Well, I have returned from my glorious scrap weekend. Sigh. They always go to fast. It was great...as usual. Now I'm looking forward to my next scrapday at Charlene's church. :)


Here are a couple projects that I completed.




























My darling children had a couple injuries from the sledding that they participated in. Blake got a little beat-up on his face and chin. Kaila had slight injuries to her tummy. Nick, the big brute...wasn't harmed. Imagine that! I'm sure they'll jump at the chance to go again. We're getting a lot of snow/ice this year. I'll have plenty of pictures. Sometimes I go years without good winter photos. This is not that year!

I'm currently re-organizing my office/scraproom to house as many items as possible and still have the ability to find them. Not a small task let me tell you! It's going well, but there's not enough time in the day.

Kaila has some sort of stomach bug today, so she's spending her time on the couch. At least the boys had school today. That way we don't have to fight over the laptop :)

Charlene and I have volleyball tonight - yeah! We live for volleyball on Thursdays. I hope to get some exercise. I need it! I've been dieting since January 1, 2009 and have lost 9.6 lbs. so far. I'm thinking I need more activity. I can't wait for the weather to change so I can walk our property.


Anyway, I'm off to organize, do dishes and laundry.

See ya!

Shawn

Catastrophe has struck the Lahr Farmstead. It was eerie...brutal and downright nasty! And, lucky me...I discovered the aftermath.

Apparently, dogs llooooovvvveee chickens. They love to smell them...bark at them...play with them and then...rip them apart to eat them!!!!

Can you fathom 2 dogs ripping 39 chickens apart??? I came home to see 2 dogs sitting in front of the door at the chicken coop. I couldn't see anything else, so I told them to go home. They waited for me to yell at them again and then off they went. I went to inspect the area to find dead, obliterated chickens EVERYWHERE!!!! Those poor things. ONE managed to survive. How sad is that? I realize that they're JUST chickens, but I was a little shaken. I'm fairly certain it was due to how my darling son was going to feel upon learning of the chickens' untimely demise. Yeah...that's it.

Anyway, Nick has declared the survivor as our new "pet." Little does he know that Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cathy will be bringing approximately 10 chickens this Friday. His chicken days aren't over yet.

I've been working like a mad-woman to get ready for my scrapaway this weekend. I'm not sure how much I'll get done, but I seriously need to get away. I need some ME time in the worst way. Just me and the girls. I'll be sure to post some of my creations when I return.

Until then...

Shawn

Happy New Year!

I know it's been a while, so sit down and get ready!

The holidays flew by in a blur, but were great. I'm not sure if I mentioned Nick's band concert or not. For those of you who don't know, Nick plays the trumpet...by choice and LOVES it. I am still amazed that he enjoys it so much. He was all dolled up in his dress shirt and pants and he said, "I look GOOOOOOD!" He's too funny.




















Kaila also had her little program at Pre-K and was a real pro! You just have to love a bunch of preschoolers singing in their little voices and doing their parts in the little reading of "The Night Before Christmas."

Christmas was fantastic! We had a great time in the new house. The tree looked beautiful, the kids wore hats while opening gifts and best of all...we weren't rushed through Christmas morning.

We were able to take a trip to Michigan to visit my side of the family without incident. I always worry about the weather, but it was perfect. We were able to experience new things while visiting my sister, Wendi's. They had gotten a Wii for Christmas, so we actually got some exercise doing the Dance Revolution - ha! Not only that, but we went ice skating! The kids loved it. Nick was quite the trooper continuing to "try" to skate even after falling over 80 times. Hysterical! Oh, and let's not forget the treadmill! Sheesh! You would think that thing was the most amazing piece of fun quipment ever! The kids couldn't get enough of it.

We also had a chance to visit my grandparents for some great photos and a couple games of Scrabble. How can you go wrong? I have very few photos of my grandparents with me and the kids, if any for that matter. I also was able to get a four generation photo, which is a first. Getting priceless photos is the greatest thing of all for me. So rare...

How would you like to wake up to this??? This is poor Nick a couple days after being exposed to something and contracting "Contact Dermititis." This required medical attention. He is clearly swollen, red and downright uncomfortable. He has since cleared up and looks great.

We've had several trips to the doctor this month and one more today. Nick had this, I have a sinus infection, Kaila has a sinus/chest infection and we'll see what Blake has tonight. I can't complain though. We really don't go to the doctor's office too often. It's just inconvenient.

My loving husband was able to do several little jobs that I had posted on the fridge while I was in Michigan. These are photos of my livingroom almost completely done. We still have to do the windows and put curtains up.

These are before/after shots of the diningroom. I know you've read about my dismay as to the peeling of the NEW paint. Well, my sweet, adorable, loving husband took on the task of fixing/painting the diningroom. I helped a little, but he did the hard part. I'm sooooo excited about this that I just can't even tell ya!

These loving adults are the reason we have these little darling children. This is the couple that thought that Charlie and I would hit it off and thus "got us together." We'll never forget that!

We got a ton of snow last weekend. The kids were thrilled! Thank goodness we have this awesome machine to put that snow in its place!

That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by and catching up!

Shawn