2008 Recap Album

I have been waiting to post these layouts because they were part of our Christmas gifts to our parents. But now that everyone has finally received their Christmas presents, I can share my layouts!!

Weekend recap

Well, the DS is a hit...even with Mommy & Daddy (I admit we've been caught playing DS after the kids go to bed)! Meagan and I went to Wal-Mart and picked out games - Pokemon Ranger, Tinkerbell, and Zelda. The boys are loving it...so is Meagan, although she requires some one-on-one help, since she can't read what's going on.

Sebastian went to Abby's birthday party on Saturday - rollerskating! I dropped him off, but ended up going back about an hour into the party. I stayed for the rest, and watched and hung out...for moral support, I guess you could say. Can I just say that I DID NOT earn my mother of the year award from my behavior at that party... I LAUGHED HYSTERICALLY! The kid has NO skating skills! He would literally take one and a half strides and crash to the ground...sometimes forward, sometimes backward, sometimes sprawled in every direction (the best laughs came in the moments when he sprawled out and took down the crowd of people around him). My side hurt, and my cheeks were burning from smiling and laughing by the end of the party. (Let's just say, the next day he was definitely sore!)

I will say he got better as the time passed. And he just kept at it, no matter how many times he fell. He just laughed and got back up. I never saw him even show a hint of discouragement, and for that, I was very proud of him. He had such a great attitude the whole time! I loved it!

All in all, he really enjoyed himself. He was the only boy at the party (none of the others who were invited were able to make it I guess), but he was relieved to see that there were other boys at the skating rink, so that was good for him.

The waiting is almost over!

Yesterday I got THE email from Wal-Mart saying the DS was in and ready for pick-up. So, last night, after we got the kids in bed, I headed over and picked it up. It was so close to bedtime when I got the email, that I figured it would be best to wait...so as not to risk a bedtime disaster!

Meagan and I went back to Wal-Mart today to pick out games. The boys wanted Pokemon Rangers. Meagan wanted Tinkerbell (big surprise!). And Lucas wanted Zelda. So we left Wally world with three DS games, a birthday gift for Sebastian's birthday party he's going to tomorrow, decorations for Meagan's birthday party (yes, I know it's not until May, but last year we waited, and the stuff was gone in May), some new gloves for me (because I lost mine), and a few other odds & ends. Nice. But it was a fun girly trip to the store.

Now, all we have to do is wait for the boys to get home from school!! It's almost DS time!

No Messing Around

Yesterday for lunch I made mac n cheese. Meagan was in the kitchen with me while I was cooking (if you call mac n cheese cooking). I was having trouble getting the box open, and I mumbled something about it...well, she overheard me.

"What's wrong, Momma?"
"Nothing, Meg, I just can't get this box open. I think I'll have to use scissors."
"Maybe you could just use an ax?"

The kid gets straight to the point and doesn't mess around!

Diamond Date

At some point this afternoon, Meagan realized that the birthday party this evening was only for the boys, and that she was not invited. She was crushed, poor thing! She started crying, and just couldn't understand why she couldn't go with her brothers.

So, we made a date. For Christmas, she got a Barbie movie (that we've watched countless times in the past 2 weeks), and it has a little outtake from another Barbie movie - Barbie & the Diamond Castle...which, of course, has only made her want to see the castle movie. So, this afternoon while I was at the grocery, I bought the Diamond Castle, and some grapes, Chex Mix and frozen pizzas (all the makings of a Meagan meal), and we had ourselves a date (Daddy included). She was ecstatic! It was her special movie, with undivided attention from Mommy & Daddy. She didn't even give a thought to the party she wasn't at. She was having her very own party at home. Very fun! I love doing that kind of stuff...it's not often that we get to do one-on-one stuff with any of the kids, so when we do get the chance, I LOVE it!

A Friendly Encounter

Yesterday was the first time that one of the boys went to a friend's house to play without me. And, believe it or not, it wasn't Sebastian. Isaac was invited to a friend's house after school yesterday to play for a few hours. However, there ended up being no school because of the weather (way sub-zero temps, especially with the wind chill around -30). So, after lunch I took him over and dropped him off. When he found out I wasn't staying, he said, "Mom, I'm going to be scared without you there." But I talked to him, and his fears didn't last long. He realized that he is without me a lot - on vacation with Grandma & Grandpa, at school every day, etc. I think he just hadn't made the connection in his mind, and once he did, he was good to go.

He was gone until about 5:30 - a long afternoon of playing! He had a great time, and is still, this morning, reenacting the games they played. Boys are fun!

Tonight Sebastian and Isaac are both invited to a birthday party. It's supposed to be a sleepover, but I won't be able to pick them up in the morning at the time the mother had requested, so I will have to pick them up later tonight. I'm thinking around9:00 or so. They are still excited to go! And then NEXT weekend, Sebastian is invited to a skating birthday party! (I'm not sure he has ever skated before...should be interesting). It's for his G.I.R.L.F.R.I.E.N.D. :) So very funny! What's the deal all of a sudden with my kids' social calender filling up? Sheesh!

Under the Weather

Wow, what a week we've had! Saturday when I woke up, I had a bit of a sore throat. Sunday I thought I felt a little better, maybe a little congested. By Monday I was highly uncomfortable, and by Tuesday I had developed a migraine and some serious congestion issues. Sheesh!

So, I've struggled to keep my energy up long enough to get through the 8:00-5:00 part of the day, let alone dinner, bath time, story time, and bed time. Truthfully, I've short cut a lot this week...dinners mainly. And I've done a lot of sleeping.

Finally, I am starting to feel a bit better...better, but definitely not great yet. Lucas is now feeling under the weather, too. Do you suppose we'll see Spring any time soon? I sure could use some warm fresh air right about now!

Credits

DiSappointed

As some of you already know, we have been enduring ongoing requests for a Nintendo DS for months now. The boys have both decided they really really really want / need one. Our answer from the beginning has been, 'as soon as you have the money to buy one yourself, you can get one.' They cost $130. We just figured that, since they already have a wii, a PS2, and 3 computers in the house, plus a Star Wars laptop and some little hand-held games that they got for Christmas, that it just wasn't necessary for us to spend $130 on another electronic device.

Well, today, the boys pulled their money. Grand total...$110 (plus a $30 gift card at Wal-Mart to get them over the necessary $130). SA-WEEET! The day they've been working for for months! So, while Meagan was napping, Lucas took the boys to Wally world to get their DS. They were gone for about an hour, and I was just beginning to wonder where they were when they walked in the door.....empty handed (well, almost, Isaac used $10 of his money to buy some Star Wars clone troopers *LOL*). Lucas said they had gone to Wal-Mart and Meijer, and neither store had a single DS in stock. Not one. All that excitement for nothing.

But not to fear...online shopping is here! Believe it or not, a few stores we checked online were sold out, including Best Buy, but Wal-Mart actually had the blue one in stock... which just happened to be the color they really wanted...and just happened to be the store where we had the gift card...love that! So, I ordered it for them. We should have a DS in hand in 3-5 business days (which must feel like eternity for them!). Not quite the instant gratification they were looking for. But hey! They've waited 3+ months, what's a few more days, right?

Love

This is one of my favorite pictures of Meagan of all time. It was taken the day she was born, and I wouldn't be surprising to me if this picture ends up in my scrapbook pages a few more times before all is said and done. I did this layout last night / this afternoon.

Credits

Another Announcement...

I've been dying to make this one, but I had to wait until it was officially announced online. I've been invited to join the Gallery Standout team! Here's a link to the announcement...check out all the ladies who are joining the team...there is some great talent there!

Also, the 1st growth challenge should be up soon, for anyone who might be interested. They post a challenge, you do the challenge & post your layout, then the team offers constructive criticism to help you grow & improve. Here's my layout I did for January's challenge:

Journaling: On days when the snow if freshly fallen, this is what I look forward to on my way to work. The forest that surrounds the long, winding drive is painted in winter white. A small reminder that creation is beautiful. - winter 2008

Credits

Show & Tell

Isaac is excited about today...Friday is show & tell at school. Today he chose to take his Darth Vader 'laptop' that he got for his birthday. Normally, I don't let him choose things that could get broken / stolen, but I just couldn't break his heart and tell him not to take it. He was just sooooo very excited about the whole idea. I gave him strict instructions on not taking it out on the bus, etc, and we'll hope for the best.

Sleep Interrupted

Last night, around 1:00, Meagan came into our room whimpering. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "I just want to lay with you." Our kids rarely make an appearance in our room, so I figured, what the heck. She crawled in between Lucas and me, and we all went back to sleep. Mine, however, didn't last long. I spent the next portion of the night getting karate kicked or slapped or punched. Then, around 1:45, she completely rolled over on me and tried to sleep on my chest....um, you're not a 10 lb. baby anymore, this isn't working (never mind her long hair getting in my face and going up my nose every time she turned her head!).

So, I got up and put her back in her own bed. Then laid back down. And laid there. And laid there. At 4:15, I was still awake (yes, almost 3 hours later!). It was so bad, that around 3:00, I started considering getting up and drinking some tea or hot chicken broth, maybe reading a bit, I even considered blogging just for something to do! I, however, remained in bed, and kept trying to fall asleep. I think I finally started to fade around 4:30, just in time for Lucas' alarm to start going off just before 5:00...are you kidding?! Once he got up, I slept a little longer, and probably got up around 7:30. I have a feeling I'm gonna feel sleepy around nap time!

Wake Up Wake Up the Sun is Out!

Oooooo, bad start to the morning. NONE of us (except Lucas, who goes to work at 5:00 these days) was up before 8:05 this morning...and the bus comes at 8:15. Meagan wandered into my room and snuggled up beside me just after 8:00 this morning. When I realized what time it was, I shot up out of bed, but realized it was just too late. So, the boys missed the bus, and I had to drop them off at school. Isaac, who DOES NOT like anything out of routine, was less-than-pleased with the deal, but I suppose he managed okay...I haven't heard from the school to indicate otherwise. After that, though, we seemed to get our day slightly back on track. The house is a mess, and there's still lots to do in the hour before we leave for gymnastics and small group, but I think we'll manage one way or the other.

Okay...of to get some cleaning up done. That's all for now!

Winter Princess

Meagan has developed quite an attachment to our Christmas tree skirt! She has been wearing it around the house for 2 days now, and tonight was no exception. She put it on almost as soon as we got home, and didn't take it off until bedtime. She spun around the kitchen, dancing to my ipod. Once, when she thought I wasn't in the room and wasn't looking, I caught her taking bows after her dance song was over. She is quite the performer! She blushed a little when she realized I saw her, but she kept on bowing...can't disappoint the audience, you know! And, as if the fancy flowing skirt wasn't enough, she dug out her "white princess shoes" to complete the ensemble. She is something else!

And while it all looks very cute and girly, you should have seen her in her skirt and "princess shoes" the moment she had Isaac pinned to the ground stomping and wailing on him with both fists... or the next moment when she was standing with her nose in the corner (but at least she looked cute in the corner, because she had on her best skirt!).

Pink Ellie

I'm super excited to announce that I've been invited to be a part of Pink Ellie Designs' CT! Here's a link to her store at After Five Design if you wanna check it out (click on her banner below)! I am soooo looking forward to doing some layouts with her awesome stuff!

Morning Conversations

This morning on the way to preschool, Meagan and I had some funny conversations. The first one was one of those moments when I had to just choose not to argue with her, even though she was REALLY wrong...LOL! She was getting so frustrated with me, because she was CERTAIN she was right!

• When she first started school, I wrote her name on the inside of her lunchbox (although, apparently, not very well). Well, she was checking it out today in the van, and she said, "Mom, I know how to spell my middle name! H.I.L.J.I.M.Y. Hiljimy. LOL!!!! I just could NOT convince her that (a) it's her last name, not her middle name, and (b) there is no JIMY anywhere in her name. Finally, I had to just let it go. She'll figure it out some day!

Then, when we finally got to school, I was walking in with her. They had put salt rock down on the sidewalk, thanks to our lovely weather. She paused and examined a pile of salt for a second, then said, "Hey, Mom, look. It's snow crumbs. I've never seen snow crumbs before!" She is just too funny sometimes!

All Dolled Up

Here's a layout I threw together yesterday in a hurry. I did it for a specific call, and it was due last night. Unfortunately I didn't come across the call until yesterday, so I didn't give myself much time to work! :) These pictures are from summer vacation 2008 - Grandma H. painted Meagan's fingernails & toenails.



Credits: {Pink Ellie Designs} - [She's] Adorable; {After 5 Desings} - Happy Hour; {Something Blue Studios} - Worn Photo Overlays; {Jennifer Barrett} - Pretty Please (stitching); {Lisa Whitney} - black alpha; {Kaye Winiecki} - Aflafa

How Do I Manage to Forget Everything?

For a week or so before the end of the year, I had been thinking of starting a new project of sorts for 2009 - a photo a day. I've been looking forward to it, and had thought of it almost every day. However, somehow, when 2009 began, I all of a sudden forgot about it! So now, I find myself on day 3 with no pictures yet. I guess I'm just going to have to skip the first two days...seeing as I can't go back in time and remedy the problem. Oh well. Hopefully I can do a better job from this point forward remembering to pick up my camera at least once a day... however, something tells me this won't be the last time in the next 362 days that I forget. I'll do my best!