Sondie Scraps

The Big Catch

2008-08-19T18:58:00.002-04:00

Well, Kyle did it again. He insisted I get the camera to capture his BIG CATCH. Joshua was so proud of him. Shhhhhh, don't tell them, but I think that's the same fish Joshua caught in the same pond two weeks ago.

Teeter Totter....Whoa!!!

2008-08-03T11:48:00.004-04:00

Doesn't this look like it hurts?

Joshua and Kyle found this absolutely thrilling. Kyle would bounce the teeter totter so hard at the bottom that Joshua would go flying up in the air! Joshua was giggling and laughing the entire time. Too bad my camera battery was low from taking all the pictures at Gene's company Fishing Derby or I would have gotten a small video clip of them. It looked brutal to me.....but they both sure were having fun!

More fishing pics to come! Joshua and Kyle had two fishing derbies this weekend! One was Gene's company derby and the other was our lake association kid's derby...a full weekend event! Both the boys are in contention for a trophy from yesterday. They are out on the lake right now!

Kyle's 15 1/2" Walleye...this puts him in first place as it stands on the board right now!

Both the boys were on the board for their catfish caught yesterday in their age groups, but shortly after this pic was taken....they were both knocked out of third place.

Josh is on the board with his 8 1/2" perch!

Jello Cupcake Treats

2008-06-30T19:45:00.003-04:00

Happy Independance Day everyone! I have a great snack for all your get togethers for this upcoming weekend. These are sure to be a hit! I always requested this for my birthday cake as a child.

Jello Cupcake Treats
1 Pkg. French Vanilla Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines)
Water
Oil
3 Eggs
1 3 oz. Red Jello
1 3 oz. Berry Blue Jello
2 Cups Boiling Water
Cool Whip
Sprinkles to garnish

Mix & bake cake according to directions on the package. I made these into cupcakes but this is great as a 9x13 cake also and a bit easier to prepare. Cool cake for a few minutes. Boil water. Boil water while the cake is cooling. Mix 1 cup of boiling water with one pkg. jello. Poke holes into the top of the cake. I used a fork, but you can also use a toothpick. The deeper you poke the holes into the cake the further the jello will set. Pour jello over the top of the cake. (This was the hardest part for the cupcakes. It was a bit messy and sticky. But it's super easy as a regular cake) Refrigerate cake approx. an hour. Mix 1 cup boiling water with remaining jello. Once cooled, poke more holes into cake. Pour remaining jello over cake. Refrigerate until set (approx. 1 hour). Top with cool whip and garnish with sprinkles.

Birthday Rainbow

2008-06-22T11:02:00.001-04:00

Alright, I'll admit it....I cried on my birthday. Gene came home and told me that he had to go back into work at 8PM. Being that he just got home at 8:30 AM and needed sleep...that meant not alot of time to celebrate. I had to take Joshua to a friend's birthday party at noon. So I was bummed.

Gene did get up and took the boys to get me a birthday dinner (aka, pizza and steak subs) and a birthday cake. That was the extent of celebrating my 35th birthday. Gene left for work just as a really nasty thunderstorm was rolling in and all I could think was, "Great....now we'll lose power and I won't even be able to scrap tonight!"

Gene called from work around 8:30 to tell me that there was a phoned in report of a tornado touch down near the plant...he works in a flat glass production. Tornado=disaster. But luckily, it wasn't confirmed and there was no touchdown.

But the highlight of my birthday was this!

God knew I needed some cheering up!

Sassy Hair

2008-06-19T20:16:00.003-04:00

In celebration of my 35 years here on Earth....I decided to get a trendy haircut. I've really been liking the whole short in the back and longer in front trend and have seen some really cute hair on some of the other moms at baseball and school. So here it is....straight from the stylist. She straightened it for me. But I can wear this style curly also and she said I could flip the underside to make it a bit different.
So, what do you think?

After getting home and Gene's initial shock (I didn't tell him that I was going today to get it done) I think it's a keeper. We were sitting on the couch watching cartoons and Joshua came over and started "petting" the back of my hair. He was smiling. I think he really likes it....he just came up to me while I was typing and said, "Hey mom, I still like your hair." He's a keeper too!

Now that baseball season is winding down....I have so much to share and hope to be blogging regularly again.

Easter 2008

2008-03-30T16:32:00.003-04:00

I realized that I needed to post some of our Easter pics. We colored eggs the night before with an Aunt and two cousins.

This mess....

Produced these beautiful eggs...

That's Aunt Gina's beautiful artwork with Joshua's name....I couldn't find Kyle's for the picture.

Here are the boys with their baskets. They found them rather quickly even though the Easter Bunny thought he hid them cleverly.

They were so excited about their new boots and so was I! Joshua shouted, "Look! I got puddle boots!" These will definetely save me this coming muddy spring!

Before breakfast, the boys relaxed on the couch. I just loved how Joshua was clutching his new stuffed bunny friend he got in his basket. Kyle was playing the new Transformers game he got for his DS while Joshua watched over his shoulder. They were so peaceful and quiet....a Mom's dream!

I was pretty upset that we wouldn't make it to our family dinner this year. But Gene made a beautiful meal for us.

Gene was very thoughtful and brought home this wonderfully yummy Carrot Cake. I had mentioned a few weeks ago that a carrot cake for Easter would be nice. He's such a great husband!

After Gene went to work, the boys and I bundled up and headed out for our first GeoCache hunt. We didn't find the cache, but we did enjoy a beautiful Easter day out in God's Creation.
We seen these deer.

And visited a local tourist spot on the search for the clue to the cache.

New Tooth

2008-03-21T19:48:00.003-04:00

Early this morning, Joshua woke and was trying to tell me that he had a big hole in his mouth. At first thought, I was thinking that his first wiggly had fallen out while he was sleeping. But then when he opened his mouth and I got a closer look.

Here is what I saw:

Yup! His tooth is growing in behind his baby wiggler!

Spring Has Sprung!

2008-03-20T20:39:00.006-04:00

And to celebrate.....I created a new blog header!

Here is what we woke up to this morning. Not too spring-like, huh?

So....I just loved those tulips in the window and started to take a few shots of them. They were just gorgeous all fully opened. And I thought, what the heck! I'm sure someone could use these for something. Why not give them away on my blog?

So....Happy First Day of Spring to YOU!

*Link Removed*

I'll leave these up until Sunday, so snag them if you think you can use them! I'd love to see what you do with these, so please feel free to send me a link to your work. My contact info can be found within the zip file!

Happy Spring!!!!!

I Scrap!

2008-03-06T12:36:00.003-05:00

Yes, really I do! Look at the header up there....this is a scrap blog right? LOL!

I have started to consider myself a collector rather than a scrapper. Sad, really if you think about it. I picked up this sweet collection from Gina Miller & Amanda Rockwell called Shabby Papier.

Gorgeous isn't it? It looks a bit girly, but I assure you there is plenty in there to create "boy" pages as well.

So they have this scrap the stash contest going on right now and I couldn't justify getting that whole collection and not using it, could I?

So here is my first finished layout.

{Full Credits Here}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I also wanted to share my new March Desktop. Rarely do I put up anything other than the Shabby Princess Desktops shared on her Blog. They are always beautiful and have photo inserts for the kids pics.

But I came across this Rockin' one at a very Funky place and had to d/l it right away. Because it doesn't have photo inserts, I was able to use this at work as well. It just screams S-P-R-I-N-G! I smile everytime I sit down to my desk now!

You can pick this up for yourself HERE and be sure to leave them a little comment when you d/l!

Since I spent the morning scrapping, I better get something done around the house and get out of these comfy clothes. Gene will be home in less than 2 hours. LOL!

Have a great day and I hope the sun is shining where you are.

Spring is near....I can feel it!

2008-03-03T21:11:00.003-05:00

It was a gorgeous day here in NW Pennsylvania! Well, as beautiful as you can get in early March. The 12 inches of snow melted almost overnight and the temperatures....well I'll just let you see for yourself.

See that on the lower left hand corner. Yup...that's right 60 degrees at 7PM. That's a very big change from our 0 degree temps last week.

I had to work all day, but was able to get out of the office at lunch to enjoy the warmth. I even left my coat in the car. It felt kind of weird gathering my belongings to leave and not having to lug on my boots and zip up my coat.

Spring is right around the corner! Well....right after we have this winter storm tonight that is. LOL! Oh well....it was beautiful while it lasted. I'll take freezing cold as long as the sun is shining.

A Day of Remembrance

2008-03-01T20:31:00.003-05:00

Sorry there's no photos to go with this post today. I would have loved to get a picture of the beautiful bouquet and the roses and also the balloons we sent up to heaven with papa. But Gene specifically stated that this was not something to scrap. So I respected his feelings and didn't take the camera with us.

We planned to go to Papa's grave today and leave flowers with the boys. The florist gave me the idea to release a balloon with a note attached for each of the boys. We could tell them that the God will take the balloon and letter up to heaven to Papa. I loved the idea! Especially for Joshua, Papa has really been on his mind this past month. It's almost as if he instinctively knew that it's been almost a year.

Everything went wrong on the way to Papa's grave. I ordered flowers from my usual florist. She just recently opened up a second location and this new location was on the way to where we had to go, so I had her have the order there instead. Well, apparently she has employed a man who used to have a very successful floral shop in our area but since retired. I think he's lost his touch because nothing was ready when we got there to pick it up.

I ordered on Tuesday. It was supposed to be two red roses (one for each of the boys to place at the grave), two helium balloons and a small bouquet of flowers(for Gene and I to place at the grave).

He headed back to the cooler and asked me if they were going on a grave, then do I need greens. I thought he meant for the two rosebuds. I said no, it's just for the boys to have something to put there. He came out with a pink carnation, a sprig of yellow daisies, a bright red carnation, a sprig of burgandy flowers and put them all on top of each other. He then asked me, "This is going on a guy's grave, right?" I said yes. He got a wide long green ribbon and a thinner orange ribbon. Then tied them around the bunch and presented it to me. No bow, no baby's breath, no greens, no ribbon curling. Nothing. It was horrible looking. I don't usually complain, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings either, so I paid, left and got in the car.

Gene asked me how much they charged and I told him $10.70. He said, we could have done that ourselves for three bucks! I told him that we would put the roses on the grave and release the balloons with the boys letters to papa, but we were going to the other location where the owner was to show her and have her do something else. I mean it was that ugly. Gene didn't want to, since we were already late (he had to work this afternoon) I told him that this wasn't Shelly's work (the floral shop owner) and she needed to know what they were doing at this other location because it was her reputation.

Then we released the balloons. Kyle's went up free and clear. Joshua's brushed past the top of the ONLY tree branch in the area, popped, and hung there at the top of the tree. He started bawling and saying that, now papa wouldn't know that he loves him. Josh had written, LOVE and drew a heart on all four sides of the paper. Gene tried to reassure him that papa knew how much he loved him and started crying himself.

Of course it had to be Joshua's balloon that popped, not Kyle's. Kyle would have shrugged his shoulders and said, oh well....papa knows I love him. But it had to be Joshua's blue balloon.

So we went to grammy's house and I insisted on running over to the florist. I called her first and let her know that I wasn't happy with the flowers I was given. That it was just something I couldn't leave at the grave and we were pressed for time and I also needed another balloon because one had hit a tree and popped. It's a 10 min drive from where I was to the shop.

When I got there, she had a beautiful bouquet with three tulips, pink carnations, purple iris (I think), white and yellow daisies, a single red rose at the top and baby's breath and greens and a beautiful pale green ribbon bow with the ends curled slightly ready to go. It was gorgeous!

I handed her the flowers I was given at the other location and she said, "I can see why you wouldn't leave that at the grave. That's just WRONG! He should know better and we'll have a long talk." She thanked me for bringing it to her attention and wouldn't accept anymore money for the bouquet she made up and the third balloon.

The second trip to the grave went much better. We released Joshua's balloon in the field in front of grammy's house and watched it for a good 5 minutes. Josh had his hands up to his eyes and after a few seconds said, "It's going up to papa!"

Gene and I had a few minutes at the grave alone with the kids in the car. We placed the new bouquet at the headstone and just hugged. It was then that the tears hit me. I wasn't emotional at all until then. I guess when there is so much preparation it's hard to really be still and think about things.

So to sum things up. Be still and know that He is God. It's in those quiet, still moments that He is able to touch your heart. This is something that I've never understood fully. I'm just now beginning to understand the importance of taking quiet moments amist all the chaos and flurry of day to day life.

~Perspective~

2008-02-13T12:24:00.003-05:00

I've been nasty lately. Not nice, sometimes downright mean to others. AND I felt "justified" by circumstances. Anyone ever feel like that?

I've been less than understanding with a co-worker, impatient with the kids and Gene (DH), snapped at my mom on the phone (Sorry Mom!), and this morning was the climax of it all....I was horrible to someone I didn't even know WITH the kids in the car.

You see...I have to park my car near the building where I work because the parking lot slants toward the road. My blazer has a crazy little thing it does when you park on a downhill....it won't start with anything below a half a tank of gas. So, I pull into the parking lot this morning WITH the kids in the car because there was another two hour delay at school. Gene plows our lot at work....so I bring the kids in and he'll take them to school when the lot is plowed.

When I realize that off to the side where I usually park....another employee from the business next door has parked her blue car sideways taking up two parking spaces. There was another car parked behind her (the correct way). SO, being in a mean, grumpy mood I parked in the space next to it....directly in FRONT of her car. Good....I'm thinking to myself....now she'll have to get her co-worker to move so she can get out. That'll teach her. I "justified" it by saying it's rude of HER to park that way and this will teach her a lesson.

I proceeded to take the kids into the office and start the day. After Gene left with the kids, I told Dr. that I needed to go move my car because it wasn't very nice of me to leave it where I parked. But apparently she had gotten out and her blue car is parked next to mine correctly this time. So, I go back into the office and tell Dr. that apparently she moved already.

Then Gene calls and he mentions that HE moved the blazer (because he didn't think it was nice of me). When he opened the blazer door to get in....the lady with the blue car from the other office came out and he said he got a "look to kill" glare from her.

So....it doesn't hit me until lunchtime.....that maybe she parked that way because she got here early and didn't want to be in the way while Gene was plowing the parking lot.

I want to thank Kimberly Geswein for THIS (go ahead....click the link, it's well worth the time to read!) entry on her blog, who put this whole thing into perspective for me. Not only this incident, but the way I've been dealing with things over the past few weeks. It's all about "circumstantial joy". Thank you Kimberly, so much for your service to Him and sharing with us. I am humbled and off to go find the lady in the blue car to apologize.

Our View...

2008-02-10T09:28:00.000-05:00

from our front window. Totally amazing!

Kyle opened up the curtains when we heard the wind just howling outside like a freight train. This was his view.

He said, "Wow!!! I can't see anything!" It's pretty much a whiteout right now. Visibility is just a few feet in front of you. Here's another pic of our front yard looking out the window.

So, I guess I'll snuggle by the fire.....or maybe just stay in my jammies and scrap today. A new layout is L-O-N-G overdue!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor Kyle
Just a bit after the snowstorm pics...He broke out in HIVES!

After playing downstairs in the family room with the dog, I brought them up because it's just a bit too cold down there. I thought at first it was due to him and the dog playing around. His whole eye was red and started to look rough. As I looked closer, little bumps were forming at the corners of his eye and down his face. Then he showed me his arms....they were full of hives. Poor thing! I gave him benadryl and bathed him....just in case it came from the weeds outside while walking the dog this morning. He'll probably soon be a bit groggy. So he's in his jammies too!

Happy Birthday NANA!!!

2008-01-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

Here's some artwork straight from Joshua's pencil to you!
Front

Back

Front

Back

Don't mind the sghetti faces!

We love you NANA!

I hope you had a wonderful fun filled and PAIN FREE day!

SnowTubing

2008-01-12T09:40:00.000-05:00

We all headed up to our local snow tubing park and had a blast Thursday night! The boys loved riding down the hill. Even though my tailbone was still quite a bit sore from my fall last Friday, Gene convinced me to ride down twice....on my tummy! Lord, I was praying I didn't roll off the tube on down the hill on my back! LOL!

Funny thing was the tubing park was the ONLY place in our entire county with snow! They had two feet of the beautiful white stuff. And all of it was "made" by the snow guns. We've had some unusually high temps this past week all the way up to 65 degrees, but it dipped back down on Wednsday and they were able to create the snow hill for us to have fun on Thursday.

Here's the hill. You'll notice just beyond the lights.....all green grass! LOL!

Gene

Kyle

Joshua

And there's nothing like a good game of Air Hockey to complete the night! Joshua won!

No there's no pics of me! Gene didn't have the chance to pry the camera out of my hands!

Bad Blogger!!!

2008-01-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

I know I should come visit here more often! I promised mom that I'd drop by and share some photos of the boys. It's been awhile since I've shared anywhere. Mom asked if I was sharing my pictures somewhere else than my spot at DST. No mom.....I'm not hiding from you, ok? LOL!

Here's the boys when we put up our tree. They jumped right in the tree box and posed for the camera.

I promised I would share these little photo frames that I made up for decorating this year. I loved these and found them at Wal-mart for only $1.50 a piece!

Here's a few pics from Kyle's school concert. Always the comedian and Drama King he is. He kept hiding from the camera so the video didn't turn out so well. So much for telling him I was taping so Nana and daddy could see later.

Here is our tree on Christmas night. (Just after Santa visited)

I'm ashamed to say that I got absolutely NO photos of the boys dressed in their Christmas outfits or opening presents. But I'm going to take a different approach to scrapping the holidays 2007. I plan to take pics of each of us with our top presents "in use" and showcasing them on a "Year In Review" page. My own take on using a template like that. That's the plan anyway.

And with that.....Happy New Year everyone!!!

I'll be back soon to share some recent snow pics and Kyle's birthday pics. Just as soon as this poor tailbone will let me sit at the computer for a bit.

~Random Kiddie Stuff~

2007-11-21T21:56:00.000-05:00

Let me start by introducing you to one of our elementary schools yearly traditions. Every November, all students are sent home with a brown construction paper with a "turkey" outline traced. It's a family project to "dress" the turkey to help disguise it to get out of town before Thanksgiving. EVERY grade participates in this and it is so neat to see the creative results. As the turkeys are finished at home and start to trickle in, teachers post them outside their classrooms and pretty soon the entire school hallways are filled to the brim with fully dressed turkeys!

Kyle has done two turkeys so far and Joshua has always helped with the projects. Since Joshua started a new Pre-K program at the elementary school this year, he gets to participate with his own creation!

Joshua chose to do a Christmas Tree Turkey. We used green Floam.....ick!!! That stuff is so gross! Even Joshua said, "Eeeeww, mommy this stuff is gross!" and promptly went to the sink to wash his hands. So yes.....I had to finish spreading the "gross" floam myself! He decorated his "tree" with beads from our craft bin. And strung jingle bells on pipe cleaners for "garland". The presents I cut out of construction paper and he made "ribbons" using markers all by himself. He made the hat to top the turkey all by himself! I cut a star to put on the hat as a "tree topper" out of some decorative foil. He was so proud of his Turkey!

Joshua & Mrs. Blood hanging up his Turkey

Kyle's idea was much more "involved". He came home with the idea that his turkey was going to be "Elvis"!!! So I got a white scrap of fabric from the bin at Wal-Mart and cut out his outfit. Yes, I know I forgot the bell bottoms! Gene cut out the guitar and drew the "chest feathers". He also made the hair with sideburns from construction paper. Kyle decorated the outfit, belt & all with gold glitter glue. It was a hit for sure at school! His teacher got a kick out of the "chest feathers". And all the kids wanted to "play" the guitar. I only got a picture of his turkey laying on his desk, because his class was out when I delivered the turkeys.

I also wanted to share some handwriting samples. Joshua is in Pre-K and I'm amazed at how well he writes. I promised my mom I would share these. He has a little write-on & wipe-off book and he loves to sit and write. I use this when Kyle has homework and Joshua wants to "help" Kyle with it! Kyle gets so frustrated, so this helps to distract Joshua.

Last, I want to share some Turkey cooking instructions. Kyle's teacher had all the students write instructions on how to cook a turkey and photocopied all the students pictures and directions and sent them home in a little laminated book for us! It was so cute looking through all the kids writings and instructions. Here is Kyle's entry:
Front Page

Back Page

Sorry about the show through on the picture. The pages are very thin. But you get the idea. Notice on the second page that one of his directions is to say "gras" and eat the turkey? He was the only student who mentioned praying before eating. That sure makes this mommy proud!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I hope your day is blessed with love, family, and happy memories!

{Want Beautiful Eyes?}

2007-11-10T11:51:00.000-05:00

Then you need to head straight over to the FPD Blog!!!! Jaime has added a new photo tip that is absolutely stunning and will make your eyes in photos POP! It was so easy to do too!

I tried the technique on my 'lil Joshua's photo. He has such beautiful eyes, but rarely do you see it in photographs because they always appear too dark and do not show the light that's really in there. He has hazel, bits of brown, green and even blue flecks at times and they are gorgeous but my photos never were able to capture them. I was disappointed until I read the FPD blog and tried this:

Very rough makeover at this point....I'm still playing with the settings, but was awed by the results and it only took seconds to do!!!

BEFORE

AFTER

My oldest has beautiful blue eyes and I cannot wait to try this technique on some of his closeup photos!!!!

Thanks Jaime for helping me ROCK my photos!!!!

{Bird Kingdom}

2007-11-01T10:39:00.000-04:00

It was such a beautiful Fall day! We wore light jackets but decided to leave those in the car at the parking lot of Bird Kingdom. The ads say come early to experience the quiet rainforest setting before the waterfall starts. It was neat to be in the rooms with all the birds flying around. We moved to the nocturnal reptile area next.

My boys are daredevils....so when they seen this sign....it wasn't enough to stop them from looking down!

And here's what we saw down inside!

Within minutes of being in the atrium, this horrible (Harry Potter) large beaked bird flew down and smacked the side of my head. {see above pic} I read on this page that they are training some birds to swoop down and take food right from your hand or what's thrown up in the air. Maybe that is why I was nearly attacked 5 times by the birds in the free flying aviary??? I must have smelled good or something, 'cause 5 different birds swooshed past my head!!!

Wicked Parrots!!!

These parrots were so wicked! I understand now why they have such high perches. There is even a sign that says do not get too close to the parrots. The boys were trying to talk to them and apparently one took offense at Kyle, squaking and flapping his wings. Kyle ducked and ran behind Gene! LOL! So I guess there are still some things that will scare them after all!

Here are a few more random pics. The Java House is made completely of tongue and groove wood pieces. It was very intricate design on the inside as well as the outside. Very beautiful....the pic just doesn't do it justice! Inside we purchased some drinks and two cups of nectar to feed the lorakeets. There's a pic of us in the walkway behind the waterfall, hence the raindrops falling in front of us. And that toucan was AWESOME!!! The boys both spent a great deal of time "talking" to him. He made noises back to the boys. He perched on a tree branch right below where the sidewalk path the boys were on.

And then we were off to feed the lorakeets....

Kyle loved all the birds around him and he didn't even seem to mind that two had pooped down the back of both shoulders before we were done!

They allowed me to take my camera in and I was so glad that I captured these shots of Josh and Gene!

Yup, that one left a little "present" on the back shoulder of Gene's shirt too! I believe I was the only one who got out of the area without being "marked" by those birds. Unless you count being head swooshed, being marked by them! LOL!

Josh was laughing and giggling....all smiles! He LOVED the experience! Unfortunately, we were one of the first customers to fee the birds that day and they were a bit more hungry than we thought.

Once Joshua's cup of nectar was empty, one of the lorakeets scooped down and bit Joshua on the fleshy part of his skin between his thumb and forefinger. We didn't realize it had broken skin and had him rub the Hand Sanitizer they provide as you are leaving the lorakeet feeding station into his hands. He cried and fussed and once we got to the gift area it was bleeding in two spots! We picked out a frog stuffed animal for him to help comfort him. He didn't want anything to do with the stuffed birds at that point. The lady at the counter doctored up his boo-boo with some neosporin and a band-aid. He kept saying, "That wasn't nice of that bird, Mommy!"

After leaving the Bird Aviary, we strolled down to the falls. I captured some beautiful fall foliage and yes....the animals were not done with Joshua yet. But I'm gonna have to leave those pics and stories for tomorrow!

Credits: (In order of appearance in this post) Cocktail Hour Frame by Christina Renee, Wood Frame & Layered Polaroid from Signature Collection by Christina Renee, Aged Frame from Cocktail Hour by Christina Renee & Tag from Signature Collection by Christina Renee, French Knots by Amy Hutchinson, Piled High Cluster by Christina Renee, Vintage Frames by Jessica Bolton

We're back from Niagra Falls!

2007-10-29T19:32:00.000-04:00

It was fun....and we're tired! :lol:

Here's some pics...at the end I have a small video clip of the boys at the falls (yes that's me asking the kids questions!) I'll have the WHOLE story of our trip later!

Our Family

The Guys in front of the Falls

That's totally AWEsome!

Bird Kingdom

(Josh got bit!)

All frames by Jessica Bolton

Here's the boys experiencing the "Thunder"!

{Golf}

2007-08-18T16:29:00.000-04:00

I've been promising my mom that I would post this little video clip of Kyle. He is playing with the new golf clubs that my mom {nana} got for him during her visit.

Here you go MOM!!!

Click Me

Baby Nathan

2007-07-18T00:32:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to post my layout for today! I didn't think I'd get this done in time since I went back to work this morning and have been running all day. But the house is quiet and I had some time to relax and scrap.

I loved the story "behind" this photo so I knew exactly what I wanted to do to scrap this photo.

Full Credits for the layout HERE....and leave me some love!!! :-)
Journaling:

Joshua held Nathan for the first time on July 16, 2007. Just after I snapped this photo, grammy came in and asked, “Joshua, did you pinch that baby?”
To which Joshua replied with great big eyes, “NO! He pinched ME!”

We went to my SIL's for my nephew's birthday party and this was the first opportunity that the boys were able to hold their new little cousin. He shares the same birthday as my husband Gene. The boys were tickled pink to hold the baby. I couldn't resist some photos....even though little Nathan was NOT a happy camper!

Photo Frames are from Shadowed Frames Collection by Sarah VanDyke available at PDW

Life's a Beach

2007-07-15T20:45:00.000-04:00

We had fun at the beach....well, the kids did. LOL! Anything that involves dirt and seaweed and possible animal parts....leave me out. Yup! I'm a crystal clear pool kinda girl.

But the boys sure did have fun. The waves were coming in directly to shore. Which means that the sand was being gently moved that direction as well. So even though some of these photos "appear" that the boys are in the very far deep end....they both could still stand up and the water was only waist level on Joshua.

Here's some pics I took of them.....having a blast!

We just got our first assignment for the "Amazing DigiScrap Race II". We need to create a layout about a museum AND use the word Amazing somewhere on the layout. I have the perfect pics for the layout and hope to get that completed soon!

And I'll leave you with a layout that I just finished up for the CRD "CRAZY" Challenge.

The winner is.....

2007-07-15T13:25:00.000-04:00

.......ROW!!!

Thanks so much to all who left comments on my blog and emailed me guesses. Row was the first to correctly guess AND give me the name of the person the Hair belonged to! Don't run away too fast now....'cause I like to RAK alot and if you check back, I'm sure you'll find some interesting goodies or contests. It's so much fun to do!

Here's the pic that I took the closeup of:

And here's the layout I made using the photos I took yesterday. I used the new Sea Dreams page kit by Ann-Marie at Designs In Digital....she was so kind to RAK me with!

Ok.....I'm off to take the boys to the beach....for some crazy reason they wanna go play in the water in the hot sun! After all, it is summer right????

Can you guess what this is???

2007-07-14T19:45:00.000-04:00

I'll post the winner tomorrow morning (in time to shop the sales!) along with the full picture! So feel free to e-mail me with your guesses!

A cute little story.....

We were all sitting in the livingroom after dinner. Kyle was reading a Sports Illustrated magazine. I was lounging in the rocking chair. And Gene was laying on the couch....half pretending to sleep. Kyle looked over at me and said, "Mom, you should play this (finger pointing to a tennis ball in the magazine)" I said, "Why, should I play tennis?" He replied, "Well, 'cause Mom, softball......well.....(hand waves in a "No way" manner)

Gene opened his eyes and shot me a look......holding back a full blown laugh!!!!! The things he comes up with. One things for sure I can always count on him to be totally honest with me! LOL!
Ad Preview Credits:
Ultimate Background Coll. #1 by Nancy Comelab
DB Anna & DB Danielle by Darcy Baldwin

Stay tuned for the GC winner....

One Kit....many different looks!

2007-07-14T19:12:00.000-04:00

I have been on a scrapping frenzy this past week! I don't know what's gotten into me....but I have been all over the challenges the CRD (Christina Renee Designs) girls have been putting out this past week.

So, I know there has been a bunch of drama and I've been one of the quiet ones. I missed the first two challenge deadlines because I didn't have a chance to get the d/l's in time to complete the challenges, but that didn't stop me from submitting anyway for the AWESOME grand prize their giving away.....three months of FREE CRD goodies!

I was just glancing at my gallery and I'm quite amazed at the variety of layouts I've done. I've used the same kit as a basis for all these layouts and they all look so different. I used the French Countryside collab duo by Christina Renee and Shabby Princess for all FIVE layouts so far and I have to say that this kit is SO totally versatile!

Here's my layouts for each challenge so far!

Challenge One
Scraplift a CRD CT Member's Layout

Play Ball <~~~~Click for Full Credits

and here's the layout I lifted, Mr. Happy Pants by Hollie

Challenge Two
Scrap Outside the Box....no squares allowed! I had so much fun with this one and it inspired me to start this as a CD gift album!

Mama's Boy <~~~~Click for Full Credits

Challenge Three
Only One (we were only allowed to use one of each item on the page)
I have to confess....I'm a template user and I just couldn't find a template to use that would allow me to use just ONE paper....SO....I found a totally new way of scrapping. I chose a frame (or in this case a set of frames) and started from there. It was so much fun!

July <~~~~Click for Full Credits

Challenge Four
Then we got dirty and GRUNGY!!!! LOVED this!!!
Layers and layers and layers....OH MY!

Faces of Summer <~~~~Click for Full Credits

Challenge Five
A template Challenge.....well of course I jumped all over this challenge! And that yummy gold glitter was included in the template!

Silly Smiley Brothers <~~~~Click for Full Credits

Don't they all look so different and unique??? All but one of those layouts above use papers from the same kit. So only two more challenges to go.....I'm all for 'em!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a cute kidlet story....it's sure to make y'all laugh!!!! And there may just be a little GC giveaway here with a secret pic contest!!! Hint! Hint!

**wink**

I'm B-A-C-K!!!!!

2007-05-19T08:22:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited that I can finally check my email at home and maybe even get a little bit of scrapping done today!

Can you believe I actually survived a whole two months without a computer at home? I can't! But it's all good 'cause we're halfway through Kyle's baseball season, so it gave me a few great photo opportunities. Although I did have to monitor my camera use, because I had nowhere to d/l my pics to....eek! I just d/l 255 pics to the new computer.

Ohhhh, the new computer!!! It's heaven! After figuring out the quirks of Windows Vista, I think I'm beginning to actually like it! I have a Dell Dimension with 2 GB of RAM (WOW!!!) That's more than I've ever had and my d/l's fly at the speed of light it seems! It also has a 250 GB Harddrive which is VERY nice for all the CT kits I'm sure to be collecting real soon!

I have the day to myself today....both the boys have church/friend activities outside the house and Gene will be at work 1st shift....so I'm gonna be taking a bit of time to myself to get caught up, install my AC and PB actions and hopefully get a few scrap pages in.

And mom....as soon as I get those actions installed, I'm gonna get some of those pics u/l here for your viewing pleasure!!!

It's a GOOD DAY!!!

The concert was AWESOME!!!

2007-04-03T15:35:00.000-04:00

Well, the turnout wasn't what we had hoped. I think I heard someone say that the "unofficial" count was around 150 in attendance.

After helping in the kitchen to serve the bands dinner. I was asked to help run a merchandise table for one of the bands. I hesitated 'cause that's just too much pressure, but they told me that someone would be there to help also. I ended up running the Nevertheless merchandise table. The lead singer Josh (the guy with the red hair) gave us a quick rundown on how to operate the portable credit card processor and what the price was for the various items. I can't tell you how many times they all thanked me for helping out. Very polite, nice young men. I had them sign the back of one of their t-shirts (I'm wearing in the photo below) for the boys. I have a little picture...but I'm almost hesitant to even post it. After posing with all those skinny little guys I feel F-A-T! Ohhhh, alright, I'll post it anyway. Besides, weight is just a number right??

AJ, Adam, Brad, Me, Josh, & Adam

Because I was 0ut in the vestibule area taking care of a few charge cards while they were playing, I didn't get a chance to hear them play their song, "The Real".

But from what I heard outside the doors....they ROCK!!!

Check them out here: Nevertheless

And then came Storyside B! These guys are awesome as well! I got a bunch of pics of them playing. I was able to sneak away to hear them play one of my favorite songs. It was so neat to just be there listening and singing along with them live. Two of the four band members were wearing "Nevertheless" t-shirts while they played. I thought that was pretty cool!

I was able to be there for the song "Everything and More" and snapped these pictures.

Check them out here: Story Side B

After the group pic with Nevertheless, I was afraid to get a group picture with StorySide B, although I did have the opportunity. But I did have them sign a poster for my boys. Ron McClelland (pictured above playing guitar) signed to my boys Kyle & Joshua. I love what he wrote. I told him that the boys were tired and had to go home. I so wish I had kept Kyle with me to get pictures of him with the bands. He really did like the signed posters that I got for him.

I have a pink hoodie from Storyside B and this black/pink angel t-shirt. They all signed the back of my hoodie under the hood and across my shoulder. So has anyone seen Meredith Fenwick's newsletter freebie and DST's template challenge for April??? I think I have some pretty good material here for some neat layouts.

2007-04-02T13:07:00.000-04:00

Last night Kyle came in from taking the dog out before bedtime and told me he heard something in the boat. Unbeknownst to me, he had investigated and left the outer boat flap open. A bit later he was shining his flashlight from the bay window and said he saw "yellow lights" out on the boat. I told him it was just the reflection from the stickers on the side of the boat and took the flashlight to assure him....I was surprised to see a great big racoon staring directly into the flashlight beam. Two glowing yellow eyes...sorry didn't get a pic of that! I told Kyle that's what he probably heard when he was outside earlier.

Well....today a co-worker of Gene's was over with her three kids. They were playing in and around the boat. Kyle went to open the front boat seat....and that very same racoon was staring back up at him! The older girl screamed and Kyle dropped the seat closed. I grabbed my camera and went to take a picture of our "discovery" today. Gene lifted the boat seat so I could snap a picture and then closed the seat again. We heard it screeching a bit, so we thought it was startled by us investigating it's new "little home". We told the kids to stay back in case it got scared and tried to defend itself. We didn't want the kids to get bit or scratched in the process.

Gene lifted the lid one more time and the racoon was GONE!!! In it's place were four little babies. He closed the lid after I snapped a picture and we both looked at each other in amazement. The screeching we heard was the babies 'cause their mom took one of them with her (wherever she went) in an attempt to try to relocate them.

I guess the guys won't be doing any fishing on the boat for a few weeks!

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Well, tonight's the big night! We are hoping for a good turnout and that the Lord will touch the heart's of every young person in attendance.

Please keep us in your prayers 6-11 PM EST tonight! Thanks!

Storyside B & Nevertheless

2007-03-18T17:17:00.000-04:00

I got a really neat surprise at church last week. Two of the bands from Air1 will be coming to give a youth concert at OUR church! I was so excited when I seen this in the bulletin. The concert will be the first day of our Easter Break on a Monday evening....April 2nd.

Storyside B

Nevertheless

I listen to Air1 online at work and in the car to/from work. The kids even sing along to the songs. It's so excited that our small church will be hosting these two bands in just 2 weeks! We attended the planning meeting after services today. Gene volunteered to do outdoor security and I'm going to be working in the kitchen. The bands have their own "demand list" that we need to get together and then we'll be handing out bottled water and popcorn free of charge for the kids who attend the concert. I also volunteered to make the labels we'll be putting on the water bottles.

Labels:

I used Sarah VanDyke's Frames Vol. 5 for around the verse.

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14 NIV

We've arranged for Joshua to do a sleepover with grammy that evening. This will be Kyle's first concert. We are planning on paying for a ticket for our sitter and asking her to come along to help keep an eye on Kyle. Our youth minister estimates 350-500 kids will be here for the concert. So that's alot of lives that can be reached for the Lord.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2007-03-17T22:03:00.000-04:00

Nope no green beer here! Only some leprachaun pudding with gold dust sprinkled on top and the traditional corned beef and cabbage. When we went to put it in the crockpot this morning, there was NO seasoning packet inside the bag. Though it advertised there was one! Gene to the rescue again! Whatever he used to season it....turned out so delicious! I'm looking forward to some Rueban sandwiches for leftovers. The kids even ate the cabbage with totally shocked me!

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I was a little bit lazy today, but I did manage to get all the "junk drawers" in the kitchen sorted, cleaned and organized. I'm so proud of myself for that! You don't know how long we've stabbed ourselves with pushpins while rooting through the drawers looking for something. LOL!

Grammy-Gram's tulips have finally emerged! And then....the snow hit and BURIED them! I thought this layout was appropriate for today!

Hint 'O Spring

For full credits go HERE

I hope your weekend is a great one!

St. Pat's Day SNOW!!!

2007-03-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

Yes...we got the traditional St. Patty's Day snowfall today. We now have about two inches on the ground now and it's still coming down. Quite a contrast...considering Tuesday it was 70 degrees and sunny....I think I need to move to a warmer climate. 'Cause just having the sun shining and being able to open up our sunroof was such a mood lifter!

I have a quick layout to share with you all. I shared pics of everyone with Duchess except for myself. I'll admit....that's 'cause I didn't have a good one I'd be willing to post on the web yet. LOL! But here we are....she's so tired of posing...so I just had to add that cute caption above her.

This was done using Merkee's "Colorful Silliness" Kit and it was so much fun working on this. It's so outside my box. I also used Merkee's Tape Fun, Frames & Alpha. Link to full credits HERE

Forget new furniture and carpeting....

2007-03-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

She's here and she's SO adorable!!! Just don't let those eyes and cute face fool ya though....she packs ALOT of mischieve into one little furry body. She's ALL paws and legs....you should see her try to walk down the stairs....it's hilarious. She's a beauty though and we are so blessed to have her.

Within minutes of being home....she had found one loose edge on the berber carpeting in the livingroom and thought tug of war was in order. LOL! Let's see....she chewed the wing off of the cats toy, peed on the carpet 8 times and did #2 twice already in the house. She tried to play tug of war with Joshua's jeans that were left laying in the middle of the livingroom floor. She chewed a lego....which she dug out from UNDER the couch....and found the remote in the cushions of the couch(Gene loved that one! LOL!) She likes to jump up on you....and the kids like to fall to the ground and let her nibble on them! A habit we are trying to break ALL THREE of them on!!! LOL!

So, we took our first walk tonight and she sure does pull. I don't think she's been outside much, because everything seemed to catch her attention. She's definetly a "water dog" and a "garbage dog". She'll find a piece of rubbish in the oddest places and pick it up in her mouth, UGH!!!

She has a nose for a mile long....very good sign for hunting! So without further ado....I present to you........Duchess.

She seems to enjoy when Gene lays on the couch...she cuddles right up to him.

That's her favorite toy...a pink stuffed bow with a small squeaker inside.

The boys just love to play with her!

Here she is waiting outside the bathroom. She wanted to get into the tub with Joshua. He got out of the tub and shooed her out, then closed the door so she couldn't get back in to the bathroom. I snapped this picture just after I re-opened the door. She was so cute, just sitting right outside the door patiently waiting for him to be done.

I'll get some better pics tomorrow....hopefully outside with better lighting. Night!

PHEW!!!! Taxes are D-O-N-E!!!

2007-03-13T14:46:00.000-04:00

As much as I didn't want my purty little pup pic pushed down...I just had to share the excitement and relief of my accomplishment today!!!

I'm DONE with our taxes! All we need to do is hit the SEND button. I'm waiting for Gene to come home and review them, plus we'll be using his card to pay for them...no way am I paying an extra $30 from our return just to have them deduct their fees from the auto return. I used Turbo Tax online for the past two years to do our taxes.

Since I had the candy wrapper business, I thought it was the best way to go and it sure did us good last year. Found all kinds of deductions that I wouldn't have known to take. I freaked out a few Sundays back....I think late Jan/early Feb. I thought I'd surprise Gene and quick finish/file the taxes before I went to church that morning. Gene came home from work and I was still in my PJ'S!!! Mind you....it was around 5 PM!!! I was in tears.

I had to tell him that we owed $2,000 + for our state taxes. For the life of me....I couldn't figure out why and I wasn't going to file until I could get it right. He laughed at me(Gee....thanks, all that stress and tears and you laugh at me????) He told me, "Honey, it's gotta just be a mistake somewhere, you'll figure it out." Yeah, ok....nevermind I spent the whole day lookin' for the "mistake" and even missed church because of it. LOL!

Well....he hinted today that the taxes really needed done. He's counting on the federal refund to get some things done. Yeah, ok, um-hummmm, I know! So, I came home from work and sat down with my nose to the grind stone.

HURRAY!!!! I finally found the mistake.....I didn't enter our State Tax withholding!!! Yeah, I know....silly me. The reason I didn't notice that before is because I didn't even make it to the end of the State Tax review....where it shows your "bottom line". LOL! I was watching that nifty little box they have in the top left corner that calculates your refund/tax amt owed as you work through your return. I guess I must have panicked....'cause that little box was in the red the whole time and wouldn't go below $2,000 that we would owe!

Now....when I look back at it...yeah I can laugh! Now please don't hold these blonde roots against me....ok???

Our NEW Weim Baby!!!

2007-03-09T19:45:00.000-05:00

Ok...she isn't here yet....but I have these pics from her current owners and so excited, that I didn't want to wait to show her off. So here she is! They've been calling her Duchess and I kinda like that name...so we're gonna keep it!

Ain't she purty??? Gene will go take a ride to pick her up after Kyle gets on the bus for school this Wednsday.

I searched the net for two days looking for a female pup. She came at a reasonable price...$350!!! The owners bred to keep her and run her in field trial competition. But the guy who has her had a neck/back injury and isn't able to get the litter of pups in the field. They are 12 weeks old now and he wants them to get good homes.

We are SO excited!!!!

Weimeraner Puppy WANTED!!!

2007-03-07T13:07:00.000-05:00

Oh, y'all...I'm so heartbroken.

We had to give up our five year weimeraner that we got just this past Thursday...a few hours after my FIL passed away. He was a great distraction and comfort to the boys for a few days, but the past two days he became WAY too aggressive with both the boys. Lashed out at both of them. Finally, after biting my oldest son's finger and drawing a bit of blood and knocking him to the floor...we had to send him back to his original owner.

My oldest was crying, balling that now he was afraid he'll forget about Papa, because the dog looked almost identical to my FIL's dog. Both the boys are taking it hard and we are on the search for a weimeraner pup.

We prefer a female, as they are less dominant and hyper as they grow out of the puppy stage.We've owned a weimeraner in the past, so we are very familiar with the breed. My husband was also raised with them and he would be interested in one for hunting purposes as well.

Due to the kids being so young, we have to get a pup, so they can grow up together.

Anyone know of some good resources?

I've tried searching online with limited results.

A new addition and a loved one gone...

2007-03-03T14:06:00.000-05:00

We have a new addition to our family! His name is Expo and he is a five year old male weimeraner. We called a few days ago from an ad in our local newspaper.

He was free to a good home.

Here he is with Joshua holding the leash. We had arranged to pick him up Thursday evening. That was before we knew all the events that would happen that day.

He came into our lives just hours after Papa passed away and left our lives.

We got the results from Kyle's chest X-Ray....he has bronchitis. Nothing we can do, but let it run it's course. The fever did break finally Thursday afternoon! But he's been running a low grade temp since then. Funny thing is...I have a cough just like him and can't shake this YUCK feeling. Hmmmmmm.......

So, I left Kyle with daddy to take a nap...they'd both had a long night/day. I took Joshua to go pick up Kyle's schoolwork for the days he's missed, take back some movies, and to the local dollar store to pass some time. I forgot my cell phone in my car and we browsed through the store. I didn't even realize that Gene was desperately trying to get hold of me. As I pulled up in front of the video store the phone rang and he said didn't they give you the message at the video store? I asked, no why? Because I need you home now, dad's dying. OK....the only thoughts through my mind were....if he doesn't make it there in time....it's all my fault for not having the phone with me. So a carefree excursion with Joshua, instantly turned into a race against time to get home so Gene can get to his dad's bedside.

He made it and had time to tell Bud that he loved him and would take care of mom. That I loved him and said goodbye and that the kids said they loved him and goodbye. He nodded his head each time. He was coherent, since they hadn't given him any morphine since Gene had left that morning. He stopped swallowing and they were unable to give him anything by mouth. A morphine pump was on order, but not installed yet. Gene and my sister-in-law Regina, were holding his hands as he took his last breath. Gene's youngest sister, who is 5 months pregnant, did not make it in time to be there when he passed. She lives almost a 45 min drive away.

He called me at 6 PM to tell me that Bud had just passed away.

The boys are having a difficult time dealing with Papa being gone. Kyle is quiet and introverted. Very sad and doesn't want to talk about it at all. Joshua is angry, frustrated and acting out. Gene is being so strong for me. I'm just falling apart and he seems to know just what to do or say.

Last night, we all had just about had enough. The boys were fighting. Joshua just wanted to be with Kyle and he only wanted to be alone. So it ended up that Kyle yanked Joshua off his bed and he fell on the floor smack on his head. I was on the pbone with my mom and Gene had the do outside at the time. When I figured out what had happened...I put my arms around them both as Gene stood behind me and told them...I know this is hard on you....it's hard on all of us....and we need to pull together and think of each other's feelings.

Gene sensed I needed a break and called our sitter. He totally surprised me and we went to see the movie "Wild Hogs" last night. Very good timing for us. The movie was very funny and had us laughing most of the way through it. We both needed the comic relief and for a few hours it took our mind off things.

I'm SO not ready to say goodbye. We went to Kathy's for dinner tonight. After the kids left the table, Kathy asked me if I wanted to go and say goodbye to Bud before they close the casket tomorrow. It wasn't a total surprise to me. Gene told me when he got home Thursday I would have the opportunity to see him before they closed the casket if wanted. Being that we were all sick, I didn't have the opportunity to say goodbye before he passed and I needed to stay with Kyle when he was dying so that Gene could go and be with him. I really wanted to be there. It's Bud's wishes to have a closed casket so I wasn't going to go. But Kathy when Kathy asked, she said she was going tomorrow in the early afternoon. I felt like she wanted someone to be with her and told her I would go.

I broke down tonight and told Gene, I'm not ready to say goodbye. It's going to be so hard tomorrow. I'll be going right after church to the funeral home for a private viewing and then the calling hours are 7-9PM. We'll be there at 10AM for calling hours and the funeral at 11. Our minister will be doing the ceremony. Then there will be a full military burial immediately after. They will do a 21 gun salute and taps with a flag presentation.

I'm not sure I can handle that. I feel so bad that I can't seem to keep it together, especially for the boys. I told Gene tonight, How can I help them feel better if I don't feel any better?

Please pray as this will be a very difficult few days.

One Week....

2007-03-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

I'll probably be adding some layouts that have taken me forever to get finished up later, but for now just a little update.

We are just now getting over the flu. It took it's toll on the whole family. I was the last to come down with it and let me tell you I fought it the whole way. Today is the best I've felt since Sunday night. I had to rush Kyle into the doctor's today. He'd been running a fever all night of 102 degrees, at least that's what OUR thermometer said. By the time I got him to the office, they told me his tem was 103.9 degrees. They tested him for strep, but it was negative and they took a chest X-Ray to be sure he doesn't have pneumonia. We're still waiting on the call from the office about the results for that.

Gene spent the night last night at his dad's. The first since he's been over the flu. It was a long night and late/early morning they had to call the hospice nurse to come out because Bud couldn't swallow. He's refusing to have an IV or to go back to the hospital at all. He can't talk or communicate very well, but he understands and can hear when you talk to him. There is a hospital bed in the livingroom now to help keep him comfortable.

Gene came home in tears....they said it will probably be only a week longer before he's gone. Without being able to swallow fluids, he'll dehydrate and he won't allow them to take him to the hospital for an IV therapy.

After Gene left the house last night the kids and I watched a movie and when it was over, Kyle had a tear in his eye. I asked him why he was crying and he said he was thinking about Papa. He didn't want to talk around his little brother, so I took him back to my room. He said, "I know Papa is very ill." Red faced and teary eyed, "And I'm just hoping he gets better." I couldn't help, the tears just came and I told him, "I can't promise you that papa's gonna get any better, honey. He's very sick and probably won't get any better."

I read him the story that a friend of ours in church mailed to us this week. "Waterbugs and Dragonflies" I would highly recommend this book. The story gave Kyle some comfort and he knows papa is going to a better place and won't be able to come back to tell us where he's gone, but we'll be able to be with him someday again.

I said, "See Kyle, we will miss Papa, but he'll be waiting for us and we'll see him again." Kyle said to me crying, "Yeah, but I'm only seven, so it will be a long time for me." How do you answer that? I just hugged him. He wants to see Papa to say goodbye. But that is against Papa's wishes. He didn't want the kids to see him this way. We are going to arrange for him to talk to Papa on the phone to say one last goodbye when Gene goes over tonight to be with Bud again. Hopefully this will give Kyle some peace with the whole thing.

One surprise....we're getting a puppy!!! Well, not really a puppy....he's five years old and he's a weimeraner. So for that breed...if you know that breed....it's a REALLY BIG PUPPY! He's housebroken and been to training school with pure breed papers. His previous owner had a male/female and is moving to a place where he can't have them. The female is spoken for, but the male they can't find a home for, so WE'RE IT!!! Gene spoke to the lady last night. Hopefully we can bring him home tonight. The kids know there is a big surprise, but not what it is. They keep guessing, Chuck E. Cheese, a new PS2 game, a kiss??? I just keep telling them....nope BIGGER than all of that!

So hopefully tomorrow, or late tonight, I'll have pics of our new "addition" and some layouts completed!

Bye for now!

Downhill Spiral...

2007-02-24T13:58:00.000-05:00

It's been a really eventful week. Kyle had his Blue & Gold Banquet last night for his cub scouts and has earned his bobcat and tiger cub badges. I was presented with two "mom's pins" for Kyle to pin on me and Gene received a certificate of appreciation for support. They even gave Joshua a framed Certificate of participation, which was so cute, since as they were awarding the badges to the tiger cubs, Joshua was up front with us and he kept saying, "Don't forget about me!" The crowd giggled, it was too precious. I was completly unaware that they had a certificate for Joshua and he was so proud of it!

I'm so very proud of my little Tiger Cub!!!

Ok, can't resist....one more photo of Kyle!

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Now for the rest of the week....which isn't very good news at all. After returning home from the banquet, Joshua went to bed fully dressed and immediately fell asleep. He awoke at 11PM crying sitting up in his bed. Poor thing had vomitted all over his bed and he was trying to get his dress shirt off but couldn't get the buttons undone. Gene has a VERY weak stomache and could barely gag his way through the clean-up. We'd just gotten Joshua in clean sheets and jammies laying on the couch resting when my mother-in-law called.

I knew it was bad, because it was 12:30 AM. She asked to talk to Gene and needed him there immediately because Bud wouldn't settle down. He was agitated and pacing...or trying to anyway. By the time Gene got there the hospice nurse was there and they had doubled his morphine in an effort to try and calm him down and get him to rest. Gene spent the rest of the night with him, mostly up because Bud just didn't know where he was and was hallucinating. Gene called me from work this morning and told me that he had a rough night with dad. He's not used to seeing him that way and at one point the only thing he could do was to hold him and let him know someone was there that he knew and cared about him. I know this is so hard for him. I feel the end is nearing fast and I'm so unprepared for what will happen next.

I felt it necessary to sit Kyle down and tell him that Papa has cancer and that he is very sick and probably won't get any better. Kyle understood that Papa would go to heaven if he dies and didn't say much other than that. He tends to bottle things and keep them in when they bother him, so I pray that he will be at peace with all that is going on. Kyle has not had a chance to go over to show Papa his Pinewood Derby trophy and the video of his races yet, because he came down sick with the flu early Thursday morning and we wanted to be cautious and keep whatever it is going through the kids away from Bud. Now I'm afraid that Kyle won't get a chance to share that with Bud.

My mother-in-law told me this afternoon that it's too much for one person to care for him at this point and they are looking into getting a hospital bed for the living room to help keep him resting. So Gene, will probably be spending more nights over there and it will make it rough for him physically and emotionally.

Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for wisdom, strength, courage and peace during all of this.

We have a winner......

2007-02-21T19:45:00.000-05:00

FINALLY!!! After two cancellations due to bad weather, Kyle's cub scout pack held their Pinewood Derby last night. Kyle was so nervous...in the car on the way to the meet, he was so quiet and withdrawn you woulda thought we were headed to a funeral.

Here's a pic of his car

He had so much fun racing! Here they are at the weigh in....a perfect 5 ounces!

Kyle's car won 10 out of 13 heats and most of the time his car was well ahead of the pack!

Censored Tools by Merkeley Designs
Gene brought his old "winner" from his racing glory days and the pack let them have a "Father/Son" race. Of course, Daddy's car won, though it was a VERY close....almost TOO close to call race!

Kyle took Third Place overall out of 31 cars!!! He was so funny, raising his trophy above his head like a nascar pose! So......that means he gets to advance and race at the BIG council race in March!

And here's the four trophy winners....look at Kyle enjoying the spotlight! LOL!

And finally the Winner's Circle!!! Complete with the parents....please forgive my poor pathetic pic...I'm in desperate need of a haircut/coloring and wasn't expecting to be having my picture taken by any means.

This Friday is the Blue & Gold Banquet....so Amy....we better get cracking on that kit! LOL!

My Heart is breaking....

2007-02-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here in tears as I type this. My father in law is not doing well at all. He is at home now. I took the boys to see him this past Saturday. At first, Joshua was a bit afraid and wouldn't even look at papa. But I told him to show papa the space star he made with the tinkertoys and he took it over. Bud(FIL) was able to open his eyes and admire it. He put his fist out for Joshua to "bump" it....their version of a high five. And Joshua did, then arm wrestled papa with his arm up to his chest. Bud pretended that it was stuck and he pretended to cry (his voice was so raspy that it seemed he really was crying.) I'm so thankful that the boys had this bit of time with their papa.

It was all I could do to keep from crying...I know if the boys weren't their I would have busted out in tears. Bud would have his eyes open...then he'd appear to just fall asleep and his eyes would roll and his toes twitch.

They put him on morphine yesterday for the pain and last Friday he signed a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order. Hospice instructed Kathy(MIL) to call them if anything should happen and NOT to call 911 or an ambulance. He won't chew his mint anymore (he was trying to stop the tobacco chew) and he doesn't want coffee anymore.

I think the reality of it all is setting in with me now. Though I knew this day would come, it's still hard. This seems to be all happening way too fast. I'm trying to stay strong for Gene (DH), but it hurts so bad that he won't talk to me and I'm sad too.

We could really use all the prayers you have.

2007-02-04T17:48:00.000-05:00

I have music in my heart and wanna share it with you!

This month's scripture was actually chosen two months ago. I used this month's Challenge Kit that you can receive by completing four seperate challenges this month at DigiScrapShak! This Scripture challenge counts towards one of those four required layouts.
You won't wanna miss this kit....it's FABulous!!!:clap

This month's scripture is:
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19
Here is the beautiful word art that Carole Neale has prepared for you. Be sure to click the download link [URL="http://www.4shared.com/file/10052463/37e39bf0/CaroleNeale_FebScriptureChallengeWordArt.html"]HERE[/URL] (the picture below is only a preview web size only)
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/sondie/caroleneale_FebruaryScriptu.jpg[/IMG]

You may use the word art or choose to include the scripture in some form on your layout for the challenge.

And here is my example layout using the Challenge Kit and this month's Scripture Word Art
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/sondie/Heart-Sing_web.jpg[/IMG]
You can find complete credits [URL="http://www.digiscrapshak.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=14055&limit=recent"]HERE[/URL]....and leave me some Love if you wanna....I would really appreciate that! ;)

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!

2007-01-23T07:56:00.000-05:00

A very special Happy Birthday for my MOM!!! I made this specially for you and I hope you like it!

Full Credits can be found HERE

I hope your day is a Blessed One!!! And many Healthy, Happy days to fill the year!

Looking forward to the New Year!

2007-01-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a really crazy week here....with aLOT of behind the scenes work on various projects I'm doing for CT commitments. I've been organizing things on my computer and even started using a dayplanner to keep things on track.

But I wanted to check in and show you a few of the things I've been working on so far....scrapping wise!
Here's the first layout I've done since before Christmas! Can you believe that! Yeah....the holidays really kicked my butt! LOL!
I used some new things and an older kit by Merkeley Designs for this. At first glance it may appear to be a Valentine's layout, but this is a different kind of Love Affair! LOL!

Full credits can be found HERE

And here's what I'm working on now...I am absolutely, positively in LOVE with these new stitching thingies from Claudia Campbell!

Find this set HERE! There's four sets in all!

AND good news they are on sale.....as well as everything in the DSS store, but hurry today is the last day for this TWO day Blow Out!

Yup....you read that right! ALL PhotoBlast actions are on SALE! So stock up now!!!
Here's a preview of one of John's latest actions....
featuring my own 'lil Josh in the preview ad! These are new actions coming to the DSS store SOON!

So here's how I used those stitches in an uncompleted(as of yet!) layout. The picture used below is circa January 1956 and is one of the VERY few heritage photos that are in my possession! I got this from my MIL. I'm not quite sure who is pictured in the photo, but they are related to my FIL. Kyle had a project to do at school. They are doing a sock hop and learning about the 50's. They had a one page interview to complete by asking 5 questions from someone who was there in the 50's. My MIL sent home three vintage photos and I can't wait to get them scrapped! I chose to use Amy Cheeseman's latest paper pack, LuAnn's Space because of the rich textured colors and don't those stitches just ROCK that page???

Look for the completed layout in a gallery near YOU soon!

I'm gonna make this a short"er" post, but before I go, I wanted to give you an update on my FIL, Bud.

Thank you all for your thoughts of concern and care. DH, Gene went over to his parents after work last night and the oxycotin they have him on is making him loopy. He dozes in and out of sleep and sometimes doesn't speak coherently.

He can't talk for more than a few seconds without running out of oxygen. We are waiting for a second procedure to drain his lungs with the help of radiology this time to watch where the catheter is traveling. He will be admitted this time for the procedure. It's not scheduled until the 18th...which seems relatively soon, but we have our doubts that his body will keep up until then. My SIL had to go over and shave him yesterday because he couldn't do it himself and DH said that it might come down to him spending a few nights a week there to help out with his care.

Please please please pray for his soul....above and beyond his physical needs...it's his heart that I am concerned about.

Thanks again...It really helps to know there are so many praying for him and our family at this difficult time!

AND....one last thing....as soon as I get some of my CT commitments completed, I'm so excited to design another little freebie for y'all...including the lowercase alpha to match the blue glitter I gave away last week!

TTYL!

Just a quick note today...

2007-01-03T13:32:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to say a quick thank you today to all of you who've left me such warm fuzzies here on my blog concerning the glitter alpha. I plan to make the "sequel" soon. I'll be busy working on the DSS newsletter as well so it may be a few days before I can get it done and uploaded but be on the lookout for it!

I'm a bit out of sorts today and I'm having a hard time trying to find the words to go along with what I feel. Gene and I found out today that my father-in-law(Bud) has lung cancer. He's in good spirits still with hope for a good outcome, but for us kids it's a bit devastating. With four grandchildren who adore him and a new grandchild on the way, please keep us in your prayers. I know this will be especially difficult for my husband, Gene. Neither of us has lost a parent yet. Bud's been ill for quite awhile now(heart, diabetes and COPD), but even now it's hard for reality to set in.

Here's a pic of Bud with Joshua a few years ago

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and your prayers!

Should I do it again???

2007-01-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

Me thinks the alpha is a hit! Anyone interested in a matching lowercase, numerals and punctuation? Leave me a comment if you are interested. If there is enough response, I'll get started working on them.

A LightBulb Moment

During prayer time last night, I started thinking why am I so unhappy? God answered my question in this way. Sondie....it's not about you....it's about me. Well, to some who don't know the Lord that may sound selfish. But with all that I have been through, I know that he will never leave my side....even when I falter and lose faith. He's been there every step of the way with me. I just need to trust and OBEY....ok the first part I've "kind of" got the hang of....but I guess the second is sometimes so hard to do. I mean it's not that I don't WANT to obey....sometimes I just find myself doing things that I shouldn't and it makes me feel like I've failed. It's a vicious cycle really....try to be good...mess up...fail...and then the guilt sets in. Except...I know the guilt isn't from the Lord and that's where the cycle can be broken. I need to begin to see myself the way God sees me....with His love and mercy. I will continue to follow in faith and trust the Lord that he will guide me.

So with that I claim this verse and hold it in my heart:
for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
but the wicked are brought down by calamity.
Proverbs 24:16

Happy New Year!!!!

2007-01-01T21:29:00.000-05:00

Hmmmm, I wonder how many blogs have that heading today???

Well, we had a very low key New Year here. Gene called me from his work at midnight to wish me a Happy New Year and I gave him an audible New Year Kiss. LOL! Then followed the kids lead and went to bed. They didn't make it to midnight. Nope no sipping champagne and eating pork for me last night. But that's ok, I'm gettin' pretty used to spending the New Year alone. That's the life of swing shifts I guess.

My mother-in-law's birthday is the 1st. So we always head over there and celebrate with a little cake and a gift picked out by the boys. Then we came home for a pork and sauerkraut dinner with Gene and now I blog.

It's been quite awhile. We had a good Christmas. The boys got pretty much what they wanted and it's kept them quite content this past week. My Holiday Blues/Stress.....still hasn't seemed to left yet and I wonder if it's turning into that seasonal depression.

But I just know that 2007 holds many blessings and good tidings so I'm holding onto that for now!

Part of my New Year's resolution (for the record don't like to make resolutions....they just don't seem to stick for me!) is to get organized both digitally AND at home. I've realized that me and the kids just can't cope without a good solid schedule and the way we do things now at our house is work around Gene's work schedule. Some days he works 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shift and some days he's home. I think that it would be good for me to set some certain things regardless of his work schedule and if he can join us that's great but if not at least the kids and I have some solid ground to stand on. Things like meal times, bed times, certain daily activities. I know this makes me sound like a horrible mom not having these things already done with a 7 and 4 year old. I feel like things have just gotten away from me and we pretty much do what we want, when we want. It will be quite the adjustment, but I think in the long run it will be much better for our body, healthwise and our mind and spirit to have a set schedule.

I have organized my CT requirements today, to get things ready for this new organization thing. I have a folder for all my CT layouts and assignments and inside is a monthly folder. Inside the monthly folder is an individual folder for each CT I participate in and I have the requirements and assignments in a book at my desk. This will help keep me on track and help me set some goals that I can actually achieve!

If you are thinking of scrapping goals be on the lookout for an article to be published in this month's DSS newsletter, written by Tina Busick! She did a wonderful job and I'm sure you all will be inspired by some of her thoughts and ideas.

Ohhh, and did I mention Kyle had a birthday Saturday??? Yup, he turned the big SEVEN!!! I can't believe that it was 7 years ago today that I held him in my arms at the hospital. Now he's so big and opinionated!!! We had a small party with just family to celebrate. The party for friends he decided would be a small sleepover with five chosen friends rather than a big Pizza Hut party for all his friends. We decided that it wasn't a good idea to try and do that on a weekend that Gene is working midnights.....so will be doing that sometime soon.

Gene's sister always does the kids birthday cakes and this year Kyle's theme didn't change any! LOL! He wanted an army camoflauge cake but he did have a very special request for barbed wire frosting. And she pulled it off! Look at that adorable barbed wire trim on the edges.

Here he is in all his glory with his new birthday gift!

That's Cabela's Dangerous Hunt II in his hand. Against my wishes for a seven year old, but apparently my vote isn't the only one that counts! LOL!

And here's Josh crashed in his new "big boy" bed complete with new SpongeBob Sheets and comforter. Finally, the first night he'd actually sleep in it!

Grammy got these for him for a Christmas Gift and delivered the new bed (passed down from Grammy-Gram...Gene's Grandma who's passed on) and new mattress and box spring the following day after Christmas. It took us two nights to finally get him to sleep in it. Apparently, it's a big step up from the little tikes toddler bed he'd been used to sleeping in every night.

And since I was told by my mom to upload more pics this morning....here's one just for you MOM! The scene early Christmas morning...approx. 2 AM. May not look like much under that tree, but there's tons there trust me! LOL!

I made y'all a freebie! I wanted something cheerful and fresh and have worked on this during this past week off and on. I wanted to add more but time just will not permit.

Download Here

And with that everyone....I'll sign off! I hope you enjoy the alpha and find it refreshing and inspiring for your scrap pages!

Brain Mush

2006-12-23T21:20:00.000-05:00

Can someone tell me how to get rid of this brain mush I'm going through??? I want to be happy and joyful for Christmas for the kids and Gene, but I feel so icky! My scrapping inspiration has gone out the window this past week. Even though I have some really cute pictures to scrap....I just don't feel like doing it.

Our holiday shopping is done. All the stocking stuffers, gifts and food for Christmas dinner is purchased. I'll be wrapping the rest of the gifts tonight after I get done writing here. I just feel like something is missing. I'm so unmotivated and it's driving me NUTS!!!! I was hoping to finish up a paper pack and have it posted for Christmas, but even that isn't coming along like I wanted.

Anyone have a sure fire cure for the Holiday Blues???

OK.....enough yucky talk....I wanna share something that I think is pretty cool and I'm hoping you will think it is too!

I posted this thread at DST today. I seen a gift at a baby shower a few years ago and instead of purchased curled ribbon and a bow, the lady had made a matching curled ribbon bow from the leftover paper scraps! I know I have tons of little scraps of wrapping paper leftover when I'm wrapping that just isn't able to wrap another gift and I hate to waste and throw those scraps away. So of course, I posted a thread at DST and Amber (Amber1279) linked me up to these blog instructions!

You've just gotta see this tutorial! I hope it helps save some trees this Christmas AND your pocketbook on all those extra toppings for your gifts!

(Picture from Zoey, Perrenial Passion Blog. Click image to see the tutorial on her blog)

Thanks for reading and I hope you like that tip! Now it's off to wrap all those presents!

Merry Christmas!

Gift Cans

2006-12-21T18:23:00.000-05:00

Remember awhile back I mentioned that LuAnn(wildblueeyez) had created a gallon paint can label set using Carole Neale's "A Doodly Christmas" page kit? Well, here are my finished pics FINALLY!

Unwrapped so you can see the detail

Both Teacher Cans Wrapped

Pssst....Carole's still got the labels up for grabs on her blog....so go get 'em while you can!

These made really nice gifts for the teachers because I was able to fill them with things they can use for the classroom as well as a little goodie for them to keep. Kyle's teacher got the red star beaded ornament....because she's our STAR TEACHER! I gave Joshua's teacher a bag of these really cool holiday messages M&M's.....something sweet for a sweet teacher.

Have you seen them?

They come prepackaged with the silver bow attached. Perfect small thing to have on hand this time of year. I'm also having Kyle give one of these Holiday M&M's to his bus driver.

I've been busy with last minute Christmas details. I started to panic today because I still hadn't gotten my boss his gift yet and tomorrow morning is my last day to work before Christmas. Yikes!!!! So thankfully, a store in a town near us carried what I wanted to get him and I was able to pick it up after Kyle got home from school today. Phew!!! He mentioned a few weeks back that he had lost his hat when he traded in his car for a new one....the hat went with the used car by mistake. But that he was too lazy to order a new one. He always chides me for not wearing my hat. So, I thought this would be a good gift idea for him! He seriously has not gotten a new hat, so I hope he likes this one.

Well, short and sweet again tonight! I'm off to wrap prezzies and do some Christmas goodies with the kids. Maybe I'll finish up a few of those CT layouts I've been procrastinating after the kids are tucked in bed tonight!

See ya!

Santa & the Skunk????

2006-12-20T12:41:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I promised I'd share the picture of Santa with the boys today and boy have I got a story to tell ya'll!

We got to the mall and quickly realized that it was Santa with Pets night at the mall. Oy-Vay! Dogs, and cats, and skunks....oh my!!! Wait, Skunks???? Yup, there was a girl there with a "pet" skunk!!! Can you believe that? Both the boys got to pet it as we waited in line for OVER an hour to get up to see Santa. I had my camera ready when it was the girls turn to go up to Santa and the look was priceless!!!!
You've Got to be kidding me!

OK, next year I'm gettin' myself a RAISE!!!

You hold onto that thing dear!

AND....after about 15 minutes of getting the "perfect" posed shot....Santa pets the skunk!

So there you have it...by far the most unusual thing I've seen in awhile!

I did say that we waited an HOUR to get up to see Santa right? So, after this clerk had taken so long to get all these pets pictures "just right"....I mean don't get me wrong, but it's not like they HAVE to tell Santa what they want for Christmas, right? The boys finally get their turn to see Santa. I told the clerk that we'd be ordering one 5x7 @ the grand old price of $11.50!!! Now that is a HUGE price increase from last year it was just $7 and it didn't even come in a little portfolio either, just the 5x7 sheet. The kids walk up to Santa and he starts talking to them, while I snap a few pics. Mind you, it was approxiametely 45 seconds and they were giving him their Wish Lists and answering HIS questions.

When the clerk said to me, "Do you want a picture with them sitting in Santa's lap?" I said Yes. She said, "Would you like to get them in Santa's lap then?" I think my jaw dropped, I said they are talking with him right now....pointing to the boys and Santa. So I had to go over and rush them into Santa's lap to make the clerk happy. And in the end MY pics were much better than the one we paid for!

It's not that I really mind all the pets OR the wait in line to see Santa, but really after this clerk took so long getting all the animals to look at the camera, she can't spare a few minutes for my boys to TALK to Santa? Which they've been waiting for weeks to do??? I was quite irritated at that point and Gene had to handle the transaction with the lady and retrieve the 5x7 portrait.

I couldn't believe how rude that was of her and I'm considering emailing the mall customer service about it. What would you do?

Ok....so moving along....here's a few of the boys while we waited in line.
I'm NOT smiling!

I'm NOT looking!!!

And you CAN'T make me!

Ok, just one smile...

Kyle had fun with the FunHouse Mirrors while we waited.

Love his expression in those photos. So that about wraps it up for me today! I gotta scoot back to work.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

I soooo want to scrap this!

2006-12-19T13:06:00.000-05:00

How perfectly beautiful does this picture put that scripture together?

I also like this one

Just love that site!

Thanks CraftTeaLady....I found them from your blog!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, we are taking the boys to see Santa and visit this HUGE Christmas display at a local shopping center tonight after the kids get home from school and Gene gets home from work. I'll share the "Santa" pic next time!

Sorry short and sweet today!

'Tis Golden & Figgy Pudding

2006-12-16T13:50:00.000-05:00

I have this beautiful Quick Page I made up and it really needs a picture and some journaling to add that special touch! I love this kit from Merkeley Designs....so rich and the gold tones in here are just gorgeous!!! You have to see it up close to truly appreciate the delicate work she puts into her designs.

Anyone interested? I thought maybe you'd like to see what the page will look like to help you pick out your holiday picture to fit this layout.

I'm thinking a trip to see Santa would look nice in here. We haven't done that YET! I'm trying to talk Gene into taking the kids and I for our trip to see Santa tonight. The boys have been running hairy scary through the house and I just haven't had too many opportunities to get out the camera. First, everytime I get out the camera, Kyle thinks that is a good opportunity to start sticking out his tongue, act goofy and make faces at me. AND he encourages Joshua to do the same....so it's so difficult to get any good pics. Plus with all the holiday hustle and bustle....man it's just enough to get the daily life things taken care of anymore! I'm sure you all know what that's like!

We did attend Kyle's Christmas Concert at school this past week and boy did the first grade do a great song! They sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas!" All the stanzas complete with body motions. Made me think of the "Figgy Pudding" IOD DST Gold Kit. Kyle did such a good job and I wanted to share this video with you. But unfortunately, I cannot get it to upload. Anyone have any good video editing software they can recommend? I want to be able to save my digital camera videos and upload them to my blog.

I need some pictures to scrap! Oh, and freebies here too!

2006-12-15T20:24:00.000-05:00

First....before I forget again....you all have to run over to DigiScrapShak and grab some raffle tickets for the Jen Wilson Gift Cards. She's so generous to donate 10....count them 10 $50 Gift Cards to her store to benefit a fellow Digi-Designer, Michelle Conrad whose house was destroyed in a horrible flood. Jen & DigiScrapShak have teamed up to help raise money for her and her family, including SEVEN kids to make their Christmas a little better this year. Along with those raffle tickets many of the Design & Creative team have made available several products that you can get in addition to your raffle ticket. Lot's to choose from there.....so after your read the rest of my blog post....be an ANGEL and head on over!

I think I'm running out of pictures to scrap with! I have this gorgeous kit called 'Tis Golden by Merkeley Designs (pictured below) and I want some really great pictures to scrap with for it. Maybe I'm just bored with my own pics, I'm not sure.....but does anyone have some pics they would like used with this kit? Be sure to leave me a comment here on my blog and your email so that I have a way to contact you!

I wanna RAK, as I've been RAK'd! LOL!

I found this cute little "Elf" thing on Tina's blog....so I had to give it a try!

Your Elf Name Is...

Pixie Stocking Stuffer

What's" Your Elf Name?

I think I like Tina's Elf name better....LOL!

Well, I've promising these to you for a few days now and I've finally packaged them up and made a preview. Here are some VERY random snowflake ornaments that I've created just for you! I used Terry Maruca's Action Assymetry to create these and boy is this little action FUN! The best part about this is that you don't have to be an artist to create some pretty stunning works of beauty! Just scribble, doodle, draw, use a brush whatever and run the action. AMAZING! I was so glad I got a chance to be a beta tester for this action! With Terry's permission.....here's your snowflakes!

Download Here

(If you download, please be a sweetie and leave me a comment! Thanks!)

And here's a layout I did using one of the snowflakes I created and some glitter paper overlays of Terry's!

I've been RAK'd AND Tagged!!!

2006-12-15T11:29:00.000-05:00

Well, Amy Cheeseman had put out a message that she was looking to do layouts for two people using Trish Jones products. AND....not only would we get our layouts scrapped for us.....we'd ALSO get the Trish Jones kit that she used in creating the layout! Now, how cool is that???

So, of course I shamelessly begged....please scrap my boys! I sent her a file of photos of my boys writing their Christmas letters to Santa. I had retouched the photos already using the new PhotoBlast Antique Color action and she said they were perfect to use with Trish's Outback Christmas kit! So, here's the results:

Page 1:

Page2:

(Links for products and credits will be posted as soon as available.)

Aren't those just the sweetest layouts??? I love how she did the collage with little bits of their own Christmas letter to Santa. Too precious!

Thanks so much Amy AND Trish for giving her this assignment!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I've also been tagged. Not once.....but TWICE!

First, by Tina (aka QueenBusick). She asked me to tell about my most recent indulgence. I wanted to get a pic of it so that you will understand WHY it's an indulgence. So here goes:

My most recent indulgence was while I was out Black Friday shopping. Well, we all know we are supposed to be Christmas shopping for others, but really how can one resist some deals???

So, I was in Sears and seen this beautiful CREAMY WHITE suit, complete with white velvet and satin trim! Now, as the mother of two young boys....any of you moms out there would KNOW why this is an indulgence! LOL! Even the VERY young cashier said to me as she was checking me out, "Oh, I'd be SO afraid to wear this!" LOL!

I paid $50 total for the pants, matching jacket and gold silk cami to go underneath. This will be my Christmas outfit to wear to church for our annual Christmas Eve evening service.

What? You wanna see it? Oh, yeah....I did say I took pics! LOL!

It's a bit scary thinking now, as we may not have a WHITE CHRISTMAS if you know what I mean? And the possibility of mud sticking around, with two little guys who can't resist ANY puddle. I'll keep you posted on how the evening goes! LOL!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And the second Tag....

Was from a designer I'm on CT, Sarah VanDyke. She had a Christmas questionare tag for me. Here goes:

Holiday Quiz

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, definetely.....with Peppermint whipped cream and a chocolate dipped candy cane stirrer. LOL!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them, but has been known to leave a bow on the larger items (ex. bicycles, snowboard, sleds) ;-)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White, I'm funny about that....sometimes will mix a strand of another straight color around, like one red strand. Outside, all white!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes, but right now, the kids hung it on the tree....so it won't do much good there! LOL!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever I feel like getting to them, I know "grinch", but this year they are up and done already! I've been known to wait til a few days before Christmas. (But that was pre-children era! LOL!)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Do I have to pick just one??? I love the ham at Christmas, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs.....shall I go on?

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: I don't actually remember this as a child, but looking back at the old photos, the most memorable would be the year I was 5 and had pink eye. It was so bad, it looked like someone punched me in the eye. There also is the year I got my Cabbage Patch doll. Of course, I was beyond the stage in childhood that you "believed" in Santa. It was the year everyone was going crazy over the CP dolls. My mom and I were shopping at a local WalGreens ( I think) and there was one in a box left behind by the masses. We both stared at it, 'cause we couldn't believe it was there. $25 said the price tag. What a steal! LOL! Mom picked it up and purchased it, but later told me she had to take it back because they didn't have the money. Early Christmas morning my brother and I were poking around the tree before everyone else awoke and I KNEW it was that same doll! The package had a slant in the front of the box! So of course that gave it away!

8. How and When did you learn the truth about Santa? I believe at school, I read a story about Santa being a dad who got stuck trying to come down his families chimney and dying in the chimney before anyone realized where he was when missing three days. I'm not sure who wrote the story or how I got hold of it. But pretty much accepted the fact that Santa wasn't real without too much trauma.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I made it a tradition the first Christmas with Kyle that we would each open one gift on Christmas Eve and it would be new PJ's all around. This is practical in the fact that then everyone would not be wearing ugly worn out things to bed that night and pictures would be good with new PJ's!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Ummm, is there more than one way to do it?

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it after the first snow and everything sparkles, hate it when I have to drive in the yucky slushy brownish grey nasty stuff though.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but haven't in a LONG time!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Hmmmm, I've been blessed with many, I can't really think of just one for a favorite.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Celebrating Jesus, our one most precious gift.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Hickory Farms Peppermint Kisses

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Eve service at our church singing the Christmas hymns.

17. What tops your tree? an Angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Both!! LOL!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Come All Ye Faithful & Silent Night, though many of the old hymns are on that list.

So there you have it!!! Sorry it took so long to get this out girls!

And now I tag.....Amy Cheeseman & Carole Neale for the Christmas Quiz & Tina(QueenBusick) & Sarah VanDyke for the most recent indulgence.

Ta-Ta!

Happy Holidays!!! Lotsa pictures today!

2006-12-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

Season's Greetings!!!!

There's a little card I made for y'all using Terry Maruca's Snow Globe, Holiday Magic, & Vintage Holiday kits! I still wanna work on that snow animation. I wanted it to look like when you shake up a snowglobe. Those are my guys building a snowman last year!

I also made these cute gift tags using the ornaments from Terry's Vintage Holiday Add-On

Aren't those so real looking????

So, I've been doing alot of digicrafts for gifts. One thing I've been working on are these paper mache round boxes. I've printed some digi papers and used mod podge to adhere to the box. I put a pretty pink poinsetta inside and wrapped tissure around the bottom edge of the plant so it doesn't shift around inside the round gift box. I used papers from Vintage Holiday by Terry Maruca and my favorite box was made using papers and the butterfly embellishment from the Shine paper pack by Michelle Coleman. I'll share pictures of those another time as it's dark here and want some good lighting for the photos.

I also made up some quick gift cans for Kyle & Joshua's teachers. They both have requested useful stuff for their classrooms, so I bought a few items they had on their lists and a special glass angel ornament and put it all in an empty "unused" paint can. I used labels that LuAnn made and Carole Neale shared on her blog. These make really quick and inexpensive gifts....and I believe the link is still active if you wanna go snag them! The labels are made using "Doodly Christmas"

This is a photo I snagged from Carole's blog so you can see what the can looks like, but I'll share my finished and "stuffed" can as soon as I get it all wrapped up!

So, I've been B-U-S-Y!!!!! I honestly can say that I am much further ahead than I ever am at this time of the year. Part of it is that I want to have more time to spend with the kids, baking cookies, reading christmas stories, and watching some holiday movies with them. I know they won't be little forever and instead of dreading the "holiday crunch" like I usually do....this year I dove right in and started getting stuff out of the way. I've got most of the kids gifts bought (at least the big ticket gifts), Gene's gifts are done AND wrapped! And I have a few gifts that I need to finish up and ship out to my mom and brother Joe. (Sorry, can't share a pic yet, as mom reads this blog too!)

We also got the Christmas tree up on Tuesday. Josh was so cute. I stayed home from work that morning and we were laying in my bed (partly to stay warm! I have flannel sheets and a heated mattress pad! So cozy! LOL!) coloring and reading books. When he said, mom do you think we could have someone come over and put up our Christmas tree? Now, wouldn't your heart melt? Mine did. I said honey, I promise we'll put up the tree today. He was so excited that everywhere we went, out to breakfast and shopping that he told them "We're putting up our Christmas tree today!"

So we did......and tonight we decorated it.....minus the tree topper(Daddy & Josh will be putting the Angel up tomorrow)

I think it looks kinda pretty! See the unfilled gift cans under there??? Yes, I did make them, just need to stuff 'em! and here are a few of my favorite ornaments....

The angel above was given to me by my mom in 2001. I always like to put her right in front of the tree. The Snowman Fingerprint ornament was a craft and gift that Kyle made for me in Kindergarten. His teacher wrapped it up and put a little poem on the bag....

These aren't just snowmen
As anyone can see.
I made them with my hand
Which is part of me.
Now each year when you trim the tree
You'll look back and recall
Christmas of 2005
When my hand was just this small.

I just love those cute little crafts that can become such great memories. Aren't teachers wonderful???

I know I've been tagged two times....so that will be coming this week sometime!

I've been scrapping....but not enough!!!

2006-11-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Have you ever felt like you were treading water and unable to keep your head above water???

Well, that's how I've felt this past weekend. Between Thanksgiving and all my CT commitments, plus working more hours at my job....life's been hectic. I have so many projects that I want to do and just can't seem to get motivated about them all! Lot's of my Christmas presents for the adults at least will be computer derived gifts....whether they be calendars or framed photo mattings! I also was so inspired by the ScrapBook Answers Holiday issue and all the neat little projects to do.....that I don't know where to start!

I was able to create a really special layout using Denise Bailey's new kit Winter Bliss and a new Snappy Scrap by Sarah Vandyke. I took this photo from my front livingroom window of my mom and the boys playing in the snow during one of her visits in 2004. The pic was too grainy for a large photo LO due to it being taken with a 2.0 MP camera. The polaroid frame element in Denise's new kit was the inspiration for me to use it....I also used the new Polaroid Transfer Action by PhotoBlast to make the look authentic!

View complete credits HERE

Speaking of PhotoBlast.....I just am in LOVE with his latest actions....especially the UnderExposure Fix Action! It seems ANY picture I take indoors doesn't have the lighting it needs for the photo to come out nice. This action really is magical! I can't believe how well it works with just the press of a button! I don't generally like to use my flash because I have a Sony Cybershot....the only BIG downfall with the Sony is the flash is so powerful! It leaves large flash shadows. The new Action is a godsend for me! I use it on just about every photo I take now!

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So, let's talk about Black Friday! Are any of you early morning shopper's like I am??? Ok, well Gene thinks I'm crazy but since Kyle was 2 yrs. old, I 've created a little tradition of going out to brave the shoppers on the BIGGEST shopping day of the year! I don't generally go out for anything special. I'm not one to stand in a horrendously long line to get a few bucks off something that's gonna be clearanced in a few months anyway....BUT I love to go out and watch all the craziness and just get lost in the crowd. This year I decided to brave shopping in the closest city to us that has a mall and several shopping centers. So, I set my clock for 4 AM and well....the snooze went off three times. I had a bit of a stomach ache and just didn't want to get out of bed. But, I wasn't giving up my shopping day. I was out of the house by 9AM and in the first store at around 10AM....just in time for the LONG line to get their items before the 11AM deadline for the doorbuster specials! I got to the mall and the traffic was horrible! Bumper to bumper going in AND coming out! I've never before witnessed that! I just blasted my music and laughed. I was lucky enough to find a spot at Toys "R" Us. I managed to snag two doorbuster items for the boys....a hot wheels race loop track that DOES NOT take batteries....runs on kid power! Gotta love that for only $15 and a Little Tikes piano band thing....microphone, stool and keyboard with other instruments for Joshua (I know I'll regret this later! LOL!) But it was only $15....less than half price and Josh loves music and microphones. The traffic was crazy, so I decided to walk down to the mall rather than attempt to drive through all the cars and waste my precious shopping time. All in all....I hit up Sears (a new Christmas suit for me!), Bath & Body Works, Victoria Secret, Children's Place, The Gap, Penney's, Macy's, Old Navy, HallMark, Target, & Best Buy!

Then.....after shopping and coming home to pick up the kids, I swung past our local Wal-Mart.....would you believe at 5 PM they still had a huge display of gameboy micros for only $39 a piece???? They had so many left over that they extended the doorbuster sale 'til midnight. I managed to snag two for the boys while they conveniently went to the bathroom and the store clerk swiftly rang them up and double bagged them for me....the boys were none the wiser! LOL! So my spoiled two boys will be getting not only a PlayStation 2.....with two games, but a gameboy each! Kyle has been begging for a gameboy and play station since he was 3!

We've held off this long.....so I guess it's time!

I love to get out there in the hustle and bustle and watch everyone try to snag the deals! The traffic was so bad....that I parked in a central location at the shopping centers and walked to all the stores. I probably put in two to three miles of walking if not more! Yesterday my left hip hurt so bad I couldn't MOVE! Literally! I couldn't sit for long at the computer either! :-( DH said, "You should train harder for Black Friday next year!" LOL! He thinks I'm crazy for going shopping like that too! But it's a tradition I started when Kyle was two and it's the only day of the year, I have no spending limit.....or at least a good chunk of money to spend and the whole day to myself to go and do what I want!

So, how was your Holiday Weekend???

And the winners ARE......

2006-11-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, you've all waited long enough! I'm sorry, I got stuck working three FULL days and a boyscout outing with my son yesterday!

So without further ado.....the winners are.......Commentor #3 & 5....as chosen by DH! LOL! I yelled over my shoulder...hun pick two numbers between 1-7! LOL!

So Meems & Heather are my winners and I'll be emailing you shortly with your GC!

I wish you all a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll be having dinner at my SIL's, and in the afternoon DH has to work.....so that means some scrapping time for me!!!!

Have fun!

Sorry for the delay!!!

2006-11-22T12:56:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't forgotten or changed my mind about the GC LO contest! I had some things beyond my control come up and will be posting tonight the gift card winners!

I'll be updating this post and posting at DST when I do!

Thanks for all the participation! I loved looking at all the beautiful LO's and it was very inspiring as well!

New Layouts & GC giveaway!

2006-11-19T09:07:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been a busy little scrapper this weekend! I've had so much inspiration and I've done a bit of digi-shopping outside my CT kits.

So I did up this layout to go with the fall leaves one I made featuring Kyle and wanted a companion page with Joshua in it. I like to do two pagers that coordinate so they look nice in an album. (Not that I've gotten a complete album together yet! LOL!) I'm just kinda thinking ahead for when I get the layouts I've done all printed.

So here's the page I did with Joshua. I loved the carefree look on his face and the leaves floating down in the picture. I've been experimenting with using clusters of elements and really like how they've been coming out. I used so many different designers in this LO! I really dove into my "stash" and loved it!

Complete credits for this page can be seen HERE

So after doing that page.....I get an email from my NEWEST CT Designer, Carole Neale! Did I even mention that I was named to Carole's CT???? Well, I was and I SOOOO love her stuff! She's always got the neatest word art (did I mention she does the word art for my Scripture Challenge at DSS? If not, you gotta check it out!

Anyway, she emailed the first CT kit for us to do our layouts with. And the kit is fabulous!!!! It's a very fresh take on your Christmas Scrap Kit, called "A Doodly Christmas" and will be available in the DSS store soon! So for now, I'll give you a sneak peek and the layout I did yesterday, while I was in scrapping mode. LOL!

Complete credits can be found HERE

Be sure to check Carole's Inspiration Gallery for more layouts using this kit....there is so much in the kit, it's impossible to do just one page with it!

What? You wanna see the kit preview???? Well, I hope this is ok with Carole....HERE it is! I LOVE it....especially that doodled word art Christmas Tree I haven't used yet! But will soon!

So keep checking the DigiScrapShak.com store, it'll be available REAL soon!

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The Funky Playground opened yesterday and there were bunches of little elements and goodies that caught my eye! At first, I thought to myself~Self....you're only gonna get a few things.....but after seeing all the gorgeous layouts and some of the elements from the Funky Playground being used on layouts in the gallery at DST....I just had to go back for more!

So they have everything marked down to 25% off for the Grand Opening and I filled my cart....'cause if you spend $20 or more in an order...you are enetered into a drawing for a free Gift Card! Well, I came up a little shy and thought what the heck!!! I'll put two $5 gift cards in my cart and give them away on my blog! LOL!

So here's the deal.....I wanna see a layout that YOU did using something, anything from the Funky Playground store! Link me up in my comment section! I'll be sure to leave you love and TWO lucky commentors will be gifted with a free $5 GC to the Funky Playground! It's that easy! I'm gonna let my son pick the two lucky numbers, just so it's fair! LOL!

Be sure to leave me the link to your layout AND your contact email so I can contact you if you are a lucky winner! Please have all links posted by 9PM EST 11/20/2006! I'll announce the winners in my next blog post on Tuesday the 21st!

If you haven't already been there.....go check it out!
Funky Playground

GOOD LUCK!

Turkey Dressing

2006-11-17T18:26:00.000-05:00

What a great week!

We spent Monday evening as a family working on a craft project for Kyle's school. It's a tradition at his elementary school that every year all the students grades K-6 get a paper tracing of a turkey shape and they take it home to decorate it in a costume to escape the Thanksgiving Holiday. It's really a neat project, because the whole family gets to be involved figuring out what to "dress" the turkey as and what items we can use that we have around the house. After they are done, the students bring them back in to class and the school hallway walls are lined with decorated turkeys. Some are very creative!!!

This year we decided to "dress" our Turkey as Santa! I had some old candy wrapper foil in black, red, silver and gold and we used buttons with glitter glue, cotton balls to trim his suit and make a beard. We took a mini fudge box and wrapped it to create a present. We were pretty proud of our work. These pictures are horrible as they were taken in the evening with flourescent lighting, but this will give you an idea of the finished project!

So Wednsday, I go to pick up the boys from daycare/preschool and find out that Kyle had a horrible day at school and then proceeded to go fist for fist with another student at daycare. That wasn't all....Joshua was swearing (he said damn, damn, damn) and spent some time out time. Oy-Vay!!!!! SO, at the ripe age of FOUR, Joshua got his first lesson in washing his mouth out with soap! We used ivory...so it wouldn't hurt him. Gene got so upset, when I pulled out the camera in the middle of the "lesson" to take some pictures! How could I resist that poor adorable face with those drooping, I'm so sorry eyes! To our disbelief, he put the soap on his tongue and rubbed back and forth all by HIMSELF!!! Can you believe that?

Here's Gene scolding him to NEVER swear again!

And the after photo! That didn't taste very good Josh did it? He replied, "It didn't taste bad!" So I asked him, "Do you want some more?", reply: A very serious "NO!"

So, I don't think he's gonna be using bad words again in a very long time!

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Well, to switch gears, I did a new layout that I positivley fell in love with! All the products on the layout below are from Gina Miller Designs I used this month's duo kit, "Foxxy" with Corina Nielson, some papers from Gina's, All About the Paper collection, top ruffle from the mixed bag bonanza, deco stitches, and sketch set 7! Date Stamp from Toni Berman
PhotoBlast ProRose Gold Action on photos

Complete Credits HERE

Well, off to start the weekend right....laundry! Night!

Autumn Leaves

2006-11-11T09:34:00.000-05:00

Wow! Has it really been a month since I posted last? I knew I was slacking, but not that bad. Ok, well, I have BIG plans for December, so I'll be preparing for that this month. I wanna share some freebies with all my digiscrap friends.....so be sure to bookmark my blog and visit every day in December up until Christmas....there will be something new everyday.

We had a GORGEOUS Autumn day here in NW Pennsylvania yesterday. I brought the kids home from school and Gene(DH) had raked a big pile of leaves in the yard for the kids (and me!) to play in, before he left for work. The kids eyes were all BIG and starry eyed, but I made them wait to jump in 'til I got my camera ready. LOL!

Here's some pics from yesterday playing in leaves that I edited so far using the WONDERFUL PhotoBlast Actions (couldn't live without them!)

and here is the first half of a two pager LO that I'm working on for the Sketch Template Challenge at DigiScrapShak! I was so happy that Sarah VanDyke hosted the template for this challenge and her new kit Pumpkin Patch had awesome texture and colors for these photos! I just had to give it a try....I still need to add some elements and a TITLE (any suggestions for one? I'm stumped....I don't want it to be something generic) but here's the rough draft!

Complete Credits HERE

I got a new CT....I'm so excited to be designing LO's for Denise Bailey!

Her designs are AWESOME and I like her grungy eclectic chic feel to her papers & elements!
Here's one of my latest LO's using her kit, Little Prince

Complete Credits HERE
I have another surprise too....but can't announce right now! You'll just have to wait and see....but I'm about to burst with excitement!

Well, I think I have this organization thing figured out. How to do more than one thing at once, I think they call that "multi-tasking"??? I used to be really good at that, but my poor brain has suffered lots of terminal memory loss since the birth of my boys (along with some of my sanity perhaps???LOL!) So, I'm struggling to get with the flow of things, school, work, home, raising my three guys (yes DH is in that count too!) and leaving time for myself without neglecting my family. I THINK I have struck a balance, just hope I can keep it up!

I'm gonna go get dressed and ready for the day. TTYL!

The sunshine is GREAT!

2006-10-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

We haven't seen the sun here in NW Pennsylvania for several days, so this was an extra special treat today.

Gene and I had fun watching this little clip of Joshua playing one of the games at Chuck E. Cheese yesterday. So I thought I would try to upload and share with you.
Click the link below to view it.
Josh gets the Sharks
The link will navigate away from the blog, so be sure to hit your back button!

Today is Ocober 1st, which means there are new challenges up @ DigiScrapShak with a whole new Challenge Freebie Kit. You can earn this kit (pictured below) for FREE just by completing four challenges during the month of October!

That's one SUPER kit designed by Rebecca C.!

I'll have my new Free Form Challenge up soon. I'm also hosting a new challenge~Scripture Challenge. There will be a word art freebie given, but you don't have to use it in your layout.

We visited the Mouse today!

2006-09-30T22:24:00.000-04:00

No.....not that mouse! I sooooooo wish we could go to Disney but that's just not in the budget now. On a spontaneous and spur of the moment decision, I decided to take the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. It's a whole hour drive away for us....so for some that may be a regular occurance but my boys can count on their one hand how many times they've been there. It was such a yucky, dreary, rainy, cold day that I thought this would be a perfect time to take the boys and have some fun. They completely renovated the place since I've taken the boys. It was great. They had a section set up for just the little ones....perfect for my 'lil guy Josh! He had a blast playing the games just his size. The boys got to ride a monster truck ride. The highlight for me was this little "sketch" booth they had. For one token, you get your picture taken and they turn it into a sketch for you. I had a blast with this, and got some really great sketches to share. (See pics below)

I've been so very busy doing ads and the newsletter for DigiScrapShak.com. I've also been busy scrapping and I'll share my favorite most recent layout here, but if you want to see my other recent layouts you can click the link to my gallery.

See complete credits HERE

And with that I'm gonna say goodnight! I'm going to try to keep up with blogging, now that I'm more organized. HA! Now you that know me well who are reading this, will know that's not true. LOL!
Nite!

Say Ahhhhh!

2006-08-22T19:41:00.000-04:00

I love this finished LO of my youngest! It's my latest creation and his expression just screams FUN! The journaling reads: Joshua, I love your crazy silliness! I hope you never lose that as you get older. I created it using Merkeley Designs August Template Fun and the posting bonus for this month's challenge. Also, the clip is one in her newly released "Design Binder Clips" available at DigiScrappin.biz. I don't normally choose such bright colors, but lately I've been really on a roll with them!

Yippeeeeee!!!

2006-08-21T13:43:00.000-04:00

Ok,
I've officially joined the "blog" generation! I can't wait to start showing off my LO's here and maybe even give away some freebies......that is if I can figure out how to do that. LOL!