Big Changes?!

Well it turns out they are not that big. We are not moving to Utah. Bummer. I was excited. Dh did take a new job, but not in Utah. Have I tld you I started back to work? Yep back in Human resources part time in Retail. Insanity I tell you. What was I thinking. But for all I complain, it is not bad, now that that holidays are almost over. I am slowly getting into a routine. That has been the hard part.

Christmas was fun. The girls are good. Life is good.

Hey Brenda, this was just for you, so there....

Excitement

So there are big life changes coming, but I will keep you all informed as things become more definite.

So where am I today? I am in Phoenix! Yeah! It is NASCAR time. I grew up on Formula one and have never been to a Nascoar Race. We decided that tomorrow we are going to hit the BUSCH race. Dang I am excited. I was also bummed at the same time. I only bought one lens for my camera and one that is not going to work for the race. Rick indulged me and we went to the camera shop with the intention of purchasing the lens that I needed but they did not have it. BUMMER! I got a different lens. On that will work for what I need. It was also on clearance so that makes it even better! YEAH!

Even better then that is on Sunday, I will get to see my dear friend! Her DH, my DH and my Dad are heading to the race. We will spend the day making cards. I love it! I can not wait. It feels like forever since I have seen her. I can not wait to give her a squishy hug.

So that is where I am, my excitement for the weekend :)

Where have I been?

10/24

15th wedding anniversary and Swim Team banquet. What idiot put the banquet on that day, oops that was me!

10/25

Orientation for new job. Job fell into lap, Working at a National Retail chain. Fun for me. I work in the HR department.

10/26

Scrapbooked the night awat, had to finish Aleksei's book. Then it did not all fit.

10/27
Scrapbook Expo with DH.
Dinner for ALeksei's 2nd birthday

10/28
Church
sleep

10/29
No clue
Oh wait, I cleaned like a mad women
Swimming

10/30
Taxes for swim team

10/31
Worked
Halloween

11/1
Worked all day
Swimming.

I am having a blast working, it is strange to adjust but it is going well. So that is where I have been.

Still scrapbooking

I have to finish the book. so I am still scrabooking, cleaning house and watching the coverage on the TV about the fires. I can smell them too.

Please keep Southern Californis in our prayers, we have many friends that this is affecting.

Crafting the weekend away

So I already talked about working on Aleksei's scrapbook. I am happy to report lots of progress. I am gonna keep going and I truely believe that I will be done with his first year :) Yeah!

I was not excited to head over to church for our Sauper Saturday, which is a big craft day for the women. I kept thinking that it was 4 hours that I could be scrapbooking. I went a bit late cause I was gathering stuff. It ended up being just want I needed. A break from scrapbooking and a chance to sit and chat with some of the other women. It refreshed my brain and I came home and got more done :) i did not get everyting done as it was planned that we would alter letters and as I watched them doing it, it seemed they were doing it the hard way, lol. So there is a group of us getting together to alter the letters (BELIEVE) in a week or two. Yeah! So that is what I did for most of the weekend, crafty things.

I also got a change to go meet Lissa, a friend from Scrapshare. It was so fun and her Dh and my Dh did just fine. They started on the geek talk and off they went. we chatted about different things and giggled and laughed away. Fun times!!

Who do they look like?

Paper, Paper and More Paper

I have enough paper to have my own craft store. I have magazines, embellishments and tons of other things. Since Princess Seriously had joined me in my craft room so I can scrapbook while she is doing school work I am buried under it all. I gave her the smallest wall in the craft room. that wall meant so much to me. I miss the wall. I had to condense. I have too much paper. There is paper coming out of my ears. There is so much stuff buried on my desk, I am trying to find the bottom of it. There was a bottom a month or two ago. It was there, really, I promise. Today I have thrown out half of a huge recycling bin full of paper scraps, outdated magazines and just other strange paper that is there. I still can not find the floor or the bottom of my desk.

In the middle of it I was inspired with a layout so I had to sit down and make it. September 2004 in PS's book. Yeah I am making progress.

But back to the paper, I just ordered a ton of pictures because Aleksei's 2nd birthday is coming. I am not dome with his first year and I WILL BE DARNED if I am gonna be two years behind on his scrapbook. So by his 2nd birthday I will be done with his 1st years scrapbook. I might be two scrapbook, but dang it the kid will have his 1st year! I am excited. So that is the urgency about finding the bottom of the desk, cause once those pictures come, I will be up late at night finishing those pages. I will probably need to find the bottom of the desk again after that but they will be done.

So if I go missing, check under the paper. I am sure I will be there.

Listening to the Stories - My Perspective

You know, they think that I don't want to join then while they are eating pomegranates but the real truth is, I just sit back and listen. I listen to DH, Princess Seriously and Princess Girly-Girl sit at the table and goof off. What happens is they end up listening to DH tell a childhood story and they laugh, giggle and ask questions.

Last night it happened to be about a fruit tree lined street. About going down the street and picking fruit and how fun that was. other nights it is about sneaking into swimming pools, they stories are always funny and the girl love them. Everyone of them.

What I love it that is is fun, pure joy and love. Sometimes it is just so hard to try and walk into to that because those are special moments, moment between Dh and the girls. I remember those times with my Dad and those are the BEST memories. Every girl should have those memories of there Daddy. The warm fuzzy moments. Mine are about sitting int he back of a yellow hatchback pinto, eating chili dogs. Chili dogs are comfort food. That is my gift from my Dad.

So no, I don't want to eat the pomegranates, I just want to hang back and listen.

Changes

This is the time of year that I love. It is the first really cold nights of the fall. I love to open the windows and be cold. Put the extra blanket on the bed and really snuggle into the bed. I can actually click off the AC and open the windows. Let the fresh air in and the house breathe. I love that. During the Summer and Winter it is either too hot or too cold to have the windows open at all. This is also the second week of the year that the change of season drives my sinuses insane.

It is also tie to look forward to my anniversary, Aleksei's birthday second birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love love love that time of year. I decorating and changing the house up for the different holidays.

15 years. Rick and I will have been married for 15 years. That is a long time. We have had fun, joy, heartbreaks and everything else in between. Sure sometimes life is not as fun as it could be but in the end there is not anyone else I would rather be with to have fun. It is interesting to see different perspectives of couples that have been married less then we have.

Aleksei's second birthday! Can you believe that? I can not! He is the boy in my life. Love him like he is mine. I wish they lived closer. I really try to convince his Mom and Dad to move closer. We would get into to so much trouble. I love his parents. They are the bestest parents. So loving and perfect for him. I have a ball with Adis, his mom! Love them to pieces.

Halloween, the kids love to dress up. Princess Girly Girl is looking forward to being Kim Possible. Crack me up. She has me on the search for a wig. I better find that soon, otherwise I will never hear the end of it. Princess Seriously, well she is in the age where she is not sure what she wants to be. We are working on that for her. I am convinced that snow white would be perfect but I am not sure that she is sure. As for Rick and I, I have no clue.

Thanksgiving, I love cooking the big dinner and having people over to enjoy the day. Being grateful for all that we have, being grateful for what is to come. After Dinner it is tradition that we clean up and put everything Thanksgiving away and out comes the Christmas comes out and off we go, time to begin Christmas decorating.

So lots of changes and lots to do. Stay tuned for all the different adventures.

Too many things running through my head.

Yep, what is new.

First, Princess Seriously is brace free. Now she has a funny lipsth. I am not even sure how to spell that. Her teeth look really good. They better! Retainers look so much better then braces. She enjoyed her dinner of ribs, corn on the cob and orange soda. She has not had that in almost two years.

Second, A dear dear friend is going through some tough financial times. It just breaks my heart. They are such good people and it just pains me to see them going through this.

Third, I love fall. It does not feel like fall. When is the cool weather coming.

Fourth, I am going through the swim team bin today to find metals for the banquet that is coming up. Did I mention that it is hot, outside in a metal bin?

Fifth, I need to be taken more pictures. I will have to post some later today. Including PS without braces.

Stamping

The first time I stamped it is was with my good friend Melanie. I think I broke out in a huge sweat and completely stressed out about it. I don't think she had even seen me so quiet. Well I do talk a lot if I know you. I swore and I mean SWORE I would never stamp. I meant it.

Ok I lied. I have discovered Close To My Heart. Can I just say that clear stamps are so for me. I love using them, cleaning them and not stressing out. I love that they add just a little something that you need.

See look...

So anyway, there is a point to the story, stay with me, Melanie has finally started a blog! *cheer* So now you to can go check out the cool things she does!

http://melzspot.blogspot.com/

Tell her you stopped by and don't forget to enjoy her creations!!!

Love this time of year

So, I love this time of year. Not because it is still 100 degrees outside, or that we are about to go into the holidays. Nope...

IT IS NEW TV TIME! YAHOOOO!

There are new TV shows. So what is on the line up for this year that I will be watching?

Monday: Heroes (That is thanks to DH)
Tuesday: Biggest Loser
Wednesday: Private Practice
Thursday: BIG TV NIGHT HERE! Survivor, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and ER
Friday: Nothing - Catch up
Saturday: Nothing Catch up
Sunday: Extreme Makeover, Home Edition

There are some toher shows that will poke in and out. I love The Amazing Race, I love Top Chef but that is getting ready to end, I love Hell's Kitchen.

So that is where you will find me on the different nights. On Thursday is when I am grateful we have TWO DVR's.

I just wanna scrapbook

Really.

I thought the homeschooling would chain me to my desk and I wold be there all day. It is not working. Princess Seriously is doing great and that means I am not chained. There seems to be sixy million things to be done in a day. Dang it. We discussed that next week will be a bit different so we are coming up with a plan. PS is working so fast she shuld be done with school in January. OH MY! That is ok, we are having fun and that is all that counts.

Swimming is so much better for her, she says she is not thinking about all the homework she has. The plan is to go back to school next year but I am not sure how that is going to go. She is enjoying the no pressure. We will see.

So all of the coming and goings means I have not scrapbooked as much as I have wanted too. I have pages that have to be done this weekend. I am gonna work on them dang it!

Ok nothing else exciting to report so I am outta here.

A new bed and other random musings.

I think I am in heaven! I am laying on my new tempurpedic bed. After the sleepless night of last night this is a refreshing change.

It started but looking for a new Den couch. Our was pretty beat up. So we went to a local store that was going out of business. We walked out with a Couch, Mattress and Dining Room Table. Wow! I love it!

I am not sleeping well. Too much going on all at once. I am helped a neighbor out because she is sick and tonight she went back to the hospital. Her Dh is disabled due to a stoke so he needs to be tended to. I have been in and out for the last few days. Tomorrow will bring a couple of more challenges with that situations. I will do what I can. I am worn out.

I had TWO friends track me down this weekend! Now that was exciting!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the anniversary for 9/11. Last year I participated in the blogger project and this year it is not running. He asked us to do something for the anniversary. Tomorrow I will be running the two remembrances that I ran last year. I actually think I will do this every year.

Please leave comments tomorrow because their families need to know that they are remembered.

Also take a look at this article. There was so much that happened that day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/us/10cnd-shanksville.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

A schedule, YEAH!

It seems life is slowing down. We are on a school schedule and things are becoming more manageable. That is dang exciting!

I would type more right now but dang the schedule calls. I will be back tonight! Promise.

That is MY girl!

Look at the form! That is awesome! This is why I am a proud Mama!

Something I have learned

So DH is funny about dinner. he is not a lunch for dinner type person. Meaning he thinks a salad is lunch food, sandwiches are lunch food. Get the idea? My DH is not demanding and is a wonderful person this is just one of his quarks.

So a couple of weeks ago, he was not suppose to be coming home for dinner. He was starving and the girls and did a fend for yourself type dinner. We were on the way to youth group. SO I told him I would whip him up a salad and leave it for him. He was not so exciting but said great, I am so hungry. (Now keep in mind he is diabetic so fast food is not so great for him). The girls and I had 25 minutes before we had to leave. We broke out the chine and set it up for him. I had some left over grilled chicken we made an awesome grilled chicken salad for him. Put it on the chine, warmed some bread, broke out a goblet type glass, did iced water with limes and then left some pudding out. Then we had to leave. He called me cracking up that it was such a nice dinner, not a word about it being salad. He was like, I felt so special.

So tonight the girls had various things and I made chicken salad sandwiches for us, chopped up some fruit, toasted the bread and broke the china. He was tickled and not a word about it being lunch for dinner.

It just cracks me up the his perspective can be changed by the dinnerware.

So my advice, break out the china! LOL

I always think I will have more time

But there are not enough hours in the days right now. Between swim team and meets, Library and playdates, there is not enough time.

I will be back. When I come up for air.

School is offically out

I am doing the happy dance. Really. I am sure in two weeks I will be counting the days but until then I will be happy that I can sleep in.

The new love of my life.

I can not get enough. This lovely picture was sent to me from across the states. Thanks Nelleke!

This can be found at a Trader Joe's near you. If you don't have then I am so sorry.

Parents

I had planned on writing a nice vent about parents and their expectations. About how much they whine. I decided not to because if I wrote how I really feel and a parent finds it and connects the dots and figures out I am talking about then, well that might not be good.

So lets just say, I am tired of whining parents.

Girls Camp

This year for Girls Camp, I am a Mom At Camp (MAC). Princess Seriously is excited because she will be in my cabin. Cabin and I use that term loosely. Cabin is more like a wooden A-frame. This is the girls camp that I went 20 years ago and it still is the same. Sorry, I am digressing. It am actually shuttering that I am going back there. Oh sorry, off topic again.

Today was Super Saturday, that is where your youth leader and the MAC's get together and make all the decorations for the cabins. I am covered in paint. We had so much fun! I am actually looking forward to the week of camp.

Our cabin name is SugarBabies, like the candy. We drew the box out. We went running with the babies theme. We are having a ball.

So that is the next adventure, Girls Camp. Heaven help us.

Grab a tissue: Welcome Home Daddy

This is tissue box worthy. Remember that every service person has a loves one waiting at home...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVcH4oqrgsk

Mothers and Daughters

Tonight was a youth group activity. It was a Mother/Daughter dinner. There was a game that we played and it was answering 15 questions. Daughters answered for the Mothers and Mothers for the Daughters.

Princess Seriously thinks that I do not pay attention. I answered 11 of the 15 questions right. The 4 that I missed were ones that she recently changed her mind about. Needless to say her jaw dropped. Mom, you do pay attention.

Princess Seriously got 7 of mine right. She is clearly not paying attention. Dang kid.

Complete and Utter Insanity

Really.

I was sick for about 2 weeks, that put me about two weeks behind. We had a HUGE swim meet coming up. The swim meet was huge because we were the host team. Without boring you, it was wonderful. It was better to be expected and I am so glad that swim team does not comsume every moment of my life.

I am still back up on the laundry and I just don't care. I think DH cares and it is bugging him to no end. Poor guy.

I can not wait for the lazy days of summer. I need to not have to go anywhere for a bit. Although, I was tapped to go to Girls Camp. Lovely a week with a bunch of teenage girls. I should survive. But I hate camp, hated it as a youth. I am sure I need to put my smily face on and just deal with it.

So I am back blogging. I will be back.

Sicker than a Dog

Really. But first I must tell you a funny story. I started walking with Elizabeth. She walks this trail with her two dogs. So I thought I should join her. I took one of my dogs. I tooks DH's dog, Menjers. She was so ready to go and have fun. sniffing everything she could. She even got to go loose on the trail. She did fine until we had to turn around and come back. I was ready to die but keeping a stiff upper lip. I did stop once and get my heart rate back to normal before I passed out in the middle of the trail. Menjers just kept going. Until, she was done and I mean done. Stopped int he middle of the trail. just there, stuck, done, stopped. I had to put the leash back on her and DRAG her to the end. At the end of the trail I sat down in the shade for a moment, Menjers, plopped then slide down the hill. She did not care, she was done. We got the the car and she would not get in. Too dang tired. I gave her water and then had to shove her in the car. She came home and laid right on the cool tile and spent the rest of the day there, on the cool floor. I still am laughing about this because she was soooo good for the rest of the day. The Dog Whisperer is right, the just need to be excercised.

Now I am sicker then a dog with a sinus infection. Dang it. Shoot me now. No more dog adventures until I can breathe.

Swim Team

I have been sucked in again. I knew it was coming. Really. I went on the retreat, relaxed and destressed about the whole thing. Now we are coming into crunch time. We have a garage sale this weekend, we are joining the big community one, it is more to get our name our there then then to sell stuff. Our big swim meet is coming up. We have no idea what we are doing, but we will get through it.

Being part of a team like this can take over your life. Truly, sometimes people think all you do is eat, breathe and sleep swim team. I get the strangest questions sometimes.

Sometimes all I can do is laugh and keep going.

Damn Dog

So I was really excited to get a new pool thermometer. Really. I broke down and got the cute dolphin one to match the tile. I put it in the pool yesterday, why you ask because we were gonna swim today. It has been nice and warm, so I heated the pool. Well the reading stayed at 72 degrees. Hummmmm, look at it a couple to times. I bring it in and say I will take it back tomorrow.

So this morning, I take it back, seems the glass thing only goes up to 72 degrees. I exchange it. Wow, the pool is warm. I am happy and dang it looks cute floating in the pool.

Five minutes ago I see the dog, Dh's dog mind you, running with something blue in its mouth. Yep my cute blue dolphin thermometer. No longer working.

Damn Dog.

Where have I been?

Well I went away and everything seems to be behind. Everything. After I got back, Emily came for a visit, four days of fun. But the funny thing is that we did almost nothing. REALLY. Wednesday we relaxed all day. Thursday we went to a swim team dinner, Friday I took her to the beach, Saturday we went to the movies. All very low key and relaxing. I loved it.

Even this week, I have been slow to go. I also took on a new scrapbooking client. That should keep me out of trouble for a while. I have been working away and enjoying it.

I went back to weight watchers after my adventure. Good News I only gained half a pound after my 4 am Lasagna and Coke adventures. I will take it. I have buckled back down and am ready to go.

Other exciting news, I have a new nephew. He is a cutie. Seems I am surrounded by boys in my life. I love it. I also love the new baby smell. There is nothing like that. It is happy and calming.

So if you can't find me it is because I am scrapping away.

Laughter and More Laughter

So on Friday we hit a local scrapbook store. I looked at the clerk and I KNEW her. Really. She looked at me and we both thought for a moment. Seems I met her at the CHA show while working for Pebbles Inc. We totally remembered things that we said to each other. We collectively wiped out the Scrapbook Store.

The rest of the time is almost a blur, I laughed so hard. I ate lasagna at 4 am and finished it off with a can of real (non diet) coke. I was on the floor laughing my head off. I was bouncing off the walls.

I feel like I have a bunch of new best friends, I led people to the dark side of scrapbooking and had a ball doing it. I got to spend time with Donnann and I LOVED EVERY minute of it.

I can not wait for next year!!!

The Retreat

It was wonderfully fabulous. Beyond everything I hoped for. I was picked up by Donnann and was so dang excited to be there. There were storms on the way and I thought I was not gonna make it in but it all worked out. Once I got there it started to pour. I mean pour! We went to get some dinner cause I was gonna eat anything I could get my hands on and once we were done, CRASH BOOOM, it was pouring just like that. It took us a bit to get home after that but all was well.

Her house is adorable. It makes me want to move out of California. We live in a cement jungle. I want open spaces. WOW. Nice town and beautiful home. We did some running around before heading out in Thursday. We had about a four hours drive. We had also scheduled to stop at Archivers and to pick up Rinners and then finish driving up to the retreat. Donnann and I spent so much time at Archivers that we were late picking up Rinners. Go figure. On that and we also found a Michaels. Had to stop there to see if the stamps I wanted were there. No such luck.

I honestly have not laughed that hard in a while. When we got there on Thursday night I got to meet a person that I have wanted to meet for sometime. Cowtown Stacy. WHAT A RIOT. We laughed and giggled. I am so happy that I got to meet her.

I will blog more tomorrow as I am still messed up timewise. Catch you tomorrow :)

I am packing

It is time!!!! Wednesday I get on a plane and fly off to the midwest for a scrapbooking retreat. I am meeting Donnann, seeing her new home and then we are off for FOUR glorious days of scrapping. I started last night matching pictures of paper. I know I am taking too much but a girl can hope she gets through all her planned things. I am take a bit from each girl and a bit from Aleksei.

I am so excited! I get to meet someone that I that wanted to meet for at least two years. COWTOWN STACY! There are many others there that I will be meeting, (stop shaking your head, I know Donnann and she knows all these girls).

I am so excited that I was up at 3:30 am. I am packing the scrapping stuff and have a ton to do today. I just can not wait!

So don't look for me this week/weekend, I am not sitting onthe other side of this computer!

Your PSA for today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

Car Seats, they are important. Especially the right one. I am rethinking my decision.

Finally!

After being up for 2 weeks at weight watchers, I am down 1.4 pounds! I am over my slump.

Dance with me!

Merrick

Ok, just one more.




This is what happens when you go on a date and are so busy looking in a guys eyes that you do not look down....

OUCH! But that is our Merrick for us. We love ya anyway!

Commentors

Annika, you come here and you post a comment. HUMPH! I get no details about the wedding. I get no details about the guy. I have to see pictures from Merrick. HUMPH!

I will say he is cute! What happened to "I am NEVER getting married"?

I think you finally let go of the pink eraser.

Now email me silly girl!

I was complaining of being cold...

...now it is HOT. But for the moment I am loving it. Every hot bit of it. We even had to break down and turn the A/C on. It was 80 in the house today and it was just hot upstairs. I turned on the A/C for about 30 minutes. Got the house cooled off and then off the A/C went. I can not believe tha I was whining about the heater about a week ago.

I did play with my camera today. Want to see what I see?

Here is one more.

It is March. It sure does not feel like March.

Where does the time go.

Well I can tell you that I am spending most of my time with the swim team. But dang it we will survive. I am getting to pack up for a scrapbooking retreat. I am so looking forward to some down time. I am looking forward to seeing Donnann. I am goign to freeze but hey, she is worth it.

I have been playing with the camera. I have been scrapbooking up a storm. I had an 8x8 scrapbook to get done. I completed 8 layouts for a baby shower. It helped to get my mojo back and I have even done some scrapping for me. I am now in the year 2004 and that is thrilling.

I need more hours in the day.

DUH!

Well yesterday as I sat freezing in my home, I came to a realization.

I DO NOT HAVE TO FREEZE!

When no is home I can turn the heater up as high as I want. Well until the next bill comes. Don't anyone tell DH!

Comparsion

Just so you understand:

Those are Aleksei's feet when he was first born. He was once 1 pound 8 ounces. That id tag is about the size of a quarter.

Those HUGE things are his feet now :) They are a size 5 wide.

I had so much fun this weekend. There is nothing like waking up to a smiling face in your face. When you open your eyes and these huge, adorable eyes are smiling at you and you get a grin and a laugh, you know that you are going to have a great day. He is simply adorable. There no room for anything but giggling and laughing when he is around.

His mom and dad had a great time, I hope they do it again soon. If not I might just have to go get him and send them off again. I do remember having the "I want to go get the baby RIGHT NOW" feeling when first leaving the girls and the joy of going home. I did tell Mom that it gets better over time.

There was one oh-oh. Of Course FIVE minutes before they walk in the door, falls and bumps his head. So they walked in with a huge red spot on his head. Figures, nothing all weekend, then that.

So my weekend was THE BEST.

This week

This week went by so fast I can not remember what I did. I know that I spent way too much time with swim team things. The head coach is leaving and that means a lot of different little things. But such is life.

Monday was a holiday, we went to the movies. Family time I love it!
Tuesday, was weight watchers, confession time I was up a pound, but that includes movie theater popcorn and a Tommy's Burger. Slurp!
Wednesday, No IDEA, it is a huge blur. What did I do?
Thursday, classroom time with Princess Girly Girl. Then I madly half cleaned the house.
Friday, errands all day.

But this weekend will be so much fun! I am spending the weekend with Aleksei. I get to cuddle, snuggle, shop, laugh and play all weekend. PGG and I drove in tonight.

You will be jealous...

February 18th

This has been a BIG day in our family since Princess Girly Girl was born. See she was not suppose to be born on her Daddy's birthday. No! I have a nice big dinner planned that day for DH. She was already late but my babies come late. So I was silly in thinking that I would make it through the that night. I went to my Doctors appointment that day and they told me canncel everything. Her fluid level was low and she was coming whether or not I had plans. So Dh and sat there making calls and cancelling our plans.

He was excited to have her born on his day. I told him well it will no longer be YOUR day. He did not care. As the day went on he was becoming disappointed that it might not happen on his day. See I was trying to have her on the next day so they would have different birthdays. At the last minute she decided sharing Daddy's birthday would not be so bad. 10:51 pm PGG came. They have been conspiring against me ever since. Those brats.

Ever since then I took the attitude, do it all in one day. Both parties in ONE day. Insanity I tell you. Lunch time is Princess Girly Girls and Dinner is the DH's. So today was Build-a-Bear and dinner at our home. Both were equally as fun and I have now come to enjoy their day.



Happy Birthday!

Love

So today is the day of Love. So lets get mushy.

I have been married for 14 years. We dated for 1 year before we got married. We had so much fun dating. He made me laugh and I loved that. Here we are 15 years later and we are still laughing. I love that we have so much fun together. I can imagine us laughing and having fun forever!

There are other reason why I love him. I love that he always worried about his mom. That he thinks of her and chat with her daily. Ok sometimes it drive me crazy but when I take a step back, it really does touch my heart that he loves her and is not afraid to show it.

I love that he adore me. I am it for him. It took me a couple of yeras to figure that out. I am the only that makes his heart beat. I am the one that makes his eyes light up. I am it.

I love that he is a GREAT dad. He is better then great. He is the BESTEST dad in the entire world. He loves to spend time with the girls. He gives them indivdual time, he makes them feel special. He make them feel like they are the most beautiful daughters in the the entire world. When he come home with flowers on Valentines Day for me, he come home with flowers for them too. Their eye light up when he is around.

I love that he is a GREAT husband. I never have any wants. He really does everything he can for me. I, in fact have to be careful of what I ask for because he will do whatever he can for me. Half the time I don't have to ask for anything because he is already on top of it. He spends time with me and wants to know what I am doing. When I scrapbook he wants to see. When I want to run off with girlfriends, he is the first to make sure that I am able to go. That means he taked care of the girls, he takes time off, he arranged his whole life so I can have time. We have a running joke about the word allow. I hate that word when other women use it. I have to see if my husband will allow it, sends me running to puke. We laugh about that he allows me to whatever.

I love that he is a good friend to me and to others. You need something and he is there.

I love my husband. I look forward to many many years to come. He is my best friend.

Seven days in review.

Where have I been? It seems everywhere.

January 31st - Disneyland

Princess Seriously's Band Performance

Princess Girly Girl getting fixed up by Minnie.

February 1st - Trying to recover. Went to PGG school and then took a nap.

February 2nd - Prepping for a crop that night and a baby shower the next day.

February 3rd - Baby Shower for Sister in Law

February 4th - Super Bowl Party (need I say more?) and no pictures.

February 5th - Normal Monday

February 6th - Weight Watchers down another 1/2 pound and then lunch with the girls.

February 7th - Day with Aleksei, Man I love that kid. I could spend all day with him and then some. I think I need his parents to go away for AT LEAST a week. I would be in heaven. He is simply adorable.

So that is where I have been. I will be around more.

Pebbles Inc.

Some of my favorite things are from Pebbles. Here take a look.
I LOVE the new PINK ribbon Iron!

Here is some of the paper:

Scrapbook Heaven!

I have disappeared in the scrapbook heaven. I was working with with Pebbles Inc. at the CHA Show in Anaheim They have some fabulous things! I also got the check out some other cute things going on!

So I was the make and take girl at the Pebbles Inc booth. Can you beleive that I did not did any pictures of the things I was helping people make. I do know that Brenda, the owner of Pebbles Inc, took pictures of me working and she will be forwarding them to me and I will post them then.

That counter is where I stood for three days. I met some of the nicest people. I really had a ball teaching! I loved it!

I am so very tired.

I think someone liked all the attention that she was getting and as things calmed down and returned to normal so are the things like sisters fighting and mom being tired. I do not think I have caught up on my sleep. I am like a day behind. PGG seems to be doing well.

I did go and take pictures of my girlfriends baby. He is adorable. I had a ball doing it and then coming home and playing with the pictures in Photoshop. I do not claim to know photoshop, that is why I have to play with it.

Anyway, life will get back to normal and I am going to sleep...

Update

Princess Girly Girls follow up went well. I will be watching her closely for the next couple of days. She said her tummy did not hurt at all today. There is no fever.

Just keep us in your prayers. Thanks everyone!

Hospital visit for Princess Girly Girl

Yesterday was a scary day as a mom. Princess Girly Girl woke up saying her tummy hurt but I thought she was just trying to get out of school, gave her some tums and sent her off to school. I got a all about 1pm saying she was dizzy and in the nurses office. I went to pick her up, she said I really don’t feel well. She went upstairs to change into her pajamas and never came back down. She left asleep so I let her sleep. This kids does not take naps. She spelt for three hours. When she woke up the first thing she said it my tummy still hurts and now my head is hurting. By this time it is about 5pm. I ask her do you think you need to go to urgent care. Why did I ask my 6 yo, because she is pretty good about saying what she is feeling I had no problem taking her to urgent care but she knows the wait can be long and if the pain is worth the trip. She says I want to lay here on the couch for a few minutes. I keep checking her and dinner is ready, she looks at dinner and says my tummy hurts too much to eat. At this point I know the kid is in some serious pain because she loves to eat. I tell her it is time, lets go to urgent care. For once there was no one there, we got right in and the doctor was concerned because it was on the right side and he could tell that she was really hurting at this point and now she is running a fever. At this point we are scratching our heads because there is not vomiting, no diarrhea, no nothing We do urine tests, nothing. He says I think we need to rule out appendicitis. The lab here is closing for the night, let me call the ER and talk to the surgeon. They say bring her down. Well the urgent care doctor says she is fast tracked they should take her as soon as you get there. Well that did not happen because two critical case came, one of which was a shot deputy. We finally got back there at 12:30 am. They took her to cat scan right away. They were awesome with her. They came a did blood work and Princess Girly Girl told the sweet lady if you use a butterfly and tube then I know it will not hurt. We the lady went and grabbed the stuff and Princess Girly Girl sat there like a charm. She knew about the butterfly because of kindergarten exam about two years ago. She did not ever wince. The lady was so happy that she did so well. We got all the results and every thing was fine. So we are not completely ruled out I, Have to take her back to the doctor today. Watch her fever (which she is running) and keep her on clear liquids. They said appendicitis is hard and communication would be our key.

So thank you for all the prayers, it really helped. I was terrified that there was even a chance Princess Girly Girl would be going into surgery. So thank you.

ooohhhh ahhhhhh, I learned something!

So playing with the new camera means there are lots of new things to learn. I also picked up Photoshop Elements a month or two ago and was instantly intimidated by it. Really. I have no idea why I thought it would be so easy. So I am reading everything I can.

So the point is, yep there is one here somewhere, it that I learned how to do a vignette today! So I thought I would share.

First make a copy of the picture that you want to use.
Open the copy photo. Here is one you have seen before.

Then go to Filter, then correct camera distortion. Take a deep breathe.

See where is says Vignette? See the slider? Go to the left and it makes it darker, go to the right it makes it lighter.

For this photo I went to the left and made it darker. Now repeat the process and it will make it even darker and you end up with this:

Now how cute was that?! It was so easy too :)

One of my new favorite pictures

You would never know that this is a bad dog. But since she sits there for me I love her anyway. LOL

Missing

I have been missing because life is getting in the way. When was the last time I posted? Well that was a while ago...

It has been sooo cold here. Yeah, I know anyone that does not live in California is laughing but it is dang cold for this state. I don't think I am warm except at night when I am under my blankets with some very unsexy mom Pajamas. It is called I am freezing. Poor DH. Such is life.

We managed to get away during winter break for the girls. We went down to San Diego where we managed to freeze some more. No Sea World for us, I would have been a frozen Popsicles. So we hit a museum instead. We had fun spending the day wandering around and watching an IMAX film. Princess Girly Girl was excited until she realized just how big the screen was and everything was bigger than life. You try having a huge shark come at you and not want to be done with the film when you are 6.

School is back in session and I am one happy mom. I love having the girls but I love having them in school too LOL. We took the month off in swimming because of the cold and I am so glad. I still have to go and do deck duty and dang it is cold. I feel like I have so many layers on that I look like I still have the 26 pounds on that I have lost. Weight loss is going well :) I am excited to meet my next goal.

The girls have lots of school activities coming up and I am looking forward to being apart of that. I take my new camera everywhere with me. I am also getting ready to take some photography class. I am working on a new project with photography and when it is ready I will let you all know. But right now I have this great camera (Sony a-100 DSLR) and great lens and don't know what it all means. So I am trying to remedy that. So that is the coming and goings. I will post a couple of pictures in a bit.

Oh one last thing. I am getting reasy to go away again :) Dh is sending me to another scrapbooking retreat. I am so excited. I will also be freezing as it is in WI but I am getting to spend time with Donnann and meet some people that I chat with on a regualr basis! I am SOOOOOOO excited :)

IM'ing with a 6 year old

PGG: :-);-):-(
Me: Hi PGG
PGG: (insert 20 different smily faces here) :-)
Me: :-)
PGG: :-)
Me: woof
PGG: woof
Me: what are you doing
PGG: going on noggin
Me: cool
PGG: :-)
Me: have fun
PGG: :-)
Me: Is menjers with you?
PGG: yes
Me: Is she being good?
Me: your sister needs to put menjers in her crate
PGG: ok :-(
Me: she is being bad
PGG: mom
Me: she is
PGG: :-(

this conversation took 20 minutes......

Blog Challenge: Getting to know me

This week's blog challenge is to tell my blog readers five things that they probably do not know about me. So here we go.

1. I am very introverted. Yep hard to believe, but really. I am completely shy. I hate being in a roomful of people that I don't know. Not many people know that because I force myself to appear introverted. Happy cherry bubbly. When people start talking to me then I can relax and blend in just fine.

2. I never wanted to be a stay at home Mom. Really. That was the HARDEST decision of my life time. I was terrified. Now 4 years later, I love it and can not imagine going back to work. I love being home for the girls.

3. I do not know how to swim. Yet I still get in the water, I have a swimming pool. To actually put my face in the water and go for it is terrifying.

4. I love to sing. The bad part is that I don't think I am very good at it. I sing in the car, shower and all around the house.

5. I was a cheerleader in high school. I don't tell anyone that. Have no clue why but not something I share. Princess Seriously FREAKED OUT when she saw a picture of me.

So there five random things you may not know about me.

My hands are FREEZING

Princess Seriously and I just spent about 15 minutes trying to get the deck chairs out of the pool. Normally not a problem but that water is dang cold. The wind is freezing. Now I know there are other places that are WAY colder then where I am. But it is cold here. So we grunted and groaned and got them out of the pool. There is no chance that they will fall back in because they are soaked and heavy. PS and I came in here and were never to happy to do the dishes because our hands got warm.

The wonds are so bad that we did not get much sleep last night. Something was knocking somewhere and we could not find it. It was outside. Hopefully tonight we will sleep.

Oh wait sleep, tonight. Not a chance, there is a sleepover going on over here.

Every Princesses Dream

The pictures speak a 1000 words...






That was her day :)

Well um it was good but...

Today was weigh in day, the first of the year and the day that you find out if you made it through the holidays without gaining a bunch of weight. I found out today that I am the same weight that I was before Thanksgiving. Which mean I made it through without gaining weight. I maintained. Ok I did go up and down but the overall result is that I made it through.

The interesting part is perspective. See MY perspective is that I left 2006 lighter then when I went in. The overall goal. There were so many that were disappointed that were disappointed that they gained a few pounds over the holidays. But if you look at the big picture we all did so much better! We lost weight. There was no need to make a resolution to lose weight because we already had!

I choose to be happy even though I did not get where *I* personally wanted to be but I came out of 2006 lighter then I went in!

What did you do today?

I wondered what today would bring. We thought about going to the movies but decided a day at home would be better. A nice relaxing day. LOL that lasted about an hour. I decided to finally finsh the craft room. Do you how nice it is to walk in here? To be able to find things that I have not been able to find since we moved back here. I am organized again. That is such a nice feeling. I love it.

I also managed to get some laundry done. The girls cleaned up their rooms and Dh well, he did lots of little things off his honey-do list. We had a great dinner and relaxed tonight.

I actually finished up some scraping that I had started earlier and got them in my albums. Now I am off to clean it all up before I go to bed because I want it to look the same when I come back downstairs.

Tomorrow is also the big weigh-in from the holidays. I am not to worried because what ever happens it was worth it and I am left 2006 lighter then when I came in.

Check back in with you tomorrow :)

Happy NEW YEAR 2007

Lets begin this year with some pictures:

The first kiss


Princess Girly Girl


Princess Seriously


The toast with apple cider


One that includes me


Outside fun:




HAPPY 2007!