Hey Gus, Just because we love you....

Happy Birthday old man (as old as the dinosaurs!! LOL) We had a great weekend with you two! Thanks for coming up!

Surprise!

How could I forget to tell you about my surprise!!! Yesterday I came home from gymnastics to find my husband in the driveway assembling a 2-person tree stand! I know, this is really mostly for him, but I'm so excited about maybe getting to go out and sit with him! I've been wanting to do that for a year now, but couldn't because there was no room for me! Now all I need are some camo's.... and a babysitter! LOL!

Playing Catch-up

I've gotten a few layouts done over the past few days that I haven't had a chance to post yet...

The first one I did using Krystal Hartley's kit, Study Hall. These pictures are from this past winter session of story hour at the library. It was mid-February, and they were making a penguine craft. Very cute! The only bad thing was that they used goldfish crackers, and she kept wanting to eat them off of her picture! LOL!

The second is another layout of Meagan - these pictures are from her tea party with Julia this past February. As you can clearly see, it was a PRINCESS party. They were definitely happy to play the part! Girls can be so girly!

Last one for tonight... this one is from our trip to Gun Lake a few weekends ago. I had a bunch of pics of Isaac, and a great photo collage by Pink Ellie. I figured they would go well together! Worked out pretty good I think. Anyway, I'm just so taken by these pictures of him. It's so hard to believe he's getting so big! He looks so grown up in some of these! I think because he is the same size as Sebastian, sometimes I forget he is only six. He's still my little boy, though! Such a sweetheart!

Random bits & pieces

Hard to believe our week is already coming to a close. Feels like this week has flown by! Tuesday and Wednesday were my last 2 days of watching my friend's little boy... he hung out with us for a few days a week throughout August. The kids have loved having him around, and Meagan says he is 'just the cutest thing ever!' I think she is really going to miss him!

This week was also the last week of the summer gymnastics session. Next week Meagan will be moving up to a more advanced level, which will definitely be good. For the past month at least, she's been literally bouncing off the walls! Flying through the obstacle courses and stations that are set up... she's even started making up her own things to do, which sometimes gets her in a bit of trouble! LOL! On the other hand, Isaac has decided not to rejoin his class for the fall session. He would rather just sit & watch, and save his energy for something else...I think he has his sites set on flag football. Sebastian is continuing on with boys' pre-team. He seems to be a little torn with what he wants to do. I think he wants to do gymnastics AND football. I would like to be able to let him do that... he's just so young to be ruling out everything else besides gymnastics. I don't know...it will really depend on the schedule. I already feel a bit like a taxi service!

Tomorrow we are going to hang out at home. I HAVE to clean a few things and get some laundry done before the weekend. We also are preparing for guests!! Yea!! Luc's parents are coming to visit for the weekend. We're all really looking forward to it!

Early to bed....

Early to bed, early to.... well, nope.... just early to bed. That was the theme of Meagan's night tonight. Poor girl just can't seem to figure out that when I say no backtalk, I mean it. To spare you the painful details of trying to get her to cooperate during clean-up time, we'll skip to the part where I warned her that if she talked back to me again she would go to bed for the rest of the night... and then she talked back again.... and then I sent her to bed. It was 7:00, so, by all means, it was definitely close enough to bedtime that this was not cruel and unusual punishment. She was tired. She was not listening. She had been warned. She got exactly what I warned her she would get.

It was a long night of putting her back in bed and listening to her cry, scream, yell, and even beg. She tried everything... she even tried to "I'm sooorrrryyy" her way out of it. I simply told her, "Thank you for saying sorry. I accept your apology. Now go back to bed." Not the result she was hoping for, I'm pretty sure.

At last, by about 9:00, she finally gave in & stayed in bed, and she is now sound asleep. I wonder if she will believe me the next time I tell her she will have a consequence for her sassy behavior. If not, I guess she'll be going to bed early a few more times until the lesson sets in.

Weekend

This past weekend we made a last-minute trip to Grandma & Grandpa B.'s house. Earlier this summer, they had made plans to take the kids for a few days of vacation at Cedar Point, but plans were undone due to back injury issues. Well, this past weekend was fair weekend at their place, and the kids have loved the fair the past few times we've gone. So we headed down for bracelet day on Saturday. They each got a ride bracelet, which meant five hours of running like maniacs from one ride to the next... or running in loops on the same ride over and over and over again! Whatever the case, they had a great time!

Saturday evening, Mom & Mike took the kids to Chucky's for dinner, and Lucas and I got some just-the-two-of-us time! That doesn't happen very often, so it was a really nice getaway! We went out for way too much Mexican food! Then we went to the movies (we saw District 9, which was altogether odd, but interesting, and relatively entertaining for the non-sci-fi girl that I am). Love date nights every now and then!

Sunday, we got up, got packed and ready early, and then headed to the dollar movies before heading home. We went to see the 3rd Ice Age. Rather cute movie. Meagan loved the baby dinosaurs! All in all, it was a great weekend! We had lots of fun visiting, and playing and hanging out! Now, all we have to do is get through the week, and it will be time to visit with Grandma & Grandpa H. The kids are in grandparent heaven! And we are loving the chance to get to see everyone again before school and schedules kick in again!

The Chase....

Well, all I can say is that Meagan has been quite a piece of work lately. Her attitude has become super-sized, and she is testing the waters with just how bold / defiant she can be. Wednesday night, she found the limit.

It was almost bedtime, and I had asked the kids to go upstairs, get pj's, brush teeth... that sort of thing. The boys went right away. Meagan stalled on the couch and chose to totally and completely ignored me. I asked her again, and was met with sass.

After a whole day of backtalk from her, followed by and correction from me, I just really wanted her to listen...just once. She, however, had very different ideas. And she stood her ground, and busted out another dose of sass.

I looked at her and said firmly, "Meagan, I'm tired of your backtalk. I want you to go upstairs now and get ready for bed."

She squared off at me, and screamed back, "WELL, I'M TIRED OF HEARING YOUR VOICE!!" After a momentary pause, during which time I processed what she had actually just said to me, she took off running, at her top speed, up the stairs.

Bask

I threw together a layout last night of some pictures of Meagan at the lake this past weekend. I had a girly kit that had some sprays & fish and so forth, so these pictures were an easy choice.

Journaling: A day at the beach with our friends from church. You swam & played all day and had a blast. 8/15/09.

Credits: {Wendy Page} - Summer Funk kit (at FPD)

Be Yourself

It's official! The mohawks have found their place in our scrapbooks! I had to capture, not only how they looked after the new do's, but also the bit of a life lesson they encountered as a result.
Journaling: "Your idea. Your hair. When it was time for hair-cuts, you decided to go mohawk. Not my first choice for a do, but it won't hurt anything. I don't think any of us expected you new cuts would lead to lessons on life. Who knew this would be an opportunity for you to learn about the impact of your decisions. Who would have thought this hair cut would turn out to be a teaching tool. lesson learned: be true to yourself."

Credits: {Cardamome} - Jean Tonic, font - [ank] (downloaded from internet)

Define Healthy

Tonight for dinner, Meagan caught wind of the fact that I was planning to make homemade chicken fingers. The girl does not like to eat meat (unless it is in the form of a pressed-together nugget or some version of cold-cut lunch meat). She was less-than-pleased with my dinner selection. This is how she went about telling me without complaining (which happens to be a big no-no at our house that gets you sent to your bed without eating)...

"Mommy, I really want to eat something healthy for dinner.... (long pause for dramatic impact)... and chicken fingers aren't healthy for me."

"They're not? Are they healthy for me?"

"Yes, they can be healthy for other people, but they're not healthy for me. I really like to eat healthy food."

(Sounds good, doesn't it?)

"Well, Meg, what is healthy for you then?"

"Well, stuff like ice cream. Ice cream is healthy for me..... (pausing to decide whether the next bit is too much or not.... aah, just go for it).... and cookies are healthy too!"

In the end, she ate the chicken fingers, as well as the peas, and the macaroni. She also added a banana and some grapes once her plate was clean.... which, by the way I was later informed that fruit is also healthy for her. But not peas.

Rain Rain

One more layout I just finished. This one using Rain Rain by Krystal Hartley. These pictures were taken at one of Sebastian's ridiculously cold football games last fall. It was overcast and windy and misty, but Meagan was totally unaffected by it. She bundled up and made her own fun playing with the umbrella.


Journaling: 'The rain doesn't stop you from enjoying yourself. Just the opposite. For you, this rainy day was merely an opportunity to play with the umbrella. Oct '08'

***

Music of my Life

I did this page a few days ago using Cardamome's re-release of her kit Rock with Me. These pictures were taken during our 2008 family silly string fight held in our back yard.... come to think of it, I think we should do another one of those before they go back to school!


Anyway, I had an idea for using this paper... I was going to do like a monochromatic clustering on each of the sunbursts... you know, like one all blues, one all reds, etc. I guess that's sort of what I did, but visually, there is a LOT going on on this layout, so I'm not sure it's all that obvious. Oh well, I still ended up with a crazy fun page for our album!


The title is the journaling... "Your sweet laughter is the music of my life."



***

Some Lake Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised. By the way, last night, while I was looking at the pictures, I figured out how Meagan's armpits got burned. She had on floaty wings all day, and I noticed in all the pictures that she was holding her arms out to the sides a bit...all day. I think the sun reflected off the water and hit her under the arms. I guess I should have sprayed sun screen under her arms... who knew?!

As you can see, Sebastian spent a LOT of his time digging for shells and interesting stones. He was so focused all day, even passing up a water balloon game so he could keep searching. Meagan and Isaac helped look on occassion, but mostly they splashed in the water.

***

A Day at the Lake

We were up bright and early this morning to get ready for a trip to the lake. We met a group of people at the church, and all headed to a lake about an hour from here to spend the day, have a picnic, and hang out. It was a great day! The beach was almost empty, the water was shallow and pretty warm, and the weather was perfect! It was a nearly perfect day.... only a few minor exceptions, not the least of which is that somehow Meagan actually managed to get a sunburn on her armpits...??? Who knows! (I'll try to post pictures tomorrow when I won't mess Lucas up if I upload... he's playing online right now, and when I upload his game lags & he usually ends up getting shot *LOL*)

Stuffed Peppers Recipe

At the request of Kelly, one of my online buds, here is the recipe I used for the stuffed peppers. I'm sure any variation of the ingredients will work just fine. I just happen to be a short-cutter due to my lack of love for cooking, so I just make stuff up! (*LOL*) 3 medium/large green peppers - I cut them in half, then cored them... this actually left a hole in the bottom of each 1/2 pepper. At first I was concerned, but it actually worked out just fine, so I can give no reason to make it more complicated... anyway, (as simple math dictates) this made 6 stuffed peppers. 1 lb ground sausage - I used Italian seasoned sausage, but I'm sure any flavor, or probably even ground beef or ground turkey, would do just fine. I chopped up just a bit of onion, threw it in with the sausage & browned it. 1 package of Rice a Roni Natural Long Grain Wild Rice - While the sausage was browning, I slightly under-prepared the rice in a microwave dish. I think the instructions said 21-25 minutes...I did about 20. Still some water left, and the rice was al dente. When the microwaved beeped, I dumped the rice, water & all, into the browned sausage. 1 jar of pizza sauce - I used pizza sauce simply because I had opened a jar earlier today for Isaac to dip a pretzel in. I figured I may as well finish using it. It was probably around 10 oz. I'm sure any version of tomato sauce/marinara would be fine. Anyway, I just dumped the sauce into the skillet, and mixed it up with the sausage & rice. Shredded Mozzarella cheese - I put about 1 cup into the sausage mix and saved the rest to go on top of the peppers. At this point, the 6 pepper bowls were sitting in the baking dish. Next steps:

• Scoop the sausage mix into the peppers.


• Top with the rest of the cheese (about 1 cup)


• Pour ~ 1/8 - 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the baking dish


• Cover with Foil


• Bake at 400 for 40-45 minutes


• Remove the foil and bake ~ 5 minutes longer to brown the cheese

There was lots of liquid in the bottom of the dish, but it didn't affect the meal at all... I think it just helped to steam the peppers thoroughly, actually. And the best part about the whole thing was that I had 45 minutes of baking time to play on the computer!! :)

** Using the Rice-a-roni and pizza sauce, 1 pepper = 20 carbs, for anyone who might need that info. **

I wasn't expecting that!

Tonight for dinner, I got brave and made stuffed green peppers. This is a meal that I have always liked, ever since Nancy made them when I was little. However, for fear of dinner-time backlash, I have, until now, avoided making them. I figured, since I get complaints from mac & cheese and chicken fingers, there would be quite the uproar about a meal of green pepper, tomato sauce, sausage and rice.

All I can say is, maybe it was all in my sales pitch? When the kids came in from playing outside, they, like always, came straight over to the stove to inspect the soon-to-be-eaten meal. "What's that?!" was Isaac's response. Hmmm... choose your words carefully, I thought to myself. "Well, it's like a green pepper with sausage pizza stuffed inside... it has sausage and pizza sauce and cheese... and just a little bit of rice to make it stick together."

"Oh." was the only response.

We sat down and started eating. I braced myself. Much to my surprise, however, I was greeted with, "Mmmm... it kind of does taste like pizza.... this is kind of good.... can I have more?" Music to my ears! I must say that stuffed peppers was not the meal I was expecting to bring such responses, but I'll take it!! Sa-weeeet!

Too Bad...

After dinner tonight, Meagan went outside to play while I cleaned up the kitchen. I peeked out a few times, and each time she was in the middle of make-believe. One time she was playing school, and she was the preschool teacher. One time it looked like she was walking through a jungle or something...I didn't interrupt her to ask. So I was surprised when the door opened up, and she came walking into the kitchen.

"Mommy, our sunflower that was used to be bright and shiny is dead." I turned around to find her carrying a handful of dead, dried out roots and grass blades (not a sunflower in actuality, but to her just about every flower is a sunflower). She took it over to the trash can and, sadly, placed the lump of dirt into the bin. "Too bad, huh?" she said in a sad, tiny little voice. "I guess it just ran out of oxygen. It's really too bad when that happens."

Shout Out!

So I just gotta give a big giant THANK YOU shout out to the ladies who have recently invited me to be a part of their creative teams... Shannon (Shanmomto4), Sandrine (Cardamom), and Krystal (Krystal Hartley). Thank you so much!!

As you can see, I have just finished updating my blog a bit... I was ready for a new look and wanted to try something different. Oh, the possibilities.... !! Anyway, if you want to check out the amazing designs of any of 'my' designers (hehehe!), their stores are all linked at the top right. Good stuff! I am such a lucky duck!!

I Wanna Be a Rock Star

Lately, Meagan has been asking me quite often, "Momma, do I look like a rock star?" Today, however, I was honestly able to say "Yes." She put this outfit together herself... from the pink pants & baby doll shirt to the shiny slippers to the pink bracelet at her elbow to the pink diva army hat. Love it! How could I resist a quick photo shoot? (Believe it or not, I did not direct this much... I just said, Meg, stand by the window & pull your hat down a bit.)

Sale today only

The Plan for Today

Well, so far, we have picked up the upstairs, stripped and remade kids' beds, cleaned up the living room, and done a few loads of laundry. I think while lunch is going, I might run the vacuum. Our last bit of cleaning for today will be to clean out the van after lunch - meaning just take out the toys and the trash that don't belong - before we get ready to leave for an afternoon of school clothes shopping! The kids are excited about the prospect of fresh new clothes, and new backpacks. I think we may wait until a little closer to school time to do shoes, unless I find a really good deal today. They have a tendency to basically destroy footwear!

So that's the plan for the day. Have a somewhat cleaned-up house, a non-trashed van, and get new stuff for school. I like it!

love

I have always adored these pictures of Sebastian and Meagan right after she was born. He has, right from the start, been so loving and affectionate toward her. Even now, very rarely can she do anything wrong in his eyes.


I tried once a while ago to scrap these photos with paper supplies. It was okay, but I wasn't thrilled with the results. When I saw this new kit, Blessed, by Sahlin Studio, I thought of these again right away, and thought I'd given them another try. I definitely like the results of the digital attempt better than the paper one.

Journaling: From the moment Sebastian laid eyes on Meagan, he was captivated. He spent every waking moment pouring out his attention on her - snuggling her, talking to her, sharing his toys with her, or just watching her be. Their relationship is sweet.

Girly Layouts

I have 2 new layouts of Meagan to post. Funny, both of them have pictures of her taken while we were rollin' down the road. I didn't do that on purpose... I just noticed it afterward.

This first layout was made using a new kit by Purple Colourz, as well as a few things from other kits - all available at Funky Playground. I did this layout for a challenge, the concept being to do a non-12x12 layout on a bright white background, so that when it's viewed, it looks like something other than 12x12. Interesting... I had not done anything like that before, but I kind of like the way it turned out. I just might try that again some time.

The journaling reads: *Pink Pink Pink EVERYTHING! *dresses & skirts every day *make up and polished nails *fancy shoes in every style & color *matching accessories and jewelry ~So Girly

This second layout was also made using FPD goodies... this time mostly a new kit by Miss Tiina called Cassidy. Very 80's retro! I love it!

The journaling is just some of the funny conversations Meagan and I have had in the van - like the one about wanting a baby sister so she could get a bunk bed, or the one where she called her Leapster a hamster. She is just such a character! I love our talks!

Pre-Team?!

This week the boys each did a trial class of gymnastics at the same gym where Meagan is taking classes. Isaac's class was on Tuesday. Sebastian's was on Thursday. And, as always, Meagan's was on Wednesday. So, yes, we were at the gym for 3 days in a row.

Isaac's class went well. He did great! He staid focused, he listened, he tried new things, and he did pretty well at it. I was really proud of him. Afterwards, the coach approached me and said that Isaac had done really well, and he would love to see him in the program - that he has a lot of skill and he thinks he could really do well. Isaac's feedback was that he really really liked it, and he wanted to sign up right NOW!! I told him we would wait until after Sebastian's Thursday class and sign everyone up at once.

While we were there Tuesday for Isaac's class, Meagan's coach approached me and mentioned to me that she thinks Meagan is getting to the place where she is "doing circles around the other kids." She told me she has a lot of talent and "crazy potential." She mentioned that in September they are doing an invitational class that is for younger kids who are too young for team but need more of a challenge then the average toddler class.

Sheesh!

So then comes Thursday - Sebastian's class. He did great. Got right in there, picked up on things really quickly, and just all-around hung with everyone in his class. I could see he was doing well, but I was also talking to a friend of mine who was there, so I wasn't really watching with much scrutiny. At the end of the class, I asked Sebastian how he liked it... trying to get a feel for whether it was something he was interested in, and did I need to sign him up for a class. He was BEAMING! He was so excited! He just about talked my ear off about how much fun it was and all the new things he had tried. Okay okay, I get it! We'll put you in a class.

So, I found Sebastian's coach to ask him his thoughts... just, generally speaking, was this class a good fit for Sebastian, etc. etc. I was pretty much expecting him to say, yes he did fine, blah blah. I was taken completely off guard when he said to me, "He did great! And actually, I think he would be a better fit on team." Honestly, I think I didn't even make a response. But I must have made a funny face, because he followed that up with, "or pre-team at the very least, if you're not sure about team yet."

Okay. Not at all what I was expecting to hear. My head had not even for a moment processed that as a possibility. I talked to the coach for a few more minutes. He explained to me why he thought Sebastian should be moved up, then asked me my thoughts. I told him I would think about it, but that at the very least, Sebastian would be back for next Thursday's class.

After talking to Sebastian about it, and then to Lucas, and then to the lady at the reception desk (who, in great detail spelled out the financial and time-commitment aspects of pre-team and team... eeek!), and then thinking on it, and talking about it some more, we have decided to give it a try. So, Tuesday is Sebastian's first pre-team practice. He will practice on Tuesday & Thursday. Isaac will practice on Tuesday (after Sebastian), and Meagan on Wednesday. I have a feeling I'm going to become more familiar with the gym than I had ever imagined in a very short time! But, if this is something Sebastian is excited about and wants to commit to, at least for now, then we'll go with it.

Jet

Sebastian's Lego jet that he built. He is so good at Lego's, it really blows my mind sometimes the things he comes up with.

Journaling: You are always building & creating new ships & machines with your legos. You definitely have a gift, and you enjoy it so much! This jet was one of your biggest challenges yet, but so fun!

Credits: This is my first layout as a member of the creative team for Shannon (aka...Shanmomto4). I used her latest kit, Zoom Zoom. You should definitely check out her shops: ahhh scraps & Scrapable. She has some adorable stuff! I'll be updating my blog soon to include a link to at least one of her shops.

Wishing Fountain

I did this layout for the Lilypad Blog Challenge. This is a scraplift of a gorgeous layout by Dunia. Here's her layout that I used for inspiration. These pictures are from our July trip to Meijer Garden. The journaling reads: 'our first stop at Meijer Garden was the fountain garden. i love that wishing fountains still hold an element of mystery & enchantment for you! - 7/3/09'