Random stuff...

finally getting around to creating a layout just for the fun of it! i got my mits on the new urban windows collection from we r memory keepers (thanks again kristy!) and i can't tell you enough how much i LOVE these papers! the patterns and the colors are so me! burnt orange, browns and kiwi green....yum-o! i used it sparingly on this layout...i've got to make it last you know.

anyway....not much else going on here. terry has been out of town all week and returns saturday. after about day 4 i am so ready for him to come home. the girls are very good, in general....but when it comes time to come in at night or to take a bath etc....look out. grandma got an earful on the phone last night. they weren't happy with me. i think most of it is because their so stinkin' tired they tend to get ugly and grouchy!

not much of a post but like i said...not much going on here. maybe i'll have another layout to share later on...oh, one more thing....dee, if you're reading this THANKS again for the generous box of goodies!!! so fun! have a good wk. end!

Girls @ Play

took a few photos of the girls today riding around on the new (used) toy today! they've actually had this little 4-wheeler for about a month now but i was a little s l o w in purchasing a battery for it. our neighbors that moved in across the street gave the girls the 4-wheeler (they have a jeep and a harley battery operated unit) ....we were a little hesitant to accept the gift but how does one turn down a gift. we would have never gone out and bought the girls a battery operated riding toy....we want them to play and get exercise, ride their bikes and scooters and not become dependent on something else doing the work for them.....but i figured i would eventual have to buy a battery and actually use the 4-wheeler to at least show appreciation for the gift we were given, right. so i picked up a battery & charged it up last friday so they would have the 4-wheeler to use over the weekend. good news is they only drove it a few times and would go back and forth from their bikes to the 4-wheeler....i guess we have nothing to worry about!
my darn ear is still friggin' plugged! good gravy...what does it take. i'm just waiting to blow my nose one of these times and have this huge blast go through my ear. not gonna be pretty, i'm sure! but i'm feeling so much better....
terry is off traveling all this week. had him home for a day, just long enough to mow the yard. so i'm hoping we get some rain this week so i can spend some much needed time indoors. i have yet to figure out how so many people get so many layouts done (work for so many companies) when they have kids at home? if it's nice outside there is no way these two girls will let me stay inside to work in the basement. soooo, doing a little rain dance :) hee hee i did get all of my assignments done and mailed off today. chow for now.....

Ok so I wasn't quite @ 100%

man, this cold is hangin' on for dear life! i'm now thinking i must have had an infection and had i gone to the dr. when i should have it would probably be cleared up by now! but in order for me to go to the dr. i really need to be on my death bed. i've never been one to run to the dr. when i have a cold or some other minor issue that i know will fix itself if given time. i get this philosophy from my dad! ha ha so i'm still all stuffed up and my ear is still plugged. good thing is i can taste my food again! or maybe that's not such a good thing...it's was a good weight loss method. but boy it's annoying!
i still have 3 projects to finish up for CX. uhg! i'm ususally on top of my assignments and their in the mail by now. but terry is back home today...he was in florida, "working?" for 3 days. do you get a sunburn when you work? ok, maybe if you are a lifeguard or work in the fields without your shirt on.....but a shirt and tie kind of job....hmmmm? working, yes that's what we call it! ha ha i'm just kidding....they had some down time and managed to hit the beach etc....terry burns so easy from the sun. i remember one time when we were dating and we were at my parents lake home out in the speedboat in the middle of the lake.... well, the sun was reflecting off of the glass windows and terry just got fried. poor guy was crispy!
got an e-mail from Scrapbook Answers the other day....they liked one of the article proposals i had sent them and want to use it in their upcoming special sept. issue. i'm pretty excited about that! should be a fun piece to do! you'll have to check out the special may issue that is out now....i did a step-by-step article on making homemade foam stamps. there is also a layout and how-to piece on the disc that is included with the magazine.
is anyone going to the Scrapbook Answers girls weekend in aug.? several of us from the design team are going to go to help out with the classes etc. but what i'm really looking forward to is the spa treatments :) and going on a "mini me" vacation. (wink!) if you haven't heard about the retreat you'll have to check it out! they haven't given us a lot of information yet so i can't dish anything out as of yet....
well, hopefully this week i can be a little more creative and share some projects/pictures with you....always seems a little boring w/o pictures! enjoy your sunday!

i'm back...

thanks to my dear husband we all managed to catch nasty colds/ear infections etc...i was the last to get it and it's still hanging on but at least i feel human again. although, i still can't taste my food and my ear is plugged. what a bad combination that is! i've resorted to chewing gum now to try and pop my ear. will that work (it hasn't yet)...works when you're flying. good thing is i've lost 5 lbs. in 5 days! gotta love that...
it's my parents 43rd wedding anniversary today! man, that's a long time. guess we had better start thinking and planning for their 50th! :) my sister and i are big planners. probably my sister more-so. she's always got something in the works!
i was able to crank out 3 of my 6 projects that are due (soon) but i don't have any pict. or layouts to share with you this time. it's a lame post, sorry. :)
i think we're heading out shortly to take the girls to the park. the weather has been beautiful and looks like it will stay that way for a while. i've got a good farmers tan going already! alright....maybe i'll have something more fun and exciting to chat about next time...chow

Results....

sharing a few photos from kati's b-day yesterday... they somehow got out of order. she wasn't happy once we lit the candles, as you can tell by the expression on her face (photo 1). and the 3rd pict. was her attempt at blowing out the candles. the cake was so good. i didn't realize how lopsided it looked until i took the pictures. oops!
only bad thing is we have 1/2 of it in the fridge....better invite the neighbor kids back over for round 2 or i'll end up eating it! lauren stayed home with dad yesterday while kati and i went to the butterfly house and to the park w/ some neighbor friends. i think she had a fun b-day! well, i have oodles of stuff to do and i'm not getting it done by sitting here so i guess i'll sign off. hope everyone has a wonderful easter!

KaTi is 2 Today!

happy birthday dear kati~here is kati last year on her 1st birthday. we have a fun day planned for kati. lauren and i, along with some neighbors are going to go to the butterfly house. we've been there before but it is such an amazing place to take kids. we packed a lunch and will have a picnic at a nearby park. i'm praying lauren is feeling better. she's managed to catch terry's nasty cough and has had a fever off and on. lauren has swimming later today as well, then it's back home for cake and icecream w/ some of the neighbor kids. i made a cake last night that has 8 layers of cake. chocolate cake and white cake w/ chocolate and white fluffy frosting. then white chocolate shavings on top! :) the lid for the cake stand wouldn't fit over the cake. ha ha better run....oh by the way it's supposed to be 86 here today :) love it! i think we've definately adjusted...yesterday was in the low 80's and it didn't feel all that hot. but then again the humidity wasn't there either.

Bottle Em'!

don't you just wish you could bottle your kids...preserve them right now? give them an anit-aging serum of sorts (give yourself a double dose). i am loving the age my girls are at right now...5 & almost 2 (in 2 days!) lauren is a huge help (most of the time) and is growing into this sweet little girl who is kind and thoughtful and so caring of others. and kati is this little sassy personality that hops around saying hi to everyone and has a constant smile on her face. (ok, so she has a grouchy, honery, stubborn side too) but she's pretty upbeat most of the time. it's hard to believe she'll turn 2 on thursday. when my in-laws were here last wk. end we had talked about this and how it seems like just yesterday kati fit into the palm of our hands. seriously! kati was 7 weeks early, weighing just 4lbs.8oz. to look at her now you'd never know....but we couldn't believe it has been almost 2 years already. this is why i feel taking pictures and scrapbooking their lives & milestones is so important. i would hate to have several more years pass and regret not having taken more pictures.
have not created much over the past few days. worked on a project for Scrapbook Answers but other than that...notta! i started putting the girls easter baskets together and realized poor kati has a box of crayons. ooops! i'll be headin' to the store. ok, well guess that's all for now. hugs...

Sunday stuff

hi...guess it's about time for another post. we had a great weekend and a wonderful visit from my in-laws. the weather cooperated and we actually had temps in the 80's. lauren and kati had a blast with their grandparents...well, who wouldn't when they drag with ooodles of presents (thanks kim...kati hasn't opened her gifts yet). ok, some gifts not so good...like the 500 piece puzzles for lauren that took all 5 of us to tackle in 3 days.(that was just one puzzle) still didn't finish. poor terry was determined and spent several hours on saturday finishing the puzzle. oh, and we can't forget the great buy....my mother-in-law picked up this leapster l-max game set for 15 bucks...regularily over $50. ya, well, if we HAD the actual hand held game system that the games GO INTO it would be a great buy (ha ha)....so terry and his dad head to target to pick up the system lauren needs to play the games....it was a good laugh... we had thought about getting this for lauren anyway, it just happened sooner than antisapated. but lauren loves it and i don't mind if she plays educational games...as long as other activities are thrown in and we don't veg for hours on end!
well, the layout i posted on thursday didn't make the cut. looks like i'm not moving on to round 6. little bummer....sounds like the prize package would have been a good one....oh well. i have a theory and an opinion on all of it but i won't go there....
i whipped up this layout the other day. the pictures are from the circus last year in fargo. this is lauren and her cousin sydney getting a ride from an elephant (obviously). the expressions that are on laurens face in the pictures are priceless.....
kati turns 2 this week! we had a mini party for her w/ her grandparents while they were here... nothing major, just some cupcakes. i couldn't even find the candles. how lame am i? i'll find them before the 13th i promise kati!
night....have a good week! k

Project & I've been tagged by Cari....

hi....well, this was my 5th challenge for the Scrapbook Survivor contest. we had to use the title "spinning out of control" somewhere in our layout. i came across this picture of lauren from disney world... it couldn't be more appropriate. we were on the mad hatters tea cup ride....spinning of course!
my in-laws have arrived. we're having a nice visit. lauren has swimming lessons tonight so they'll get to see her swim. they can't get over how much kati has changed and grown just since x-mas. she's sharp as a tack for just turning 2. having been a preemie (7 weeks early) we thought it would take her some time to catch up but there is absolutely nothing slow about kati.
well, cari has tagged me....my first time being tagged. :) so i had better play!

5 snacks i enjoy:
(ok, is this pre diet or on diet?)
*pretzels
*licorice
*sunflower seeds
*candied nuts
*anything sweet

5 songs i know all of the lyrics
* twinkle twinkle little star
* abc's
* Sarah McLaughlin (most of her songs)
* Counting Crows (most songs)
* 100 bottles of beer on the wall

5 things i would do if i were a multi-millionaire
* spoil my family-take care of thier bills
* take care of college for my kids and my nieces and nephews
* buy toys for everyone
*travel
*buy a vacation home
*give to charity
ETC......

5 bad habits
* eat crap (junk food)
*not enough exercise
*chew my nails (sometimes)
*

5 things i like to do
*uh, scrapbook (CREATE)
*do "things" with my girls
*walk
*look through magazines
*have coffee w/ my mom and sister

5 things i would never wear, buy or get new again
* bikini
*leg warmers
*bell bottoms
*

5 favorite toys
*my computer
*my scanner
*camera
*lauren's new leapster l-max
*
5 people i should tag....
* michelle
*darjon
*kim (via-e-mail)
*roxie (via e-mail)
*??? don't know many who blog "personally"

ok, i had better run. get lauren ready for swimming. chat later....k

Been a while....

hi! just thought i'd pop in here and say hi....just in case some family members read this and are wondering if we're ok after the storms rolled through here on sunday. we're all ok. terry was out of town, go figure. but had called earlier in the day to tell me to keep an eye on the weather channel. so i knew it was coming. it rolled through just when they said it would. the tornado sirens went off just before 5. hate that! hate bad weather...i don't think anyone really likes it....i take that back, isn't there "tornado chasers" or some darn thing....crazy. anyway, we were lucky but other parts of missouri were hit, & 3 people died.
getting ready for our company tomorrow (my in-laws). i don't have much to do around the house other than touch ups so i'm not really sure what i've been doing these past few days. started a layout yesterday but haven't finished...finally dug through the tubs of clothes. so kati has lots of new (hand-me-downs) clothes to wear for the summer. oh, and started a low carb diet! so far so good!
i do have some other exciting fun news. i'm going to phoenix in aug. !!! ok, so NOT a real treat to head to arizona in aug. (HOT) but it's hot here too...scrapbook answers is having an all girls weekend retreat (more details to come on their website soon) and several us are heading down to help out for the retreat. i'm pretty stoked! i haven't been out and about for a long time. never been to a "big" scrapbooking event. i've been some what sheltered. i'm not all that fond of the local scrapbooking store closest to me so i haven't taught a class since i lived in alaska and taught for michelle. i miss it a lot. so maybe this retreat will help me get back into teaching. i'm so looking forward to meeting some of the other designers and of course the sba team (editors). BUT i have to say thanks to my hubby for letting me go and staying home with the girls. it just so happen to have all worked out....
have a great day....better get back at it!