15 years already??

So I’m slacking a little with the blogging…that’s definitely nothing new!! But at least I’m only running a couple DAYS late this time vs. a week or two late like has happened in the past! :D

We started off last week with a day off for the kids (and Karl), flu shots for the kids, and then a Brownie meeting on Monday….then a soccer game on Tuesday for Matthew, but I was a bad mommy and we skipped it because it was raining and about 40 degrees outside. I didn’t want to sit outside in that when we were all JUST getting over being sick. So that was the judgement call I made. And I don’t regret it!

The rest of the week was mostly just dealing with homework crisises, fighting amongst siblings, karl had his classes……yada yada yada….another week in Herman-ville.

Friday was the school Halloween carnival, so after work, Karl and I went to Target and got the kids their costumes. I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for these moms that go all out and make their kids’ costumes every year…….i’m not one of them. :D I know I’d spend HOURS making it and spend way more than the $20 they charge at Target/Walmart…..so I just bought the costume and was done with it! Maybe next year I’ll be more inspired. Or not. Halloween isn’t exactly my favorite holiday…..I’m trying to get more excited about it though…..so we ended up with one Purple/glittery witch, a Storm Trooper, and a little Spiderman….who refuses to wear his mask. :D

So anyways…the kids LOVED their costumes and had them on and were ready to go to the carnival well before it was time to leave! We ate dinner there at the school (since this was all one giant fundraiser……..why not give them money for dinner too, right?) and then the kids spent the next hour and a half running around with their friends, coming to us when they ran out of tickets…..and then running around some more. They had a blast! I did the cake walk and the ring toss and didn’t win a cake but won a bottle of cherry coke…woohoo! Didn’t win any of the baskets they raffled either….so oh well……

Saturday, we were up early and to the soccer fields for Alaina’s team pictures. In the FREEZING COLD. Poor girls! They were all so frozen. When we were taking the group picture, I told them to “say popsicle!”……and everybody laughed….because they WERE popsicles out there in shorts! Then we had her game……we sat bundled up in blankets and drank hot chocolate to try and keep warm….…then a break for an hour….then Matthew’s game……more freezing under the blankets..…then we stopped for lunch and headed to Fairfield for the evening.

For my 15-year class reunion. Wow. I’m really THAT OLD? Yes, apparently I am! :D It was actually really fun to see everybody again! I’d seen a few people here and there around town when I’d visit my parents…..but most of them I hadn’t seen since the last reunion 5 years ago. So it was neat to catch up with people….find out what they did after college, etc……where they’re working, how many kids they have etc, etc, etc. It was a good time!

Then Sunday, we got up early, went out to breakfast with my parents….and then headed back home. We were supposed to go to Matthew’s soccer team end-of-season party, but we never could find the place. VERY aggravating! So we gave up and went home! Cleaned the kitchen, did dishes, started laundry…..all those fun weekend chores that have to be done whether you go out of town or not!

Yesterday was dentist appts. For myself, Alaina, and Zach. No cavities for any of us to report, yay! And in another “that-makes-me-feel-old” moment, the dentist said that probably next year she’d be ready for braces. ALREADY? Jeez……so we basically spent our entire evening there that night……

Tonight was Matthew’s last soccer game….technically a makeup game from the one Saturday the fields were too wet to play on…..so his season is officially over. Alaina still has 2 more games left and then she’ll be done too. And since this family can’t sit still……they both start swimming lessons on Saturday mornings now! Alaina actually scored a goal in her game! I'm SO PROUD of her.......and wouldn't ya know it.....I wasn't there to see it! Both of their games were at the exact same time, on opposite ends of the park...so I watched the first half of Alaina's game, and the 2nd half of Matthew's.....so I missed the big goal. DARNIT. I am SO BUMMED about that....you know how I love my pictures....not having pictures of that is tearing me apart. :(

So that basically catches you up on us!

And now for the few pages I’ve scrapped lately……not much really! I did this page to make sure the lovely story of my ride in the ambulance was documented properly!! I used Haynay’s ‘Just the Right Medicine’ kit and her ‘chip off the old block’ alpha:


Matthew's t-ball team's pizza party they had a couple weeks ago....


And a few weeks ago at work they landed an Apache in front of our building....took me forever to get ahold of the actual pictures from that day (cameras aren't allowed on company property...you literally have to have a permit to take pictures)


And the last one.....this is one of my personal faves at the moment…sometimes I’ll scrap something and think, ‘that looks pretty darned cool’……and this was one of them……me and Alaina on Space Mountain at Disney. The template is from Sya’s new “Fair and Square” template pack…



So now it's off to bed for the kids....and hopefully catching up on some TiVo'd shows for me.......until later......

Catchup Time again!

Gosh! Things just tend to get away from me, and lo and behold, it's been 2 weeks since I posted anything on here...YIKES!

Oh where to start? :D Last weekend, I took Friday off from work and left Thursday afternoon to drive up to Schaumburg to meet up with my SIL Nicole and hang out with her family (the female part anyways) for their "women only weekend" over in northern Indiana. It was an....interesting weekend to say the least!

Everything was hunky dory until late Thursday night....I spent most of the night up sick....I assumed from a bad reaction to my dinner that night (stupid pizza!). I assumed I'd be fine in the morning. And I DID feel better....until we stopped for lunch at a Wendy's in some town (or exit) called Chesterton, IN. The INSTANT I walked in that restaurant, it was all downhill from there....I got SO nauseous, dizzy, and just plain sick that I ended up blacking out. My poor SIL, her mom, and her mom's cousin didn't know what to do (understandably), so they asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital, and me not really understanding what was going on other than the fact that I knew my eyes were open but I couldn't SEE anything (can't be good, right?) and I felt like I'd been hit by a bus.....I agreed, so they called 911 and a nice little ambulance showed up and the EMTs took me away.

When the EMTs got to me, my blood pressure was 76/32.....not so good....which explains the blacking out at least. they loaded me up in the ambulance, started an IV, and I really don't remember much else that they did. I just remember that ride taking FOREVER....apparently it was 12 miles....sure felt like longer! My SIL was kind enough to take these for me (i thought she was kidding when she told me she'd done this...until i saw the pics on my camera later!):



(and no, I have NOT scrapped this yet....though I've been informed that I HAVE to!)

So anyhoo.....I got to the ER, they gave me LOTS of fluids and some anti-nausea meds, and after talking to the doc, I guess the diagnosis was just dehydration.....after I think 3 hours or so I was sent on my way with some prescriptions to fill at the local walgreens (hooray for the Garmin in finding it), and then we were back on the road (me NOT driving now) to the B&B in Shipshewana, IN. Of course, I made a lovely, grand entrance, thanks to Nicole's entire family knowing what was going on......but it was nice everybody was concerned about me. I honestly don't have much recolection of that night.....I think I basically crashed right after we got there.

The rest of the weekend was much less 'eventful' I think. I scrapped most of the day on Saturday (that was the point for me)....we took a lunch break and did some shopping....I was forced by all the "moms" in the family to eat something, so i ate some solid food to get them off my case (i was feeling MUCH better by this point...just NOT hungry).....did some more scrapping, then we all went out to dinner as a big group at a yummy restaurant.......then the next day, Sunday, we said our goodbyes and headed for home......that was a LONG day for me.....2 1/2 hours back to Schaumburg.....then another 5 back home....BAH! I was thoroughly sick of the car by the time I got home. Usually, I don't do the driving.....when we drive to Florida all the time.....Karl does all the driving....and now I give him some much deserved credit for that! :P

So, now that I'm recovered from the sickies.......the kids are slowly getting over it too....Alaina missed the next day of school after puking on every possible surface of her bed/room......I wasn't quite well enough to deal with it yet, so again, Karl got that fun job. He's such a trooper....I really owe him for that one! And aside from Karl coming home early from work one day feeling lousy, I THINK we're through this round of sickies. Gosh I hope! The kids are getting flu shots tomorrow....maybe that'll help!

The rest of the week.....soccer game for matthew on Tuesday, which he won, yay! Their games/practices for this weekend were rained out, so we've spent this weekend just kind of resting and recouperating from us all being sicky. I think we needed a low-key kind of weekend like this has been.

So that leaves my scrapping to post.......stuff I did last weekend. Oh, and please note the legalese disclaimer I've added under my CT blinkies. Apparently for those of us that scrap for designers and get their stuff for free, we're now required to disclose the freebies.....so whatever......consider it disclosed! :P

Sya has a new template pack called 'Just a lil' punchy'...there's a version with mostly squares, and a version with mostly circles.....so these layouts used those templates:

And the kit is a new release from Haynay, called 'Rough and Tough'...very boy-ish and grungy...which fits my boys perfectly!

And Oh.....totally forgot....Matthew lost his first tooth this week! What is kind of funny about this is that Alaina lost a molar the night before....the tooth fairy was out of cash except for $20 bills, so that's what she got. *sigh*....inflation! So the next day Matthew came home with his tooth in a little baggie....one of the teachers had pulled it out at school! So, since Alaina had scored $20, he had his hopes set pretty high for his first visit from the tooth fairy *sigh*......and in the end, he got a $10 bill......we told him that since Alaina had lost a molar, it was worth more. uhm...yeah.

so anyways...with sya's 'just a lil' punchy' template:



I kinda messed around with this template...(also 'just a lil' punchy), of matthew's soccer pictures:


I did this 2-pager with a kit of Haynay's called 'Thoroughly Amused'....of our day at the Fall Fun Fest in Fairfield:



And this layout is using another of Haynay's kits, called 'School's out for Summer'....I also used the PreK addon that she made for it...since Zach's in preK now! These are the pictures I took at school before we left on our apple orchard field trip.....I thought they were all so cute eating their lunch in the cafeteria like big kids!!!


And here's the actual orchard field trip....we had a lot of fun, but poor Zach got stung by a bee! He didn't have much fun after that (and you can kind of see how he was less than cooperative for the group picture!).....but before that happened, we were having a great time! :D


and the last two layouts are from our Disney trip back in March....one's a re-do of a layout i'd done and didn't like at all.....I like it BETTER now, but I'm still not sure I LOVE it:


And the kids outside of the Contemporary Resort before our dinner there at Chef Mickey's......


So that catches ya up with the scrappin' and our lives for now....everybody else is laying down for a nice Sunday afternoon nap....and I'm thinking that sounds like a good idea......so I'll catch ya later!