New Year's Goofballs

I get my camera card and K told me that she had taken some photos...the best was of mom sleeping with her mask on (she has sleep apnea) and a PACKER hat on her head..if I post it here I am starting a whole thing with our blogs and her posting icky pics of me..but don't worry - I'll scrap it soon ;) So I have to say it's all Bonni's fault..she has gotten the kids started on this crazy face...which the kids do NOT know what she says when she does this..but it's their rocker face. Even Anna will do it! Kevin is now picking it up and I hear Dodohead all the time :) Not to mention serious requests for cheetos and pepsis in the am. I wonder who, oh who could have taught them that BONNI :) So on NYE I was in bed...I would have *still* been asleep had my darling brother Tom and his gf Nicole hadn't called me..thanks guys...they wanted to tell me that the party we were supposed to go to w/them (they lost me after I realized there were no CHAIRS) was lame and we were lucky and saved ourselves $85 a ticket LOL I found out later that while it was free alcohol (and I don't

even drink really) it was a 2 hour wait in line or some such thing to even get any drinks...that sounds like fun- NOT. I guess I truly am a homebody. :) I went to bed with Anna at about 9pm and stayed there...whoo hoo happy new year ;)

But look at those three...(and Anna who isn't pictured) they are all mine...I am not sure if you are feeling sorry for me or saying how lucky I am. I think I am pretty lucky....my number one thing on my list of traits of who I wanted to marry when I was 15? Was HUMOR and believe me....we've got it in spades in this house. Thanks guys for making the last 12 years the best of my life and always for being there with some kind of humorous response..they've taught me to not take myself or life too seriously and to always laugh. Love that blue tongue babe...gotta wonder what in the WORLD he was eating :) LOL May I also stop and tell you all that the first time he got this hat at a game (his defense was that it was cold or something and he needed it for protection against frost bite :snort:) he came in that night while I was sleeping and jumped out at me...he wasn't so funny that night! LOL

But the image of him GROOMING the hat and combing it on NYE Morning was just plain hilarious. Gotta love them all!

Scrapping again and blog challenge

It's been a while since i've scrapped and I got to do a few pages before new years and a bunch after.

I have to say it's super nice to have a dedicated scrap area that is staying clean and is in bright light! (when the sun shines that is ;)

I highly recommend doing shelves like I did for a desk..it forces me to put things away to keep anna out of it and keeps my room clean.

The layout at left was using our Tribal Council kit..which I personally disliked....I don't know why but it never spoke to me like some of our other kits...but when I pulled it out I did a record 3-4 layouts with it..not bad for a sad little kit I didn't like :) And I have to thank my wonderfully, talented DT for giving me the push and inspiration I needed. With their sketches and wonderful takes on our kits it was impossible not to fall in love with this kit. Remember that when doing your layouts....and using our kits...we offer a great many resources to you for scrapping!

So Annette has posted our first blog challenge on our message board (they are in Gotta Chat- so come on in and take part!):
Q: What do you want to accomplish for YOURSELF this year? What are you goals or dreams? What are you most looking forward to? Give us a prediction of how you see your life going in 2007

Hmm....I want to lose weight and be healthier....I want to see SA succeed. I want to get Anna comfortable in Preschool without thinking I am going to disappear! For me...I'd love to get a bit smaller so I am not snoring or have bone spurs or back issues. :) I predict you'll see a thinner, happier me at the end of the year. At least I sure hope so! I am looking forward most? To my vacation with my family this summer...and to CHA and the SA crop....Bonni is coming in for a week and I can't believe my best friend will be here and we'll be hanging out together scrapping (well maybe ONE layout in all those days) and just chilling! I also am looking forward to CHA Winter...not the plane trip cause I am a wuss like you wouldn't believe but because Mom and I are going to go shopping and do girl things for 1-2 days extra that we are there...San Diego here I come! :)

I hope that we'll all stay close my family---with losing Dad I realize how important my family- my whole family is. I think I've finally come to terms with Dad and his smoking and "issues" and know that I love him all the same.

That's my goals for this year!

Testing

Sorry just a quick test as I switched to the new blogger version...I never went during beta so this is new for me! I think it will be nice...glad I switched!

okay it's official...the new version is MUCH faster..be on the lookout for tons of photos to annoy you again. The one of me and Anna is priceless...Mikey took it...and I had asked anna if she was smiling and she said YES LOL OMG her face just kills me....mind you the cute one of the three was halfway through 105 of them!

So these were my xmas morning pics and I didn't take any all xmas day.. Hope my brother sends me the link and uploads his for me soon! I wanna scrap them!

And finally a new layout I did recently! :) Using our recent We Gather Together SDJ using the beautiful Thankful? KI Papers :) This was one of the DT's sketches...someone claim it please...it's beautiful!!!!!

Thanks for looking girls..more from me in 07!

Now get your blogs updated!!!!!! LOL

Happy new year!

so I was gonna go post on our message board that I was all caught up on blogs and tattle on who owed updates and figured I'd cover my ample behind before I did! ;)

A brief update on our december: Snowstorm in Nov or Dec....scrapped some, packed orders, worked, made cookies, wrapped gifts....celebrated Xmas eve at mom's house and then xmas day here. It was fun and I am glad at the same time 2006 is over with! We went to Holiday Magic at the zoo...wicked cool..I'll *try* and get some photos up from there...and then tried for the field museum..drove 50 min one way to find out it was jammed packed......so we skipped that....

On NYE we stayed in...we contemplated heading to a downtown hotel with Tom and Nic to celebrate but they called us at midnight last night to say it was lame. So we are glad we saved the $85 a ticket ;)

I'm hoping to update this blog more in 2007. I will say that I did scrap today...scrapped 2 layouts in 2006 at my mom's this past week. And today alone I did about 4 layouts or so. Using a kit I HATED and now love the layouts...doesn't that always happen? And yes it's a scrapaddict kit...is there *any* other out there?

I am heading to CHA Winter in a few short weeks...I can't wait for the sunshine and girl time with my Mom..we realize this is the first girl's only trip we've taken ALONE together in ages....Plan on lots of goofy photos, etc

We are hoping to do the show in ONE day only (Julie and Liz are helping us- sure you want to brave it still? :wink:) and Cathy and Peggy (Mom's friends) will be tagging along if possible! I always have a lot of fun with C and P..and am so glad they were willing to put us up! Mom is making us meals so I'm thinking steak maybe? LOL

I have a funny pic of mom from NYE that the kids took if I can get it off the camera card too!

Wishing you all a prosperous and happy NEW year!

Hugs
Fee With my mom- look at her new RED hair!

Happy 50th MOM! (for those that know my other mom- this is my S'mom!)

Colonial Days

Poor M - had this musical at school with a speaking part (he was thankful for popcorn) - he said mom and nana and dad were taken ;) And I couldn't go. So Kev gives K the camera....and I get a bunch of blurry ones back. LOL

Here's one of my son! Right before he was going to speak :)

Looks real thrilled right? Did I mention that on Black Friday it was a black day here at my house? Seriously! First Katie tells me she has to make a 3D model of an atom and not just any atom but a magnese one or something. With 35 protons and electrons, etc and 3 rings. After $25 if she doesn't get an A the teacher is getting an email. Who thinks of assigning these things- esp to parents over a HOLIDAY. So I braved Michael's to get the items and they had asked to put up the tree..I said yes..tree only- not a big deal..figured we do the actual other items later...Kev admits they dragged it all out and he wasn't keeping an eye on them. Now let me set the stage for how *I* do my tree..it's never a norman rockwell scene that's for sure but I spend hours schoozing it just right ya know? And I have a HUGE priceless collection of hallmark ornaments...so I come home to find all 6 of my xmas tubs OUT and in various states of disrepair and all my hallmark boxes on the FLOOR..after almost sobbing I calmly realized that Katie had ditched the project when her friend came over and some boxes weren't even empty. The boxes ANNA was STEPPING on. So I quickly finish the tree...and complain because they put the lights and everything on without fixing the branches so it doesn't look artificial...I know I'm anal...I guess after all that it didn't turn out half bad right?

I have more photos to share..hopefully tomorrow morning or later tonight!

One more time now

here we go again scrapping makes her happy you know ;)

Happy Fake Birthday to ME

Yep today is my BIG day. My fake birthday. Kevin refuses to acknowledge it..says that it doesn't exist except in my mind..hello it's MY bday of course it exists...

So my birth certificate was miraculously changed when I was young because I missed the cutoff by 4 days (Dec 5th - the actual day of my appearance) to the 1st...for years I thought it was the 5th - which it is but then had to bring my b.c. into school for some stupid project and was "really" annoyed that it said the 1st....and from that day on celebrated with my friends on the FIRST..and they coined it my FAKE Birthday. Hey double the presents and double the cake..what's not to love as my friend Carole told me ;)

Since no one else cares about this day it's back to the cooking and cleaning for me! I did spend a lot of time today scrapping. I LOVE my new desk..right next to my dining room windows..so bright and cheery. The dumb letters fell off and ruined a picture...go figure they'll stick to a photo but not to the dang wall! So those are down now..but it's still my room. I got my "friends" canvas that Bonnaroo and I both have and my beloved ipod above it and I can *almost* drown out the kids in the next room playing video games I'm gonna load you down with photos now that it's working again ;) I fully expect it to break once more!













See how nice it looks with all my ribbons and flowers stacked? And those iris carts from the Container Store rock! They are drawers but when you pull them out each "drawer" is a case that is totally lockable and closed. YAY And they are deep and 12x12! The whole system is from The Container Store and it's their Elfa system. I highly recommend it. One more for this entry of Anna at her new desk.....she tells me all the time now...Scrapping makes me happy Mama, me too baby, me too!!!!!

Ok so it's broken..I'll do anna's desk later maybe..stupid blogger!

Poor neglected soul!

this Blog..that's what's neglected ;)

I used to LOVE blogging but unfortunately every time I came it would never upload photos..we'll try again today and see if it's better...we'll start with the photo of my father I wanted to upload last time..if I still have it! AHA It works..I was almost going to switch to the beta version but that one scared me..anyone else do it yet?

So that's Dad..at my brother's wedding..he looks ok..but to me personally he looks so sick..not the big, stocky guy he always was. I had a nice dream of him last night..where he wasn't dead anymore...not that it was a miracle or anything he just wasn't dead but we had already put the house in probate, etc and I was explaining why he had no change of clothes..but I was SO relieved to see him. And he didn't look sick like this anymore. I think he was coming to me in my dreams to tell me he was ok. I'm glad I could tell him I'm doing ok too! Love you dad!

In Remembrance

Of my father.....Michael J Czuprynski...he was born on 10/22 and died on 10/21 when he was 63. It's been a long health battle for him...7 years of decay I guess...going from the man he was to the man he hated being I think...weak and sick all the time. And in the end he still had one last surprise for us- his official cause of death was actually lung cancer...something NONE of us knew he had although my stepmom and myself had speculated at his wake.

The single most thing I could have done for him was bring him home...he was near family when he finally passed away. And the best thing we did at the wake was have it teeming in photos...I realized as Carole helped me go through photos that I came by my camera and photo obsession honestly ;) Anyway when you walked in there was a frame my Aunt had put together for us. And behind that table was an organ that we rested 1 of 2 photo boards on (those french memo boards?) and when you walked up I had taken 3 old windows and put the photos behind it in a collage (I'll take pics..I promise) and it was a glimpse into his life through all his years..from childhood through to the end. On the end tables around the room we had photos in frames..the ONLY photo I have of Dad with AnnaGrace was in one of these. And then his coast guard photo on his coffin with a framed photo of the last time we as a family stood in a picture- at Dave's wedding. It was beautiful..especially since it was a closed casket.

I wasn't prepared for how much his death would sap me of my energy..I still find myself crying throughout the day and have little to NO patience for people in petty fights with their parents...part of me wants to scream how senseless it is and to embrace those you hold dear.

I also thought today how interesting it is that we spend our whole lives waiting to be old enough to be on our own...and have little tantrums if our parents even *dare* to tell us how to live our lives but at some point we sit there in judgement of them. Who are we to say that how our parents choose to live - be it gambling, smoking, love life and so on when we don't allow them that same courtesy. We spend our teen years striving for the very independence we want to strip our parents of later in life.

I realize now how futile it was to ask my father to please stop smoking...he already had terminal lung cancer and hid that from all of us for TWO years. To beg him to come home...I wasted a PRECIOUS year not listening to the signs and fighting with a man already in a fight for his life. I think now and it's all so stinking clear ya know? I could have had a good few years with my father--instead I wasted it all on bitching and moaning...being sanctimonious...and to what end? My father is still dead and I feel I squandered that time we could have had. It's so easy to sit and say..I should have gone to visit more and call more and support him more. And yet in the end he knew that I would be there for him. I fought for over two months to get him home and to help manage his care. When his dementia made him so far gone he always remembered my phone number and me and turned to me. So I have that comfort at least.

If you still have your parents around...please I beg do not squander this time...no matter what our parents' life choices they still brought us into this world and irregardless of our feelings deserve our love and respect. Daddy....I'll miss you and know that I love you..I'm glad that you were able to be here for Dave's wedding and we got to spend time together before you passed away. I hope you will be watching out for me and our family from Heaven.

Love forever,
Felicia

I've been tagged

Thanks Laura...remind me again NOT to read your blog ;) Ok so to answer quickly:

the 7 songs I am listening to recently:

1. how to save a life- the fray
2. Bad Day- daniel something
3. London Bridge- fergie
4. My Humps- Black eyed peas
5. Hollaback Girl- Gwen Stefani
6. everyday - dave matthews band
7. avril lavenge (spelled probably totally wrong...but I love her stuff)

YUM-o and other ramblings

EVOO- who knew? I've been watching Rachael Ray now on daytime and I've never watched her before..but man we just had a condensed version of her Ravioli Lasagna and YUM-o it was delish....I can't wait for Kev to try it!!!!!

I am going to be ordering her books now..love the 30 min dinner ideas..so up my alley!

What have we been up to? An impromptu visit to Herrin to visit my dad who was doing poorly..he's still in the hospital...I took all of his bills...visited his house and got him set up to come here for rehab (hopefully)...I left him in the VA there - confused and dazed and hopefully will have him near us soon..it's SO frustrating to deal with a loved one's medical care from hours away :(

I did manage to scrap ONE page while I was there...am I in a giving mood to SNEAK peek an upcoming kit? Hmmm....

My type A Personality

LOL

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yep it's true...AG got 7 inches cut off her beautiful head. Why? Am I nuts? I am of course nuts..that goes without saying...BUT my baby kept scratching herself - in sleep, during the day and if her nails were even a little long she'd scratch it raw...when I figured it out her back was a series of little jabs and nail marks and all red and bloody. So what's a Mom to do? I took her in finally and asked them to cut it to her shoulders. Now I did almost cry! And Katie DID cry but what can you do? She loves it shorter and still scratches her back like a cat on the carpet, bed, etc when she's getting changed but I'm hoping in time she's not doing it in her sleep anymore.

Just to be safe I switched out all of our detergents at home too and the only thing left to take out of the mix is our OxyClean which I adore...so we'll see if it works with Tide Free first!

In other news...my life.....a mess...I'm somehow the liasion for my Dad during this latest health crisis..except he's not doing well at all. He's in a nursing/rehab facility right now but is currently not making ANY sense and is kind of out of his mind and he's constantly thinking things are happening that aren't and consequently is getting up and ripping out his wound vac (he had to have a toe amputated due to a staph infection- complications from diabetes)....and then FALLING..thankfully he's only ripped open skin at this point..but my gosh!

Anyway I never realized how hard it is to manage someone's healthcare with no advance directives..with only a POA document he signed upon going into the hospital 2 mos ago and that I still haven't seen...and being 6 HOURS away (12 hours round trip)...we are making another trip out to his place this weekend to deal with all of this..and I might have to retain an attorney now. I'm so annoyed. He hasn't payed any bills (i'll be doing that) and all this other stuff.

My brothers have been as helpful as they can be...but when dad's lucid he demands I handle it all..not them. Annoys me to death too.

Anyway if I am not around that is why. It sucks up every minute it seems...I'm either on the phone...or getting called or emailing my family updates...scary when you have to say update #2 and list a date. *meaning multiple updates throughout the day*

And this past weekend Kev's company rented out Six Flags...it turned out to be a beautiful day for going...the kids all got to ride on rides..AG went on her first roller coaster- the kiddie one and hated it...pretty funny considering she only wanted to ride the batman adult one :) But she loves rides....and kept saying that was most awesome or GUACAMOLE (short for Holy Guacamole!)

She also was too funny at Scarf and Barf after (Steak and Shake LOL)- she asked her daddy for some Uglin Rings...(onion rings- she calls onions UGlins) and he said I thought you didn't like Uglin's...and she told him..Daddy (patiently like explaining it to the simple minded LOL)- I don't like Uglins but I like uglin rings...makes perfect sense to me!

Katie went on big roller coasters....I refused to let her go on Superman and Viper and a few others but she did the Eagle, Whizzer and some Cajun one. Fun..she's a thrill seeker..must get that from her Uncle Tom. I went on more rides than I ever have and my neck hurts to prove it but I hate coasters!

Mikey is just like me..nothing too spinny or roller coasters and the poor guy was too TALL for the kid rides so he was bummed out.

Here ya go with some photos! :)
Doesn't even seem too short now does it? But it is! :) Ok I had two more to show ya but you'll have to see em scrapped..stupid blog....I'm about to switch to a PAID one if this keeps up....
Anyway the one was of anna putting her hand in front of my camera telling me NO more pictures LOL and the other was a group shot of the kidlets :)

One more

sorry gotta share it..my fave layout lately..but also one other for the girls..they'll know who they are.....but this is what scrapbooking is and how it works withOUT photos on a page also :) Ok so this is it..my work...the bliss layout is one I did for my brother and his new wife....I can't wait to help them get it together actually! :)



Enjoy.....if I do this gift album I'd do it as below...not to be confused with the quilt project :) Thanks!

Death to Smoochy

or death by layouts ;) I have a few more I want to share...not sure which ones to start with. And this blog is acting tempermental. Kev got a new toy..that's one layout I need to share and lucky you- it just HAPPENS to be a sneak peek of an upcoming kit! And then one on our trip to the apple orchard..fun time...it really was a wonderful day..and then a layout of Katie that I fussy cut again and my new favorite layout :) Hmm I'll do them in bits and pieces maybe :)

Depending on how much y'all nag me!

Hmm do I share more than one here? Do I huh, huh? Do I sound like Bonni? Do I ? LOL it's the curls..we can't help how we are you know!

Ok maybe ONE more for now..which one..decisions, decisions.... ok so this is the one I meant..with more fussy cutting...it also shows you that colors are not just boy/girl ones..this paper just screamed to me to be put with this photo..probably cause her jacket is beige ;) So my night tonight...well it's GREY's anatomy and I stupidly scheduled us to work. Duh! :) But we'll muddle through and I've tivo'd it...I love my PVR (for us Dish network ppl) what did I do with the tv before I could pause it? LOVE it! We've been swamped in preorders arriving all the time..I can't wait til we can catch our breath a little....and we totally rearrange the store..I mean moved tons of stuff and everything's a jumble these days..can't wait to get some more organization done down there! Ok that's it for now..will sign on again in a few days with more sneaks :)

Wanna a sneak?

Hmm should I? It's a blackmail pic of my eldest :) But it's so dang cute..poor kid..ok I will...it's an upcoming novie kit :) Loving it! isn't she stinking cute? I'm a lucky mom! :)

Be Original

That's all I'm saying...a recent layout I did that totally rocks..I can say that since it took me HOURS to cut all of it..thanks JESS :) So that's fussy cutting! And believe me I got pretty dang fussy with it. Where I have been? Well it's been an eventful month so I will try and summarize :)

Around 8/20 my dad entered the VA hospital system in a different state....what a horrid experience...he's doing much better and the great news is that today they are transporting him BACK to the VA hospital near his house in Marion, IL. I've had nothing but calls to make the whole time he was there....his belongings got stolen (cell phone, clothes, checkbook, wallet, etc) and I've been arguing with them up to today to try and get it resolved. They think I am going away..no one bothered to tell them tenacious is my middle name! :) So then Kev went to Vegas..and what happens in Vegas so does NOT stay in Vegas...cause if it did he'd not have brought back his stomach flu last week..this 1 week after the last flu he gave me (notice a trend? I do! ;) Anyway he came home on a friday after a week away and I honestly thought we'd have a romantic evening. Let me preface this by saying..three kids...so getting them all in bed was trying to get my planets aligned correctly and Pluto not being a planet anymore....it took some doing.

So set scene: Kids in bed..me getting a nice apple dessert together (folks mind out of the gutter..it was apple crisp..not a code word ) ....and then I get "the" call....he's sick and oh btw..he's spewed all over his car...um ok..he said he did not want me touching it..to just leave stuff out on the porch. Which I did and had a little pity party for the fact that I'd not be getting anything but vomit...maybe even shedding a few tears ;) And then I pulled myself up by my bootstraps (not those kinds of boots..geez Bonni..knock it off...figuratively speaking) and put a jacket on over my sexy lingerie (yes this time it's the real mcCoy) and cleaned his car. Ugh. And double ugh. In vents, down steering column. Anyway. About 1 1/2 days later..guess who gets it. That's the thanks I get. I begged him next trip to please leave all souvenirs there ;)

I managed to steal Anita's mojo (scrapping) that is and now I've done a few good layouts..i'll upload them here and there

More from me in a bit!

How we've spent our fall time so far...

school's been back for one week...we managed to take them out of school last tues to go hear Uncle Tommy play on navy pier...isn't Tom's girl Nic a beauty? She's a doll too in personality! We all love Aunt Cole :)

anyway it was dreary and cold and rainy but me, mom, riss and the kids braved the rain to meet up w/Tom, Nic and Dave's wife Vicky there...it was good to see her..she looked great too....but I think by then it was raining harder and I put the camera away...but my brother's camera has lots of pics of all of us because the kids took over the camera :) That's always scary...Vicky and I were laughing about them shooting our nose hairs...:)

Tom played a great 2 sets and then we headed back to our little town an hour away..thank goodness Mom drove as I was beat....this weekend we headed to Herrin, Il where my dad lives to pretty much scrub his house clean. :( He's in the VA hospital with some serious medical issues (what else is new) and we tried to convince him to sell the house and move back up by us. The 6 hour drive (one way) is killing all of us..but I don't think we made any headway :(

That's about it here..I have to head to the grocery store possibly or at least out to lunch...and then I hope to come back and scrap this afternoon...I owe Laura pages for Dennis's album but I really want to scrap something personally for me too...sigh Nothing like guilt.....hopefully I can accomplish both!

The last time I scrapped it wasn't my own pics. :) Ok that is it for me...headcing out here soon!
isn't this one just screaming for a layout? LOL I had just said no pizza...mean mommy- of course nice nana caved! 2 times I might add!

You know it's bad/Lia Sophia/and Katie's first dance!

when they make you do word verification when you click on image and give me some bs about how I might be hijacking this blog ROFLMBO Oh man..maybe I should quit..nah......

So Mom is selling Lia Sophia jewelry...if you'd like to do a party of her please email her or me....she's at siggy2@sbcglobal.net She loves what she does and I love the jewelry. I just did a show for her and earned $300 worth of jewelry..and you can do a book party too!

And the last thing..Katie had her FIRST boy/girl dance for the whole middle school 2 days after she started...I was hyperventilating as was another mom..we sent them off together..with strict rules and another mom there watching them ;) And of course SHE loved it...me- not so much. Not looking forward to the next few years!

so it worked finally

and I wasn't gonna be picky kwim? So no zoo pic...look for it online on a layout some time :) This is K's first day of MIDDLE school...wah wah sob sob..I mean it was as hard sending her as it was to kindergarten the first time...why is that???????! Also the bus arrives here at 6:41 am...you've gotta be KIDDING me..that's gonna make for a fun year right? She already missed it one day when the bus driver decided to come earlier and just start the route....I had quite a few choice words for them when I called them :)
Mikey..my middle guy...Grubtart all cleaned up..he looked so HANDsome his first day...you'll notice in layouts he had two different shirts on...he had to change because his breakfast was WIPED onto his shirt...grr....it was also hard to let him go..the little guy at the bus stop without his big sister to watch out for him... I worry about him constantly.
And little tootsie here...this was after I told her she wasn't going to school this year..her response after this..."duh Mo-om I am TOO going to school this year...WITH Mikey". Poor thing...she's not even going to preschool because she refuses to enter a class without me or apparently Mikey now. She's handling the adjustment well I think...thank goodness! ;)

Apparently I am sucking up

all the server power with my photo uploading because now it's acting wonky again..here's the zoo pic and some others...if it works I'll come back in and edit what y'all are looking at! :)

Playgroup fun

We are finally getting our act together to actually be at a playgroup..we belong to two groups now for parents who adopted internationally...and we've made it to all of one playgroup outing..our Chinese New Year's Party in Feb I think? That's a bad, bad track record right?

Well I found a unique way to make sure you attend at least one more outing- HOST it ;) Here you can see Anna being oh-so-sweet to push one of her little friends on a swing....what you do NOT see is that for some reason Anna dislikes the younger kids and babies and walks around being mean to this innocent angel. Yep my kid a bully..great...she got a timeout at playgroup. I am so glad we aren't adopting again..how to explain that the baby that you are terrified of is now your sister? LOL She's literally terrified of our neighbor's baby.....what is the deal ? She's also afraid of trees and bushes...our future trip to the aboretum should be a blast

Seriously we had a ton of kids here and after the house looked like toys threw up all over but it was FUN...I can't wait til our next outing!

Oh and we took the kids to the zoo...we have a membership....it's great fun! We are going to renew too...but here they are with Katie's best friend after jumping onto the polar bear :)

Sick of me yet?

now we get to Tall Ship Festival and the fountains of Navy Pier...I've scrapped a few of these..will have to share a latest layout or two also huh? I'm a little behind. I've done my layouts for the 3 scrappers, 3 ways of Freakie's..but I'm not allowed to share those...I've also done the auction layout that Joan won but alas I haven't scanned that one yet.

And may I say I surprised myself..because she sent me dreaded WINTER pics...the pics themselves..adorable but I am not a winter girl. So therefore I jumped out of my comfort zone to do them.

Ok, ok the Tall Ship Festival..find August to read about it..sorry I'm not retyping..just sharing photos of it!

Some of my faves if you will!

This little cutie

almost got Kev to say he wanted to adopt again...but we are pretty much on the no track again. I keep waffling too. SIGH...the timing is all wrong right now..but I'd love to go back.

This is our friends' new adorable baby! :) Her big sister is from AnnaGrace's town..and we all adopted together there.....made for a nice reunion. You can see the three girls below :) The big sister also shares AnnaG's bday and wore AnnaG's baptism gown at her baptism....which was from China...following all that?

Anyway we hosted and had one big family stay with us..it was a riot..and amazingly calm considering the parents were outnumbered by kids two to 1 :)

We took them to Riverwalk near us...it was nice to walk around..I'd like to do that again when we have time to visit the fountains, etc

We can't wait to see how everyone's grown in a year or so!

More CHA stuff

Hey I am behind...this dumb blog was broken forEVER! Here are some more. I particularly love Linda fondling MY personal scrap stuff LOL

For the first time ever I brought Katie with me....she was a wildwoman doing make and takes with Mom for the first day..by day 2 she was WORN out and bored. :) She hung out with Jess (I think her personal idol!) and had a great time though overall.

The Chatterbox Guys were so jealous that we kept taking pics w/the My Mind's Eye Guys..so we had to share the love :) Even Jess got out from BEHIND the camera on that one...

I think we even broke Linda of thinking how much fun it was!


I love the picture of the DT...I must have been working on that first order with Janet at Am Crafts at the time. It's amazing how stressed I am and it's only the first booth. Of course the bagpipe playing dudes walking through scared the beejesus out of me as did my mom after she picked up her motorized cart..she came whipping around the corner on TWO wheels....Lance was having a laughing fit over the site of her yelling..outta my way ;)

Overall a fun time...I was with a HUGE entourage so I didn't get to spend as much time with any of them that'd I have liked to. CHA is a horrid busy time for me with placing orders and such but at least there is plenty to see and do to amuse yourselves...right? I hope? LOL

Kung Fu Grip

yep it's the man who caused us to have a giggle fest at 2am during CHA....what can I say..we are easily amused, no?

:) HOLY cannoli it worked..I get images again..consider this a warning..it's gonna be a photo fest for a while now ;)

well it's official

no matter what I do I can't get the *(&%&% image uploaded..something is odd in Denmark...so you get me in all my glory writing. BORING ;) Bonni said she couldn't believe I updated....HA she never does her blog.....

I cleaned my scrap desk this past week...got a big ol box to donate and labeled everything. Did that stop me from loading up on new stuff? Heck NO...I've got Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket and Heidi Swapp filling my drawers..it's all so pretty. Anna has her own drawer now and loves to "scrap" with me. She told Jess- scrapping makes me happy.... LMBO The kid has got it honestly at least!

She's SO funny lately. I mean just so much fun to be around. Knock on wood she's in her own room after I lay down with her at night and mainly sleeping mostly through...the sleep for ME is amazing. I'm much nicer to be around! ;)

Ok this blows..come on admit it..no photos...man I am steamed....and I don't know how to fix it....I'm hitting the dumb image button..but nothing! Nada, zip...Kev won't look at it I bet...hmm

Has it been that? long????!

I mean long enough that your friends and family email you and tell you- um update the blog dangit LOL I've been busy ok? I mean truly busy....July was jam packed with one thing or another! Then we caught our breath in August and I swear it's almost over!!!!!

I'll try and upload some photos of the things we've been doing. Just wrote this whole thing about adopting and decided to erase it...when I have something to say I'll say it enough said!

Ok so what have we been up to? Well Kev's mom got out of the nursing home- YAY to her..months ahead of schedule and she's walking with a walker! So we saw them in the beginning of August..and then we went to the Tall Ship Festival..what a wonderful day. I'd advise skipping eating on Navy Pier- rip off city....but the festival was so nice...and then the kids literally played for 3 hours in a fountain in a free park right in front of Navy Pier..they loved it!!!!!
Ok so I am remembering why I didn't update..I was doing this before and the dang thing would not load my images! So it's happening again..will try one more time!!!!!
Hmm still not working..not sure what I am doing wrong....one more chance and then forgetaboutit!