Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year Everyone







Wishing everyone a safe and Happy New Year!! Here's some Christmas photos of each of the kids. Last pictures of 2008!!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone

Wow, I'm such a terrible blogger. I haven't updated this since school started and I think last year my resolution was to be a better blogger. Guess that better be my resolution again this year and hope it works out better.

Here's what's going on with us! The kids all went back to school the end of August. I got a job working at Field Elementary as a playground supervisor during the lunch hour. I'm loving it!! Those kids crack me up and it's pretty decent money for only 5 hours of work a week.

Seth is now 7 and in 1st grade. He loves going to school and is doing very well! He joined a basketball group and starts practice after the 1st of the year.

Olivia is 9 and in 4th grade and just starting taking the viola. So far she enjoys it so we'll see how that goes. She's still in Girl Scouts too.

Katie is 12 going on 20. She's very into makeup and she loves the Twilight series. She's even got me reading them. She's still playing the oboe and joined our church's puppet team. She'll start confirmation classes after the 1st of the year.

Suzanne is 16 and a Junior in high school. So far she's doing pretty good in school and she's trying to figure out what her future career aspirations are. Certainly not an easy decision at 16.

All the kids are looking forward to Christmas and seeing what Santa is bringing them. I'm hoping they'll be happy with everything they receive.

Here's wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Silence is Golden!!!


Wow, it's so quiet hear. Stephen took the kids to Chuckie Cheese for lunch and I'm getting a taste of what my days will be like when school starts. Gotta say I'm looking forward to it!


What a week we had last week. We drove down to my Mom's on Monday, spent the afternoon swimming and had a little BBQ. Then we we all left to head back to Bill & Heather's none of the kids wanted to go in their car with them. Well it turned out that it worked out for the best as Bill hit a cow on the way home. Luckily we were about 5 minutes behind them as both their cell phones were dead and they had to use mine. They were so lucky as there wasn't a lot of damage to their car. Just the hood basically. We all said that it was a good thing that it wasn't us that hit him as there probably would have been a lot more damage to our van.


OK, so Tuesday we spent the afternoon swimming and then headed for the Bond County Fair. We got there about 5:30, scoped out our spots for the parade and took the kids to the midway. They were able to ride some rides and then we all got something to eat and sat down to watch the parade. Let me just say it was 98 degrees but felt more like 110. Well just after the parade started Heather turned to me and said "that's the weather siren going off". But, no one was moving or even paying attention as the fire engines and police cars were going by with their sirens on. I think we kind of assumed that the police or firemen would let us know if there was a problem. We were wrong!! A few minutes later the sky looked very ominous and I thought for sure we were going to be right in the middle of a tornado. Needless to say my girls were freaking out, as girls will do. We took shelter under the cow barn which basically just had a roof over it. After about 5 or 10 minutes a police officer came and told us that two tornados had been spotted and power lines and trees were down all ovre town. He directed us to the grandstands or any buildling with a concrete foundation. Off we went to the nearest building and got drenched in the process. We stayed their for about an hour while the storm blew over and then headed back to Bill & Heather's. Now my children will probably never want to go to a county fair again.


Wednesday morning it was off to St. Louis to go to the arch. Everything went well until we tried getting Seth in the little pod elevator that takes you up. He was screaming and crying and holding on to the stair railing for dear life. Marc physically pried him off and threw him in the elevator. He freaked...kept screaming "where's the buckle" and kept his eyes closed the entire way up while saying "don't touch me, nobody touch me". Once we arrived at the top he kept walking down the center of the aisle with his arms out for balance and continued to say "don't touch me, nobody touch me". Luckily after a few minutes he got braver and started looking out the windows. According to him it was the best part of our vacation. After that we made a quick stop at the Soldier Museum and then headed to Ted Drewes for their famous frozen custard. Then we met Bill, Heather and the girls at The Magic House which is really a huge children's museum where we spent almost 3 hours. The kids had a blast and so did the adults. Then we all headed back to Bill & Heathers for pizza and an evening of Guitar Hero.


Thursday we headed home and Friday I spent the day doing laundry and packing to go to Mike's house for the weekend. It was the last time we'll probably go to Kalamazoo since he starts his new job in North Dakota on the 18th. Saturday we had an uneventful ride to Kalamazoo and then that afternoon we headed to Ribfest. The ride home on Sunday was long and we thought it would never end. We left K-zoo at about 1:00pm our time and didn't get home until almost 6 as their was road construction and traffic. We decided to take the Skyway since according to the radio station it was clear. Well that was true until we got to Comisky Park and the White Sox game had just let out. Then we got caught in that traffice. Whew!


This weekend we are all headed in different directions. I'm going back to my Mom's on the 14th to spend a long weekend helping her clean, organize and go through everything. The girls are going to be with their Dad. Suzanne is still with her Mom. And, Seth and Marc are headed to Fulton to see the Peoria Chiefs play the Clinton Lumberkings on Saturday night. Ryne Sandburg is the manager for the Peoria Chiefs and they are hoping to get his autograph. We'll all return on the 17th and then we are done with our travels for awhile as school starts on the 26th.


Well I'll close for now as I've been quite long winded, as usual!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

She Did It!!


Well, Suzanne and I just got home from the Hair Cuttery. This is what she looks like now that she's donated the majority of her hair to Locks of Love. It's called an Alien cut as it's shorter in the back and longer on the sides. I think it's adorable and I think she likes it too!

Monday, July 28, 2008

I'm an Idiot

It's Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race across IOWA not America. Of course my brother went to the blog and now I'm sure he thinks I'm an idiot.....wait he probably already did. Oh well!

RAGBRAI


Caption next to photo in Iowa City Press-Citzen Newspaper read:


William Beckert, of Greenville, Ill., holds his bike over his head after dipping it in the Mississippi River on Saturday in Le Claire after completing the final leg of RAGBRAI.


For those of you unfamiliar RAGBRAI stands for Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across America and this year was the 36th annual. My brother Bill rode in it for the first time and had a blast. I followed along everyday by logging on the Des Moines Register and viewing photos, maps of the route, etc.


Anyone interested in reading the article that accompanied the above picture can do so by visting http://www.press-citizen.com/ then in the search field type RAGBRAI and the name of the article was Bidding RAGBRAI Adieu, dated July 27, 2008. Or try this link which I think will take you right to it



Later


Let's see what's been going on here...


Friday was Stamp Camp at Marnies and we made some wonderful cards. Saturday I spent most of the day in the basement scrapping and did these two layouts plus some more pages for the tribute album I started for my Dad. Sunday I signed up for IM on Myspace and I've been chatting with Matthew on it daily since then. It's great as they are 8 hours ahead so he logs on about lunchtime here and it's 8:30 or so over there. He said it's really hot, sandy and boring over there. He keeps adding all kinds of things he'd like us to send to him so I keep trying to keep everyone updated. I've already sent one box but he still hasn't received it. I've got another box I'm filling and will probably send in another week or so.
VBS was cancelled so we've decided to go out of town for a few days and see my family. We are leaving on Monday, August 4th and it just happens to be the week of the Bond County Fair so we are going to go to that. I don't think the kids have ever been to one so hopefully they'll enjoy it. We are also going to take them to the St. Louis Arch. Marc and Katie have been up to the top in the last few years. I haven't been up in it since I was a little girl so I'm looking forward to it. We'll come back home on the 7th and then on the 9th we are leaving to go to Kalamazoo for a quick weekend trip. Marc's brother took a job in North Dakota so this will probably be our last trip there. It happens to be Ribfest that weekend so you can guess what we'll be having for supper on Saturday.
We'll I've got more plans for August but I'll save those for another post in a week or so. Hope every one is well!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

So Sorry....


It's been a long time since my last post so I'll try and summarize the last few months...

After a long battle with diabetes and heart problems, my Dad passed away on May 5th so needless to say that pretty much took the wind out of me for a few months. Life does go on and it is getting better everyday. Needless to say I worry about my Mom and am trying to help her out whenever I can. She seems to be doing pretty good however I think the end of the month will be rough as it would have been my Dad's birthday on the 31st of this month.

Matthew came home the weekend of Mother's Day and was here for two weeks. We threw a big BBQ on Memorial Day weekend and invited all his family and friends to come visit him. He shipped out to Kuwait on June 16th. He calls about once every 10 days or so and is doing well. He says it's like being at the beach except there is no water and no pretty girls sunbathing!

School ended the beginning of June and Seth graduated Kindergarten and received a "Wonderful Singer" award from his teacher. He's very excited about the prospect of going to school all day in the fall. Olivia would never go back if I'd let her and Katie is excited about going back as well. Although I do think it's because she wants to see all her friends and not because she can't wait to get back to learning.

Suzanne made the "B" honor roll the second semester and we are all very proud of her. We chipped in some money to help her by an MP3 player that she'd been wanting. She started working as a day camp counselor at the Prospect Heights Park District on the 16th of June and her last day is July 25th. She only works from 8:30 to 12:30 but she seems to enjoy it and I know she's looking forward to getting her paycheck.

Marc, Katie, Olivia, Seth and I went to visit my Mom and brothers the weekend of June 20th and also celebrated my niece Haley's 3rd birthday. The intent was to help my Mom go through some of my Dad's things. We did go through a few things but we really spent most of the weekend swimming and fishing with the kids. We had a great time!

I turned the big "45" last week and on Tuesday my Mom and my niece Chloe showed up on our doorstep to surprise me. They stayed until Friday morning and we all had a great time. The kids were happy to be able to spend time with Chloe and Mom and I were able to go shopping for scrapbooking supplies and spend time together. On Wednesday we went to Marnie's to scrap and all my WONDERFUL friends surprised me and took me to Claim Jumper's for dinner. I'd never been there and the food was really good. While Mom and I were out Marc baked me a cake and hid all the evidence until the next day when I woke up and found a dozen roses on the breakfast counter along with a card and a note that said check the oven. After a wonderful birthday meal of spaghetti I had more wonderful gifts to open and we ate the cake which was delicious. Then on Saturday Marc surprised me again by telling me we were dropping the kids at Marnie's and going out to dinner alone. We went to Red Lobster which is one of our favorite places and had a nice dinner.

Whew! I think that's the highlights from the last several months and hopefully I can get make to trying to post on a weekly basis. Have a great weekend everyone and stay COOL!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Mia's Birthday Present



Almost forgot. Here's pictures of the birthday gift I did for Seth's friend Mia. Her party is this weekend at the Kohl's Children's museum. I just took a pink plastic flower pot that I had laying around. Put her name and a cute flower on it and then filled it with all kinds of fun girly stuff. I hope she enjoys it.


Tax Day

Hope everyone has their taxes done. We do and we've already received both refunds. Walgreen's Photo Center has an on-line special today. If you type in the code word TAXDAY in the coupon section you can get 15 4x6 photos for free. Needless to say I took advantage of that deal. My shipment from Uppercase Living is scheduled to arrive today so later in the week I will be busy putting things up on the wall and making some other items to use at my open house later this month.

Marc and I celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday. He went to basketball and brought home Taco Bell for dinner. We did go to Applebee's over the weekend (with Seth) and we bought the iPod for each other so it was a GOOD anniversary. We've been spending the last couple of weekends burning songs off our CDs to put on the iPod. We've currently got over 300 songs and let me tell you between my collection and Marc's it's quite an eclectic mix.

Seth came down with pink eye on April 4th and then on the 7th I came down with a sinus infection so we both had to visit the doctor. Yesterday I got a call from the high school and Suzanne has pink eye now. She's been putting drops in her eyes since yesterday afternoon and it's starting to look much better. She'll hopefully be able to go back to school tomorrow. Unfortunately she was going to try out for BGHS Poms but the workshops were yesterday and today with tryouts on Thursday. Doesn't look like she'll be able to do it now. Oh well there's always next year.

Seth and I are going to see Dr. Skale (dentist) after I pick him up this afternoon. Both of us have small cavities that need to be taken care of. Katie is still complaining of her one tooth hurting when she eats and brushes so I'm taking her with us as well. If necessary I'll reschedule my appointment for next week since I have to take Suzanne anyway.

Why is it that April and May seem to get so busy?? Olivia had a drama club assembly last Friday and Seth and I went to see it. She did really well. She spoke clearly and slowly so she was easy to understand. Can't say that about all the others though, stage nerves I guess. Tonight their is a Puppet Team open house at church and Katie wants to go to that. She's thinking of joining the team and wants to check it out. Next week Olivia has a choir concert that I'll be going to and then on May 5th (Happy Birthday Randi!) is Katie's last band concert for the year. Marc's parents are back from Florida and they are coming up on April 25th and will spend the weekend with us.

Marc booked his flight to Texas. He's leaving on May 10th and Matthew will pick him up at the airport and they will drive back here. They'll be home sometime on the 11th and I'm sure they'll be exhausted. I know Matthew has a lot of things he wants to do and people he wants to see before he has to head back on the 25th or 26th. He's shipping out to Kuwait sometime in June and will be gone for a year.

Well I guess I better get ready to get going. Have a great week!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

April Fools Day

I had to warn Seth this morning that it was April Fool's Day. I was afraid someone would play an April Fool's joke on him and he'd get upset. Hopefully my warning helped. I had forgotten about it until I heard the kids on the playground joking with their friends.

Well, it's official Katie is now 12 and at the rate she's going she may not see 13. Tonight I'm taking her shopping for summer clothes. That was our gift to her since she's always in need of clothes. We all survived her slumber party last Friday. It really wasn't bad...they got loud every now and then but that's what your'e supposed to do at a sleepover. She used some of her birthday money to buy an I-pod shuffle so now she feels like she's not so underprivileged, LOL!!

Speaking of I-pods.....Marc and I purchased a 2GB I-pod for our anniversary. We ordered it from Apple's website and it was only $69 with free shipping and free engraving. It's red and says Happy Anniversary on it. We ordered it last Thursday and they tried to deliver it yesterday but I wasn't hope so they brought it again today. I spent most of the morning downloading various songs from some of our CD's. I'm listening to it now as I type this.

We went to my niece Abbigayle's 5th birthday party on Sunday and everyone had a good time and enjoyed yummy food and cake!

Well I made the decision (with a lot of persuasion from Marc) to become a consultant for Uppercase Living. Marc feels that it's worth the investment to see how it goes. As long as I make the money back that I spent on the kit he'll be happy. Now I just have to choose a date to have an Open House and introduce it to everyone. I'm thinking a Sunday afternoon might work best. Once I receive my kit I'll choose a date.

Spring break is officially over...YEAH!! I LOVE my kids but it's always nice to send them back to school. I think they were ready to go as they were getting bored being at home and were anxious to see their friends.

Hope everyone has a Great week!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Spring is coming......


the birds are singing, the snow is melting and even though I'm sure we'll have some more cold days it finally feels like there's a light at the end of the tunnel!! These flowers are from a few years ago but I can't wait until it is time to start planting and purchasing flowers for this year. I didn't do much in the way of flowers last year as it seemed like we were gone a lot and they would've just died anyway.
This has been a fast week and next week will go even faster. Spring break starts at Noon on Thursday the 21st. My brother-in-law will arrive that night and work on the kitchen floor will begin bright and early on Friday morning. Friday evening I'll be at stamp camp at Marnie's with all my friends. I've assured Marc that I'd prepare a nice meal for them before I go. I'm going to be picking up Double Filet-O-Fish sandwiches for those who want them as they will probably go away after Easter.
Marc's brother will stay through Easter dinner and then head back to Michigan later that afternoon. I really don't have much planned for spring break other than all of us going to the dentist for our 6-month check up. Katie's having a birthday slumber party on the 28th and luckily I have really good friends who've agreed to take Olivia and Seth so that they can have some fun of their own and not feel left out. I'm sure it'll be a crazy night here and I think Marc is looking for a place to go as well. Maybe he can go see a movie or two.
Tonight is Winterfest at church and the children are supposed to wear green. While the adults are in bible class they will watch one of the Shrek movies and then later they are going to decorate sugar cookies. I'm sure they'll have a blast and get all sugared up in time to go home.
Hope everyone is having a good week!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Oops

I gave the wrong demonstrator ID in the last post. The correct Demonstrator ID is 541471. Sorry!!

What to Do???

OK, so my sister-in-law (Heather) and I talked at length on Saturday. She asked if I'd ever heard of Uppercase Living and I said no what is it? Well she had just been to a party and spent a little money and is having a book show. She said maybe you'd like to start another business? My first thought was no way, I can bearly make my quarter with TS why would I want to start another business. LOL, well now I am obsessing over this new company and the fact that there are very few reps if any in the Chicago area. The concept is just like scrapbooking rub-on letters and designs only you put them on your walls, doors, closet doors, furniture, appliances, dishes, containers....basically anything you can think of. And when or if you decide you don't like the look anymore or want to put up something new they are easy to remove. I went online and fewed the 100 page plus catalog and I can't stop thinking about it. It's similar to a Stampin Up Catalog, the more you look at it, the more you see and the more you want.

I've gotten the go ahead from Marc to go ahead and give it a try. My main concern is that my friends and family, who have been so supportive in all my other businesses, may be sick of hosting parties for me. I'm going to talk it over with my scrapbooking friends tomorrow night to see what they think. I like the idea that I could really do a lot of business if there is no one else in the area doing it. There's no inventory to tote around and very little to take to a party so it won't be a lot of set up or take down time like some of the other businesses I've done.

I think I went to their website about 4 or 5 times yesterday and I've got a list of questions to ask my sister-in-laws local rep when I give her a call later this week.

If you have any advice, I'd love to hear from you. Also if you want to check out the catalog go to www.uppercaseliving.com and choose customer corner log-in. Use Demo ID #541741 and Token name or ID is Hudson. This will allow you to view their entire catalog.

By the way today is my beautiful niece Abbigayle's 5th Birthday.....Happy Birthday Abbigayle!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Snow, Snow Go Away

And don't come back until next winter, please! Yuck I'm so sick of this weather. And, I hate that on days when Stephen doesn't have school I have to clean off his car. This morning all the doors were frozen shut and he'd pulled so far over to the edge of the driveway I couldn't get to the passenger windows to clean them without falling in the little ditch on the side of the driveway! I was so aggravated that I decided from now on he's going to have to get up early to get the car cleaned off for me so I can get kids to school. Either that or the rent is going up!

OK, so we had a beautiful sunny weekend. Saturday morning Olivia and I went to our local Walmart so she could help sell GS cookies. It seemed to go pretty well. Hopefully this weekend will bring more sun and a little warmth as it's Katie's turn to sell GS cookies at Walmart. At least after this weekend all my cookie obligations will be over, whew!

Because the weekend was so nice I had to deal with sinus headaches all weekend. Oh well it's a price I'll pay for a little break in the cold weather.

I'm in cleaning mode today. I spent the morning tearing the living room apart, dusting, sweeping, vacuuming and putting it back together. Next I'm going to tackle our bedroom. The AT&T installation guy will be here bright and early on Thursday to install our new digital cable and internet. So, tomorrow night after I get home from scrapping Marc and I have to move the TV's and computers away from the wall so he can access them. They say it will take 5-8 hours to install and I'll be without internet for most of the day. Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end. We are getting a little more for our money, plus a DVR. I just noticed today that our Dish Network bill went up by $2 so it makes me feel like we're getting a deal. I just hope there are no service issues!

Well I best get back to work. Have a good week!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Another Yucky Monday

I think this is the first winter in a long time where I've gotten fed up and am ready for it to be over!! Anytime now would be good.

Here's what went on here this weekend. The kids had no school on Friday so we slept in until 9. Marc took a half day and then came home and varnished Seth's new toy box. His friend Cathy gave it to him and it's much bigger and looks more appropriate in his newly remodeled room than the Little Tikes one. Katie spent all day at her friend Anna's house and then Anna ended up coming over here and spending the night.

Saturday the girls went with there Dad and I went with Katie's GS leader to go pick up the cookies. What a zoo!! Since I'm the cookie Mom I'm now sitting here with 74 cases of cookies waiting for people to come and pick them up. And.....lucky me, since we have the first time slot of our on-site cookie sales at Walmart I get to keep the extra 25 cases here until March 1st. I'm really hoping March 1st is a dry, somewhat warm day!! I'm thinking 35 degrees or above would be good. After we unloaded all the cookies I ran to Sam's Club and Jewel to get the things we needed. I HATE shopping on Saturdays!! Needless to say I get a call from Marc informing me that Olivia's Brownie leader called and can I pick up her cookies. YIKES!! I was able to pick them up on the way home and I quickly put those in a complete separate part of the house. Don't want to get them mixed in with Katie's troop.

Went to church on Sunday. Katie's friend Anna has been going with us every Sunday since the end of January. She was very excited as the church presented her with a Bible since she didn't have one of her own! After church Katie's two GS leaders stopped by so we could go over the cookies and make sure that Marc and I had sorted them out properly. They each took their daughter's cookies home along with one other GS who lives close by so now I'm only waiting for 5 people to come get the rest. I'm hoping they'll all be out of the house by the weekend.

Well today is President's Day so again no school for the kids. We slept in until 9 again and now Katie's in the shower and Olivia is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her best friend Emily who's going to come and play from 11 to 3. Of course they are both complaining that 4 hours is just not enough time for them to do everything they want to do. My comment to them was they'd just have to deal with it because 4 hours is way more than enough time in my book.

Next home improvement project will take place over the Easter weekend. The flooring Marc wants to put in the kitchen is on sale this week and his brother has agreed to come spend the long weekend with us and help so we're going to take advantage of that. We have hated our kitchen floor since we moved in and hopefully the new floor will look MUCH better and be easier to clean.

Well I've been a little wordy this morning so I'll close for now!! Happy President's Day!

Monday, February 11, 2008

A Heat Wave would be Nice

I'm not asking for much. How about a week of weather that has temperatures above 32 degrees and no more SNOW!! I do realize this is Chicago but come on I think we've had enough already. If this keeps up my parents may never return from Texas and Marc's may decide to stay in Florida.

Not much happening this weekend. We had Winterfest at church so the kids made painted t-shirts and fleece scarves while the parents attended bible study. Our teacher is very good and really makes the class fun. Marc thanked me for signing us up so obviously he's enjoying it too!

Saturday Katie went to London Middle School's variety show as one of her BFF's was performing. She also got invited to a little after party that Zoey's mom was giving her at a local restaurant. So I dropped her off at school and gave her $7. Two for the ticket and $5 to contribute to whatever she ordered at the restaurant. Well needless to say she bought her ticket, enjoyed the show and then lost her purse somewhere between the school and the restaurant so $5 went missing. Zoey's mother of course would accept no money from anyone and I should have known that ahead of time and just kept the $5 to myself. Oh well, it could have been worse. Katie only had lip gloss and her wallet in the purse. Luckily she'd left her school ID at home or we would have had to pay $5 to get a new one.

Yesterday we all stayed home and tried to keep warm. Marc was adamant about going to Target last night (totally unlike him) as he said they had a few things on sale he needed. I had went through the sale ad and didn't see anything I thought we needed. Well he came home told me to sit at my desk and close my eyes. I got my Valentine gift (I didn't expect one at all so I was shocked) early. He bought me a red fleece blanket with hearts all over it. I spend a lot of time at my desk with my feet propped up and then my legs get cold so he thought the blanket would help. Very sweet. He also brought me dark chocolate M&M's, Peanut M&M's, Reese's Miniatures and Cherry Cordial Kisses. I should be set for awhile!!

Stay warm everyone.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Rainy Days & Mondays....

This has got to be the craziest weather we've had in Chicago in a while. On Thursday night we got 8+ inches of snow which resulted in a Snow Day for everyone. Then yesterday we got another 1-3 inches on top of that and this morning I was out running errands in the pouring rain and I saw lightening.

Seth's room is finally done, WOHOO!! He's no longer sleeping in our room on the floor so I don't have to worry about stepping on him in the middle of the night. It also means we got our dining room back, although there are still a few items out there. Marc's old neighbor Cathy gave us a nice wooden toy box that he's going to stain and then that will go in his room. In the meantime we want to go through all his toys and throw out broken ones and put aside ones that he's too old for now. Seth is very excited to be back in his room and he loves having is own bulletin board to put things on. It is so nice when the smallest of things bring such joy to a child....and then they grow up and what I-pods, MP3 players and cell phones, LOL!

Friday I was supposed to have been the Mystery Reader for Seth's Kindergarten class but since it was a Snow Day it didn't happen. I was all ready too! Hopefully Mrs. Scott has some open dates and we can reschedule as Seth is constantly telling me to call her so I can be the Mystery Reader.

Saturday I went to a VBS workshop with Barb. It was very nice and they even fed us lunch. Afterwards we stopped at The Christian Shop in Palatine to check out one of the VBS kits. Of course the kits were in a room with all their VeggieTale products. We love VeggieTales!! And, since Seth has been talking about not having a Bible and having to wait until he's in 3rd grade (which is a lifetime away for him) to get one....I just couldn't pass up the VeggieTale Bible Storybook. It's so cute and he's so happy with it. Of course we've been reading one Bible story a night so far and we'll see how long that lasts.

Just call me Gimpy. I'm not sure what I did but I woke up in the middle of the night Friday and my right knee was hurting. It hurts to bend it which has made getting around the last few days a challenge. Luckily I can walk and when I'm up and around it's not bad but if I sit for any length of time it gets sore. I've been taking Ibuprofen to help with the pain (which luckily is not unbearable) I just wish I knew what I did. Marc says I'm showing my age, thanks dear!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Friday, February 01, 2008

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Dianne...and now I'm passing it on to you! So, here's the deal for those that I Tag! The Middle Name Game! These are the rules:-You must post the rules before you give your answers. You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for detail.)

Here is my middle name (Jo) and facts about me....

J - Jo...my middle name...is also my daughter Katherine's (or Katie as we call her) middle name.

O - Oh so many words come to mind that sometimes describe me. Optimistic, I'd like to think that for the most part I'm an optimistic person. Ornery, sometimes I can be a little ornery. Don't ask my husband he might say it's all the time!! Olivia's Mom, Olive's grandaughter are just a few more.

This is probably the shortest tag I'll ever get. I only had to choose two and I chose my favorite sister-in-law Heather and my good friend Jamie. I hope they have fun with this "Tagging"!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Almost Forgot

Whew, time just seems to fly. This past weekend was a busy one for our household. I went to the crop so I was gone from Friday evening at 6pm until Saturday at 5:30pm. I did come home long enough to get some sleep but Marc was the only one who was coherent enough to know I'd been home. I did get several pages done and was so happy to finish some pages I'd had planned for a few years.

Marc and the kids went to Winterfest at church on Friday and then went bowling on Saturday so they all had a good time. Katie and Olivia went with their Dad yesterday and ended up going to a theater in Palatine to watch "The Sound of Music". They both enjoyed it!

Back to school today and at 10:45am I received a call from the nurse saying that Olivia was there. She was given another detention and was crying again. We talked and she said she deserved it so she toughed out the day and served her detention. She said she was given the detention because she was playing with her fingers and not paying attention. If this continues I'll be having a meeting with the principal sooner rather than later.

Hope your week started out better!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Ooops

I forgot yesterday was Monday and I wanted to post. Having the kids and Marc home yesterday for the MLK holiday threw me off. The kids are home again today so my whole week will be off.

Marc's project for the long weekend was to paint Seth's room and put in the hardwood floor. He even took 1/2 day off on Friday to give him a little extra time. Of course nothing ever goes as planned and needless to say there is one coat of pretty blue paint on the wall and that's it. He's planning on painting a 2nd coat tonight and hopefully putting the flooring in on Wednesday. Anyhow that mean's my dining room is a mess as everything from Seth's room is in there and we can't eat as a family. Oh well hopefully by this weekend everything will be restored to normal.

I ended up going to Kohl's yesterday. They had scrapbook albums 50% off and I was lucky enough to pick a scratch off ticket worth another 20% so I got 3 albums for less then $30. Then I spent the afternoon putting pages I've done lately in the proper albums. I also made the discovery that the shelves in the entertainment center are the perfect size for 12 x 12 albums so now I can keep them downstairs and readily available for me to add more pages too. I also started packing for the crop this weekend. I hope I take everything I need and don't run out of things to do!

Tonight I go to get my yearly eye exam. Since I didn't need new glasses last year I'm sure I will this time. I'm considering bifocals but I'm still hesitant so I'll just play it by ear. I may even run across the street to JoAnn's as they have 12 x 12 paper 6 for 96 cents and I could use some Christmas and Valentine paper.

Well have a good week everyone!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Card Happy




OK so as you can see I've been spending some time in my scrap area and have made the above cards using my new templates. The first one is for Marc for Valentine's Day and I don't think he ever goes to my blog so hopefully he won't start now. The middle one I made over the weekend and when I showed it to Marc his response was "You made that?" I'm hoping that means he was impressed. The third one is for a good friend of mine who loves ladybugs. I still have a few more to make for Valentine's Day and then I'd like to start working on some Christmas ones to get a head start.
Our first bible study was last Friday. There's a good mix of people and Marc seemed to enjoy it. Of course he has to attend the next class alone as I'll be scrapping. I'm sure he'll do fine.
Girl Scout cookie sales are going well. Katie is at about 54 boxes and Olivia is at about 23. I still have some more people to ask so hopefully we can boost Olivia's number up a little.
Speaking of Olivia...I just got a call from the school nurse saying that Olivia is in her office crying. She says she's tired, she doesn't feel well and she can't seem to stop crying. Luckily I have to go get Seth in about 10 minutes so I'll just pick them both up at the same time. She seemed perfectly fine this morning and she got a good night's rest so I'm wondering if something has happened at school or if she really is coming down with something. I guess if she comes home and goes to sleep I'll know the answer.
Have a good week everyone!

Monday, January 07, 2008

Happy First Monday of 2008!!




Well as you can see by the pictures I've finally gotten my scrap area set up and organized...at least for the moment. I spent all weekend working on it but really enjoyed doing it. I've even got some things ready to take to scrap this week. The first picture shows the 9 cubicle storage area that I used some Christmas money on (I used some of Marc's too but I don't think he minds). I had hoped it would be big enough to store my albums in but no such luck. As you can see I had no trouble filling the space. The last picture is of that cabinet we garbage picked and it's got all my stamps and card making items in it!! I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time down there being creative. I'm going to start by hopefully making some cards using the card templates Marnie gave me for Christmas.

Kids went back to school today. They wouldn't admit it but I think they were happy to go back. The weather is wonderful....to bad it won't last. Sounds like we may be back to wearing snow pants by the end of the week, YUCK!

Well Girl Scout cookie sales started last Friday. Each year it seems like we lose people we can sell too due to them having others in their family that are selling also. Katie was sweating making her 50 box goal. However a friend of hers who is no longer a Girl Scout said her family wanted to buy some from her. Well she made the call last night and sold 36 boxes and she was THRILLED!! Of course Olivia is a little awe struck and is hopeful she can sell as many as Katie.

Marc and I are starting a bible study this week on the Old Testament. I've taken bible classes before but this will be the first couples class we've taken. It meets twice a month from now until April and it should be interesting. While we are in class the kids will be doing crafts, watching movies, etc. so we won't have to worry about them.

Well I'll close for today and I'm hopeful that I can post on a more regular basis this year.