Everyday Moments

That's it, I need a smart phone

2011-08-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

I keep telling Kevin I need a smart phone. I used to just say it because I wanted to be 'cool' like the rest of the world. Really, what does a SAHM need a smart phone for? Nothing. Heck, I barely use my cell phone ever...it stays in my purse dead for days at a time. I know...if I'm out and need knowledge (and by knowledge, I mean directions, a telephone number, or the keen desire to imdb an actor right away to find out what tv shows or movies they've been in before it drives me crazy because I'm sure I've seen them somewhere before!! You know, important things...) I either have to find a kind friend with a smart phone, or, God forbid, use a map, read a phone book or wait until I get home to use my precious internet. I know, it's a tragic life I lead. So, I tried to convince myself that I could get along without one.

However, the other day my kids were all playing a game of pretend. They were getting along. I know, I hardly believed it myself. I tried to make myself invisible as I quietly drank my coffee and surfed Pinterest. It worked for awhile. Until I heard that their pretend mother was lost. So, I walk out to see what their up to because my curiosity got the better of me (and my coffee was almost gone). I asked what happened and Riley told me that their 'mother' was lost and so they got to keep all her money. Me: "Aren't you going to go look for her?" Riley: "No, it's ok, we still have a dad." Nice. Really nice. So, I figure...I should probably get a smart phone for it's GPS capabilities. It's clear my children aren't going to come looking for me and they're going to try to convince everyone that I'm either dead or never coming back so they can inherit my fortune. My cell would probably be dead so I couldn't call for help. I figure if I had a smart phone I'd always keep it charged up for all it's other cool capabilities. You know, so I could play Angry Birds while someone came to my rescue.

The joke may be on them though because later in the game Riley came into the kitchen and said to me, "I'm old enough to hunt now so I do the hunting because our Dad doesn't like to. We have to hunt because we're poor. We only have $100. We like deer meat." Ha, take that. I only had $100 to my name apparently. At least if they'd come looking for me they'd have someone to clean their hunting clothes and cook their meat.

Yes, my kids are quite hilarious. I laughed a lot that day. I was on the phone trying to tell Kevin about their game and at the time Riley was telling me that they also lost their dad. Then he said they were like Moses and would have to be put in a river to go live with another family. Hahaha!!! Hey, I don't care what they're playing as long as they are getting along and not getting hurt. I'm still pretty certain once snack time rolled around they'd come looking for me.

Other funny things my kids do:

Sometimes, in our house, balls are balls and sometimes, they are 'bobs'. Example: Baseball, basketball, meatbob, eyebob. I can't explain it, but Kieran and Bridget both do it. Cracks me up so I don't bother to correct it. In fact, I now also call them meatbobs :)

Bridget likes icicles in her water at night. Not cubes. Maybe we have a geometry problem...

Roar like lions:

Riley did his hair in the bathroom forever like he's 16 instead of six :)

A lot of this:

Yeah, that last one pretty much sums up my life. Never a dull moment. Now where'd I put that map?

Summer and the living is easy....

2011-07-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

...hahaha!!! I think easy is probably not the most accurate word to use with 3 crazy kids and a slightly less crazy dog. But it's been fun. We've done swimming lessons, Bible camp, Magic Mountain, the Ganong chocolate museum, bowling, campfires, barbecues, beach trips, feeding the animals at the nursery, running for Mommy, birthday parties, pool visits, library trips, soccer, soccer, soccer, bubble blowing, squirt gun fights, trampoline jumping, late nights, early mornings, dirty kids. Phew!! Is it September yet? Just kidding, I really do love having them home and I'm sure I will seriously miss the company come school time. Ok, maybe the first week will be nice, but after that I will miss it :)

So, my pictures aren't that many. I hate to take a camera around water, so that rules out a bunch of photo ops right away. I did take it to the beach once. On that trip I lost a running skirt but thankfully the camera came back in one, happy piece. But here are a few cute shots of the kiddos

Ready, set....

JUMP!!

sploosh!

Ready, set....

JUMP!!!!

Ker-sploosh!!!

Ready...

Set...

Jump!!! (a sploosh ensued :)).

Oz and his girlfriend, Sophie. She lives next door :)

Cute how he lets her have the upper-hand :)

Tumbling.

Oz and his cousin, Tanner :)

A fairer fight.

Watching them play from across the room.

Spotted!

So cute :)

A race to put the chocolates in their proper place in the box at the chocolate museum. The workers can do it in 17seconds!!! Took us a bit longer :)

Getting a little help from his sister :)

Cracking the code. What's behind the door? A chocolate treasure?

"Hey, Mom!"

CHOCOLATE!!!!

Just having a chat...

Asleep in pink boots, fruit roll-up in hand :)

Eating chocolate is exhausting!

Moo!

Feeding the 'greedy goat'.

Crazy brothers! Can't get a semi-serious, normal picture of my kids lately.

Again, CRAZY!!

The 'cheese' picture.

The silly face picture!!

There, my summer thus far, in pictures (minus some water related pictures :)).

What really reminded me that I should blog tonight was Bridget's bedtime song. My kids do and say lots of cute things and I forget to write it down. I've been kind of slack lately and I can't afford to do that because they are growing up way, way too fast! Tonight, asked me for a "Mommy" song at bedtime. I said I didn't know a Mommy song so she said she'd sing to me. Her song went something like this:

Mommies love Daddies

And they love kids too, like Riley, Kieran and Bridget

And I love her too

And her flower is pretty and she is pretty

And I hug her

She went for a run and I missed her

Then she came back

Then she was crying and then she stopped (I asked when I was crying and she said, "it's just in the song...)

And there are flowers on my wall but they're not real

And there are words on my wall

Mommy's hair is black, her hair is black ("Mommy is your hair black?" Then I had to convince her that it was brown...)

She is so cute. She also likes to prolong bedtime and know that she can do that by being cute, lol. She also makes me bring her a sippy cup with water and 'icicles' in it every night :) I will try to be better at writing these cute things down!

Well, I should finish watching my mediocre movie. Just so you know, the previews of 'Limitless' are better than the actual movie! Be warned :)

Secret Lives of Cats

2011-06-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

Do your cats lead secret lives? Ours do! They've been very good at hiding it. I would never have suspected it if some of their friends hadn't given them away. I first heard about their secret identities a couple of years ago. I was chatting with one of our neighbours and she saw one of our cats and ask if it, indeed, belonged to us. I can't remember if it was Apollo or Artemis...if those are their real names... I said, yes, that both orange cats were ours. She then proceeded to tell me that they spent a lot of time around her house and that her grandkids had named them Peaches (Apollo) and Pumpkin (Artemis). Peaches at least used to go into their house and they'd give him treats sometimes. He was living the high life apparently. Then she told me that he used to even lay in bed with her husband who was very sick with, I think, MS. I can't remember exactly what disease it was now, but he was very ill. And Apollo, Peaches, would curl up and keep him company. I seriously got a lump in my throat as she was telling me. She seemed to really appreciate his company and her husband did pass away that same year. I've always thought it was nice that Apollo was able to give that family some comfort in a very difficult time.

Then, a few weeks ago, I was out at some yard sales with the kids. Trying to kill some time while Kevin was at a soccer workshop. We were at a house a street behind ours and their cat jumped up on one of the tables. I said that she looked familiar and told them that we had two orange cats. They said, "the big orange one? Apricot?" (ok, so I may be making Apricot up....I'm pretty sure it was a food name as well, but different from the previous ones...either way, they had renamed my cat). I said, "well, yes..Apollo and a smaller one, Artemis." They say, "oh, we call him (really a her...) Watson." Ok, crazy people... Riley did end up buying a toy there. I guess I didn't have the same soft heart since Apollo didn't curl up on someone's death bed there. They were also letting the cats into their house and feeding them. I mean, c'mon, that's just weird. I wouldn't let anybody else's cat into our house and start feeding it. And it's not just because I have enough on my hands with 3 kids, 2 cats and a dog....it's just plain weird. Who let's someone else's cat into their house and feeds them?

A couple of years ago Artemis was missing for a week... I thought she wasn't coming back then one day, poof, there she was in the backyard like nothing ever happened....I guess maybe she was hanging out with one of her other families. It's like Alias for cats around here! Maybe I should have named them Sydney and Vaughan :) I kind of like to think that maybe Apollo is some kind of good spirit or littlest hobo or something. Maybe it's his purpose in life to make people happy. I mean, not us, just our neighbours.

And yes, I know, I know...maybe they should have collars with their names. Honestly, they used to be indoor cats until I had Bridget. Before that they'd get a foot out the door and I could still catch them. Once I had 3 kids I think they realized that they could run and I couldn't spend my day chasing them. I gave them flea collars and wished them well. Our yard has been rodent free ever since! I did give them collars with bells for awhile but they did a pretty good job of destroying them before long. I mean, it's not like they're uncared for...they have at least three homes!

And, just for some more pet news...we have neighbours who picked up a beagle pup yesterday. Their girls had been looking forward to the pup for weeks. An exciting time as those of us with puppies all know! Well, this morning I'm checking up on Facebook and their status said that the pup got away from them on leash late last night and was still missing. We felt absolutely sick about the whole thing :( Kevin immediately took a drive around the neighbourhood looking but found nothing. This was one day that we didn't really have much on the go so we all got dressed and decided to take a walk around to look. At the end of our road there was a family who looked ready to head out on a walk too and we asked them if they'd seen her. Amazingly, she was in their bushes! She had been hanging out around their house apparently but they didn't know who she belonged too. We were thrilled! Oz was with us and was freaking out both at the pup and the couple's older lab. He wanted to play so badly and was about to take my arm off to do it so Kevin took him home and the kids and I took the puppy to her home.

Off we go down the road, me carrying the puppy because I'm terrified to put her down and the kids doddling along behind. We get to our friends' driveway and I tell the boys to run ahead and ring the bell. Bridget then falls in the driveway and skins her knee. Screaming commences. I talk her through getting up, dog still in arms and we manage our way to the door. I have never seen someone so relieved in my life as our neighbour this morning! The puppy thanked me by pooping on my arm :) I figure, it's not the first time I've been crapped on and it probably won't be the last! We stayed long enough to clean up my sweater and Bridget's knee and hear the story of how she got away. We were so, so happy to return that pup. I know I would have worried about her all day. What an awful first night! I hope that they had a fun day and a much more relaxing evening tonight!

Oh, also, while we were there Kieran noticed a picture on the fridge of their little girl, who went to preschool with him, and her best friend from preschool. He then promptly asked, "where's the picture of me??" Haha! I told him maybe there'll be one there next time now that we're pet heroes :)

When we were returning home Kevin was outside with Oz off leash and he saw us and came BOUNDING down our lawn, which is a pretty decent slope. He kind of splayed out on all fours at the bottom and got up limping. Luckily, he started walking after not long. I think he might have pulled a muscle or something because if he's been lying down for awhile he limps the first couple of steps after he gets up and then he's fine. Poor big galoot!

Thus ends the pet edition of Everyday Moments :)

Preschool Graduate

2011-05-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Kieran's preschool graduation was last week. Hard to believe another Winchester is all done preschool. He is so looking forward to kindergarten and Bridget simply cannot wait to start preschool in the fall!

Kieran had been counting down the days to his concert. I'm sure he was excited for the concert part but a big part of the day was the ice cream party afterward. Give a kid a bowl of ice cream and about 10 toppings to pile on himself and he's a pretty happy boy :) He did well with the concert too...singing and doing the actions. Much better than Riley, who, I think took his shoe off and began inspecting it along with the girl beside him. Maybe that was when he was in the 3 year old class... Either way, Riley was never really into performing but Kieran loves it.

The songs and poems all went really well, the kids did an awesome job! The last 'surprise' song was slippery fish. If you care to know the song you can click here. At the end of the song a whale burps, which was part of the surprise for parents. The kids, of course, all think it's hilarious and are laughing hysterically when the whale uses his manners and says, "pardon me". Funny how they don't catch that part. Anywhoo...when the teacher says to listen for the surprise at the end, Kieran's best friend starts yelling, "he burps! he burps! he burps!!!!!" LOL! It was too funny. I think I caught it on my ipod, but the battery is dead and I can't check for sure :) Kieran then, in the middle of the song, starts explaining that his mommy knows what happens because I've done duty when they've sung the song. It was all quite funny. But we made it through, he officially graduated, diploma and all and proceeded to stuff himself with ice cream.

No idea why he insisted on crossing his arms all day, but at least I got him to lose the serious look :) Btw, that orange shirt was a fave all year...he wore it the first day, picture day and now for his last day.

The best teachers EVER!!

Diploma time! This was the best picture I could get before he ran away, lol. Guess he was afraid they'd change their mind and he'd be held back :)

Performing takes a lot out of you...time to recharge :)

It's also exhausting pretending you are in preschool...Bridget needed a recharge as well!

Best friends!

After preschool Grammie and Grampie took Bridget to their place so Kieran could have Mommy and Daddy time. We took him to Indigo to spend a gift card he had. He bought some armour for his zhu zhu pet (yes, boy zhu zhus have armour and weapons and traps...how nice :)). He also bought a couple of books...Cars and Superman, Kieran favourites! Then we went to East Side Marios for lunch. Surprisingly enough, Kieran wasn't that hungry, but Mommy and Daddy were starving! Kieran's lunch came with 3 little ice cream cones too, haha. He shared with Kevin and me though so it wasn't too much more for him. This after eating only french fries for lunch. Not a stellar eating day for Kieran, but you only graduate from preschool once. Hopefully. At least you do when you run away with your diploma.

The day was rounded out with picking Riley and Kieran up and heading to a playground. Of course, about 5 minutes after we get there, Bridget has to go to the bathroom. No porta potties in sight so we head home because I feared a #2 situation and the woods wasn't an option. This is after making her go right before we left. Sigh. Then we finally do all that, get back to the playground and play for 5 minutes before boys are ready to head home. I think they were hot (this was on one of the precious few sunny days we've had this spring) and tired and Riley just wanted to read his new book (Percy Jackson...I'm reading it to him and we are LOVING it!). Grammie and Grampie fed us supper, so no cooking for me that day, woohoo! It was a really fun day! So nice to play hookie from chores and have the day with family. It's always fun too when we get to spend one on one time with the kids. Kieran loved his special day.

Ok, I'm very sleepy so I can't write anymore. I feel like this post is pretty boring to people who aren't me anyway. I will be back with more from this past weekend. It was our first family run all together :) I'll also have the first (and, hopefully, last) installment of the secret lives of cats, specifically the Winchester cats.

I know, I know, you can't wait! But you have to!

Kieran's Birthday...a couple of weeks late

2011-05-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

My poor neglected blog. At the end of the day sometimes it's just not what I want to do. I'm spent. Wasted. I sit in front of the tv in a coma. Ok, sometimes I muster some energy to read or craft. But in general, my mind is not in a place of writing. At least not anything that anyone would want to read. But here I am. I may be in that place even now. If so, feel free to move on to another place. I recommend Pinterest...that's where I've been spending much of my time, haha.

Kieran's birthday this year was bug themed. Ok, ok, the kid wanted a penguin themed party, but I convinced him to do bugs. Where on earth was I going to find penguins in May?! The kid sure loves penguins though. In exchange for doing a bug party now I had to promise him that we could have a winter penguin party where they could each invite a couple of friends just for fun....with a penguin cake, sliding, hot chocolate, the whole shebang! He seemed ok with that and I'm sure he won't let me forget. SO, bugs it was!

The morning of Kieran's birthday was a preschool day. But not just any old preschool day, his 'special day' where he gets to pick and bring the snack and have everyone sing Happy Birthday. But, but, not just any special day...it was field trip day! This was the morning of his birthday....

I am FIVE!!! And I'm going to....

the FIRE STATION!!!

Dude, this stuff is heavy!

Beep! Beep! Bridget liked it too :)

The kids had a blast and the firefighter who led the group was amazing! So friendly and funny. He welcomed all the kids to come back and visit anytime. He may regret that by the end of the summer...

Supper was a family party with hot dogs, what else?? That kid would live on hot dogs and pancakes... And bug cupcakes for dessert.

Mmm....Bugs!

Tastes like chicken.

The following weekend was Kieran's friend party...this involved on kid crying half the time and one asking to go home many times, one that was sick and couldn't come and 2 that actually had fun (well, 3 if you count Kieran). I guess as long as he had fun it was ok. I think some kids were having an 'off' day. Who can blame them with all the rain we'd been having. Ah well, when they complained I just gave them some more treats and sent them on their way...sorry moms :)I was hoping to do the party outside and get to look for actual bugs but that was a no-go. So, we had a hunt for plastic bugs which they got to keep (I guess the moms probably preferred this to real bugs and dirt going home :)). We also played pin the spider on the web and Kevin made *ahem* *cough, cough* balloon animals. Ok, so it was our first ever attempt and he's braver than I am. I'm scared to twist balloons. So...feast your eyes upon...

Guesses, anyone? This is a bee. This is by far the best animal made that day I think. And, I still have 2 more pictures to go, haha. Seriously, I'm actually laughing as I type. Next...

Guesses on this one??? LOL! This is a, um...ladybug. I know, I know. Kevin had a little more practice and had it actually looking more like a ladybug by the end of the party. We didn't get any pics though because our dollar store balloons started breaking. Shocking.

And, last but not, well ok, I guess it IS least

The WORM! :) I think this was actually a bee that was formed and reformed and finally B decided she just wanted a worm. Smart girl :)

There were some other wild creations but alas, I didn't get any pictures. There go my hopes to start renting Kevin out as a clown!

I think the bees actually look better on the wall :)

The cake was a dirt cake. By far the easiest cake ever in life. I mean, it is SUPPOSED to look like DIRT. Easy peasy! So, some cake, some pudding some whip cream, cream cheese and cookie crumbs, mix them up, throw them on a platter with some bugs and a shovel and we are good to go! Love it! Kevin also said it was the best tasting cake I've ever made. I wasn't sure whether I should be happy or insulted. But, it WAS chocolate and Kevin loves chocolate so I guess that was why. I wouldn't let him take the leftovers to work though because I thought the dirt cake looked even worse all smooshed into a tupperware container. I mean, his co-workers don't know I could actually make a decent cake if I tried! I can! Maybe I should have sent him with the left overs and pictures of previous cakes to make me feel better :)

The party favours were cute but again, I don't think I got any pictures. Apparently I was slacking off that day. We got little bug catcher containers from the dollar store and little magnifying glasses. They were fun. Add some bug candies, a squirt gun, some stickers and it was a nice little treat box :)

So, another birthday down! Phew! Now I have until October :) Riley already wants to have his birthday party at the museum so we may do that. Seems totally up his alley.

In other news, yesterday, the sun came out!!! Woohooo!!! Man, it has been raining and cloudy and gross for weeks! But, the blackflies were so bad you could hardly stand outside. We can't win! Today was a bit better. Half a day of sun and fewer flies. Maybe a nice summer will come.

When we couldn't enjoy the weather outside I threw the kids outside with boots and umbrellas to play. I ran out, took some quick pics and then watched from my nice warm, dry house :) They had a blast though and then some warm baths!

Now, people were saying what a great mom I was for doing this. Umm, seriously people, I threw my kids out in the cold rain and shut the door! LOL! Yup, Mom of the Year here. Where's do I pick up my award?

And, the forecast for tomorrow...rain! Phew, good thing, I was starting to get heat stroke with all that sun. I think see the Cullens moving in across the street!

Happy Easter!!

2011-04-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend festivities...visits with good friends, egg dying, plying ourselves with chocolate, birthday party and playing at the indoor play place, youth group reunion, Easter Sunday church, more chocolate, Easter afternoon nap, turkey dinner at my Mom and Dad's, more chocolate, move night with my sisters-in-law (Lincoln Lawyer was so, so good!), a long walk to the playground with the kids and Oz (and an even longer, much longer, walk home). A very fun, happy weekend!!

I didn't snap any pictures of the egg hunt. I do have some video on my ipod, but it was all so chaotic and over in about 20 min that I didn't really get much of a chance. Heck, I was still half asleep. The hunt began and 6:30! And the kids, for whatever reason, were up numerous times the night before. Yawn. But here are some other pictures I took over the weekend:

(Sorry, watching tv at the same time and had to add, that I really, really dislike the commercials where they make on person turn into another. Heads all melding into each other. *Shudder* I find it very disturbing).

Dying eggs. I'm sorry to say, some eggs were harmed in the process.

Playing dress up and eating a 'chweese stwing' :)

They clean up pretty good. Though Kieran needs a hair cut and Bridget repositioned her own barrette in a crazy place :)

Riley's bouquet of flowers was made in church on Easter Sunday. Cute :)

So, it's been awhile since I've blogged. I haven't really been doing much scrapbooking. I've discovered crocheting and have taken a scrapbooking hiatus. I suppose it also doesn't help that my scrapbooking area is still in renovation mode. Hopefully once everything is settled I'll be more into it. But the crocheting has been fun. I've been teaching myself and watching a lot of YouTube videos in the process. I think I've got it mostly down :) Here's a hat that I made for Bridget:

Pretty cute, I think :) Perfect for those still chilly spring days. And, in B's case, for wearing around the house, and to naps, lol.

For whatever reason, my camera didn't want to work properly (wouldn't focus or flash) when I was trying to get a picture of Bridget in her crazy outfit...crocheted hat, summer dress, tights and slippers :) And Oz's bum got in the way. But still captures a funny memory.

I was still trying to get the camera to work and took a picture of Oz. Yes, he always looks this pathetic :)

A few funny things my kids have said recently:

Kieran asked for a new Star Wars book Riley had gotten from the book fair for bedtime story. Riley says, "It's a family favourite!"

A couple of weekends ago we were at my sister-in-law's and my nephew was having some problems playing hockey with the other kids and crying quite a bit during their game. We were talking about hockey in the car and how my nephew would probably play hockey next year and we were telling the boys they could too if they wanted. Riley says, "I reckon he'll cry a lot for them too!" Reckon? Where'd that come from? LOL!

Kieran insists on calling it, 'James and the Ginormous Peach'. Sometimes he uses Humungous :)

Easter Sunday Kieran thanked Grammie, "for the candy we don't deserve." Heehee!

We were all playing a board game the other night and Riley said, "Riley's turn!" Bridget starts laughing hysterically and says, "Riley said his name!" Then she says, "Bridget!" More laughing. "I said my name!" At that point we both erupted into a fit of giggles :)

Riley, "Mom, Kieran was hitting me with bubbles!"

I'm sure there are many more, but they escape me now. Must be time for bed. Gotta start the sugar detox tomorrow, haha!

A Walk with Riley

2011-03-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight Riley and I took Oz for walk after supper. He was excited to have some special time with Mom. We were probably gone 20-25 minutes. I swear Riley talked non-stop the ENTIRE way. There was much more than this but here is a sampling:

"Mommy, I want to collect things on our walk. Like last Thanksgiving when we collected leaves for the table. That was fun. And I got to sit at the table with the leaves. And at the grown up table too. It had leaves too. I got to sit at both. That was a good supper. And New Year's when we had those little things (appetizers) for supper. That was a good supper too. Those were my favourite suppers of last year!"

"I like the way the water flows in the ditch. I want a skateboard (we saw boys on skateboards...). The first move I'm going to learn is one like this (Riley demonstrates flipping a skateboard). That would be cool. Jake has a skateboard."

"Why is that dog barking at Oz? Do dogs always bark at Oz when you take him for a walk? Are they the same dogs? I remember when we walked down this hill before..."

"I can't wait until we have our little authors celebration at school! I'm one of the little authors!!"

And so on, and so on. I wish I had a tape recorder with me. It was so cute!

As promised, here are some pictures from Bridget's birthday party.

The look on Bridget's face when she looked in the fridge and saw her cake for the first time. Makes all those hours of baking and decorating totally worth it!

All decked out in her new hat and purse. Totally stylin' with her jammies :)

Bridget with her giant frog she got on her birthday shopping excursion with Daddy :)

A birthday dance with Kieran.

A fairy princess opens her gifts.

Not sure what she's up to here but it makes me giggle :)

That dress is so cute and it's got some great twirl to it! She was twirling all day.

Love it! Thanks to Bampie for capturing this picture!

Cake anticipation.

Make a wish. Actually, I think the only wish at this point was to eat cake!

It was a fun day. I can't believe she's three already. But, man, can you tell. She now has that three year old attitude. Fun times!

Here are some of my current layouts.

This one is my current fave. I started it for a challenge at Tally, but I failed to meet the requirement to have 2 pictures. I managed to make it monochromatic, have a title be a Green Day song lyric, and include something from nature (birch bark). Oh well, it turned out to be one of my favourite layouts yet.

An altered canvas. I kinda like how this one turned out. The fun misting and the pops of red. It's hanging at the top of my stairs :)

This one was my second attempt at that Tally challenge. Got all the requirements this time. I really like this one too. I'll have to do one for Kieran too :)

Ok, time for bed. I have to read a couple more chapters of my book for The Big Rothesay Read :) I might actually get it read this year in time for the author's visit! Night all.

A big week!

2011-03-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

It's the end of March Break. Bittersweet. I love having the family all home together. No obligations to be anywhere or do anything. No rushing. There hasn't even been too much fighting. But in a way it will be nice to get back to routine. I think the kids miss school and I would love my quiet time back :)

We started the week off in Moncton on Monday. We hit Crystal Palace for the day and had supper with good friends. The kids even slept, kind of. :) We had to break them up a bit and Kevin laid down with Bridget to get her to go to sleep but after that they weren't too bad. And I even slept a little between being kicked/laid on by Bridget, getting her water, taking her to the potty and switching to sleeping with Riley because he was scared on the pull out alone. Phew. The kids loved swimming in the pool and eating a giant breakfast at the hotel the next day. A huge part of that treat was the pancake machine. So cool. You just push the button and 45 seconds later out rolls a hot pancake on your plate. Cooked to perfection. So.stinkin'.cool.

Some cute Crystal Palace pics...

The carousel was B's first ride but far from her last! That gal is fearless and rode the (pretty darn fast for a 3 year old) roller coaster 3 times!

The carousel again. Kieran is also fearless and rode every ride he could!

Unfortunately, I don't really have any pictures of Riley. He was far too busy running from ride to ride with his cousin. He rode the crazy swing ride (a ride that lifts tiny swings into the air spinning them around very fast at an angle) 8 times! I stopped fearing for his life after the first couple. It's a hard thing to watch your first born on something that I won't even go on, lol. Kevin went on once and that was enough for him, lol! I also feared for his life, btw. Oh to be young again. I remember being able to ride on that stuff again and again. What happens to you when you get old anyway?? Weird. I can still pack away a goodly amount of cotton candy, haven't lost that ability :)

Again, no fear. You want Mommy to come with you? Nope, I'm good!

Wednesday we had lunch in the market with friends. Yummy. I love the market and only get there a few times a year so it was a nice treat. Then we hit the SJ library. The kids love going to the 'big' library :) We had to leave early though because Bridget thought the library was a good place to run around and hide from Mommy and Daddy between the stacks.

Thursday was a quiet day at home. Like really quiet. Oz was at the vet losing his manhood so it was uber quiet. So strange to not have him around. Guess he's really part of the family now :)

Friday we had a playdate in the morning with friends and a movie date in the afternoon with other friends. Oh, have I mentioned how supercool we are? Gimme a call we'll pencil you in, lol! All of these friends were sweet to get me out of my disaster of a house. More on that in a minute. It was also nice to give Oz a little time to recoup.

So, the disaster. Have I mentioned that Kevin's middle name is 'the Destroyer'? So, we planned to take the wall down between my craft room and our family room. Good. Open up the room, allow for more heat flow from the stove. Good. Of course, after the wall comes down comes the painting, new flooring, desk/shelf building. Wall coming down took an hour or two, wonder how long the rest will take? Sigh. I'm trying to focus on the end result. But once Kevin knows that he gets to destroy something it's hard for him to resist.

"Arg, I am destroyer!" I know he looks harmless, but don't let him fool ya!

Goodbye wall. Oh, now where am I going to hide all the Christmas gifts? Maybe this was a bad idea....

And my favourite part...the orange rectangle:

When Kevin painted the closet in the scraproom, he painted the ceiling too. Nice. Hey, it's art, right? It will be painted over of course, you know...in the next year or two...

Here are all the layouts that I discovered that needs home. I just kind of tuck them away when I'm done...guess I've been doing that for awhile. Eeek! Need more albums! Quick :)

Today was Bridget's birthday and it was a rousing success despite the fact that Santa didn't show up. She was pretty convinced he was going to come. Luckily, once she saw her cake and the presents other people had brought she was ok with it. More on the party later, now I need a glass of wine and some food. It was a long day. A long week!

Is it wrong....(take 2)

2011-02-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

That Kieran's most favourite song right now is Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name? And that sometimes I put it on in the car and peek into the back seat and see his huge grin and giggle! It's the best! (also, when we are in a store and Kieran or Bridget hears Bon Jovi they yell, "Bon Jovi!!!!" Yeah, a little brainwashing never hurt anyone, right? Oh wait....)

That Bridget requested a song from Buffy the Vampire Slayer for bedtime? I promise I don't let her watch it, we just listen to the music :)

That now that it's roll up time I can't pass a Tim Horton's without wanting a coffee? I've already won twice (out of 4) which is about my total for all of last year's roll up time.

That I still put Kieran down for a nap? I should probably stop that since he will have to go to school next year. Ok, ok, I'll stop in August :)

That Bridget can totally pull my strings? Spoiled. Completely, spoiled. Tonight she was pitching a fit about putting her boots on and after a bit she says pitifully to me, "Mommy, if you give me a hug I'll put my boots on." Dude, how can you say no to that?

That we told Kieran to eat 4 3/4 bites of supper (because, shockingly, he didn't like it. You know, because it wasn't hot dogs or pancakes...) and then he actually ate 7 bites because it was 4 plus THREE quarters? Please, don't call and educate him on fractions. Funny that he'll be eating less once he turns 5....

Hmm...can't think of anything involving Riley other than, Is it wrong that I want to strangle him one minute and hug him the next? Pretty much sums up our relationship, lol. Have I mentioned he's a lot like his Daddy?? :)

Speaking of Kevin, he's happy because he gets to demolish things. We're going to redo the family room/craft room area. We're going to take down the wall and open up the room and build a peninsula type desk/storage area. Hopefully have it so that I can work and kids can craft with me. Should be nice once it's done but we all know how long it takes us to accomplish things. We STILL don't have trim in most of the upstairs. Sigh. Someday. If anyone would like to recommend paint colours to brighten up my cave-like basement I'm all ears (er, eyes). Is it wrong that I assume this project won't be done until the fall? Nope, actually that sounds about right!

Is it wrong that I laugh at Kevin while he does his Wii workout? Anyone feel a YouTube video coming on? :)

I guess it's also wrong that I assume no one reads this because every now and then I find out someone else is reading. Makes me feel pressure to be fun and entertaining. Ah well, why start now? You were already reading when I was dull and boring. Really, my kids are entertaining enough for all of us!

Ok, back to the Wii workout. I think virtual, wii-land Kevin's back was sweating. Because that's such an attractive part of the real-life workout that they felt the need to simulate it on a video game... Blech.

Riley was in his first Judo tournament last week. If I knew how to get the video from my ipod to hear I would show you a match. Once Kevin reads this he'll probably figure it out :) I can show you a picture though. He came second in his group (of about 5-7 kids). He won 2 matches and lost 2, but did super well even in one that he lost! We were all pretty proud! He's going to be in a chess tournament in March too (seriously, I told you he was just like Daddy!).

I also took this shot at the tournament and it cracks me up for obvious reasons. Bridget can actually wink with both eyes. She is a freaky talented kid who can use scissors, hold a pencil the correct way, button buttons, zip zippers, cut her food all before she's 3! She's been getting herself dressed so long (tights, sleepers, you name it) that I can hardly remember having to do it for her! Ok, enough about my amazing kid, on to the funny picture...

Literally, LOL here!

(If my scrapbooking, or scrapbooking in general, makes you go BLECH, feel free to jump ship now!! If you like, look again at the picture above, pretend that's where I ended this heinously long blog post. Bye! :)).

Wow, just looking at what new layouts I have to show and I guess it's been awhile since I've posted here, so here we go...

Ok, this one's not a layout but worthy of mention since I handmade 20 of them (yup, made the flowers, handcut the leaves and the topper) for Kieran's preschool class. Took a bit longer than I thought it would but they're so darn cute!

LCOM is having a 'Big Brother' contest going on right now. Kind of a fun concept but I'm pretty sure I'll be evicted this week. I'm supposed to finish a mini album by Friday night and I'm not really feeling that happening, haha! Oh well, here are my layouts from week one and two. I kind of love them so it was worth it even for that.

TallyScrapper is also having a contest right now. A Survivor contest. Hmm....I think scrappers watch too much reality tv... Anywhoo, I'm on team Boston Rob (one of the very few survivors I actually know of...the other team is team Russell and I have no idea who that guy is...). Here is my week one layout following the requirements of negative space, using recycled packaging, staples, the colours brown and blue and a picture with more than one person. Phew, got 'em all :)

This one is a layout I did back when Tally had their online crop a few weeks ago. Love it! It is a scraplift Sarah, one of the DT members.

Finally, this is my last layout as part of the Stuck?! Sketches team. I had a lot of fun working with their sketches each month! A great site for all you scrappy gals to check out!

I am done. Let the celebration begin. I'll catch up with you in a few week with another quick (hahahaha) blog post!

P.S. The colour on that last layout is really wonky. I apologize, though I plan to do nothing about it :)

Family Fun

2011-02-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

We took the boys cross country skiing yesterday. It was such a beautiful day out! And, I think if we had left after half an hour we would all have said we had fun. However, since it costs close to $50 for us all to go we stayed longer. The boys get tired and frustrated when they fall down and have a hard time getting up. Thank goodness Kevin was there to help. I'm badly balance enough on my own that I can't stand up and also help a kid up. I just do some verbal coaching and then we both end up frustrated, lol. They were troopers though. Mostly, they just want to go down hills. It was fun for Kevin and me, but we end up going pretty slow with the boys. We did do a couple of quick runs around a field while the boys played in the snow. All in all, a pretty fun afternoon. Bridget had some quality time with Grammie, Bampie and Uncle Scott :) There was another family there with an almost three year old. Yikes! It was hard enough with the boys. Kieran did really well for his first time out and Riley did better than last time, but after an hour or so I think they are just DONE!

On Friday Kieran's class went skating. Kevin came along and we took Bridget too who did amazing for her second time on skates. Especially considering she wasn't at all a fan the first time! Then she got to go back to school for circle time and snack time. She LOVED every minute of it.

Big girl!

Hot chocolate and marshmallows, please :)

Cute Bridget things:

Last week at Mom and Dad's Bridget has pistachios for the first time. A few days later she was drawing something on a white board and I asked what it was. She says, "a pistachio."

You know...I can kind of see it :)

One night she asked me for an 'Amanda' song. We were reading a Robert Munsch with an Amanda character at the time and they thought it was cute because it's Mommy's name too. I told her I didn't know an Amanda song (yes, I know there is one, but I don't know it. Maybe that's wrong, but whatever...). So, I sang 'Amanda the Spider', you know...Itsy Bitsy's cousin :) She asks for it almost every day now, lol.

One more cute Bridget thing (man that girl's on a roll!). She was saying a prayer with me the other day, getting me to repeat after her. This was how it went:

Dear God,

Help us and protect us.

Protect Daddy and Ozzy Paws and Kieran and Riley.

We love God and we love Bampie and Gammie

And ladybugs and ponies.

Amen

Couldn't you just eat her up?

And a cute Riley thing that he said seconds ago..."I am completely and impressively bored." Being six is hard you know?

Riley lost his second tooth the other night. Like, literally, in the night at 2:30. Who does that? The tooth fairy was already done her run so she came the next night :)

Last week I got pretty sick with a cold/flu something. On Thursday I was achey and feverish and sinus headachey. It wasn't good. And it was such a beautiful day that I felt bad keeping kids in. They seemed to love all the tv though, lol. While watching a show Kieran spontaneously came over to give me a hug and said, "My brain made me do that." Sigh, love him!

I know this blog is random and long. I mostly do it to record my life, cute kid things, some scrap stuff. I go back to it and smile. If others read it bonus for them (I mean, just think about how much this blog enriches your life!). I should blog more often, but things get in the way...feeding my kids, cleaning the house, watching How I Met Your Mother. Important things, essential things :)

I do have a new layout. It was for a challenge over at TallyScrapper (omword, I just thought I lost this blog post...excuse me while my heart rate returns to normal!). The challenge was to use some misting on your layout. I love how it turned out! And...my finger is still a little blue from the process, lol!

Kinda fun, right? I'm loving the blue and yellow too! Those alphas are so cute!

I'm also taking part in a fun challenge over at LCOM. They are having a Big Brother Contest :) Tanya always has the best contests! I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I'm going to do my best to stay in it! I can surely do a layout a week, right? Hope I don't get 'evicted' too soon, heehee.

Sigh, back to the essentials. Kids are calling (ie...whining). Must go find some sort of entertainment so they aren't 'impressively bored' all day.

P.S. You should all go check out my friend Meagan's wine blog. She is an attention seeker and needs people to comment for her life to be complete. Plus, she is very entertaining. Oh, and you'll learn a new word, so you get booze and education! Fun, fun. Check her out at Saturday Shiraz!

Stuck?! Sketches Feb. 1st Reveal

2011-01-31T16:21:00.000-08:00

It's my last month on the Stuck?! team. It's been fun working with all the awesome sketches over the last few months! Look forward to a new team next month. Can't wait to see what they have in store! Thanks, Sara, for everything :)

Here is the Feb. 1st sketch:

And here's my take on it. Featuring another awesome picture by Lynette!

This paper has so much sparkle in real life. Too bad it doesn't show up as well in a photo. You'll just have to come visit and see it for yourself :)

I've been (virtually) hanging out over at TallyScrapper. The site too me some getting used to but it was worth it. The girls are really fun and friendly and there are some fun challenges. Right now they have a cyber crop going on with tons of challenges, games and, of course, prizes. All you scrappy gals should go check it out! I hope to have many layouts to show from it in the near future :)

In funny Riley news, this afternoon he was talking about saving money to buy a Lego set he wants. He said, "I've been waiting 10 years for this!" (For those of you who don't know, Riley is 6 :)).

Kevin and I just finished our EA Sports Active workouts on the Wii. I swear that chick is trying to kill me! But now it's time for How I Met Your Mother. We're almost done Season 4 and then I'll be seeking out Season 5. I swear all the shows we normally watch have been forgotten, lol. What is happening on House or Grey's Anatomy?? Ah well, I'll catch up on those in a few years...

'A Good Day' or 'How Cute Are My Kids??'

2011-01-25T16:31:00.001-08:00

It's been a nice day. I took Riley out of school early for an orthodontist appointment. Man, that stuff starts young...orthodontists, opthamologists! So many years of appointments left! At least we got to play hooky and have lunch together and run a few errands. It was fun! So nice to spend some one on one time with Riley. Thanks to Mom for looking after the other 2!

While we were out at Michael's Riley picked up some stickers of mythological creatures...a dragon, a hydra, a griffin, etc. When we got home he made a little book titled, 'Hawe to fight ferse thing' (traslation: 'How to Fight Fierce Things'). It's actually really good. He put a sticker of each creature on a page and then describes how you should best fight that particular beast. Apparently to fight dragons you need a bow and arrow. Then, "go to a very fare plac and shot!" LOL! I love it! To fight a Griffin you need, "a banch of sords. You hid and throw." Finally, to fight a troll you, "need a sord. He swings down lowe you jamp and swing." So creative! Then, get this, he says he wants to send it to someone. I think, "that's so cute." I asked him who he wanted to send it to he said, "someone who will make a lot of copies, then I want to put them in a store." Heehee. My 6 year old is looking to get published already! Awesome! He is too amazing. He later told Kevin that he wanted to have a fighting store where he would sell Nerf weapons, fake creatures and copies of his book. Don't worry, I'll let you know when the grand opening is. Save up, a fake dragon can't be cheap ;)

Yesterday I did preschool duty for Kieran's class. He always loves it when I go and then ends up being whiny and clingy by the end. But we had fun, despite that he never wants to paint or do arts and crafts with me, haha. It's all playing in the sand and blocks. Boys! I guess we did do a little play-doh. Today, randomly while I was reading him a story he reached over, rubbed my cheek and said, "I like when you're on duty." This is the next day! He is so sweet :) I guess it's worth it.

Another Kieran thing...he wanted me to sing him Do, A Deer at bedtime. While I'm singing he says, "this is a good song because it has a deer in it." Umm...ok, I guess so :)

Bridget got glasses last week and Kieran got new ones. I tried to get decent pictures on the day, and the next morning even, but the kids weren't so cooperative, but it'll give you a good laugh :)

Here are my little artists at work one snow day last week :)

Bridget has been asking for so many weird things at bedtime. She'll call asking for lip balm. The other day she told Kevin it was ok because, "Mommy lets me share her lip balm." :) Tonight she wanted Kieran's hippo stuffie. It was already in his bed so we had to do a trade for her fish stuffie. Oh, the many jobs of a parent :) Kieran actually got up not that long ago to go to the bathroom. Apparently he took off his pj pants and his underwear and put them back on in the reverse order. He may wonder tomorrow when his underwear are on the outside :) As he was stumbling back to bed he told Kevin he wanted his hippo back. He was ok with it when we told him he'd have to wait, haha.

Here's a new layout...it's been awhile :) I'm having so much fun scrapping pics that Lynette Mason took for us last fall. She also took the one that is my blog header now. It's my fave and I need to get it blown up big!

I finished one of Kiearn tonight too but I have to wait for the light to take a picture :)

Ok, off to devote my full attention to How I Met Your Mother. We are so, so addicted. We're watching Season 4 right now. Gotta love having tv on DVD.

A beautiful Sunday

2011-01-16T16:44:00.001-08:00

So, I did something today that I wouldn't normally do. I know some of you will be shocked by this, if you know me well enough that is. I took part in a winter activity. One that wasn't just sliding in my front yard with my warm, cozy house close by. Riley and I went cross country skiing for the first time with a friend of mine and her daughter, who is the same age as Riley. It was the perfect winter day for it, sunny and warm.

Still, if you know me, you know winter and I are the best of friends. I am all too happy to bid him good-bye in the (hopefully early) spring and reluctant to greet him upon his return. I get cold easily and stay cold forever. But, with kids, I am forced into that unpleasant winter more often than I would like to take part in sliding and snowball fights and, now, cross country skiing.

Now...I've done downhill skiing a couple of times when I was younger and it is so not for me. I have no idea what possesses a person to strap slippery sticks onto their feet and hurtle themselves down a steep hill. So, so, so not for me. I'm hardly a thrill seeker! But I thought, "I can handle cross country." And, since I haven't been running lately (see above if you've already forgotten my dislike of winter... I'm thinking I'm a seasonal runner :)) I figured it would be good to get out and be active. I don't mind being out too much on the warmer winter days. So glad we did too because we really had a great time! Yes, I am as surprised as you are :)

There were a couple of hairy spots going up some hills (that were far from 'beginner' in my opinion!). Poor Riley kept falling and sliding back down and really, I couldn't do much to help since I would just end up in the same position! All I could do was try to talk him through it. Of course, when he fell and was struggling to get up, skiing was the worst idea ever but when he got to the top of the hill and was on the way down it was the best! That kid is SO black and white...super negative or super positive. Sadly, it's usually super negative when it comes to what he's able to accomplish and what he considers fun. We can take him sliding one day and he has a BLAST but if we suggest it a couple of days later he will swear up and down he had no fun the last time and it was the most BORING (I strongly dislike this word as I hear it at least 20 times a day from Riley!) thing ever! It's a very frustrating trait that he has and I'm hoping he grows out of it soon! He can't be a moody teenager at 6! For the most part though, I think he had a great time and I'm super proud of both of us for getting out there and trying something new. At least he got to see his mom struggle up hills too :)

What would a blog post be without pictures? :)

All squinty looking into the sun. Don't you just love how you can see the shadow of me taking the picture :) At least it's not over our rosy-cheeked faces!

It's been a good weekend. I spent a good part of yesterday scrapbooking which I hadn't done in forever! I had a great time hanging out with the LCOM girls and can't wait to do it again. You'll see some pictures of layouts soon :)

Well, I must get back to critiquing the Golden Globes. All I have to say is, "What is up with the return of shoulder pads???" Some things need to just stay in the 80s. Ok, a lot of things need to stay in the 80s since I am also deeply disturbed by teenage boys in skinny jeans.

Christian Bale...the music is playing...get off the stage. Dude, he's still talking....

Fave 10 of 2010

2011-01-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

I meant to do this last year (as in yesterday :)), but hey, life gets busy. So, here are my favourite layouts of 2010, in no particular order (though I think the 'get messy, be happy, make art is my number one fave of the year).

Doing this made me realize 2 things: 1. I REALLY need to scrap the boys more often! Anyone have recommendations for great boy papers. I think it's more because I lack good boy product. Let's face it, there's lots of pretty flowers and bling to be had but boy stuff isn't nearly as fun. 2. Most of my best work was done early on in the year. Not sure why. Maybe I was more inspired, had more time...not sure, but it's an observation.

As I was looking through all my pictures I realized how much has happened this year. Kieran got glasses, we said GOOD-BYE to diapers (woohoo!) and the crib, Riley learned to ride a two-wheeler and started grade 1, Bridget grew enough hair to put in pigtails :) (how could she have had so little hair only a year ago!), we (and by we, I mean Kevin) grew a small garden and ate some of our own potatoes (now that we know more this year it may be more successful this year), we caught and (tried) to raise tadpoles (not sure where we went wrong but I'd like to try again, even though that feels cruel, lol), we went on our first 'official' family vacation to New Hampshire (no diapers, high chairs, baby food!), we added a puppy to our craziness! (luckily, he is such a good dog and rolls with whatever we do), Riley started Judo and lost his first tooth, I started running and accomplished a few races, including a 5 miler. It was a crazy, loud, hectic, BUSY, awesomely fun year with our amazing little (and large extended) family! Here's hoping for more of the same in 2011. Happy New Year to all!!

Cute conversations

2010-12-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

On the way home from Grammie and Grampie's house tonight the kids were looking out the window and counting stars. I said something to Riley about how when you start counting stars it's hard because as you count more and more come out. He says...

"I count 4."

Ok...maybe it's not so hard. Then he asks Kieran how many he sees. Kieran says, "I saw a bunch when we turned the corner." Riley asks, "How many?"

Pause.

"42."

LOL! It was too cute. They were counting stars the whole way home.

It's no secret that Kieran is our pickiest eater. It's pretty much a family joke. Tonight the kids were eating supper (quickly so they could keep watching Spy Kids :)). Kieran was actually eating supper and Bridget keeps telling us all, "Kieran LIKES it. Kieran LIKES it!!" It was too funny :)

I wish I could just tape them all the time. They are just too cute.

On an unrelated note, perhaps I live under a rock, but how come no one told us how funny 'How I Met Your Mother' is?? We've been watching reruns and I'm hooked! Watching it now as I type :)

We've been having fun on vacation. With all the snow yesterday we spent a couple of hours outside building giant snowmen and snow forts, having snowball fights and sliding down our hill. Oz loved it too! I haven't cleaned the house much but we've been having lots of fun :)

Another big thing we did today was put the boys' bunk beds together! They've had them for awhile but we were waiting until, well, I guess until they were big enough that if Riley falls off the top bunk it's ok. Writing that, it seems wrong, because it's not REALLY ok if anyone falls off the top bunk and I certainly don't want him to fall off the top bunk. The instructions said the kid had to be 6 to sleep in the top bunk. Maybe they pushed some 5 year olds off the top and they broke limbs, but the 6 year olds were ok. I dunno. Whatever the instructions say must be right, right??? Anyway, they're in bed and no crashes yet. They both seem to love it. I told Kieran his was like the Batcave :) He said I could be Batgirl and he could be Robin. I think Riley has him programmed to be Robin. I told him he could be Batman in his own Batcave :)

Looking at our Christmas morning pics, there aren't any fabulous ones, lol. Mostly kids ripping into presents, the standard, you know.

Finally, I leave you with a warning...

Hands off the gingerbread house!! :) I think I should have set up these little guys BEFORE Daddy and the kids ate half the candy off it, lol!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T15:57:00.001-08:00

Another Christmas has come and (almost) gone. Ah, all of that preparation for one fun-filled day of chaos, flying wrapping paper, woo-hoos, thank-yous, sugar highs. Now Kevin and I are watching the oh-so traditional Christmas movie, Transformers, lol! Guess CTV thought that was appropriate Christmas TV. That's ok, I can roll with that :)

I see that a lot of crazy people found the time in this busy day to post Christmas day pictures and videos to Facebook. I am so bad at uploading pictures, that I haven't yet done that, but I have a few cute ones from Christmas Eve and the lead up to Christmas.

A couple of funny quotes from today:

Bridget: "Bacon is SO yummy!"

Kieran: "Don't touch my herbivore!!" (regarding his Triceratops Dinosaur Train toy :)).

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day! We are heading to visit more family tomorrow and then going to a gathering with friends on Monday. Lots more celebrating to be had! Enjoy!

Riley after earning his white belt in Judo :) Very proud moment for him!

Pretty girl in a fancy dress.

You can dress her up...

Bridget on a chair trimming the tree. She had to find just the right branch :)

What? You don't wear your Nerf protective gear when trimming your tree? You just never know what might be lurking in those branches!

A sick little girl at her brother's preschool Christmas concert. I hate it when she's sick but LOVE it when she's snuggly. I was very emotionally torn that day :)

Kieran was apparently feeling just fine!

Santa took time out of his busy schedule to visit the preschool. I love not having to stand in line or pay outrageous prices for pictures with Santa!

Bridget woke up just in time for a picture with Santa. Literally she woke up and was pretty much thrown into his arms, lol. I did ask her first and she said she wanted to sit with him, but I honestly don't even think she was awake yet.

All dressed up and ready for church Christmas Eve. Oh, and note Riley's mohawk. He had been asking for one for awhile and he and Kevin were getting their hair cut Christmas eve and I thought, "why not?". Kevin thinks he looks like a punk but it's kinda cute. We'll probably shave it off when school starts up again after Christmas, but it's fun for awhile.

Christmas jammies! Riley is sadly too big to find "cute" Christmas jammies that fit him :(

Christmas Day pictures will be up when I get around to it. Now I'm off to watch Transformers and scratch the lottery tickets from my stocking. Maybe in my next post you'll hear that I won big, lol! Merry Christmas!!!

Hello!

2010-12-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

Hello, December! Ok, I know I said I'd blog again on the first and now it's the 3rd, but I've been sitting around in my jammies watching tv and eating cake. I mean, what else would I possibly have to do??

Hello, Friday! Hello, almost weekend! I've missed you!

Hello, rain. Did you know it's December? You should technically be snow. I'm torn between wantin the warm temps but wanting the ground to be frozen so the dog doesn't come in with muddy feet...

Hello, laundry, you still hangin' around?

Hello, empty cupboards and fridge. I promise to fill you up today.

Hello, new flavour of DQ blizzard that I'm obsessed with trying. Tonight may be the night :)

Hello, bare living room. I think you need a Christmas tree, but I'm sure Kevin is going to tell me it's too early. And I'm sure once I got you up the three kids, 2 cats and a puppy would be trying to undo you.

Oh, hello, crying children. You were just playing so well.

Hello, blog readers, don't go away, I'll be right back ;)

.......

...........

The 'puppy' (giant puppy) knocked Bridget to the ground. I think they've made up :)

Hello Stuck?! Sketches reveal! Check us out here! Here's my layout of my cutie with her pigtails :) How cute is she?

Stuck?! is also having a CT call. If you are interested, check it out here.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Is it wrong...

2010-11-30T04:15:00.001-08:00

Is it wrong that I'm sitting here in my yoga pants and sweatshirt sipping coffee postponing all the many things I have to do today?

Is it wrong that my kids are still in their jammies? Kieran and Bridget are wearing matching candy cane jammies and love that they match. They are calling themselves best buddies and it's just cute. I told them they could stay like that until lunch.

Is it wrong that I really hope the doctor is running behind for my appointment so that I can sit and read in peace? I may even grab a coffee. Sorry mom and dad...hope the kids are good for you :) Yes, stay at home mom's do get excited about doctor's appointments alone! Our lives are so glamourous!

Is it wrong that I'm glad there isn't enough snow outside to make me feel like I should take my kids out to play in it? I hate winter, but suffer for them. I know my days of suffering are coming! :)

Is it wrong that I may not get Bridget's hair cut until she starts school? I love it, it's cute and she IS my only girl!

Is it wrong that there are fingerprints all over my window but I just look at it and shrug instead of cleaning it? Really, they'll just be back half an hour after I do!

Is it wrong that my laundry hamper is always overflowing? I really do try to conquer it but it almost always wins!

Is it wrong that I'm more excited to watch Empire Strikes Back with Riley than he is? Maybe he is a bit more excited, but I think it's pretty even :)

Is it wrong that 2 years ago I made a December Daily album but have yet to fill it? This will be the year!

Is it wrong that I have a sewing machine and I'm afraid of it? My New Year's resolution is to learn to use it! Anyone want to hold my hand?

Is it wrong that I just want to bake everyday in December? I may even start a day early ;)

Is it wrong that I haven't blogged in so long?! Yes! :) My kids say so many cute things that need to be recorded. Kevin said I should get a twitter account to just put those in :)

The other day Riley said, "Lego people don't know they're Lego. They just think they're people." When we asked how do we know if we're Lego, he said that we don't live in a Lego house. We asked how do we know we don't live in a Lego house and Riley kicked the cupboard and said, "if this was a Lego house it would fall down!" I hope all the Lego people all over the world aren't buried under a pile of Lego rubble because they tried the same trick. Maybe it's best to not know :)

When Riley was soundly beating me at Monopoly Jr. he said, "I'm EXPLODING with houses!"

The other day I took off Bridget's dress because she had accidentally gotten the tie in the toilet. She asked why I was taking it off and I told her. She said, "not because I wiped my nose on it?" I said, "did you?" "Yes." Sigh.

She was reading a book to me one day and she turned a page and all of a sudden kind of laughed and said, "I can't read!" LOL! This was of course when she was supposed to be settling down to bed. So hard to get her to do that when I'm constantly laughing at her!

Kieran does say cute things, I promise, but I honestly can't remember any. He's more my empathetic kid. He made us say a prayer in the van last night while we were waiting for Kevin and Bridget to pick up supper. He wanted to pray for a little girl in his class who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He really is so sweet it breaks my heart a lot of the time. He wants to be best buds with Riley and Bridget and is always giving them his most favourite toys to play with! Combine that with his killer dimple and I could just squeeze him all day long!

Is it wrong that I've been sitting her blogging so long? Is it wrong that the kids have actually been playing together all that time without fighting? Something about it feels wrong...there's probably writing all over my walls, lol! And the dog, how come he's been quiet so long... Maybe I should see what's going on...

Is it wrong that I haven't blogged anything scrappy in so long? Yes! But tomorrow is a Stuck?! Sketches reveal so I will be back with that as soon as it's up on their blog :)

Well, coffee cup is empty, guess I should face the day. I'll leave you with some funny pics though :)

Ok, that one's not funny, it's just cute :)

Hmm...not sure why the colour in this one is so bad, but Riley cracks me up :)

Kieran desperately wanted his picture taken too, but then doesn't really smile or look at the camera. I tried. He's saying cheese but his heart isn't in it, lol!

Nevertheless, the pictures make me laugh. It's classic Kieran! Oh, the other day I said, "do you have Middle Child Syndrome? MCS?" He was being REALLY whiny! He went into the living room and told his grandparents, "I know how you spell Middle Child Syndrome...MCS!" LOL!

Ok, really gonna do something productive now (as I type this Lego is flying past my head...never a dull day!).

Hello Again!

2010-11-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, shocking, I'm actually updating. Seems I don't get here as often as I'd like. I've been busy crafting. I recently made some altered frames, clipboards, journal jars and cards for a craft fair. It was my first time selling some of my things. It started out slow, but the day turned out well in the end. I've even started a FB page (Everyday Art...go like me, now...do it, haha!). I have some orders on the go and may try another fair in early December. I also held a card class at my house last night with a really fun bunch of girls! A little wine + a lot of creating = FUN in my books!!! I'm doing another one at my sister-in-law's place on Saturday. So, I've been very busy creatively! In addition to all that I'm running kids places, volunteering at schools, walking a dog and cleaning the house (ok, that one may suffer a bit here and there...as I look at the piles of laundry around me!).

In other big Winchester news, Riley recently lost his first tooth!! It was so wiggly for awhile, so much so that he didn't want to eat (if you know Riley at all, you know that is NOT normal!! lol). One morning he was complaining that he didn't want to eat breakfast so we told him to just pull it out. He didn't want to but he was playing with it a bit and then it just fell out. The look of shock on his face was too funny!

The tooth fairy visited our house that night in her green dress (we know because we caught some of her fairy dust in a glass of water :)) and she left Riley a toonie. He asked in the morning how much it was and we told him $2 and he thought, "oh, I thought I'd just get a penny." LOL! I should have let the tooth fairy know :)

Some more cute Riley-isms:

This morning he was telling Kieran he could see things out of his 'side eyes' LOL! I may start referring to my peripheral vision that way :)

The other night the kids were looking at the moon. They are thrilled that it gets dark early now. Makes them feel like they are staying up late every night, lol! We were looking at the moon and talking about the phases and Kevin told them that when you can't see the moon it's called a new moon, but he said he didn't know why. Riley said, "I would call it a goner moon." Heehee!

And one for Bridget, she said today, "I want to drink coffee in my bed all day." Umm, yeah, me too!

Riley also had his first viewing of Star Wars. It was a special night just for him. I think Kieran would have been a little afraid anyway. He LOVED it and I loved watching it with him because I love it too :) Too cute to see his reactions to everything!

Well, we are off to Judo. I'll be back soon, promise :)

I love mornings!

2010-11-04T04:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe not early, early morning when my kids first get us up at the crack of dawn (or at this time of year, way before the crack of dawn!) or when I'm yelling at kids to get dressed and stop running so the dog will stop chasing them. No, that part of the morning I don't love. And I HATE making lunches. But once Riley is off to school, the dog is worn out and sleeping on the loveseat (yes, we've given in, the blue loveseat is his. Sometimes he shares it with us. He just looked so darn happy there and would actually curl up and calm down that I couldn't help but give in. He has also claimed the green couch in the playroom along with the cats. They usually hope he doesn't notice them there!) and the kids are occupied making VERY abstract art. That part of the morning I love I can sit and eat breakfast and drink my sweet, sweet coffee and relax. Sure, I should be rushing so I can clean and get ready for craft fairs and card nights, but I sit. I relax. I contemplate life. Well, ok, I read blogs and check out Facebook. But still. It's nice. It's relaxing. Apart from naptime, it's the nicest time of day! I sit and am in complete denial about starting a crazy day. I put it off as long as I think I can, lol! The kids usually pull me from my perfect world of bagel, coffee and reading. It's a harsh way to leave my world. I can feel it happening now as stamps go flying and the whining starts. Sigh.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this here or not but I'm the featured DT member for Crop Addict this month. Here are some of my creations!

This is currently my favourite layout! I love the picture (of course!) and the cute little trees and the beautiful, earthy colours!

I'm thinking of starting and 8.5x11 recipe scrapbook. It will be practical and pretty :) This is my fave sugar cookie recipe. Still reminds me of Grammie and Grampie's house when I was a kid!

Another one of those cute trees :) I love using cardboard on layouts and cards. Gives such a great, rustic look!

The weekly challenge for the week is based on this card. I challenged the girls to use paper piecing (like my cupcake) on a layout or card.

This layout is a scraplift of THIS layout from the CA gallery. My monthly challenge to the girls was to pick a layout from the gallery that they LOVE and scraplift it. I love how this one came out. Eventually I will get first year albums of my kids finished! This is an 8x8 layout for B's album.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team's beautiful work! Tons and tons of inspiration there! You can find the gallery HERE.

Ok, fine, I will go and face reality. Blech! But I look forward to tomorrow morning's cup of coffee :)

Happy Christmas....er, Halloween! and Stuck?! Sketches Reveal

2010-10-31T16:39:00.001-07:00

So, I didn't really think I would wake up to a dusting of snow on Halloween, but that's what happened today. As if being awoken at 5:30 isn't bad enough! The kids were really excited and wanted to have snowball fights in the 1cm of snow :) Oz was confused and I'm still not sure he's a big fan. He doesn't seem to like rain or the cold, he's my kind of dog :)

Just quickly, I didn't post the pictures from Riley's birthday. He had a Halloween theme so I was busy making invitations and treat boxes and a spooky cake :) It was a lot of work, but he had fun. It was a crazy mad house with 14 6 year olds running around for 2 1/2 hours, but we survived! Barely...

My scary vampire!

Frankenstein treat box.

Jack-o-lantern treat box

Mummy treat box.

Many treat boxes and Riley's Halloween banner.

Banner up close.

Haunted cupcake house :)

The kids had such a blast trick-or-treating today. They visited Grammie and Grampie and as we were leaving with the loot Kieran said, "I love Happy Halloween!" :) They went out for treats with Daddy in the snow while I stayed here warm with Oz and handed out candy. It was cute when they got back and they gave candy to a few trick-or-treaters, Riley was all business giving out candy and saying, "Bye! Have a Happy Halloween!" It was just funny in the very business-like way he said it, lol!

My trick-or-treaters! Just realized Bridget doesn't have her unicorn head up..oops!

Watching for more trick-or-treaters :) And, yes, Oz always looks that pathetic, lol!

Yesterday, Kevin and I did the Creepy Crawl fun run in Saint John. It was hard going since I hadn't run in 2 weeks and I was coming off being sick. It was so, so cold out and my lungs weren't quite ready but I managed to finish. I did the 5K in 35 min and Kevin did it in 26. He did really well and had his best time yet. The kids also did a 1K run in their costumes. Adults were welcome to dress up too and most did. We didn't really have any costumes on short notice but next year we'll have to get some good ones :)

We also carved pumpkins yesterday afternoon with the cousins. Well, Riley and his oldest cousin were really the only ones interested and my sister-in-law and I did the others :) Kieran wanted a scary face to scare the deer away so they wouldn't eat them (which has happened to us several times in the past!). We actually played it even safer by not putting them out until this afternoon. So, all in all we had a pretty busy, but fun, weekend! Here are our pumpkins :)

On a scrapbooking note, the November 1st sketch is up over at Stuck?! Sketches. There are some amazing layouts up by the Creative Team! Be sure to get your entry in for a chance at an awesome prize! Here is my layout with a pretty old picture :) Trying to use up some of those pictures I have printed in stacks around here!

I should really blog more often so these don't end up being so long but we have been so crazy busy and fighting colds that it got put on the back burner. One more quick funny, this time a Kieran one :) We built a dump truck out of lego today and when we were done he said, "now I have to fill it with 'dump'!" LOL! They're too funny!

Thankful for...

2010-10-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

siblings who love each other and get along...sometimes (ok, so maybe video games help....at least until someone gets eaten by a Yoshi then all bets are out the window...)

pathetic puppy dog faces (love those floppy ears!)

imagination and creativity

Laughter!

Little girls who still fall asleep in my arms (ok...in Daddy's arms, but I'm thankful she stayed asleep when I stole her away :) I would endure any discomfort just to get to hold a sleeping child!).

that I get to hang out with my best friend every day!

for fall...beautiful leaves to collect and dance in, cool, fresh air, long walks (and runs!), pumpkins to carve, apples to pick and apple trees to climb!

so many other things that I don't have pictures for....

grandparents who help us on a daily basis! we love you!!

friends and family who are always there for us

little things...

puddle jumping

pig tails

sticky, glue-y art fingers

morning snuggles

bedtime stories

little voices singing all day long

so thankful for my everyday, crazy life. Even when it feels like it's going to do me in, I still wouldn't have it any other way! Lovin' life here this Thanksgiving weekend...hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend too!

Tim Holtz!!!!

2010-10-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, my non-scrappy readers, Tim Holtz is a BIG deal in the scrappy world. We were trying to come up with an equivalent. He's like the Brad Pitt of the scrapping world. Maybe even better than that. He has amazing products, is a fabulous scrapbooker (my fave is when he does his 12 days of tags at Christmas...the most amazing tags ever!!). Anyway, you get it, he's a big deal!

Well, my friends Amy and Emily and I got to meet him today!!!! He's doing classes on a cruise that is traveling New England and Eastern Canada. Through a very strange sequence of events, Amy and Tim got to emailing and he said that he would call her the day he was in Saint John. Jump to this morning and I get a phone call from Amy SCREAMING in my ear, lol. Said that Tim (notice how I call him Tim, like we're all cool and on a first name basis now :)) would meet us at Starbucks. Well, we got there good and early, chilled with a latte and tried to act all cool. Oh, I should add that Kevin actually worked from home just on the chance that I might get to meet Tim Holtz. What a good man! Yes, I felt somewhat like a dork, but that feeling is all gone now that I actually met him, lol. Should be interesting for Kevin to explain to his buddies at work tomorrow why he had to work from home. Non-scrapbookers don't really 'get' scrapbookers most of the time, haha.

When I saw Tim coming around the corner and pointed him out to Emily I thought she was going to break my arm, lol. We watched him get in line and then he looked over at us and saw his books waiting to be signed and all the cameras and kinda figured we were the girls he was gonna meet, lol! He was so kind and sweet. He chatted with us for a bit, signed our stuff and took pictures with each of us. It was even his suggestion to get a group shot...we didn't want to be too pushy :) Such a surreal day! Mario, Tim's business partner, was even taking pics with his iPhone and he put them up on Twitter! So cool! Check it out http://yfrog.com/jbrhosj

So, lattes (yummy!!), a pumpkin scone (a treat from my beautiful friend, Emily!) and TIM HOLTZ!! Well, there's just no way the rest of the week will live up to that :) Such a great day!

So cool! Emily has a ton more pictures...she's probably scrapping them as I type, lol! She was taking pictures of everything us, Starbucks, our lattes :) She wanted to document every second. She loves Tim and we always say she could be his girl counterpart because she does some beautiful work in his style! I'm sure there's a mini album about the day coming soon!

Hope you all had a great Monday too. I know, not as good as mine, suckers, but hope you had a decent day :)

Stuck?! Sketches October 1st reveal and cute kid stories (of course :))

2010-10-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Ack, I'm a few days late on this one! The weekend flew by...cropping, hanging with family, running. Anyway, Stuck?! Sketches had its reveal on Friday and the work is stunning! You can check it out here. Here is the sketch and my take on it:

I really like how this one turned out. There's a little, acrylic house stapled to it, under the heart, that's hard to see in the picture, unfortunately. But I love the colours of the paper and how the black just makes it all pop!

A couple of cute kid stories...what would a blog post be without them?

Yesterday morning I heard Kieran crying and Kevin was in talking with him and then called to me saying, "Amanda, I think you should hear this..." Well, Kieran was crying because he's the only one in our family with black skin! LOL! His skin tone is the darkest in our family, though he has aunts and cousins with darker complexions too. He was sad because he was the only one in our family that has 'dark' skin and one of his cousins that also does never wants to play with him. Honestly, I have NO idea where on earth he came up with it! I tried to convince him that lots of people try to get that colour skin, but I don't think he was buying it, lol! My poor, sad, interracial child :) I think he's over it now, but really, just shows you what lengths he'll go to to whine about something, anything.

Tonight at supper Riley just blurts out, "For the love of Pete, will you guys stop it." Nothing really was going on at the table so Kevin says, "What guys?" And Riley matter-of-factly says, "The guys in my head. You know, I can be in my imagination world in my head and this world at the same time. It's kinda cool. There's a war going on in my head and I'm the king and my guys won't listen and if they don't they are going to get fired...with real fire." Oh man, that kid cracks me up sometimes. At least we know he has a good imagination! He probably convinced Kieran he was adopted from another country or something, lol!

So, they sure keep us hopping! I also heard Bridget telling Kieran that she couldn't go upstairs and brush her teeth because, "my belly hurts so I can't brush my teeth." My kids think a belly ache will get them out of anything! She's lucky she's so darned cute because her red-headed stubbornness and temper is starting to show!

Well, that's all for tonight! I must get to bed...it's been a weekend of late nights and early mornings! Stay tuned for some work for the Crop Addict DT. I just got my kit today (living in the frozen north like I do, it sometimes takes longer for kits to get to me ;)) but you can check out the beautiful work from the other DT members in the gallery.

Ok, Ok, I uploaded the pictures so here it is a picture H.E.A.V.Y. post!

2010-09-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that I ran in a 5 mile race last weekend. The boys also did a kids 1K race. It was a lot of hard work, but I manged to finish in 55min 36sec. The boys had a blast doing their own race too, just like mom :) The day was pretty cold, took me awhile to warm up. I also learned that I cannot drink a cup of water while I'm running...I almost drowned twice, lol! Anyway, here are some pictures (I apologize, I look like a complete dork while running but I did it!).

Boys ready to run!

Kieran, a wee bit excited!

They had fun playing on the rocks waiting for the race to start. I'm just glad we didn't have to go get stitches! That may have put a damper on my run :)

Can you find them?

Heehee! He was pretty fast and was really tired :)

Kieran making his way to the finish.

Post race popsicles with their cute sister :) They were so excited to get medals but Riley actually gave his to a friend who didn't get one since they ran out! He was thanked with a big hug from her! So cute!

The running crew!

Woohoo!!! Almost done! Kieran actually started to run out into the road ahead of me. It was a good thing he got out of the way because I didn't have the energy to run around him!

So proud of us!

Shout out to my running girls! Don't they look amazing for just having run 8K?! We rock!

Ok, so here we go with first day of school take 2!

My cutie with his K'nex sword or blaster or whatever it was at the time :)

Two big boys!

All ready to go!

Got some cute pictures of Riley but he wasn't looking at the camera in any of them :)

Perfect pose!

So cute!!

Sneezin'!

Sneezes are funny!!!

Awww :)

And finally, the clipboards I altered for the preschool. I totally wanted to keep them ;) But was so happy to be asked to make them for note taking at the school! They'll be used to jot down quick stories about the kids during class. I thought the little boy and girl with the speech bubbles were just perfect!

Ok, now I'm really done :) My blizzard has been delivered by my oh-so-fabulous husband! It is much needed after my crazy day of knocking my daughter in the head with a car door, spilling coffee all over my car, almost being backed into by a truck (while walking to school) not to mention dealing with kids who cry, whine, throw rocks, hit each other and a pup who peed in my dining room. Sigh. Ice cream, here I come!

Stuck?! Sketches reveal and cute kid stories :)

2010-09-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

You know what that means? Another Stuck?! Sketches reveal! I love looking at everyone's take on the sketch on reveal days. Lots of inspiration for sure! You can check it out here. This is the sketch we were working with:

And here is the layout I created with it. These pictures of Bridget crack me up :)

Kieran started preschool this week which made him a very happy boy and me a very happy mama to see him having so much fun and being down to 1 kid for a couple of hours. The first day was a hectic morning...we had to chase down Kevin's bus, take Riley to school, get groceries and then finally go to preschool. In all the chaos I forgot to take first day pictures!! Imagine, and a scrapbooker to boot! We recreated first day today and I also took some more pictures of Riley with his backpack this time and his new haircut (which he got gum in on the way home from the hairdressers I might add). I actually still have to put the pictures on my computer and I don't have my camera handy, but they are coming soon!

A couple of Riley stories :)

The other day I asked Riley if anyone had gotten in trouble in his class...if they had a time out or went to the principle's office. He said they don't have a bench to sit on this year, but they just have to sit at their desk if they aren't being quiet at circle time. I asked if anyone had to do that and if he did. He said that Noah did and he did. I asked if they were talking to each other. He said, " I was chatting more so I had to go sit at my desk first and then Noah did." I told him that in school he had to be good and follow the rules and not talk when the teacher was talking. He stops me and says, "It's in the past!" I said, "so..." He said, "So, we don't have to worry about it anymore, it's in the past!" Hmm...maybe he's seen that Lion King movie a few too many times :)

A couple of days ago he also declared that, "hummus is yummus!"

Yes, he makes me crazy sometimes, but ya gotta laugh at the kid! One more:

Kevin was feeding the kids breakfast this morning and told me that Kieran was saying that boys are tougher than girls. I think Kevin asked why he was saying it or something to that effect and Riley said that Sarah (his cousin) was tougher than him. Kevin said that someday he would probably be bigger than Sarah and would be tougher than her someday. Riley said, "yeah, when she's an old lady I'll be able to beat her down!" (Ok, I am literally laughing out loud while I type that!). He followed it up with, "but I wouldn't do that..."

I'll be back with pictures of my cuties, I promise. Funny how I think it's such a chore to upload them :) I also have pictures of some cool altered clipboards that I made for Kieran's preschool. I'm actually now in the process of making one for myself after having made 6 for other people. They are so fun to do!

Hope you all had a great Wednesday. Mine was not so great so I'm hoping for a better Thursday!! :)

Mish Mash Blog Post

2010-09-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of blogging. I know you might not know it, doesn't seem like it here does it? But I do. In my head while going to get the kids, brushing my teeth, folding laundry. If only I could find away to plug my computer into my brain there would be a lot more blog posts here! Finding the time to sit down and do it is tough. Even as I type there are bathrooms to be cleaned, a playroom to be vacuumed and laundry to be folded. Sigh. But, the kids and pup are asleep so I decided to steal a few quick minutes to do this.

I realized I have yet to show you my projects that I did with the September Crop Addict kit! Yikes, I am so behind. This kit was so much fun to work with. It had a lot of the Bo Bunny Mama-razzi line in it, which is one I didn't buy any of. I just didn't think it was for me. Umm...guess I was wrong! It is perfect for getting some boy pages done which is good because they tend to get neglected! And I got a couple of birthday cards done which were needed for the month of August.

Fun stuff, eh? And I still have lots of this kit left over. You can do so many projects with it. You can get your very own kit here. All of the kits of filled with tons of goodies to work with every month. I'm sure I could easily do another 3 layouts with the stuff I have left and then of course some more cards with the scraps :)

During August I was also asked to guest design for Let's Capture Our Memories. Tanya asked different girls to design each month and kept it a secret until the reveal. What a great idea! It was fun to see who got picked each month. Here is what I created with her beautiful kit! Again, lots of this one left too and I hope to get some more done with it. Our life was just so hectic in August and I feel like things might just be starting to settle into a routine now. I also have some scrappy dates set up in the near future, yay!

Gorgeous girly papers! I was lucky to get a girly kit and and boyish kit in August!

Here's a layout that I LOVE that I did awhile back but don't think I ever posted. It's one of my faves!

Ok, on to my kids. I know you are all dying to hear about them :) Playing hide and seek with little kids is never boring! I love listening to Bridget now, it's just so cute. She was on the stairs counting the other day and I overhear, "1, you ready? 1, 2, 3, 4, 2. Here my not, here I come! Kieran, where are you? Are you under the bucket?" Which he was, of course, because they had been hiding under it all morning. He wouldn't think of hiding somewhere different, that would be crazy! :) Then he counted and she hid under the bucket. Ah, minutes of entertainment! Her counting is always different too (and she TOTALLY knows how to count up to about 13, but not when playing hide and seek, apparently). Once she counted, 1, 2, 3, 40, 9, 10 :)

Riley started school on Tuesday (that's his first day picture on my header). He has an awesome teacher and is loving every minute already. He even had homework the first day (those grade 1 teachers are slave drivers!). He has about 5-10 minutes of it Mon-Thur and then the weekends are free. It's good because in kindergarten he was always disappointed that he didn't have homework. I'll have to remind him of all of this in middle school!

Kieran is anxiously awaiting his first day of preschool which is Monday. I think it's hard for him to wait so long after Riley goes. He's been counting days until he is in the 'big 4' class :) I can't believe we'll be registering him for kindergarten next month! Wow!

Oz (ok, I guess he's my 4th kid) is doing well. Sleeping through the night now and pretty well trained. Well, as long as Kevin isn't home. I swear the only times that dog pees or poops on the floor is when he's with Kevin. Kevin claims he can look after 3 kids OR a dog, but not both :) He can sit on command but isn't a fan of walking on a leash yet. That's my next thing to conquer since we walk a lot to get Riley from school.

I have one more 'in my head' blog, but maybe I'll save it for a bit. Don't want to type so much that all my tens of readers bail on me :) Have a great Friday, everyone!!

Stuck?! Sketches Sept 1st reveal and a yogurt rant...

2010-08-31T16:36:00.001-07:00

...cuz those 2 things TOTALLY go together :)

First for the scrappy fun. We're a bit early, but the September 1st reveal for Stuck?! is up for your viewing pleasure. I had a lot of fun with this sketch. It's really not the direction I meant to go with this picture. These papers just kind of fell into place...not what I had in mind when I first started, but sometimes that makes for the best layouts. Here is our sketch:

And my take on it:

And now for the yogurt. Every time I go to by yogurt I am struck by just how many kinds there are. I mean, I know, variety is the spice of life, but c'mon...it's just a little too spice-y in that aisle. Almost every time I'm there I stand there just staring going over each kind...omega-3, probiotics, prebiotics, fat free, low fat, blah, blah, blah. What kind do I want to pick today? I'm a simple girl, I like simple yogurt. Simple flavours...strawberry, peach. I know I like those flavours...do I like pineapple/kiwi/acai? Or pear/vanilla bean? Or pomegranate/mango? Who knows? I don't want to risk it and be disappointed and have all the yogurt go bad on me. Oh, and I like stirred, not fruit on the bottom. I hate when I buy that by accident. Trying to stir yogurt in that tiny little container and then getting to the bottom and finding out I didn't do a very good job. There are few things that have so many choices as the yogurt...shampoo is another one. I do that same long debate in that aisle and I still haven't found a favourite shampoo. I have, after much debate found a favourite yogurt. I like Astro BioBest with the 1% M.F. Nice simple yogurt...ok, I think it has omega-3s or prebiotics or something, but I pretty much ignored that in my search. The flavours are simple, the fat content is non-existent but isn't too high. I can buy just one kind for me and the kids. So, there you go, the results of my oh so scientific search. I hope you've found them helpful. I'll keep you posted on the shampoo :)

Vacation days #5, 6 and 7

2010-08-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry, between insomnia and running places with the kids and getting a puppy I've been slack with the blogging. Rest assured that the last couple of days of vacation were pretty slow :)

Last Wednesday we spent the day at Story Land. We had a big debate over Story Land or Santa's Village but thought this would be better for our kids ages. We had a fantastic time. Seven and a half hours later we still didn't see everything! We did most of the rides, saw a circus show (the magician was a BIG hit!) ate an overpriced lunch (what are you gonna do when you're stuck there?), played in the sprayground and played in a room full of foam balls shooting out of every tube and gun imaginable. So, so much fun. We loved the roller coaster and the bamboo chutes...a water ride where you fall down a big hill and make a big splash! Bridget was *just* tall enough to ride on all the rides. They even checked her at 4 or 5 of them which made me feel like a slightly bad mother (you sure you want to take your 2 year old on this ride, lady??? ok...if you're sure...).

Now, I know you are going to be disappointed that you don't get to look at hundreds of pictures of our amazing day, but I didn't carry my bulky camera around all day. We were very much in the moment having fun. I also didn't want it to get wet. Now, when a scrapbooker leaves her camera behind on a very fun day and all of a sudden is offered the opportunity to buy a picture of her family falling down the bamboo chute ride of course she is going to take it. Even if it costs $12. It helps that the picture is hilarious! The joy on Riley's face, the terror on Bridget's, me with a death grip around my barely tall enough daughter...ah, so, so good. I know, you're dying to see it right. Ok, coming right up. Now before you get all upset about my scanning this picture and posting it, I actually checked with Story Land and they said to go ahead and post it. Yay!

I LOVE it! It makes me laugh each and every time i look at it. See, my death grip on Bridget, haha. She looks scared but she would have been all for doing it again!

After our very long day we needed some supper before the hour long drive back to our United States house. We decided (bravely) to eat at a place called Joseph's Spaghetti Shed. I mean who passes up the opportunity to eat at a spaghetti shed? Heehee. Well, the sauces were all home-made and fantastic. If we had had room for dessert I'm sure that would have been amazing too. Actually, the white sauce wasn't as good at the red so if you are ever at the Spaghetti Shed, go red! I made Kevin share (it's a husband's duty, right?).

Our drive home was through the mountains at sunset. We stopped to take a couple of pictures. I think that if we had waited until the next rest stop the pictures would have been more spectacular, but oh well. It was late and we really had to get those kids in bed. As it was, Bridget woke up part of the way home and just kept saying, "Mommy, I want you." over and over and over. I think this is also the same night that we called 911 because the driver in front of us was clearly impaired. It was a slow drive home since there was no way we were passing him and I hope they actually got to him. We told them what exit he took but had to keep going since we had no idea where that exit would have taken us. Anyway, to a few more pictures...

Riley wanted to get out of the van and have his picture taken with me. Kieran didn't want out and Bridget was asleep.

Riley took this picture of us. Not bad!

It was a late night so I think the kids actually slept in the next morning until 6...maybe a little after. What a treat, haha!

Thursday we just hung out some more. Played at the pool, I did a craft and so did the kids while Kevin played in a pool tournament (and actually won! haha! we got a free movie rental...oooh. We watched 2010. Meh. There are better rentals so don't feel bad passing this one up!). Then we did a bit of shopping, well, as much as 3 overtired kids would let us do. I got a few back to school items for Riley and a hoodie for me. Big spenders that we are.

Pool fun:

This puddle jumper was worth every penny! Kieran even took turns with it in the deep end :)

Riley practicing his diving :)

Kieran apparently doing his side glide. He hasn't even learned that yet. Guess it helps to watch big brother in the pool :)

Bridget and I chased a butterfly for quite awhile outside. He kept just touching the outdoor pool and making cool water rings, but that's tough to catch on camera!

Next are Kevin's water acrobatics. Please, kids, don't try this at home. I was pretty afraid my kids were going to and I think Riley was trying a few things. Sigh, no wonder they're crazy!

My camera actually got wet on that last splash :)

Phew, ok, I think that's the whole trip. Friday was just the drive home which was pretty uneventful (thankfully, even given all the police we saw in Maine who had pulled over speeders). We had lunch at the Olive Garden in Bangor which was the only place I really wanted to eat in the States. It was so yummy! We had to wait a little for the Friday lunch crowd to settle but it was worth it (to me anyway, Kevin claims he never wants to eat out with kids again, haha. Really, they were pretty good but no meal out is ever relaxing with kids. I tried to ignore them and get lost in my pasta yumminess :).

Ok, and now it's time for bed. Our first night with Oz, our new boxer puppy. Wish us luck. We've had a pretty successful evening...no accidents, slept a little, played a little. Hope we get some sleep tonight. Pictures of that cutie to come soon ;)

Vacation day #4

2010-08-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday we decided to go play mini golf at Pirate's Cove. Ambitious with 3 small kids but fun nonetheless. The kids didn't play every hole, but they had fun. Especially at the hole with the pirate ship wheel and bell....they liked that :) Riley even got a hole in one! Hard to believe since on most holes he hit the ball so hard it bounced out of the green. He didn't get the whole hitting it gently thing no matter how many times he said it or how many holes we made him sit out because of it!

Then we stopped for ice cream. It was almost lunch time so this was pretty much our lunch...that and some left over pizza at the 'United States house' :) Vacation lunch of champions!

In the afternoon we visited the pool and then had a quick supper and movie night. The kids watched The Secret of Nimh and after they went to bed Kevin and I watched Valentine's Day. Both were cute. Valentine's Day was kind of Love Actually knock off. Kind of a poor knock off, but entertaining all the same.

Pictures :)

Aarrgggh!!

Can I get one of these with 3 holes for those days when the kids are driving me crazy?? Hmm...might be a market there :)

Cuties!

Look out!

Bridget taking her turn at the wheel :)

Ok, now you really have to look out! Riley at the wheel...scary!

Cooling down in the shade. It was HOT that day!

Isn't she just the prettiest little pirate ever?

Mr. Hole-in-One :)

Anyone have a napkin? Or 3?

I manged to stay pretty clean at least :) This little place had all home-made ice cream. So yummy. The vanilla that Kevin and I had was apparently featured in Yankee Magazine. We couldn't resist trying it and it was pretty fantastic! The chocolate that Kieran and Bridget had was yummy too...really cocoa-y. I got to try it because I kept having to help Kieran lick around his cone...still didn't help much. Riley had the strawberry and managed to actually keep himself clean...guess that's why we didn't get a dirty face picture :)

See you all tomorrow!

Vacation day #3

2010-08-23T16:18:00.001-07:00

I actually have confirmation that a few of you ARE anxiously awaiting my posts! Imagine. So, here it is. Sorry, took a bit longer but I was out for a run...yay me! All I can say is running in a valley is rough. The hills are many and steep! So now I am more than happy to sit on my butt and write this post while watching Buffy. What better way to pass a Monday night? :)

Last Monday morning we spent the relaxing. Reading, puzzles (and keeping kids away from puzzles!), pool, crafts (which were put on at the resort for a small fee...the kids did a few and I did one too). In the afternoon we visited the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center. We got to see lots of wildlife and there were tons of hands on exhibits for the kids. Again, I wanted to read up on everything and tried to get at least Riley interested, but he just wanted to power through :) There were mountain lions, bobcats, bears, many birds of prey, otters, deer (cuz I never see those here!). It was very well done. We had fun jumping like a mountain lion, crawling into a bear cave and sliding like an otter.

The day in pictures:

Pretty berries with raindrops.

Kieran fits under a moose! :)

My dear and a deer (and a moose....).

C'mon, let's go!!!

Ready, set....

GO!!!

Daddy and Bridget coming out of the pitch black touch tunnel. You are supposed to crawl through and put your hands in holes brought to your attention by shining red arrows and identify what's in the hole. Only problem is that you never actually find out if you are right...at least not that I could see. The kids just liked crawling through in the dark :)

A mushroom Kevin discovered. Even though the mushroom doesn't move or smile, I think that Kevin took more pictures of this than I took of the kids on that bench in Boston. And there's only one of it! :) Again, I have spared you the rest of those pictures. Maybe if you come for a visit you'll get the joy of a mushroom slideshow!

The boys coming out of the bear cave. They loved this part. At the end there is actually a window that looks into the real bear exhibit.

I'll spare you all the pictures we took of the animals. They are ok...but you could google your own much nicer ones :)

That night we ordered pizza from a random pizza joint. Luckily it turned out to be very good even if it took a very long time to get to us. Kevin was given directions that seemed a little iffy at the time and after a stop at a gas station to ask for directions and an hour later, voila....pizza :) Luckily he took Bridget with him so I just flaked out with the boys in front of the tv. I actually let them watch Gilmore Girls, haha. It's a pretty tame show that is mostly over their heads and I couldn't watch another animated tv show :) All in all a fun day!

There you go slave drivers (you know who you are!) :) See you on day #4!

Vacation day #2

2010-08-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

I know, you've all been waiting for this post all day right? :) We've had quite a busy day with a t-ball fun day for Kieran this morning complete with pizza and medals, another birthday party this afternoon and family over for supper. Phew, I'm beat! I might need another vacation...one where I get to sleep a lot rather than get up at 5am every morning.

Last Sunday we visited the New England Aquarium in Boston. The drive took about an hour and a half. We figured we'd head in on a Sunday to avoid too much traffic but then had to suffer the crowds. It wasn't too bad but there were quite a few people.

This was one of Riley's favourite parts of the trip. If you haven't been to this aquarium, it's really cool. When you first get there, they have seals swimming around outside. You can kind of watch them while you get your tickets. Then when you go in there is a large penguin exhibit with many different kinds of penguins. I think they give talks about the penguins periodically throughout the day, but we didn't really stick in any one place too long. In the centre of the building is a HUGE tank that is surrounded by a ramp, so you kind of walk upwards around the tank and you can look in at the different animals in it and also take in smaller tanks on the outside edge all the way up. So many cool animals, fish, rays, anemones, electric eels, piranhas, crabs, sea dragons (so cool, btw!), starfish, just to name a few. There's also a really big, fun touch pool where you can pick up sea stars, crabs, clams and such. That was a big hit with the kids...we had to drag them away so the kids behind them could have a chance :) The big tank in the centre (which I actually read somewhere was put in place first and the rest of the building was built around it, cool) has sharks, rays, sea turtles, many species of big fish. It's so captivating that you could just sit there for hours and watch them. Oh, there's also a really cool jellyfish exhibit!

We had a really great day visiting there. There were only minor meltdowns. Kieran got sad a few times because he wanted to keep going back to see the penguins. They were definitely the highlight for him. All in all the kids were pretty happy and entertained. After the aquarium we had lunch at the Quincy market. It was so crowded that the kids and I just sat on the stairs while Kevin grabbed some sandwiches. I'm sure they had much better food but we had to make it quick and easy with 3 hungry kids and we couldn't keep going back. The sandwiches were ok though and we got some yummy cookies for dessert. As we were walking back to the car we kept running into walking tours of the city and I really wanted to join in, lol. Ah, someday we'll get to do stuff like that on vacation, but not anytime soon :)

Here are some (ok, a lot) of my favourite pictures from the day:

PIRANHAS!!!

Not sure what this ray (or skate...not sure about the difference. Maybe if there wasn't always a kid or three hanging off me I could read a sign or two, but I digress) did to cause Bridget to give him the finger. Looks kinda cool all stuck to the glass like that.

Ray? Skate? Ray? Skate? I should really research before I blog so I can impress you with my knowledge. Here, if you really care, read this. This was taken at the top of the giant, centre tank.

I assume this is a lungfish since he kept popping up to breathe. Or maybe he was just having fun... No, wait, I just googled lungfish and this looks nothing like one. I have no idea what this is, but he was amusing.

Ok, this one I am *pretty* sure is a sea turtle. He kept popping up to breathe too. He is so big and amazing to watch.

Riley, about to get eaten :) I have the jaws theme running through my head, but that's hard to type so imagine it for yourself.

Token penguin picture for Kieran.

Jellies!! They are mesmerizing.

Kieran with his penguin stuffie from the gift shop. Perry for short, Perry the Penguin for long, as Kieran would say.

Can you believe this? All three of my kids looking happy at the same time! All looking at the camera! Boston must be magic, haha! I'll spare you the other 10 shots that didn't turn out nearly so well :) This was taken in the Quincy market and all the while there was a guy singing kids songs (the only one I can remember is Old MacDonald, but he sang many) just down from us. Kids like him, Mommy and Daddy, not so much. Bridget's hair is a little wild because I had pigtails in but she took them out and lost the elastics :)

And, one of the best parts of the day, my view looking into the back of the van on the way back to our 'United States house' as we took to calling the condo so as not to confuse the kids when we said we were going 'home':

Ok, Boston really is magic! A good picture of my kids and all of them falling asleep in the car! Wow! Riley NEVER sleeps in the car. He didn't doze once on the 8 hour ride to NH. I was shocked to see him sleeping. Oh, and that's his ray (skate?ray?skate?) that he bought at the gift shop. In case you were wondering, Bridget picked out a pink, stuffed, dolphin purse. Guess there's a little girl in here even with 2 big brothers.

Back in NH we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things...water, bread and we also bought a set of 8 Disney puzzles that we planned to do with the kids. Only the pieces were small and the kids not so interested, so over the course of the week I think Kevin and I did about 6 of them, often yelling at the kids to not mess them up, haha. One of them did fall on the floor but only after we had finished :) Yes, aren't we exciting, but it's not like we could go anywhere with the kids asleep. We watched a few bad movies too :) Oh, I also read Eat, Pray, Love and it was amazing! I'm heading to see the movie on Tuesday and hope it lives up to the book.

Until tomorrow....

Back from vacation!

2010-08-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, since this would be a VERY long blog post if I were to tell you about our whole vacation all at once, I'll go a day at a time. I know you are all SO interested in our lives and need to know every detail ;) Today I'll recap last Friday and Saturday since Friday was just a driving day really.

Last Friday we were up bright and early to leave. I think we left here around 7ish. The kids had some cereal in the car so we were all ready to do some driving before we had breakfast somewhere. Of course, as soon as we're 10 min from home I realize that the kids hadn't peed before we left and that Bridget, in fact, had not peed since going to bed the night before. How she held it that long and never even said anything, I still don't know. So, we stopped to pee (for one of 6 or 7 times she would have to go on the way down). Not long after that...about another 5 min down the road, Bridget asks if we're still in Canada, haha. It seemed like it would be a long drive! But they ended up being really good. They only watched one movie on the way down but kept busy with books and toys and snacks and naps (for Kieran and Bridget anyway, oh, and Mommy :)).

The only bad part was the breakfast at Burger King. I'm not sure I'll be able to go in one again for as long as I live. First of all, their coffee maker was BROKEN (hello people, I have an 8 hour drive with 3 kids, I need caffeine!) and the food was so gross and heavy. Blech. Kevin assures me the BK breakfast in Canada is different but I may never find out, lol!

We got to our condo and it was perfect for us. A room with a couple of beds that we put Bridget in (we moved a mattress to the floor for her like at home) and a space for the boys with 2 beds. The only part that took a little getting used to was sleeping on a different floor from the kids since the master was on the main floor. We didn't take the monitor so I worried about being able to hear them if they woke up. Luckily they didn't do that often but I did hear them the times they did so it was ok. We went for a quick swim in the pool before bed that night. The kids were thrilled to be able to go to a pool everyday!

On Saturday we visited the Polar Caves. Here's a quick description I grabbed from the website:

The Polar Caves were formed about fifty thousand years ago as the third continental glacier descended over New Hampshire's White Mountains. When the ice retreated, it left behind an amazing series of caves and passageways for visitors to explore. Self-guided tours take you to the rock garden and nature trails and through the caves.

It was so cool and fun! A little difficult at times getting the kids (and ourselves!) through the caves, but very fun. One of my favourite outings for sure. If you're in the area you must check it out! There's also an area with some animals and a sugar shack to look through. The kids also panned for gems and fossils and found some neat treasures!

Here are some favourite pictures from the day:

Looks like fun, eh? :) I can say 'eh' now that I'm back in Canada. Stay tuned for more Winchester adventures.

While I was gone Stuck?! Sketches had it's August 15th reveal. Check out all the gorgeous work here. Here are the sketch and my take on it :)

Be sure the participate in the Stuck?! blog hop too. It's still going on :)

See you tomorrow!

Vacation time!!!!

2010-08-12T16:45:00.000-07:00

I think we're almost ready to go. Bags packed, snacks packed, kids bookbags packed with enough stuff to do that we should be able to get 10 min from the house before they ask if we're there yet :) We're off to NH for a week. It will be so nice for just our little family to get away and spend some time together. Something we don't do nearly enough!

A few cute Riley stories, of course.

We had a movie night last week and watched Homeward Bound. It was a little intense for Kieran...I think he thought that the animals were toast at every turn. He spent 2/3 of the movie in my lap. They were all very into the movie the whole time and I swear they were all teary at the end. After it was over Riley said, "Mommy, I learned something from that movie. Well, I already kind of knew it...miracles really do happen." Awww, how cute is he?

I was noticing tonight that he had lots of scrapes and bruises and mentioned it to him. He said, "yeah, I get damaged a lot!" Heehee.

Bridget had her first pig tails a couple of days ago. Her hair is *just* long enough to do it and it is horrible trying to get those tiny elastics in, but worth it when you see this cute face:

Today, in the midst of packing we had a visit from our puppy, Oz. We brought him to our house for a couple of hours to hang with us and get to know the place. He is so cute and the kids love him so much already.

(finding a safe place to hang out :))

Awww!!!

Well, I must get to bed soon. Kevin is making us get up bright and early to head out. He's so excited, it's like Christmas. We told the boys they could get up at 6:00 instead of 6:30 (yes, that's the latest they sleep and we have to MAKE them stay in bed that long). I told them it was just for this one day and Riley says at the same time I do, "except for Christmas" because we told them they could get up at 6:00 that time too. He doesn't forget a thing. Wish us luck! It's our first family vacation, ever really. Have a great week!

Stuck?! Sketches Blog Hop!

2010-08-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Stuck?! Sketches blog hop! Here are the details:

You must collect each of the letters from the Creative Team members blogs. Unscramble them and then send an email to stucksketches@optusnet.com.auwith the winning word, your name and location by midnight September 10th. You must also comment on each of the blogs to be eligible for the prize drawing.

We have a wonderful sponsor lined up for the blog hop.
Kimmie from Kimmie Prout Designs has kindly offered a $15 voucher to her store for one lucky winner. This will be determined randomly from everyone who emails the correct word through.

Start out at the Stuck?! blog and let us know you are playing and then start hoppin' along! My letter for you is A! Happy hopping!!

Stuck?! Sketches Birthday Bash!

2010-08-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

Be sure to join in the fun over at Stuck?! Sketches this month! There's extra sketches, a blog hop and lots of prizes to be won! C'mon over and join the party!!!

Two reveals! Lots of Scrappy Fun!

2010-08-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

Hello, August!! Can you believe the summer is half gone already? And my sanity is still hangin' in there (though last week gave it a run for its money!!). We still have our vacation in NH to look forward to as well as the addition of a new puppy to our family at the end of August. He's a sweet little Boxer and we've named him Oz. Isn't he a cutie?

The first of August brings my first reveal with the Crop Addict team! I had such fun working with the bright, fun colours in this kit. Perfect for summer fun and great colours for scrapping little boys (had to sneak a girl page in too though ;)). Here are my layouts, but you can check out the whole team's work here.

The birthday card is for a friend of mine and I forgot to give it to her before she went away for a short vacation. I saw her the other night at dinner and was trying to remind myself all day to bring it with me but of course, in the rush of the day, I forgot. I also made her this cute cork board to go along with it. I totally love this project...fun and easy. I followed a tutorial on this blog.

So, C, if you are reading my blog...surprise! Haha!

August first also brings my first Stuck?! Sketches reveal! I've been a busy little scrapper :) Here are the sketch and my layout, but you can check out all the takes on the sketch here.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. We have a long weekend here (extra long for us since Kevin took Friday off). We are having some friends over for a barbecue later. We're really looking forward to it. Kieran's already talking about having hot dogs and marshmallows for supper :) Should be a fun time! Until then there's some cleaning and napping on the agenda! Have a great day!

My Mind's Eye Challenge

2010-07-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

I tried out one of the My Mind's Eye challenges from their blog. You can check out the challenge here. Basically I had to work with the sketch given and use the word HOPE. I've been saving these papers for awhile and I think they work so nicely with this picture. And the die cuts and transparency are nice additions as well. I've only tried making my own flowers a couple of times, but I'm really pleased with how these paper roses turned out!

I was checking out some of my competition and the other layouts are all amazing! I'm not sure I stand a chance, but I had a lot of fun creating this one. Gotta love a sketch and a title prompt for getting a layout done quickly. Ok, ok, so it still took me a few days, but I only get very short chunks of time in which to work :)

I also finally received my Crop Addict kits today! Yay! I was getting impatient :) When they were delivered Riley asked what I got and I told him scrapbooking supplies. He said, "Again? That's all you ever get!" Haha, so true :) I can't wait to get creating. The kits are just beautiful!

On a sad note, all of the tadpoles are now dead :( Kevin had changed their pool water. It was seriously gross and we put the logs, rocks, leaves back in and gave them some fish food. But something must have gone wrong. The kids were a little upset. Maybe we'll get the chance to try again someday. It was cool to see them transform and grow. I'm glad I got to see it, but sad that we didn't get a chance to take them back to their home.

Well, who want to end on a sad note like that? I think we need another cute Riley-ism and some sweet kid pics, don't you? That's right, I thought you did!

We were out for a walk the other day and Riley says to me, "I don't need one of those music thingies, I hear my own music in my head." I have no doubt at all that this is true :) I wonder what else he hears in his head, lol. His imaginary friend, Lem (in case you'd forgotten) has cropped up again recently. The other day he was telling me that he and Lem and Kieran and Kieran's Lem (why be crazy and think up another name???) were going to build something. Okidokie.... Crazy kid :)

And for the pics:

Heehee, dress up is so much fun! How cute are they?

Bridget in her pink dress with the pockets (I think the pockets are what makes this one of her favourites) and a yellow Corona hat. Quite the outfit. Especially to wear to drop the boys off at vacation Bible school....

Awww!

Kieran has had a hard time taking a decent picture lately. Doesn't seem to want to smile but this cracks me up, so maybe that's better :)

Ok, I must be off to bed. Bridget has been getting up a lot lately so I need all the rest I can get!

I can't wait....

2010-07-16T06:32:00.001-07:00

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first kit from Crop Addict. I'm holding out a small hope it will come today before the weekend, but I'm not sure. The kit is available for sale July 20th as well as the add-on option. Want to see what I'm waiting on...

I just love the colours in this kit and I can't wait to play with all my new goodies! You can have your very own kit too in just a few short days ;)

On the tadpole front, I had a fear yesterday that we had lost Bridget's too. I couldn't find him anywhere, but later in the day he was out, just hanging out on the rock. His tail is pretty much gone now so he's a teeny weeny frog. I don't think he's much bigger than my thumbnail. I guess that's why he's so hard to find. We went back to where we got them to look for more, but had no luck. We did have fun chasing and catching minnows though. Riley was pretty good at catching the small ones but the big ones were more elusive. Kept them busy for an afternoon though :)

Here's Maddy. Isn't she (he?) cute?

Riley's little tadpole is still swimming around. It doesn't really even have back legs yet...maybe just the beginnings of some. It's still lively and swimming around though. It was much smaller than the other 2 so Riley just has to have some extra patience, which couldn't hurt, right? :)

Happy Friday everyone! I am glad to see the weekend!

More exciting Scrappy News!!

2010-07-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say that I've made another DT! Woohoo!! I'm now part of Crop Addict's DT and get the pleasure of working with some super talented gals. I'm excited about this new venture. The forum is nice and laid back and the gallery is full of gorgeous work! All you scrappy types should go check it out! My first kits are en route and I can't wait to get designing :)

And...on a sad note. Kieran's tadpole died :( I was transferring them to a tadpole paradise in our broken kiddie pool and went to scoop him out and the poor thing was just floating there :( He was the biggest one too. Poor Haddy. It didn't help that Kieran was having a rough day today anyway. There was much crying the whole day. He saw me going to pour Haddy into the woods and asked what I was doing. I said that we couldn't keep him and he cried and said good-bye. Then I cried because Kieran was so sad. Kieran said he wanted to pour him out himself. Let's face it, he's four and he's over it now, but it was sad. I told him we'd go look for another one where we found those ones. So far the other two are doing fine and living in a pool paradise with logs and rocks and leaves :) Fingers crossed they stay that way!

Well, I must get back to watching Buffy :) We're on the last episode of Season 1. I love it! Heehee.

A song, a race and, of course, more tadpoles!

2010-07-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

The other night when I was putting Kieran to bed he wanted to sing me a song rather than me singing to him (can't blame him...I really can never remember the words to very many songs...not like Kevin). Well, that morning I had given them some toys that I had bought at a yard sale awhile back. Kieran's was a big incredible Hulk. I had also bought him a Superman the same day of yard sale-ing...I just spread out giving them the toys :) So, this is the song that he sang me:

Superman is a superhero

He's my favourite superhero

Mommy bought me the Hulk

She's the nicest Mommy in the world

Awww, how cute is he?

Today I ran in my first official race. It was 2.6 miles and I finished in 29.something minutes. I haven't really been running consistently lately so I think that's not too shabby for my first time. We even got medals. We were saying how cool that was when one of the girls said that the only medals she's ever gotten were ones when you're a kid and they give them to everyone for participating. I said, "umm...like this one?" LOL! I thought she was going to kick me out of the car :) We're all very proud of ourselves. Heck, I'm still shocked sometimes that I don't just give up!

Kieran's tadpole has front legs! Woohoo! It's totally cute. Like an itty-bitty little frog. Of course I took pictures on Thursday and on Friday it had it's extra legs. Anyway, I'll post the 2 leg pictures and take some more later. I know you're all enthralled with our tadpole saga!

Aren't they cute? :)

I was scrapping some layouts for Stuck?! last night and I love how they are turning out, but you have to wait for August to see them ;) Have a great Sunday night all!

Tadpoles, Kids, Cards

2010-07-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Tadpoles...still alive! Woohoo! Two of them have back legs now. I must take a picture, but believe me, they are all still alive. I'm as shocked as you are, trust me :)

Kids...still alive! Woohoo! Week 2 of summer vacation and we haven't killed each other yet. It was iffy at the beginning of the week, but they've been pretty good the past two days. Riley has them playing a new game. Animal Rescue League. He gathers all his stuffed animals and takes care of them and tries to find them homes. He has dogs, alligators, snakes, an armadillo, a donkey, a monkey in case you are interested :) He gets the other two involved too and they actually played for a really long time yesterday. The down side was he tried to wake Kieran up this morning so he could go in and feed the animals. I mean, Kieran is the only kid who actually sleeps so I hate to ever wake him. We were actually fighting over it and I had to break it to him that it really was only pretend, lol. He takes his games very seriously, always very in character :)

We went picking strawberries today with Mom and Dad. Always one of my favourite days of the summer. The picking wasn't great but I have 8 boxes of strawberries in my fridge and that makes me happy. I think biscuits are on my to do list for tomorrow, yum!

Here are two birthday cards that I've made recently. I put them in the mail yesterday so I may be ruining a surprise or 2 but, oh well, lol. They served a dual purpose since I also did them for challenges for LCOM's 28 Days of Summer Fun.

Ok, finally time to relax after a long day. With a bowl of strawberries and yogurt topped with All Bran buds, yummy!! I just had to lie down with Bridget so she would go to sleep. She was asking for Mommy to lie with her for a 'long time ago' :) How can I resist that?

My reveal day!

2010-07-03T03:16:00.000-07:00

It's time for my reveal over at Stuck?! Sketches :) You can check me out here!

Here are the layouts that I submitted for the application:

This layout is based on the application sketch

And this are two of my own creation:

I just love the one of Bridget and the worm even if it does gross me out, lol!

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Scrappy News!!

2010-07-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

I am now a member of the Stuck?! Sketches blog Creative Team!! I am super excited to be a part of this team and to get to work with their fun new sketches! Congrats to all the other girls that made the team! There is some amazing talent over there! I hope you all join us for the sketch challenges...I can't wait to get creating with them :) They are revealing the CT members one at a time so I'll link you up when it's my turn. For now check out Alicia's work here!

Happy Canada Day and Tadpole news!!

2010-07-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks! We had a fun day taking in some local festivities and having a barbecue with family. The kids came home full of sugar, tired, and dirty! They had a great day and so did I!

As for the tadpoles...they're getting legs! I don't have a picture yet. To be honest, even if I did take a picture, I don't think you could tell since you have to look pretty close. Kevin is not nearly as excited by this as I am. I think he's convince I'm a little crazy. I might just turn our broken kiddie pool into a tadpole oasis, lol! It's so exciting to me to see them turn into little frogs. Kevin says, "you know, we have kids..." I said, "yeah, but by the time I saw them they were already little people. Pretty much the same as now, only smaller. It's not like I got to watch their tails fall off!" LOL! Exciting! Look deep down (deep, deep, deep down) and you'll admit it's pretty exciting too. The kids and I check on the darn things all the time! I'll keep ya posted. I know there's nothing else you'd rather do with your summer than hear about Taddy, Maddy and Haddy!

And, as if that wasn't fun enough, there's a lot of scrappy fun going on at LCOM!! 28 days of it! There are lots of fun challenges and prizes to be won, so make sure you head over and check it out!

Stay tuned for my fun scrappy news to be announced tomorrow! Tadpoles, scrappy fun, life is good :)

Birthday Weekend Happenings

2010-06-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday so I decided, since it fell on a Sunday, I would just claim the whole weekend as my birthday weekend :) I deserve it, right? Saturday I went yard sale-ing with Bridget and a good friend and 2 of her girls. I had such a nice time with no one around rushing me and begging to leave, haha. Found some good deals. Got a really nice wool jacket and books for me and the kids. I also found some really cool boy toys that I've put away for when the kids are driving me crazy! Nothing keeps them occupied like new toys.

Then while the kids napped I actually took a nap. Wow, so refreshing! Then Saturday night, Mom and Dad watched the kids (yay!! Thanks again!) while Kevin and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw A-team and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Lots of action, lots of laugh...really good movie!

We also made a trip to the Running Room to return a jacket Kevin had got for my birthday. It was really too green, like flourescent green. It was a bit too much. The funny part is that I have a green windbreaker that I wore out Saturday to yard sale because it started to rain a bit. When Riley saw me he said, "oh, Daddy gave you your jacket!" Umm...no... Oops. He really didn't mean to spill but Kevin probably shouldn't have showed it to him :) And, what's even more funny, when I got home from yard sale-ing I had a frame that I'm going to alter and Riley said something like, "guess you don't need that frame I got you. I mean, no I didn't. I'm just joking." Haha! The moral of the story is, don't tell your 5 year old about birthday presents! Anyway, I exchanged the jacket for one that is a coral colour (or, just pink as Kevin says) and it's a slightly different style. Should be in this week because they had to order it from another store.

Sunday morning was French toast for breakfast and supper at Mom and Dad's (lasagna, caesar salad, garlic bread and chocolate cake with boiled icing...YUMMY!!) I also had a visit with 2 of my best buddies, Amy and Emily and Amy's adorable daughter Isabelle (who Bridget just adores!). But the highlight of our day was a trip to a local trail/stream. We went to just take some pictures and let the kids play in the water. We saw a butterfly, some minnows and a frog, which Kevin and the boys had great fun trying to catch and then letting go and catching again. Poor traumatized frog. Then we found some tadpoles and Kevin actually managed to catch one in his hands! I was surprised and scrambled for something to put it in and came up with Riley's water bottle (which will be thoroughly sterilized!). We caught 3...one for each kid (they have named them Taddy, Maddy and Haddy, lol). They are in a bucket with some greens and a rock...ahh, tadpole paradise :) Hope we can grow them into frogs! I'm very excited, more than the kids I think. Fun experiment to start the holiday. Riley's going to journal the whole process. And the pictures we took yesterday and the ones to come will make for a cute mini album I'm sure! Here are a few of the pictures from yesterday:

Finding cool rocks with Riley

Smile!

Who's up there?

The rocks were a bit slippery.

Smooches for Mama!

Kieran felt much better going out into the water holding someone's hand. Big brother stepped in to help :)

FROG!

Petting the frog :)

Peek-a-boo!

Frogs are SLIPPERY!!

Got him!!!!

Are you a PRINCE??

Tadpoles! 3 of these little guys are at our house :)

Such a cutie!

Our beautiful, happy, CRAZY family!

Today it is pouring rain and it's the first day of outdoor swimming lessons. The kids probably won't mind, but it doesn't make for a fun day to watch them. Luckily I can drop Bridget off with Grammie and Grampie because she would be a handful I'm sure when she can't just run around and play.

I have some fun scrappy news to share but I can't let it out just yet...soon though :) And I can't wait to scrap the tadpoles, heehee! Have a happy Monday everyone!