Check it out! These are the grandkids on the Lahr side with Grandma on her birthday. It's safe to say that it's difficult to get 8 kids to cooperate all at the same time. This is the best one I was able to get.

These are a couple recent layouts. It is so sparkly clean! - is one of my sketches. Peach Cobbler - is a sketch from Pagemaps.com.

Here are a couple photos taken when we went to Noah's Lost Ark with Charlene and Kyle. It was so great! I can't wait for our next adventure...hint! Hint, Charlene! :)

On to the eggs of it all! This bucket, complete with a paper towel and dryer sheets, is what the kids use to collect the eggs. On this particular day, the White Rock chickens decided to start laying thier eggs on the hay bail that we use to feed the cows. I think it was lucky that Charlie caught them in the act, because really...who's gonna look there??? We finally had a large egg that had triplets - see photo. I believe that Nick ate that one. Talk about excitement in the household! It was very cool.

The picture of Blake is showing the difference in the size of eggs from the Rhode Island Reds (left) and the White Rocks (right).

And lastly, we have the darling little ones with their Rock Star attitude going on. They had a slightly different party at school. Instead of the usual Halloween party, the school took a day, or part of the day to study geology. The kids had a great time and did get some candy, for which they were grateful. Obviously, they were allowed to dress all Rock Starry :)

Birthdays...getting older...Kaila...WOW! I can not believe that 6 years ago I was on my way to the hospital to deliver this lovely girl. It blows my mind how fast the time has gone. Kaila chose chicken wings, cookies 'n cream ice cream and strawberry cake (if anybody will eat it, she said) for her birthday dinner. She received a Yorkie in a bag (as she says), a nail/tattoo craft kit, magic wand, tierra and a ballerina dress from us. She also got her first Webkinz from Grandma/Grandpa Stiles. She received all of her other gifts at the big birthday party in August.

Here are some layouts I created for October THAW over at Willow Traders. There are some great challenges over there. We have a lot of fun and get quite a few layouts completed. The "sparklers" layout was created using a Pagemaps sketch.






I have created a message board for my sketch site. It's a place to display your NAS layouts and just to chat. So, if you get a chance, zip over and say, "Hi!"

We don't have a lot going on this weekend, which is nice. I hope to get to scrap with my good friend, Angelina tomorrow night. I always look forward to that.

Thanks for popping over!

Shawn

It's just about hunting season!!! We are almost totally out of venison. I can't remember the last time this happened. Nick must be eating too much :) Archery starts Saturday and we're all excited for some fresh meat. No pressure, Charlie...no pressure :)

The kids are adjusting very well to school. It's a hectic morning, but really isn't as bad as I had anticipated. Blake's always the first one up, which he's proud of. Kaila is usually the last one to drag her butt out of bed, but they're almost always pleasant. Nick complains that he has to shower in the morning and can't understand why. Ahhh, you stink, Nick! There's a clue. I don't know what happens during the course of the night, but man! Morning it is!

We're coming up on Kaila's 6th birthday, which of course, she's excited about. She's already put in her order for chicken wings, strawberry cake (if anyone will eat it, she said) and Dad's ice cream (cookies 'n cream). She has decided she wants a dog in a purse. She loved her last one, so I'm sure if I can find one...she'll have a twin for Amber. Busy week next week.

Now on the scrapping front, I muddled through creating a layout yesterday for Willow Traders LEO. I don't feel all that well, so that was quite an accomplishment for me. I used an older kit from The Scrapping Spot . There's one more LEO to go for September. I've had a blast and only missed one so far. I'm looking forward to the Willow Traders and the October THAW challenges for October.

On another note, my DH put my diningroom curtains up. It looks a lot better. Now, if I could only get a new table/chairs it would really look nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Scrabble and cake and scrapping, oh my!

I was fortunate enough to play 7 glorious games of scrabble with my dearly beloved mother while she was here :) I actually won 3 out of the 7. I know! I know...unprecedented. Wonders never cease...it may never happen again. So, I wanted to make sure it was written down somewhere..you know...for future generations - LOL!

I'm happy to say that I completed 15 layouts at my scrapaway last weekend. I only scrapped about 54 photos. Charlene, however, scrapped about 150-160! She was a machine! I think I might just challenge myself to try and scrap more photos than Char at our next scrapday. What do you think, Char??? I did make the Earthquake Cake that my friend, Becky over at The Cake Mix, gave me the recipe for. None of it made it home - yum!

Here's layout from my sketch blog. It's Nick at 9 years old.

Here is a layout from the challenges over at Willow Traders, which I am having a blast participating in :)






Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

It's been a tad hectic as of late.

Kaila did end up getting her shots - thank goodness! She had to get three instead of two and the last one burns. Nice! She's fine and dandy now, but she did have a little bit of an illness (sinuses???) that Sunday after her shots. Poor thing. It only lasted about 5 hours and she was perfectly fine, so I'm thinking she had a little bit more mucus than her body could handle. I know...TMI!

I had a GREAT day at my scrapday at Char's church on Saturday. They are too few and far between, but I look forward to them SO much! I created 9 layouts using 48 pictures. I did 4 two pagers and 1 single page. The only problem I had was MY sinuses were KILLING me and it wouldn't go away. We packed up just a little earlier than normal.

Blake and Kaila have swimming lessons this week and next week. It's always a little CRAZY, but they love it. They follow directions very well and get a treat while we're there. They are in swimming at different times, so one is always with me. Next time they'll both be in the same time slot. That will make it soooo much easier. Nick decided he doesn't need them, which is fine. He does swim better than I thought he would. He did excellent last time and I couldn't believe how smooth his dives were. I was shocked. Anyway, one more week of that for the two little ones until Spring.

My Mom arrived on Tuesday much to our delight. She put up the remainder of my curtains in the livingroom, which I believe ties the whole room together. I still need to purchase vertical blinds for the smaller windows, but I have to say...I love lookin' at them there curtains/drapes!

I'm blessed enough to get to take a weekend to scrapbook with some of my favorite people this weekend. Hence, the main reason my Mom is here :) I'm almost completely packed, which is unprecedented! I'm extremely excited! WAHOOOO!

Scroll down to see what I've been creating to keep up with LEO Challenges over at the Willow Traders. I used The Scrapping Spot kits for 3/4 of them :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!!

Shawn

Still adjusting to my "free" time, but loving every minute of it! I have a ton of errands to do today, as well as take Kaila to get her last set of shots - if she doesn't have a fever.

I'm currently preparing for my scrapday on Saturday. Plus, my Mom is coming sometime next week, so I'm trying to spruce up the house as well. I'm making headway :)

Here's a layout I created with the June 2009 kit from The Scrapping Spot for the 4th LEO challenge at Willow Traders. I actually just received more papers for this kit, because I love it so much. If you get a chance, go checkout the Septemer LEO gallery. The layouts are GREAT!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Here's the photo of the first day that ALL three kids went to school ALL day! Kaila ran to the bus and never looked back!

Happy Labor Day!!! I hope you all had a great day relaxing, partying, or God forbid...working!!!

We got back from camp around 2:00 p.m. after 3 days of relaxing, watching movies, playing catch, eating and scrapbooking :)

We celebrated Nick's birthday, which wasn't much of a celebration compared to years past. He didn't want cake...he just wanted vanilla ice cream. Fine. So, I stuck two candles in it, because he just turned 11 and that was it. He got Half Life 2 and a red portable CD/FM player. Wow, excitement abounds. However, the child did not want to wait for me to give him a spoon, so he just started eating his ice cream like a DOG! I have to say, I'm so easily amused I just could not stop him, or stop LAUGHING!!! To me, it was hysterical! Pathetic I know, but hilarious!

Here are a couple layouts I did while we were up at camp for the Willow Traders LEO Challenges for September.

It's only the third day of school...what could go wrong??? It's nothing major...Blake missed the bus home from school. His teacher was so enthralled in the learning process that she lost track of time and the whole class missed their buses. Kaila said that Blake got on the wrong bus and she didn't because SHE was paying attention! Nope! His whole class just missed their buses. I like that better than him getting on the wrong bus. He made it home safe and sound. No problem.

Nick is enjoying 6th grade so far. He seems to be a little bit more responsible. He's playing trumpet again this year. I hope he takes it more seriously this year and practices more.

Blake is just as quiet as ever about school. He still seems to think that he has no friends. I just don't know what to do about that. I don't know if he's exaggerating, or if his concerns are valid.

Kaila seems like she's adjusting very well. In fact, the first day she rode the bus she didn't even tell me goodbye! She just ran onto the bus with her brothers! Can you imagine!??? She seems excited for each new day. She was able to work on computers yesterday.

As for me, I'm still adjusting myself. There are just sooooo many options for me now. I just don't know what to jump into next! I was able to scrap yesterday. I completed my September LEO challenge at Willow Traders. I had to scraplift a layout from someone who participated in the July LEO challenge. I lifted one from Hillary called Water Park.





I'm off to accomplish some housework. Yeah!!


Thanks for stopping by!


Shawn

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!