Making Christmas Calendar Covers

I have a confession to make – I like being recognized as the creative and crafty mom who takes time to make gifts, remember all the special people in my kids’ lives and go above and beyond expectations.

One of my goals when I was a little girl was to be a great mommy. You know the type—a great mommy brings homemade snacks in for the classroom, a great mommy makes cool things for all the friends in the classroom to take home, etc. We all know they type of mommy I’m talking about. I wish I were that great!

Here’s the reality – I have three kids, a full time job, a house to run and plenty of extra curricular activities that leave me with next to no time to be creative and crafty. I more often than not forget special occasions, snacks for school are almost always store bought and making gifts for people has always just been a pipe-dream. That was until I discovered My Memories Suite (MMS). In fact, this was the very reason my love affair with My Memories Suite started—It allowed me to do something creative and crafty things in almost no time at all. And now…it’s helping me make personalized gifts for everyone I know…Oh how I love MMS.

So what’s my newest project? I’m making Christmas gifts. I discovered pocket calendar covers, and I am making them for everyone I know. They are a breeze to make and they will get me the kudos that make me feel like a great mommy – a perfect combination;-) You design a snazzy cover for a pocket calendar that you can buy almost anywhere for $1-2, they type that have a plastic covering that you might carry around in your purse, and you place your cover on top of the original cover and sheath it under the plastic.

Here’s a quick tutorial.

First you will need to purchase your pocket calendar. Measure the width and length of the calendar when it is spread open and flat on your work surface. Next you will open MMS and create a photo box the size of the calendar you are working with.

You will need to select a background and add it as a photo to your page. Drag the photo created with your background into your sized photo box.

Add your embellishments and photos. Remember that this will be folded in half once you put it around the calendar, so be careful not to add too much embellishment to the center of your layout.

Print your calendar cover and cut it out. (I recommend printing a practice cover to make sure you have everything the right size before printing it on photo paper.) Remove the calendar from the plastic sleeve and insert photo cover.

Insert calendar into sleeve on top of the calendar cover.

Now you have a finished product. Give it to a dear friend or family member.

Mama's Holiday Wish List

So I want to enter this awesome contest.  If you would like to, follow the links below.   


Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? 

• A Fiskars paper cutter
• New pajamas (and undies and bras--but that might be TMI)
• Something made by my kids -- I love these gifts:-)
• Gift certificates to viovio.com so I can print more scrapbook pages
• A healthy family - It's so hard to be sick at this time of year.
  

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? 

• Do cookies count as a handmade gift?  My mom always makes me Russian Tea Cakes and I love them every time!
  

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? 

• I've always wanted to do a calendar.  I will be my closest ever this year if I get CD calendars done for someone in the family.  I actually just always want to make presents, but I always run out of time...I think anything homemade is an awesome gift.
  

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

• The one I remember the most was the year we got an Amiga computer.  Santa had never brought anything that "big" to our house before.  I love Christmas though so I have lots of fond memories.
  

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? 

• They think everything that flashes on the television screen is cool and they'd like that for Christmas, but they usually forget it after it's done flashing, so they don't really have a list:-)
  

6. What is your favorite holiday food? 

• What isn't?  I LOVE russian tea cakes and I only get them at Christmas.  They are probably the #1 favorite, but I don't refuse any of it.
  

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? 

• I am so SUPER excited that I will actually be handcrafting some stuff this year.  I will be making russian tea for friends and family, I already have calendar covers made for several people and may get some cd calendars finished before Christmas.  Have I mentione dI love MMS---It makes me look good:-)
  

8. What is your favorite holiday movie? 

• We watch Elf every year when we are putting up the tree.  I LOVE it. It makes me laugh out load several times each showing.

9. Favorite holiday song? 

• Hmmm...I got James Taylor Christmas cd last year and really like it.  My longest running favorite is probably White Christmas by Anne Murry
  

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

• Sitting in my living room with my family and the lights off and listening to quiet music in the background.
  

Spread that holiday cheer!

National Digi-Scrap Day--Let's celebrate!

Happy National Digital Scrapbooking Day!  I have a fun little tutorial for you and a freebie.  Also look for a key word in my posting and you can use it to complete a mystery phrase for the My Memories Suite blog train prize.  Find all the words and you will qualify for a gift at the MMS Store!

I've mentioned more than once on the My Memories Suite facebook page that I really enjoy making boxes and hybrid projects with MMS.  I get inspiration all over the web for this fun little hobby.  Check out this awesome website - Kelleigh Ratzlaff Design.  She's posting 30 days of ornaments made with paper boxes.  How cute is that?  I also love browsing The Hybrid Chick's blog to see her amazing creations with paper box templates.

So  are you interested in trying one?  Let me walk you through the steps.  The first step is to get a box template.  Kelleigh Ratzlaff sells them in her shop, but you  find tons of them on the web for free.  One of the sites I frequent is Belle's Printables.  She offers lots of templates for free.  Her templates are offered in JPEG format, which unfortunately does not allow you to design directly on the templates, but I modify them in Photoshop and remove the background, and then I can play with them in MMS.  If you don't have Photoshop, you can still print your favorite paper and embellishments and then print the template on the back of the paper.  I will show you how to do either method. 

Removing the background in Photoshop Elements 7

If you own PSE, modifying one of Belle's templates to a PNG file is super easy.  Go to Belle's Printables and download the template you want to use.  I am going to use the small handle bag.  Save the image file from Belle's site and open it in PSE.  Your screen will look like this

You need to double click on the Layer box that says background to unlock it.  When you see the box asking for permission to create a Layer 0 - click okay.  Here's what that will look like.

Now choose the magic wand tool.  You will use this to delete the background of this photo.  Click on a white portion of the background.  It will select all potions of the picture that are white.  Then hit delete on your keyboard.  This will delete the white background and make the background transparent.  Here's what your final product will look like.

Save that as a PNG file and you will be able to play with it in MMS as an embellishment, which allows you to layer papers underneath it.

Now to the fun part---Open MMS.  You will want to open an album that is a rectangular shape.  I have one called landscape projects that I use for making boxes and cards.  This saves me from having too many new albums to search when I want to reprint a project.

Once you have your blank page open, click on Embellishments.  In the lower left hand corner is a Browse button.  Click on that button and then find your pgn file of the box template.  Select the template and then click OK.  You will see the template on your screen, but it may be very small. Stretch the size of your template until it covers your entire page.

Now you can select a background and embellishments to make this box super cute.  If you are using a light background I recommend changing the opacity of the template so that the lines are less visable when you are folding it.  If you want to avoid having any lines on the front side of your box, just print your paper without the template and then print the template on the back of your printed paper.  You can also use this method if you do not have PSE and cannot remove the background.

Here's what my box looks like after I have added the background and embellishments to it.   I used StoryRock's Hello Cupcake for this cute little layout. 

Now print this adorable little box and assemble it.  Cut it on the outside line - You will fold it on the other lines.

What do you think of the finished product?  I think these would make cute little party favors:-)

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  If you would like to make this little bag, Belle has graciously allowed me to modify it for you so that you can download it and use it in My Memories Suite!   Here's the link for the freebie - Small Handbag Template.

Don't forget to take a picture of your **MEMORIES**!

Hop on over to Lisa's blog for more blog train fun - http://imsewkrazy.blogspot.com/. 

Baby Announcements

One of my favorite gifts for expecting mothers is personalized baby announcements.  Right now I am waiting to hear from one of my friends that she had her baby girl so I can finish this baby announcement made with StoryRock's Hush kit.  This kit has some adorable baby embellishments.

I made this announcement for one of my friend a few months ago using Ettes and Comany's My ABC Book.  I love this kit because it is so versatile.

While I was making these, I palyed around with a framed poem/picture gift.  This one is a simple layout using the pink orleans paper from MMS and the dotted brown ribbon and brown bow.  I like the idea, even though I'm not sure this is the layout I like.

The next time one fo your friends has an exciting event coming up, consider making a personalized card for the occasion.  It makes a great gift!

Happy Scraping!
Sarah

Do you have a backup plan?

Recently a number of articles have tickled my mind regarding back-up plans.  The first article I read discussed creating an emergency plan for your family in the event cell phones do not work and the second article was about this generation being "the lost generation" because we have so little printed material about our current day and age (i.e. everything is electronic).  Both article addressed two very different things, and yet both were focused on the dependecy our society has on eletronic recording keeping and coorespondence.  The articles have really brought to my attention though that I want to have a backup plan that is not reliant on technology -- and when it comes to my photos--I want to have some printed material to leave my children.  So I've created a back up paln for my scrapbooks and photos.  I back up photos onto an external harddrive regularly, I also upload photos to flickr for an offsite backup and I print my scrapbook pages regularl, so that I can share with others my photos and memories and they aren't just stored electronically.  So far--it's working...Do you have a back-up plan?

Been Behind in posting

I'm not sure what took me down, but a bug got me in a big way.  I've been down for about ten days...Really down for the past five.  Not only did it make me sniffly, achey, stuffy, and shakey -- it zapped every ounce of energy I had.  I really wanted to share some pages out of my scrapbook that I made using some of the StoryRock's Back to School Kit.  These pages include my first scanned art pages.  I love the way they turned out and can't wait to scan more of my kids work.  I really like the simplicity of the Back to School Kit.   The lined pages are perfect to highlight school aged children, but not so busy that your pictures get lost in the pattern.

Just a little background--My mom is homeschooling my children this year.  They went to "grandma school" this summer, but when they started Kindergarten, the school switched to KinderSchool.  LOL--just symantics.

Tell your story....

As I have been immersed into the scrapping world over the past nine months I have seen a reoccurring theme over and over...TELL YOUR STORY.  Scrapbooking is an art of telling your story to future generations, to your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren.  But a question that seems to arise as often as the theme is mentioned is, "Where should I start?"

There are some great resources available on the web to help you tell your story. You can find tons of journaling prompts, digidares that inspire you to tell stories in a creative manner, or blogs all about telling your story like Baby Love Letters.  If you want to get off the computer and hand write some of your story before you scrap it, you can also find books of all sizes about the topic of writing your memoirs.  Check out these books:  Your Words, Your Story or That's Life:Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday.  Another great way to find inspiration is weekly challenges.  Here are two excellent challenge sites that will inspire you to tell your story: My Story Matters and the Book of Me Challenge. 

I try to tell the story of our family in my scrapbooks, but I do have some difficulty telling about myself.  Lately, however, I have been inspired to do this more from visiting with my grandmother who lost her mother at the age of six.  If something were to happen to me, I want my children to have something to remember me by, rather then making them rely on their young memories.  So, I was thrilled when I found StoryRock's Chic to chic template which is perfect for helping me tell my story.  Here are a few of the pages from my book of me. I just changed the backgrounds on the templates provided to match my color scheme and filled in the journaling.

Can you think of someone who might like to have a book about you?  Consider grabbing Chic to chic this week and whipping one up for them.  You may also consider making one of these about someone else.  Help tell their stories so they can be remembered.

Happy scrapping!  Sarah

The perfect page

As a scrapper I have learned that the perfect picture is what makes the perfect page.  Unfortunately, I often find that I don't have the perfect picture to scrap after events liek birthday parties, reunions, etc. because the photographer (often my hubby) doesn't focus on a single person or have people pose for a picture together.  He often just shoots from a distance, hoping to get the most people in the picture possible. So what can you do in this situation?  Zoom in on a single subject within the picture!! 

My Memories Suite makes this super simple. Add your photo to the page.  Zoom in on it until you think the subject in your photo will be able to be the "focus" of your picture.  Once you have zoomed in on the picture, double click on it to make sure your cropping is in the right place.  After you have double clicked on your picture, you will see the crop box on the photo.  Just drag it around until you have the "perfect shot."

Here's a page where I really had to doctor some of the pictures...They aren't perfect, but they are an improvement from my beginning pictures.  One of these days I will convince my hubby that we can get good pictures at parties, too.

BEFORE                                                    AFTER                                              

Need a page idea?

Have you ever been stumped on ideas for layouts(LO)?   I have and PageMaps has been a life saver.  This valuable resource posts LO ideas each month that are easily reproducible in My Memories Suite.  Check out their huge stock of scrap booking sketches.  I have printed off several of these and flip through them  when I need a good idea.  They offer MiniMaps, CardMaps, TagMaps and more!!  This month they are having a sale on their PageMaps book.  Check them out!!

New CT Member!

Okay...if you know me, you know I love digital scrapbooking.  If you talk to me you know I use My Memories Suite to scrapbook.  And you probably know I LOVE the product!!!  So, it is an honor for me to accept a new position as a Creative Team Member for the software!!!

This is super exciting to me.  It is another opportunity for me to continue to share with others what a great product Polaroid has made for the digi-scrapping world.  I can make beautiful pages and it took me absolutely no time learn.  Let me show you a few of my pages.

This is my very FIRST digipage.  I scrapped it using a designer's work that I found during the week I was waiting for my software to arrive. Summer Times Designs has some beautiful free packages, this is from her Courage package.  I also used a wordart from ElegantWordart2--You'll see lots of her stuff on my pages.  What do you think of my first page---Awesome for a newbie in my opinion.

After that, I decided I wanted to make an ABC book for my baby, Levi.  Thankfully MMS had the perfect package for this project. I bought My ABC Book by Ettes & Company.  It was done in a jiffy.  Here's a few pages.  Aren't they great for a first timer:-)  And this was just week one!  Wait til you see what else I've designed since then.

Reflections

I recently downloaded the Reflections freebie from My Memories Suite.  I LOVE the texture of the backgrounds provided in that kit.  I played with them a little on these LOs.

This first picture uses the blue paper from Reflections.  I matted the picture and put it on a white SHAPE circle, then added the dotted frame from the WHAT'S COOKIN' pack.  The text has two layers and a drop shadow.

The second picture uses the brown paper from Reflections.  When I added it to this LO, it was too dark to see the text, so I changed the opacity and it works great!  I believe the word art is from Bethany at ElegantWordart2.  It's from one of her memories packs at ScrapOrchard.

The third paper uses the black paper from Reflections.  I had previously done this LO and was trying to modify it with papers from reflections.  I didn't like the look of the black alone, so I added a full page shape, dark blue and then changes the opacity of the shape until I could see the texture of the page.  It looks pretty good. I had also used some embellishments on the original page that I didn't want to post online because I can't remember the designer or which pack I got it from (not an MMS designer).  So I added stars behind the pictures and edited them to have the max number of points available.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, add a star to your page from SHAPES, double click on it to edit the shape and you can adjust the number of points and the depth of the star.  It's a neat trick.

8 months old!!!

Yesterday Levi turned eight months old!!! Can you believe it? Guess what he did on his 8 month birthday...Anyone? He pulled himself to standing!!!! AND he dropped like a rock as soon as it happened. Poor baby cried like a baby for ten minutes after that thug. He did a lot last month...first rolling over, first sitting, first getting into sitting be himself, and some standing on the side of the bed. He also started getting into crawl stance. Won't be long until he's mobile.

On to the twins. I finally decided (this Monday) that I didn't want them foing to school. Checked with the school and found out they HAVE to go to kindergarten at their age unless they are tested for an IEP. So public school was out...CRUD. So we started looking at private options. I talked to mom and then she gave me the greatest solution. She agreed to home school them...for a some sum of money. AWESOME!! I will tell them tonight. They are going to be SO excited. hope it works well. So, that's my big news for today. More later....Maybe.

So much has happened.

Well let's start with this week. The lil' bug is almost crawling and started going from laying to sitting this week. He gets that devilish grin when he does...Simply adorable.

The twins are exhausted. They spent last weekend with Jonathan's kids at my mom's house and haven't recovered yet. They ate sugar like it was going extinct, played late into the naights and hard all day. They are really beat.

I took them bowling today. We had a balast. Their first real bowling experience. It was really awesome to spend time with just them. i got 108---with bumper pads. The kids had highs of 72 and 86!! I love bumper pads though...think I should get them every time.

Work's been crazy. Gearing up for registration. Think it should go well. Been busy all around, it seems. More later. I am beat.

This is cute.

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.


Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.
You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR! ), yank down your pants, and assume 'The Stance'.


In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold 'The Stance.'


To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more...
You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail.


Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. 'Occupied!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT .. It is wet of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalle! D if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly dear, 'You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get.'


By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.


At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.


You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.


You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, 'Here, you just might need this.'


As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, 'What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?'


This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with a public restrooms (rest??? You've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

This week in time--July 8, 2009

OK--I saw this on another blog and am going to try it.

Outside my window… it is getting dark. the baby just went to sleep and I need to join him in slumber soon.

I am thinking...about getting some rest. I am also wondering where Mitch and the kids are at.
I am thankful for... my wonderful husband who takes every opportunity to help me and give me what I need. He cares for the kids, cleans up around the house and does everything he can to make my load a little lighter.

From the kitchen...This month was a month of fast food. I have been adjusting to my new position as registrar and haven't been putting much thought into dinners. I need to correct this soon.

I am wearing...work clothes. Black slacks and a polka dotted shirt. I had to go to a training today for work.
I am creating...our family scrapbook and working on a few paper projects. I have started downloading paper craft templates to do and want to make a few for gifts. I also have a sewing project I would like to do for Abby.

I am going...going, going these days. We try to do as much as we can with the twins in the evenings because it's summer, but it makes for really long days. i hope they enjoy their summer. They spend days at grandma school and weekends we are swamped doing fun stuff and trying to maintain the house.

I am reading...The Cat who robbed a bank. just got done with some Ruth Rendall short stories and Cold Sassy tree by Olive Ann Burns. I really enjoyed Cold Sassy Tree.

I am hoping...Levi will start sleeping through the night this month. He slept once through the night in June, but has not repeated the act.

I am hearing...silence because the kids and Mitch are at church. it's such a welcome sound.

Around the house...is always messy. We can't seem to keep the clutter picked up. We try to do it daily, but never seem to get caught up.

One of my favorite things...is seeing the kids laugh. Abby makes Levi laugh all the time and it cracks her and giddy up. they have such infectious laughs.

A few plans for the rest of the week...I hope to clean up the house for small group, plan a meal for small group, and go swimming with the kids.

Vacation 2009 Update

Where did we go: Baltimore,MD and Bluemont Virginia

Who did we see: We went to visit Dave and Ellen Stephens, Mitchell's cousins. We also got to see Duff Goldman, chef at Ace fo Cakes.

What did we do: We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We enjoyed the dolphin show and the jellies invasion. The rest was a little too crowded for us and family unfriendly. We visited the farm Ellen works on, Dave's restaurant, & the farm that supplies his restaurant. The kids got to ride a horse and see fireworks.

Highlights: Mitch's was seeing Duff, mine was the few naps I got to take, Abby's was playing w/ Aurora, Dave and Eleens' bassett hound, riding a horse and playing with a photo program on Logan's computer, Giddy's was all the escalator riding at teh aquarium, and the baby's was...only he knows.

Lows: I was EXHAUSTED and CRABBY the first two days. Lack of sleep left me irritable and cranky. I so do not do well without sleep. The LONG car rides there and back were tiresome too. It took 10 hours for us to get to Baltimore and 8 to get home.

Overall: It was an nice weekend. Wish it could've been longer so that we could have more down time to rest.

Have I mentioned how exhausted I am all the time...It's really bad!!

Father's day

We had such a busy weekend. Friday we took the kids miniature golfing. It was fun all around, but HOT and MUGGY. Afterwards we were all hot and tired. We couldn't wait for a little AC. Pitiful, huh. But a good family night...I love family nights:-)

Saturday Mitch had plans to go to Charleston with Matt. He was planning on leaving early, so I made plans for the whole day. We headed out of the house around nine-thirty and went to Nancy's. We took pictures of the kids dressed up in Mitch's clothes and they came out perfect. Can't wait to get some of them developed for the walls. After that the kids and I headed to Sams and then came home. I was beat! We wrapped presents for Mitch, did the dishes and then it was time to feed the kids and put them to bed. What a day!! It didn't stop then, though. I decided to dye myhair---RED. it looks pretty good. I think it takes people aback at first, but it looks good on me, so it works. Mitch and I then stayed up to 1:30---Way too late to be up, but fun to spend a little time together.

Sunday I was TIRED. I dragged all day. We got up and went to church. Then mom and dad came over and we had lunch together. Then we napped (well, everyone else napped) and then we were off to Ed's. We swam four hours! I was tired when we started---Then I was exhausted! Still am. There were two hilarious moments yesterday. First, when Giddy woke up and saw my hair---He said, " Moomy, it's not green." He was dead serious. LOL - I guess he took me serious when I said it could turn green if I left it on too long. Then in the car on the way home from church. I was telling Giddy that I threw his balloon away because if he swallowed it, he could choke and get really hurt or die. Abby digested the info for a minute and then said, " mommy, if Giddy swallowed the balloon and had to go see Jesus, it'd be okay. You would still have another son." LOL---She's so serious and thoughtful. Anyway, had to record those two moments in time. They were both precious. Busy rest of the week. Tomorrow I have to go to Beckley to do a training, Friday to Motown, and we leave for vacation next week!! Can't believe it is almost July. Time flies.

Speed scrapping

I love speed scrapping. I started doing it last Tuesday and have done about four of them. They make you think outside of the box and you get great layouts. The only drawback is their attraction. It's like a drug...Every night I want to at least check on it. LOL---The evils of scrapbooking.

So bad about posting...

So I started my job last week without Tammi. Day one went well, but I left totally stressed. It was a first day. Day two went MUCH better, and by the end of the week I felt like I was getting the hang of things. I still need to finish unpacking the office, but overall I am settled. I think i am going to LOVE it!!! I like seeing people and being helpful.

Home life last week was a bit crazy. We had pizza three days in a row!!! LOL, I have to plan better. I was just so frazzled because it was my first week. I'm sure things are going to be come more normal.

The twins enjoyed their first week off from school. It was rainy, so they got a bit stir crazy by the end of the week, but not too awful. They start grandma school tomorrow. YAY!! That should be fun. I like a routine. We all live better.

This weekend was busy. Friday night we went to Alex's graduation party at Kokomo's. It didn't start til 9:30, so it was a late night. The kids played pool until 11:30!! They had a blast, but were exhausted. Giddy slept til 6:45!! ROFL. Saturday we moved slowly in teh morning and then headed to the mall to watch Up. It was so sweet. We all enjoyed it. Such a rare thing to go to the movies. Then the twins had a party to attend. We were there until 6ish, then went shopping, and came home for bedtime. BUSY BUSY. Did I mention the baby went to Nana's for the first time? I have pictures. I'll try to post some. I'm sure she had a blast with him.

Today we went to church, came home and I napped briefly. I am always so tired. Poor Mitch is tired of hearing about me being tired. I told him this passed by one year with the twins. I hope it passes then. After my brief nap we went to nancy's to celebrate Alexis and David's birthdays. While we were there the baby started breaking out in hives. They covered his face while we were there. Then we came home, got the kids ready for bed and he started doing it again!! This time wasMUCh worse. i took pictures. He looked awful!!! I gave him some benedryl and put hydrocortisone on it. That helped. Poor baby. Hope they pass. We think it might be the formula---Weird, since it's never done this before, but it's the only common denominator between all breakouts.

Oops...here the baby. Gotta go check on him.

My first digital scrapbook--All from scratch

I love My Memories Suite. It is the easiest thing to scrap with since they (whoever that may be) thought up scrap booking. Check out my video of my first book. A big thanks to all the designers that make the materials I use. Summer Driggs, Bethany at Elegant Wordart, Calilly and others. Sorry I can't give kudos to all personally. Please remember this is my first. Thanks!!

Not what we planned

So we tried to celebrate the kids last day of school today...It didn't go as planned. Mitch and I got home early. we ate and then headed to DQ for bizzert. We each got ice cream (which Levi wanted to eat, too), then went to teh mall. We were at the mall about ten minutes when it happened. Mitch fell off the big yellow plate edge and rolled his ankle. When I went to check on him he was as white as a ghost and was in a lot of pain. I called mom and dad to come get the kids and he and I went to Med Express. Apperantly tonight was a busy night for them , so we were there a longtime waiting for the Xrays. Thankfully they said it's just sprained. Four to six weeks of healing though!! Oh, did I mention that Giddy hurt himself at the mall too, a pulled groin muscle - mommy diagnosis-- and on the way to the van Abby fell flat on teh concrete. Everyone was having trouble. ANYWAY, back to after the visit to the docs. We picked up the kids and the twins were saying they wanted to go to bed. Levi SCREAMED all the way home because he was hungry--I hadn't taken a bottle with us. It was all a mess.

It's now 11 and the kids are in bed, the baby is asleep, Mitch is watching tv and I am ready for bed. It won't be long before teh baby will be up again.

Not what we expected.

It's Wednesday!!

It's been a busy week. Sharon Lindsey came over on Monday at four to evaluate Levi. As it has been in the past, we chatted until the seven. It's so great to see her again. It looks like Levi will qualify for birth to three, so YAY!!

Last night I had to take myself and Abby tot he eye doctor. That lasted until 5:30, then we needed to get some groceries and drop them off by Linda's house, then run by mom's and drop off some yarn. We got home around 6:30, the kids needed baths and then it was bedtime. Mitch and I watched Deadliest Catch and went to bed. Levi slept all night!! Well, Mitch got up with him at midnight, but I never heard anything (LOL).

Today I am moving offices, AGAIN. Hopefully for the last time. We still have some work to do, so I am not sure how it's going to work. Oh well, it needs to be done.

Funny story from last night--- I had been yelling at Gideon (while feeding the baby) that he shouldn't be spitting in the bathtub---because he always makes a huge mess. Finally, I went in there and said "Gideon, how many times have I told you to stop?" He said " Quatro. Four." Then I asked him how many times I should have to tell him. " He said " Uno. One." ROFL He's so funny. I almost laughed, but managed to keep it in. Mitch wouldn't have made it.

Nice weekend

It was a nice weekend. Yeterday Mitch and I went to the movies, shopped a little and watched Fireproof. It was nice to relax and just watch movies. The twins slept at nan's house, so we just had the baby. He was pretty fussy because of his ears, but manageable. This morning we slept in, skipped church and I prepped food for the week. It was a wonderful blessing from God to be able to take the time off. We got the kids around 2:30 and then went to small group at four. We did our first lesson on fireproof and the twins played hard. Came home, put them to bed and am looking for vacation options. What should we do?!?

Ugh...I feel awful.

The baby has an ear infection and I feel rotten. Letting the kids rot their brain in front of the tv or playing games on the computer sounds bliss. Did I mention that Mitch is on surveillance again following the guy who drives hours to get his kicks...He's been in the car five hours now and no end in sight. Poor Mitch.

Mopped the floor.

I had to record that I mopped the floor last night because it happens so rarely. I think it might happen four times a year AND I AM BEING GENEROUS!! It was wonderful to walk on the floor barefooted. I walked all over the kitchen just to feel the clean floor under my feet. LOL. I'm pitiful.

Got a new assignment from school..The kids have to dress up like something that starts with N (gideon) and Y&Z (Abby). This is not for the busy and tired. I told Mitch that Giddy can go as Neapolitan ice cream and Abby can goes as a yellow zebra. How will I dress them up? Print the pictures on paper and pin them to their shirts. I am SO not costume creative.

Mother's Day

It's been ages since I have updated. Here's a run down...

The baby weighs 18lbs and is 26 inches long.

I started my new position a registrar--kinda. I move next week, but went through graduation this past weekend.

The kids got to "Z" at school and have been totally bummed about school going on ever since.

The kids are collecting Japanese caterpillars in the backyard constantly. Abby is such a tom-boy!

I gave scrapbooks to everyone for mother's day---they were a huge success.

My house is a wreck and can't seem to get clean. LOL -- not too much new on that front.

Mitch has been doing tons of surveillance---Make life rough.

OVU school has ended and the halls are quiet.

I got igoogle set up, so hopefully I can blog better.

I think that's good for now. I'm sure I have forgotten the cute moments of the past few weeks, but I will try to do better...again.

Busy weekend

It was such a busy weekend. I can barely remember enough to write. I left off on Weds., so I'll begin there. Thursday was Nancy's day to take the kids. Unfortunately she was late, which caused a little distress for the kids, but that's their Nana...always trying to fit something in at the last minute. Their daddy does a little of that, too. Anyway, she took them to the Clay Center. They seemed to enjoy their time there, and at Krispy Kreme watching the donuts made, and at the Capitol, which they drove by. LOL -- I heard Abby tell Amy that she went to Charleston for the second time ever! Cute.

Friday the kids woke up and we told them we were going to the zoo. The response was a little less than expected, but we went anyway. I think they were tired. They enjoyed what we saw of the zoo. I think we made it about 1/3 of the way through. Next time we are going to get a map. We saw my friend Kimberly Moore while we were there. It was great to see her , and her mom, who met us for dinner. The kids each got presents at the zoo, which they LOVE. Abby got a dolphin that she has been drgging around since. Giddy got an otter bath toy. Baths are more fun these days:o) The baby got a hat and a camel. Very cute.

Saturday we tried to take it easy. We were all exhausted. Mitch got sand, which the kids rolled in. Baths happened early and then we rested. Mitch and I slept for two hours!!!! Then I took Giddy and Levi shopping for groceries and Mitch took Abby on some errands. Oh yeah, one of his errands was to fix the basement window that Giddy broke...ooops. They we all went to the mall to eat and Giddy and I headed home, while Abby and Daddy hung out some more at the mall. Giddy bought a card game while he was at the mall, so he and I played it before he went to be. Abby enjoyed her time with Daddy. i think they got home at 9:30. A late night.

Sunday we went to church and then headed home. We ate lunch and then I took a brief nap. I woke up rejuvinated and made dinners for hte week. Very productive. I was busy until we left for small group. Had fun at small group...planned out our summer meetings. We need to watch Fireproof by mid month next month. Guess we'll study that for the summer. We were all tired again when we got home. I started work on my scrap book with my new pages when we got home. Half of them were missing. I was so disappointed!!! I am talking with viovio to see if they can fix it. They're really helpful when there is a problem, but I wish I wouldn't have so many problems with them:-/ Hopefully it's just a fluke.

Yeseterday I worked and then took Giddy to get his hair cut. He looks so big. Abby went too, and I was going to take her to the eye doctor, but not if I have to wait for HOURS. I need to schedule that appointement. Then home and I finished salad for dinner. Watched tv with Mitch and then fell asleep on the sofa. The baby woke me up at one...at which time I yelled at Mitch. I am so mean when I am sleepy. He's mad at me...I HATE that. Why am I so stupid sometimes. Hopefully he'll forgive me soon.

We've got to get the baby sleeping through the night. I am going to start letting him cry it out. Ten minutes at a time. I remember the advice I got with the twins...non baby ever died from crying. Hopefully I can do it.

So busy--But I should blog...

Life has been so busy the past few weeks. I posted on the third, but it was as I was passing by at work waiting for a meeting on my day off. I have got to be better!

LOL..I think I forgot to post in the last post the surprise my kids gave me on April Fool's day. I was in the kitchen working and stepped into the bedroom briefly to do something for Levi...They took two shelves of contents out of the pantry and put it on the back porch to make an "April Fool's pie" Well, at least Giddy wanted to do that. Abby told me she was content making a special sandwich with peanut butter, jelly, applesauce and sprinkles. Needless to say we didn't get the pie made...though Giddy insists that jelly, applesauce, beeans and corn make a great pie. It was a memorable moment for sure:-)

Let's see, following that, I was sick with bronchitis---I think that's where I left off last time. So for a week I was sick and Mitch was busy with t e kids. Thankfully I started getting better around Friday. Since it is the kid's spring break I have been trying to plan fun stuff for them to do. Friday we went to the train store. It was rainy in the morning, but cleared up by the time we got to the store. The kids enjoyed playing with the trains and playing on his playground:-)

The kids went to an Easter Egg hunt as Sand Hill on Saturday, then we had lunch at Nancy's. They came home with TONS of loot. On Sunday we went to church adn then the Easter Bunny visited while we were out. The kids came home, found their treasure chest, hunted eggs, got their pictures taken, and we were off to Ed's. We ate at Ed's adn then the kids hunted Easter Eggs again! Plus they got more loot there. Needless to say we have tons of candy and toys at our house, and very little of it is from the Easter bunny. Sunday night, mom and dad came to visit. We ate dinner and then played withthe kids. They were beat by the end of the day.

Like I said I've been trying to plan fun stuff for them, so Monday they painted and made ice cream with Amy. That night we went to mom and dad's for dinner. We tried to play some, but Giddy ended up breaking down before the night was over. Poor thing was so tired. He fell right to sleep after we got home and took a bath. Tuesday they went to Party Hoppers with Amy and jumped for four hours!! LOL - Amy said that Giddy complained when they were leaving that they hadn't played very long. I think he could stay there all day! Last night MItch ended up working, so the kids watched tv and then headed to bed. They were tired again. I was tired too, but MItch ended up working into the wee hours of the night so I had baby duty. It just interupts my sleep the wrong way. this morning I was late because I was so tired. I hope I can catch up before Friday when we go to the zoo.

That's a pretty good update. Hopefully I will be on soon to continue the spring break stories. The kids are getting so big. Oh, the baby was laughing and laughing yesterday at Abby and Giddy. It was adorable! He's starting to get his personality. I hope his eyes always sparkle like they do now.

Feeling rotten

I'm at work waiting for a meeting in which I can show faculty members how to get on to the classroom evaluations. Unfortunately I feel rotten. I can't breathe and have bronchitis cough. The barky one my kids have been having for the past few days.

Thankfully the kids are doing a little better. Giddy is sounding lots better and his predinisone is working its way out of his system. He's much more tolerable. The baby is slowly improving. He has a wheeze and an ear infection. He's on the antibiotic, but I can't bring myself to give him a breathing treatment. He's too little. I've learned my lesson on that with Giddy.

Nancy went to visit the school to be the helper today (It was our week, but Mitch and I haven't been able to go--I feel awful about that!) Anyway, I guess Missy was very impressed by Giddy's reading. He is doing great. He can't help but read. He told Amy that he learned to read from the words that are everywhere and he wasn't joking---He reads words everywhere! I'm glad he's excellent at something. Maybe it'll help when he's crazy in the classroom.

Tonight we are going to have a movie night, breakfast for dinner and just hang out at home. The kids are looking forward to it. After work I am going to pick them up and take them to rent a movie. Then we'll make pancakes and sausage for dinner. Giddy's favorite. Hope we get a good movie.

Tomorrow is the Easter egg hunt at church. Not sure if we'll get to go or not. It's rainy today, so it might be postponed. There's also a shadow puppet workshop in Athens tomorrow. I'd LOVE to take the kids , but it is at the same time as Mom's Easter egg painting party:-/

I don't think I've written since April fools day. LOL. The day before I'd called Mitch and told him the oven was out. When I told him April fools, he laughed, cuz I'd gotten the wrong date!!! Then on April fools day the kids brought home prank ice cream cone messes---but when I went to greet them, I didn't have on my glasses, so it was totally lost on me! We're hopeless when it comes to April fool's I guess. That's what happens when you find out you are going to have twins on April 1---The world figures you've been fooled enough and takes away the ability to prank others.

UPDATE: I didn't end up going to the egg hunt or to mom's egg decorating party. I was too sick. I hung out and did scrapping stuff all day. Levi stayed with me and Mitch took the kids. Then on Sunday I ended up going to MedExpress while the kids went to church with mom and dad. I was given a steroid for my lungs, which really helped. I missed work on Monday and then headed back on Tuesday. The whole week I had training for the registrar's office, so I was pooped each night by the time I got home. Thankfully the kids watched Candy Land over and over sagain -- the movie we'd rented on Friday. It was a long week.

Sick kids

It's been a busy couple of days. We stayed home from church on Sunday and took the boys to MedExpress. Giddy has bronchitus and the baby has an awful cough, but no wheezing in his lungs yet. We started Giddy on steroids:-/ He's going crazy again, unfortunately. Drugs just make him a live wire. On a positive note---Abby went potty twice on sunday! She hasn't had an "accident" in several days. She's proud of herself and maybe she's turned the corner.
Anyway, Sunday afternoon we hung out at home, has a popcorn party in the evening and then off to bed.

Yesterday Giddy stayed home from school. Abby seemed to have fun despite that. When I got home they were BOTH crazy. I sent them outside and then we went to Cici's for a fundraiser dinner. Giddy told me he was too sick to eat! LOL. It didn't stop him. He ate tons and she did too. It was a nice evening.

Today Giddy is still croupy...I think he may have to stay home again:-/ Poor Amy. The baby is still croupy, too, but does seem to be improving. YAY!

What a weekend

It's been crazy around here the past few days. Friday I took the kids to school and then visited with grandma Alice for a few hours. Picked the kids up (it was lunch bunch day, so they'd eaten), took Abby and Levi to Alexis' and headed to an MRI for Giddy. Poor thing was scared, but did a great job in the tube. They only had to restart once because of a coughing spell. We came home and had a pizza night. Can't remember what we did that evening. We went to bed and Mike called around 11pm to see if one of us could come over and watch Avery because Alexis' lips were swelling. Mitch went over and didn't get home until 4ish. That meant I was sole duty on Levi, and he was up a couple times, and Giddy woke up once too. Not much sleep for anyone.

Saturday we had to take grandma to Jonathan's so Abby, Levi and I headed out around 9:30. Mitch and Giddy went to do stuff on the car and have a boys day. They ended up watching a movie and hanging out with Matt. We went to Bellaire, Ohio. Sandy and the ladies at their congregation were putting on a ladies day, so we stayed for that too. It was a pretty nice day, considering I was so sleep deprived. We headed home around 6...Would've been earlier, but I lost my keys. whoops...We got home around 8 and I literally fell into bed. I woke up later to get pjs on and brush my teeth! Giddy woke up in the night with a fever and a core throat. Poor kid. The baby coughed through the night too. I decided we should probably stay home from church or at least most of us. We all stayed home and did home church. We learned about Jesus and Daniel. The kids wanted to do Daniel:-) Then we took Levi and Giddy to Med express. Giddy has bronchitis and a wheeze in his chest. Right now the baby's chest is clear. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

We ate sloppy joes and the kids played all over the house. I took a nap around four with the baby, and he got about an hour of sleep. He hasn't slept well all day. The I started Bible book cards on MMS. I am making search a words for each book of the Bible. I hope the kids enjoy them. It's about time for them to start learning the books. Then the kids had a popcorn party and watched Care bears. Mitch and I did some laundry. I put the kids to bed...it's card night, and then worked some more on the Bible cards. Now it's late and I need to get to bed. It has the potential to be a long night with the baby still sick.

New job!

I am so bad about blogging, but I can't ever seem to find the time. Typing a blog with one hand just doesn't work for me, so I can't do it while I am feeding Levi, and I'm not getting on the computer as much because it's been beautiful. I am jealous of those individuals who get it done daily. You definitely have a better record that way.


So her's the overview of the past week. I got my new position as registrar last week on Wednesday. I talked to Tammi on Thursday to see about training and I started on Monday!! I still have both jobs to do, but am training a little each day. I still am working 28 hours on Title III, which is what is required for it, but still am swamped!! Hopefully I can learn lots over the next few weeks.

The kids are as fun as ever. The other day Giddy told me his teacher "Got in his face." Couldn't figure out where he'd picked up such a line, but Amy reminded me that we do tell him not to get in OUR faces. Guess someone has finally invaded his personal space. I don't think he minded, but he's catching on to the idea.

Abby has had a cold. Poor thing is constantly rubbing her poor little nose. She's been active, but definitely has a cold. She continues to be adorable with her mothering of Levi. I so wish we could get her on tape talking to him like a little momma.

LOL - I almost forgot to mention Giddy's new affinity for shortening names. Abby is Abs, Levi is Leev, sometimes Leevee, and Sammi is Sam! LOL. I think the short name for th edog is so funny.

We planted starters for our garden yesterday. We left them outside overnight. Hopefully they didn't die. I believe in making plants hearty to the weather. ROFL--Actually I am just super forgtful about starter plants.

Have tried to visit grandma Alice as much as possible over the past few weeks. That eats a lot of time, but is totally worth it. The kids love seeing her adn I think she enjoys seeing the kids. She goes back home this Saturday. it's been a good visit. I think she will be back more and more frequently since she does enjoy it.

Levi is getting so big. I took him to have his ears checked yesterday and he weighed 14 lbs 8 oz. He's getting to be a regular bruiser. He's so sweet. Can hit his toy on his carseat some. Loves to smile at familiar faces and is still as cuddly as ever. I can't wait to see how his little personility is going to come out. He's pretty pleasant, I think. His schedule has been all messed up the past few days. I've been having to feed him in the middle of the night, and I don't like it. He neesd to eat at midnight, no matter how hard it is for us to stay up---It'd give us at least five hours of uniterupted sleep. I'm beat from the middle of the night wakeups...It's amazing how a few nights can spoil you.

Last Staurday Mitch and I went shoping for clothes. I bought a good bit and paid over $200 for them!!! That's the most I've ever spent, I think . I look nicem though. Mitch is so wonderful to me. I can't imagine any other life for me. MAybe a life about 20 pounds thinner, but I just love food so much. I need to get started on a diet...ASAP. Maybe tomorrow...ROFL.

Alright, Gotta get back to business. That's pretty good for now.

Haven't blogged in Days

I haven't blogged since last week. So much to record. I'll start at last week and work my way forward.

Wednesday the 11th
Abby woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. Since it was spring break week I had two days off from work if I wanted them. I decided I needed to stay home with her. She stayed home on Wednesday, but was better by Thursday. I felt crappy on Thursday, so I stayed home for me:-)

We didn't do much those two days. The kids were exhausted every night, so they quickly fell asleep. I worked some on my scrapbooks, but not too much. Did laundry and dishes. The usual.

On Friday I took the kids to school. I needed to pick up my planner from the office so i took the baby in to show him off. He of course was a big hit. Then I went to Mom's to take her and grandma to Gabe's and Big Lots to shop for slippers for grandma. We found some and then it was time to pick the kids up. I picked them up and then we ate lunch at Mom's. After lunch I needed to take the kids to register for kindergarten, so all of us, including mom and grandma headed to south side. Grandma and mom watched the baby while I took the kids in to register. It was pointless to take them, I don't know why they said it was necessary. I had everything I needed except for their shot records. Who knew that the page long paper the doctor gave us for their registration didn't include shot records? So they are mostly registered. I need to call and have the doctor fax in those records.

After that we went home and mom had to leave to go pick up the Ta kids and tutor. Grandma stayed with us and she was able to hold the baby all afternoon. He slept like a champ for her. I told her to enjoy it because I'm sure he won't be so cuddly the next time she visits. She agreed with me.

Can't remember why she was telling me about it, but she told me a story about her mom. She said her mother's real mom died at a very young age. From what grandma knows about it, she believes she may have had a cancer similar to Aunt Mil's. Anyway she said that no one knew her mom's real name. They all knew their grandmother was their step-grandmother...It wasn't a secret, but that no one wrote down her real grandmother's name. She said she'd like to find it out if she could. Not sure I can help, but I figured I'd better write about it to remember it:-)

Back to Friday...Around dinner time mom called and said her students didn't show up so she was going to go grocery shopping and dad was going to pick up grandma when he got off of work. I asked her if she wanted to go to Ollie's that night, and she did, so she decided to come over when she got done with shopping. We ate leftover chicken noodle soup and then mmom arrived. Her, grandma and I went shopping and Mitch stayed with the kids. Dad went home. We enjoyed shopping. We were out for an hour and toured the whole store. Grandma enjoyed it. She said she would be exhausted the next day, but she really did seem to enjoy the wandering. We all got some goodies...my biggest find was individual size pudding mixes. The kids tried them on Sunday. SO FUN!!!

Saturday was a goof off morning. Mitch had to cover bonds and we cleaned around the corners of the house. The kids watched tv all morning. Hope they don't get used to that! After Mitch was done we went to Sam's. I picked up the conversation cards I ordered for Hannah and mom. They are beautiful. (Thanks Summer Driggs for the beautiful conversation cards.) Then Mitch got called to do a bong in Pleasants County. It's about a forty minute drive, but I thought we could all go. It was a nice little trip. The kids and I hung out at Wendy's. They got cool I spy things in their kid's packs, so we played with them while we waited. After we got back home the kids wanted to paly games. I remembered I had Paddle Pool in my closet, so I told them they could play it. I put it together for them, then made dinner. We ate, then they bathed, and then we played it for about an hour. It was fun.

Sunday we were super late for church, but we did make it. Then we went to BK afterwards for our small group, but noone else made it:-/ Then we were off to home. The kids played in their room adn Mitch and I did a little house work. Then we were ready for a nap, but the kids were ready to come out...guess that's what happens. We were going to go to church with Mom and Dad, but Mom called and said she was sick. So we stayed home. nancy came over and looked at my scrapbooks. I love showing those off:-) Not much else happened.

Yesterday I got an email that said Hannah and Caleb were baptized on Sunday night. Praise God for that. What an awesome thing! It was cool because we got to see them last night too. They came down for Hannah's birthday. We all got together for a party. It was nice to see everyone and fun for the kids. LOL - On the way home we told the kids they needed to wear green today. I told them that you'd get pinched if you don't and Abby would not beleive me. She kept saying " Mom, you are just being silly. People will not pinch you if you do not wear green." She's such a skeptic.

Another grandma story. Last night we were talking about playing games and she told me she just never was a game player, but she did learn to play some games in the Army. She said that on the boat to England she would sit on the deck because you weren't carry anything around the ship. She said after a few days a guy on deck told her he was going to teach her how to play cards because she needed to know how. The guy was in the calavary and so his job after arriving in england was to pick up and tag the dead. He taught her to play Pinoccle and bridge, but advised her not to play bridge because he said people who play bridge are really serious about it. She said she gave him her information, but never did hear from him again. She suspects he got killed during a Christmas massacre by the GErmans. She said on that day their hospital reciieved 964 patients, which was their capacity. She said many, many were killed in that raid, and this guy wasn't armed because the calvery was no longer used at that date. His capacity was more like the redcross. Just wanted to remember another story.

Not much going on

This week is spring break at OVu and not much is going on. The halls have been quiet, except for visits from Dan Doak. He's visited for LONG periods of time which has been a good distraction. Now I need to get back to my work, but I remembered a story Grandma told me yesterday that I wanted to Blog. She told me that her great-grandparents built a house in the 1920s in a housing development. She said there were lots of restrictions about what you could and couldn't do. Her grandparents lived inan area that only allowed two family homes. So they built a two family home and rented one part of it. She said her grandparents NEVER raised the rent on teh tenants, even in the midst of the depression, BUT the tenants would raise their own rent. She said the tenants lived there until her grandmother was forced to sell the house. She said that in the later years the tenants took care of the house for her grandmother and that they were always wonderful tenants. I thought it was a neat story of generosity.

Weekend update

What a weekend. We've been bussy since Friday morning! I'll do my best to recap it all.

Friday the kids and I left around 9 to go to my mom's house. I left the twins there and took Levi to go get Grandma Alice at Jonathan's house. IT was an uneventful trip. Got her, visited with Sandy a little while and then headed home. We got home around 4:30, just in time to celebrate Dad's birthday. The kids and I started a bonfire and cleaned up the yard with Mom while we waited for the other guests. Around 5:30 everyone started filing in. Did I mention it was a gorgeous 75 degree day? It was absolutely beautiful!!! Grace Arrowood, Frankie and Joanna Ta, Alicia, Ethan and Deveon Wines, Carl Fridley, the kids, me and Mitch, Grandma, and Amy. Quite a crowd. We ate hotdogs and salad. Had a birthday cake and gave dad his copy of the McAnulty book. Lots of fun.

Saturday was another beautiful day. It got up to 80 degrees!! Almost heaven:-) My girls breakfast was that morning. Rachelle Stevens, Amy, Alexis and I met at Panera's with our kiddos sans Gideon. The kids played and we chatted. It was raelly nice. After that Mitch and I met to grocery shop then came home and worked outside all day. Well I actually had to do TONS of laundry, so I did that and worked outside. We all played til we were falling down tired. Then we all went to bed:-)

Today I have a sore throat. Probably getting whatever Gideon has. I feel crappy, but it's another gorgeous day. A little cooler than yesterday, but still lovely. The time changed last night and it's kicking my butt. I am just dragging. The kids have been outside. I took a nap:-) Right now the kids and Mitch are working inthe garden laying mulch. The baby is sleeping and I need to get movingon laundry. Still have TONS to do.

Third Monthiversary

The baby turned 3 months old yesterday. I took a picture to celebrate, of course. The kids had Wacky Wednesday at school. They dressed all crazy. Mitch took pictures:-)

It was a little hectic last night. The kids and I went to visit Miss Alice last night, but she wasn't home so we went to Miss Dale's instead. We left the dog at the house with the back door open so she could see us from the yard if she wanted. BIG MISTAKE! She put mud EVERYWHERE. We got home and there was a path from the door into the living room, all around the living room, into the nursery and all over the nursery. I had to clean the carpets before we left for church!! Thankfully Mitch picked up pizza, so I didn't have to make dinner, too. What a mess. And Mitch wonders why I want to get rid of the dog sometimes....

Three months

Today the baby turns three months old!! Hard to believe. I was playing with him this morning and he was so pleasant. He smiles at me often. I think he likes me:-) LOL.

Not too much has been happening in our house. I went to bed way early the night before last, so there wasn't much I saw. The kids and Mitch made a huge train layout for them to play with. Last night they took a bath and then played with Ed while I worked on a sign for Ed. I went to bed pretty early last night, too. Maybe around ten. Three months is catching up with me!!

Funny story -- Last night when I gave the kids their glow sticks Abby broke the blue one and said, do you think Giddy will throw a party if he doesn't get this one? She said it with her cute little half smile...She's rotten I think;-) She gave it to him. Then in the bathroom while she was brushing her teeth she said " Giddy did throw a party the other night...a fit party." ROFL.

Three days until I pick up Grandma Alice. The kids are really excited. And they can't wait to celebrate Dad's party with her. We should have a good weekend.

Fighting over Bible Stories

Last night as I put the kids to bed Gideon was playing with his glow stick like it was a nose ring. I told him to stop doing that and he said Rebekah had one like that. I asked him who Rebekah was and he said " you know, Jacob's mom." I realized he meant Joseph's mom from the Bible and corrected him, told him not to do that anyway and sent him to bed.

So a few minutes later he wandered out and said " Mom, doesn't Joseph have 12 birthdays?"
"No honey," I replied, "that's twelve brothers." "No," he said, "twelve birthdays." Mitch chimed in and said "No, it's twelve brothers." Then he traipsed back to bed.

A minute later he came back out and asked, " Did they give the coat of many colors to Rebekah?" I replied that the bible just says they gave it to Jacob. Mitch said " maybe Rebekah was there too, I'm not sure." Then Gideon looked at me and said, " MOM! Abby's telling the story and she's got it all confused!!" He was a little distressed about that, but I sent him back to bed and told him it was okay, we'd talk about it in the morning. LOL - So funny.

It's been a good weekend. Went shopping yesterday and then spent the evening at home. The kids enjoyed playing outside both days. Can't wait til spring when it's warm for them. Funny moment yesterday... I was telling the kids that they were going to need a nap when we got home. Abby said she wasn't tired. I said she could take a rest anyway. She then used one of my phrases on me...She said " I guess your outta' luck mom cuz I'm not taking a nap. LOL. A haha moment, but I still had to correct her and tell her not to peak to mommy that way.

Today the kids played outside and Gideon busted his chin on his bike when he was trying to ride it backwards down the hill. He busted it pretty well, but I didn't know about it until they came in. I asked him at dinner if he'd cried. He aid he did but Abby hugged him and them let him put his head on her shoulder. He said after that she let him follow her back to the porch. So sweet those two. They definitely love each other bunches. And now they're in bed and I am considering an early turn-in. Busy day tomorrow...