Where have I been? :P

Karl was kind enough to inform me that my blog has been seriously neglected. so I guess it's time to update this poor thing and catch anybody that's reading it up to speed with us and our little life.

Since the last post, we've gone to Fairfield for the annual Fall Fun Fest.....always fun. It almost always falls on the same weekend as my mother's birthday, so we get to enjoy the rides and carnie food and be there to help my mom celebrate a birthday all in the same weekend. score! not quite done with that layout yet, and am too lazy to resize pics....so i'll post the layouts later. :D the kids had a blast at the fun fest....alaina and matthew rode the scrambler for the very first time and LOVED it....little matthew was getting thrown into alaina as they went around and it was so funny to watch them laughing hysterically.........zach conquered his fear of heights and went down the big slide thingy.....and then there were the same lame-o kiddie rides they've had at this thing for (I kid you not) the last 30 years. so it was a fun way to spend a saturday night.

the next day (last sunday) was mom's birthday. my brother, dean, was the guest speaker at the fairfield congregation, and since my dad (ie my mom!) was in charge of the service, all available Caudles had a part in the service. After church we all crammed into my parents' house along with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Lill for lunch. then the Hermans left for home....

The very next day (the 21st) was the day we'd been waiting for for a LONG time....Zach's first day of Pre-K!!! FINALLY! He didn't get to start at the beginning of the school year because he wasn't 3 yet. But now that his birthday has passed, he was allowed to start with the '2nd round' of kids that started (there were 3 other kids in his class that started this week too). Alaina and Matthew had been talking to him all week (we got the official call on Wednesday, so we didn't have much time to prepare!) about riding the school bus, so he was excited and ready to go to school! We'd already bought him a backpack when we got Alaina/Matthew's school supply stuff (fearing one would be hard to find after the 'rush'), but we had to get him a new pair of gym shoes to start school in.

I was afraid he'd start crying when he had to leave me, as he's VERY attached to his momma.....but he did great!! And I've managed to already scrap this one.....I used a new alpha from Haynay, called 'pop dot primary', a template from sya, 'revived, set 1', and the kit is 'school's out for summer' (there's a preK addon that was obviously perfect for this day!)



We're so proud of our little guy going to school! He LOVES it so far, but since he's in the afternoon class and is now missing his nap, we're still adjusting to the new schedule.....

Also, on the same day as Zach's first day of school....Matthew's class had a field trip to the apple orchard....they go every year and the kids absolutely LOVE it:


And aside from soccer, soccer, soccer....that's been the big excitement around here for this week. Zach was sick on Tuesday (missed his 2nd day of school!), Alaina came home sick on Thursday...and I got called to pick up Matthew on Friday from school because he was sick........so here's hoping that we're done with whatever THAT was!!! yuck!

I can't remember if I've posted this or not......so if I have, then Heather (Haynay) will just get another plug! :D This is Alaina's first soccer game a couple weeks ago...the kit is actually a volleyball kit, but I didn't have any volleyball pics to scrap! it's called 'side out'......


And the rest of the layouts I've done and not posted......a couple "re-do's".....layouts I'd done and didn't like......I redid them and now I like them better:
Test Track at Epcot from our March Disney trip:


Camping at Pere Marquette State Park back in July:


And this was a new kit i splurged on.....since we've got an upcoming trip to DC planned, I was 'thinking ahead' in getting this 'history-ish' kit.....but I was anxious to use it, so I found this pic from our Disney trip to scrap with it:

I'd never listened to the Fife and Drum corps at Epcot before, but they're very good. Makes you feel very patriotic to hear all those songs. If you're walking through the American pavillion, stop and listen to them! :D

And I'm very proud of this 2-pager......it's one of those things where the pictures are so special you don't want to mess it up! One of my fave designers came out with this 'star wars' kit and I just HAD to go buy it to scrap these pics of the kids at Disneyland at the Jedi Training Academy. Matthew wanted to be in this SO BAD in March when we were in Florida at Disney World.....but he never got picked (we tried 3 times I think).....so we didn't have our hopes too high that he'd get picked for this version at Disneyland either.....especially with kids holding up signs and stuff (some people take these shows WAY TOO SERIOUSLY!).....and even though she wasn't really TRYING to get picked (ie jumping up and down screaming), they picked Alaina because of her "pod-racer glasses" (sunglasses), and THEN Matthew started jumping up and down.......like he's going to let his SISTER out-do him? And luckily he got picked as well.......which saved a LOT of drama for us later on. So not only did they both get to participate, but it was in the same show! The odds against that are huge.....so we were super excited!! It was such a cool experience:



And I just LOVE how that layout turned out....I don't usually LOVE a layout I've done very often.....but this one makes me smile everytime I look at it. Matthew was just in AWE at getting to fight Darth Vader himself....those pictures are just priceless...and he STILL talks about it!! (love that Disney magic!)

Last LO I've got is another I've been putting off for awhile.....Dumbo at the Magic Kingdom:


This coming week is a short week for me, as I'm taking Friday off to go away for the weekend to a B&B in northern Indiana with my SIL and her family (yes, I realize that seems odd since they're not MY family!) to scrap, shop, sleep, etc, etc, etc.....it should be fun and I'm looking forward to it (well, not the DRIVE, but the rest will be fun!).....so Karl will get full-time Dad Duty this coming weekend!

So that catches you up with us and all my scrapping lately (haven't scrapped much this weekend because I've gotten obsessed with watching the Tudors! I think I've watched 5 episodes so far this weekend.....it's so addicting! love it!) Have a great week!

just a quickie! :D

only 1 layout to post, but it's for Haynay's release this past Friday......they're called 'back to school journaling boxes'.....aren't they cute? I also used the month/day word art from 'behind the dating glass', because honestly, i was just that lazy I didn't want to type it! :D Oh, and the kit is also Haynay's...."School's out for Summer"

This is when we stopped by to surprise my brother, Deron, when he was at work at the local radio station back in my hometown of Fairfield, IL. He let Alaina sit in the chair and pretend she was on the air, which she thought was cool.....Zach just wanted to push all the buttons.....so it was a fun little field trip!


The kids' first soccer games were this Saturday.....they both lost, but I was SO PROUD of them for how well they played. Having Herman and Caudle DNA, they're never going to be star athletes, but they got out there and played very well. They had fun and that's the best part. It was Alaina's first soccer game ever, so I was especially proud of her for keeping up with girls that have been playing for 4 years!

And our new appliances have been delivered and are all now successfully installed....once the kitchen is back together again, i'll have to post some pics. we actually had to buy a new door because the fridge we got was so much bigger than our old one it would've prevented the door leading into the garage from opening! but karl's never one to shy away from another home-improvement project, so new door is installed....we're just lacking some drywall and paint to patch up the wall and all will be well in the kitchen once more!

my parents were out for the weekend to see the kids' first soccer games.....and so dad could see the new appliances....old habits die hard and after almost 40 years selling appliances, he just had to be here to give his input on our new stuff.....and make sure the delivery guys from lowe's didn't make any mistakes! we'll be going to Fairfield this weekend for mom's birthday and the Fall Fun Fest.....can't believe it's almost time for that already...where has this year gone, honestly?? wow!

so that's my update for right now.....catch ya later!

Catching up!!

Gosh I'm a slacker, huh? :D I just haven't had a chance to sit down, uninterrupted, and type out anything of any substance in quite awhile!!

So let's catch up....Zach's birthday party was a blast....here's the layout from that....I was kinda frustrated, as there wasn't any one perfect kit to scrap this with, so it took forever to put together as i stole stuff from multiple kits instead!




And my entry into last week's disboard challenge (there wasn't a winner...everybody got a participation prize, so I had to enter since I'm a huge sucker for freebies!)....I was always one of those people that was appalled that parents would put their kids on "leashes"......until I took a toddler to Disney World. Then I saw how brilliant the things are. Kids (and parents!) get tired of being held...they get tired of being in a stroller....so for those in-between times, "the monkey" was the perfect thing to keep Zach close by! He didn't like us holding "his monkey tail" though.....too funny (and we actually got a LOT of compliments on it)....end of parenting spiel (using Sya's new template pack: 1,2,3,4...go!):


Haynay's latest kit is called "World Traveler"....and the instant I saw the little Eiffel tower sticker, I knew I had to scrap this (also using sya's new template pack):


This is what Karl and I came home to the other night when my parents were visiting....Alaina and Matthew wanted to make us a "snack".....brownies with LOTS of sprinkles (and fruit snacks!), some leftovers from the fridge (also with sprinkles), and some "sprinkle wine".......it's the thought that counts, right? :D


And I guess this layout was a long time coming......Karl's been bugging me for it, so here it is:


And I don't remember if I already posted this or not......this is from our trip to Branson a few weeks ago....riding the ducks!:



so that's the scrap-catchup.....as for the rest of our lives....things are going pretty good. Matthew and Alaina have settled into their school routines pretty well, and now we're getting ready for their first soccer games this Saturday!

Karl and I decided to help stimulate the economy (again! as if buying 2 new cars this summer wasn't enough?) by buying new kitchen appliances. So I'm anxiously awaiting having those all installed this weekend and having a nice, matched set (and the fact that they'll be CLEAN is a big plus too!)....of course, the size of the massive fridge meant we had to remove and replace our kitchen door that leads out into the garage....but, eh......karl seemed to enjoy the project! now we just need to get the drywall patched, painted, and you'll never know anything was done (hopefully!).....next home improvement project? probably the upstairs bathroom.....the fun never ends when you own a home, right?? :D

so I'll try to be back this weekend for another update on the kids' soccer games!! later!