4+4+4=12

2008-02-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

That's what Liam told me as he was cuddling me tonight trying to fall asleep. How stinkin' smart is he? :D

I know, I know - I've been a bad blogger...when the heck haven't I been lately? LOL Life as a part time working mom isn't near as easy as I thought it could possibly be. Between housework (which isn't getting done), working, spending time with the boys, spending time with the hubby, and dealing with a myriad of sicknesses, etc., lately, life has been hectic. I hate it. Honestly - hate it! I miss the days of playing with the boys - no school, no work, only the things we wanted to do. *sigh* The are growing up way too fast!!

So...here's some updates on the boys

Liam:

Preschool is going extremely well. He loves it and he seems to be a little sponge, soaking up as much as he can at all times! He's "scary" smart. It seems like he remembers things he heard/learned weeks ago and he's constantly picking up new things. His newest love is learning new words to spell everyday. It's something Glenn started with him right after Christmas. Glenn is constantly writing new words on the easel and Liam copies them and memorizes them. It simply amazes me and make me confident in the decision we made to put him into French Immersion next year - I think the challenge of learning a new language will keep him completely focused!

Conor:

Conor's biggest news is that he is finally potty trained. YIPEEEEEE!!! He has decided that he wants to go to school, like Liam, and he knows that to do that he has to be using the potty. It was 100% his decision and it's been so "easy" so far! He's also really started expressing himself in wonderful ways - ok, not always wonderful (hello Mr. Lippy), but it's so exciting to see him become his own little guy with his own voice!

What can I say, I'm so proud of both of my little dudes and it amazes me how I fall deeper and deeper in love with them everyday!

Of course, I have a ton of pictures to show off - I promise I'll get a brand new slide show up soon - there are some really cute ones of them skating - they are both doing a wonderful job seeing that they have had absolutely NO lessons! There are some new Scrap pages in my slide show at the top of the page - always adding new ones, so keep on looking! I'll try to get this blogging thing a bit more regular - no promises, though!

I hope this finds everyone well and happy - love and (((HUGS))) from us!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T21:43:00.000-08:00

I know I've been a very bad blogger, and it's in my resolution list to be better, so here is a little something to make you smile and wish you a happy holidays! Hope you get a giggle!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1709547614

(copy and paste in addy line - if you get an error message, try it again and it should work!)

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-10-14T10:48:00.001-07:00

All of this and it's only 8 AM!

2007-10-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a morning. It's Sunday, I don't have to get up. The boys don't have to be taken anywhere, I don't have a class to teach, the Colts don't even play today. Relax, take it easy, maybe even sleep in? Yeah, nice dream if you can have it! Today my adorable little bundle of joy's decided that waking up at 4:30 AM was a good idea. Then they decided that getting into a fight, which resulted in me getting whacked in the head a few times as collateral damage, was a fine idea. Fight resolved, boys settled - for all of 5 minutes. Conor, my constant noise maker, decided that filling the room with sounds of incoherent chatter was a good idea. I swear he babbled for 30 minutes. Finally, in an effort to get a few more minutes of horizontal shut eye, I let them watch cartoons (OK, total side note. Our satellite carrier has added a channel called Toone Network Retro - it is the absolute coolest! The boys now get to enjoy Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Fred Flinstone, Rocky and Bullwinkle and many more!!! OK, really, I get to enjoy them! LOL). The cartoons lasted all of 10 minutes and they were back to fighting. So, being the conscientious mother that I am, I kicked them out of bed and told them to go away. For that I was rewarded by a panicked (although somewhat smirking) yell from Liam that Conor had painted the stool, Craft container and his face red. *shudder* Yep, sure enough, round the corner of the living room to find a red faced Conor sitting with all his defiant glory. The conversation went like this,

Me: "Conor, do you know you aren't supposed to touch the paint and stamp pads?"
Conor: Shakes head no
Me: "Excuse me?"
Conor: Shakes head no
Me: Grab chin, force his eyes to mine, "Want to try again, mister?"
Conor: "Well, now that you are up, I'm thirsty and I need my vitamin"
Me: "Arghf"

Honestly, this child creates trouble out of everything. He is way more than a handful! And I need sleep!

After the massive paint clean-up, I decided to make blueberry muffins for the boys for their breakfast. Nice treat for a Sunday morning, right? Ummmm, no. Not for Liam. He stood at the counter telling me that Blueberry muffins were a "treat" and maybe they weren't a "healthy choice". I tried to point out that they were fruit and grain and it was a good thing for an occasional breakfast, but that didn't seem to fly. Instead, Liam pointed out that mommy's homemade french toast WAS a healthy choice. Do you know what it's like to have a 4 year-old food critic living in your house? Every meal I get judged because they are learning about healthy choices in school. Thankfully, most meals pass with flying colors. LOL

So, all of this was BEFORE 8 am. It's going to be a great day, I can already tell. (Insert sarcasm...dripping, dripping sarcasm!)

Well, we have a new member of our family. 3 weeks ago, she joined our family - she's just a little squirt of a thing, but she's adorable! Meet Baby Blue:

Isn't she just adorable?? The vet figures she was around 3-4 weeks when we found her. We've been extremely lucky because she's used the litter box since day 1 and she sleeps in a little bed right beside my bed all night. Just for a reference, here's a pic of Baby with Desi - the gargantuan. LOL

As you can see, she's about the size of his...head. LOL They made friends quite quickly, but Lucy took some time warming up Actually, I don't think she stopped hissing at her until Baby started eating Kitten food, which now Lucy thinks is the "bomb". Go figure.

Going to make a slide show of Conor's Birthday and Swimming Lessons - watch for it soon!

Hope everyone is doing well! Love and (((HUGS))) until next time!

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-09-18T11:46:00.001-07:00

Surgery, Webkinz and other ramblings

2007-08-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

For those that are wondering, I had my surgery yesterday - I haven't really found out anything except that the problems they thought I was having aren't the ones I'm really having and that means starting all over from point A. Clear as mud? Yep, for me too!

WEBKINZ

Have you heard of these "wonderful" little animals?? No? Neither had I until my dear friend, Sonya, introduced my 2 little men to them. For those uninformed, they are these wonderful little stuffy friends that have a special website where you can go, register your animal and play games, make a home, feed and various other things, your animal. The more animals you have, the more "stuff" you can access. Get the trend here? Just 1 webkinz is not enough, you HAVE to have several so that your Webkinz can have "friends". More $$ from mom and dad. UGH. I do have to admit, though, that they are the cutest little animals and they are Ganz - so nice quality. The website is sort of cute, too, I guess, if you pressure me into admitting it. So, Liam currently has a Bulldog named "Guido"

and Conor has a Clydsdale named "Boogee" (don't ask - actually, ask Nicholas because he named his frog that first and Conor stole it. LOL)

Now, take note Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and friends alike - according to Liam and Conor, "You can never have too many Webkinz" and it now tops their lists for any gift giving reasons. Yes, they even plan to ask Santa and Liam actually asked me if I thought he might get one on Halloween or for Conor's birthday. LOL Can you say addict? I sure can. Check out the Webkinz site if you are still confused.

Oh, and I have to say, "Thanks a lot" to Sonya one more time, because now Nicho has not 1, not 2 or even 3, nope - he's got 4 of these darned things...you know what I heard all evening after they spent the days with Nicho? Yep, I'm sure I don't have to tell you. :(

In case you haven't heard my big news, I have a job now. Yep, I am gainfully employed. I have accepted a position with the local artSpace program and will be teaching 5 different classes for kids 1 - 5 (different classes for different ages). The big bonus for this job is that I make my own hours and I can take Conor and Liam with me when I have to. Right now I am a bit overwhelmed and trying to figure out why I took this job. LOL I know I am going to have a lot of fun, and it's right up my alley, I think it's just overwhelming with everything else going on right now. *sigh* I'll be teaching a Mommy & Me class for parents and their 1 year olds, a Crafty Kids class for 2.5 - 4 year olds, A "Jump up & Move" class for 3-5 year olds, a "boys only" Pirate class for 4&5 year olds and a "Girls Only" Princess Power class for 4&5 year olds. Fun!

*BIG GIGANTIC SIGH* Liam starts preschool on Wednesday. I am not ready. He is. 'nuff said.

I hope you are all doing well - drop me a note and let me know! Love and (((HUGS))) until next time!

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-08-25T16:49:00.001-07:00

It took me a while

2007-08-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

But, I finally got the second paper pack done for my Primarily Twisted line. I just love how it all turned out! I'd LOVE some feedback, so if you grab the papers, let me know what you think!

Primarily Twisted Flowered

I've been tagged!

2007-08-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

A - Attached or Single: attached
B - Best Friend: Glenn
C - Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of Choice: Iced Tea
E - Essential Item: Camera
F - Favorite Color: Red
G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms
H - Hometown: Fort St. John, BC
I – Indulgence(s): Hot Fudge Sunday
J - January or July: July
K - Kids: Liam (4) & Conor (2)
L - Life is incomplete without: My boys - all 3 of them!
M - Marriage Date: July 30, 2000
N - Number of Siblings: 2
O - Oranges or Apples: Fruit salad? LOL Probably oranges
P - Phobias/Fears: Snakes and Frogs
Q - Favorite Quote: “I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” ~Jimmy Dean
R- Reason to smile: My boys
S - Season: In general: Fall - Since moving to the land of snow? Summer
T- Tag Three: Rebecca Lynn, Sonya & Sarah
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I long to be a writer
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: Opressor of animals
W - Worst Habit: Good grief - too numerous to list!
X - X-rays or Ultrasounds: ultra sound
Y - Your Favorite Foods: Lasagna
Z- Zodiac: Sagittarius

We're back from vacation and my baby turned 4!

2007-07-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back from Edmonton - believe me, not voluntarily. LOL Liam, Conor and I all decided we were ready to move there, believe it or not, the boys more than me! They had so much fun going to all the museums and fun places. We hit the WEM (that's West Edmonton Mall, for you non-Canadians) several times, but the boys really loved the water park there - it is HUGE and they had such a blast. We did lots and lots of shopping, went to Chuck E. Cheese, Klondike Days (it's sort of like the State Fair), the Telus World of Science, the Valley Zoo, and Toys R Us (3 of them, some more than once). We all had lots of fun, and it was nice and hot while we were there so we all came home a bit browner (yes, I did say brown - believe it or not, none of us burned!) than when we left. Here are some pictures of all our fun:

Klondike Days:

Chuck E. Cheese (OK, there are only 2 - do you know how hard it is to get pictures at Chuck E. Cheese? They just don't stand still for more than 2 seconds - long enough to waste 1 token):

The Valley Zoo:

Telus World Of Science:

On a different note...Could somebody please tell me where the heck the last 4 years have gone? How, in the name of tarnashen, did Liam get to this point? HOW is it that my sweet little baby boy turned 4 today???? I AM A MOMMY IN DENIAL!!! He had a great birthday and got lots of fun stuff - he was a little "disappointed" in the clothes (OK, Thomas, quit transferring your "Clothes aren't gifts" anthem to my son!;) ) he got...that is, until he saw that they had either Buzz, Lightening or Spiderman on them. LOL Spoiled little bugger. I've got lots of pictures of the day - we got to go down to our friends place and the boys got to ride Shetland Ponies - I got some real cute ones that I will post once I actually upload them to my computer.

Love and (((HUGS)))

I've been playing!

2007-07-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with creating new papers and I'm really happy with the new solids I've made! They are my Primarily Twisted solid pack (patterned twisted's are coming!). I hope you enjoy! Please leave a little love if you pick these up!

You can get the papers here.

These papers were made using Rebecca Lynn's AWESOME new textures - you can find those at Oscraps!

What's wrong with this picture?

2007-07-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

It is currently 12:45 AM and I should be tucked nicely into my bed snoozing away. Obviously, that isn't happening. Why? Because, at 12:45 AM it is currently 85 degrees outside. That's outside. In my house it must be 2 degree's before sweltering! I am dying here!! There is absolutely no relief - not even the slightest of breezes coming in the windows. The boys are sleeping and Glenn, of course, is snoring away in the other room - I swear that man could sleep through/in anything. To top off the fact that he's sleeping, he's actually wrapped in our comforter! HUH??? So, since I can't sleep, I came out to see what the bloody temperature was, and on my computer I have the temp here and in Indy side by side so that I can wish I was there (especially in the winter). Do you know that it is only 66 degree's there right now? Again, I say...HUH???? In the land where air conditioners abound, it is 66, but here, where very few houses, especially the older houses, wouldn't even consider air conditioning, we are dying! My blood is too thick for this kind of heat. On top of that, my hormones, which have been thoroughly confused for quite some time now, are wreaking complete and utter havoc right now. And tomorrow it is supposed to be worse! Actually, for the next 3 days it's supposed to be totally unbearable! Tell me again why it is that we don't leave for our vacation until next week? At least in Edmonton the hotel will have air conditioning. With my luck lately, we'll have snow next week. Go figure!

On that very grumpy, sweaty, irritated note, I'll leave you now. Surely sleep will come soon...or I'll pass out from heat exhaustion!

Love and (((HUGS))) until next time!

Chi-Chi-Chi-Chia

2007-07-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

That's exactly what my hair looks like at this stage - a silly chia pet. LOL The growing out process is certainly interesting! Get a load of this.

Pretty funny, huh?

We've been really busy around here. The weather has actually been wonderful lately and the boys have been taking full advantage of it! They love going outside to play in the backyard. I'm so thankful that we have such a great play set for them - they love it! The best thing to them, though, is when we go see the ponies - the security guard that works where Glenn works raises Shetland Ponies. The boys love going down to visit them. We usually take carrots or apples with us and they have a ball feeding them. They've even ridden them bareback! LOL Such little adventurers.

Remember how I used to talk about how terrible 2's were a myth and that, with Liam, it was 3-year old hell that really was the bugger? I'm very happy to say that Liam has officially exited that stage. He is at this wonderful stage now - potty trained, helpful, polite. Not 100% of the time, but most of the time, which is a blessing. This age is so much fun! He's so intelligent, and so eager to head to pre-school! I don't know how I will be able to deal with that first day of school! LOL I'm sure Liam will be so excited that it will be "Bye, mommy" and I'll be the one that doesn't want to leave!

Now, having said all of those wonderful things about Liam, let's talk about Conor. He's such a cutie, and so sweet...when he wants to be. Just as Liam has officially left the hellish 3's, Conor has officially entered them. Oh my word - where did this new child come from? Canada day was spent chasing Conor from event to event, having him want to go do one thing only to get there and have him throw a fit because he changed his mind! LOL Glenn asked me how long I thought it would last. My answer was a very hopeful "by Christmas?". Give me strength!

Our most exciting news is that we are the proud owners of a brand new mini van! Although I always said I would never own one, it is the vehicle that makes the most sense with our 2 growing boys. We went out and got a Honda Odyssey - what a sweet little van! The boys love it because they are "smooshed" anymore. LOL

We're also preparing for our first road trip in our van. We are taking the boys to Edmonton for 9 days, we're going to go to Klondike Days. The boys are so excited and have helped us plan the whole trip - a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, the zoo, the waterpark, Fort Edmonton, a ride on a train, a day in the country going to various activities they will be having there - it should be lots of fun!

That's us in a nut shell. I hope that everyone is doing well! Love and (((HUGS)))

Happy Anniversary!!!

2007-06-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!! We Love you!!!

It's a Picture Post!

2007-06-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Grandpa's visit: (The order is reversed a bit.)

Here's one for the sport parents...

2007-06-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Whether it's soccer, football, baseball, basketball, _(insert your sport here), OR T-ball, here's a few things you should remember:

1. It's all about the kids. You aren't the one out there playing, so you really should find out if your child is happy BEFORE you go shooting your mouth off!

2. If you are unhappy about how things are going, politely talk to the coach/asst. coaches and tell them, in your kindest voice, what you are unhappy about.

3. If you are going to complain, have a solution to the problem you are complaining about ready to go. You know they are going to ask. Don't be a B___ about it, ok?!

4. When YOUR suggestion is implemented to satisfy YOU because, after all, YOU are the one who complained, please don't start criticizing how it is going. Be happy that the coaches listened and tried their best to satisfy YOUR (yes, YOURs, not your child's) wishes.

5. If you have a complaint about something that is said or done, please go to that person, face to face, rather than sending a "friend" to complain AND go to the administration.

6. When the person you are complaining about swallows her/his pride and tries to apologize for the thing that YOU conceived was "rude", even though he/she does not think so, please don't be a B____ and walk away, saying rude things and not letting that person finish their sentence. Want to talk rude? Looking in the mirror is ALWAYS a good thing.

7. When your opinion is asked for, and you refuse to give any type of opinion because you just want to be a B____, please don't turn around and complain about it....Remember, if you don't vote, you have no right to complain!

And finally...

8. Remember, this is for the children, NOT the parents

Whew, so glad to get that off my chest. So sorry the people that really need to see it never will.

I'll be back later to update on us!

(((HUGS))) and love!

Let's chat...

2007-06-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, really, let me chat. It's virtually impossible for us to have a two-way conversation on my blog, but I figured I'd enlighten you to everything that has been going on in our lives lately. Besides the obvious - bald head - there have been other thing going on here. But, let's talk about the baldness first. I know that this may seem strange, but shaving my head has been a bit empowering. The first day I did it, I was proud of myself for having gone through with it. I didn't really think about how it affected me - it's just hair, right? Well, that changed the next morning. I woke up, went to the bathroom and caught a glimpse of this stranger in the mirror. It changed the way I look - I no longer look like my mom but now I bare a striking resemblance to my dad. How weird is that? The complete change of looks. It seems very strange to me. What also seems strange to me is the way I feel, as if I have a new start, new possibilities, etc. So, in light of that, I've decided to make a pictorial diary for the next year. So last week was week 1. As we go through the year, I hope to discover more about myself - not just me as a wife and mother, but me. Who knows what changes I'll discover or what truths about myself. I hope you don't mind, but you are all going to be along for the ride! LOL

OK, lets move off the hair topic and on to the wonderful time we had when my dad came up to visit. I know we didn't talk as much as we usually do when he comes up, and we didn't get to go many places as we usually would, but I can't tell you how much it meant to me, let alone the boys, to have him up here. To see him, spend time with him and watch him spend time with the boys! They loved having grandpa here, and their favorite thing was having Grandpa "pull" them on the swings. Everyday we hear, "pull us like grandpa did" - it's just not the same without him here now, even Nicho ("adopted" son and the boys best friend and Grandpa's third grandson in Canada! LOL) feels it - he asks every time we see him when Grandpa Ralph is coming back. We miss you daddy! Come back soon!!!

So, the boys have both joined a T-ball team and as of yesterday, I am now the assistant coach! Stop laughing right now, Linda - and yes, I know you are. LOL Liam has become amazingly good at batting and fielding the ball, when he gets the chance. We have a couple of boys on the team that are bigger and older, and a little better coordinated and they like to get the ball...every time. Liam has handled it very well and really looks forward to his T-ball nights. Then there is Conor. He's more interested in digging in the dirt and picking dandelions, but hey - it's getting him out there and he's getting pretty good at batting himself. Most nights he's pretty tired and fussy so we let him do what he decides he will - he's a bit young, but if you'd seen the fit he through the first time we went and he wasn't on the team. Holy cow! So, twice a week, from 6 - 6:45 I am a "T-Ball mom". What fun!

I have also branched out - 2 nights a week I'm now taking a photography class. It's been so much fun and I'm actually learning how to use the beautiful camera Glenn bought me last year! LOL So, you know you can count on seeing some pictures from me in the future! Hopefully some new and improved pictures!

On the really, really personal side, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I've been having a lot of "female" problems, lots of pain and other things going on. I am "scheduled" to go for a laproscopic procedure sometime in the next 2 months to see (hopefully) what is wrong and how to treat it. There is a chance that it could be something that is not treatable, which means I'll be facing this pain basically forever, which I just don't think I know how to handle. So, a few prayers would really help!

Oh yes...and then there's this: (Please knock on wood and cross your fingers before reading the rest) Liam is potty trained! Yay! This is seriously cause for HUGE celebration! We've tried so long and nothing worked, so I was talking to a friend (thank you, Luanna!) who was telling me about a friend that had been as fed up as me and decided to just suck it up and put their child in underwear and deal with things as they came. Well, we did it and within the first 24 hours we had gone through almost all of the underwear and shorts Liam has, but the next day we only had 2 accidents. And the day after that we only had 1. It's been over a week now and he has an occasional mishap, but overall, he's got it down! WAHOO! Now he can go to preschool in the fall and, with any luck, it will rub off on Conor!

Other than that, life is good. It's been really hot up here - in the high 80's and 90's. We've even had a couple of Thunderstorms! Yay! Those are really rare up here and something I love! We are planning our vacation - going to Edmonton for Klondike days and some fun in the big city! The boys are really looking forward to it - Chuckee Cheese, the Zoo, the Waterpark and, best of all (according to Conor), we get to stay in a hotel. LOL The kid is hooked on hotels ever since our trip last year - he even asks if we can stay at one of the local ones here, "Just for tonight". LOL I just love my funny little dudes!

Of course I have tons of pictures to share, from dad being here, T-Ball and general backyard play, but you'll have to come back to see that! It's too late to dig them all out tonight!

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone - I hope you are all doing well!

Bluey Day

2007-06-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, I am proud to say I did it! I honestly thought I was going to chicken out this morning, but I went through with what I said I would do! I am now a very bald chicka!

It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I was quite sick to my stomach right before getting it done, but I'm fine with it now - Conor on the other hand is a wee bit upset. LOL He thinks his mommy "isn't a girl anymore" and cried as he said, "Bye-bye mommy's hair, I'll miss you". We'll see how he does tonight - my hair has always been his security blanket!

There is so much news and so many pictures to share, I promise I'll come back later to update, but for right now, I have 2 little boys waiting to play with me! Can't turn down an awesome opportunity like that, now, can I?!

Love and (((HUGS)))!

Do you know what you get when you have 7 months of snow?

2007-04-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

Mold. A thick covering of mold all over the grass. It's disgusting and, apparently, very high on the allergy list. Lovely. Hopefully we'll have 3 or 4 more days of beautiful weather and all the snow will go away and I can spray the snow mold away!

So, I was informed that it was time, way past time, for my blog to be updated! LOL Thanks, Rebecca, for that subtle reminder! LMBO This post should keep you entertained for another 3 weeks, don't ya think? :P

There are actually a couple of new items for me to share with you. The first is that my dad is coming up to visit in 2 1/2 weeks! The boys are absolutely over the moon! Every morning they come out to the kitchen and ask what day it is on the calendar and then they ask how many days until Grandpa comes. I try not to talk about it too much because I know if I do they will never, never, never shut up about it! LOL

The other piece of news is: I'm shaving my head! a`la Brittney Spears? No. Mine is actually for a great cause - Cancer Research. There is a thing they do in certain parts of the world called "Bluey Day" - you get sponsors to make donations and for their money, you shave your head! I don't know if I'm nuts or sane, but I'm actually looking forward to it! The big event is happening on June 2nd, so stay tuned for pictures!

Easter was total mayhem in our house - Conor became the ultimate Chocolate Monster - he ate as much as he could shovel into his mouth before I could catch him and put a stop to it. He took from his basket, Liam's basket, Glenn's basket and mine! Little stinker! You can see that he really enjoyed his chocolate below. So did Liam, but he was much more reserved and actually put part of his chocolate egg away for later! Where the heck does that instinct come from? Certainly not Glenn or I - we are much more like Conor! LOL

After Easter fun at our house, we headed over to Sonya, Mar and Nicho's for an Easter Treasure Hunt - The boys got clues and then had to find their "treats" Here are a couple of pictures of Liam and Conor modeling a couple of their "treats".

On Saturday, we decorated Easter eggs - somehow, Conor ended up more "colored" than some of his eggs...hmmmm...wonder how that happend? LOL

Liam, on the other hand, was very precise - he wanted all of his egg decorated and actually turned out some really nice eggs!

Tae Kwon Do-n't:

I haven't updated lately about Liam's Tae Kwon Do experience - he was doing great - the instructor even said it was time for him to get his uniform...isn't he cute?

Yeah, well, the next class they started doing hand to hand combat and Liam freaked - no way, no how was he ready for that. Needless to say, thank goodness the outfit is VERY big on him because he won't be using it until September! It's funny, because he talks about it all the time now and is anxious for September to come!

Here's a bonus of Conor - when he saw that I was taking pictures of Liam in his outfit, he had to hop up on the bench and be part of the photo soot! LOL Isn't he just the cutest little stinker you've ever seen?! Can you say, I look just like my cousin, Tommy???!!!

OK, it's time for some digi-talk:

I am SO excited because one of the wonderful, fantabulous designer's I work with has asked me to make Quick Pages to sell in her shoppe. How exciting is that?? Our first set is up at Plain Digital Wrapper and the 2nd set, which is ultra-romantic, will be up in a few days! So, so, so exciting!

Speaking of that fantabulous designer...LOOK at these ribbons!!!! Are they not to die for??? They are up in her shop at Plain Digital Wrapper - don't miss out!!!

That same fantabulous designer also has this beautiful kit in her shoppe - and, it's named for me!!! Yay, Rebecca! YOU RAWK!!!!

And finally, I'll show you some of my most recent layouts - hope you enjoy! (credits can be found here)

That's all for now! Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Oh for the love of pete!

2007-03-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

I am seriously over the illness that has struck our house. The boys have been sick for 5 weeks now. Every time I think it's getting a little better, they get worse the next day! Liam has this runny nose that just won't seem to stop. On the cute side of that - I think he has channeled Gram into his life. He insists on carrying tissues with him always, and if he doesn't have a pocket he rolls them in the cuff of his sleeve! It's so sweet! Conor is just a mess. He's got the runny nose, but his coughing is out of control! It's mostly at night so none of us are getting any sleep! It is much better than it would be if he still had his tonsils, though. I take a bit of comfort in that. But, seriously, how long does this bug last? Very frustrating!

Other than the sickies, life has been busy. We've had the boys little buddie Nicho over a lot this week and they've been having a great time playing! Glenn has gone back to work, which is a totally GREAT thing, but I'm not too happy about where he's working. He's gone back to the hotel for "now". Last night was his first night back, so we'll see how it goes. I seriously can't even talk about it right now.

A new gym has opened in town - it's called the "World Gym" and I guess they have locations all over the world. Glenn and I went to look at it yesterday, because I seriously need to start working out. It is REALLY nice! They offer babysitting which is HUGE and you can see the boys through the glass door. They also have a co-ed section AND a ladies only section, which bumps this place up way far, in my books! Membership allows you to attend the classes they offer, also. I was afraid to find out how much because most places in town (much smaller places with no babysitting) are around $100/person/month. This would be just at $100/month for both of us! We talked it over last night and I think we will definitely be joining next week! Yay!

Little break into reality:

Conor is currently sitting beside me in "protest" because Liam is watching the Upside Down Show and Conor wants to watch Jakers! Piggly Winks. He says he won't watch tv until he can watch Jakers!. LMBO What a guy!

I hate to type this next part, because I am SO afraid I will jinx myself...but...THE SNOW IS MELTING!!!! It's been in the +'s for 3 days now and the roads are running like a river! There are actual parts of our yard (OK, where Glenn had shoveled the path, but still) where I can see brown grass and mud! I so hope this is the beginning of spring. My sanity can't take the cold snowy days we've had since September!

Onto my scrappin' update:

I've been really working with some of the pictures that I brought home last summer from mom's. There have been a few BIG challenges! Here's my most recent transformations:

Here's the original senior picture of mom's. For some reason I couldn't get it to scan straight and, if you click on it, you'll see lots of worn spots, etc.

Here's my "restored" copy. I think it turned out pretty good!

OK, here's the original of a picture of the family in 1972 while vacationing in Washington DC. I've cropped the original, and you'll have to click on it to see the "whole picture".

Now, here's where I need your help: Which of these do you like better? I have a definite favorite already! But I'd love to hear some input as to what others think!

A:

or
B:

And here's a few new scrap pages I've done:

Credits can be seen here.

On other scrappin' news:

I am so happy and excited that I got invited to be on the PDW Creative Team! Yipeee! There's so many talented designers at PDW and I feel so lucky!

That's all for now. Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Finally!

2007-03-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

All week I've been working on the elements and alpha to go with the "The Line Between Black and White" paper pack. I haven't been truly satisfied with anything that I did - the alpha has changed at least 4 times! I finally got it done and I'm pretty happy with how it looks - the elements are still "under construction"! I hope you enjoy this alpha! Please leave a little love if you grab it!

Download TheLineBetweenBlackAndWhiteA.ZIP

A little 'bout the Oscars, a little 'bout the snow and a few LO's , too!

2007-02-26T09:41:00.000-08:00

OK, I seriously have to talk about the snow thing first. When will it stop??? Yesterday (I kid you not) I went outside, looked up at the sky and shouted, "GIVE ME A BREAK, we've had enough already". I am seriously starting to get the snow blues. There has been steady snow on the ground up here since the end of September/begining of October. We get these spurts of beautiful weather - sun shiny, snow melty weather - then we go right back into the snow. It has been snowing on and off for 3 days now. Not the heavy, blizzardy snow, but the light, fluffy snow that's supposed to be so beautiful, but when you've seen it for months on end it's just really disgusting. I wish I were a snow person. You know, one of those people who thrive on the cold snowy thing that is winter. One that straps on the old snowshoes and heads out with a whistle and a smile. Yeah - I'm definitely NOT one of those people. I hate those people. (OK, so not hate, but the do really disgust me! LOL) I'm sure my regular blog readers are really, seriously tired of hearing about this every few weeks, but really, how do you think I feel having to LIVE with it? ;D

I have only one thing to say about last nights Oscars: HOW DID CARS NOT WIN???? *sigh* Other than that, Ellen did great and Reese Witherspoon, Helen Mirren and Camryn Diaz looked awesome! My top 3 beauties. OH, and of course, George Clooney was drool worthy yet again!

Here are my 2 newest LO's. Both are using the new kits Lena Brandenburg just released at TDS - Teal Berry Trend and Fuschia Berry Fun. Gorgeous kits, aren't they?

The rest of the credits for these LO's can be seen here

Until next time...Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!!!

OOOPS...I did it again! ; D

2007-02-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

I seriously didn't mean to do another colour themed kit...really, I didn't! Intention or not...here it is:

I'll give you a little peek at the Alpha I'm working on to go with this one!

Look for the EP early next week!

Grab the PP here:
Download heLineBetweenBlackAndWhitePP.ZIP

A HUGE apology!

2007-02-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

*blushing, blushing, blushing* Soooooooooooo, when I did the element pack for the Feeling A Little Blue Kit, I was in such a hurry to get it out there that I didn't do a "test run" first. Let's just say that I have more than learned my little lesson! The ribbons and frame were definitely not up to par on this one - way too small. They have all been revamped and resized and I'm happy to say, there have been a few changes made to some of the elements. Here's a peek at the new and improved EP!

Grab it here:
Download FeelingALittleBlueEP.ZIP

***If you ever feel that any of my work is sub-par, etc. Please let me know!!

It's Elemental!

2007-02-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here it is...the element pack. This pack contains: 3 ribbons, 1 Alpha, 5 Brads, 3 Metal Hearts, 1 Metal Heart Chain, 5 Flowers, 2 Pins, 1 Staple, 1 Tinted Glass Frame. I hope you enjoy!! Here's a peek!

Please leave a little love if you grab this pack! Grab it here:

One fish, one great big tragedy

2007-02-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

I love fish. Really. An aquarium to me is a little piece of heaven - it's peaceful, stress reducing, beautiful. I can easily get lost in thoughts of nothing while staring into our little tank. The boys love their fish. They say "good morning" to them and "Night, night" to them. When they remember, they beg to feed them. Needless to say, our goldfish (yeah, we actually have the one fish I said I'd never own) are an integral part of our family! Even the kitty's love 'em. As a matter of fact, Lucy (grey fur-baby) spends hours sitting staring longingly into their tank - I've got pictures to prove it! LOL Now, onto the tragedy. A few weeks ago we woke for the day only to come out and find our beloved blackie (a black fantail) tangled in the plant. I'm not sure whether the actual entanglement led to his passing or if he was just sick (which he SO wasn't the night before)and landed in the plant. Whichever it was, it was totally earth shattering for two little boys. Being the ever-sensible mommy that I am (stop laughing), I took this opportunity to explain the circle of life to the boys, hoping that it would help them understand death. Then I carefully netted Blackie and took him into the bathroom where I....flushed him. I can not even begin to tell you the hilarity that has ensued since the dreadful flushing. We've been asked to pull up the toilet and call a plumber to get Blackie out. Liam often runs in and lifts the lid to see if Blackie has mysteriously come to life and had his sonar senses kick in to guide him back up the pipes and into our bowl. We have daily strains of, "I miss Blackie" with all the tears and emotion that follows. This, however, is not the tragedy. Nope. The tragedy happend yesterday morning. I woke up, walked into the living room and found Spotsie (white fantail with orange blob on it's head) suctioned to the filter. Glenn and I whispered about replacing it before the boys noticed so that we wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath of Spotsie's demise. Then we decided to just slip it out of the tank and hope the boys wouldn't notice. Then, sanity returned and I owned up. I told the boys that Spostie had gotten sick and died. There was a little lip quiver, an almost watering of the eyes...then...the tragedy...Liam looked at me and said, "Mommy, can we get a new Blackie AND a new Spotsie?", I gave him my most comforting look and said, "yes", and.....ready for the tragedy....Liam looked at me, smiled, turned to his brother and said, "Conor, we get to get 2 new fishies." Both boys cheered, smiled and went about their business. Now, if that's not tragic, I don't know what is!

OK, so Amazing Race Super-star started last night. I love the Amazing Race. I love to hate the contestants that back-stab their way through the show. I was excited about the Super-star edition. Then, I tuned in. OMG - did they have to bring back 1/2 of the teams I absolutely HATED???????? Rob and Amber? Hellooooooooooooooo - isn't their 15 minutes of fame expired to the point of no return? How obnoxious can one human be? And now it would seem that the mousey little Amber has been snared into the land of obnoxious humans. Yucko! And seriously...Team Guido??? UGH! Thank God for the Kentucky sweeties! At least I have a team to root for.

I've been doing a little picture fine tuning lately, too. Here's my mother's graduation photo:

Here's the picture after I've "tweaked" it. Pretty good, HUH?

Ok...the natives are getting a bit restless here. I guess that's my call to leave you. (((HUGS))) and love to everyone!

Are you blue?

2007-02-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

I've got another little freebie for you! It's a little paper pack called "Feeling A Little Blue". It contains 8 wonderfully textured and patterned papers and 8 solids. The element pack will be coming soon! I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know if you use any of my blogbies (blog freebies) to scrap with! Leave a little love if you pick this one up!

You can download the paper pack
here.

Download SusanMcGarveyBluesolids.ZIP
Download SusanMcGarveyBlue.ZIP (patterned)

Surprise!

2007-02-12T16:48:00.002-08:00

I've been wanting to change my little blog for a long time now, soooooo, today I did it! Don't you love my new look? I picked nice, springy colors in hopes that it will make some of the blasted snow outside my house melt away to oblivion! A girl has to have her dreams!

Thank you to everyone who left me messages and comments about my new kit. I would really love to see when you use some of my designs - so please email me at liacondesigns@gmail.com and point me in your direction! I'm working on another kit right now and thinking of "re-releasing" a couple of kits I gave away about a year ago...listen to me - re-releasing. LOL You'd think I had done this a million times! Actually, sharing my "designs" is a bit intimidating and causes me a bit of anxiety - I know I like what I do, but will anyone else. I guess that's all part of sharing a bit of yourself. I will say that designing elements and papers gives me a whole new respect for all the talented and wonderful designers out there - it's really putting a piece of yourself "out there" for praise *yay!* or ridicule *booo, hisss*.

I am very excited about tomorrow - we have signed Liam up for Tae Kwon Do - I'm hoping it will teach him discipline and self-respect and give him a whole new perspective on why it is not ok to use your hands for harm. I'm not sure if it's all going to work - they usually don't take kids until they are at least 4, but after going and meeting the Grand Master today, we decided to give him a couple of lessons to see if they instructors think he's ready and then, if they approve, we'll put him in on a trial basis for a month. I just think it's going to do wonderful things for him! He was very excited while we were there and he got to see what was happening. I always knew that people took marshal arts very seriously, but I guess I didn't "get it". They bow when they enter and leave the building and there is no loud talking or anything while in the building. The instructor here is quite well respected in the world of Tae Kwon Do, so I'm very hopeful that Liam will LOVE it!

Can you believe that enough time has passed that Glenn and I realized that we actually have to start deciding where we want to send Liam for school and get him on the waiting list? So many decisions! French Immersion or regular school. Convenient schooling (not such a hot school) or inconvenient (ok...so convenient for me - LOL). Do we want him to go to a more rural school or one here in the city. And, do we go and "interview" the school? Things have changed so much, even since I was teaching. This is such an important decision to make and I really don't want to screw this up - this will be his outlook on what school is - will he love it or hate it. It's very intimidating, actually. Anyway - we are going to go this week and look at a couple of schools and put his name on the waiting list and hope that he gets into the one we really want him to attend.

I still can't believe that my little boy will be in kindergarten in 1 1/2 years. He's almost 4!!! He actually holds big boy conversations now!!! I'm so sad! LOL

Well, that's all for today - Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Freebie Time!

2007-02-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I worked on making a kit, but I really felt creative this week and I've come up with a kit I really love! Here's a little peek at what's included - please feel free to grab it, but leave me some love, too! ;P

Grab it here.

Snow, snow, go away!

2007-02-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

I hate snow. It amazes me now that I can actually remeber a time in my life when I thought snow was magical. The beauty of everything covered in a soft, white blanket - it was inspirational! Yeah...that was BMTFSJ (Before moving to Fort St. John). It was before the snow came in September and didn't want to leave until April...or May...or June. It was before I had experienced a winter where the windchill is lower than I knew temperature could go! OK, I'll admit that every now and then I still see the beauty of the snow - it is pretty in the trees and when the hoar frost is covering everything it can touch. Those days are few and FAR between! Right now, I'm really, truly sick of it. Seriously. It is freezing cold and snowy again and I have a burning desire to be anywhere but trapped in the house, yet there's nowhere to go, nothing to do and even if there was it would mean bundling the boys up in 3 layers, boots, hats, scarves, mits and listening to them whine the whole time they're in the car because it's too hot in the car. Plus, I then have to maneuver my way to my car - which is best done on ice skates lately since the ice is about 4 inches thick with a 2 inch layer of snow on top! I can honestly say that I am sick of seeing my beautiful red walls. No wonder I want to change the color of rooms so often - I get stir crazy staring at the same thing day after day!

OK, now that we've got that off my chest - (yes, we - me and the imaginary voices in my head! LOL) - let's move to another whiney topic (since I seem to be on a roll)...

So the potty training and celebration lasted a week. Yes, it's true, my son has decided that he doesn't like using the potty. 8 days of dry bum - pooping in the toilet - the WHOLE shabang. I'm shattered! I don't really know what my next step is supposed to be. I'm trying the "ask him every 20 minutes" technique, but seriously - doesn't that just annoy him more? I know it would me! I feel like waving the white flag and facing the fact that indeed my son WILL be in diapers in Kindergarten. (OK, I know this won't happen but it sure does feel like it will right now)

OK, let's get scrappy...

First of all, I want to show off my first attempt at really "fixing" an old photo. I'm very proud of what I did with this picture! There were lots of scratches that were very tiny and the picture itself was very dull. I know my "fix" isn't perfect, but it's pretty good!

And here's a scrap page I did with it:

Here are a couple of LO's I've done recently:

And, have you SEEN Lena Brandenburg's newest element pack? They are simply FAB!

That's it for me today! ((HUGS)) and love to everyone!

And the 3rd time is a charm!

2007-02-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

GO COLTS GO!!!

Believe it or not this is the 3rd attempt at posting this blog. The first time I was all but finished when I got called to "come here" and Conor got to the computer and shut it off before I came back to finish. The second time, it was all done (and quite humourously, too!) except to add some pictures and blogger knocked me off. This time, pictures have been added before I post and I'm saving it at every chance I get! So, lets see if I can do this all over again...

ATTENTION: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO FOLLOW:
Folks, we have poop in the potty, I repeat, we have poop in the potty!!! Liam is pretty much 100% potty trained. We are on day 5 of completely clean, dry diapers (pull-ups), even in the morning! I am so happy with this kid! The only hurdle now is getting him to wear underwear - I even went and got some special "I went poop in the potty" underwear - they're covered with spiderman and they're boxer briefs, just like daddy's! I honestly think he's scared he may have an accident and he has told me on the few occassions that he's actually worn underwear and ended up having an accident (during potty training) that he does NOT like it when his pants get all stinky. What the heck - he's keeping dry and if it takes him a couple more weeks to give into the underwear - what's so bad about that? Can I just say how thrilled I am that he truly won't be going to kindergarten with diapers! LOL

Jelly Belly's: A confusing food for a 3 year old!
So, Glenn has this little Jelly Belly dispenser that sits on his bedside table. I got it for him for Easter one year (pre-kids) and had hidden it away when Liam came along, but he discovered it and pulled it out. Of course the boys have also discovered it and they LOVE putting pennies in daddy's candy machine and getting a handful of yummy Jelly Belly's. The other day, Glenn gave them each a penny and told them to go get some treats. Didn't have to tell them twice - they flew into the bedroom, where I was folding clothes, and got their treasures and left. A few minutes later I saw Glenn coming around the corner with that look on his face that makes me go, "Uh-oh, this isn't going to be good!". Beside him was Liam who's hand was covering his nose while his mouth was hanging open with drool dripping it's way down his chin. He had tears in his eyes and neither of them were saying anything. Finally, Mr. Panic (Glenn) opened his mouth and said, "Ummm, he's got a jelly bean up his nose and I don't know what to do". At this, Liam burst into sobs and pulled his hand away so that I could see the Jelly Belly sized bump on the side of his left nostril and a pinkish colored drip coming out. I whipped him up to the bed, and as he whizzed under my nose I smelled it - the smell that told me not only was my son silly enough to think a Jelly Belly looked like a nice nose adornment, but also that he had the good fortune of picking the WORST possible flavor - cinnamon! Have I gotten to the part where I tell you that Liam has a cold? No? Well, he does - his nose has been a little faucet for many days now and when his nose turns into a faucet, the tender section of skin between his nose and lips turns into a flaming red, peeling, "I've got 3rd degree sunburn" looking piece of raw flesh. Wonderful! Of course, I go into action - put one finger on the right nostril and tell Liam to blow as hard as he can. What do I get for that action? A large pink snot bubble! (which I'm sure Liam would have found quite hysterical if not for the fact that his nostril was on fire) I put my finger right above the bump and tried to get it to wiggle free - nope. I thought for sure it was going to be another trip to the ER with Liam over yet another silly thing. I finally put my finger beside the bridge of his nose and pushed down hard while running my finger down his nose - the little Jelly Belly came flying out like a rocket! Thank God!

2 questions here:

1) Why is it that the same child who was taken to the emergancy room last winter after deciding it was a good idea to lick the snow off the metal railing on our porch when the temperature was -20 and ended up with his lips, tongue and hand stuck to the rail and lost a little chunk of tongue, decided that it would be a good idea to shove a Jelly Belly up his nose?

AND

2) Why is it that I never think to yell, "GO GET THE CAMERA, THIS IS A PERFECT SCRAPPY MOMENT"?

Darn it!

Speaking of scrappy - here's a few of my most recent LO's. (Credits can be seen here)

Oy Vai

2007-01-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

I am long overdue to update this little blog o' mine. I've still got Santa pictures to share, for pete's sake!

So, here's a brief little synopsis of what's been going on in our lives:

Conor ~
I'm happy to report that Conor is doing GREAT! It was a little rough for a week and a half, but once we got over that hump, he is healthy and happy. He no longer complains of ear pain or throat pain AND he hasn't had a stuffy/drippy nose OR a night time cough in a week!!! Whoopeeeeeeeee!

Liam ~
Remember the Sound of Music? "How do we solve a problem like Maria"? Well, just replace that Maria with Liam and you will have a good idea of how it's going. He is definitely 3 and everytime I think his attitude is improving he throws some kind of hissy about something totally outrageous! LOL He is definitely a TV fiend and I hate that. We've been limiting his TV more than ever and there have been many, many breakdowns because of it. Today he told me he would, "NEVER, EVER play with you again unless you let me watch my shows!". It was sad, really. I swear he's never been allowed to watch THAT much TV, but while Conor was sick he watched quite a bit and I guess that's all it takes. *sigh*

BREAKING NEWS ON BOTH BOYS....
We are 100% officially BOTTLE FREE!!!! It has been really hard for Liam. I know he should have had the bottle free experience long ago, but it is truly hard to take a bottle away from a 2 year old when his 1 year old brother is happily sucking along. It actually took Conor's surgery to break the habit - he couldn't suck on bottle or straw for 2 weeks. Liam still cries sometime at night for his bottle and tells me, "Mama, I didn't want to give my bottles away yet. Not till I'm as old as you and daddy and Sonya and Mar." It's heartbreaking because he then breaks into sobs that make me feel like some linebacker has just laid me flat on the playing field.

On the opposite side of things, Conor asked for a bottle the first couple of days and when we explained that he couldn't because of his surgery he pretty much accepted it. One night he did tell me, "Dr. Hamill is bad" after I told him the dr. said he couldn't have his bottle. LOL

Unfortuneately I can't report on any breaking news in the potty training front because there isn't any. I'm extremely frustrated with it. Liam wakes up most mornings with a dry bum and when we try to get him into the bathroom to go he absolutely refuses. He's as pigheaded as his dad! (oops, did I write that in black and white?)

Oh, and if anyone has any great ideas to get my boys to drink milk from a cup now that they've done away with bottles, I'd love to hear them! I've tried chocolate milk, strawberry milk, milkshakes, etc. and it's a no go through and through.

Ok, on to my updates:

Glenn ~
He's still voluntarily unemployed. Do I really need to say anymore than that?

Me ~
See Glenn's update. LOL

CHRISTMAS ~

Christmas was wonderful. The boys are really at that magical age when everything is so totally special. They were so excited to see that Santa had eaten the cookies and given Rudolph their carrots - oh, and drank his water (I guess since they won't drink milk they don't expect the jolly one too). Then they turned around and saw all the presents...well...here's their expression

precious, huh?

And here they are discovering their Santa gifts and stockings.

And their stockings were so big that Santa had to use HUGE bags (almost as big as them) as well as their stockings. Here's Liam trying to get to the bottom of things.

And what do you get the ultimate Pink Floyd fan for Christmas? A box full of Pink Floyd T-shirts that took at least 4 hours of wandering the West Edmonton Mall to find.

We had a wonderful Christmas morning and then in the afternoon our friends and FSJ family, Sonya, Mar, Nicho and Mar's mom Madeline came over to share more presents and Christmas dinner. It was a very busy, festive day!

Oh, and Mom, Linda and Cindy...We still have Christmas cards and one other small gift to mail out. Yes, I AM that far behind! LOL I didn't even get my Christmas cards done this year - I made them, but never got them mailed out because of Conor's constant sicky's. I'm attempting to write a New Year's Letter to everyone - look in your mailboxes soon!

OK, I know I still have the bowling party to talk about and I'm going to be really quick about it. The boys absolutely LOVED it. They are quite capable bowlers! And for the first time they weren't running the other direction from Santa, but instead actually stalking him! LOL From the moment he entered the building they were on his heels. It was so cute! Here's some pics - and notice the Nicholas "sumo wrestler" style of bowling! Too funny!

And their Santa pictures!

Happy New Year! Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

2006-12-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

Prayers and positive thoughts

2006-12-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

I know I said I'd post the pictures from party #3 today, but we've been a bit busy. We got a call yesterday saying that Conor is scheduled for surgery tomorrow. He is having his tonsils and adenoids removed which will, hopefully, clear up the asthma and constant runny nose, stuffy nose, sore throat and earaches. While I'm glad that it is finally going to be over, I'm also a nervous wreck! Please say a few prayers for us and send some quick recovery thoughts to my brave little guy!

(((HUGS))) and Love!

Oh, I forgot...

2006-12-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

The party on Saturday:

They seriously had one of the coolest Santa Chair's EVER! I just had to share this picture of most of the kids that attended with Santa on his chair (which was made of mats!)
Cool, huh?

Oh yes, and Conor, Liam and Nicho are standing in back of Santa...in case you were tyring to find them (make sure you click on the picture and blow it up!).

Christmas Party - Take Two

2006-12-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

Oiy, I'm tired! Yes, we've been to all 3 parties now, but I haven't transfered the pictures from party #3 to my computer yet, sooooooo this post is all about #2.

Party #2 was on Saturday and was put on by the Chamber of Commerce and held at the NP Gymnastics Association. Of course the boys loved the fact that they got to have an hour of unstructured gymnastic time where they could run like wild bohemians around to each apparatice and PLAY. It was a little disorganized for my taste - too many children being unsupervised and acting like crazy children. One little girl was of the attitude that she was entitled to do whatever she wanted and if someone got hurt in the process it was their problem - she was only around 4 or 5, but I never did see a parent anywhere around. Several times I literally caught her in mid-air before she landed on some other (usually) smaller child. It was a bit nuts! Then they had the kids come out of the gym and into the "snack" area where they gave them...I kid you not...a prepackaged Rice Krispie Treat and a juice box AND made them wait almost 40 minutes until Santa got there. 40 minutes in a room as big as my living room with about 30 children under the age of 8! Pure and utter chaos!

All that being said, Santa more than made up for the chaos! He was AWESOME! Conor was totally awestruck and sat in the front row like a champ when his brother and buddy both got called up within the first 10 kids and he was almost last! I was able to get a couple of terrific pictures of the boys with the Jolly one. A true Christmas miracle! LOL They each got a pretty cool present from Santa - Liam an instrument set that had a Drum, Tamberine, Harmonica, Marroca's (sp?), a Recorder and an industrial size whistle (which they seriously could have left out! LOL). Conor got a set of balls - a football, basketball and soccerball and a set of plastic animals which he LOVES!

I guess the fact that the boys had a blast is really all that matters! I think they may go into withdrawal now that the party's are all done! LOL

Oh, and the fact that I got 2 great pictures of me with my little men. Cute, huh?

IN SCRAPPING NEWS:

I am very happy to announce that I got invited to be on another awesome Creative Team. I'm now on the team for Rebecca Lynn Studio's (see side notes). It's very exciting for me!

Here are 2 new pages I've done:

Credits can be seen here

Check back tomorrow - I'll have update for Party #3 and tons of pictures!

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Christmas Hustle and Bustle

2006-12-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

Wow. Just when you think, "everything is done - house clean, shopping done, decorations up and looking quite snazzy (if I do say so myself), bring on the relaxation and enjoyment of the holiday season!" , you realize that you are greatly fooling yourself into a false sense of accomplishment! LOL

On Monday we went to gymnastics with the boys. It was their last class of the fall season so they "graduated". They were both so proud! They make quite the event of graduation at our gymnastics company. The kids are called up to a "podium" just like in the olympics and they stand on top and receive a medal and their progress report - so cute. Of course all of the parents are flashing pictures like paparazzi and cheering for each little dude and dudette! IMHO my boys were the cutest graduates there! See for yourself:

Last week we decorated our tree. I should say Liam and Conor decorated our tree. They had so much fun picking the spot where each ornament should go. (see, even Desi helped out!) The problem with letting your children decorate the tree is that everything is placed at their level and you end up with this: 90% of the ornaments at a 3 foot level. LOL Heaven forbid I move one item they placed on the tree - memories like and elephant, I tell you! It gave me a good reason to go shopping for new ornaments and I'm happy to say our tree is evened out now - no more bottom heavy tree for us!

Yesterday was party #1 of their 3 day extravaganza. The Art Space program is always such a blessing - their teachers are so nice and they really make a great party for the kids. The boys were absolutely thrilled! Of course I took tons of pictures, but here are a few highlights: (The boys waiting to start an actual reindeer game!)(my hunk of a man - isn't he cute?!)(The closest Conor would get to Santa - and that was only because he gave him a present! LOL He later did a "drive by" and shouted thank you to the jolly old soul!)(and, of course, Liam was just THRILLED to pieces that I made him go stand by Santa to take a picture - How DARE I interupt his good time for a stinking picture! LOL)

Well, that's it from our front for today. I have exactly 3 hours to prepare myself for another 2 hours of fun and excitement and LOUD children celebrating the Christmas spirit. I must go meditate now! LOL I'm sure I'll be back tonight or tomorrow with an update of the Chamber of Commerce kids party!

Love and (((HUGS)))

Time

2006-12-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

It seems as if I don't have enough of that one little word lately. I get up every morning with tons of plans in my head, but between the boys and Glenn, doing the necessary "chores", running here and there and everywhere, I seem to be losing time. It seems like I get up at 6 and before I know it the kids are asking for lunch! I don't know where the time is going, why it seems like I just can't get enough. I'm hoping that now that the play room is done (what an awesome godsend that is!), the house is semi-respectable and Christmas is getting closer I'll find more time to do the things I'm dying to do...like sit and read a book with my Ipod blissfully playing in my ears, or SCRAPPING (heaven knows I haven't gotten near what I wanted to have done by this time in the year - I still have literally thousands of pictures from this summer with my family that I haven't even touched yet!), or spending some more creative time with the boys (they love doing crafts and have been looking forward to helping me make Christmas cookies for a while now). As I type this I'm glancing at the calendar and reminding myself once again that the boys have 3 - count them, T*H*R*E*E* Christmas parties this week. A bowling one with the Hospital Foundation, a crafty/playful one at the local ArtSpace program, and a gymnastics one with the Chamber of Commerce. Why the couldn't all coordinate and do one a week is beyond my imagination, but that's what we've got. Oh, and did I mention that they are on 3 consecutive days? Again, time gone. Fun time, though! Picture opportunities coming out my ears. Pictures that I will hopefully have scrapped by this time next year! LOL

Let's talk boys. Why does my oldest seem to think that any volume other than SCREAMING LOUD is unworthy of using? It doesn't matter where we are or how close he is to the person he is talking to, lately everytime he opens his mouth it comes out as a eardrum shattering scream. Wow, as I type this I am wondering if there is a chance that he has blocked ears because it has been just in the last 5 days or so. Hmmmmm, should check into this , huh?

Other than his ear splintering talking, Liam has been quite the guy lately. I sometimes have to double look to make sure that it is, in fact, my son in the house with us. He's been helpful, sweet and loving 98% of the time. It's quite a switch from about 2 months ago when I was wondering what had happend to my little boy! He loudly announced today at gymnastics that he had the best little brother in the world just because he happened to glance out and see Conor playing at the little kitchen they have set up. It was definitely a heart twitching moment!

Both the boys are excited as can be about the imminent arrival of Santa and the gang. I have a feeling they are conspiring to stay up to try to see Rudolph - I've caught them talking about it several times! LOL They are both extremely well versed in the traditional holiday music - their current faves are Deck The Halls, Jolly Ole St. Nicholas (or "Johnny St. Nicholas", as Liam says), and Oh Christmas Tree (but only the version sung by Mickey, Minnie and Goofy!). It's so sweet to see them so excited about Christmas. Putting up the tree was a hoot - all of my decorations were about 3 feet off the ground, the top of the tree virtually naked, and Liam would tell me in no uncertain terms where a particular ornament went if I dared try to move them up. Oh well, it gave me more than enough reason to go get supplied with new shiny decorations! Yipeeee! (And yes, Linda, I do think I have a picture of my bottom heavy tree - I'll have to upload it...if I ever get time)

Conor is amazing me each and every day. I'm sure some of you are tired of me saying it, but his vocabulary completely floors me! The way he holds entire conversations and comes out with these HUGE complicated sentences - I'm just amazed! He's also becoming quite a cuddly guy. He will now come up and give me a kiss with no asking (ok, begging and a little fake crying, but a mom has to do what a mom has to do!).

He's quite a go getter! He likes to do whatever the "big boys" do, whether it's trying to ride their bikes or play games, etc. I watch it and truly hope that Liam never gets to the point of feeling like Conor is being a tag-along - hopefully with them being so close in age they will always remain close. Let me dream!

I have a few scrap pages to share - I do them at night on my laptop, my only moments of sanity! And hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to upload some pictures of our tree and the boys decorating and of them graduating today from gymnastics (such a cute thing!).

Credits can be seen Here

Love and (((HUGS)))

Here's my new bathroom!

2006-12-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

Isn't it purty? ;) I love my shower curtain hooks - little hot and cold faucets. My sink is SO cool! And you can see in the shower pics that our liner has pockets - it's tre` cool! The boys toys are in the 3 large pockets at the bottom, their soap and shampoo are stored in one and there's a few left that I'm sure we'll fill as we go! Also, I finally have a nice spot to show off the cute soap dish I got from Cindy last year! LOL Liam loves that little heart and the heart shaped soap - he's always coming in to the bathroom and smelling it!

OK, enough goofing off time...now I have to go and get cracking on the basement with Glenn. We've got the floor to paint and some bookcases/tables/etc. that will serve as storage. The floor is taking a super long time, much longer than we thought, because we have to scrape up the paint that the original owners had down (which Glenn has jokingly said is full of lead, and I do not find funny because it probably is!). It's seriously going to be one very cool play room!

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

My poor neglected blog

2006-11-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't really been in the "blogging" frame of mind lately. Maybe it's the fact that the contents of my bathroom have been in my living room, bedroom and kitchen. Or maybe it's the fact that I've got 2 little boogers that decided to make this time of renovating more about them renovating their attitudes than about the actual bathroom renovation. Whatever it's been, believe me when I say that if I can get through the rest of this week with any hair left on my head I'll be one lucky woman!

Happily I can say that the bathroom is 90% finished. The tile has been laid, the sink, toilet, medicine cabinet and additional storage cabinet have been put in, the painting has been done, tiles have been sealed and resealed and caulking has been finished. Now I just need to figure out what shower head I want (Ok, I should say I'll compromise on because Glenn and I want totally different things) and find a shower curtain that doesn't look like the cats threw up on it (there are truly some ugly bathroom themes out there!), figure out where we are going to put up a towel rack and we'll be done like dinna!

On that them, here's a friendly PSA to anyone considering renovating a bathroom: If, like us, you only have 1 shower in the house, it is not necessarily the smartest idea to renovate without a backup shower plan. Washing in the kitchen sink does not feel as good as standing under the warm spray or soaking in a bubble bath! Somehow you never feel quite as "clean". Since the renovation began I have had 1 "real" shower. The rest has all been standing in the kitchen with the door closed, blinds pulled and freezing my tuckus off to get clean. Neither wind, snow or the -40 degree temps are going to keep me from going today to get a shower head and some kind of curtain to "do" for the meantime! Tonight I SHOWER!!!

The other renovation we have going on right now is our basement. We are trying to convert the basement into the boys playroom in an attempt to make my living room livable. Our goal is to have it all done, including the "moving in" part, by Saturday so that we can go and pick out our Christmas tree this weekend. It's amazing how many problems you can run into when trying to DIY. First, we bought paint for the 2 end walls in this brilliant BRIGHT green. We thought we had bought enough. Turned out we needed more, no problem, right? Go back to the store and get another gallon - how lucky we were, the same girl was mixing it and new exactly what we were talking about - mixed it up and said it would be a perfect match...ummmm, WRONG! One wall is now this color green and the other is this color green. BIG difference! *sigh* Oh well, at least it's the kids playroom and the other walls are even different colors (Orange and purple). You'd think that would be enough, right? Welllllllll...nope. Glenn went to reattach the light fixture that has been hanging from the ceiling and when he started to screw it into place the darn thing quit working. Someone cut us a break, huh?

Other than renovation disaster zone, life has been pretty boring. The temps have been in the -40's for what feel like MONTHS now (yes, I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but have YOU ever been stuck inside a house with reno's going on, a sick 2 year old and a "I know better than you" 3 year old? I'm telling you, MONTHS!). The boys are beyond stir crazy. Daddy and mommy have been so involved in reno's that they have been poorly neglected, but we have promised to make up for it starting next week, when everything should be finished (knock on wood REALLY hard!).

Conor has become quite the conversationalist lately. His vocabulary just kills me - where the heck did he learn some of these words?! He's also become very snuggly lately and I don't mind that one bit...well, except when he demands to be picked up when I'm in the middle of doing my chores...oh, wait, that's when I like it the most! LOL

Liam has become...well, a 3 year old boy. He can be driving me right up the wall one minute and then, right when you are the most exasperated he will call your name for the 1000th time and when you snap, "WHAT?" he says, "I love you". Stinker. He really knows how to work the system! LOL

I have been doing a bit of scrapping, too. Thought I'd share them while I'm here!

Credits: Picture frame & Santa Hat - Chain Gang (Modern Christmas_SBB)
Papers, Ribbon - Lena Brandenburg (Glad Tiding's_Elemental Scraps)
Title Font - Santa's Big Secret BB
Journaling Font - Aramis
Brads - Gina Miller (Bundle Up Baby_Gina Miller Designs)

Credits: Paper, Tag, Ribbons, Brad and Alpha from Jen Wilson's Everyday Bliss Kit
Font on Tag - ZapfEllipt BT
Stitches - Ztampf (ARTiStitches No. 3_SBB)

Credits: Hearts: Gina Miller (Mixed Bag _ Gina Miller Designs)
Arrow: Gina Miller (Bedazzled _ Gina Miller Designs)
Paper and Doodle Frame: Jen Wilson (Funny Little One _ SBB)
Title: "So" & "You"- Alpha Thin, Unbelievably - Carpenter ICG
Journalilng - Tall Paul
Ribbons: Michelle Underwood (To Be Cool Kit _ SBB)

Credits: Papers, Alpha, Ribbon - Lena Brandenburg (Plum Pudding_ACOT)
Stitches - My own

Credits: Papers, Ribbon, Tag - Lena Brandenburg (Snugglebaby_Elemental Scraps)
Title Font - Kitchenette
Journaling Font - Girls are Weird
Template - Gina Miller (Curved Template_Her blog)

Now, I know there are lots more scrap pages of Conor this time than Liam, but believe me, in the scheme of things, they are pretty even.

In other scrapping news:

I'm very excited that I have been picked to be on Lena Brandenburg's Creative Team! I am really honored and excited to be a member of her great team!

That's all for now - I'll try to take some pictures of my bathroom and post them soon. Oh, and maybe some of the boys, too! LOL

Love and (((HUGS))) to everyone!

It's started!

2006-11-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

The excitement over Santa coming and all the merry that goes along with Christmas. The boys are in high gear so we have been doing some Christmas crafts lately. I just had to share the things they've done so far - they are so cute! I've got a bagful more for them to do and they are both just such great little crafters! I'm definitely one proud Mama!

Just a hint of insanity

2006-11-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

Anyone that knows me really well knows that I am by no means one of those people who is obsessively running around picking up every toy, paper, etc. that falls out of place in my house. A) My house is to small to worry about every detail, most things are where they aren't supposed to be because there is no place to designate "supposed to be". And B) I have 2 small boys and a husband who has been home for 7 months...I'm a bit busy. That being said, I realized today that the house had turned into a disaster zone, looking like a tornado, hurricane and cyclone had hit all at once. I decided to pick up a bit mainly because I wanted to put away my halloween decorations and found that I couldn't find most of them because they were buried somewhere between chaos and confusion. As I started picking up I found a toy here (the boys), candy wrappers there (the BIG boy), lists of misc. assortments (again, BIG boy), CD's (yep, that's BIG again), mail that I haven't seen from over a week ago, etc. Get the picture? So I spend my morning picking up all the mess to make my living room/play area/office (yes, one room serves as all 3) and I have it looking mighty nice, if I say so myself (and no, I didn't do it all by myself, Glenn and Liam picked up the toys in the play area). Do you know that within 10 minutes there were new papers on the tables, blocks from one end of the play area to the other end of the living room and chaos and confusion taking over yet again. Can I scream now? Oh well, I guess I'll just put my blinders on and do a little scrapping!

Picture EXTRAVAGANZA!!

2006-10-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN PARTY

Today was the Halloween party at the local art space. The boys had a blast! There were crafts, games and trick-or-treating time.

THANKSGIVING - Canadian style

Here are the boys enjoying being at their Auntie Linda's farm for Thanksgiving. They had a blast playing in her open fields!

CONOR'S BIRTHDAY

The boys were feeling a bit sick on the day of Conor's birthday party, so we declared it a PJ party! Conor had no problem ripping and shredding to get those gifts open! LOL

I don't have much time...

2006-10-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of my morning chores, but I just had to share this one!

As I'm in the kitchen this morning prepping chili for the crockpot, Glenn has run out on an errand and the boys are happily playing with toys in their play area. I can hear them rummaging through one of their toy bins and talking about their Car cars (as in the movie). They are naming them off and suddenly Liam says, "Fillmore! We've lost Fillmore! We have to find him Conor." Then, out of the blue, he says, "This is a job for Suuuuper Liammmmmmm and his trusty sidekick!"...and from the other side of the room I hear, "It's me! Super Cooonnnnneeeerrrrrrrr!".

And with that I just had the best laugh I've had in over a week! Where do they come up with this stuff? Hope you got a giggle out of it, too.

And C, I promise I'll post Conor's birthday pictures sometime today...What, a month later is too long? LOL

Bah Humbug - snow and other misc. things

2006-10-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of winter. I know it has only just started, but seriously - it SUCKS. I'm already starting to get a bit sick of the cold, wet, icy and DARK days. I've already had my first winter "spill". (knee popped out of place and ended up behind my leg - that's ok though, the fall to the ground knocked it back in place. *eye roll*) I long for the sunny 70 degree weather that we had a few weeks ago. The boys could go outside in the sun and play, play, play. Now they get to be cooped up in the house and drive me insane...all 3 of them! LOL

I went yesterday to have a couple of strange spots removed from my leg. It actually didn't hurt and I was quite happy until this afternoon when I decided to change the bandages - OUCH! The spots are still throbbing.

Can I just say how proud I am of my 2 little dudes? There are moments when I go breathless with awe at the 2 of them. Conor has turned into quite the conversationalist lately. He really grew up over the summer and since we've been home the changes seem to come daily and like rapid fire! He's now speaking in complete sentences and paragraphs. He's such a little comedian. And Liam - he has declared himself to be a "big boy" now. Well, big boy until you mention potty training, then he claims the title of baby with a sly grin. He's become very protective of Conor...well, when he's not trying to a) get Conor to do something he knows they'll get in trouble for, b) forcing Conor to play what Liam wants to play or c) deciding that he doesn't want to play with "the baby" anymore and decides to shove him out of the "circle".

They are both doing extremely well in their gymnastic classes. Liam is on his own now and it's very hard to sit on the other side of the glass watching him "do" instead of helping him. How did he grow up so fast? Conor is still requiring a bit of assistance, but I can already tell that he will be joining his big bro faster than I am ready! They're also both in swimming lessons right now. Liam is struggling a bit in his. I'm not really sure why. He is supposed to be in class with his teacher and no parent, but he throws a fit and wants one of us there every week. He's not scared of the water - he loves it, in fact. I think it may have more to do with the instructor than anything else. She's...well, she's not really 3 year old friendly. She's a bit stiff and doesn't give much praise or instruction. Conor, on the other hand, is desparately wanting to join his big brother instead of being in the "baby" class. He's constantly staring over to see what Liam is doing and asking to do it too. He loves his instructor and always wants to help her collect kick boards, sponges, etc. He's such a ham!

Glenn and I are doing great. We still have some house improvements to make and hope to get them done in the next month. The big items on our list right now are: Total remodel of the bathroom, finishing the basement and turning it into the boys playroom, and putting a porch in the front of the house (which has to be done before November 15th by order of the new city by-laws). Not just a porch, but one with rails, etc. Lovely.

Of course I have pictures, although I will say that I have been a bit slack on taking any lately - bad me. Here's a few recent ones:

Helping daddy build a pantry for the Kitchen

"Helping" daddy build the playfort

More "helping"!

Success! Now they can play!

Two buds, chillin' and watching some 'toons

Snap...and other fun new things

2006-09-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago we were putting the boys to bed and, as usual, I was singing songs to them. Out of the blue there was a snapping along with the song, I thought Glenn was doing it. All of a sudden this little hand pops up from under the covers and Liam says, "Look mommy, I can do it!". I was stunned - where the heck did he pick that one up? He's always been very interested everytime Glenn or I snap, but he's never done it himself. I guess he's been practicing on the sly! LOL

The boys were taken for their 2 year and 3 year check up's and I'm happy to say they are perfect, once again! Both are performing at language skills far beyond what is expected at their ages. I've certainly got 2 little smarties (God help me) on my hands! Conor is 32 lbs and 34" tall. He's in the 90th % for weight and 97th for height. Good growing! Liam is 38 lbs and 40.5" tall. He's in the 95th % for weight and the 97th for height. Yay! I've definitely got 2 big boys on my hands - Indiana Pacer rookie's in 2025 & 2026!!!

The boys are also starting to role play quite a bit. Their favorite current game is pretending one is the big bad wolf and is chasing the other. It makes for quite exciting and LOUD playtimes. They also roll play with their Little People and the awesome Playmobile set that Liam got for his birthday. It's so much fun to see how they are developing!

Speaking of birthday's...A certain little boy will be 2 in 13 days! I'm not sure what we are going to do for his birthday yet. It's going to be really hard to keep up with what we did for Liam's this year! I do know that we are going with a Thomas theme because for Conor it is all about the Thomas!

Oh, and speaking of Thomas - We got Conor the cutest winter coat/snow pants Thursday. It's Thomas and Friends and it's just adorable. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it later.

Well, as promised, here are a few pictures of the boys at the beach:

What is that I hear?

2006-08-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Shhhhhh? Do you hear that? Now I know you are probably staring at the screen thinking, "Yo, dumbo, of course we can't hear what you hear!" so I'll just tell you. It's silence. No children laughing, crying, whining, bellowing my name - no husband wanting to know what I'm doing right now and why I'm not entertaining the troups - nothing - nada - zip. Oh, wait, there are the strains of a CD I picked out, and that's NOT the Wiggles, playing softly in the background, but that to me is as gold as silence. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Glenn has taken the boys over for a playdate with Nicho, and even though my house still looks like hurricane Liam &Conor breezed through, I am relaxing at my computer, updating my blog and planning my next great scrap page. What a rare treat!

So, here's some meaningless things that I've decided to blog:

I can tell I'm back in Canada - particularly my little part of Canada - because my skin has become this dried, ashy, itchy and bothersome thing. I look like a snake shedding it's skin - my nice tan has become mottled with ashy white areas and honest to god, I don't think I can take the itchiness anymore. I acutally scratched the top of my foot so much the other day that I took a layer of skin off! And it's only August! I swear I'm going to fill the tub with lotion and jump in!

Have I bragged about my kids lately? No? Well, must fix that unhappy accident!

Liam got a cute little Cars scooter for his birthday and we took it outside with us the other day for the first time. He actually got on, started pushing away with one leg and off he went. No help from mommy or daddy, just up and out! Amazing little guy! He's been very glad to get home and see his BFF Nicho and they have been playing lots together. We have made NO progress on the potty-training front and I am convinced, once again, that he will be 30 and still in diapers with a bottle in his hand for night-nights. We have tried everything I can think of and he has no interest in losing the diaper. Sure he asks to go occassionally, but at this point, Conor asks to go more frequently than Liam! Any tips from anyone - please pass them this way. Other than his potty training and bottle he's actually been doing great. He told me the other day that he wanted to go "home", something I heard frequently when we were in Indy. When I reminded him that we were home he told me he wanted his other home. I asked him what he was talking about and he said, "You know, the home we have in Indillyapolis with Grandpa and Grandma". Poor guy, I guess after 3 months it is a second home to him. He certainly misses his family! He's now on a crusade to go to see Aunt Cindy "IN-Florida" so that we can see Mickey's other home. LOL Of course he also thinks that the whole crew will be there because he tells us how he wants Aunt Linda to see this and Grandpa to do this - I wish it were that simple!

We've decided to hold off on pre-school for Liam right now for a couple of reasons. First, the potty issue. He has to be going regularly before he can go to class. Second, even if he were ok in that area, I think we'd hold him back until January because it's been such an overwhelming spring/summer. I'd sort of like him to get into a routine again. Oh yeah, then there's the issue of mommy having a really hard time letting go - even for 2 hours 3 days a week! LOL He's already sleeping on his own in his big boy bed (3 nights in a row with no waking up! *knock on wood*) and that has been hard. I love the room in my bed, but it's different not having that little guy keeping me from turning over because he's got a handful of my hair clutched in his fist! ;)

Conor has been amazing, too. He's quite bright and he now holds conversations like nobody's business! If you ask him to do something and he says "no" and you ask why he will say, "Cause..." and go into a long explanation of why he can't. It's pretty funny to hear his reasons! He's grown up so much this summer. I'm not ready to deal with the terrible 2's with him - didn't I just have him?

He's a real expert at his little big-wheel bike. He loves peddling around the back yard. He and Liam go rock hunting all the time, too. Daddy went and got a rock polisher so they are stocking up to keep busy for the winter! LOL Liam got an expandable basketball net for his birthday and we have it set at the lowest setting right now (it goes from 4' to 6') and Conor can stand about 1/2 a foot away from the net and sink the basketball! He's so funny when he does it because as soon as the ball goes through the net he raises his hands in the air and says, "YEAH". He's also sleeping in his big boy bed, but he only makes it 1/2 the night before waking and calling for us. He either ends up in our bed or one of us go into his and sleep with him. I can't believe that after 3 years we are almost child-free in our bed! I know I've already said it, but it makes me kind of sad.

OH, some really good news: We got our fence put in! WHOOPEEEEE! No more drunks cutting through our yard and now we can let the boys go outside to play and not worry about crap being in our yard! Now, you'd think that was the best news, but it gets even better! For those of you that know my plight with the neighbors that live behind us, well, THEY'VE MOVED!!!! 95% of the problems have gone with them! We still have people hanging out back there, BUT today a truck pulled in and dropped off one of those huge dumpsters that you see at construction sights and there's been a crew of people emptying out the house and sheds all day. Last week the RCMP stopped by and told us they were recommending to the city that it be torn down, so we are hoping and praying that it's the reason they are cleaning out the junk and that tomorrow a big bulldozer shows up and knocks it all down. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Our neighbor went over to see what was going on, but we haven't had a chance to talk to him yet to find out.

A little update on my dad:

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. The last session of Chemo seems to have really taken a toll on him and he's very tired and weak. I'm hoping that he will be feeling much better in a week or so, but with this dreadful cancer disease, you just never know. I'm keeping my thoughts positive and blaming it soley on the chemo for now. If you're reading this, daddy, I love you and you are always in our thoughts and prayers!!

Now on to some pictures!

This is my first scrap page in over 3 months! I'm so happy to be scrapping again! It's the first of many I will do from our summer travels. I knew I missed scrapping, but I didn't realize how much until I sat down and started doing it!

Credits: All papers and elements created by me. Font: Walt Disney Script

Liam at his Birthday Party #1 at Chuck E. Cheese

The boys and some of their friends doing their dance at Chuck E. Cheese

Liam with his "driving face" on. LOL It was quite a bumpy ride, I tell ya!

Glenn and Conor driving right behind us. I'm sure they were getting dizzy watching us zig-zag our way around the track!

Eeyore Conor. Out of all the ears he could have gotten, these are the ones he wanted most!

Pooh Liam. He and I got our ears together - Pooh for him and Tigger for mommy (who else?).

That's it for now. I've got so many more pictures to show - I'll definitely post the beach ones next. Have a wonderful day!

We're home...some pictures

2006-08-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Do you know what it's like to have 1 million thoughts going through your head that you'd really like to "blog" about but you don't have time? It's been the craziest summer I have ever had and it doesn't stop just because we are home! This summer was going to be our summer to organize our lives and fix things we've been putting off for 5 years. LOL When we left back in June we had just gotten our new furniture in and were in the middle of painting, well, finishing painting, and a multitude of other things. Needless to say, the house looked like a tornado whipped through it and we had to come home to "the pit". There is honestly 3 inches of dirt in every room because we had to leave windows open for the cats and, since our little part of the northwestern world had some of the hottest days EVER in history of this area while we were gone, Sonya had to keep windows opened for us. UGH. Dusty little town. We've been home for almost 6 days and I don't feel like I've made a dent.

We had quite a journey home. We decided the boys needed a little treat for being so good while we were away and took them to Disneyland. From Indy to Disney was quite a trip! The highlight was getting to stop in Oklahoma City to see my nephew that I hadn't seen in years. Once we hit California, it was 3 days of Disney non-stop - holy sore feet. The boys had a blast, which is the most important thing. They even got to have a birthday party with Pat E. Cake and Mickey and Minnie! (side note: How many birthdays does one child need? Well, I don't know about need, but Liam got 3 this year!) The party was so neat - each person was given their own little cake to decorate in a Mickey Mouse plate - each ear contained things to decorate with - then they were "judged" (i.e. everyone had the "best" cake. LOL). Conor won the distinction of the messiest face...and hands...and arms...and even feet! Conor has a complete and total crush on one Ms. Minnie Mouse. He practically melted when he saw her. LOL

Besides being tiring and a bit frustrating (there were a few little meltdowns when we had to wait in lines), Disney was wonderful and I will never forget how the boys looked everytime they discovered something new.

After Disney we headed north and spent a wonderful evening in San Simeon, CA. We stayed on the beach and it was breathtaking! The next day we headed to my new favorite spot in the world - Monterey. I love that little town - Cannery Row is just a fun time. OK, so I'm assuming how much fun it is because I had two little boys with me that didn't want mommy and daddy to enjoy it too much and offered up many fits. After Monterey we went to San Fransico and spent 2 nights - again, I'm sure it would have been a blast but the boys didn't want to do the things I did - shopping! LOL We did get to take a tour in one of the trollies and the ride was wonderful. Definitely a place I want to go back to one day. Then we were off to Vancouver for two days - Back in Canada and beautiful British Columbia. The boys had a wonderful time collecting rocks and shells on the beach.

It was a LONG trip home, but I wouldn't change it for anything. Here are a few pictures from our trip home and a couple from our time in Indy:

My sisters and I

My parents, sisters and their spouses and Glenn and I

Pluto and Liam

Liam showing off his new ears

Conor in his party hat

Pat E. Cake - Our host for the birthday party

Daddy in his party hat

Liam in his pre-party pout (he wasn't sure about the whole meeting Minnie and Mickey thing)

Conor and daddy decorating their cakes

Liam and I decorating our masterpieces...ummm, I mean cakes

The boys and I with Minnie and Mickey

I have a ton more to post but it will have to wait until I don't have two little boys standing at my knee yelling for food. LOL I hope everyone is doing well!

Do you believe in miracles?

2006-07-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

I sure do. I was beginning to doubt, but now I know...

2 weeks ago my father went into the doctor to have a check-up on how much progress his chemo had made with the cancer in his lung, adrenal glands and liver. What we found out was wonderful - there was noticeable shrinkage of the tumor in his lung, the adrenal glands looked fine and the spots on his liver were too small to tell. We felt so lucky.

On Thursday he went into his radiolgist and had a scan of his brain. We were almost expecting the news to be bad. We thought if there was any change it would be small and hopefully a smaller tumor. Imagine our surprise when his doctor walked in and told us that he had looked at the scan and had to apologize for taking so long as he had to walk over to the CT scan area to double check the readings and consult with another doctor because...the tumor was gone! GONE!!! An 8 cm tumor had disappeared. We were so shocked we didn't even ask any questions. We didn't ask how often something like this happens, how it happend...we just sat there. Dad just kept saying, "it's gone? It's gone. No cancer?". I think we floated out of the office and I was on the phone to my sisters at the first possible moment and both of them thought I was joking or they heard wrong. What a wonderful birthday present for my dad.

Thank you to everyone that kept my family in their prayers...the power of prayer is a wonderful thing and my belief has been a bit restored. Keep the prayers coming! THANK YOU! THANK GOD!

DUH I'm an idiot!

2006-07-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

OMG - in my tired haze of stupidity I somehow completely deleted my blog. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!

4+4+4=12

Merry Christmas!

Check out my Slide Show!

All of this and it's only 8 AM!

Check out my Slide Show!

Surgery, Webkinz and other ramblings

Check out my Slide Show!

It took me a while

I've been tagged!

We're back from vacation and my baby turned 4!

I've been playing!

What's wrong with this picture?

Chi-Chi-Chi-Chia

Happy Anniversary!!!

It's a Picture Post!

Here's one for the sport parents...

Let's chat...

Bluey Day

Do you know what you get when you have 7 months of snow?

Oh for the love of pete!

Finally!

A little 'bout the Oscars, a little 'bout the snow and a few LO's , too!

OOOPS...I did it again! ; D

A HUGE apology!

It's Elemental!

One fish, one great big tragedy

Are you blue?

Surprise!

Freebie Time!

Snow, snow, go away!

And the 3rd time is a charm!

Oy Vai

Prayers and positive thoughts

Oh, I forgot...

Christmas Party - Take Two

Christmas Hustle and Bustle

Time

Here's my new bathroom!

My poor neglected blog

It's started!

Just a hint of insanity

Picture EXTRAVAGANZA!!

I don't have much time...

Bah Humbug - snow and other misc. things

Snap...and other fun new things

What is that I hear?

We're home...some pictures

Do you believe in miracles?

***DUH*** I'm an idiot!

DUH I'm an idiot!