Miss you woman

we had a great time...we didn't even get arrested...Anna was a dream on this trip and it showed me I can and WILL do this again sometime soon. I was so burnt out and needed to see my best friend...it was a rough deployment for her with Chris gone for his third time.....it was just good to get away and regroup.

In the past 6 months things have changed so much at the store..both online and locally. I am lovin' the changes online...what at first seemed to be insurmountable ended up being so good for Anita and myself...Anita...she's such an easy going person...we get everything done..on time and nicely- no drama..and that's important...it's important to realize that there are ppl who have drama and love to give it and will ALWAYS put their own interests first..I'm glad I didn't listen to the griping...esp since she's been my friend for geez 13 years....!!!? Anita..we are officially gettin' up there ;) I'll bring the walkers.

Anyway change is bound to happen and I am feeling my way in this retail business and learning SO much....I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Back to my trip...I had to bribe the kids to let me take photos although when I was having them jump over me sitting on the ground they thought that was high fun. And I crawled through a playground for these shots...Love Bon's kids..they are such good kids..yes even stinker Hannah Banana when avoiding Anna Banana :) I am so glad they got their Rock Band..so I can sing with them when we see them next ;)

I took a ton of pics..these are only a few surprisingly!

Etsy

who knew I'd love this place so much? I'm addicted and I am dragging my employees into it too :) I've bought quite a few purses lately and all seem to be from ONE person. So I thought I'd give her a plug..I'd like to think we are becoming friends since I only talk to her every few weeks lately. If you are so inclined and want beautiful purses like mine..go check her out and mention I sent you. She does custom work too which I love. I bought my first purse after being side tracked from my original purpose..which was a camera strap from Emily Falconbridge....too funny that story....and thanks to Sandra for originally hooking me onto Etsy and letting me peek at all her faves.....so I found Jill and then bought a purse in a lovely Amy Butler fabric...YUM...got that one and asked for a camera bag..then when I was showing CherylW the bags she got me to order a 3rd one with more padding for my camera..and now it will be traveling in style ;)


I'll share that bag once I get it...but let me try and find images of the other bags....
ok if you want to order any...go here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5176604
Jillyd Bags

Love her!!!


fee

Do I update here?

not often enough. A friend just asked me if I do a lot and I said yes and then realized sadly- no I don't :)

So I will upload some photos from xmas. We had such a calm, great day. The tree is still up staring me in the face but Mom promised to help me dismantle BOTH of them today.

We are still waiting on our basement to be done but the movers move Mom and Riss in this friday. We've had my gram staying with me too while she recovers from leg pain so we've had quite the full house! Not forgetting that we are also dog sitting Tom's dog Cassidy. :)

Kev got me this awesome new lens for xmas- an F1.4 50mm lens...it takes such CRISP clear photos but I'm still learning. I'll upload some of my faves with it....keeping in mind I am a novice and unless Cari starts offering PRIVATE lessons for me I may *never* improve.

The weather here has been so odd that I am never sure whether to put on shorts or a sweater. Today it's stormy rain and 50 degrees...last week it was an ice storm. See what I mean?

only a few short days until Miss Anna and I leave for a wonderful break....we head out on a plane to visit Aunt Bonni. I am not packed yet but hope to do that tomorrow....ok nothing great to really say :)

The picture of Kev was taken in front of the window...well all were..I love that this lens will "blow" out the background. Of course I'm shooting in AV mode and um realized that shooting in the snow on a high ISO means a totally white photo ;)

Ok I am in NO mood to futz with the setup of this..so enjoy! :)

Fee

Xmas Day

We had a budget and I stuck to it and they still had a ton of stuff. I couldn't believe it. The tree had to be in a new location because of this scamp:

and it was still ok. He liked the tree and probably would have destroyed it Lucy style (my best friend's dog!) but we didn't let him! We had a quiet holiday with family and it was a good time. I got to see both of my brothers and Dave's wife...it was so nice to see her..we don't get to that often! And Tom's gf Nic....we played cards and ate fairly healthy! Nice. If you want to see more of them..I think I put a bunch up on my facebook. I am fairly addicted to that and texting..so make sure to add me and email me for my cell phone #. Although that texting has been slower come winter. Here are some of my fave pics of the holiday! in no particular order! The big haul..Katie's xmas was a TWILIGHT one..with calendar, wall hanging (of Edward of couse), 2 tee shirts....she was in heaven. Mikey loved his MICROSCOPE (wonder if he takes after his parents at all????) and Anna loved her bakugan. :) And her real art easel for the table. She was in heaven! I love when they all get along. Some highlights: When Mikey stopped Anna's tears (because he had opened a bakugan and Anna hadn't yet..didn't know she had one) and gave her one of his! Good brother and brought tears to my eyes. Pics of my whole family with me! That was a highlight..we don't as adults get in many of them it seems. And also when Kev smelled up the house..we have pics of the kids with their pjs over their faces..we laughed SO hard. Finally....the best...Mikey shopped at school w/his own money for his family. Gave Katie a tube of what he thought was lip gloss. Katie opens it and goes..um Mikey why'd you get me GLITTER GLUE? OMG we laughed so hard and that might be my most fave holiday pic! I missed my Dad a lot this year but less than previous years. We didn't do a grab bag for the adults- economy driven of course. But Tom still made us all laugh by giving us each a glass from a set of 6 that he had gotten in a grab bag. Thank goodness I have Kev's, Mine, Mom's and Riss's..at least we have a set. Poor Gram and my other Mom (also Mom btw) got one each LOL. I like these holidays where things are quiet. Can't wait for some little ones to spoil again. That's not a hint or anything brothers of mine! I included the pic of Darwin that Katie took on our photo shoot..it could be in a calendar. And don't let that cute demeanor fool you....he's a hunter and can get anything in his mouth. I dread to think of the things he's swallowed..bet we find all sorts of goodies in the spring in his waste in the yard. Ewwwwwwwwwww!

Hugs and Love to you all this holiday season, Fee

Anna is definitely unique and her own person...she refused to wear the Snow White costume at first....b/c it wasn't the BAT costume she wanted....then she put Katie's old hat on her head and called herself a PUMPKIN LOL She is something this kid. She was wearing her Goin' Bananas red shirt....her purple paisley pants and blue turquoise crocs...oy vey!

After we visited Margaret (she says I call her Marge and she calls her Margaret) she decided to dress in her Snow White costume. Wonders never cease to amaze me. Of course it was over her clothes and her crown was falling off but all in all an adorable PRINCESS!!!

She even managed to walk most of it...but good thing we brought the stroller...she petered out at the end and decided she wanted to go home. Pretty somber Halloween with a weirdo on the loose but we had fun. Kev wants to join up with the people who drag a wagon filled with alcohol next year....I'm at least bringing a hot chocolate ;)

And my major overwhelming feeling? Thank goodness another halloween is over with. Cheryl is loaning me a candy corn costume in 2 years...and I got Mikey - Davey Jones I think from Tarjay for a whopping $5 marked down from $50. Anna has agreed to be a witch like her Margaret for next year..YAY me as that was $3 on clearance...poor Kati will have to go with a creative one next year again as she's at that age where it is no longer cool to dress up but definitely fun to terrorize or t&t for candy.

Forgot my TAG from Jess...might have missed a few more ;)

But here are my boring answers!

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.once again, thanks Jess http://jessicabellus.blogspot.com/
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs. (ha I might never do this one!)

People I am tagging: My Mom, Bonni, Laura, Carolyn, Meghan, Cynthia, Briana :)

My odd facts.....

1. I used to have to sleep with the covers over my ears....am usually terrified to be in the house at night and sleep...the house alarm has helped with that :)

2. I like to color- which I've shared before but I am a coloring book snob...it has to have GREAT lines I like care bears or strawberry shortcake best. I also hate to share my books and god forbid someone colors on my page. I sign all pages I do with my initials and date and I hate using used crayons...

3. I hate Halloween. Yep it's true..I have hated this holiday for years.....why do we dress up as idiots and go beg for candy when I can just buy it at the store?

4. Geez I might not have 7 random things to tell about me LOL- I was going to be a lawyer when I was younger...or a teacher...guess I got the degree and certificate for teacher but skipped lawyer :)

5. I love to people watch...it's always interesting to see what people are like....so when we are at amusement parks ,etc I love to watch ppl interact with each other...wanted to be an anthropologist also but for the little matter of no running water/showers out in the field ;)

6. Ok i am not doing well at this....I hate chain letters...and never do them. I take that back..did the dish towel and recipe one once and got nary a one back!

7. But was superstitious enough to get that Amish Friendship bread and struggled for weeks to not let the starter batter die so that I wouldn't upset some Amish somewhere who had no idea I had their starter batch...b/c let's face it...do you think they really care?

LOL Enjoy!

Our Halloween

Here are some pictures...for me it's finally over....the kids had fun even though I am "mean" because I won't buy them costumes...if they only knew how *much* I dread this holiday they'd understand.

Katie was a rock star- thanks Bonni....it's the ONLY face I get in photos and I see the same disease has stuck your house too ;) Mikey was a ninja but lost his black shirt two seconds before we had to leave (how does one do THAT?!!!) and was a white ninja instead.

And Anna decided to wear her princess costume..at first she was a "pumpkin" in her words.

LOL did I mention I was happy it was OVER?

More photos later...gotta snuggle Anna - and I didn't them loaded on here yet!

Yay it's fixed

and a HUGE thanks to Jess for fixing it and doing up this banner for me. Better yet she gave me a blog address that helps you do your own banners! I love this photo that Jess took though so it's gonna stay for a while now..less dizzy to have it only once though right???

I have a ton of layouts to scan...and upload..will work on that when I can get into my office and we have some new pictures too...today we go and get our family pictures taken after school and I am so excited that Cari is taking them for us...I've already warned her how hard they are Jess ;)

We'll see what she comes up with!

And until tomorrow I bid you adieu and am so grateful for the little things....I'm glad that my best friend is mine for life without the possibility of parole :wink: - her words not mine and I'm glad that her dh is home for some R&R and that he's out there risking his life everyday for us - makes the pettiness and nastiness of life so pitiful. I hope you find that scrapping mojo again sweets....it's not worth it to lose it over drama - life is too short.

I'm happy to report it's November and I made it through the year of firsts...I miss my Dad everyday and my kids still start me crying when they cry about missing their Poppa but it is getting easier. We do our high fives "Poppa Style" and we talk and laugh about the good times...it's brought me closer to my brothers and for that I am truly thankful this thanksgiving season.

In that vein I am thankful for a great team online and locally who have helped me make my dream come true...my family and manager Cheryl. And anyone who has helped us. Gotta run..contractor is here! YAY

it's a start

SNORT

Omgoodness I think this is hilarious.

I'm gonna fix it but later...at least I know I can edit HTML- sort of ;)

Banner gone

That is one of my changes....doesn't matter to me that I don't have one yet..I'd rather have NOTHING at all than something that I didnt' do myself. :)

So I am learning..but that is not the change I was speaking of....

I did it...

and I am so proud....now see if you can figure out WHAT I did ;) It's here somewhere

and I also survived Oct...and anniversary of my dad's death. I am so glad. Now I am off to the doctor with one sick child...an mri for another tomorrow and oh yeah..get that subscription out for the customers. No stress..I've been up since SIX to do it all ;)

Catch ya later.

Lay off the 'hos Daddy

Yes words I never thought would be spoken....as I was dressing Anna for school I noticed she had grown and those jeans were just a wee bit tight..so as I was loosening them up I told her jokingly (what kind of Mom do you think I am....) "Lay off the ho ho's anna" Who started laughing hysterically and ran to tell Daddy...but you know those telephone games of yore? Well it went something like this...

Anna running to Daddy in office...

A: Daddy, daddy.....lay off those 'hos.

K: What?

F: Laughing too hard to answer and holding myself up in the doorway...tears streaming down my face

K: Did she just say what I thought she said...???!

F: Wait wait...she meant..lay off the HO HO's.

K: Well Anna honey I like my 'hos.

A: Lay off the hos dad, lay off the hos...

F: This might not have been such a great idea (as visions of preschool carpet time float through my head.

This is the kid who looked at me the other day pointing out our tonic water (flat as can be btw- to which my good friend Luce would be horrified ;) And said: This is for Daddy- he's a drunk....and me quickly saying...no honey- he drinks..he's not a drunk....and anna saying..that's what I said mommy. Oh boy! :) I tried to explain he has a drink once in a while but she's sure she's saying it right!

ParTAY time!

I agree with Catherine- I should have played the Hallelujah chorus because the kids were going back to school. But this year was a bit surreal with me trying to squeeze in getting to the store. Katie was first out. What an adult now...when did she start closing her door at night to sleep? It's already begun with her. SOB But anyway she gets up at the ungodly hour of 6am to get ready for the bus. It arrives at 6:58am. I managed to straighten her hair for her and then follow her out with the camera...she wasn't that thrilled with me. :)

I took a bunch of pics and then started to get the "look". All moms of preteens know the "look". Mikey got up and was more agreeable to photos except the sun was shining bright and he squinted in almost all of them. Need to get that boy a pair of sunglasses LOL

Mikey's new school is at the end of our block..well like 2 blocks down.....you walk to the end of our street and then cross and then walk around the lake to the school. I can see it from our house but my trepidation comes from it being MIKEY who is walking himself to school with no Katie to watch him. She's my 40 yr old and Mikey is my 2 yr old kwim? Anyway we walked with him and sure enough the dude did NOT look when crossing the street. We have an added danger of a stupid traffic circle right in front of the school so if he walks safely without crossing to the crossing guard he actually has to cross TWICE over this circle (think mass confusion from vehicles) by himself. So we trained him -sort of on walking. Kev thinks I am a worrywart but even he was annoyed w/the way they placed the crossing guard. And then the next am Mikey and his friend were totally on their way and forgot to cross at all.....and had to backtrack. No I am not following him anymore. LOL Only once in a while.

So the older two went earlier than Anna..who started last week Fri for one hour (more on her in a minute). Mikey LOVED it. I had to go with him prior to his first day (full day too..no half day here this year) and meet his teacher....young and newly married...seemed nice. He came home and said his teacher is VERY nice and he loves her. YAY. Katie got home before him that day and was all angst. The school was horrible, she missed the other school, the passing period is shorter, her locker was jammed with others and hard to get to, you name it she had a complaint for it.

We told her to suck it up..that teachers will appear to be hard butts the first day and then will ease up....we mentioned making the best of it and then you'll have a good day and we talked about fixing some of the issues (I called and got her locker reassigned and let her sign up for chorus and also student council). So needless to say she loves it there now and is so happy. The girl we had issues with the last year in grade school is now her friend again...which makes me happy as that was horrific (remember I was going to school because Katie was getting threats?) Anyway school is going great for them.

That leaves the little one. My angst one for other reasons :wink: She went on Fri for one hour...we were told we'd be with her the whole time but some brainiac decided that the parents would go into the other room for a meeting...and Anna was none too thrilled with this development. We had a LONG meeting there while I worried about Anna and then it was over and I was talking with the head person and thought Kev went to get Anna (idiot ;) And he hadn't so they brought her to us since all the other kids were picked up already- WTG Parents of the year. She did ok. She didn't really talk to other kids, etc but was ok.

This week she did one hour alone and I waited in the parking lot...today is her first OFFICIAL full day where we do a drive up - drop off. Heaven help us. Getting her out of the car should be fun :)

I'll post more about her first day and our apple picking tomorrow. I'm doing better...aren't I???

Jump Up Jump Up Jump Down

I know it's some song...which one- I'm not totally sure on....this child has been the one hardest hit by my being gone all the time. I had no idea and didn't see it coming. Anna sure- she's the one who has attachment issues- ie me leaving her...but this dude flies under the radar...I've been trying to make sure he has special attention from us. Sigh....being a parent is hard!

Here he is at the park near Aunt 'Cole's and Uncle Tom's jumping....we passed this same park a few weeks later on the way to eat dinner with Tom and Nic and man there were SO many trees uprooted at the roots from the storm..these were big trees. We lucked out because while the "mircoburst/tornado" went through here - we are too new and don't have the trees and stuff like other areas.

Anyway.....I love the look on his face here....just pure joy! My action boy!

Look Ma,

This phrase always worries me...but it's one that AG uttered the other day to me...come and look Ma...she was SO proud of herself....turns out that she can actually PUMP her legs on the swing. :) I was able to get some cute action shots of her (notice I don't post the blurry ones in between). Did I mention I love my camera? I do! Even if the flash doesn't pop up on it's own and even if the external flash never worked on my camera ;) I was worried so much about the kids with opening the LSS but I needn't have worried. First I am blessed with the *best* employees around. They work for me when I am sick (Thanks Marge!) and come in so I can get the baby to school (Thanks Joy!). I couldn't survive without them all to help me succeed (Thanks Cheryl, Julie, Karle, Beska and Elizabeth). This doesn't even include our great dt (local and online) and everyone else! Back to Anna....she has been coming out of her shell more with people..not kids...which worries me...she still clams up with them but has started talking to adults in our store!!!! She will walk around with them and bend over to look at product with them---giving her opinion, etc. It's cute to watch. But she also has a boyfriend now. Poor Sandy has lost her husband Mark to Anna. Who thinks she's marrying him someday but then realized that Sandy is already his wife...does that explain the death glares Sandy gets from her?

I'm not sure who is more in love either. Now I can't even email Sandy about anything without mentioning Anna for Mark..and when they last met...they ran across the store like they hadn't seen each other in ages....had fun playing in the kid area and I don't mean to alarm ya Sandy but when we left he was STILL in there playing :) Thanks Mark for helping my shy kid break out of her shell a bit!

Our summer vacation

It's school time now but we are behind....with the store opening we haven't had too much of a summer but I'm proud to say that we've made sure the kids have had sleepovers- numerous ones---fun swimming and fun outings. We've been down to see Uncle Tom and Aunt Nicole for lunch...I loved taking the kids to the local park there...we got some great shots of them in the water area. Mikey showed us what eating a whole box of lemonheads looked like ;) BOYS...and we have just hung around here mainly enjoying each other's company.

I'm glad it's fall though...hard to reconcile the 90 degree days with the September date.

One of my fave summer shots was one of Mikey proving what a good influence Aunt Bonni was when she was in. The kids got to spend one on one time with her and Anna loved goofing around with her but I'm pretty sure that Mikey was her buddy the whole time. Don't tell him I said so though. I can't wait to have more time to mess around with the camera....I love it..it takes such crisp clear shots....I'm gonna be so sad when I upgrade it. The flash already doesn't pop up anymore and I don't want to send it in. :(

Scrap Addict after hours

I have never..ever laughed SO hard as when we went out for Mexican food that first night. I'm pretty sure that the staff hated us ;)

Talk about NEGLECT

My poor blog...I'm so sorry..I've saved tons of pics now to get caught up. I'll try and work on it some each night!





We caught up with Austin Powers at CHA who was thrilled to have an Austin sandwich and if I recall totally propositioned JEN :) Who kindly let the poor dude down. He was perfect to his accent and those teeth!!!!










CHA recap....man was it FUN.....it's work too spending all that money ;) But the laughter...I have some pics I'll post here. I was so very lucky to have old friends and meet new ones (jen) and just have a great time. And this time was extra special because I had Bonni here for an extra week....and yes you'll get a glimpse of what that looks like..aka when Bonni Runs Scrap Addict ;)



Ah yes.....Bonni...my love...when we leave Bonni to run Scrap Addict...this is what happens. We have her with a myriad of eye colors too. SIGH and yet i still adore her! Miss you loads babe!






And we had to invoke the what happens with ScrapAddict at CHA stays at SA but I'll share some photos next which will explain to all.






The SA Angels..as dubbed by Bonnaroo....aka SF :) Mom had to be goofy but that's what makes this so lovable! :)
More to come in a bit!

Tag I'm It - it appears

Ok so I've been tagged from Carolyn - These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. So, time for my 7 random facts:

1. I love to color...always have..but I am super anal about it..no one is allowed to draw on my page and I always sign my initals and date :)

2. My friends called me Fish (shortened for Felicia) in High school..while it was cool to have a nickname I hated it..much prefer the Fee my friend Lucy (who has the cutest irish lilt) gave me!

3. I like to dip my french fries in milkshakes!

4. I acted in musicals in grade/high school having the lead in a bunch!

5. I'm terrified to fly- anywhere- even now!

6. Kevin and I met online- before there was a WWW or internet really!

7. I was born with six fingers on each hand.

I tag: Bonni, Jess, Catherine, Cynthia, Kim, Meghan, and anyone else who hasn't done this yet! Consider yourself IT!

Meghan's Quiz

I saw this on her blog and just so she knows I read it....I'm gonna answer it! Idea is to answer it in one word answers Yeah right I didn't ;)

1. Yourself? larger than life ;)
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend? married
3. Your hair? CURLY
4. Your mother? Nana
5. Your father? dead
6. Your favorite thing? scrapbooking/family
7. Your dream last night? vivid
8. Your favorite drink? lemonade
9.Your dream car? mine (clean ;)
10. The room you're in right now? family
11. Your fear? death? Spiders?
12. What you want to be in 10 years? alive
13. Muffins? Blueberry
14. Who you hung out with last night? Kev
15. What you're not? dishonest
16. Time? almost 8pm
17. What you're wearing? Pjs
18. Your favorite weather? Fall
19. Your favorite book? romance
20. Last thing you ate? sundae
21. Your worst vice? food
22. Your best friend is? bonni
23. What you're thinking about right now? pain (anna is brushing my hair!)
24. Your car? dirty
25. Your life? busy

Two parties in one day

what was I thinking??? I mean seriously...we did Mikey's friend party at Cici's pizza in the am...lots of little boys all rambunctious...demanding more quarters for the arcade games LOL And then Katie's friend party at the Y in the late afternoon...20 kids invited..over half didn't show or RSVP...but the 7 there had a roaring good time. We laughed so hard at them. They smeared frosting on each other's faces...ran around squealing and had a good time. 12 yr olds are FUN :)

But I had a migraine on Sat and couldn't even concentrate at all and didn't get any scrapping done. Then sun we hit the flea market for the furniture for the store...unfortunately it sold while we were at a breakfast there so we missed the piece by about 20 min. :( it was a sideboard that had been built into a home and salvaged...it was long enough and beautiful....mission style wood..and I wanted it for our crop area...oh well...I did get our soda wooden holder for the paint like I saw in Scrapbooks, Etc...can't wait to see all this stuff together!

The new ScrapAddict

and improved right? ;) The far away photo was for someone who wanted to see the whole center..this is the back..there is an almost fully occupied front part to this building with a service hallway between us all :)

Our new address will be 13717 S Route 30, Suite 147, Plainfield, IL 60544. We won't have phone service til June 28th but then it will be 815-609-5955

I can't wait until the build out is done. We have the *best* contractor- his name is Joe Resendiz and he owns Build All Construction so if you are in the area and need a home built or any project commerically or privately let me know! I highly recommend him!

She is TOO funny

I think that Mikey and Anna give each other a run for their money....but lately she's taken to leaning over when I snap a picture with the camera..all because I am leaning over and turning the camera to the side for a long shot....and then she laughs hysterically. So I snapped the photo...but of course :)

Here is the layout from that photo that cracks me UP!

Never a dull moment

I'm going to skip ahead a bit and then skip back but this photo SO ties into the eye doctor trip ;) One day K mentioned that she couldn't see....out of one eye at all and then of course the boy had to get in on it too right?

So I called immediately because it's not normal to see nothing out of one eye when the other is covered. Turns out they BOTH needed glasses...nice screening at school...we took them about a year ago for an actual exam but hadn't been back. Anyway M was being driven to school and I didn't want him to get out without knowing someone and I asked if he knew that boy up ahead and he said..well I can't SEE him so how would I know (thereby reminding me I hadn't made an appt yet) - silly boy!



But while we were in there the doctor was laughing his head off because the two kids were goofing off (not the oldest as a hint ;) And Mikey was acting like a holler monkey as Anna said and then he was pretending to be one and then Anna started telling me that you could rip off your skin and drink your blood (what the HECK???!) so I was like..what??! and she says..it's true Daddy said you could! I said that he was in big trouble when we got home...and the doctor says..wait you were here with someone last time....who was it....and i said my husband and he said...life is certainly not dull at your house is it? Um ya think???!

Here are my stinkers :)

Poor Unfortunate Soul

pretty sad when that is the common theme of my blog these days! But the good news is that our store blog is up and will be revealed shortly!!!!

I do have some news to share..we are moving the store out of the basement and into a brick and mortar location by the end of July...that sentence alone causes great fear and strikes me mute.

But I am happy as a clam when I don't think too much about never seeing my kids again ;)

At least the store is only 5 min from my house and I *think* I found an employee for the lovely daytime hours I needed so I can sneak away and get hugs and kisses...unless of course we've scared her off!

The picture at right was an awesome one i just happened to snap at the zoo with the kids....it's time for catch up :)

Katie did *awesome* with her speaking part in the play for school. We were amazed because she was sure she would not have gotten a speaking part. It was for drama club and they took auditions from kids in 6th-8th grade...and all the kids who got speaking parts were ones mainly older w/the exception of a few from Katie's track! WTG kids! I don't know that I like how old she looks with stage makeup on...people kept saying how she looked like Sandra Bullock. Oy vey.

Does that mean she's marrying a tattoo'd man? :wink: Here she is with her proud Grandma and Nana...they both had tears in their eyes!

4th Place

I did it...! Feel like singing the Dora song :) It was a setting in my ACDsee....that was switched on...only took an hour ;)

4th place- that's what Mikey got in the pinewood derby! YAY....I say that because last year's car was not so great (sorry hon) so this year we enlisted Uncle Dave...YAY...he rocked the car...after one mishap LOL We found out that glue *does* expand a lot..so I cleaned that out and he reset the wheels or some techie stuff I am not sure about. :)

The yay is because last year the car flipped off the track on one run - so we are doing much better this year! We hope Uncle Dave can save the day next year....Dave- he's already pulling out matchbox cars he wants to build with you from his pinewood derby car ;) So far he wants a bus or a race car :)