Almost a year??!??!?!!

Wow. It's been almost a WHOLE YEAR since I last posted!!! What's wrong with me??? It's not like I've had nothing to talk about!!! I'm still scrappin', my kids are still smart, my life still can be hectic at times, work is still good... Hopefully, I'll get to posting more often. Hopefully...

Scrappy goodness...

I have finally been feeling scrappy!!! I'm not sure where it's coming from but, I'll take it! Actually, it's probably the fact that my kiddos only have one more day of school, which means our kitchen table doesn't necessarily need to be clean every day for them to do their homework at (which is where I scrap). Yes, that means we eat together in the living room but, we're okay with that!!!

Anyway, I have completed another page for our Florida vacation album from last summer's trip and, I have even started on Dakota's Washington DC album (from his solo trip in 2008) - and it's even a 2-pager! Oh, and I've done one for Haleigh's Chicago trip (loved the picture that much!) and a page for my S. Carolina trip from forever ago...I think in 2003.
Here's a couple of my latest:







So, summer is here (at least temperature wise). The kids' last day is tomorrow and I will officially be the parent of a 7th grade middle schooler...man I feel old...and a 5th grade honor student (she's SKIPPING 4th grade - crazy, I know - I wouldn't choose this route if we were in a big school but, lucky for us, we aren't). Anyway, we don't have any huge plans this summer, since Brian's knee will still be recovering from surgery. I hope to go camping at least once and maybe even go down to Patoka Lake to spend some time on my parents' boat.

I'll be posting again...hopefully sooner, rather than later! ;)

Soccer Saturday...

Today is the last soccer Saturday of the season!!! Unfortunately, both of the kids games are at 8:30. Figures. Luckily, Brian will be able to go with me this time and sit at one of the games. And, lucky for us, the weather is supposed to be decent for the morning!!!

Speaking of Brian, he's recovering from his total knee replacement VERY well. He is now totally off of his walking and just using a cane, mostly when he's out of the house. Inside, he hobbles around with no assistance for the most part. I can't believe it hasn't even been three weeks since surgery!!!

Nothing much else going on in our lives. The end of the school year is quickly approaching. Our friends' annual race party is next weekend. Brian's 37th b-day is next week. I do have exciting news to share about Haleigh though...but I'll do that later on (for the one person that reads my blog - lol :) ).

I promise...

to once again keep this darn blog updated! Things have been a bit crazy in the past month...too much to get into right now...but I will be back with some updates on our lives...

One note....Brian will be having total knee replacement surgery on May 3. Please keep him in your prayers, praying that all goes well and for a speedy, smooth recovery. We can't wait for all of us to be able to enjoy the simple things again, like taking a hike at the park! :)

It's been 2 1/2 months...

Since I've posted anything!!! Yikes!!! We really haven't even been that busy! Here's a quick recount...

Haleigh may be skipping a grade next year...she needs the challenge...but, that's a scary proposition that we are only considering at this time.

Dakota won 3rd place in the school science fair. He then traveled to Cleveland for the Concept Schools Science and Engineering Fair (all of the charter schools ran by concept schools). He won Best of Category!!!

Work has been very busy (and that's a good thing!).

And, for the last two weeks, we've been "updating" Dakota's room. He's almost 12 and he has done sooo well in school, we figured he deserved a room makeover (Haleigh's is next...we just need a bit of a break). Here are the before and after pics...

BEFORE (Excuse the mess and the bad photos):






AFTER:






It seemed to have taken forever! Textured walls were definitely our nemesis. And, surprisingly, the red wall was the least of our worries!

So, I'm hoping to get back into the blogging thing...even if nobody reads it! :)

I'm back!!!

Long time no post! We had a super enjoyable holiday but, super busy (of course!). Now, it's back to business! Only two weeks into the new year and I have completed FOUR layouts!!! I have a goal of 125 this year (I made that many last year) and I hope to make it. Maybe even actually complete one of our vacation albums! That would be a bonus!

So, one of the layouts that I completed was for the challenge on American Crafts blog. It was a 30 minute challenge...right up my alley! This one took only about 20 minutes and the longest part was coming up with a title! But, I think that it worked out pretty well!



Materials used :
American Crafts Everyday pattern paper "Hiya"
American Crafts Craft Fair pattern paper "Rose McGrain"
American Crafts Letterbox pattern paper "Hello"
American Crafts Blue Skies flair
American Crafts felt Playroom thickers

Merry Christmas to all...

I hope you all enjoy this time with loved ones!



Have a very Merry Christmas!

'tis the season...

...to be jolly! Fa la la la la, la la la la! Ha!

I LOVE Christmas!!! And, now that we have gone and chopped down our lovely tree at the tree farm, enjoyed some hot cocoa and spiced cider by the fire, trimmed the tree and did a bit of shopping, I feel that the spirit of Christmas has finally hit me! I love this time of year! Just the joy of being with family and giving to others is wonderful to me. And, I can not wait to see the sparkle in our children's eyes on Christmas morning. It really is the best thing in the world!

Here are a couple of pics of our trip to the tree farm:


Haleigh & Brian with our "perfect" little tree...


Dakota loading it up


Heading up to the barn for them to prepare the tree (and so that we can pay for it!)


A surprise visit from Santa at the tree farm!!! Dakota sat here for the pic, pretty much just to make me happy, and to help keep the "secret" from his little sister, although she said she didn't want to talk to him because he's not the "real" santa... :)


Our candy-themed Christmas tree~!!!

I'm actually thinking about doing one of the "December Daily" albums but, making it just the last two weeks before Christmas. We'll see if I actually go through with it! ;)

17 days until Christmas...

can you believe it?????? I can't! Am I the only one that is NOWHERE NEAR done shopping??? And, the sad thing is, we CAN'T finish our shopping until the weekend right before Christmas! Crazy, I know! And, I still have cards to make, pictures to print....so on and so on...but, the decorations are up, we're getting our tree this coming weekend and the kids are SUPER excited!

I don't particularly see scrapping in the next two weeks so, I will fall short of my 150 layouts for the year goal for sure. Unless I find time to come up with 20 or so between now and the end of the year! Ha!

So, if I don't come back to my blog for the next 2.5 weeks...I hope you and your families have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

(lots of caps in this post! :) )

Nothing like last minute...

I always *plan* on participating in the American Crafts weekly blog challenge but, I rarely seem to get it done! This week, despite all the craziness that has gone, I decided to take a few minutes to come up with a layout for this past week's challenge. It's a picture that I wanted to use for a "thankful" layout before this challenge so, it worked out really well!!! So, here it is, finished at 9:30 PM EST on Thursday night! :)




Products used:
American Crafts "Marge Hemmingway" Craft Fair pattern paper
American Crafts "Made with Love" Craft Fair flair
American Crafts "Patchwork" thickers
American Crafts "Nutmeg" thickers

happy monday!

I just wanted to share a few photos from the holiday...

Haleigh dressed up as an Indian for her 3rd grade Thanksgiving play! She had the most colorful paperbag costume of all!



Thanksgiving at my Mom's house. The kids had a great time playing with their 2nd cousins, Aiden and Sara. There's a pic of Greg with Buddy, Aunt Cheryl and her family, and some of the family playing Blockus.


Thanksgiving get together at Alyssa's house, for Dad, Aunt Becky and Michele. Dad was enjoying some football in another room. Brian & Dakota messing around. Becky & Michele hanging out in the kitchen (which seems to be all the women's favorite spot). A "festive" pic of Billy & Alyssa and what I think is going to be our Christmas card photo...

Happy Thanksgiving (a couple days late)...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had dinner at my Mom's house and I got to see my Aunt and Uncle from western Illinois (they are my age) and their two little ones, Aiden and Sarah. Sarah is the funniest little 2 1/2 year old I've ever met! All of my immediate family was there as well, including my Grandma and another Aunt and her family. The food was good and it was nice being around everyone.

Unfortunately (or fortunately to some), we didn't get to do any Black Friday shopping. Brian did go out and get the "big" present for Dakota and he picked up one of the gifts that I wanted to get for my sister but, that's it. Our big days of shopping will be Dec. 18th & 19th! I'm kinda hoping to get something crafty done for Christmas but, I'm just not feeling it. Kinda sad really.

So, today is Thanksgiving #2 with my Dad at my sister's house. It will be a VERY small gathering and we're having ham instead of turkey but, I think that it will be a great time! I will also be enjoying some yummy white russians!!!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

So much to do...

so very little time! I can't believe that Christmas is only FIVE WEEKS AWAY!!! And, let's not forget that Thanksgiving is literally around the corner! My gosh! Where does the time go? The sad thing is that I had a goal of completing 150 layouts this year and I'm not quite sure if I'm going to make it. I went away for another weekend and completed 12 more, getting me closer but, I feel that I'm running out of time! I still have to make my Christmas cards!!! Ahhh!!!

I did manage to complete a layout for the challenge over at the American Crafts blog (I love these challenges - so many cool creations from others to see). This week's challenge was to complete a layout or a card using two or more products from their Junior line. I was in luck, as I had just 2 sheets of paper from this line (and a package of flair)!

So...here's the layout:

Materials used:

American Crafts Junior paper - Blastoff! (in the "O")
American Crafts Junior paper - Boom
American Crafts Subway thickers

I wish that I had more to choose from but, I haven't yet had the chance to purchase any! I really NEED the thickers from this line! They are awesome!


I'll be back later this weekend to post more of the layouts that I got completed...including a TWO-PAGER! Yep, you heard me right! I think it's been at least 5 years since I've done one of those!!!

I am SO proud!!!

I meant to post this last week but, things have been a little crazy around here! We received an invitation for an honor roll/merit roll assembly for the first quarter recipients!!! And BOTH of our kids were on it! Merit was 3.0 to 3.5 GPA, Honor was 3.5 to 3.99 GPA and SUPER honor roll was a straight 4.0. Dakota made the Honor roll and Ms. Haleigh made SUPER honor roll!!! Haleigh also had perfect attendance and she rated #1 on the ISTEP for her grade so she got a $10 gift card to Walmart! We also took them out to Wally World to buy something little and took them out to KFC. Not super exciting for some but, we don't do that very often!!!

I will also say that it was SO nice to see that a MAJORITY of the 3rd through 6th graders made at least MERIT. I love that my kids are in such a small school now with a lot more kids (and parents) like our family. Coming from a school where it seemed like the majority of the parents could really care less. It's just nice. It's also nice that the kids get recognized and commended for good grades! In their old school, it was that no one did great or did bad. That's how things were graded. Those kids will get into the real world and think that mediochre is ok. So sad.

Anyway, here's a pic of my super happy honor roll getting kids!


I love these two!!!

Home of the sickies...

Yep. We are all sick. I had a sore throat starting on Thursday, which turned into a cold/sinus thing. Dakota came home from school on Friday and shortly after he got home, starting actually getting sick. We thought it was possibly food poisoning. Nope. Brian and Haleigh have both got the same thing today! I can deal with the cold/sinus thing but, I'm really keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I don't get what they all have! I'm actually supposed to be leaving town this weekend so, I'm really hoping I get through this week with no worries!!!

Another AC challenge..

and it's a Halloween one!!! Perfect! I took so many pics of the decorations, party, kids in costume....This was the perfect chance to get something scrapped! I turned some of my decor pics black and white and made a collage of them...just to make it easier to scrap. Simple. I live for it!


Materials used:

American Crafts "Howl" Halloween paper
American Crafts "Horror" Halloween paper
American Crafts "Creepy" Color Halloween sticker
American Crafts "Dolce" fabric thickers

Halloween Party time!!!

So, we decided that we are going to have a Halloween party for our kids this year! Pizza, cupcakes, games and "scary" movies! I've only ever hosted a handful of birthday parties so, this should be interesting! I let them each invite 7 friends. That should be 14 kids, with a good chance of at least 4 not coming. So, I figure 10 kids (plus Haleigh & Dakota), right??? Well, it turns out that EVERYONE is excited about this party and apparently want to come! There are a couple of kids that will not be here but, a couple of the kids that are....they are bringing their sibling. Oy. What have I gotten myself into???

I think that it will be a great time, regardless. I was hoping the rain would stay away so that some of the events could be taken outside. But, that's not looking like it's going to happen. So, 2 adults and at least 14 children will be crammed inside our little house!!!

I'll post some pics in a couple of days!!! Wish me luck! :)

As promised...

here are a couple more of my layouts that I created last weekend at our annual SAL DT Retreat! The first one was completely inspired by my friend, who is also on the SAL design team, Jen Erickson. I envy her style!

So, another weekend is here! This Saturday will be our last soccer games for the season (at least for this soccer club! :) ). Dakota will start indoor with his school next week! But, I am completely okay with indoor soccer! No cold, crappy, rainy weather! No hot, melt in your seat, getting swamped by mosquitoes weather! But, we'll be back to regular outdoor for both the kids before I know it!!!

We will also hopefully be heading to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch. We always have a great time there! I love hay rides and love the yummy things that they bake in their little shop!!! Plus, it always makes for great pictures ;)!

Have a great weekend!

American Crafts!

American Crafts posts weekly challenges on their blog that I love! I rarely find the time to actually complete them but, this week, I have some mojo left over from the SAL Sweet DT Retreat and I took advantage of it! So, the challenge this week was to use two American Crafts products with a black and white photo!

I used papers from the Craft Fair line, Halloween line and the Kids line. I also used felt thickers, fabric thickers and some Flair from the Junior line. This really was a fun layout to do!

I'm baaaaccckkkkk!!!

I made it home, safe and sound!!! I pulled up at about 8:30 last night. The drive wasn't too bad, except for the idiots on the road (one in particular that ticked me off for a good 45 minutes.....two words.....CRUISE CONTROL.....it's an amazing concept).

So, I completed 11 layouts!!! Yep, you heard me right....ELEVEN! I just did a recount....I actually thought that I did 12. Bummer. But, regardless...it's 11 more down!!! I need to fix a couple of things on a couple of them and actually do the journaling on one but, here are the ones that are totally done!




I really had so much fun!!! It was great seeing my friends that I only get to see once a year! I really wish that we lived a LOT closer! And Carla was the best hostess!!! She made wonderful food and made sure that we all had good time!

Once I get the rest of the layouts completed, I'll upload them here!!!