My nephew, Kenny needs your prayers! He is going in for heart surgery tomorrow. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.


In other news...

They have returned!!! Yes, the children are back and under my control...I mean..in my care ;) They are tan! Kaila looks pretty brown compared to what she usually is. I guess that's what 3 times a day in the pool will get you. Oh, and let's not forget the little buggers grew! Unbelievable!
They had such a great time playing with their cousins, going to Lake Michigan (no pictures were taken), spending time with Grandpa/Grandma and just swimming...swimming...swimming!!! We'll be going back in two weeks and maybe, just maybe I'll get some sun too. I'm not making any promises, but I've been told that I look very similar to a vampire as of late.

We returned home yesterday to Charlie putting up a brand spankin' new trampoline!!! Wahoooo! I think I enjoy it as much as the kids do. The kids were running as soon as their feet hit the ground out of the vehicle. The two little ones went to help Charlie and Nick went to the chickens and then to get the golf cart operational. I went to the kitchen to prepare our dinner/dessert...apple pie ;) Well, the kids weren't that hungry. They snacked the whole way home from Michigan. The pie was delicious by the way.

Today is Blake's first day of Summer school. He was excited, but apprehensive. I hope the day goes well. There didn't seem to be too many children on his bus, which is a good thing. He enjoyed it last year for the four days he was there, so hopefully he will like the eight days he gets this year.

Now, as for me...I must clean/organize...story of my life.

Before I go, I'll share a couple recent layouts and then five layouts from April (Charlie's Cousin's Album).

For those of you who say that you don't need a break, don't like one, or just plain miss your kids too terribly to ever consider having them all gone at the same time ever again...are a bunch of liars! It is GLORIOUS! The freedom...glorious FREEDOM! I have to say I do have some slight control issues, which my Mother will attest to, but all-in-all, I'm doing just fine without the children. Thanks for asking! Charlie and I are able to communicate without so much as a peep from anything, let alone little noise-makers (a.k.a. children). Which, I believe Charlie would say is one of the best things about this mini-honeymoon.

We're working hard trying to get some things done here, but we're actually RE-LAX-ING! Imagine that! Who would have thought we'd be able to take a couple moments for ourselves? I have 6 more days until I go get my little darlings. Then, it's off to the rat race again. Very busy!

For now, here are some much anticipated photos. Thanks for peeking!

Unless otherwise stated, the layouts were done using my own sketches.








Watering Hole: I used a Pagemaps sketch for this one.

Golf 101: I used an Alicia Merrifield sketch for this one. You can see the actual sketch on my sketch blog.

Our diningroom, complete with new windows. Now, if I could just purchase a new table/chairs my Mother would be oh-so-happy! I do have the curtains, but I have to get the pole to put them up. It's on the list, People!

This is T-Bone and the black/white one is Dinner. How ironic that that's what they'll actually be in February. Cruel? I think not. Delicious? Most definitely.

Check this kid out! Click on the photo to get a close up of his facial expression. I laughed out loud!!!

Ok. This photo is used to show you how long her hair is. It may not always be this long, so I just wanted this on record.

Now, this is the photo that made Charlie (Dad) say, "We're going to need to lock her up!" Awww...how sweet.

Father's Day 2009

And the countdown begins...7 1/2 days of semi-freedom left.

Like me, I'm sure many of you are anticipating, if not dreading the end of the school year. There are pros and cons to this inevitablility. Pro: sleeping in, Pro: ???? Yeah, that's about it. LOL. I'm not going to bore you with the cons, because I'm sure you all know what they are. On the top of the list is, oh...I don't know...fighting? I mean fighting amongst the children, that is. I'm sure mine will survive the summer. To be continued...check back at the end of August. Ha! Ha!

I am actually going to take the children places this summer to ward off the Boredom Demon, so maybe it will go faster than I think. We're going to try and go to the Zoo (Charlie's assistance is required), Olympic Fun Center, Movies, Chuck E. Cheese's, Bounce Around, Bowling...etc. Oh, yes, it's going to be a big ball 'o fun here. Let's not forget the couple of trips to Michigan intermixed in there somewhere. I promised them a trip to Lake Michigan (Grandma's assistance required), so they're really looking forward to that.

Now, here come the photos, People! We were at camp this past weekend and I was lucky enough to get a couple of shots of these chillins of mine. It was also Blake's 7th birthday on Sunday, so we had presents/cake/ice cream. Yum!

Also, in case you're wondering how old these kids are; Nick (10 3/4), Blake(7) and Kaila (5 1/2).

Where did the time go?????






























































Here are some recent layouts.


























Finally, my 35 year old photo taken with my cell phone.


Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Mother's Day 2009, etc.

I was very fortunate to be able to scrap on Saturday night from about 7-3:30 a.m. Yes! My friend, Lori and I were scrapping our hearts out in my newly finished scraproom. We had a great time and were able to complete a couple projects. I can't wait to do it again.

Mother's Day 2009 -

First of all, I didn't have to do a thing! I even got a little nap after all that scrapping. It was so gorgeous and relaxing. It was one of the greatest days ever!

My darling husband was able to snap a couple photos this year. I haven't had Mother's Day photos since 2006! And once he was done snapping photos, Kaila and Nick had their shot at photography. Um...Kaila was a little close ;) I don't care! I was so happy with these photos and can't wait to scrap them!

Here are a couple layouts for you to glance at as well. "Destination Unknown" is a scraplift from the awesome Abbie Torroll over at My Scrapbook Nook.

I participated in scraptag at The Scrapping Spot last week. I lifted Ange's "She's got Skillz" layout. Here's what I came up with (prodigy). Thanks, Ange!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Holy Cow, it's May! How did that sneak up on me so fast? It is the last month of school. Kaila only has 5 more days and then she graduates from Pre-K. She thinks she gets to go straight to Kindergarten the following week. I told her she gets a three and a half month break and then she gets put to work. She's so excited.

Speaking of cows, we got our two meat calves, a.k.a. T-Bone and Dinner. The kids named them. What can I say? I had to remind them that we are going to EAT them after they told me how cute they are. The two calves are doing very well in their pasture. Charlie has quite the set-up for them. For now, they're lucky.

Here is a layout I made for my sketch blog.

We've almost owned this house for one year already. That is just hard to believe. We've done so much to the house, for the house and gotten so many animals for the kids that it's hard to remember the other house. Although, we do glance over at the old house when we go by - LOL. There's still so much to do and unpack. Yes, I'm STILL not done unpacking. My scraproom is just about ready to be moved into, after I finish dusting and vacuuming it. I have to decide which table/desk I want in there. It really depends on what will fit in the middle of the room and still allow me access to all of the cabinets. I can not wait to share photos of my new space!

Here are some more pages from the baby book I did for Charlie's cousin, Jessie.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check again for updated NEW HOUSE photos.

Shawn

Our Scrapaway is over and once again I am longing for the next one. I spent the entire weekend making an 8 x 8 baby album for Charlie's cousin. I'll be sharing a few pages here and there. There are 20 pages total.

Look at this darling boy sitting on the breezeway steps. He was waiting to go on his sleepover to Mrs. Schwarz's house. I had her girls and she had my boys for the night. I don't know exactly what the boys did, but the girls danced, watched a movie (Space Buddies), played in the sandbox, made fans with cards, played play-doh and painted. Whew! I'm tired just typing all that. They were all thrilled to be able to sleep on the blow-up mattress in the livingroom. All four of them were able to sleep on it sideways. Although, I think Annie started out on the bean bag. I was exhausted by 10:30, so I went to bed while 3/4 of them were still awake. Kaila couldn't take that much fun. I think she was sleeping by 9:00. They were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 7:00 a.m. I look forward to seeing what type of trouble the boys can get into next time ;)

Today I'll be cleaning 'til my heart's content. The appraiser is coming for our refinancing. There's wayyyy too much cleaning to get done in one day, but I'll see what I can do. We're still under construction. Charlie's working on the mudroom. He put a coat of color on it last night, but isn't sure if he'll need another coat or not. It looks so good. It's surprising what a coat of paint can do.


We're still preparing for the arrival of our calves this weekend. Charlie's been working on their shelter. It's painted red. Guess whose idea that was. Oh, and the chicks will be coming in two weeks as well. Blake will be taking care of those.


Speaking of animals, Motor (our hamster) is doing very well. He's just cute as all get-out and very active in the evening. He has to sleep downstairs because I can't sleep while he's exercising.


Here's a layout I did for my sketch blog. I have several more two-page sketches in my arsenal for the upcoming months.

I'll be able to scrap a lot more, due to the fact that my scraproom is ALMOST ready. I am soooo excited about that. I'll be working more on that this weekend.

Kaila was screened for Kindergarten last week. She did VERY well and is excited to go to Kindergarten. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like to be by myself all day for 5 days straight. It will be weird, but I'll TRY to get used to it :) That's still 4 months away.

That's about all that's going on here right now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

I have so much to share this week!

These first three pictures are the last pictures taken at our old house the day before we closed. They were taken with my cell phone. I know they're not perfect, but I just love them.

Introducing...Motor-Rhino-Robo, Motor for short. He is the newest addition to our home. He is a Syberian Dwarf Hamster. How stinkin' cute is he? I'm not a big fan of mice/rats, but I HAVE to tel l you that this little guy is sooooo stinkin' cute! I even hold him. He keeps the kids busy and loves to crawl all over the place. He has to sleep in the laundryroom, because he makes a lot of noise at night. Other than that, he's a pretty easy pet to take care of. I'm hoping he lives for a little while anyway. I've heard that they die fairly easily. We purchased this little guy on the 15th of April. The first store I went to didn't have any that were ready, so Charlie stopped at another store and they had Motor. I didn't want to wait, so Charlie got him for $16. Who knew hamsters were so expensive?

Our next big excitement for the week was Nick shooting his first turkey! I was shocked...completely. Charlie just sent me a photo message with Nick holding the turkey. I was so happy for him. Charlie did a great job making sure I had plenty of photos to scrap!

My last surprise for the week was getting yet another photo message with the kids standing the unsightly tree that was blocking the front of our home. I came home and asked, "Who put that house there?" Amazing! This tree was over 80 feet tall and 150 years old. Charlie's Mom, Dad, and Cousin Bobby, along with the kids helped clear away this monstrosity. I had no idea they were going to cut it down, so I didn't have to stress over it. :) What a bonus!

I was on my scrap weekend, which I spent creating a baby album for Charlie's cousin's baby shower on Sunday. It's an 8 x 8 album filled with 20 pages. All she has to do is add photos and a couple lines of journaling. What a job! I'm not sure I could create albums without pictures for people all the time. It takes a bit longer. It's a cute album and I'm sure she'll like it. Mission Accomplished!

Well, that's about it for this post. We'll see what this week has in store!

Shawn