Coming Soon...

Well almost all of the yucky wallpaper that was originally covering my kitchen is down. Marc just has one little section to go. As usual no project in this house ends up being easy. The wallpaper was put on top of drywall so it was a little tricky getting it down. My new kitchen is going to be a bright green with red accents, Apples. I've already bought some accessories to for decorating purposes and I just ordered the cutest curtains last night. I'm very hopeful that everything will be done by June 26th. That is when Marc's parents arrive to help us put new doors on every room and closet upstairs.

68 days and counting until the kids go back to school. 70 for Seth as Kindergarten starts later. It's not been bad it's just that there always seem to be two that are fighting or irritating one another. Olivia is going to have a playdate with her best friend Emily today so that will cut down on some of the fighting, since she seems to be the instigator most times. Then it will be off to scrapbooking later for a little bit of ME time!

I certainly hope everyone is enjoying this lovely weather we've been having. As we all know it could change in a heartbeat! HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!

Tagged

While wandering through Dianne's blog she mentioned that she had been "Tagged" to answer some questions...and that if you read her blog and her answers...you were tagged too. So...consider me tagged! The same holds for you...if you read this...you're tagged!

10 FAVORITES

Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Food: Mashed Potatoes
Favorite Month: October
Favorite Song: Doesn't stay the same...but "Defying Gravity" from the play "Wicked"
Favorite Movie: Gone with the Wind
Favorite Sport: Ice Skating
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Day of the week: Friday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Ben & Jerry's Caramel Sutra
Favorite Time of Day: Late at night when everyone is sleeping, quiet,all mine.

9 CURRENTS
Current Mood: Earlier, disgusted....right now calm for the moment
Current Taste: Bugles
Current Clothes: jammies
Current Desktop: starfish in the ocean
Current Toenail Color: The one I was born with.
Current Time: 12:57am
Current Surroundings: my desk
Current Thoughts: I should probably be sleeping?

8 FIRSTS
First Best Friend: Brenda Finch
First Kiss: Kenny Dianda...eighth grade, my backyard.
First Screen Name: pjb1963
First Pet: Poodle/Terrier Mix (Rosie)
First Piercing: Ears
First Crush: my neighbor Kenny Dianda, also my first kiss.
First CD: (Record) Donny Osmond "Puppy Love"
(I think there should be a #8 here....but the person who Tagged Dianne didn't have it)

7 LASTS
Last Cigarette: Don't smoke.
Last Drink: Diet Coke.
Last Car Ride: Home from Marnies.
Last Kiss: Marc, before I left for Marnies!
Last Movie Seen: Man on Fire
Last Phone Call: Marc
Last CD Played: Sugarland in the car.

6 HAVE YOU EVERS
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: no
Have You Ever Broken the Law: speeding
Have You Ever Been Arrested: no
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: no
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yes, on a TNN dance show. I think I still have the videotape somewhere, YIKES!!
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: yes

5 THINGS
Thing You're Wearing: nightgown
Thing You've Done Today: Went to Marnies, for therapy and scrapbooking.
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: my son, snoring.
Thing You Can't Live Without: Marc and my children
Thing You Do When You're Bored: I have no time to be bored, but I'd say reading

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY
My room
My desk
My scrap area
Marnie's house

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO
Marc
My Mom
Marnie

2 CHOICES
1. Black or White: Black
2. Hot or Cold: cold

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
Take my husband on a trip out west, he's never been farther than Kansas.

so I guess I get to tag people now?!??! yeah.....if you read this, then consider yourself tagged! I assume that I read your blog but in case I miss it, let me know if you try this!

9 Days and 1/2 Hour

That's how many days before my girls are out of school for the summer. They are very excited of course, however, Seth can't wait for school to start so he can go to kindergarten. He keeps asking how many days and I haven't counted that up yet. Although I'm sure after they are all home for a week or two I'll start counting the days until they go back. I'm hoping this summer won't be too bad as we seem to have lots of things going on to keep everyone busy!

Seth graduated from preschool last Wednesday! The ceremony was just so stinkin' cute. They had caps on and the marched in to "Pomp and Circumstance". Then they sang several cute songs and then each one was called up to receive their diploma. We've got it all on tape and hopefully my pictures will turn out! I didn't cry, but I did get a little teary eyed.

Next week Katie has a Promotional Awards Ceremony for moving on to 6th grade. She's such a scammer as she brought me the Best Buy ad yesterday that showed the top 5 gifts for grads. Of course it listed an Ipod, laptop computer etc. I told her to dream on...it's just 5th grade. My Mom wants me to buy her a small bunch of balloons and thanks to my friends input I'm going to get her a single rose! I'm not sure I want to take it to the ceremony so I'll probably have them waiting for her when we get home.

Well I better get busy with laundry.....Happy Monday everyone!

I must be doing something Right!

I've spent the last two days working on my scrap area in the basement. It's not done yet but it's getting there! I managed to make my 10 cards for the swap I'm in and I also got caught up with putting the kids birthday cards and school papers in their scrapbooks.

Last night I had to run to Walmart to get some organization things for my scrap area. I decided to pick Kate up from Girl Scouts and head over there. She just happened to have her $25 of birthday money that she got from Grandpa & Grandma Swanson. Well when we got there I told the areas that I would be in so she could find me when she was done looking around. I told her I wanted her to spend her money on clothes or things she needed and absolutely no candy, food or pop. Well after I had gotten everything I needed she still hadn't found me so I went looking for her. My first stop was the jewelry area and there she was at the counter. I was immediately told to go away....so I did. Then when we were standing in the checkout line she was looking at the Mother's Day cards and told me she was going to get one for Grandma and was it OK. Of course I said it was. Well anyway we get home and she hands me the card and a jewelry box. She bought me a beautiful Mom pendant and the card made me cry! I'm so proud of her that she spent her own money to buy me a special gift. Needless to say Olivia felt bad so when she went with her Dad today they went to a garage sale and she got me a bracelet that says HOPE and a stuffed duck which is now on my scrap desk. Seth brought me home a potted petunia plant from pre-school on Friday. It was a clay pot that they sponge painted and then decorated with ribbon around the top....and they got to put in the dirt and everything. So needless to say I'm a very lucky Mom to get all these presents a week early!!

Busy Weekend

Well we spent the weekend in Kalamazoo. My brother-in-law Mike graduated from graduate school with a Masters in Science and Information. He had an open house yesterday to celebrate. There was, of course, way too much food so everyone was sent home with leftovers. Our van was packed to capacity on the way there as we took 8 bags of bottles and cans that were Michigan refunds. We ended up with $43.10 worth which we were amazed at!! We assured the kids that we'd have more room in the van coming home but guess what?? Not so...we brought home cake, rolls, cereal, salad, an entire angel food cake, mints, plastic silverware, cups, paper plates and napkins....the paper products and mints will be used for Matthew's graduation/going away party. At least the weather was nice and it was great for travelling. Everyone slept all the way home, except for Marc of course.

Tomorrow night I'm scrapping which I'm excited about. I've been on a roll lately and I don't want to loose my momentum. This weekend Marc and I are going to start working on a scrapping area for me in the basement....I'm so excited!! I'll post pictures when we are done.

Enjoy the rest of this great day!

Great Day

Got a beautiful Anniversary card from Marc today. It just kills me that he spent $4.99 on it he needs to ask one of my scrapping friends to make one and pay them instead. He liked the card I made him last night at stamp camp. So far our anniversary has been great. We slept in until 10 and then I made us cinnamon rolls. He has spent the day working in the basement and I spent all day making my April Christmas cards. I've attached a picture. I LOVE THEM!! I'm so glad I bought that stamp set...I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. So many possibilities. I just ordered our pizza from Giordano's and we are going to sit down and watch the movie "Click" with Adam Sandler.

Oops I posted this at Schocker's by mistake!

Happy Friday the 13th

I haven't posted in almost a month...where does the time go! These last several weeks have been so busy with dentist and doctor appointements, school meetings, etc. Tonight is Stamp Camp which I'm so looking forward too! My girls are leaving with their Dad at 5:30 tonight and will be with him until church on Sunday morning. Marc and I celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary tomorrow night and are still thinking about what we want to do!! We seriously may just order our favorite pizza from Giordano's and watch a movie. The older ones will all be in the basement and I'm sure Seth will be there too so we might actually get to watch a movie in the actual time allotted with no interruptions. I'm also hoping that I can get some scrapping or cardmaking done as well.

Jonathon arrived back home today. He is done with the Air Force so he's been applying for jobs and is considering going to Harper. He enjoyed his time in the Air Force but he's happy to be home.

The above picture is of the three youngest on Easter morning! Have a great weekend everyone!

Wow, my DH just came home and brought me a dozen roses...I've attached a picture. They are beautiful!! I'm so lucky.

You've got to be kidding!!!

I just got an e-mail from my ex-husband asking me if we'd be interested in a 4 year old German Shepard/Huskie mix dog named Beulah that weighs 80 lbs. He's gotta be kidding me...it's all I can do to keep up with the kids and all their schedules. The woman who is trying to find a new home for Beulah is even willing to throw in a month's worth of dog food to whoever takes her. Even that is not incentive enough for me. Now, if Beulah can clean the house, do the laundry, cook an occasional meal and get the kids to keep their rooms clean 85% of the time I might consider it. I'd also consider taking Beulah in exchange for one of the teenagers!! I'm not sure that would be a fair trade though. If you know anyone who might be interested in giving Beulah a good home, let me know and I can pass the information along!

Busy but Productive Day

Well my girls left with their Dad about 10:30 and will be gone for the next 24 hours, (imagine Big sigh here). Marc, Seth and I decided to run and get some errands done and then ended up at the new TGI Friday's in Wheeling for lunch. I had the Cedar Seared Salmon Pasta and it was yummy! Upon arriving at home I threw a load of laundry in the wash, ironed some Brownie Try It badges on Olivia's sash and then finished a layout I had started at Marnie's on Wednesday. I wasn't sure where I was going with it but today it just seemed to come together quickly. I just love it....thanks to Dianne for the cow paper piecing! Inside the heart is says Cute lil'. Also on the photo corners the top right says Seth and the bottome left says 2002. Need to finish up my laundry. Remember to Spring Ahead!!

March already, where does the time go!! Seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for Christmas...speaking of which I need to come up with a design for this month's Christmas cards. I really LOVE that Marnie made this a challenge. It's going to be great to have all the cards done and ready to go instead of rushing to get them done so they can be sent out on time!

Last night was a blast! Marnie and Dianne are phenomonal....I showed up for scrapbooking last night and they ended up challenging me to do a layout in 30 minutes. I hadn't come prepared so luckily Aunt Marnie supplied me with a few pictures of my kids. I'm really pleased with the way both layouts turned out and it was fun to have absolutely to just pick and choose and put together a layout that quickly. I hope we continue to do that every now and then!!

Well my challenge for today is to try and get people to be hall monitors and nursery caregivers at church this Sunday...so far no one I've called has gotten back to me so I guess I better make more calls and hope that by the end of the day I've been successful. I have an all day seminar tomorrow and I don't want it to be Saturday night and still no success.

TGIF everyone!

Productive Morning

In between doing laundry and running the dishwasher I managed to make 10 Christmas cards so I'm good for the month of February. I also did a layout of Katie from last summer. I know you can't read the journaling so here it is.....

4th Grade Comes Crashing to a Halt
What a way to end 4th Grade. It was a little after 3pm on the last full day of school and I was waiting outside the school along with all the other Moms. Then Mrs. Cherry came walking up to us to tell me that you had taken a nasty fall off the monkey bars. I followed her to the nurses office where you were sitting with an ice pack on your forehead. Mrs. Resnick was sitting next to you holding your hand. You were really shaken up and scared as you couldn’t remember what happened or how you got to the nurses office. We came home and dropped off Olivia and then we headed for the Emergency Room. The Dr. checked you out and said you had a concussion and made us hang around for an hour to be sure you were all right. I had to wake you up in the middle of the night too…but all was well. You just had a nasty looking forehead for a few weeks and as far as I know it hasn’t stopped you from continuing to play on the monkey bars either!

Happy Groundhogs Day!

Well if you believe in the groundhog we will have an early spring! My kids are very excited and we are all hopeful that it will turn out to be true. I've never really kept track of what the ground hog's record of correctness is so I guess time will tell! All I know is that I am ready for these frigid temperatures to go away!!

Every wear you go today all you see is everyone dressed in the Chicago Bears wardrobe. The girls were supposed to wear something to show their support and luckily Matthew had two Bears t-shirts so they each have one on. I had to use a small binder clip to keep Olivia's from falling off her shoulder. Poor Seth had nothing to wear so he's wearing Bears colors of orange and blue. I stopped at Dominick's really quick this morning and everyone there had Bears paraphernalia on as well. Even U/L said that if you had no clients visiting you were free to wear your Bears shirts. Marc has one but opted not to wear it.

I think we are finally going to go and get a new TV tonight. Sure hope they have the one that's on sale through tomorrow in stock. I have a feeling we are pressing our luck but we will see. It'll will certainly be nice to control the volume from a remote versus having to get up and actually walk to the TV to do it, LOL!! However did we cope back in the olden days!

Super Bowl Sunday here will be reminiscent of New Year's. We are going to make a bunch of appetizers (Swedish meatballs, Velveeta w/sausage and Rotelle, cheese & crackers, etc.). Marc claims we are going to put a cooler of beer in between our two recliners so we won't have to go far to get another one....again how lazy is that! I doubt that I will actually sit in front of the TV during the game. I'll probably be at my computer desk working crossword puzzles and listening to it in the background.

Stay warm everyone and GO BEARS!

Happy Monday, Ooops I mean Tuesday

My kids were off yesterday so I'll be confused all week. Well anyone out there Bears fans...if so GO BEARS!! Of course I have not really followed them since late 84-86. I think I just started watching them for lack of better things to do...that was back before I had cable so my choices on a Sunday afternoon were limited and I'm pretty sure I spent of those Sunday afternoons cross-stitching with the game on in the background. My how things have changed. Now I'm on the computer playing games, doing crosswords or surfing with the game on in the background...even with cable and much more choices. Although Marc is constantly changing channels during commercial breaks and half-time so it's hard to figure out what's going on.

Poor Seth, Olivia and he were playing the yesterday and she wanted to play dress up. Lucky for her he's a good sport. I've got a great picture of him in the outfit the Bushmoles gave Olivia for Christmas...it consists of a leotard, tights, ballet slippers, headband and a poof that Aunt Marnie made. I also have a picture of him all decked out in a pretty Easter dress, tights and black patent leather shoes. He was smiling away in both outfits and Olivia was ready to go for three when he said..."I don't want to play anymore". Those will be fun pictures to scrap! Hopefully it won't take years to get it done, LOL!

Katie went to a Wolves hockey game with her girl scout troop on Saturday. She had a blast and lucky for me her troop leader took pictures and shared them with all of us so I can scrap that moment as well. She had so much fun that she wants Marc or I to take her again sometime. She was apalled, however, at the prices of the snacks/drinks. I had given her $10 spending money as I knew they'd the prices would be high and she actually brought $5 home. Guess that's a sign of her growing up!

Ugh, guess I better get some housework done and figure out what's for dinner!

Challenge accepted and Complete

Last year I had a great idea...I said I was going to try and make 5 to 10 Christmas cards every month so that when it was time I'd be ready! Well it was a great idea but one of many I failed to act on. Well Marnie challenged all of us to make 10 Christmas cards this month and I am happy to say that I took her challenge and have attached a picture (hopefully) of what they look like. Hopefully she will continue to issue this challenge every month as I'm not usually one to back down from a challenge. Since I was so gung ho and ending up cutting out more squares than I needed I'll probably do the same card again next month as they were so easy. Then by March I'll hopefully have another design in mind and make something new!

Happy New Year!, a little late

Well, I was a terrible blogger in 2006 but resolve to try and do better in 2007. I hope that everyone had a Wonderful Holiday and a Terrific New Year!!

This year was the first, since Marc and I have been together, that we did not travel over the holidays. As most of you know my parents winter in Texas and this year Marc's parents left for Florida in October and decided not to return for Christmas. Basically because they will be returning the end of February for their oldest granddaughters wedding. Anyhow, we had a nice quiet relaxing Christmas at home. Olivia, Seth and I all fought colds during those two holiday weeks so perhaps it was a good thing we didn't go anywhere. It also allowed us to celebrate Christmas with Dave, Marnie, Emily and Abbi as usually we don't get to celebrate with them until New Year's or after.

New Year's Eve was spent at home with our traditional appetizers all night long feast with sparkling juice and champagne at midnight. The kid's always have a great time as they get to drink their juice out of champagne flutes and that makes them feel so grown up!

Well, no more 12 passenger van for us. We traded it in for a new 2007 Chevy Uplander that only seats 7. Since Jonathon is gone and Matthew will be heading to Ft. Knox in August we decided it was time to downgrade. It's rare that all of us travel together anymore and we will save so much in gas money not to mention much better gas mileage. I'm still adjusting to parking it as it doesn't take up the whole parking space like the other one did, LOL!

Happy Friday, everyone.....hopefully it won't be another 3 months before I blog again!

14 Days and Counting

OK so now I'm the one counting the days until school starts instead of kids counting the days until it's over. Everyone has all their school supplies, new outfits for the first day of school and Seth jut got his last shot yesterday so he can officially go to pre-school!! YEAH!!! The only thing left is our family dental appointment on Monday and they we are all set to go!

What a crazy, but fun, summer this has been. We've done a lot of travelling (mostly to see family), swimming lessons, karate boot camp, vacation bible school, etc. Actually we have 3 more days of VBS and then we are off to Fulton to see Marc's family and meet our new great niece. Ariana Jasmine arrived on July 12th and we can't wait to see and hold her. We are also taking our other nieces, Emily and Abbigayle with us as we are watching them over the weekend.

Jonathon is home on leave at the moment and has spent the last few days with his Mom. He will be returning here on Wednesday so he can go to Fulton with us. Then on Monday he ships out to Holloman AFB in New Mexico where he will spend the next two years. He's having a great time being back home but I think by Monday (after a weekend with all the kids) he'll be ready to get back!!

Katie got her hair cut really, really short a few weeks ago....she was so excited about it but has now decided she's going to grow it back out!! I have a feeling she'll be like I was as a kid, everytime my hair would get shoulder length I'd get it cut short and then start the whole process over again.

I hope everyone has had a GREAT summer vacation and hopefully once things get back to normal around here, if that's even possible, I'll try and post on a more regular basis!

Summer Fun

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. We just got back yesterday from a long weekend at my family's. My youngest niece was baptized and had her 1st birthday party all in one day! We had a great time and actually got to spend some time in the pool on both Saturday and Sunday. This did a world of good for Olivia....she progressed so much more than she had during swimming lessons but I think it's because she had more freedom to practice and try things on her own. It was amazing how good she did and it showed at swim lessons today. Seth had a great time too and has absolutely no fear, even after swallowing several mouthfuls of pool water. He informed me that when we got home I needed to sign him up for swim lessons. So that was my first order of business last night. Livvy will progress to Level 3 and Seth will start with Pre-school and then hopefully move up to Level 1.

When we left yesterday we left Katie behind. She's going to spend the next 2 weeks with Uncle Bill & Aunt Heather. She's attending VBS this week and later I think they are planning on taking her to the Arch. She is also going to be going on a trip to Pirate's Cove on Kentucky Lake for a few days and she is completely unaware of it. They want it to be a surprise!! Heather's grandparents have a home there and a boat so I'm sure they will have a lot of fun and Katie will hopefully have a nice tan when she returns home!

Am busy doing lots of laundry today so I can repack. Marc, Olivia, Seth and I are heading to Fulton Friday for the long 4th of July weekend. Marc will be helping his Dad redo their basement bathroom which had to be completely gutted due to a mold problem. His parents are always here helping us with our house so it's our turn to help them!

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy 4th of July!!

So Sorry

OK so I haven't blogged in quite a while. So sorry but I have been without the internet for over a week now. As of about 30 minutes ago I am back up and running and raring to go.

School has been out since last Wednesday and I'm already close to being insane!! Or was I already there...hmmm. Olivia starts swimming lessons next week. Stephen is out of work until the 28th as Dinorex is doing maintenance. We will go visit my family the end of the month for Haley's baptism and 1st Birthday party. We will be leaving Katie behind and she will spend 2 weeks with my family. She's looking so forward to it!!

Well that's it for now. I'll try and be better about posting now that I've got my internet back!!

I'm Not With Stupid, I am STUPID!!

That's the new t-shirt idea I came up with yesterday. Marc thought it was good and I'm sure I could market it and sell a ton of them. Half of my family would be eligible to wear them as well...LOL!

Countdown to the last day of school has begun. The girls only have 5 days and 30 minutes (including today). Olivia's last field trip of the year is tomorrow and they will be going to Green Meadows Farm in Wisconsin. She is very excited and we are all hoping that there will be no rain...at least during the time of their visit.

Memorial Day Weekend was kind of quiet but productive. Both Katie and Olivia got their ears pierced so that was their highlight of the weekend. Their cousin Emily also spent the night with us and that was fun...other than the times when they were fighting over who's friend she was and who could or couldn't play with her. Marc and I spent the weekend doing yard work, planting flowers and cleaning out the storage and furnace room downstairs.

Just wanted to post something new as it's been awhile. Seth and I are on our way to the Chevy dealer to get the oil changed. We are travelling almost every weekend in June so need to get that done!

Productive Morning

Have been busy being creative (or at least trying). Here's a graduation card I made for our niece Michelle. Also a layout of my cousin Megan....she was the flower girl in my first wedding back in 1994...she's still just as cute too!