so here he is - the day before FIVE!

Ok first of all if there is a tree around I can not keep him out it, hence the funny look. He was pretty proud of himself for getting in the tree. Like the hoodie look too hey ;) Well I am just glad that he had something on his head since it was kinda cool out. Here he is, the day before five :D



so what on earth do you think that goofy look if for? I think maybe I take too many pictures of him lol.

Spring Chill ;)

so really just 10 minutes before she was nothig but pouts and frowns. I tell you this girl will get frown lines before she is 20 lol. She wears her mood on her face and there are times when it seems it is all frowns. Who knew an almost seven yer old girl could be so fickle. But when she shines - she really does :D (and look at all of her baby teeth, she is so imaptient to lose even one, just one, and she would be happy.)

look ma - no wheels!

Except wouldn't you know it I never even took pictures! Today we took the training wheels off of Colton's and Ashlin's bikes! Yay. Of course go figure, it wasn't even me who convinved them. I figured they were not ready yet, (something like don't let my baby get hurt) and haven't even tried to take them off. Then yesterday we were at Sandra's and she was like oyu gotta get those training wheels off, they are so ready! Well I guess she was right lol. Colton did so well, he had one fall and a little teeny scrape, and that was it. Boy he can sure fly! Ashlin's took a lot longer to get her wheels off, and a tune up. She was way more nervous about it, and I had to hold onto her for a bit. Of course she was getting nervous and not pedaling and that can make you fall anyways. But the good news is they both have the hang of it! It is a bit scary to watch Colton because he bobs or something, goes like crazy and totally looks like he is going to crash, but doesn't. Talk about stressful. Ashlin is much more steady and even which makes me a bit less stressed lol. I also got my exercise by running with them as they were flying down the street, next time I need to remember to wear my sports bra! I am thinking that maybe I will do this a few times a week instead of the treadmill :D I bet the kids would love it too.

Such a mommy moment hey. On one hand I am sad they are getting so big, and not my little babies anymore. But even more than that, they did so great today!

big sigh here.....

You ever notice I go in stages? I guess right now would be a quiet stage, keep to myself kinda stage. I think part of it the fact I such a homebody, and I don't even live an exciting town. I guess I could tell you all about the river, it went up a few feet due to the rain. Isn't that exciting.

Or the fact I am a bit stressing out that I got a notice from Ashlin's teacher, she has booked me for a 30 minute parent/teacher conference. Like WTF could she want to talk to me for 30 minutes about. So of course my mind is wandering and imaging all the things she might say, and nothing so far has been good.

Rob and I are thinking of going to the movies tomorrow, he wants to see 300. (So do I but for different reasons lol) That means a round trip of about 5 hours driving, good thing I love my car :D

But I have been scrapping :D Would you like to see, if you haven't already.







and I think I might do a few more lol.

Have a great night everyone!!!

Meet Mr. I am FIVE!

So here he is with his big a$$ bike helmet. Now that is love hey, actually so far he has not complained about how big the helmet is. I do think he might be ready for a more boyish helmet soon though. I just love this pic, aside from the helmet, since it caught his eyes so well.



And here is typical Colton! If it is a puddle he is so there. Water or sand is no match for him I tell ya!



His birthday party is tomorrow at 11:00 am and I keep forgetting to order the cake! Ack My mom says she will bake one but they always turn out so wrong. Like the year we did a Wiggles red car cake. It was pink and looked like a blob. So we are thinking Dairy Queen for this party. I just hope that they have something suitable!

Wish me luck :D

getting connected :D and other misc stuff

So Rob bought me an IPod for valentines, so now all I have been doing is surfing itunes and getting some tunage for my "running". Of course he is giving me all these suggestions and ideas but we have kinda (really) different taste in music. So I need to learn how to do folders and give him his own folder just in case he listens to it. I highly doubt he likes my pop music. Talk about a fun gadget though!

My surgery went so well, I felt totally myself the day after. In fact I am wondering why on earth I waited so long to get this done! No more PMS :D I am sure that the whole family will be some glad about that lol. For me the most stressful part was when I was offered an epidural instead of anestetic (however you spell it!) I had epidurals for my c-sections and I didn't like them, I just can not handle the thought of that huge needle going into my spine. So I passed on that option lol.

After my surgery when they took me to the recovery room to see Rob they brought him in in a wheelchair. He got hit in the head on friday night and it was acting up really bad. When he couldn't respond to the nurse she wheeled him down to ER and sent me after him. We were there for another hour but the ct scan showed no bleeding - just a bad concussion. The doctor there sent him home with a checklist of things to watch for and some percocet. I personally get really freaked out about head and spine issues so I have been worried about him. Today I am dragging him to the doctor again since he isn't even going to work since his headache is so bad. Please think good healthy thoughts for us!

Today is a pro-d day so the kids are home, and two cousins who also have no school today - the good news is the Ipod drowns them out ;) My kiddos love it when others kids come to play so that is nice for them.

Have a great weekend!!!

wooohooo

We got a new computer!! No more dealing with crappy viruses (for now lol) And I don't know who is more excited - the kids or I. Although Ashlin did have a melt down because I wouldn't put the old one in her room, I told her maybe when she is 10 she can have a computer in her room.

So bear with me - I have lost ALL my bookmarks, and ALL my fonts :( Man that hurts this certified font addict. All my digi kits are also gone. But I did have most of my pictures put on CD (thankfully) and now that I have a new computer I can use the burner agian and start saving even more pictures to disk! Now all I need is my new camera lens and I will be ready for anything :D

I have my ablation surgery on tuesday - all total I will be at the hospital about five hours and I have to prove that I do not plan on driving myself home. Kinda hard to do that when I am the driver in the family, but hopefully something works out. No treadmill for one week (I am sorta ok with that) and no bedroom activites for two weeks (haven't told hubs yet lol, but I am fine wih that too), no driving for 24 hours because of being put under. Uhm also just take it real easy for two weeks, you think I could convice the hospital to find me some full time care for my kiddos for that time frame? They just do not understand 'slow down', which is fine since they are kids and all. Seriously though I am happy that they are such exuberant kids, loving their childhood. :)

Ok enough rambling - I am off to do the treadmill and maybe instill my photoshop :D

do you ever notice how we change...

as we get older? And I don't really mean "wider". I mean the way we think and what drives us.
ah once again I am editing before I post. I don't think anyone wants to read the big lond post I had typed. Suffice to say - our family really are precious, hold them, guard them, love them and cherish them - nothing else matters.

I am doing the online class {Journal Me This I am doing an album for my daughter Ashlin, I want her to have a keepsake that she can look at anytime, and realize just how passionately I feel that family is the most important thing.

This is the cover, dedication page and the first page using the Promt sent today:










(I am sorry the baby pic looks funny, it is the finish of the photograph that doesn't scan well)

holy update Batman!!

I am here :) Barely lol

I have been deaing with a household of sickies. We all have really bad head colds, I am sure Kleenex appreciates the support of their products. But you know even though I have been sick and out of town a fair amount I have still been doing the treadmill (almost) everyday :D I am pretty happy that I have been keeping it up but I can safely say my shins hate me. It is weird but after I got sick after Christmas, darn flu, that I have actually felt much better, almost my old self. I have missed feeling this energy for way to long!!!

I haven't even been taking pictures. It is so dreary out and just no fun to take pictures in the front room again so I have been giving the ol camera a rest. And scrapbooking? Well I do have a layout that I started two weeks ago, it is still sitting on my desk. BLAH I am just feeling so inspired, and I am sure it is my cold just draining me. I do plan on scrapping later today so I hope to share something soon!

Today I making up little 'kits' for a Valentines craft get together for Ashlin tomorrow. We are making tissue roses, with glue and {ACK} glitter! I am hoping that if I precut all the hearts we need that it will be a bit easier going tomorrow. The good news is Colton is going to be at a birthday party so the glitter is safe!

Wish me luck ;)

the ongoing school saga

Yes Ashlin STILL does not like school. Well she likes school, just not if she has to go. And she really does like her teacher so that isn't the problem, she says the days are just to long (oh and boring).

Not to torture her or anything, but because I thought it would be good, I put her in after school french two days a week. The start at 3:30pm and go to 4:30pm. It is very casual and has kindergarten to grade four age level. Well yesterday was supposed to have been her third class. But at 3:00pm she told her teacher that her tummy was really bothering her, so they sent her home! Ya big surprise when she got home she was 100% fine. Ugh I am so annoyed that the teacher fell for it for one thing, and I am also annoyed/frustrated because I seriously do not know what to do! I am sorry that she doesn't like school, but she has to go. I really don't know if homeschooling is the answer. Ashlin totally knows how to manipulate me and get out of things, so I worry if I home school that we will just have power struggles all the time. What good would that be. She is learning at school, how much I am not to sure though. I don't remember what grade one was like but I keep thinking the stuff she is doing is so basic. So anyways all I can think is "oh dear, she has 11 more years to go. What am I going to do."

On a brighter note, I gave Ashlin a new bedroom wall yesterday. I am sure that most of my scrapping friends have seen it but just in case, here it is:

I used 12 x 12 papers and just spray glued them up :D Ashlin seemed to like it, but she has already asked if I could paint all the green squares blue. Ya, like I will get right on that!

Anyways thanks for listening to me rant about school - again!

the downside of kids birthday parties.

So Ashlin had a birthday party to go today, three glorious hours of 16 girls running around playing diva. Thank goodness I was not the host lol. She had so much fun though, and I am happy to hear it.

BUT, and I hate to say this, but the goodie bag she brought home is scary! Nothing but sugar, and very noisy toys. I kinda snagged some right away and she didn't even realize it, which I am very grateful for because I dislike fighting with her about that kinda stuff. I convinced her to set aside some for daddy, and she is sharing with Colton. So now we can figure that she has about 1 cup of sugar at her disposal. And of this the worst is these plastic vampire teeth, that come with a big plastic baggie of colored sugar. You are supposed to put the sugar in the mouthpiece where your teeth go, I guess to pad that plastic suckers or something. Like oh my goodness, can anyone call those things good for teeth!

I don't want to be a mean mom and say that my kids can't go to birthday parties because of the sugary goodies bags sent home (95% of the time) but at the same time I just get so annoyed that this seems to be the norm. And I think that if I just made the kids leave without a goodie bag they would both be pretty upset.

Would it be rude to let the birthday hosts know that I would prefer only one to two pieces of candy in her bag??? What else could I do?

Creativity has returned!

Yay!!!! My creativity block has passed. I think the stress of Christmas break and wonderful holiday expectations was a bit more then I bargained for, and it totally killed any inking of creativity I had. Now that life is semi normal, the kids are back in school, the house is back to normal, I am feeling more creative. And it feels great!!!

Oh and I have been on the treadmill almost everyday :D Yay go me :D

Anyways here is what I have created in the past week:




There is more but blogger is not liking me today :( And I need to get my butt to the treadmill.

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

PS - Robyn I am sooo happy to have you back girl!!! {{{hugs}}}

so at Christmastime I realized...

I realized just how reclusive I have become. I barely talk to anyone. In my real life and on the computer. I have always been a girl who knows a lot of people, but open and close with only a select few. I still am like that, and if you think I can sure yap alot then you are one of those special few.

But I do not socialize anymore, at all I think. I don't make small talk, and I tend to keep myself very distant from most everyone. It is Rob, Ashlin and Colton who get the pleasure to listen to me everyday now. While I am sure that they fully FULLY enjoy it, I have lost touch with so many people. Most people are lucky if I say hi to them now. Isn't that just awful of me.

It made me really sad to come to this realization. I do enjoy my quiet time that is for sure, but this way I am is ridiculous! Part of it is because I am unhappy with how I look and a larger part of it is because I just don't have the energy to put out and go the extra few steps. When I am out usually my thoughts are finishing my errands and getting back home, not stopping to chat. I do go out with Rob for coffee still, it isn't like I never leave the house. But I tell ya I miss the old days when my girlfriends and I would go for dinner and sit and chat for hours! It is way different talking to a guy than talking away with your girls.

So the question is, now that I have come to my senses. What am I to do? Since I am just a stay at home mom now I don't really like I have a lot to offer anyone any more. I am sure that friends can only handle me talking about my kids, or heaven forbid, my mother!(ACK!) so much. And truth be told I just feel so shy now that I am not sure I can start being more social again, it just feels so awkward and uncommon for me.

I don't know.

so is that fate or what?

I was just posting, for the first timein weeks hey. And it was kinda personal and perhaps even a bit whiney. And what do you know, major computer crash. I guess I was not meant to share my issues tonight, I will sleep on them and then see if I still feel like sharing them lol

A New Year has begun :D I have made the yearly resolution to become a more active woman, and in doing so I hope to lose weight, a lot of weight!
Wish me luck!!!

ack...

Can you believe my computer brain was FULL!!! The C drive is 52 gigs, and was full, only 2mb of free space. No wonder it was turning into a slug lol. So I deleted a lot of stuff! And I gained 14mb, but I as still having errors. My photoshop was not working :( So I was a smart cookie and dumped EVERYTHING into my F drive :) It was 97 gigs of unused space, and now it is half full lol. So for a computer that is two years old, and I managed to free up my C drive to almost empty, I figure I should be able to run another two years before I format lol. I swear I keep saying I need to format, but I haven't learned how. And I am worried of doing something and not having a computer. So I don't format. I bet my computer feels like it has a ton of bricks tied to its ass. :D

I need to scrap, or taking, to do something creative! I did buy foam stars, white glue and lots of glitter for the kids and I to make a garland or something. But it isn't quite the same is it. Although they LOVE the glitter, I don't! I have cleaning it up because it sticks to floor and seems to just glue itself there. Talk about fun hey, washing the floor five times, I can't wait!

Just wanted to share another baby picture from the last session I did. I still can't believe what a sweetie this baby girl was, it was great!


by the way - the CT scan is normal. Not even any brain shrinkage lol. Talk about surprised! Sometimes I just feel so harried and forgetful that I sure it is all dried up and just rattling around in there ;)

I survived!!

ok so I needed a night to recover, but I survived :D I took my mom CHristmas shopping. Now I tell you there is a woman who overthinks things! Wow. We spent like an hour and a half in the toy section of Walmart - and we were only getting two toys! She has to touch everything and analyze everything. No fun for me since I am more of a grab and throw it in the cart shopper style.

dare I go Christmas shopping????

I need to go and do some Christmas shopping. The problem is that most of my days are full right now (imagine that!) We have school plays and concerts, Colton has a school party, birthday parties, I volunteered to help at Ashlins school and all that kinda fun stuff. So I am not to sure that I will even be able to go shopping till just before Christmas. ACK! The stores will be nuts by then wont they. I am a bit lost as what I should get the kids. I think that they will be thrilled with just about anything, but I tend to overthink these kinda things.

Would you like to see a perfect little sweetheart? (not my kid lol, she would have horns if it was!)




Isn't she gorgeous! I am sure everyone says it - but I am so sure that my kids were never that small! At almost five and seven they just seem so big now. Ahh time sure does fly....

the Christmas spirit has kicked in....

with my kids. They are insane! Talk about exited lol, I almost wish I had of left my decorations packed for a while longer. If they are this excited now what on earth will they do when we get the tree. (Yes I am nuts to get a tree with a new kitten aren't I) Instead of Christmas M&Ms and Smarties and all that fun stuff, perhaps Tylenol, Asprin and Bayer should get in on the act and make Christmas Strength Headache pills. I am sure I would be their best customer.

I had my ct scan yesterday. How frustrating that the technicians can't say anything. I so suck at patience and now I have to wait for the report to be typed up and sent to my dr, then I have to wait for her to find time to call me about it. Did you all know I am pretty bad at being patient?

Tomorrow is my craft fair. ACK! I do not have near enough stuff - but I have like DOZENS of cookies! Too bad I slacked off on making scrapbook stuff to sell. Maybe tonight I will crack open some wine, only to help let the creativity be unleashed, and try to do a final blitz of creating :D

Have a great day!!!

ps Nicole everytime I look at my banner I love it even more! Thank you girl, I am so tickled with it still :D

I had the pleasure of photographing this sweet little boy

Baby Logan! He is just shy of two months and a total sweetie for picture taking. We had a rough start but some loving from his mama and he was good to go. No sleeping pictures thoguh because he didn't want to miss a thing!

I absolutely love taking pictures of babies! And even better is not having to be pregnant to do it :D (even though I love my kids I can't say being pregnant was the best nine months of my life - either time!) Thank you S for trusting me with your little man!

Picture Monday :D

One to make your heart smile:

And one to make your heart melt (I am so a kitty person!)

one to make you heart smile: