real quick

I have a few minutes before I have to start dinner and finish putting things away. So here I am to keep you from jumping out of your skin in anticipation of what I have been working on!! LOL I know that's not the truth... so humor me. please??

All of them are based on pagemaps. I love me some pagemaps and use them all the time. I would be lost without them. Anywho, this one is from March 2009 pagemap. We had a saxophone in the garage, I know not your average thing to keep in a garage but there it was. Seriously, the inlaws were cleaning out their basement and it was sent home with us after a visit. I think it is BIL's but it's now ours. Ownership is nine tenths of the law right?? LOL

Anywho... rental of the instruments for band were crazy crazy expensive. Basically we would not be eating at least one week out of the month. Thank goodness we had it. For under $100 we had it cleaned and tuned and got Kira some reeds and she was good to go.

Kira's part of the annual egg hunt in town. Love love love my butterflies! Thank you Alien for turning me onto them. How have I not found these creatures before? I am hoping I don't become too obsessed with them and have a butterfly overload... but for now... I be a happy scrapper!! Also the leaf border punch is dreamy!! I would have loved the butterfly one, but it was out of stock when I had my mad money. I think I'll make due. (pagemap February 2011)

I punched a few eggs with my handy dandy red Sizzix machine. I inked the edges but then decided they needed a bit more so ended up covering most of the inking with stickles!! I like it and I think Alex will forgive me my glittering up his page!! BTW... he had a great time finding eggs!! (pagemap December 2010)

Last year both kids got new bikes. Yeah... Kira's is too small for her then and even more so this year. But she would not be swayed once she saw this puppy bike. Gathering our pennies together to get her a bike she may be able to use for more than one year!!

Easter 2010. Again that lovely border punch!! And a bunch of stuff from my stash. I collect Easter things and have a large supply of stuff for that holiday. It is one of my favorites. I used some left over arrows to point to the eggs that are in the pictures that the kids were walking right past. LOL They are cute. (pagemap September 2009)

That's what I've been doing. Right now I have a clean desk and no idea what I am going to pull out to work on. Strange. We'll both be surprised when I return!!

back again!

I keep getting lost on my way here!! Not sure what is up. But the good news is I may have two posts today since I had some favorite pictures to share and I need to post some layouts I managed to get done!! I know, you are beside yourself with glee!! Contain it for now. LOL

My little guy in the tub with his new bubble blower toy that he got for his birthday. He was having a blast blowing the bubbles everywhere (in the tub, not on the floor!!) It did make bath time fun that night!!

Last nights dinner and dessert. We didn't manage to get to the brownies yet, they didn't cool down enough before bedtime. But the mac and cheese was heavenly!!

This is what I am working on today. I am staining the wood for our half wall in the family room. Yup, the pieces have been cut for a few months and sitting there looking at me. I finally got them back out to the garage and was able to stain all the pieces. I probably won't get another coat on until tomorrow (if it isn't too chilly in the garage) or I'll have to wait till Thursday. But it should be all set for hubby to install this weekend! Go me! I rock!

Tonight Kira has her Dessert and a Show for the chorus and band. It's one of their fundraisers for their field trip in June. I am looking forward to it. Can't go wrong with all those sweets, beautiful voices and lovely musical instruments!!

I'll try to post my layouts in a bit. I need a shower... me stinky.

sea world layout

Today we spent hanging outside in the glorious spring weather. We've been cooped up too long by old man winter. The kids had the better deal though, they got to play while hubby and I worked on spring cleaning the garage. It is something that needs to be done every spring and even more so since I am trying to organize things out there. I had purchased some totes last summer but never got around to using them. Today we worked on filling them up. After all our remodeling of this house, we have a plumbing tote, an electrical tote and a tiling tote. Still need to get more for the garden stuff, drywall stuff and misc stuff that needs a home (all those anchors and braces and such). It was good to get a start on it. Even managed to get rid of some stuff. Always good.

Anywho... found this layout on my camera. I finished it before the book fair and took a picture and then never got it off the camera!! Silly me. It's from our trip to Sea World in 2008. I still have more pages to do for this album but I am taking a needed break from it for a bit. I felt a lot of pressure to complete it which makes me rush through my layouts and then I'm not happy with them. So to keep from hating this album, I am putting it aside for a bit and working on pictures that are calling to me.

I used a pagemap from August 2009 for this layout. Improvised a bit on it but I like how it came out. And I cannot believe how much the kids have grown since then. I need to figure out how to stop time for a bit. They are growing much too fast!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Catch you all on the flip side!

getting there

I am slowly recovering from the book fair and getting out of the constant motion mode. My brain is starting to return to a state of mommy-dom. Which is good. Laundry on the other hand... still out of control! It's been too cold for any naked days around here so there is plenty of laundry to keep my busy. oh the joys!!

The Book Fair almost made our goal dollar wise this year. I think we would have done it if there wasn't a snow day on Friday but I am very pleased with our results. We took 60% of what we raised in profit which we turned into books for the library, each and every student received a free book and the classroom libraries were increased as well. All in all we gave away 830 books!! Amazing number and so happy with it!

Yes I contributed to the successful sales during the book fair. First picture are Kira's newest reading additions. So happy she loves to read. And grateful that the book fair did not have any Warrior books! I would have been broke then. She loves the Warrior series.

Here's Alex's stack! Yup... he made out pretty well too! It was pretty easy this year. I went with dogs for him. He loves to read about dogs and puppies so easy choices! And we needed the third installment of the Library Mouse series as well as Farmer Brown and Duck with Thump, Quack, Moo. The hardest part is not giving into him to read them all every night!! He does try though. If we did that, we'd have to start bedtime around 6pm!! LOL The small stack of Duck books to the right are from Kira. She has generously given them to Alex to enjoy.

oh yeah... in all the fun of book fair, I had a birthday. This year I celebrated the anniversary of my 29th birthday. I think I'll hang out at 29 for a bit. Telling people I was 28 was a bit of a stretch but thinking 29 is good. And look at that, my sweet daughter is giving me bunny ears!! Love her. Just a fun picture before we had my birthday cake!! yummy.

There we are. I needed help for all those candles!! LOL

Off to get some things done. (laundry) And figure out dinner. (laundry) And a nap, I could use a nap. (laundry)

hop the movie!

Today was a get out of the house family day. We had to leave early as there was a marathon through our town and streets get closed and traffic is backed up so we were outta here! We went to IHOP for breakfast. Yummy. And I didn't have to clean any dishes. That was the best.

Alex had some money from his birthday so he wanted to pick up another DS game and Kira had some money from her excellent report card to spend as well. She got a DS game too. I was a bit bummed though that now the coupons that Toys R Us sends out are no longer valid on video games. Guess that means I can hit Target and Walmart without feeling guilty. Sometimes their prices are better than Toys R Us. oh well.

Then we sat in the van for a bit waiting to go into the theater. Dave and Alex played Angry Birds on his iPhone and Kira read about her new DS game.

We went into the theater and HAD to take a picture before we went in. The kids had received these great shirts from my friend Mary. She had included a pin for each of them and a plastic egg with a temporary tattoo. So adorable!! Kira wore her pin and tattoo. Alex wore his shirt. He'll have it for awhile!! LOL The E.B.'s are from Build A Bear Workshop and they HAD to go to the movies with us.

Hanging out before the movie!!

Finally found this stand up at the far end of the theater. Glad it was found as it was so cool. This is my new wallpaper for my computer!! I love Easter!!

Anywho... it was a fun movie. The kids laughed. I laughed. Hubby laughed. Good time for all. And discovered there will be a new Winnie the Pooh movie coming out sometime this year. So excited for it!! I love Pooh!!

Off to feed the troops. Early evening for everyone. Major off schedule last week and it shows in their tired eyes.

my beautiful baby is perfect again!

Can I tell you how I simply adore this girl?? She is such a strong individual and has her own security about her. I wish I had had that when I was her age. So proud of her. Anyways... she couldn't see too well in school and had trouble focusing distances after she had been reading for awhile and actually mentioned it to me!!

This is a big deal since I did not do the same thing when I was her age. Nope, I squinted and did everything I could to not tell anyone I needed glasses. I have to remind you that when I was her age, glasses were not cool and were not the fashion statements they are today. They were big and bold and took over your face. It was the age of teasing in school between classmates (which would now be bullying). I was not about to wear glasses if I could see fine with a little squinting and moving my desk closer to the board. Move forward two years in my life and the squinting did not work anymore and I was forced to get glasses. Man I thought my life was over. I was still too young to get contacts so I chose some lovely (at least I thought they were at the time) purple frames. I even had a pair that someone called a creamsicle since they were purple around the ear pieces and faded to a lighter purple almost white in the middle around the nose piece. Yup, I was scarred.

But not my little lady. She was so excited when she was told she would need glasses!! There are many girls in her class and grade that wear glasses and she thinks they are the bomb! I am so happy times have changed and styles as well.

Without further ado... here is my new and improved munchkin!!

This is right after we picked them up. Can you tell she loves them?? They are pink and have bling and flowers. She is in heaven with them. I'll get a better shot soon but had to post this one. Love her!!

I had to share this picture of our milk from yesterday. Snow days call for colored milk and since yesterday was a snow day... colored milk!! Alex wanted orange and Kira wanted turquoise! Oh the fun of colored milk. I even joined in and had a large glass of purple milk. Yummy!

Off to my birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yummy.

cruel april fools joke

Yup... it happened at 5am today... the phone call from the superintendent saying no school today due to SNOW! Yes snow on April 1st. No joke. Here's what fell and landed on my parents car since they are visiting this week. Not a whole lot but it was quite heavy when the kids would have been on the buses. Better safe than sorry. Add another day onto our school year.

All this snow means my Book Fair is still going on! I was so hoping to have it done with and ready to be shipped out. Nope. One more day on Monday. But I really did need the extra sleep I got (after answering the phone)

During the Book Fair, the art teacher places artwork from every student in grades 1-5 onto the walls of the school. It is amazing to see so much talent and how proud the students are of their work. On Family Night, she runs a scavenger hunt where you have to find different things/ objects/ color combos ect in the art in the whole school. It gets pretty competitive too! All in good fun.

Here is Kira's artwork that is on the walls. Not too shabby. She loves to draw.

Here is the picture I have been wanting to post but have had no energy to post!! This is the sight that you see when you walk into the library. So many great books all available for purchasing! No wonder the kids go into sensory overload and forget their library voices!

Here is the Fair in the cafeteria/ gym for Family Night. I was standing at the cashier/ check out area. Lots more space to spread it all out and make it pretty! My wonderful fabulous hubby was so helpful that night in keeping the stock levels full and helping people find books and getting it all back into the library while I cashed out the three registers! He is amazing. Not sure what I would do without him (and never want to find out!)

This is from the cafeteria door entrance. The front table was all the books that were in the flier that was sent home with the students. Makes it easy when the parents come in and say... it was in the flier!! The second table back is the teacher baskets full of books the teachers would love to have in their classrooms. We emptied a few of them on Wednesday! So happy when the parents come in and want to help the teachers and the classrooms. Love it!

Today we have been pretty lazy. At least I have. I have finished folding laundry that has sat since I have been so tired at night. And almost found my floor in my office. I am hoping to actual sit and scrap.

Off to put in some Pirates of the Carribean. Think I'll start with one and work my way through. It seems like a Johnny kind of day. Hoping the rum isn't always gone in your neck of the woods!