Stormie's Life

2009-09-05T10:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry I haven't updated this for awhile but this time I have a really good excuse. You see last weekend I went 4-wheeling & riding dirt bikes & I hurt my leg. I was on the 4-wheeler having a TON of fun when the left wheels got stuck in a big rut. It started to tip a little bit so I put my right leg down to balance myself. The exact moment I did, it got unstuck & took off out of the rut. Unfortunately my leg got sucked in under the wheels & it started to pull me off. I knew instantly that I broke my ankle & insta care confirmed that. I ended up breaking my ankle in 3 places but I also broke the small bone in my leg! Talk about painful! Oh when I went to see my normal dr he said I also tore part of my Achilles tendent but thankfully not too bad.

So this last week I've been on bedrest with my leg up not being able to do much of anything. Of course the apartment is a pig sty now because heaven forbid Paul or the kids actually do any housework. Today is the 1st day I'm allowed to move around a little bit so its cleaning time for me. The really sad part is I cleaned up a little bit in the living room & while my leg is now killing me, you can hardly tell I did anything! I guess its time to crack the whip & make the family help me out. ( haha yeah right)

1st day of school

2009-08-19T09:37:00.002-06:00

Today is one of my favorite days of the year...the 1st day of school for my kids! They both were really excited and a little nervous but of course they will do fine. Here are some pics I took of them.

Together
close up of Aidyn

almost full body shot (what you don't see are the bright red sneakers he had on lol)

close up for Madi

she is in love with this outfit

Madi & her BFF Shae

I couldn't resist, this is them on the 1st of kindergarten. My how they've grown, it almost makes me sad to look at how tiny they were

so its been way too long again...

2009-08-10T09:44:00.010-06:00

Oh my gosh I can't believe its been so long since I've updated this! I have a TON of pics to show you all but I don't want to overload you so I just added a bunch & will had more another day.

Most of the pics are from our recent trip to MT.

This was how Aidyn was playing video games at the hotel

My brother Jared with his daughter Haley

with his daughter Abbie

brother Joseph

We went to Seeley Lake & this deer was right by the main road on the way out

Aidyn & my niece Autumn (she's Jesse's daughter) making a sand castle

my brother Terry teaching Madi how to fish

another fishing shot

Paul & I

just a pretty shot of the lake

some pretty little flowers

Autumn collecting firewood

Terry & I

Jesse

Autumn trying to warm up after swimming

Madi trying to warm up

This was the view from the picnic table we had to the lake. It was so peaceful

Madi & Aidyn in the lake

Terry

Paul

the kids swimming. Notice how Aidyn is trying to keep his cast arm out of the water lol

Madi on one of the trails

Aidyn with his cast all wrapped up

Aidyn at my dad's house

Madi, Autumn & Aidyn at my dad's house

Autumn & Aidyn

Madi seeing what's on tv

silly picture of Madi & I

Aidyn trying to stay warm at the yard sale we had on Saturday

Aidyn at the dr getting his hard cast on

Aidyn with the soft case. This was the day he broke it

Can I put Aidyn in a bubble?

2009-06-27T20:59:00.002-06:00

So today Paul took Aidyn golfing with him and for some stupid reason Aidyn decided to JUMP from the cart while it was going full speed. He landed on his left wrist & of course he broke it. For now he just has it splinted because of the swelling but in a few days he'll get the regular hard cast.

Here's a pic I took of him at the insta care place after they did the splint.

Finally....

2009-06-22T10:17:00.007-06:00

Holy cow it has been a LONG time since I have updated this! I have lots to tell you all & even more pictures to share. First we went to IL the 1st week of June for my niece's graduation. We also saw Madi's birth dad & hung out with our family. It was nice to see people we haven't visited in a few years, like my cousin Kevin & his wife Karalee.

Here are just some of the pictures I have to share. I will probably add more later today depending on how much free time I have

This pic was actually just taken last night. Don't mind how skinny Aidyn looks. He was sucking in his gut a little bit so the darts would stay on
All the family that came for Kayla's graduation. From left to right...
Kevin, Karalee, Kayla, Tina, Madison, Bill, my mom, me, Aidyn & Paul

Paul & his sister Mona

Madi with Mona

Kayla with her parents

Kayla right after she graduated

I love how this picture turned out

Silly boy with ketchup on his nose

We went to this little town called Woodstock & they had really pretty horses all around the main square

Madi in front of the lucky horse

Paul & his dad John by a horse

This is Madi's birth dad with his other kids

Eloy, Meno, Angel, Madi & Manny

Madi & her step mom Sonia

Madi & Manny

I still can't get over how much they look alike!

Madi with her birth dad & his parents

Madi with her sister Angel

another one of her & her sister

this was a total random picture that was actually taken outside a gas station on the way to meet Madi's birth dad but I think it turned out great

Paul & one of his oldest friends Mike

Mike & his girl friend that I won't even attempt to spell her name because I know I will get it wrong lol

Madi with her glasses

2009-04-17T18:43:00.002-06:00

We found out Madi had to get glasses. She picked out 2 pairs & these are the Hannah Montana ones. Only problem is you cannot tell what brand they are except for a tiny little HM symbol with a jewel on the left ear piece lol.

Its not the best pic of her because for some reason she has been doing her hair really weird. But I am not going to step in because its her hair.

Some Easter pics

2009-04-13T08:46:00.003-06:00

Ok ok I know that I have been a horrible blogger lately & I am truly sorry! I just cannot seem to find the time to update this every day but I am going to try & do a better job.

Lets see...what has happened to us recently that you might be interested in? Oh on Friday afternoon the kids school called me to say that Aidyn got hurt & I needed to come get him right away. Luckily I only had the 2 year old & he was content to be in the stroller, otherwise I do not know how I would have gotten Aidyn.

Once I got there, Aidyn seemed fine until he saw me & then he immediately started crying & ran into my arms. I guess he fell on his face at recess & hurt his mouth pretty bad. He had a baby tooth on the bottom that had twisted and was almost laying flat on the inside of his mouth. He also had a few cuts but luckily most of the bleeding had stopped by the time I got there.

He would not let me look at it but the school nurse said it was not too bad & the tooth should come out very easily. Now if you know anything about Aidyn, you will know that he HATES the sight of blood, especially his. He freaks out anytime he is bleeding, even if its only a paper cut. Because of this he would not shut his mouth all the way and spent the rest of the night & most of the next day drooling & not eating or drinking anything. Finally after I put some orajel on his lips, he decided to eat & the tooth came right out with the 1st bite!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Easter. I know we did. We took the kids to an egg hunt on Saturday morning but unfortunately Aidyn was not feeling up to participating because of the whole mouth thing. We left our house at 8:20am & the weather looked pretty nice, minus some clouds hanging over the mountains. Well one minute before the actual hunt started at 9am, it started to rain! What fun it was to stand in the cold rain waiting for Madi to get all her eggs, lol

Yesterday we had a lunch cook out with our friends which was nice & relaxing. My good friend Shanna & I set up an egg hunt for all the kids & they had a blast. I was only able to get a few pictures & they are mostly of Madi since Aidyn would not let me take his.

this is only pic of Aidyn & its just of his back, lol He was checking out his loot with Paul
this was when we said "go" & all the kids took off running

some of the eggs at the hunt we went to on Saturday

Madi waiting for the hunt to start

Pictures from Madi's play

2009-03-31T08:28:00.003-06:00

Last week all the multiage classes did plays that they wrote based on books. Madi's class did Sector 7 which is basically about a boy who wanders away from a field trip & meets up with a cloud. She's upset because they are not allowed to change their shapes & must keep the ones assigned to them by the leaders of sector 7. So the boy who is a very good artist draws different shapes & all the clouds change into something they've always wanted, such as a lollipop, cookie & in Madi's case a kitty.

I also added a short video of the play at the end of the post. They did the play 2 nights in a row & the first night, I recorded the whole thing on my camcorder. Unfortunately I need to get another special cord to connect it to my new laptop before I can upload it. To kind of make up for that, I used my digital camera & recorded as much as my memory card would allow with all the other pictures I had already taken.

Enjoy the video & pictures & make sure to leave some love for Madi. She is really proud of the play & has been talking about it for what seems like forever, lol

getting ready to go into the auditorium
This is my sneaky pic. I went backstage when no one was looking to get a pic of all the clouds. Shhh don't tell on me, LOL

before they changed their shapes

getting ready to change, I think

now she's not a fluffy cloud but a kitty cloud

the very end of the play

Where's Aidyn?

2009-03-29T20:38:00.004-06:00

the other day while doing laundry I lost Aidyn! I was so worried until I heard giggling coming from one of the hampers. Here is what I found....

You can barely see him through the top

here is after I pretended to cry because I could not find him

Here is standing up in the hamper

Aidyn's ongoing medical saga continues

2009-03-25T08:26:00.002-06:00

Last week while outside for a fire drill Aidyn got stung by a bee on his forehead. I guess it swelled up really big & he said his neck was tight & he had a very hard time breathing. His teacher was able to get the stinger out & luckily his breathing returned to normal. However they were getting ready to call me because for a few minutes it was very bad for him.

Last night we took him to the doctor & yes of course he is allergic to bees. Not just a little allergic either is deathly allergic & from now on has to have an epipen with him at all times. The Dr prescribed 5 so he could have 1 at school, 1 in his backpack (in case he gets stung coming or going to school), 1 in my purse, 1 in the car & 1 at home.

I had to teach him how to use it & thankfully they came with a practice one so now he's ready to use it. Paul & I also know how & Madi is prepared as well in case he cannot do it himself. Hopefully he will never have to but it is better to be safe than sorry. Especially if he can die if he gets stung again.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2009-03-17T09:15:00.001-06:00

here are my beautiful kids all dressed up for the day! Don't they look so cute?

Mother/daughter night at Madi's school

2009-03-14T13:14:00.002-06:00

Last night was the mother/daughter activiety at the kids school. I personally did not want to go because I have tons of homework that needs to get done but Madi was excited & of course I could not let her down. The PTA always picks themes & this time it was a beach theme.

Madi's oldkindergarten teacher taught everyone a hula dance & I am sure I looked like a complete fool trying to get the hang of it. Buy hey at least I looked better than some moms who should have given up a long time ago. I was smart enough to quit before I embarassed myself & Madi even further. On the other hand Madi did great & looked like she had been doing it for years.

After the dance, we went on to make flowers out of tissue paper. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong! These stupid things were so complicated & honestly more trouble than there were worth. I sat down next to one of my friends while Madi ran off with her friends to play beach volleyball. After about 5 tries I finally figured out how to get 1 flower done & called it quits.

Next we got our tropical treats which turned out to be sherbert with a fancy little umbrella stuck in. Actually everything looks more appealing with a fancy cup decoration. Maybe that's why I always order the foo foo chick drinks at bars? lol

The last stop was to get our picture taken. The line was sooooooooooooo LONG! We seriously waited for at least 30 minutes while other moms & daughers posed in front of cute beach scenes. Thankfully once it was our turn we were all done. The camera lady even let me sneak in a pic of Madi with my personal camera since I had already bought one of theirs. (cross your fingers it turns out because we don't get to preview it but my friend Bobby K said we looked cute)

Now that the mother/daughter activity is done with we only have the end of the year carnival to look forward to. Maybe the kids won't want to go?

This is the pic the professional photographer let me sneak in
Madi with the pretty flower in hair & fun tropical drink

Doing the hula dance

getting ready to learn how to dance

Madi's story

2009-03-12T08:28:00.003-06:00

Madi had to write a memoir for school & I helped her type it up last night. I think she did an awesome job & all the writing is her own words. I did nothing to help except type & have her fix some parts that needed re-working. But all the ideas are hers & I honestly do not think it sounds like a 9 year old wrote it!

After you read it let me know what you think. I know Madi would love to hear your comments.

"M.U.D."

My Unforgettable Discovery

by Madison Galvez

Ahhh…a perfect day. The sun was shining and just a small breeze was blowing. Nothing bad could possibly happen. But guess what? You guessed it, something bad!

What you ask is the bad thing? A doctor’s appointment to be exact. My tonsillitis had been getting out of control so my family took me to the doctor. (Even though we were low on money)

I had a doctor named Dr. Penrod and he said I had one of the worst cases of tonsillitis he had ever seen! He started whispering to my mom and when they turned back to me, they started staring me down. (Just like the time I was new at school) It felt so weird and creepy. Even worse they sent me into a room with my mom were there was a lady with a HUGE smile on her face.

The big smile lady told me “Well it looks like your tonsils are gonna come out.”

When she said that I wanted to run outside and leave so that no one could touch my throat. I wish I could have run far away but instead I had to be brave. I could not let fear overcome my life.

After my mom made the big announcement in the family car, my dad was not surprised. My little brother on the other hand, he actually did not care! I mean I thought he would either be scared for me or at least laugh in my face but, nothing. Not a word.

The drive home was agonizing and painful. I think the painful part was when everyone was silent. That kind of silence makes you forget the bad things but it made me think about the simple things in life. Like how my mom always makes pancakes on Saturday mornings. Or that my dad always tucks me in at night. I even thought of how good it feels when my cat Belle cuddles with me.

By the time we got home everyone sat down like nothing ever happened. While we ate dinner no one brought up my surgery and it was like the doctor’s appointment never happened at all. It was so excruciating that I could barley handle it!

A few days passed and finally my mom mentioned it. She said “So are you scared for the surgery?”

I replied “Please don’t talk about it.” Even though I wanted to answer her and ask her the millions of questions I had, I stayed silent.

“Why don’t you want to talk about it? Getting your tonsils out is a good thing,” my mom said.

“NO IT’S NOT” I said.

I went off to think about what I had just said but also to think about what would happen to me. “Like what if something goes wrong?” “Or what if I wake up during the surgery?” The only good thought I had was “what if I don’t have to have the surgery?”

Meanwhile my brother was in his room playing video games. He would rather care less about how I feel or how anybody else feels. He only cares about himself and his video games. His whole life revolves around his video games and any spare time he is spent playing them.

Ok now back to me. Just a few days later I went to the ENT doctor who is a doctor who specializes in the ears, noses and throats. He turned out to be the one who would actually do the surgery to take out my tonsils.

I was so scared when we walked into the waiting room. There were only baby toys to play with so I immediately sat down next to my mom. Right beside me there was one of my favorite magazines called “Highlights for kids.” Yeah I know it’s a kid’s magazine but my grandmother got me a subscription so I guess its good enough for me.

I started reading it when I noticed a nurse coming out. My heart started racing and I was silently begging her not to call my name. When the nurse said “Ida Green…” I felt so relieved that she didn’t call my name and the old lady next to me was gone.

My heart was normal again but I was still scared so this time it was my mind doing the racing. My thoughts were racing faster than a cheetah as I anxiously waited for my turn.

Finally the time had come. A nurse came out and said “Madison Galvez…” I thought “Ok time to face the facts. You gotta go in there in sit.” I mean it’s going to be all right so I might as well face my fears.

After some serious but quick thinking, I went in. I was so nervous that I was sweating. I finally got the courage to shake hands with the surgeon who was going to talk with me and make sure everything goes smooth.

He explained what the surgery would be like and then another man walked in and said “Hi I am your anesthesiologist and will be the one who helps you sleep during the surgery.”

I said hi back and he told me more about the surgery. I just nodded my head to whatever he was saying because it was hard to understand all of the words he was saying. Then the surgeon gave me some antibiotics to help with some of the redness and swelling and I left.

Just a few days later it was the day of my surgery. We had to get up really early so my mom could check me into the hospital at 6am. I was so tired I fell asleep on the way there because the hospital was very far away.

In the past every time I had walked into the hospital lobby it was always for someone else. Either my brother or for my mom or even for my dad with his high blood pressure. But never, not once have I had a problem with my body or my health. I guess this was my time to be the patient and not just a visitor.

My mom had to do some paperwork and then we had to sit and wait for them to call my name. It felt like it took forever but when it was finally my turn to go back everyone was so nice. It felt like I knew the nurses my whole life and as if we were related. The feeling grew stronger when I saw the doctor and once I got to know them better the feeling swelled inside of me. I knew I would no longer be afraid of doctors again or to have surgery even though I used to be terrified of all doctors and especially going to the hospital.

After that everything went by really fast and before I knew it I was in the wheelchair getting ready to leave. I was so thankful and felt very blessed everything went well and I made it out of the surgery ok.

When I got into the car my dad was waiting with flowers just for me. I was quite surprised but it could have been the pain medicine making me feel that way. I was feeling a little loopy and usually when I get loopy I am happy. Not this time! My mom told me I was like a raging bull and I was so mean to her. She told me nothing could make me happy and was amazed of how well she took it.

I thought I would recover quickly but when I came home I threw up right away and then a few more times until it was time for bed. While I was sleeping my teeth started to chatter and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

I accidently woke up my mom and she quickly put an extra blanket on me so I could get warmer. Blanket after blanket was added until there were no more blankets left in the house! It was a good two hours taken away from our sleep trying to warm me up but finally I felt a little better.

The next morning my mom called the doctor to see why my teeth were chattering and to find out if something was wrong. Then she took my temperature and found out I had a really high fever. The doctor said I had to the emergency room right away so they could figure out what was wrong for themselves.

Once I got there I had to wait twenty minutes just to be seen! Then they made me a hospital bracelet and put me in another room. I HATE those kinds of rooms because they don’t have anything to do and they are always cold and boring.

I had no choice so I went into the boring room and the doctor said “You have to have an IV,” which is a big needle that they stick in my blood vein. Then they can give me bags of clear liquid and take my blood.

I don’t know why I was so afraid of getting an IV. I mean I had one just the other day but I was asleep when they put it in. Luckily the doctor was so nice and friendly. He treated me like an angel which of course I am and always will be. The really weird part was I didn’t even feel a thing when he put it in!

After they ran a bunch of tests and gave me lots of medicine, they said I could go home. Before I left my nice nurse gave me a little teddy bear for being so brave. To this day whenever I look at that special bear I remember my unforgettable discovery and am grateful that I will never again get tonsillitis.

My little vent

2009-03-11T08:51:00.003-06:00

UGH I am so frustrated! The little 2 year old I agreed to watch did not show up yesterday or today. What is worse, is that the parents did not even have the courtesy to let me know! That makes me so angry! They really have not excuse either because they have my phone number & they live in the same apartment complex. Not to mention their 10 year old daughter is one of Madi's good friends & their 7 year old son is in Aidyn's class.

What really bothers me is that I really did not want to watch this kid because he was a lot of work but talked myself into doing it. I mean we all do what we have to do to earn money for our families & watching this kid was part of that. I also bought more toys so he would have lots to choose from and other toddler things I would need. The only good part is that I can still use the stuff for Baby J but I only have him a few hours in the evenings.

Oh well I guess I should not complain because at least I still have the newborn & Gabby & Baby J. They do not bring in a ton of money but every little bit helps right? Mostly I am just disappointed because I have been saving ALL of the babysitting money for our trip to IL at the end of May and now I will need to supplement it with part of Paul's paychecks as well. Maybe I will get lucky & will get a new kid to start watching?

A real quick update

2009-03-09T08:15:00.002-06:00

Sorry I have not been a good blogger lately but I have been super busy! Besides watching the newborn during the day, I also started watching an almost 2 year old who may or may not be autistic. The reason I say that is because he does all the things they do & he has a therapist who comes to work with him a few days a week. Of course the parents have not said anything to me but there is obviously something "wrong" with him.

Dealing with him & all his little quirks makes for an interesting day! Add to that all the issues the newborn has & it makes for 1 very stressful day!!! It is especially fun with they are both crying for me, lol

Oh yeah & I still watch Baby J & Gabby in the evenings. This week will be especially long for me because their dad is working up north & will not be able to pick them up at 6pm like normal. I will be lucky if he comes at 9pm! Lucky me, LOL

Other than that I have just been really busy with school. My real estate law class is already kicking my butt! I have a paper due every week & lots of contracts to write. Legal writing is actually really easy but it is just time consuming finding relevant cases, briefing them & then applying it to whatever paper I am writing.

Since I am so busy during the week babysitting I try to get all my homework done on the weekend and any other time I can squeeze a few minutes of work in. Monday's usually are a good day for me because I do not have the 2 year old so I can work while the newborn sleeps. IF she sleep, lol

But it is hard on my kids when I am always busy doing homework so I try to take time each day to spend with them. Lately our time together had been playing with the wii. We recently got the wii fit & it is so much fun! It is cool to track your progress and see what you need to improve on. The really interesting part is it weighs you & adjusts your character on that information. Of course mine went from looking all cute to a weeble shape. But hey I might wobble but I won't fall down, LMAO. Aidyn's guy looks really funny because he is super skinny & and his BMI shows he is underweight. Well of course we all knew that! The kid cannot seem to gain weight & trust me he eats all the time! He literally goes through at least one box of breakfast bars a week, a big package of cheese sticks, box of gogurt, at least 1 bunch of bananas, and TONS of cereal. That is not even including all the regular meals he eats. I even tried adding those instant breakfast shakes to his milk all the time so he will get more calories but it did not have an effect on him. Oh well his doctor knows he is underweight & is not concerned yet. However if he does not weight 50lbs (as of yesterday he only weights 45lbs & is 4 foot 1) by the summer, I will have to start him on a special high calorie supplement.

Today will be extra fun for me because both of my kids are sick! To top that, the baby also has a bad cold and is very congested. It's not like she is easy to watch either because she has a ton of stomach & digestion problems and throws up most of her bottles. My days are spent feeding her, cleaning her up, changing her clothes, most likely changing mine and trying to keep her happy & comfortable. Thank goodness for the baby swing because that makes her happy as well as any kind of music. Too bad the best music toy I have just happens to be the 2 year old favorite, lol

Alrighty enough rambling from me. I need to go call the school to excuse the kids & then go check on them. They both have sore throats, are coughing & have stomach aches. My good friend Shanna's kids & Kristles all have the stomach bug & Paul brought home a bad cold. Maybe I will be fortunate enough that they get both illnesses at once so I can be done with it. But until then I think I need to stock up on Motrin, tissues, and Lysol lol

Lots of new pics

2009-03-01T20:31:00.004-07:00

I realize that I have not posted new pictures in awhile so I have a bunch to show. I still have more I need to upload but they are on my old laptop, aka Madi's so I need to upload them to the new one. However I still have quite a few to show you all.

this is a picture Madi drew of Kayla today. I think its really good & I am sure you will all agree
Madi holding up the picture she drew

This is the 9 week old baby I watch. She just started smiling & I was able to get a bunch of pics for her mom

And of course this is baby J. Don't you just love his big blue eyes? I take a ton of pics of him and this has to be one of my favorites

Madi & her partner at the science fair. They did not place but still had a lot of fun & got out of class all day to explain it

Paul took the science fair pics so they are not the best, lol

this is me & some of my good friends. I am on the far left, then Shanna, Kristle (baby J's mom) and last is Cassie.

Me, Kristle & Shanna. You can kinda see my new hair cut. I cut a LOT off and it doesn't even go to my chin. I also got a full weave on top with very tiny pieces of light blonde & dark blonde

Shanna & I. The last few pics were taken last weekend at Shanna's apartment. I had soooooo much fun & haven't laughed that hard in a very long time

Paul & I

Dang I am horrible at updating this!

2009-02-26T09:26:00.002-07:00

I am so sorry I have not updated this in so long but as always things have been super crazy for me. First off of course there is my stupid broken foot. It is finally starting to heal but very slowly. I saw the dr for a 2 week follow up & they did more xrays. It is a good thing they did because they found more fractures in my middle toe. According to my dr they are "clean" breaks & should heal quickly but not quick enough for me, lol

Lucky me gets to wear the oh so sexy walking cast for even longer now. The funniest part of the appointment was the dr telling me I had to stay off my foot for the next 5 days, lmao! How in the world am I supposed to do that? Anyone want to come & be a nanny for my kids, babysit the extra ones I have, be my maid, and chef? I promise I will give you all of my babysitting money if you do, lol I will gladly take any help I can get because if I do not stay off of my foot, it is going to take longer to heal & might never fully heal.

The kids are both doing good. Madi is loving choir and is busy rehearsing for a play that she is in next month. I am really excited to see her acting debut because I LOVED being in plays when I was younger. I actually acted in quite a few in high school and truly enjoyed being on stage.

Aidyn is busy being well...himself, lol Besides going to school his life revolves around video games & I have to make him go outside to play. He is getting really good at riding his bike & doing tricks. He almost has the no hands part down but every time he does it, I have a mini heart attack. I keep picturing his face after the scooter accident and know falling off his bike would probably be much worse.

Not much else going on here & sorry to say I do not have any pictures to share today. BUT I do have a ton on my memory card that I still need to upload & once I do, I will add them here.

Stupid clumsy me!

2009-02-11T15:04:00.003-07:00

On Monday night as I was racing around trying to get everything done, I tripped on the coffee table & hurt my left foot. It hurt soooooo BAD but I thought maybe I just stubbed the 3 middle toes & the pain would go away quickly.

Well the pain did not go away & the middle toe actually was bent over the one next to it! To give you an idea of how painful it is, I took a picture about 45 minutes after it happened. (please ignore the peeling nail polish, lol)

Ok so I did not go to the doctor Monday & I honestly hoped I would wake up on Tuesday all better. Nope, even more pain & I could not even walk.

I went ahead & went to the doctor & turns out the 3 middle toes are broken but I also have a hairline fracture going up my foot from the middle toe. Of course all the walking (I should say hobbling) around I did, made the fracture bigger. Lucky me!

Now I get to sport the hottest accessory in broken toe footwear...a big clunky walking cast. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks & if it is not better or healing, I have to get a regular cast. Cross your fingers that does not happen.

This next picture is from today. Notice how the bruising is even more colorful? I cannot wait until it starts to turn yellow, lol

My sexy new shoe

Aidyn looking all cute & adorable this morning

Madi as pretty as ever

Both of my beautiful kids. Are they not just the cutest?

Catching up...

2009-02-06T08:50:00.005-07:00

I do not have much time to post today but I wanted to add the project 365 pics that I am missing from this week. Tomorrow we are having Aidyn's birthday party so I am sure will have a tons of pictures to share this weekend.

#34 Madi all ready for school
#35 Paul with our cat Belle. She is the stray cat we took in a few months ago but turned out to be the best cat & is very loving. She especially loves Paul & will not leave his side when he's home.

#36 I started watching a 6 week old baby during the day & she is very fussy! She has colic but thankfully my friend Shanna gave me this bouncy seat which has been a lifesaver.

#37 This is a typical site of Aidyn in the winter. He always has breathing issues & has to do treatments at least 2 but sometimes 3 times a day

I love me some Rockstar!

2009-02-02T09:00:00.006-07:00

Thank goodness for Rockstars! That is an energy drink for those of you who do not know. I am so very tired today & have been up since 4:00am. Aidyn woke me up because he was having a hard time breathing (thanks to the wonderful Utah air) I had to give him a breathing treatment which always gives him energy thus ensuring he would be wide awake & not go back to sleep.

Lucky for me, I was able to squeak out a tiny bit more sleep in the form of a few 5 or 10 minute naps, but he never went back to bed. While I laid on the couch pretending to be asleep every time he talked to me, he played his DS. Here is a few of the things I remember him saying to me...

"mom 15 plus 30 is 45 right?"

" today is Feb 2nd right? That means I get a new spot in the classroom because we change every month"

"when I grow up I want to be in the army even though dad says I can't. If I do I can work with weapons all the time, and not just play ones"

"Do real weapons all come with orange on the ends like mine?"

"ask me what 50 plus 25 is. Ok since you aren't going to answer it is 75. Wanna know how I know this? Because if I have 2 quarters which is $.50 and get one more it is $.75"

Once 6:30 rolled around, he could not wait any longer & made me get up. Hopefully this means he will go to bed really early.

On another note, what a weekend I had! I had big plans to do lots of homework & catch up on all the housework but unfortunately that did not happen. I ended up getting the cold Paul had & the stomach bug the kids had...all at once! I could barely get off the couch the entire weekend but thankfully I feel much better today. Good thing too because the house is a pig sty & not only do I need to clean it, but I also have lots of homework to finish before tomorrow night.

I still have pictures to share however the ones from Saturday & Sunday were taken by the kids. I did not feel like it so they volunteered. After going through all the weird ones they took, I picked the 2 best ones which just so happen to both be of the cats, lol

#30 Aidyn was supposed to be going to sleep & when I came in to tuck him in, he was waiting to ambush me, lol

#31 Here is the picture Aidyn took. It is his cat Lilly watching the bearded dragon. The cats always try break into the cage and even though there is no possible way, they never give up

#32 Madi took this one. It is of Lilly & Belle sitting on top of the cage. They love sitting next to the heat lamp and at any given moment, there is usually at least one cat up there.

#33 Madi & her new boots

Ever since Madi saw her cousin Kayla & her friends wearing Uggs, she has wanted a pair. I told her there is no way I am spending $150 on a pair of boots for a 9 year old, but especially since her feet are still growing! Her reply to that was we can always "eBay" them when they no longer fit, lol

(since when did words like eBay & google become verbs? Madi uses both all the time)

Because she did need new boots (her class is going on a field trip to snow shoe tomorrow) we compromised on a "Ugg-like" pair from walmart. I will gladly pay $12 v. $150

A truly rare moment...

2009-01-29T08:45:00.003-07:00

Today's picture captures a truly rare moment in my house. Normally my kids get along for the most part, but it never lasts. One of them will say or do something that will set the other off & the fighting begins. Imagine my surprise this morning when Aidyn decided to be extra nice to Madi and helped her do her usual morning things.

It was an even bigger shocker when he asked if I would take a picture of him & Madi! I am hoping this nice spell lasts & he wasn't just planning on the picture so I would have something to look back on & long for, lol

#29 Madi & Aidyn being cute together. Notice how they are both hugging each other & neither is trying to pull away

My cute little guy. He made it to school today & I am so happy that he is feeling well enough to go

(don't mind the breakfast on his left cheek & I did manage to clean it off before he left)

Finally I have a picture of Madi with her bangs! Last night after her bath, I made sure she brushed it nice and straight & we dried it well so it would be easier to fix this morning

Stupid ear thermometer!

2009-01-28T09:59:00.003-07:00

Aidyn's poor health saga continues. After the day he had yesterday I had already decided he was not going to school today & I am so glad I did! He woke up having major breathing problems and was feeling very warm. I cannot tell you what his temperature is (read below) but I did give him some Motrin and he seems to be feeling better.

I realize that part of being a good mom is always having a thermometer for when your kids get sick & I honestly have a good excuse. Well its not really that "good" of an excuse but its the truth so it should count for something, lol

So here it is...I lost it. Seriously I have literally looked everywhere (well obviously not everywhere otherwise I would have it) and I cannot find it! I have the worst luck with thermometers and always seem to loose them. I have even had Aidyn flush one down the toilet when he was 3, lol

Knowing I would need a new one, I had Paul buy one on his way home from work last night. We both had the bright idea of getting one of those fancy shamncy ones that go in the ear. I figured since my kids HATE putting the normal kind in their mouths and I have to resort to taking it in their armpit, the ear one would be perfect. I mean having a reading in ONE second sounds awesome right? Wrong!

I should have figured it would be a bad idea to try & put something in Aidyn's ear. He refuses to let me clean them out & it is not uncommon for him to have gross nasty wax oozing out. (ewwww) Add to that the fact that he has a double ear infection & has been complaining they hurt for the past few days and trying to put something in his ear is a recipe for disaster.

The first time he started to let me put it in his ear but he freaked out before I could even get close to the opening. After about 5 minutes of me trying to coax him, I had the bright idea of letting him do it. Great I am thinking, how nice would it be if he could take his own temperature?

Here's how it went...

Just put it in your ear sweetie

What if it hurts?
It won't hurt & its really quick so just do it bug-a-boo (that's my little nickname for him)
I'm still scared it will hurt.
I promise it won't hurt
But what if I go too far & it touches brain?
There is no way it can touch your brain. Look how small the part that goes in your ear is. There is no way it can reach all the way into your head & touch your brain.
Your right it is small! What if it falls off and then falls into my brain? You wouldn't want that to happen would you?
No of course not. I promise, promise it will NOT fall off and touch your brain. Please just put it in your ear
I am too scared to do it myself
Ok are you sure you do not want me to do it for you? I will be extra careful
NO I don't trust you!
Fine, would you rather have daddy do it? He works with tools and small stuff all day so I know he will do a good job
Those are tools mom, NOT a creepy thermometer
Ok how about Madi? Do you want her to give it a try? I bet she would be good at it since she has little ears too
No way!
Well if you do not want anyone else to do it for you, then you HAVE to do it yourself. It is important to make sure your fever is not too high so put it in your ear already & we can be done
Stop yelling at me (honestly I wasn't yelling, I just raised my voice a little bit)

Finally out of frustration I had to resort to drastic measures....

If you do not put it in your ear right now, I will go borrow our neighbors baby kind & you know where that has to go right? The BUTT, so the choice is yours. Put this one in your ear & be done in 1 second or have the baby kind be put in your butt.

I have never seen him move so fast in his life! And after all of that he didn't do it right & the stupid thing said his temperature was only 93.6! Oh well I guess its back to using the digital kind

#28 how Aidyn spent this morning. Hanging out in mom & dads room playing PSP

I really tried to get him to smile but because he was not feeling good, he refused. The only way I got this shot was because I said the one word guaranteed to make him laugh..."nipple". Worked like a charm

My poor little baby boy!

2009-01-27T20:00:00.002-07:00

OMG if there is an award for being a horrible mom, I would definitely get it today! This morning right before it was time to leave for school, Aidyn told me his tummy hurt. I brushed it off thinking he was just trying to stay home & skip school and sent him on his way.

Well around 9;30 this morning the school called saying I needed to come get Aidyn right away. My poor little boy had thrown up in his classroom & all over himself! I feel so bad that I made him go and did not listen when he said he was sick.

Not only that, but he has also been running a high fever all day. I was reluctant to give him Motrin but once it hit the 103 mark, I felt I had no other choice. Besides I would rather have him throw up than keep suffering from such a high fever.

What is so frustrating is that this happens to him EVERY year! Although it usually does not include the vomiting part, the high fever and breathing issues have been occurring on a regular basis ever since he got the f*$k%ng 5th disease! Yeah I kind of swore but damn it,(yup another semi "bad" word but I am really angry & if you do not like it, stop reading) the stupid "disease" really messed him...bad. So much for it being just another common childhood illness that has no lasting effects!

Anyways, I will not be giving him his antibiotic, steroids, singular, or cough medicine tonight in hopes all the medicine is what made him throw up. Unfortunately that means he will have more breathing issues tomorrow! The poor kid cannot ever seem to get a break in life.

If you all could cross your fingers, rub your magic genie lamp, and pull out your four leaf clovers and lucky rabbits foot and wish that Aidyn would get better, it would be awesome!

All kidding aside I actually do believe in the power of prayer so any and all prayers are appreciated no matter what your religion is.

What a morning! (with pictures, lol)

2009-01-27T08:35:00.004-07:00

Today like most days brought the question of...

"what do you want for breakfast?"

Aidyn is usually pretty easy because he only wants 2 different things...always. The first is pancakes with grape jelly. Like the good little housewife & mommy I am, I used to make them from scratch every day but somewhere during the 2nd month of kindergarten I gave that up & settled for the frozen kind from Walmart.

His 2nd choice is cinnamon toast crunch. He would literally live on that if I let him. Honestly, I am not kidding! He had it for breakfast yesterday, for his after school snack & he snuck some right before bed.

It is not uncommon for him to get out of bed & sneak to the kitchen for a late night snack. He thinks he is being smart but whenever I see him making the mad dash from the kitchen to his room with his hand behind his back, I know he is up to something, LOL I seriously should buy stock in the cereal company because we go through so much each month and I might as well get something out of it : )

Now while Aidyn is easy to please, Madi is not! She can never make up her mind & today was no exception. After giving her lots of choices I was informed we had nothing to eat. I tried to make it easier for her & narrow it down to a hot or cold breakfast.

Her "hot" options were; 3 different kinds of waffles, pancakes, cinnamon french toast sticks, & I even said I would make her an egg with toast. I know, what was I thinking? I guess it was brought on by a fleeting "good mommy" moment.

Of course nothing is too good for my diva & she wanted none of that.

"Fine, you can have cereal"

Her reply was "We don't have any good cereal & there is nothing to choose from!"

For that I had to laugh because we have LOTS of cereal options. I even took a picture so you could see how many different boxes we have. The picture only shows 10 varies kinds (there are 2 boxes of Cheerios & I did not count the instant oatmeal) but the row goes on further in the pantry with 6 other choices!

Now don't you think she should have been able to pick something? The answer is a resounding "NO", lol

Being the good negotiator that she is, she created a 3rd choice and decided to use her own money to buy breakfast at school.

Now here is the ironic part...after checking the school menu she decided she did not want the pancake on a stick they are serving, and instead is going to have the cold cereal they have! I wonder if they will have more choices than me? LMAO

#27 just a few of the cereal choices my kids have to choose from. Too bad it is not enough and

"we never have anything good"

Although I already added the picture of the day, I decided to take a few of the kids. The 1st one is Aidyn in all his hair glory. He decided not to have me fix his hair like I normally do every day & went with the "shaggy because he desperately needs a haircut-sloppy and sticking up and out at every angle-your mom let you go out of the house like that?!- maybe he just woke up land didn't have time to fix it?" look." BUT, if anyone can pull it off he can, lol

Not to be forgotten, here is my grumpy princess diva. She is also having hair issues but nothing a headband cannot fix. Actually she wears a headband so I will not fix her hair. I am such a mean mommy & take the time to straighten it so the stupid cowlick all the women in my family have, & I was nice enough to pass it on to her on both sides of her bangs, will not show.

(Geez I seem to be on a roll with my kids lately and cannot seem to win, lol)

She picked the headband because she has been growing out her bangs for over a year now & when they finally reached her chin... she changed her mind & wanted them cut! So once again she got it cut and now she bangs and has the pleasure of dealing with the cowlick curse I gave her.

What you say, you do not see bangs in the picture? Well that is because she does not like the bangs & has already started growing them out again! I begged her not to cut them but she was dead set on having them and how can you argue with a 9 going on 30 year old little girl?

(Honestly I believe in allowing my kids the choice to have whatever hair style they want & would even fight the no "mohawk" policy at their school if that is what Aidyn wanted. Ok, ok I guess I would not be prejudice and if Madi wanted one too, I would let her, lol )

So the new bang look lasted a whole TWO days! We are now back to square one and dealing with all the frustrating problems growing your bangs out brings.

Now you see why I call her my princess diva, LOL

Like my new look?

2009-01-26T19:52:00.002-07:00

(I might have already posted part of this. If so please bear with me) I finally figured out how to customize the background on my blog! As you can see I made a matching header although I am still trying to figure out what resolution I need to save it because the pictures are not very good.

And lastly & what I am most proud of is the slide show skin! I made my own so now everything matches! How cool is that?!

If you like what I did, you can find the scrapbook kit in the Scrap & Art magazine. All the papers & elements I used are from a kit called "Urban Love" by Vicki.

What do you think? I welcome any comments & suggestions

Well its about time I updated this, lol

2009-01-26T16:53:00.015-07:00

Once again I have been slacking with my blogging! I know, I suck but even though I did not post a picture every day, I did make sure to actually take them. Below you will see all the missing pictures with a little explanation below them.

Let's see I probably should also do a little update on everything. Aidyn is finally doing better! Mostly because we got a snow storm over the weekend that cleaned all the yucky air out. Before that poor Aidyn was having a horrible time & basically had to stay inside except for coming & going to school. However last Friday he called me crying from school because both ears hurt. I took him to the doctor right away & it turns out he has a double ear infection. Besides the antibiotic they also gave him more steroids for his breathing and cough medicine. That is on top of the ADHD pills he takes every day, singular, breathing treatments, rescue inhaler & the other type of inhaler. So with the OTC ear drops he has to take 9 different medicine EVERY day for at least a week! Thank goodness we have insurance because even with it, we are paying an arm & leg, lol

Madi is doing really good in school and although she missed the official spelling bee try outs, her teacher is doing another one so she can try. She has been studying the list which has around 900 words hoping she will be picked to represent her class in the school bee.

Paul had a little problem on the 18th & that is why he had to go to court. (see picture number 22) However, I was able to help him take care of things (thank God for my law background because it would have cost us around $1000 to hire an attorney) & it will all work out. I am not going to give details because honestly it is a private matter but those of you who are close know what happened.

As for me... I have been busy with school. I got A's on both of my midterm papers. A 96% for criminology 2 and 100% for torts & personal injury. I have to write yet another paper tomorrow for torts and again next week but that will be it for that class. Then in 2 weeks I have to write 3, count them THREE essays for the criminology final! The total count for the essays needs to be at least 15 pages but thankfully they are all easy subjects that interest me & I actually enjoy writing papers. (shhhh don't tell my professors I said that, lol)

Other than school I have been busy babysitting. I just found out today that I will more than likely start watching a one month old little girl very soon. It will only be 3 to 4 days a week and from 8 to 4pm. It works out good because I do not start watching the other kids until 4:30pm and that is only until 6:30pm. That way they do not overlap & I will still have the evenings free to spend time with Paul & our kids.

Well if you are still reading this LONG rambling post, I am truly impressed! Then again most of you probably just skipped ahead to see my wonderful stimulating pictures of the day, LMAO

#13 This is a picture of Aidyn's door. He made the name picture at school but the dinosaur came from a set his Grandma Barb (Paul's mom) bought him while we were in Texas. It says no girls allowed but he wrote in tiny letters that I was ok but only because I tuck him in at night & wake him up for school, lmao

#14 I cannot leave Madi out so here is her door

#15 As you can see from picture #10, our cats are obsessed with laundry baskets. And not just clean clothes, they will lay in the dirty clothes basket as well. I am really tired of all their cat hair so I finally found a solution the problem. A hamper with a lid! However it only works on dirty clothes but it does force me to put the clean clothes away right away, lol

#16 This is our bearded dragon Goliath. When we got him he was just a hatchling & was smaller than my first finger, head to tail. Now he is around 18 inches although I have not measured him in awhile since he has taken to biting my pinkie. Maybe he is trying to tell me something that my finger looks like food?

#17 This one is for you Karalee. This is my money frog that is supposed to bring you money & good fortune every time you ring the bell. I do it all the time & so far no big money. On the other hand maybe it IS working & I should be grateful for what I do have & be thankful it is bringing me the meager money it is.

#18 We had friends over to play World Tour (guitar hero's version of rock band) From left to right...Cory, Charra, Luke, Paul & Aidyn standing on the couch singing along

#19 Aidyn's new bunk beds. A little message for Kayla & Tina...notice the sheets on the bottom bunk? They are the mickey mouse ones that Kayla used when she was little, LOL

#20 These next two pictures go together. This is what Paul woke up to...TWO flat tires! Someone slashed the sidewall on both front tires. Unfortunately Paul had parked in visitor parking instead of right by our building & this was his reward. Not a good way to start his day!

#20 1/2

#21 My little diva Madison wearing her cheetah track suit, headband & new sunglasses. The glasses say "somewhat spoiled" lol

#22 Paul getting ready to leave for court. This is only the 2nd time I have seen him wear a tie in the 8 years I've known him. And the other time wasn't even our wedding, LOL

#23 The new watch Paul bought me. I have very sensitive skin & most watches give me a rash where it falls on my skin so hopefully this one will not be like the rest

#24 On Saturday Spanish Fork high school hosted a princess party & this is Madi with one of the girls dressed like some sort of princess. Too bad the school did not plan for the amount of girls that showed up because it was pure chaos!

#25 This is the little boy I babysit. It was from his 1st birthday party & his mom gave him his own little cake & as you can see once he figured out he could eat it, he went to town on it, LOL

#26 Today Madi finally got her new comforter. I ordered the entire set (sheets, pillow cases, curtains & comforter) last week from Target but they split the shipments up & Madi drove me crazy all weekend wanting to know when her room would be finished, lol In case you cannot tell its all Hannah Montana but thankfully the comforter is reversible to plain purple so when she outgrows Hannah Montana, she can just flip it over.

Pictures 11 & 12

2009-01-12T08:42:00.002-07:00

UGH Aidyn is sick again! His breathing has been getting progressively worse for the past few days & last night was super bad. He could hardly breath at bedtime even after a treatment, singular & cough medicine. He is feeling a little better today but still having issues. The air quality is poor today & since it always effects him badly, I kept him home today. I would rather have him miss one day of school vs. get even more sick & end up in the hospital.

Hopefully he will be well enough to go tomorrow because I have a lot of homework I need to finish before tomorrow night & it is hard to concentrate with him at home. Today I am working on the midterm exam essay for my torts & personal injury class. It should not be too hard because all I need to do is compare & contrast torts with criminal law. I also have a midterm paper for my criminology 2 class but that one should be even easier because it only needs to be 900 to 1300 words & I can write that in my sleep, lol

I did not get a chance to post the picture from yesterday because I was busy all day & really did not get on the computer much. I have a little time right now so I will do yesterday & today in one post.

Picture #11

The boys playing their video games, Aidyn with his DS & Paul with is PlayStation 3

Picture #12
I was not sure what to take today so I picked my favorite frog from my collection. Paul bought it for my birthday last year & I love it.

Day 10

2009-01-10T10:49:00.002-07:00

Well Aidyn's birthday overall was pretty good. Paul & I ate lunch with him & surprised him with McDonald's which he LOVED! He was so excited that he did not have to eat home lunch or the spaghetti the school was serving. He even lucked out and got to sit next to his best friend Traven because it was his birthday the other day. Oh I think the best part for him was getting so spend all of his birthday money at the game store when he came home from school. He ended up getting 2 new games, 1 of which he has wanted for a long time but could never find.

Day 10 of project 365 is one I took of my cats this morning. They really like sitting in laundry baskets but especially ones with fresh towels lol. The white cat is Miley, black is Lilly & the grayish is Belle the stray we took in.

Happy Birthday Aidyn!

2009-01-09T08:01:00.002-07:00

Awww my sweet baby boy is now a big 7 year old! I cannot believe he is that old & although it is very cliche to say, where did the time go?! Today Paul & I are going to eat lunch with him because he lucked out & this month's birthday table (one day each month were the parents can come & eat with their kids at a special table) is today. Then towards the end of the day his class has a little celebration for him & I will be bringing a treat. His actual party will not be for a few more weeks and we still do not know what we will be doing. The only thing we know of is that he wants a star wars the clone wars theme but that is about it. Oh he also wants it at the skate rink but we will see if that happens because it is very expensive.

The picture for project 365 is actually 2 pictures I took of Aidyn this morning. He is wearing the new shirt his Auntie Mona got him for his birthday

Pictures 7 & 8

2009-01-08T08:41:00.002-07:00

I have the missing picture from yesterday & the new one for today as well. I am really enjoying taking a new pic every day although I am not sure how long it will be before I run out of inspiration. Luckily having 2 kids & 3 cats should keep me busy, lol

This is today's picture. For some reason Madi likes to wear 1 glove. She wears it all the time in the house & gets upset that i will not let her wear it out of the house. Now aren't I so mean for making her keep her little obsession private? LOL
This is the picture from yesterday that I told you about. When I went to wake Aidyn up, he was sleeping half on & half off the bed. To explain it better he was basically standing up, leaning against his bed. I wonder how long he was like that?

2009-01-07T19:55:00.002-07:00

Ok I do not have my picture for today loaded on the computer yet so I cannot post now. But I will tell you it is a pic of Aidyn sleeping half on the bed, half off, lol

I did however decide to make a new wallpaper for my laptop. I used a kit called urban love from Vicki. I think it turned out pretty good & looks so cute on my computer. What do you think?

2009-01-06T19:08:00.002-07:00

A few of my fellow bloggers are trying to take a picture every day to help remember things that happened to them during the year. I have a taken a few pics this year already but I decided starting yesterday to do the same as them. I am sure none of you will get sick of looking at pictures of my family but I am not sure if I can take that many dif pics of them all year long, lol

To start things off here are a few pics I took tonight of the kids in the snow. Right now we have about 2 feet on the ground in most places although it is hard to see in the pics.

the big white blob in the center is a big flake because with the snow mode on my new camera, it captures all the snow flakes falling.

you can kinda tell how deep it is here. It is up to Aidyn's knees

Here is the picture from yesterday. This is the little baby I watch. He was being silly & playing under his exersaucer & looked so cute, I could not resist snapping his picture.

My little 9 year old paralegal, lol

2009-01-06T16:43:00.003-07:00

I think Madi has legally writing in her blood! I found a "contract" she made up giving her the rights and ownership to her favorite snow fort, lol

Her contract stated:

"This form here by decrees that whoever signs this contract here by states that they take full responsibility for the imagination house." (I copied it exactly and realize that hereby is one word and not two)

She even made it look like the contract was on U.S. State Department letter head lmao. I think it is pretty good work for a 9 year old with no legally writing experience.

some cute penguins for Kayla

2009-01-02T18:55:00.002-07:00

I found these really cute penguin graphics that are part of a big winter wonderland blog train. I thought I would show them to Kayla first & if she wants I can make either a scrapbooking page for her or a siggy to put on her myspace or face book page. The pink background will not show up though, blogger just adds it when I post graphics here.

2009-01-02T10:40:00.003-07:00

Not too much going on here today. We are off to Walmart in a little while & I need to get 2 weeks of food shopping done. Hopefully it will not take too long because I have a very detailed list all ready to go. I am very anal with my shopping lists & divide it into sections starting with the 1st part of the store & ending with the back of the store. I also put my estimated price next to each item listed & then I will write down the actual price once I pick it up. That way I will know what the price is for future reference. I mainly do this because I try to get all the food bought for under $200 and the lower the price the better. Kind of a pain to go around the store with a calculator every time but it helps me curb any extra spending & helps me really budget things out.

One of my goals for scrapbooking is to vary my pages because they all seem to end up looking pretty much the same. I have a habit of sticking to the same style & I want to change things up a little bit. To start off I decided to scrap something that is not normal for me; ie not use family pictures. One of the tips I have received is to try & scrap the normal happenings in my life. I had a hard time coming up with a topic but finally settled on my hatred of dishes, lol

In the page below you will notice the sink is FULL of dishes. I do need to explain something before you all think I am a big slob. I will be honest & admit that I did let them pile up for a few days but there was more than normal because I cleaned out the kids rooms the day before & found a LOT of missing dishes hidden in their messes.

I hope you like the page & if you like the papers & elements I used you can find where to get them listed in the credits below. It is truly an awesome kit & I had a lot of fun using it.

credits: "Waiting to happen" kit by mgl Scraps (Monica Guerra Leiria - http://www.mglscraps.com

The only way you can find the kit is if you subscribe to the Scrap N' Art digital magazine. Do not worry it is free & you can get it by going to their website (http://www.scrapnart.com) & signing up. And the fabulous kit I used is not the only free kit available in the Jan/Feb issue either. There are 2 others including an awesome valentines kit by one of my favorite designers Vicki aka "a work in progress" If you have never gone to her site you are truly missing out! You can find the link to her site by clicking on her blinkie on the right side of my blog.

Happy News Year!

2009-01-01T14:13:00.002-07:00

Holy cow I cannot believe that 2008 is over! Where the heck did time go?! I hope you all had a good celebration & enjoyed your night. Paul was on call so we could not plan anything & just had a quiet time at home. The kids had fun staying up late & then ringing in the new year with all kinds of noise makers Paul picked out for them.

Here are a few pictures I took of them wearing their special hats.

2008-12-26T21:15:00.002-07:00

YAY, I finally have a new cord for my laptop so I can create new scrapbook pages! I did these 2 pages tonight & I am sure I will be adding more pages in the next few days because I have a LOT of pictures that need to find a good home on a scrap page, lol

let me know what you think. You can either leave a comment in the section right below each page, or on the right hand side.

Credits: "TistheSeason" kit by http://dynamisimmortal.wordpress.com/
Credits: "Snow Thyme" kit by http://bluedreamdesigns.blogspot.com/

Pictures of Madi's throat

2008-12-26T08:59:00.002-07:00

Last night Madi wanted me to take some pictures of her throat so she could see what it looks like. I think it looks really painful and I know it has been hurting Madi more than usual lately. Hopefully once the scabs come off it will start to heal quickly & she will be done with throat pain for a very long time!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T18:42:00.010-07:00

Merry Christmas to everyone! Although we are away from all of our family, we still had a pretty good celebration. Growing up we always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve and saved Christmas day for whatever "Santa" brought us. I have carried the tradition on with my kids except this year, Paul let them have their big "Santa" gift tonight with everything else, lol Now tomorrow morning they will only have their stockings to open but maybe they will let us sleep in a little bit! (Haha yeah right!)

The first bunch of pics I took today while the kids I baked TONS of cookies. We did sugar & gingerbread & the kids had a blast cutting them out & decorating.

rolling out the sugar cookies & cutting the dough out
Aidyn working really hard to make sure the cookie turned out perfect

The cookie on your left is a gun Madi made & the one on the right is a sword

All the cookies we made

Another view of the cookies

Aidyn getting ready to open his first gift

Realizing what it was (its a remote control car thingy that you put on any matchbox or hotwheels car to make them remote control)

Aidyn just being silly & making a goofy face

Madi holding up a gift

Awww she got a Littlest Pet Shop VIP stuffed animal to add to her collection

Another goofy look

The 555 piece art set they both got

New scooter to replace the one that was stolen of his

Same for Madi, hers was also taken from school

getting ready to open the gift below

WooHoo the color explosion I have been bugging for!

Madi with her color explosion (they both wanted it sooooo bad!)

Madi with her new sketch pad so she can have lots of paper to work with

Getting ready to open his biggest box

The new Nerf long gun

Madi with all of her gifts

Aidyn with all of his gifts

Aidyn lining up his sight (he was actually aiming for one of the cats, lol)

Madi with her "Santa" gift. Its a MP3, video player, digital camera & camcorder all in one.

Once she realized what all the gift could do

Aidyn with his "santa" gift (guitar hero 3)

2008-12-20T08:50:00.002-07:00

Last night Aidyn was so excited that I was finally able to scan some of the pictures he has drawn lately. The first pictures if of Paul's parents new house. The 2nd picture is of my sister, her hubby & my niece. Don't you just love the very long arms on all his people? lol

If Madi is feeling up to it, I will have her draw a few pics for you all to see as well.

2008-12-19T19:11:00.002-07:00

First and foremost, Madi's surgery went well. She had a little problem with her oxygen levels after & the nurses could not get it above 80 but thankfully after a treatment she got better. We got home around 1pm and besides throwing up a few times, she is doing ok. Still in pain but the Loritab is helping.

The pic below was taken with my new camera (thank you Paul!) a little while ago. The other 2 are the kids school pics that I was finally able to scan.

What a shocker!

2008-12-17T08:51:00.002-07:00

The other day the school sent home invites for the gifted program. The kids school district does not have a formal program but instead does special activities 3 Saturdays with other gifted kids in the area. Not everyone gets to go & each teacher only gets to invite a few kids, IF they feel they qualify so some classes send no one.

Madi has been invited every year since kindergarten but guess what? Aidyn got invited this year!!!!! That means both of my kids are considered "gifted" Can you believe that? I mean of course I think they are smart but for both of their teachers to think so is pretty darn good. And Aidyn was the ONLY person picked in his class to go! Aidyn, the little boy who last year could not sit still, talked all the time and was in trouble EVERY day (usually more than once) was the only one picked out of his class of 25 kids! Oh and he is already in the advanced 1st grade class anyway.

I am so proud!

2008-12-08T08:52:00.002-07:00

Hmm lets see, I figured I'd better give you all an update since it has been about a week, unfortunately nothing major going on for us so if you get bored easy, you can stop reading at any time, lol

Aidyn went to the doctor last week for a regular medicine check up. His last check up was at the end of August & he still weighs 48lbs but managed to grow 3 inches! I knew he was taller but not that tall! The doctor ended up increasing his concerta which is a definite good thing. At his old dose, he would be coming down the last hour of school and he was starting to have a hard time concentrating. The whole reason we put him on it was to help out in school because he cannot seem to sit still. This new dose seems to be working a lot better and hopefully it will be the only increase he will be getting.

They also put him on singular once a day to help with his breathing. We also have to give him breathing treatments at least twice a day plus his inhaler for when he is really struggling. Good thing I love him because with all his medicines he is costing us $74 a month and that does not even include the OTC allergy stuff he takes. All I have to say is thank goodness we have insurance because otherwise we would be paying over $400 for everything!

Madi is busy getting ready for her choir concert at one of the malls on Thursday. I am hoping I get to chaperon but if not I am going to go with my friend whose daughter is also in choir. Then the next day, I will be helping out with a field trip for Madi's regular class. It is at the Springville Art Museum and I am not sure what we will be looking at for 3 hours because it is pretty small. Oh well I am just thankful I can help out with her class.

Nothing exciting going on for me. I started the new quarter for school last week and this time I am taking criminology 2 and intro to torts. The torts class should be super easy because it is only a 100 level class and I have been taking 300 and 400 for awhile now. However there is a lot of papers to write and you never know how the professor will grade until you get the first paper back.

I honestly do not know what to say about Paul lol. He has been super busy with work lately but continues to be the companies number 1 service tech. They even had him teach a class last week because he is the expert in that particular field. He always amazes me with how much knows about heating and cooling stuff. There is no way I could do what he does!

Alrighty I guess that is about it. Sorry I do not have any new pictures for you all but my stupid camera is still being naughty & not working.

Christmas lights parade

2008-12-01T09:38:00.002-07:00

On Friday night the kids & I went to our towns Christmas lights parade. It was the first year we have gone & overall it was a lot of fun. They had a LOT of floats and it was not too cold so the hour went by pretty fast. The kids favorite thing was a 15 foot Christmas tree that looked like it was driving down the street by itself. What they did is have a guy on a bike in the middle of the tree. Unless you looked really close you could not see the bike so it really did look like a moving tree, lol

I intended to take a lot of pictures but my batteries died (or so my camera said) and I only got a few taken. Speaking of cameras, I think mine is dying! It will not let me review the pics anymore. Well actually it will but it puts them on a super fast slide show no matter how I adjust the settings. I am ok with it dying as long as I can get a new one for Christmas. (hint, hint) This one is only a 5.1 MP anyway and there are soooo many better models out there now.

Anyways here are the pictures I took of the parade.

This is the picture Aidyn took of Madi & I. My camera died right after
The very rare moment when Aidyn was sitting still (he did not take a pill that day & OMG did he misbehave)

Madi all bundled up

Both kids waiting for the parade to start

2008-11-26T09:48:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Madi saw the ENT doctor & he agrees that she definitely needs her tonsills out but her adenoids also bad so they are coming out. The surgery is scheduled for December 19th which is the Friday before Christmas. That date is good and bad. Good because she will have all of Christmas break to recover but bad because she will probably still be in pain on Christmas. I am hoping opening gifts will make her forget about the pain, lol

So is everyone ready for Thanksgiving? I am & cannot wait for it! Since we have no family here in UT, we are having it with some friends. It will be lots of people, food and fun! I am in charge of making homemade stuffing, the potatoes & cranberry sauce. I am thinking of trying a new cranberry recipe but I am not sure. Sometimes it is better to stick with what you know and NOT try new things in case they do not turn out right On the other hand, I always try at least one new recipe every holiday so who knows what I will do. I actually told Madi she could "make" it but with my help of course. She loves watching for the berries to "pop" and mashing it all together to make it smooth. I think I might make 2 batches. One with my old stand by recipe and a new one. I will let you know how it turns out.

I think the reason I love thanksgiving so much is because it means Christmas is almost here. The day after is my all time favorite day of the year & I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going shopping for all the black Friday sales. Unfortunately this year it will not be happening. We do not have enough extra money to justify braving the crowds. However I might get a few things tomorrow morning at Kmart. They usually have some pretty good thanksgiving day sales.

Another reason I love Friday is because that is when I put up all my Christmas decorations. On a normal year I would go shopping really early, come home and wrap all the gifts, put up the tree, decorate the house & then that night go to our towns festival of lights. It is how I kick of the holiday season and has been tradition for years now. Not shopping just means I will get to sleep in but can still do everything else like normal. Well except for wrapping gifts. I do have a few things bought for the kids already but I might wait to put them under the tree.

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving!

2008-11-24T10:05:00.002-07:00

So not too much going on here for us. The biggest thing is that Madi will be getting her tonsills out pretty soon. This last week she was sick almost every day & when we took her to the dr on Thursday he said she had one of the worst cases of tonsillitis he had ever seen! She goes tomorrow to see the Ear Nose & throat dr & schedule the surgery. She is really nervous but hopefully the dr will be able to answer some of her questions & make her feel better.

The other new thing is that we got another kitten. Yeah that makes 3 now, lol The newest one was a stray that hung around our complex but was so friendly. A couple of people tried to keep her but she always wanted to go back outside. I found her covered in oil last week so I took her inside to clean & ended up keeping her. Madi named her Belle & she fits right in with our family & 2 other kittens. And she hasn't tried to go outside once so I think she found her "home."

I went ahead & added some new pictures below. The first is one I took of Aidyn on Friday. He just looked so cute I could not resist taking a pic. The 2nd is Madi with our new kitten. It was actually taken just a little while after I got her all cleaned up & the oil off of her.

My speed scrap LO

2008-11-13T07:49:00.002-07:00

Last night I participated in a speed scrap over at Ginger Scrap's forum. Every 10 minutes we were given instructions to follow but we could customize it however we wanted & use whatever kit wanted. This is what I came up with.

credits: "Fall Festival" by Andrea

My future chef

2008-11-09T16:13:00.002-07:00

Madi LOVES cooking & baking & wants to be in the "food service industry" (her words) when she grows up. She helps me whenever she can & has even been working in the school cafeteria the past couple of weeks. The lunch ladies love her & actually requested her help on Friday because she does such a good job.

Anyways I found the cutest little apron & chef hat set at the dollar store yesterday & Madi was so excited to use them. I think she looks so cute.

Boy I know how to get sick! lol

2008-11-07T08:25:00.003-07:00

It all started last Saturday with a sore throat. By Sunday it hurt to swallow but nothing too major. Monday the coughing & runny nose came but again nothing too bad. On Wednesday it all hit at once! I swear I have never felt worse in my life & could hardly breath. I finally went to the doctor on Wednesday evening because I could not take it anymore & the dayquil & cough meds were not working.

Turns out I have bronchitis, a sinus infection & walking pneumonia! They put me on antibiotics for the infections, a rescue inhaller, another type of inhaller I use 2 twice a day, stuff for breathing treatments & cough medicine. Yesterday was the worst day yet because I was throwing up & had the lovely dry heaves all morning but thankfully I feel a tiny bit better today. At least I can walk down the hallway without running out of air, lol

I am praying no one else gets this but especially Aidyn. He already has so many breathing issues & I know it would put him right in the hospital. (Oh speaking of I was lucky enough my oxygen levels were at 90 after a treatment in the dr's office or I would have been admit ed) I also do not want Paul to get sick because you know how big of babies men are when they get sick, lol

Beautiful view

2008-11-03T07:59:00.002-07:00

This morning the sky & mountains looked so pretty today, I could not resist taking some pictures. The sun had been up for only a little bit but still caused the clouds over the mountains to be pink which looked awesome against the snow.

They are not the best pics but you can still get the idea of how pretty it looked. And besides for all of my friends & family out of state, you can see part of the views I get to look at every day, lol

This is MT. Timpinogas (sp?) A lot of people say it looks like a lady laying down with her arms on her chest. What do you think? The head starts on the right side of the pic
This is def not a very good pic because the stupid highway wall always gets in the way! BUT this was the best view. It is hard to tell but below the mountain is all these fluffy clouds that were handing over Utah lake.

Pumpking carving

2008-10-31T10:35:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago I let the kids color their pumpkins with sharpies but promised we would get 1 big one to carve. Little did I know they would pick out the biggest one they could find, lol. We have no idea how much the monster they picked out weighed because the check out scales only went up 30lbs! At least they had fun carving it.

credits: Jack O' Lantern by Ginger Scraps

2008-10-28T10:37:00.002-06:00

Every year our town has trick or treating on main street the Saturday before Halloween. The kids love going & even though it is always very crowded, we still take them. Madi wanted to be a black cat & Aidyn went as Batman. (he will not wear the mask so its kinda hard to tell what he is) I took a few pictures before we left and decided to finally do a few scrapbook pages since it has been forever since the last ones.

credits: I used 2 different kits that were part of a big Halloween blog train

DMK Designs [Danielle Kaczor] & melisasdesigns

Pictures of my beautiful niece Kayla

2008-10-21T09:15:00.004-06:00

Since my mom is having a hard time seeing the pics of my niece Kayla, I thought I would post them here. And of course I do not mind because look how beautiful she is! These are all pictures from her senior homecoming. The first ones are the cheerleading ones & the rest are before the dance.

Do not ask me the names of everyone else because honestly I do not know & besides I would not feel right posting them without their permission.

Feeding the ducks

2008-10-16T19:09:00.002-06:00

There is a group of ponds very close to our apartment complex & the kids LOVE feeding them. Since they were off school today I decided to take Madi, Aidyn, Gabby & Josh and also 2 of my friends kids who just happen to be Gabby & Josh's cousins.

Here are a few of the pics I took today

The ducks coming up to us even before we got the bread out
These ducks & 2 geese were crazy & ended up attacking Madi because she was not feeding them fast enough
Aidyn on the other hand loved feeding them & even got right down with them
This is a good view of how many were around us. I counted & there was 33 ducks & 2 geese
This poor goose had a broken wing

from left to right: Sydney, Lauren, Madi, Gabby & Aidyn

Madi & Aidyn

my little ladies man, lol

Twins?

2008-10-15T09:44:00.004-06:00

This is the baby I watch, Josh. Don't you just love his big blue eyes?

As you all know I have been babysitting 2 new kids. I watch a little baby who is 9 months old & his big sister who is 7. I usually walk the kids to school every day & on 3 different occasions someone has asked if Gabby & Aidyn were twins! lol

They both have blonde hair, blue eyes & are missing their 2 front teeth but that's where the similarities end. What do you think? Do you they look like twins to you?

Gabby & Aidyn

What do you get when you take 4 boys....

2008-10-13T20:24:00.002-06:00

who all have ADHD & put them together with a parent helper? Pure chaos! LOL Last Friday was Aidyn's field trip to the pumpkin patch & I signed up to help. Aidyn got to pick the people in his group & I was wondering why I only had 4 kids instead of 6 like everyone else. It did not take me long to figure out why, lol

To start off I lost one of the kids! The tallest boy in the pic below kept wandering off & one time I could not find him right away. I grabbed the other kids & we went to look for him except Aidyn went the other way. I found the kid but then had to find Aidyn. I was honestly very worried with both kids but when I found Aidyn he was crying. I felt so bad for him because he did not want to be crying in front of his friends.

I swear I do not know if I will help out again! Actually I do not think it would have been that bad except besides the 2 buses full for Rees kids, there was 13 other buses of kids as well! Talk about crazy & crowded.

Anyways here are the pics I took...

The group I was in charge of
His whole class. I really do not like the spot they picked for the group pic because of the shadows but oh well you can still see them all
This was outside the corn maze which btw we never did find the correct way out of, lol
And of course we have Aidyn the cutest kid in his class but then again, I am a little prejudice

Finally, it is out!

2008-10-05T16:07:00.003-06:00

Today Aidyn finally lost his other tooth! This thing has been so ready to come out for over a month now but he would not pull it out. It was basically hanging & even the dentist said there was no roots attached so it would be easy to come out & that was over a month ago, lol

Anyways, today we had hamburgers & while he was eating, it came right out! WooHoo now he does not have an ugly snaggel tooth, lol

Oh the first picture is the finished product of Aidyn's trap for bad guys. As you can see he added a few more weapons including some very long swords that take quite a few magnetix it keep them in place.

That is not blood on the tooth but part of the bun with ketchup stuck to it, lol

Always prepared

2008-10-01T08:37:00.002-06:00

As you all know Aidyn is obsessed with weapons. He can make anything into a weapon & I am always finding them around the house. Last night he decided that he needs to be more prepared for "bad guys" so he placed a few weapons on the door. He finished working on it this morning & now I feel very safe in case any bad guys come to get me today, lol

We have metal doors so he fashioned a few pieces of magnetix as holders and stocked up. As you can see there is 2 grenades, 2 knives, and 2 guns. He even placed extra holders for bigger guns but did not have time to finish it up before school.

work for America day

2008-09-28T15:25:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was work for America day & we did a project up Diamond Fork Canyon. They first had us working on a trail. We had to level it out and let me tell you it was hard work! Unfortunately all the dust was killing my allergies so they moved us to painting signs. That was a LOT more enjoyable & the kids had a blast. And now every time we go there we can go back to the signs & say WE painted them, lol. Oh it was the same place we planted trees for Earth Day which btw are still very small & do not seem to have grown very much.

the first part of the trail we worked on
Paul & Madi working hard
The water looked so beautiful I could not resist taking a picture
Aidyn & Madi standing by the river
All 4 of us. Not the best lighting but you can still see all of us
Aidyn, Paul & Madi standing on the bridge
Looking cute, you can see the type of signs we painted in the background

Our new family photo

2008-09-25T19:15:00.001-06:00

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Shooting guns up Spanish Fork Caynon

2008-09-21T19:18:00.005-06:00

This afternoon we went shooting with a bunch of our friends & it was a blast! I did not think I would have so much fun but I am looking forward to doing it again. And of course you all know Aidyn had the most fun, lol

I did not get to shoot this gun & was kinda bummed but I def will next time

Before he got to shoot

He could not stop smiling after, lol
This handgun allowed you to shoot 8 rounds quickly but Aidyn only managed to do one because it scared him

Before we went shooting, we had a cookout & this was near there
getting ready to leave to go the shooting place. They were so excited because they got to ride in the back of a truck
Paul & I. Not the best pic but oh well we do not have very many of the 2 of us

Madi's 9th birthday party

2008-09-21T09:52:00.010-06:00

We had Madi's birthday party yesterday & it really turned out great! Of course we had to worry about rain all day & then change parks at the last minute because the town had a big activity going on at the one we had chosen, BUT overall it was really nice & a lot of fun.

Madi & Aidyn decorating the cake
the finished product at the park (it really is a #9 candle although it kinda looks like an 8)
the goody bags & cupcakes
trying to light the candles which because it was windy would not stay lite, lol

Madi & Sydney
Madi & Lauren
Madi & Brittney
Madi & Lindsey
Madi & Indiana

Madi & Shae
Madi & Braxton (he has the biggest crush on Madi)
Madi & Brooklynn
Madi & Jade
Madi & Accasia (I have no idea how to spell her name, lol)

they used the tables at a catwalk & I was the photographer at the end of the run way
Nya
Lauren & Sydney
Conga line that someone started

Madi & Nya on the catwalk
Sydney
Jade
Shae
Braxton (the only boy who would pose for a picture)

The whole group together
A better shot but you cannot see Aidyn & another little boy The star of the fashion show

Sitting down waiting for the games to start (I was walking backwards to get them all in the shot & fell off the curb flat on my back, lol)
Braxton doing the balloon game
I love this shot of Indiana, she was having so much fun
Having fun in line

2008-09-19T10:03:00.002-06:00

WooHoo I finally got the new cord for my laptop! It died over a month ago but we did not have the money to buy a new one until last week. Most stores wanted between $90 and $150 which is crazy! Luckily I found the exact same one on amazon for only $20. How awesome is that?!

School started for me on Wednesday and I am already crazy busy. I thought my Freedom & Justice class would be the hard one but it turns out Real Estate Law is going to be the most difficult. Freedom & Justice is mainly just discussing deep thoughts and as long as you can back up your opinions with facts, your good.

Tomorrow is Madi's birthday party. We are having it at a park and all week the weather forecast called for rain. I was really worried so last night I spent a few hours making new invitations & planned on having it at our house. Then this morning the forecast changed & there will be no rain! YAY now we can have it at the park like we planned.

I am once again planning on making her cake. Except this time it will just be a simple 2 layer round with basic decorations. I will also make a bunch of cupcakes because they are much easier to eat in a park than cake.

Sorry this is such a short update but I am fighting off a migraine & do not feel much like typing anything long & detailed. But of course I will be posting pics after the party tomorrow so be prepared for some new stuff, lol

Two important things...

2008-09-15T08:56:00.003-06:00

First off I need some advice from all of my wonderful blog readers. As most of you know my 6 year old son Aidyn has lots of medical problems. Most are easily managed & not too serious but his breathing issues are always hard, especially this time of year. He gets sick easily & for the first 5 years of his life, he ended up in the hospital during the fall/winter time. A lot of times it is his allergies that start to stir things up for him but something as small as a little cold will make him very sick.

Luckily I know the signs now & I am able to fight off most illnesses before they become too serious but lately all of my best efforts have failed. I am hoping someone can give me some advice on what I can do to improve what I am doing already or tell me there is some sort of magic cure because I cannot stand to see my little boy sick all the time : (

Currently he takes Zyrtec every night for allergies, cough medicine when he gets bad (have tried every brand but this time it is dymatap) breathing treatments & inhaler when needed both using "Xopenex" (albuteral does not work well for him) humidifier at night to help with the dryness & children's Motrin when he gets a fever. I also use Lysol all the time around the house, make him wash his hands constantly & am obsessive about using hand sanitizer whenever we go out in public. Now even after all of that, if someone sneezes anywhere near him...he gets sick. The school year has just started but he has already missed 2 days & will probably be coming home sick today. Can anyone help me?

Now for some exciting news! I am sure you have all noticed how I keep changing the layout on my blog around. I recently found an awesome blog where the designer offers a TON of blog layouts & even headers for....get this... FREE! Can you believe that?! Right now she is offering a HUGE kit that she designed herself (isn't she very talented?) Now this kit is also free but there is a slight catch. She is going to pick 3 people to give it away to. Why only 3 you say? Well because the kit is that awesome & because she made it, she can do whatever she wants with it, lol In all honesty she could be charging a lot for it & just the fact that she is giving it away to 3 lucky people is cool enough. So if you would like a chance to win it, go check out her blog. And heck even if you do not do scrapbooking, you can still pick up a really great layout for your blog. Do not have a blog yet? Well then it is high time you get one & with cute layouts (did I mention that are all FREE?) from Allie Brown Designs you can customize it however you want.

There are 2 ways you can get to the blog of Allie Brown. First you can always click on the little blinkie on the right side of my blog OR you can just click on the preview of the totally awesome kit she is giving away. Oh and for all of my computer challenged readers, if you need help creating a blog or adding the layouts, I will be more than happy to help you out. Or you can just read all the directions & steps Allie has listed on her blog. (still another reason you should check out her blog)

As promised

2008-09-12T08:46:00.002-06:00

I have a new picture of Aidyn as I promised yesterday. It was taken this morning right before he left for school. As you can see his face has cleared up nicely. However he does have a lot of scars but hopefully they will fade quickly.

Not much going on here today or this weekend for that fact. Madi & I are probably going scrapbooking with some of my friends tonight but I am not sure what the boys will end up doing. No plans Saturday except to relax & probably do a bunch of cleaning on my part. Sunday is church from 9-11 and then I have to do all of our food shopping. The stores get so crowded on the weekends but Sunday they are pretty much dead. Perfect time for me to go, lol

2008-09-11T09:18:00.002-06:00

The past couple of days have been very stressful for me! I had issues with my phone & then worst of all, my school. For some reason they still do not have all the credits I already completed showing up in my degree plan. That means that when I tried to sign up for classes, it says I need to take classes I already finished first. Thankfully last night I was able to get registered for the quarter starting on Wednesday. I am taking Real Estate Law (300 level) & for my humanities class "Freedom & Justice" (400 level)

In Real Estate Law I will become familiar with procedures & documentation of real estate transactions. The course will address a wide range of issues and functions within the field of real estate law, including ethics, types of ownership, use, possession, mortgages, financing, taxation, closing & litigation.

I am really excited for the Freedom & Justice class & here is the course description: this course is designed to introduce the student to the foundational philosophies of Freedom & Justice that underlie that stability of the free world. Social stability is not a natural occurrence. A delicate balance of individual rights & freedoms weighed against the need for justice and equality under the law must be maintained not only by law but by individual expression in a free society. The tools gained in this class will prepare a student or enhance a student's ability to fulfill this vital individual role as well as analyze how just principles can dictate the ideal compromise between individual and social freedoms within their own profession, community & worldview.

I have to tell you Madi has been extra sweet the past couple of days! She said she can tell when I am stressed just by my voice & she has been doing little things to help me unwind. Last night she brought me one of her books to read, lite a few candles & told me to just lay down & relax. How sweet is that? Anyways she looked so cute today I had to take a picture to share with all of you. *note, I would have taken a picture of Aidyn as well but he is not feeling well & is home sick. BUT I will add a new picture of him tomorrow*

Kite Festival

2008-09-08T14:23:00.005-06:00

On Saturday we went to our towns wind festival. They recently put in a wind farm & had a celebration for it. There was a lot of cool things to do & see. Everything from HUGE kites being flown from the back of jet skis or ATVs, make your own kites, kite garden, and lots of booths that had environmental things.

One of the other things they were celebrating was we FINALLY have a recycling program! Can you believe they did not have one way before? I mean come on, every town should have one or at least some place you can bring your stuff. Good thing is our town has it, bad news is the apartment complex does not have one yet. Of course they do not want to pay to sign up for the curb side pick up but I am working on it.

Here are a few of the pics I took. I still want to scrap them but with my laptop still not working, I can only use the desktop & all of my scraping stuff is not one here.

the kids making the "kites" they had to offer
Paul being silly while trying to fly the homemade kite
Paul on some electronic thingy

These next few pics are from the kite garden. They was some pretty cool ones

They had a jet ski that was pulling big kites in the reservoir
The kites up in the air

These are HUGE fish being flown from the back of an ATV
This one was prob the coolest one & the one of the biggest. It was over 150 feet long
another view of it so you can see get a better idea of how big it really was.

2008-09-05T09:08:00.003-06:00

Last night was the kids back to school night which the school has so the parents can visit the classrooms & listen to a 20 minute speech from the teacher. I went to Aidyn's class first & I am really liking his teacher. She is very young (this is only her 2nd year teaching...ever) and she is full of excitement & very eager to teach. She said that AJ (that is what they call him at school now because there is 4 other kids who have names that rhyme with his, lol) does very well in everything except he has the tendency to talk when they are learning on the carpet. Thankfully not to the extent of last year (he was in trouble EVERY day for talking) and this teach seems to have more patience.

His teacher needed help with field trips & class parties & no one was really signing up to help, so I signed up for everything. I also volunteered to help out in his class every day from 10:30-11:30 because the class needs help with the reading groups. Not sure how long that will last but I will be home all day anyway so it is not a big deal.

Madi's class is awesome & I cannot say that enough! lol They already have their first project which is to do a time line & list an event for each year of their lives. They have to graph it all out, describe the event & show a picture of it. If they do not have a picture they can draw something, cut out a magazine pic or even use a sticker. She has until Oct. 15th to finish it but I am sure she will be done in the next few days. She likes to do all her homework right away so she does not forget or get swamped the night before.

Oh I also found out that part of her class requirements are that she needs to be a peer tutor for a younger class. She wants to help in a 1st grade class but her teacher suggested she help out her 2nd grade teacher. She of course if VERY excited about that & has decided she wants to be a teacher now. I asked if she was going to change her previous dream jobs but she said no, she wants to do it all, lol. That means she will be a scientist & cure AIDS, be an artist, have her own band, teach & work in the food service industry. Busy little girl, LMAO

Not much going on for me today. It is a bad allergy day so right now my eyes are all red, puffy, watery & super swollen so I am wearing my lovely glasses. I am sure I am such a hottie right now with my nasty oozing eyes, lol. Aidyn is also having a hard time with allergies & is complaining of a sore throat. He said he was sick & I did not believe him until I took his temp which was pretty high. So today it is just the 2 of us handing out.

I love sharing pics, especially since all of our family is far away so I will add another new one. The other day Paul & AJ where sitting on the couch reading their game magazines & I could not resist snapping a pic. I think it turned out pretty good. What do you think?

I have BIG news!

2008-09-04T09:23:00.003-06:00

Guess what? I have decided (with help & encouragement from Paul) to go back to school! I know what you are thinking. You just finished, why would you want to go back so soon? Well because right now I am having a very hard time finding a good job here. Most places want experienced paralegals & I do not have experience yet. Plus anyone can get an associates but getting a BS in legal studies is a lot harder BUT way better on a resume. Not only will I have a better opportunity finding & getting a job but I can make more money too. And IF I want, I will be able to go onto law school when I am done. Not sure if I want to go that far but a girl can dream right? lol

It is all happening so fast but I am very excited to start. Speaking of starting...my first day is September 17th! Less than 2 weeks until I am a full time student. This time I will not be settling for cum laude. I want to get a 4.0 and will except nothing less. Good thing I will have more time to study without having extra kids to watch at the same time, lol

Oh and because I am not working right now, I will be able to do more than full time & finish in a year instead of 2! And of course I will be saving on daycare costs for my kids after school now. By the time I finish & I am ready to work, Madi will be old enough to watch Aidyn herself which will save me the cost of hiring someone.

Aidyn is doing much better. He still has a lot of scabs on his face & wrists but they are slowly getting better. This pic was taken on Sunday & it pretty much looks the same. The only thing that looks better is his lip which the swelling is almost all gone & the big scab is off. However any day now he will be loosing his teeth. If not we will be seeing their dentist & have them take care of it.

My poor baby boy!

2008-08-29T20:14:00.002-06:00

Today the kids were a little late coming home from school so I decided to wait for them. I thought I heard Aidyn cry but figured it was too far away & I should quit being a worry wort.

About 2 minutes later I get a call from the police saying my son has been in an accident & I needed to come to the cross walk right away. I started running but ran into my friend first. She gave me a ride there (its about 2 blocks away) and when we pulled up all I see is 2 cops standing over my son who is hurt really bad!

The first thing I think is he got hit by a car but he crashed on his scooter & scrapped up his face really really really bad! Basically the whole left side is one big bloody mess & both lips were HUGE. Paul was in the shower & I could not get ahold of him but I kept trying.

The cop said that Aidyn HAD to go to the dr to get checked out & if Paul did not get there within 2 minutes, they were calling an ambulance. I am not kidding you, I started to have a panic attack! I was trying to remain calm but I could not even answer the cops questions. Thankfully Madi was there & she was able to answer everything.

We took him to the dr who took one look at him & said he needed to go to the ER because he had a pretty bad head injury. The ER did a CT scan which came back normal but he does have a concusion. He needs a few stitches in his lip but the dr did not want to tramatize him any more & said it would heal on its own. Aidyn will also be loosing his top 2 front teeth & right not they are hanging on by a thread.

Besides the facial injuries he also has scraps all up & down his hands & both arms. The poor kid looks horrible & I feel so bad for him!. I am just thankful it was not too serious & the cop was there to help him.

Oh the cop actually came to our house a little while ago to check on him! He wanted to make sure Aidyn was ok. How nice was that?

Not a good day for electronics!

2008-08-29T09:06:00.002-06:00

For the past few weeks my laptop has not been working very well. The power cord only worked if I had it positioned a certain way. (Usually I had to have it draped over the back of the couch, on my shoulder & around the actual laptop which I am sure looked pretty funny) That met I was going off of battery power much of the time. Yesterday the cord completely stopped working & my battery is fully drained! Paul checked it out & we know exactly where it is not working but until I can buy a new one, I have to use the desktop. I know boo hoo but when I am so used to only using my laptop, it is much harder for me to use the desktop. For one thing I cannot type as fast, lol But I am getting the hang of it & I suppose I should get used to it because I am sure the computers I use at work will not be laptops.

Oh on top of the whole laptop issue, my camera was having problems too! The shutter will not open fully so I only get half a pic. Thankfully Paul was able to fix that but now the shutter will not close completely so I have to be extra careful I do not scratch the lens.

Then if that was not bad enough, I cannot find the charge for my MP3 player! I have looked everywhere but no luck. I swear things just seem to disappear in my house never to be found again. It started with Aidyn's DS, then Madi's MP3 player & now my charger. I guess I will be saying the St. Anthony prayer a lot today, LOL

Wow listen to me bitch & complain! You all must thing I am a horrible pessimistic person who has nothing better to do than whine about my problems. I should not be so self absorbed and quit complaining about having electronics issues. I should feel lucky that I am fortunate enough to have these problems in the 1st place because so many people in the world do not even know what they are & spend their lives just trying to survive. AND I am healthy, Paul has a good job & I have good kids (for the most part, hehe) We have a nice apartment to live in, a car that runs good & enough money in the bank to provide us with our needs & even a few "wants" So instead of being a negative complainer, I will not be grateful for what I DO have & suck the rest up, lol

Anyone doing something fun this Labor day weekend? We do not have plans except to celebrate Madi's birthday on Sunday. We always take the kids out to dinner wherever they want (within reason because last time Madi requested Red Lobster, LOL) but so far Madi has not decided where she wants. She has said that instead of cake she wants a Key Lime Pie and that I can do.

We are also busy planning her birthday party. Unfortunately because of her big day always being so close to Labor Day, we have to celebrate a few weeks into September. Last I heard she wants a Karaoke party but who knows it might change before the actual day.

Alrighty I need to get off my unmotivated procrastinating butt & start cleaning. I have a to-do list a mile long & exactly 6 hours until the the kids get off of school. Wish me luck getting most of it done!

Have a great holiday weekend!

Madi's new haircut

2008-08-27T08:51:00.004-06:00

Last night I took Madi to get a haircut & it turned out so cute! She really did not know what she wanted before we got there but after searching through about 4 books, we came up with something similar to this. The pic the cut is based off was a little more babyish but I made sure they gave it a more updated & "older" look.

These pics are taken after she played outside for awhile so it looks kinda messy but you can still see how much they cut off. I am dying to take a flat iron to it but she will not let me, lol The whole reason for the cut was so that she could do her hair herself & have it still look cute & like she tried. For that reason I am not even allowed to help her brush it, lol I miss helping her but I guess now that she is almost 9 (4 more days!) she should be doing it herself.

What do you think?

the front
the back (MY favorite part)

2008-08-26T20:52:00.002-06:00

I did these pages for a designer but I am really proud of them. I used the "Blue Jeans" kit by Vicki.

The field trip with Madi's class last night

2008-08-26T08:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I helped out with Madi's class & their 1st field trip. We went up to one of the local campgrounds for a team building exercise. There are 4 multi-age classes, each having 28 kids & they divided each class into 2 groups. Then they further divided the classes into groups of 14.

They did a lot of really cool activities which included putting on waders & going in the river to look at the fish, plants & bugs. They also did a project to test the water & investigate what was in it. They also did a thing where they had to climb through a big crack in the red rocks in which they had to rely on their team to give them directions on where to put each foot.

I was paired with one other mom & our activity involved having the kids figure out how to get their entire team from one spot to the next only using 2 boards. The boards had ropes on them & there was 2 different ways to do it. They could either use the ropes & work together like they were skiing or have everyone stand on one board & slide the other board to the front & just keep switching. It was really interesting to see what the group decided to do (we did not tell them anything before & they had to figure it out themselves) Some groups picked it up really quick but some took forever to just work together. I was really proud of Madi because she took on the roll of team leader & figured out the 2nd way really quick & lead her team to 1st place in a race.

Overall the day was really fun but HOT. Oh during the very last rotation, one boy got hurt doing one of the things & smashed his finger really bad. His teacher sent him to me & his finger was literally gushing blood! I helped him clean it up, bandage it & put ice on it because it was already super swollen. We called his mom & had her meet us at the school because he def needs a few stitches & he prob broke that finger too. I felt so bad for that boy because he started to panic when he saw all the blood. I had to keep him calm all the while keeping the other kids out of the way. It was hard because the other kids kept saying how bad it was & the hurt boys face was getting paler by the minute & I swear he almost passed out!

I am so bummed though because I forgot my camera but the teacher had a parent take pics of everything & she promised me copies of everything. One more funny thing...Madi's teacher had his kids pose for a group pic & started with all the 5th graders (I guess her class does not have 6th) in the back. Then he had Madi come over too because she is tall too. He also did a pic tallest to shortest & guess what? Madi is the tallest kid in her class! I knew she was tall but dang to be taller than all the 5th graders is a little crazy, lol

Another new LO

2008-08-22T09:54:00.002-06:00

My good friend Michelle just offered this really cute "summer colors" kit & I was really inspired to use it right away. This is a picture of Madi & her 2nd cousin Lilly taken while we were in TX.

Credits: "Summer Colors" by Michelle. You can find the kit on her blog

Some of my LO's

2008-08-20T15:15:00.007-06:00

I am just adding some of the layouts I have done in the past because I am applying for a CT position with my fav designer.

As you can see I started off doing smaller pages but worked my way up to 12x12. I am not 100% thrilled with every single page but I really like most of them. I do not have time to give credit to each page BUT if you search back through the archives of my blog you can find them all.

Thanks for looking!

1st day of school

2008-08-20T09:28:00.002-06:00

Today is the 1st day of school for the kids. They were both very excited but a little nervous too. Aidyn is worried about being at school all day & not getting to see me very much. But he is also excited to meet new friends & play at the "big" playground.

Madi was nervous because she is now in the multi-age class which means she will be with 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th graders in the same class. I know it will be great for her because instead of being stuck doing 3rd grade work, they will tailor her education to whatever is best for her. I think that is awesome because last year she ended 2nd grade reading on a 6th grade level and was doing math at a 4th grade level. I am kind of anxious to see what kind of work she comes home with because there is more homework in that class. However they get to do a LOT more field trips & their 1st one is on Monday.

Anyways here are the pics I took of them this morning.

Aidyn with his Incredible Hulk lunch box
Madi, notice the bandaides on her arm? They are battle wounds from her new kitty, lol
Aidyn & Madi
Madi & Shae with all their Hannah Montana stuff

My newest pages

2008-08-18T18:01:00.002-06:00

Well I decided it was time to start scrapping all the pics I took from our vaca. These are pics taken from when we were in TX. The first is Madison of course & the 2nd is Lilly. She is Paul's 2nd cousin & such a cutie.

Credits: "Oodlesofdoodles" by Vicki. You can visit her blog here

Madi's early birthday gift

2008-08-18T08:55:00.003-06:00

Madi has been bugging us for a kitten forever & yesterday we decided to get her one. My friend & neighbor was trying to find home for her kittens so it worked out perfect. We ended up getting 2 so they could play with each other while we are not home.

The white one is Madi's & she named it Miley. The black one is Aidyn's & he named it Sammy. They were exactly 4 weeks old yesterday so they are still pretty young. And so tiny! Miley cries a lot when she is alone or cannot find Sammy. Sammy is a real lover & is always sitting with me. The only problem was she peed on me this morning! That is how I woke up, not exactly a great way to start the day, lol

Anyways here they are. Not the best pics but I am sure I will have lots more later on.

Pics from the last leg of our trip

2008-08-14T09:14:00.006-06:00

Can you believe I still have more pics to share? lol This bunch was taken on the last leg of our trip while we drove through New Mexico, Colorado & lastly Utah. We stopped at this rest stop which turned out to be really cool because it right by these awesome red rocks. It was about 30 minutes south of Moab and the kids had a blast climbing on all the rocks. I was not exactly in the best hiking gear with my open toe sandals & carrying my purse but it was still fun, lol

The infamous flat tire, lol
This thing was def flat

We stopped at this place outside of Moab & took the next set of pics.

A cute little chipmunk that seemed to be following us around while we explored

Aidyn posing for a pic
Madi at the base of the little crevice we climbed through
Paul, Aidyn & Madi in the crevice. You cannot really tell from the pic but its pretty high up

Madi & Aidyn at the base of the spot we were at
Me, Aidyn & Madi
The whole family. Please ignore our bummy look because by this point we were sick of being in the car for so long & we just ready to get home!

Aidyn & Madi in the pool. We stayed in New Mexico and lucked out because the hotel had a pool. (Doesn't Aidyn look ripped? lol)
Aidyn goofing around
Madi just hanging out

This was in front of a little shop right next to the hotel & Madi insisted I take their pic in front of the sign
This was also in front of the little shop.

Even more pictures, lol

2008-08-13T19:31:00.007-06:00

Guess what I have more pictures! lol These were taken in Texas the first night we were there. The 1st bunch is everyone just handing out at the house & the rest are from dinner at the Olive Garden.

I made sure I knew everyone's name this time & I am still working on getting all of the others right.

Paul's uncle Jeff and his wife Sandy
Paul's uncle Brian & his wife Hau
Paul's mom Barbara, Jeff & Sandy
Barbara & Madi in the quilting room
Beth & Madi (Madi LOVED Beth & cried when she left)
Madi & Lilly (they are 2nd cousins)
Very poor misguided soles who do not realize the White Sox are MUCH better than the Cubs will ever be, lol. (Paul's sister Mona & his aunt Ann)

Lilly
Paul & I at dinner
Aidyn playing around with a lemon
Beth with a lemon (she was so good with my kids & they bonded with her quickly)

Josh & his dad Joe (another of Paul's uncles)
Paul's sister Mona
the most beautiful little girl in the world Madison

The women of the hour...Paul's gram
Hau & Brian
Jeff & Sandy
Joe & Beth

Aidyn trying to sneak away without getting his picture taken
Paul's aunt Ann
Beth
David & Lilly

Here is some of the pics I promised

2008-08-12T18:14:00.007-06:00

Ok I decided to upload more pics tonight after all, lol. All of these were taken at a party Paul's parents had for us. You will have to forgive me because I do not know every one's name that came. I know pretty sad but most of these people I only saw once a year at Christmas time & the last time has been a few years. Soooo if I mess up a name, please forgive me.

Claire or Ann (one of Paul's cousins)
Another cousin & I am pretty sure his name is David
Pauls dad John & stepmom Abbie
Paul's sister Mona
3 of Paul's 2nd cousins & I have no idea what their names are except they all start with "J" (I know I am pathetic)
same girls with Madi
Paul's uncle John & Alec (at least I think its Alec, lol)

My mom & niece Kayla (isn't she pretty?)
Hannah, Mike & Julie's daughter who you will see below
Anthony
ok I think this is Johnny but it could be Alec. I am so confused right now, lol

John & Becky (Paul's aunt & uncle & the parents to Alec, Anthony, Johnny & Zach who wasn't there)
Ok I will be honest & say I do not remember their names. I think the wife is Elaine but they are the parents the 3 "J" girls & are Paul's cousins
Again I do not her name but I know she is married to the person I said was David, lol
Ok here is one I DO know, lol This is Paul's aunt Linda and mom to most of the people I do not know

Paul's friend Brian
John, Paul & Dan
Another John & Paul. (he was a total surprise because we did not know he was coming but he drove from Minneapolis that day to see Paul)
Kayla & my brother in law Bill

Hannah, Mike & Julie
Dan
John (friend of Paul's from high school & they reconnected on classmates.com & he came to the party) and his wife

John

Mike, Dan, Paul & Brian (they have all been friends since they were in high school
Paul & Brian
Paul & his dad John (ok I am sure by now you are thinking how many John's were at this party, LMAO)
Paul, Madi & John

I'm Back!

2008-08-12T16:32:00.004-06:00

Oh my gosh it feels sooooooooooooooo GOOD to be home! Overall the trip was a lot of fun & we all had a blast. Of course there was a few bumps along the way. First off I got really sick in TX & couldn't see my friend Chasity. Then on the way back about 3 hours from home we had a tire blow out. That really made us mad because we bought 4 brand new tires before we left specifically so something like that would NOT happen!

I have about a million pics to post but I will just do the graduation ones for now. It felt so awesome to walk across the stage & hear them call my name. It also felt good to hear Paul yell out "that's my baby!" lmao

I promise to post more pics tomorrow or even later tonight but for now I have a million other things that I need to take care of.

My sister Tina & I
My sister in law Mona & I

One of my favorite professors Che, she taught interpersonal communications & I learned a lot from her. Not only about how to better communicate but about myself too
My very first professor Anitta Whitefield (I could be wrong on the name because right now my brain is fried, lol)
The hottest guy ever (Paul in case you were wondering, lmao) & I
My mommy & I

Family pics

2008-07-28T19:42:00.004-06:00

We just took these pictures tonight. We need to have a family picture taken for Paul's grandma before we go on vacation & just decided to do it right by our window. The hollyhocks are so pretty & I thought it would make a good backdrop.

Overall the pictures turned out really good except the one of Madi & I. For some reason we could not get a good shot of the 2 of us & the one below is the best one. If you are part of my family you will be getting copies of these pics when we see you all in a few days.

I am glad I only have 2 kids! lol

2008-07-25T10:21:00.002-06:00

Well I survived taking 6 kids by myself to the parade! At first I thought I would only have 5 because Shae is with her birth dad but then I ended up taking Jordan's friend James with us. It worked out pretty well & the kids were good for the most part. The biggest problem was how hot it was. Because a LOT of people save their places the night before, we did not get a spot in the shade. We ended up on the opposite side of the street with the sun directly on us. Of course I got burned too, lol My face & the tops of my feet because I was wearing sandals. You would think that my legs would at least get a little color but nope, nothing.

The hardest part of the day was lunch. Amanda had sent her kids with money so I took everyone to Burger King. The guy who took our order had no idea what he was doing & almost everything was messed up. Besides that keeping track of who got what for 6 kids was HARD. I really admire people who have that many kids because it is difficult.

I do not have any new scrapbook pages to show you all because I have been very busy this week. I am trying to get everything ready for our vacation next week. My plan is to do ALL the laundry today & tomorrow, clean the kids rooms real good & leave the house all perfect when we leave on Wednesday morning. I still need to buy a few more things for the trip & plan out the food we are going to eat in the car. I really do not want the kids to eat fast food for every meal so I am hoping to have most if not all of the meals ready ahead of time. So if anyone has suggestions I will welcome them with open arms, lol

Dang the weekend is over

2008-07-20T21:17:00.002-06:00

Well we had a pretty busy weekend. Friday night Paul & I had a few drinks & let me tell you it was nice to finally relax after the week I had! Saturday we kind of had a lazy day but managed to do a little shopping. I found Madi 2 really cute dresses. One is for my graduation reception & the other is for the party in IL and the one in TX. Can you believe it is less than 2 weeks until we leave? I remember when we were counting down months & now it is a little over a week away! Wow time sure does fly by!

This morning we took the kids on a walk by the river. Our town has a great trail (I always want to type trial, lol) that is paved & very nice. We found this great tree for climbing but Paul was the only one brave enough to actually climb it, lol He only went a small distance up because I was afraid he would get hurt & could not work, lmao. The LO is with pics I took of him. We did not stay too long because it was already super hot even at 10:30am.

On Thursday it is a holiday in Utah. It is called Pioneer Day & is similar to the 4th of July. Our town has a parade, fun stuff in the city park, carnival, rodeo & HUGE fireworks display that night. Paul gets the day off with pay but I have to work. I am planning on taking all the kids to the parade but it will have to be by myself because he hates parades. I will probably end up regretting taking all 6 kids alone but Jordan is almost 11 and a big help. I am also planning on putting Nya (she's almost 4) in the stroller so at least I will know where she is. I am most afraid of Aidyn & Aedan. Cross your fingers they behave.

Yay the week is almost over!

2008-07-17T21:06:00.003-06:00

Whew what a day! The past few days Aidyn has been super naughty & today was no exception. I am truly looking forward to school starting so we can finally get some structure & a set schedule back in our lives. That and I will not be with the kids all day long, lol

I have some good news though. I have been on a search for the perfect dress to wear to my graduation & I found it tonight! The graduation gown falls a little above my knees & the dress is about the same length. It is black & way cute. Now I am more excited than ever to graduate!

I have 2 more pages to show you all. I did the first one a few days ago & the 2nd one this evening. I am really getting the hang of this digital scrapping & am loving it as a great way to relax.

credits: "Romantic Memories" by JGD

You can visit her blog & get the kit at http://jonigray.blogspot.com/

Credits: "Mango Tango" kit by the Sunshine Studio Girls

This kit was a collaboration kit by a LOT of dif people but you can visit the main website at

http://www.sunshinestudioscraps.com/shop/home.php

2008-07-15T21:56:00.002-06:00

I took these pictures of my cousin Kevin & his new wife Karalee at their wedding almost 2 years ago & I finally got around to scrapping them. I am pretty happy with how they turned out & I hope they are too!

credits: "Summer Wedding" by Bon Scrapatit Designs

You can visit her blog at http://bonscrapatitdesigns.blogspot.com/

2008-07-15T13:51:00.003-06:00

Here is another new page I just did today. I actually had time to work on my scrapping a little bit today. I only have Aidyn, Aedan & Nya & they are all being good! I know miracles to happen, LOL

I wanted to do a page for Madi & my niece Kayla. The only recent pic I have of them together was taken last year when Kayla came to visit us. I really like the picture although Madi needed her bangs trimmed, hehe.

credits: Beach Glass kit by Ginger Scraps

You can visit her blog at http://gingerscraps.blogspot.com/

She always posts awesome freebies & other fun stuff but this time she created the kit & I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it and had to use it right away, lol

Frustration!

2008-07-15T09:37:00.003-06:00

Wow what a frustrating past couple of days it has been! First on Saturday evening I noticed my fridge was not cooling as much as normal. We have to keep it set on 3 or else everything freezes I just thought I needed to turn it up. Well when we woke up on Sunday morning, the whole thing was warm & VERY stinky! All my food was spoiled & ruined.

Luckily I live in an apartment complex & the maintenance is responsible for fixing it. The unlucky part is no one could come out until Monday morning! It took a few hours & 2 new parts to fix it but its nice & cool now.

Now here comes the frustrating part. The manager does not want to replace the food I lost! She said that food does not go bad in such a short time. Then she had the nerve to complain about the prices I paid for the food I lost! If she knows a cheaper place to buy food in Utah besides Walmart, then please let me know. The part that made me really mad was I was not even asking for everything I lost like all the dressings, condiments, etc... ONLY the new stuff I had receipts for. I lost over $200 in food & am only asking for $68.36 and they are throwing a fit. She also said it is my fault for not calling the 24 emergency number on Saturday when I noticed it was not working right. Well give me a break how was I supposed to know it was going to stop all together?

Anyone who knows me knows that I will not let this just slide. Of course I looked up the owner/tenet laws for Utah & lo & behold if it was been more than 24 hours from the time I told them until it got fixed, they are responsible to replace ALL the food. Now here is the next frustrating part...IF I was on housing, they would have to take care of it right away. Because I am not means I have to fight them myself. Well they do not know who they are messing with! This new manager thinks she can come in & try to be all mean & bossy BUT little does she know that you do NOT mess with me! lol I have been here for almost 5 years and I can & will get her fired. I have done it to 2 other managers & I will do it again. Actually I already have the plan in the works, hehe

Ok enough of my little fridge rant, lol Onto my latest page. Last night we were eating corn on the cob which just happens to be one of Aidyn's fav foods. There are only 2 foods that I know 100% sure Aidyn will eat, corn on the cob & watermelon. Too bad they are both predominately summer foods, lol Anyways, he was making such a mess & having so much fun eating it, I could not resist taking pics.

I know the page isn't the best but I had the hardest time coming up with layout ideas. I mean who else does pages of their kid eating corn? LMAO

credits: "Scrap Journal" mega kit by the DSO designers

So very happy

2008-07-11T12:50:00.002-06:00

Some of you know that we had Aidyn evaluated for ADHD by the doctor on Wednesday. His kindergarten teacher had suggested we do it & after a lot of thought, I decided to have it done. The dr & nurse asked a bunch of questions of me & Aidyn and it was decided he does have it.

They put him on concerta which is a time release pill similar to Ritalin. Yesterday was the first day & OMG he was a new kid! He was so good and well behaved, I almost did not know what to do with myself, lol No fights, arguing, yelling or swearing all day long!!!

The only bad part is the medicine wears off at after about 12 hours so he was back to his normal naughty self around 9pm. Another problem is that it did not work as well today. He had a bunch of "naughty spells" and was fighting with Madi & I all morning. Finally he started being better & said that he still had some naughties stuck to his nose hairs but he punched them out so he would be good from now on, LMAO

I titled my post "So Very Happy" for 2 reason. One is for the reasons I listed above about Aidyn. We are finally getting things under control with him & he will have a much easier time in school than last year. (well cross your fingers thats the case, hehe)

The 2nd reason is for the new page I did of Madi. I asked her to list all the things that make her happy & below is what she came up with. If you are having a hard time reading it in the smaller version, you can click on it & it will open up much bigger.

The page was created from a new designer I found this morning. It was her very first kit & I am totally impressed with how well she did! This kit is called "Pink Chocolate" and was created by Jessica Edwards. You can find the kit by going to her website at http://mydigiscrapblog.blogspot.com/

4th of July Layouts

2008-07-10T20:21:00.003-06:00

Wow it took me forever to finally create pages from the pics I took on the 4th! I had a creative block & also became too overwhelmed with all the 4th of July kits I had to choose from, lol I finally settled on the kit from RMWCreations & you can visit their blog at http://rmwcreations.blogspot.com/. The only thing not from that kit is the firework bursts which were created by Snowflake Beach Designs & you can visit her blog at http://chaninscorner.blogspot.com/. She had some great bursts that I had a lot of fun layering to get just the right effect.

What do you all think of my new pages? Be honest but not mean because I might just cry, lol

Another new page

2008-07-02T15:22:00.002-06:00

These are pictures from last summer but I LOVE this new kit so I decided to use the pics again. This LO took me forever to create but overall I am very happy with it.

Oh it was created using the free collaboration kit called Popsicle Pop made by the Studio Girls at ScrapbookGrapics.com. They made it especially for the Scrap N' Art readers & it is AWESOME! If you want to get it, you can sign up for the free magazine at http://www.scrapnart.com/

2008-06-30T22:34:00.002-06:00

This page was created using the "Cherry Cheesecake" kit by http://vicki20.blogspot.com/ "A work in progress"

2008-06-20T13:24:00.002-06:00

Here are a few more pages I've made in the last few days. I really like the first one the best but I think overall they turned out good.

As always if you have any comments or suggestions I would love to hear them. I have also included the name of the kits I used to create the pages & who made them

Page made with the "Girls are made of" kit by Simply Iresistible Designz
Page made with the "Midnight Breeze" kit from Diva's Playground
Thie page was made with the "Bloom" kit by Scrap Ourchives
I made this page with the "Doll" kit by Connies Creative Chaos

2 new pages

2008-06-16T10:38:00.002-06:00

I made 2 new pages last night. The first is a Fathers day page & I used pictures I took of Paul & the kids yesterday at the park. If you want to see them larger, just click on the image & it will enlarge for you.

This page was created using the "daddysday" kit made by JenLinDesigns. The only thing that was not from JenLinDesigns is the lettering which comes from the "Daddy's Day" kit made by MickeyBDesigns.
This page was created using the "Pirate Punk" kit by Ziggle Designs & Kami Leonard. I LOVE this kit & plan on making many more pages from the all the cute stuff she included.

Opinions please

2008-06-12T21:59:00.002-06:00

I am working on my graduation announcements & so far I have 3 different styles. I am not sure which one I like best or if I will end up using any of them sooooo I need all of your opinions. Which one do you like best & why.

Oh I got the kit from Scrapbook-Elements Digital Scrapbooking Online Store & it was created by Miki's and called The Graduate. She had some great graphics that I used to create these.

Thanks!

Paul's softball game

2008-06-11T10:35:00.004-06:00

Last night Paul's team won their softball game! So far they have only won 2 games but last nights game was really good! They were behind by one point (14 to 15) and Paul was up to bat. He hit a pretty long line drive to the outfield & made it to 1st base. BUT he was able to bring 2 players home & put them in the lead. After that they just kept getting more points & ended up winning the game!

Here are some pics I took with my phone before the game started. It was super windy & really cold so that is why I have my hood up. Do not mind how terrible I look. I swear I did not think I was that white but next to Madi with her tan face, I look like a fricken ghost! LMAO

Oh & I am trying to get some good pics of Paul playing but so far I have not had any luck. It is hard to take them through the fence & gosh darn it, he will not hold still, lol