Tag!

Okay, so I've been tagged by Sarah...a week ago!!!

7 things that you may, or may not, know about me!

1. I was on probation when I was 18 years old for possession of a couple of things....

2. I LOVE Hostess Ding Dongs! Especially with a large glass of milk!

3. I hate working. I want to be back home...badly. I miss being here when my kids get home from school.

4. I love my job! I know, it sounds strange, since I hate working. But, I really do love the people that I work for!

5. I crashed a snow mobile when I was 15, causing my best friend to fall off into a icy cold, water-filled ditch. I refuse to try it again!

6. I don't swim. I hate swimming. Don't get me wrong, I love water (especially at the beach) but, I have a fear of drowning. I know how to swim, I just really prefer not to.

7. I have an above average IQ and was told this in high school, yet, I barely passed and left school mid-term my senior year and took a class at a night school in order to get my diploma. I never went to college but, I plan on going in the next year!

My favorite Christmas memory...

would have to be the year of the pink banana seat Schwinn bicycle. I was, that particular year, questioning the existence of Santa. I really wanted a bike. My Dad took me to a really nice bicycle shop, on Christmas Eve, to look at bikes. I figured there was NO way that I was getting the one that I wanted, since it was late on Christmas Eve and I was pretty sure that Santa wasn't real. To my surprise, it was there Christmas morning, with a huge red bow on it, from Santa. I was pretty sure that he did exist, at least for another year!!!

Secret Santa Swap mailbox

Here's the secret Santa swap mailbox that I did for one of the girl's at Scrap-A-Latte! I was pretty pleased with it when it was done, especially since I'm not a HUGE fan of altering. I hope that she likes it!!!

Been busy!!!

Well, this last couple of months have been busy...to say the least!!! We celebrated our 10 year anniversary, which we decided to celebrate with a night away in Brown County.

Then, we celebrated Haleigh's 6th b-day. She was so excited to have family over and have her very best friend stay the night. She decided on an ice cream cake from DQ, which was SUPER yummy!!!

Next, came the 4th of July. We took the kids to the parade, which was Haleigh's first, and had a blast! The kids LOVED getting candy and seeing all the different floats and people involved. It was great!








Other than those events, we've just been busy, getting ready to start school. So, I've been trying to do things with the kids, these last couple of weeks, before they start daycare and I get a job (I've been a SAHM for 6 1/2 years). Here's a picture of Dakota with his best friend, Marcus, at the pool.






Also, I was lucky enough to meet a lot of my online friends from SAL!!! Brian and I took the Megabus to Chicago for the weekend of July 19-22. I went to CHA and met the SAL girls, while Brian hit the city of Chicago. At night, we all got together and had a BLAST!!! I can't wait to see everyone again! I really do wish that we lived closer! The husbands weren't in this picture but, here's all the girls!

Oh, and one more thing! We have a new addition to the family! Charlie! He's our now 9 week old kitten and is a BALL OF ENERGY!!! He's attacking my fingers, at this moment, while I type! He's lots of fun! Nala, our 11 year old cat doesn't care too much for him but, he and our dog, Chloe, are good buddies! And, he loves the kids! He's really been a great addition to our family.



Okay, so all that being said, this is my excuse for not being on here that often. I will *try* to blog a bit more, now that it looks like things are settling down!!!

My favorite manufacturer from CHA...

I would have to say...Making Memories! I LOVED the new "Noteworthy" collection!!! I must have it all! I also really loved the new Love, Elsie stuff...all of it. Oh, and the new KI Memories "lace" paper! That stuff was super cool!!! Plus, hundreds of other things that I saw! I'm going to go broke!!!!!

My favorite vacation spot...

Okay, here's another blog challenge, posted by Carla at Scrap-a-Latte.

I have a few spots, as I have not been on many vacations, so, they are all wonderful to me!!!

We had our first real family vacation in 2005, when we went to Gatlinburg and stayed in a nice condo. We love the mountains and outdoors so, it was great! Plus, Pigeon Forge had lots of fun stuff to do, such as putt-putt and go-karts. The kids had a blast!!!

Another favorite of mine was Myrtle Beach. I went with a friend and all of our kids (4 total - 2 five year olds, a three year old and two year old). We stayed in a condo, right on the beach. We walked everywhere, since there were things just down the road. We went to the Pavilion, an amusement park, and Broadway at the Beach, which is a large area with stores, putt-putt, restaurants and fireworks (you park on the outside of the area and just walk all over the place outside without worrying about cars). It was super cool! I would love to go back there again, but with Brian. It's a great place to take the family!!!

Haleigh graduated!!!

My baby is no longer a kindergartener! Yesterday was such a proud day for her and for us! She just glowed the whole time, and had a huge grin on her face! She is now officially a 1st grader! Man, they grow up way too fast!!!

This is a picture that I was able to snap of Haleigh and her teacher, Mrs. Wilson.

5 random things that make me happy...

1. sunshine

2. my kids laughing together

3. a cup of coffee

4. no place to go

5. the windows rolled down and listening to some great music!

Things I can not live without...

Another blog challenge from www.scrap-a-latte.net. Everyday things I can not live without.

1. Sunshine.

2. Nature.

3. Our computer (mostly the internet).

4. My pictures.

5. My camera.

6. COFFEE.

7. CHOCOLATE.

8. The stove.

9. My coffee maker.

10. My ginormous key chain.

Found treasures...

Okay, so Alyssa and I went to our Dad's house to help him declutter a bit more. He's a packrat, as was my Grandma so, there is A LOT of clutter. We got to Beverly's closet and the closet in his office (used to be his bedroom). The amount of dust and old crap never ceases to amaze me. He still had his suit that he wore for my Cheryl's wedding, to Dudley, her first husband, in 1978! The cool thing was that Dad kept lots of things from our childhood. We found my ET sleeping bag, Alyssa's Smurf sleeping bag, our Maple Town families and houses (bears, fox, bunny, etc...), my CPK sticker baby book and my Girl Scout sash. Haleigh is now in love with the Maple Town sets and the rest will be stored away to be passed down!

Can I just say........WOO friggin' HOOOOO!!!!

I just found out that I made the Scrap-A-Latte Design Team! I am so excited! I have never been on one before so, this will be an experience, and I'm sure a good one!

Blog challenge!

Carla, owner of www.scrap-a-latte.net, gave us a challenge. Talk about our Mother's day. So, here it goes:

We got up to a beautiful day. The kids made me beautiful cards and cleaned the house for me. I got to scrap a bit and finished my gift album for my Mother-in-Law, which was my main goal for the day.

We finally got moving and went to drop off the album, and hung out for a bit with Karen and Lee, chatting and stuff, enjoying an hour or so on their backporch. Afterwards, we all went to Cord Camera (they have a small scrapbook section), to pick up page protector refills for my album and, lucky me, they had the Junkitz Extreme Boy paper that I've been dying to get my hands on!!! Woohoo!!!

Anyway, after that, we went to the grocery store, went home and Brian made my favorite dish...Arroz Con Pollo! YUMMY!!! He's the best!!!

Here was the major unplanned event for the day: During dinner making, the kids played out back with some of the neighborhood kids, who brought over a kitten. They had no home for him and were going to let him just run free. I couldn't deal with that. I love animals way too much and hated the idea of this defenseless little kitten running around, trying to survive. So, "Lucky" (as Dakota and Haleigh named him) is in our home, until we hopefully find a permanent home for him!


So, overall, it was a great day! And, to top it off, I won a prize at scrap-a-latte!!! Just topped my day off!!!

I've made it to the blogging world!

Okay, so here it goes. I've decided to start my own blog. Why??? Because everyone else does. Well sort of. I don't have a journal or anything else so, maybe this will be a way to record my "daily" (probably more like monthly) happenings and thoughts.

Anyway, I hope to post again soon!!!