SURPRISE!

Last weekend I got Gary good- He turns 40 in December, but the surprise party came early! He didn't suspect a thing! His family surprised him on Friday night and then Saturday night after the adults went out to eat, we came home to a house full of family and friends. It was a fun night! The cake says "Over the Hill." Not homemade- HyVee is my friend.

I got him a party hat that said "I don't wanna grow up!" I think it fits him perfectly. Love ya babe!

more layouts

Once again, the color is terrible, but here are a few more layouts I've done recently. For some reason, scrapping Christmas is always hard for me. So I finally got around to doing the 2006 pictures! I was bound and determined to get them done before Christmas '08!

I really love this bike layout. I knew I wanted to do lots of circles based on the bike theme, and it came out fun and colorful- 2 words that describe my scrapbook style. The close-up of the title is a few pics down- still haven't figured out how to move things around on here.

These pics of Gary and I are from two separate occasions- back a couple of years I think. I have loved this circle paper from the first time I laid eyes on it, and I cut out the hearts from another piece of patterned paper. And, of course, a little bling never hurts!

I love how this one came out. Gary and his father have a special relationship, and this picture certainly exemplifies it. This was taken this summer when his dad took a day off of work to come and help him side the house and garage. Without watching and learning from his dad, he would never be able to do all of the handy things he can do. Not just that, but his father has taught him so much more, and he truly views Doyle as his hero.

Other than that, it's been a busy couple of weeks. I threw Gary a surprise 40th birthday party, and it was a success!!! I am so psyched to have pulled it off! Pics to come soon.

I have a couple more days to finish a stupid on line class (which is what I should be doing now), and I can't wait to be done with it!

I've been staying up too late, and I need to get to bed. Mornings come too soon, and I never want to get up!!

Later-

scrappy stuff...

I have been wanting to share a few layouts for awhile, but never seem to get the job done. I do not do a good job of taking photos of my layouts. I never seem to have the right light. In fact, I took all of these one day using natural light (which I always try to do) but I still see glare in them. I actually took the pictures of these layouts again on another day, but those aren't uploaded to my computer yet. So, I will post the crappy photos anyway. You get the idea.
This pic was taken at Adventureland this summer. Bear in mind, I had already been on the log ride and got COMPLETELY drenched! But I love the picture anyway. We had a fun day. My sister and her 4 kids came with us and our boys loved being with their cousins. I love how the layout came out. I made the flower pot out of scraps I had. I always seem to struggle with knowing how to include programs and such. Do I make a pocket? Adhere it right to the layout? Slip behind a photo? I wanted to include the program for the boys' piano recital, so I hole punched, reinforced the holes, and tied with pretty ribbon. It can easily be taken out if someone wants to look at it. The boys each played a solo in the recital, and they played a duet together as well. I was so proud of them!

I love pink, and will use it on my scrapping whenever I can! I also love to get away from traditional reds/greens for Christmas, so I was happy to be able to use this paper for the Christmas photo of the cousins at Papa's house. I just recently took on the monumental task of organizing all of my ribbon (and believe me, there was a lot there!). Before the organization it was literally stuffed in a large plastic bag. I bought floss holders, and wound them all up and then organized them in two plastic compartments ROYGBIV. I love how it turned out, and I know it will help me use my ribbon more often. Before, it was just too hard to dig through it all to find what I was looking for.

This page has a special memory involved, and the journaling tells the story. I gave the boys each some money last year before Christmas and told them they were to use it to pick out a gift for Grandma and Grandpa. Brennan decided to use his money to buy the materials to make Grandpa and Grandma t-shirts. So one afternoon, he (and Bradley) worked on decorating the shirts with puffy paints. He was so proud of his creations (and I think Grandma and Grandpa liked them as well). I just love seeing Brennan create. He has joined me several times recently while I'm down working in my scrap area. He likes to use my acrylic paints and go crazy! He recently made a bookmark that we use every night in the book we read before bed.

I have more to share-I just went to a crop on Saturday, and got some layouts finished there. I enjoyed my day and sat by the nicest two ladies.

I've got a sick kid. Poor Brennan has been coughing nonstop for the past couple of days. I tried everything to get it to stop, but to no avail. After unsuccessfully trying to get into our regular clinic for an appointment this afternoon, I got desperate and took him to an Urgent Care clinic. He has asthmatic bronchitus, and we headed home with three meds. So far, we're not really seeing a lot of improvement, but I'm hoping by tomorrow evening things will be a little better.

I start two new tutoring students this week. One has come before, but he hasn't been here for over a year. He started having trouble again, and asked his mom if he could come back. I thought that was pretty mature of him!

I've subbed a couple more times. I think I'm adjusting to it. I went back to a classroom I was in earlier in the year, and it was so much easier the second time around. I really enjoy the variety of grade levels I get to be in.

I got a facebook account this week. That's been fun, so I've been spending time learning that. Bradley made his own yesterday, and believe it or not, Gary already had one before either of us. That was a shocker!

Well I need to hit the hay. I haven't slept much the last few nights because I've been up with Brennan. Who knows what tonight will hold.

Toodles!

It's been awhile

This was taken last weekend at Race for the Cure. We had a beautiful day, but in the morning it was a bit on the chilly side. The sky was blue, so no complaints! Gary ran the 5K and the rest of us did the mile walk. It is a tradition for us. This is our fourth year to do Race for the Cure.


I love this pic of the boys horsing around with the Capitol building in the back.

As we were walking up to where the Race was located, I saw this gorgeous fall tree in front of the Capitol and thought it was such a great shot.

This was Brennan's Halloween costume. He declared himself a "hobo troll." He loved the wig and knew he wanted to wear that, and decided he needed a pitchfork too. So maybe a "devil hobo troll??" In any event, he was happy and that's all that matters! No costume for Bradley this year. He stayed home and handed out candy while I took Brennan out trick or treating. Dad was in Connecticut on business.

That's it for now! I'll update more later.

Toodles.

Fall is here

Brennan was ready to go out and rake leaves on Saturday. We hadn't had many fall at that point yet (however today's rain and wind have changed that) so it didn't take us too long. He was envisioning the huge pile we have had in past years perfect for jumping in, however we couldn't quite make that happen from what we had! So we raked until Oreo brought us a little gift in his mouth (a praying mantis!). I love these two photos we took together. My little man is growing up!

birthday gift

A couple of months ago I was shopping in Family Bookstore. I saw this print on the wall and instantly knew I wanted it in my living room. We used to have a clock here, but after it konked out, we never had replaced it. Since we have a big clock in the dining room, we really don't need another one so close. So the wall was empty for a good year or so. I knew I wanted something there, but didn't know what. I wish I could say I have a knack for decorating, but that would be lying. I usually have to see it done somewhere else or find an idea in a magazine. I am a terrible decision maker when it comes to decorative stuff as well. I am not a visionary, I guess. Anyway, this one struck me. So I decided I would use my birthday money to get it. It was normally $150, but with a 33% of coupon that came in a flyer, I got it for $100! I was so excited! After I (my husband) hung the print, it looked really bare by itself. So I was off to find some sconces. I found these two at my favorite store, Gordmans, and once again, I scored them both for $11 after a 20% off coupon I had. The little candles are actually battery operated ones. This whole wall makes me so happy every time I look at it. It makes me feel peaceful, even when the boys are having a WWE wrestling session just inches away.

This is about as close up as I could get with my lens. And the color isn't very good either. I just love the serenity of it. I can picture myself sitting out on this porch after dinner, when I'm old and retired, enjoying a summer evening.
And best of all, one of my very favorite Bible verses is printed on the bottom of it. I was reminded of this verse at my ladies' Bible study today as we talked about priorities and how often things seem so messed up because our priorities are not in line with what they should be. Our pastor's wife, Bonnie, is such a blessing. After we study at our groups, she gets up and speaks for 20 minutes or so. When I come away from listening to her, it's all back into perspective for me. It's very simple and although her message is delivered in many forms, the heart of it is always the same. God, husband, children, and circle of influence. Those are my priorities. That is what is important. Those are my primary areas of ministry. Many times, I get way too wrapped up in all the extra garbage of the day that ultimately doesn't really matter.

Well, I need to head to bed. I stayed up way too late last night too. But the quiet hours of the night to me are what many early risers feel the quiet hours of the morning are to them-my time of peace. And there are nights I'm not ready to let go of it...even for my (new) very comfy pillow.

Still alive...

I have kept waiting to post because I planned to put some pictures on with my post. But in order to put the pictures on, I have to download them first. And in order to download them, I have to preview, folder, and delete the duds of the hundreds that need to be downloaded. And in order to do that, I need more time than just a few minutes at a sitting- which seems to be all I've had these past few weeks. So I decided to jot down some thoughts and I will download pics this week (I hope!!). My week always seems to fill up and be gone before I know it!

I've had to sub the last couple of days. 6th grade resource on Friday and kindergarten today. This Friday I will be in 4th grade. As a whole, I am enjoying the subbing as a whole. I like the variety of classes and grade levels. I like being able to leave at 3:30 with no paperwork or responsibilities. I like meeting and working with the teachers that have/have had my children. I like helping the students and getting to know them. I don't particularly like the 6 AM phone call, the not necessarily knowing if I'll be working that day or not and not knowing how to make plans, the classes with little plans/direction. But for the most part, it's been a good experience and is definitely good for me- I need to be pushed out of my comfort zone and this would qualify. I do feel it will get easier as I sub longer. Today, even, was better as it was my second time in kindergarten. I knew the snack/milk/dismissal routine and felt more comfortable with it.

I'm doing an on-line class to keep my teaching license current. It's on China, of all things. I went through the entire professsional development catalog and that's the best I could find. I was discouraged that it didn't seem they had more useful beneficial classes to offer. I haven't started any of the assignments and need to get on that.

I am writing three lessons for RBP at the moment and those all need to be done by the end of the month. I intended to get started on that last week, but that never happened so I must get busy this week. On that note, I received a package today of last quarter's RBP curriculum with my first two written lessons in print. It was a really cool feeling to see something I'd written actually printed and published! That was encouraging and felt good.

I actually got my kitchen/dining room painted (for the 3rd time, mind you)!! Finally! I have had about six swatches of color painted on one wall for over a month. I couldn't decide what I liked, but one night, one of them popped out at me and screamed, "I'm perfect!!" And I agreed. My family, on the other hand, all hated it. But I think it's growing on them, and it is perfect. I couldn't be happier.

I finally bought my birthday present. I'll share that soon with pics! I love it!

Brennan and I have been very crafty lately. I have had some projects in the works and got some time to work on those this weekend. He has enjoyed being down in the craft room with me using lots of my acrylic paints. I love watching him create. His creativity amazes me. I hope that never goes away.

Alright, enough blabbering for now. I'm hoping the next time I post I'll have pictures to accompany!

Toodles.