heading to syracuse

...on Sunday after I pick Kira up from Girl Scout Camporee. We need to get to Syracuse for MIL. She is slipping quickly or could be gone. I haven't heard from hubby yet this morning. She wasn't doing well when he saw her and hasn't eaten since Sunday. I wish I was there to support him as he sounded so lost when he called.


Such a hard time for everyone. Alex doesn't understand much but that Grandma is sick. Kira is scared of her dying but I don't think she really gets the concept. Hoping I can help her through this. It's not going to be the same world when she passes.

last day of school!

and I am so darn happy!! They have been doing nothing educational in the building for a week so not sure what the purpose of it was. oh yeah... government funding. sigh. I managed to get all the cards and card purses done- 66 cards and 5 purses over the course of two weeks. Can you say I am done with cards?? I think I need to crank out a layout or two just for something different to do. Guess I should find my desk so I have more than a card space to work in. Yeah... that's sounds like a plan.


And the best part of today... I get to pick Kira up at noon!! Half day for the last day. Gotta love that part. woohoo! Off to find my desk.

sunny tuesday

My very pretty lilies from Tania. They are starting to bloom and are simply lovely. I totally love them. Please ignore the weeds I need to pull as soon as the humidity chills.


Wondering if he has a future as a drummer?? This is his homemade drum set that he created all by himself. Thinking he is too clever for his own good. But loving him intensely!

One of hubby's managers was getting rid of a bunch of Lightning McQueen stuff and knew Alex was totally rocking it so we are the proud owners of some new goodies. Can you tell he likes the new sheet set a bit?? There is a pillow on top of his regular one that he sleeps on and a stuffed Lightning that has to lay next to him under the covers. So stinking adorable. Looks like we need to change out the Pooh walls for Lightning. sigh... I love the Pooh room.

Been working on the cards and got them done. Will have to post them later as I really really need to whip out those three card purses. Sure hope they play nice and don't fight me going together. Have I mentioned I cannot wait for Thursday 3pm?? Let the summer begin!!

field day and bridging up

Friday was Kira's Field Day event. They usually space the kids out very nicely for the parade portion but this year they took the students over to the Pines next to the school (nursing home) and then back to the school so the kids were pretty much all mashed together. This resulted in me not getting the best picture of Kira in the parade. I did get a couple but not worthy of sharing.


So I shall share these pictures instead. This is her class as they do their class cheer during roll call. Kira is the girl in red in the front row who has the 'as' in teases on top of her. LOL They did look cute with their star sunglasses. The theme this year was Heroes. It could be super heroes or just the everyday variety. Her class was the Incredible SuperNovas since they spent alot of time studying space this year. Very clever.


This is her with Christian. He's been in her class since first grade. Much to my hubby's shagrin. He thinks Chris has an alterior motive for hanging with Kira. Thank goodness Kira hasn't discovered how cute Chris is. As she says, they are friends.


Later that night, we had the bridging ceremony for Kira and her troop. Everyone of them bridged up into Junior Girl Scouts. Very exciting. The two wonderful ladies in the back are her troop leaders and they are simply amazing women. I really appreciate everything they have done for the girls.

And my little guy during the ceremony. After Kira bridged, he didn't really care what was going on. So he did a silly little dance which I caught a few moves of. Quite proud of himself.

Yesterday I spent Father's Day trying to burn the pictures on my computer onto CD's in case of computer failure. It has been awhile since I have done it so it seemed like a good time. Plus I had to create a CD of pictures for MIL of the kids. So in addition to that, I got all my memories saved and off of the computer. Feeling good about it!

Kira gets out of school on Thursday. I am counting the days cuz man, this morning routine is for the birds. She is fighting me about everything. But we can do this!! Then summer time. Even better, summer vacation for the kiddos with my parents for a few weeks. I am looking forward to it. This year hubby has said we don't have to do any big projects and I am so happy about that. Over the past four summers, we have finished painting up Kira's Disney Florida room, built a walk in closet for us, built a deck (and then broke my leg) and last year the biggest project of all... a new master bathroom. I think our biggest project this year will be painting the hallway and stair area. We have been talking about it for awhile and when there are not any helpers around would be a good time to tackle it. We have the paint and everything. Just need to do it. Oh yeah... and patch some holes from the baby gates. oh the joys.

I need to finish up these stack of cards that are looking at me. One for Kira's teacher, one for the previous PTA president and one for the school secretary. They may be put into the card purses, but not sure yet. Still debating that. off I go...

brownie troop leader gifts

Here they are! I have worked all week on these two card 'purses' for Kira's Brownie Troop Leaders. They are a couple of wonderful ladies who give so much of themselves to the girls. Kira is blessed to have them in her life. So I worked hard to give them something nice that they could enjoy. Kira gave them their gifts last night at the ceremony (which I need to upload the pictures off of my camera) Below are the pictures of the cards that I put into them. Some were duplicates so I didn't take pictures of those ones. Enjoy!



I used one of my two Cuttlebug embossing folders. After using them on these cards, I can see why everyone wanted them and feel I am late in getting on the bandwagon. Guess I know what I will be using my coupons for at ACMoore and Michaels. Not sure if my Joanns has them. Have to look. Anywho... all of the papers are from the American Crafts paper line- Tea Party. I have enjoyed using this paper on so many things, and I still have more left to use!! The Happy Day is a 3D embellie from Joanns clearance section.

Again the 3D embellie is from Joanns clearance section of card stuff.

I stamped the 'your special day' and used some stickles on the flame of the candle and the frosting on the cupcake. I tried to create another 3D embellie by using pop dots. The green celebrate card I was trying to use my nesties and emboss but somehow made my 'sandwich' wrong and cut the circle out instead. Happy mistake!! I inked the oops and made it work for me.

Loving the Joanns clearance section!! LOL

Using the Cuttlebug embossing folders again. Not sure which way is up or if it really does matter on pattern embossing. hmmm... I wonder. Guess I'll have to use them more and get the feel of them. Stamped the sentiment again and did the same stickle application as the previous card. Added some bling I had from Michaels dollar bins.

Cut out the circle in the pattern paper and then put the blue cardstock behind it and put the Joanns embellie on top of that. Pretty simple but lovely.

More fun Joann embellies. And the cuttlebug paisley embossing folder. Purty.

Simple one. I stamped the sentiment right onto the pattern paper since it wasn't that busy. I like how it came out for me. And buttons... can't go wrong with them!!

I have always wanted to try those flowers on the side and once again saw them in a magazine the night before I made the cards and went for it. I did find it would be a much easier process with patterns that don't matter which way is up! The stripes were a little tricky to keep the same direction. But I did it!! The Just a Note cards were fun. Simple stamping and a flower. I did add three brads to the lower left corner of the card to mimic the centers of the flowers. Thought it helped.

Thanks for looking! I will get the Girl Scout bridging pictures off of my camera and onto my computer soon and get them posted. I am also working on 30 more cards that need to be done before Thursday. Not sure if they will be in the card purses or just wrapped with a ribbon. We'll see how quickly I can get through the cards and how much time my kids let me have. Happy Scrapping!!

thought for today

Having OCD is hard.
Having OCD with one child is harder.
Having OCD with two children is even harder.
Having OCD with your kids friends playing in your house could result in a brain seizure.


They are not bad kids by any stretch of the imagination. They are always good. The hard part is the newness of not having these toys everyday so EVERY SINGLE toy must come out of its' location and looked at and dropped on the floor. So three boys ages 2, 31/2 and 4 in one house with two rooms worth of toys equals a HUGE mess and no room to walk.


I know having these playdates are good for me. It helps me let go of my OCD ways and be more go with the flow. Yet I still feel the pull to put everything away as soon as they leave. It's just me... and my OCD. I shall live through this.


And btw... it really should be called CDO since that is how the alphabet goes. It is more annoying to have a disease for being obsessive compulsive and yet the name itself goes against this 'illness'.


I think I need a glass of wine. And yes, the two rooms are back to their regular organized selves.

student council thank you's

Yes I have them done. Yes they have been delivered to the students. Yes I finally have gotten them posted here! Nothing slow about me at all! LOL I made thank you's for all the students who helped out this year at the school store. In addition to these fabulous one of a kind works of art, they each got an eraser stick. Pretty darn good deal.


The first one I made two of. Should have inked the stem and petals of the flower but it works okay in person.


My poor blank inkpad is dying out. I did manage to pick up a new one, but not before I got these cards done. Better late than never!! LOL

New thank you stamp I got at Joanns dollar area by Inkadinkado. I love it! Layout based on a pagemap card sketch June 2010.

Another card based on a pagemap card sketch June 2010. Love the look of the brads on this.

You can see how pathetic my black inkpad was!! Poor thing gave its all to these cards. Paper for these are from the American Crafts Tea Party line. Love using scraps!!

Bad blurry picture!! Tried taking it at night. Yes someday I will learn not to do that.

And I have finished up Kira's Brownie Troop Leaders gifts. I will post those pictures tomorrow as it is now getting to lunch time and my little man is pulling at me to feed him. Guess he's hungry. Now that I think about... I'm a little bit hungry myself! Have a great one!

date night

woohoo!! Date night for hubby and me. We are heading out to see Daughtry. I am very excited about it. One to see him perform and another to get out without the kids!! My mom rocks because she came out to our place to watch the kids so we can get out.

Lots going on. Will post pictures and more tomorrow. Off for my date!!

lazy lazy saturday

I was finally able to take a picture of my new family room curtains. Everytime I think about it, the sun is coming in and my flash wouldn't go. Guess I need to find the manual override on that. Time to find the manual for the camera!! LOL Anywho... here they are. When they are closed it is so dark and cozy now. They will be great when we have guests over and during the winter when it is cold out.



Here are my Maine lillies from my twin. Last year they were very short and now look at them!! Pretty soon they will be taller than my rose of sharon in the background. Ignore the half painted garage wall and the half stained deck. Both are on my to do list for this summer.

My friendship rose from my twin!! This thing is going to be huge this summer. Guess it is in a happy spot in my garden. And such pretty flowers which are coming soon!! Pictures to follow.

Hubby is cleaning our bedroom. He is getting rid of some of the excess bears (Build A Bears) and putting my reading material on the shelves instead. Will have to take pictures once he has totally finished it up. Me... I have been uploading pictures so I can get an order going to York Photo and working on the student council cards. Need buckle down on these. Only 4 left. Slacking here.

No more blogging today... get to work terri!! Okay... have a great one!

friday!!

We enjoyed some time on Wednesday at the Lawn Fete held at the elementary school. It went from muggy to rather chilly. We were not dressed to stay for the entire time. At least we managed to get the kids in jeans so they weren't too cold. Here's my snuggle bug perfecting his closed eye look for the camera. I think he's got it!




Here's my birthday girl. I totally forgot to grab my ears to wear with her. They can't be worn when I drive as they hit the ceiling of the car. Darn... would have been a cute picture.



Hubby playing with the kids to keep them warm. Of course they were able to eat some ice cream even though they were cold. I guess ice cream is good no matter what the temperature outside is.

We left the Lawn Fete and came home to celebrate Kira's birthday with presents and cake. She was trying to guess what flavor cake I had made for her. She couldn't guess. But she was quite happy to see it was pink when we cut into it! Silly birthday girl!!

We took her out to dinner last night at Outback. Good dinner. Too bad it was downpouring and we all got pretty wet. Can't have everything.

Managed to finish up the yarn for the art teacher. Man... 6 foot pieces of yarn are quite long and hard to do. Glad that is done. Next time... KEEP MOUTH SHUT!! lol

Off to finish up the cards for the student council kids. They need to get them next week. Hop to it!! There... good pep talk. Off I go.... Have a lovely weekend.

happy birthday munchkin!

Here's my birthday girl from her party on Sunday. Didn't get a chance to snap a picture this morning due to the extremly busy morning it was. She did manage to eat her chocolate chip Mickey waffle and play a couple games on Build-a-Bear-ville.com


Crazy day today. I have now made her a cake. It was white but I tinted it pink and have made the green frosting for it. Alex will help with the decorating of it with the sprinkles. I cut up the class party brownies. And am in the need to go shopping for her gifts for today. I need to get away from this computer and do that. Busy busy day.


And the Lawn Fete at the school tonight. Man... I'm busy. Is it summer yet??


Anywho... 9 years ago today this beautiful little girl entered my life and gave me the best gift ever... she made me a mommy. I am happy to have her and cannot wait to see what life has in store for her. Happy Birthday Kira. Mommy loves you.

sunny lovely monday

and my laundry is hanging outside!! I love days like these. Somehow I always forget to have hubby tighten the lines until I am ready to hang clothes on them and we are almost dragging the ground! LOL Sooner or later I'll remember.

We had Kira's party for her friends yesterday. Here are a few shots of the fun.

Kira and her BFF Michaela. We had it at Build a Bear Workshop at the Mall of New Hampshire. Wonderful staff and it was a great party. We went with the Zoo theme when the kids got to choose their animals as they are the newest animals to hit the Workshop.

Here's the whole group of kids we had. The pith helmets were our addition to our safari. I think the girls enjoyed wearing them. Alex didn't want to wear his. Such a stinker. Back row- Maddie, Michaela, Kira, Zoe, Emily. Next row- Brian, Alex, Adanya, Allie and in the front is Justin.

My little guy giving Long Neck (his official name) a bath. Alex totally loves this part of the making of new friends. He could bring all of his other animals in and just wash them and call it a fun time.

Poor hubby had to go out in the pouring rain to get the cupcakes and juice out of the car when it was time for that. But he is such a trooper and did it. Nummy nummy time! And Kira got some fun presents. Most of which revolved around the dog and cat theme. Guessing her friends know her pretty well.

Working on the thank you cards for the student council members who worked at the school store this year. I have four done... only 7 more to go. And I need a teacher gift and two Brownie troop leader gifts. I need to get my hind end into gear and get motoring on them. Man... the hours in the day zip by and nothing seems to get done. So I best get moving so I don't lose more of today.

lovely saturday

We had a thunderstorm come through this morning which woke me and the kids up. I was able to go back to sleep... them not so much. The good news is that hubby got up with them while I was left to sleep until 11am! oh my... so nice. I needed it. I was running on stupid.


We started hanging the new curtains I bought for the family room and decided we needed new rods for them as the old ones were not cutting it. We also got the AC units in the windows. okay... hubby got them in. I worked with Kira on cleaning up her pit of a room. Man that girl is a pack rat. We had to have an intervention to get her to throw some paper away. I may have a hoarder on my hands!!


We had dinner at Applebee's. Not my favorite but the food was good tonight. And we hit Walmart for new rods and some items for Kira's birthday party tomorrow. Got home and got the curtains transferred to the new rods and did some cleaning. Kids are now in bed... woohoo!!


I'll post some pictures tomorrow of the new curtains. I'm getting ready to turn this beast off for the night. I can smell the chocolate chip cookies hubby is making... yummy!!

what did i do??

That is the question I asked myself at the end of the day yesterday. I was sooooo tired and yet, what did I really do? I worked the school store and then went to Catrina's place to give her all the information so she can take the store over. I came home and fed Alex and myself. After that I remember sitting in front of the computer for awhile with dreams of scrapping some thank you cards. Somehow that didn't work out too well for me.


hmmmm... I did print the sketch up that I want to use on the cards. I did work on getting the money amounts for the store worked out and sent to Catrina. I emailed with Nicole a few times. I played a bit on Facebook (my farm is looking lovely BTW) and added a player to my blog here. Which took a bit as I wanted both soundtracks from the Twilight movies to be playing. Then it was time to pick up Kira and we got very very wet going into the school. It did stop raining before she came out but the damage was done- our feets were soaked! My crocs were a squeaking. LOL

Came home and got a snack for the kiddos. Then helped Kira fill her birthday party goody bags. Finished up with my farm. Fed the kids dinner, started hubby and my dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. Sat down to read some of my Harry Potter book (Goblet of Fire) (I am reading the series again for the third or fourth time) Got the kids ready for bed. Kissed hubby welcome home. Played two games of Toy Story Mania with Alex before he went to bed. Ate dinner with hubby, cleaned the kitchen again. (does it ever end??) Finished up Mafia Wars and my farm on Facebook. Hubby took a soak in the tub. Then it was bedtime!!

But today is different. I am working on folding laundry and putting it away. I have gone to the post office to mail out Kira's birthday invites, a package to my twin in Maine and Kira's ponytail to Locks of Love. Cleaned the kitchen this morning and fed Alex and myself. Got a little bit before lunch. whew...

I am going to turn up my player here on the blog and work on those cards!! The farm and the mob can wait for me for a couple hours. Tomorrow there will be pictures of cards!! Yes there will!

handed off the store

After three years, I have now handed over the keys to the school store to a very willing mom. I am excited to see what she can do with the store going forward but at the same time a little sad to be giving it up. I know I have to let it go for my own sanity if I want to be any kind of PTA president. I know that will take up any spare time I might have and wouldn't want the store to suffer because I got too busy. And Catrina is willing to jump right in and have fun. It's a good thing for everyone. I will continue to volunteer on a few mornings just cuz I think I would miss it too much to totally cut it out of my life. Really looking forward to seeing how it goes. I think it will be fun to only be a volunteer instead of having to think of the behind the scenes stuff.


The rain is holding off for now which is not good since I feel guilty staying inside when it is nice out, but there are moments that the sky gets really really dark and it does start to rain... only to have it stop after a few minutes. Lovely weather. But I do need to make some thank you cards and a teacher end of year gift so it is good for me to be inside. And that laundry is not folding itself so I guess I should get on it. Hoping the next post has some cards to show off. Wish me luck!!

not exactly scrapping...

... but I got to use some of my scrapping goodies!! Kira is having a zoo theme birthday party this Sunday. We found plates and napkins and some goodies for the goody bags but no goody bags! So I found some plain green paper bags that I thought I could quickly stamp some zoo critters on and be done with. Should have known it would be harder than that!

The plain green bags were coated so the ink I was using would wipe right off. Well not all the way off but enough to make a big huge mess and not look so purty. And seeing as I was not in the mood to go driving off to ACMoore, Michaels or Joanns to pick up some of the correct ink (Staz-on) I resorted to heat embossing all my images onto the bags. It worked and came out pretty darn cute if I don't say so myself. LOL It took a bit of time to get it done. Not like I have anything better to do than to heat emboss designs onto 12 goody bags. On the plus side, I was doing it today and not Saturday night!! Woohoo mommy!

Here are some of the bags. I made four different designs and then the monkey images are the same on the back of all the bags. I used my Glaze pen to write each of the kids names on their bags. Not too shabby if I say so myself... and I do.

Of course the green in the pictures isn't correct. Well it is in the first one with the monkeys, the others are a sick looking green. Guess I shouldn't try to take pictures at night!!