Today's the day! Today is the day of...FREEDOM!!! After 11 years of being blessed with children...I am alone again. Alone for 7 glorious hours of...whatever I want!

Here are some photos of the children on their first day.

Here's a layout from Blake graduating Kindergarten. Now, he's in 2nd grade!

Time goes by so quickly I have to capture as many moments as I can. I realize that I say freedom is glorious, but there will definitely be a day that I will want the "restricted" days back. In a blink of an eye these children have grown so fast, that without photos, I wouldn't..couldn't remember what they looked like in their younger days. So, as my self-given job...I will continue to document every moment. I will cherish every smile...I will relish every hug and I LOVE YOU.

These are the best years of my life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

The first day of school is looming!!! Two more days of complete freedom for the children. Then...it's no more pepsi for them! Blake is bouncing off the computer monitor. Nick's fighting sleep and Kaila was out over an hour ago. It's going to be a rude awakening for them come Monday morning.

These first photos are some photos from their birthday party last Sunday. I didn't take very many photos.

Kaila lost her first tooth! She yanked it out herself!

These two beauties are only 5 months apart!

I was able to get some good shots of the two littles ones, but Nick is the ever-elusive one.
This is my Great Aunt Violet on my Dad's side.








These are my feet at Lake Michigan. That's all ya get!

We're hopefully on our way to the waterpark tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

We finally made it home and it has been glorious ever since. We're just living life and getting as much done as possible. I'll have several photos regarding our stay in Michigan, the new chicken coop, Kaila's first lost tooth (still entact) and Blake and Megan picking up ammo by the tree. So, stay tuned in order to find out what in the world I'm talking about!

For you sketch-lovers, I created 28 new two page sketches while I was in Michigan. I can not wait to share them with you!

This first lovely photo is the Three Scrapateers at the middle one's 40th b-day bash. I'm 35, Lori's 40 and Linda is the baby at 31. Don't we look adorable??? I love these chics!



As you may also observe in this lovely photo, I'm less than svelte. So, I've once again jumped on the weightloss band wagon. No more excuses!

This photo is me leaving with the kids to Michigan at the end of July taken with my phone. Charlie says I looked mad. It was 7:00 p.m. - I was tired!

School is right around the corner! I bought school clothes yesterday and I'm already getting ready. Imagine that! Kaila is looking forward to seeing what all day school will be like and the boys...not so much.

We're also trying to prepare for the kids' birthday at the end of this month.

Layouts recently posted on my sketch website. The MUSCLES layout has pictures from last September! I can't believe how time has flown. The little boys in the DIRTY JOBS layout are only 2 1/2 and 2. Sa-Weet!

I am missing my husband... Big surprise! I've been gone for 6 days already and still have 5 until I return. Sigh... I'm sure this time is going more slowly for him, due to the fact that he's lonely. I have many children/relatives to keep me company.

VBS is over. Nick is finally fishing and Wendi took her kids home for the weekend. The two boys get to go to 3 days of church camp starting Monday. My Mom will have Kaila/Katie and I'm going to visit my Grandparents/David(brother)/Wendi(sister)/Aunt Connie on Monday night. I've actually been out in the sun 3 times already...in a bathing suit - eghad! I'm getting some tan/burn. I'm hoping to go swimming at least 2 more times. We'll see how warm it is.

Here are some recent layouts I made. These layouts are made using The Scrapping Spot July Kit.





















Here are a couple more layouts from the book I made Charlie's cousin.

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