there, but I'll try my best to post them throughout this year. Um, starting tomorrow! Haha!

This should be a very good year! Best wishes!!!!