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

Kaila's at school...Meggie's on the couch...it's cold outside and my bread is already rising. Life is good...cold, but good ;)

We have recently discovered that this lovely farm house of ours is NOT insulated. How could that have happened, you ask? Well, the sales agreement says that it's insulated, but alas that is not totally accurate. I'm sorry, but when you say it IS insulated, I'm fairly certain that just because one outer wall and the attic area has some rolls thrown in there doesn't mean that it is properly insulated. Oh, yes. I am so NOT joking! No wonder we're losing heat out the ying-yang. We have reverted to electric blankets and blocking off the upstairs with a blanket. We're hoping that helps until the insulation guy can blow some insulation in where it is needed. It could be worse...we could be living in an uninsulated cardboard box. So, you see...I do have perspective.

I'm still trying to de-paint my diningroom that looked soooo gorgeous prior to the removal of the painter's tape, which removed the paint AND primer. I'm hoping/wishing it would be done for Christmas. That's where we're putting the tree. Nick has informed me that I need to get busy. Okay, Son. Like I have nothing else to do - LOL!

Sale of Old House - we've had a couple people go through it. There was a couple this past Wednesday that liked it and are going to take their parents through next week. So, please be praying that we can unload this wonderful prize.

Here's a recent layout of Kaila using one of my sketches. There are a couple other bonus sketches posted this week at Nuts About Sketches.

I am lucky enough to get to travel to Butler to scrap my heart out at Scrapbook Station tonight. I can not wait! I have so little scrapping time nowadays.

Did I mention I can't wait until my house is completely in order? Well...I can't!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shawn

Sickness has pushed its way into our house! Poor Kaila has been blasted with some sort of stomach bug. She's having a hard time keeping food down, but she's a trooper. I hope they get this out of their system before Thursday. It usually only lasts a day or two at the most. Poor girl!


We had our first Scrap-Day at Charlene's church. What a great set-up. I can't wait for the next one. We're hoping more people will be able to come next time. There was so much room for everybody!


If you have someone you'd like to get a scrappy gift for for Christmas, you should get over to The Scrapping Spot! They have some great sales right now AND they're offering free shipping on Good Friday - ONLY! Go to the forum to get the details. I think I'm going to get some stuff for some friends of mine :)


Anyway, here's a layout I did for my sketch blog. These pictures were taken by my friend, Angelina Schwarz. Amazing, eh?



Thanks for stopping by!


Shawn

I can not believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Where in the world did the time go? Snow? Are you kidding me??? I need another week of warm weather, thank you very much!

Not too much going on here besides the usual - cooking, cleaning, unpacking...

I will be going to a scrapping day tomorrow - yeah!!! I sooooo need a day of scrapping!!! I'll have to leave for 3 hours during the middle of the day for a birthday party that the little ones are going to, but other than that...I'm scrappin'!!! I hope it becomes a regular event.

I just have one layout to share today using my sketch from this week, along with a kit from The Scrapping Spot.

Speaking of The Scrapping Spot, their December Kit Full Reveal is up and ready for purchase. These kits are loaded with embellishments and great Christmas papers! Get over there and get yours before they're gone!

Lots to do today to prepare for tomorrow, so that's it!

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave me a comment!

Shawn

The open house is upon us...finally! We worked hard this week to prepare the house for viewing. I'm happy to report that almost everything has been removed from the property and is practically ready to move in tomorrow. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress of the, hopefully, fast-selling house. Some of the photos are two different views of the same room.

Update:

The old house is coming right along. In fact, it's been listed and there is an open house this Saturday - yeah! We did a little more remodeling to the old scraproom - sniff! We took all the shelving down, patched it and painted it. Boy, this room looks huge! For those of you who have actually seen this room, it's amazingly different. Wish we would have done this years ago. It needs new carpet, but we'll leave that to the new owners. I will be soooo glad when the house is completely cleaned out and ready to show. What a relief that will be! Wish us luck and send your prayers up that this won't be on the market very long.

Halloween photos:

Nick - Car, Blake - Paratrooper and Kaila - Witch

Happy Fall!!!! I loooovvveee FALL! It's a beautiful 60 degree day here. You can't ask for more than that!

This should turn out to be a good week for our family. We're preparing to list our old house this week. We're "feverishly" removing the remaining items from the house. Needless to say, we need to have another yard sale. - LOL! So, keep us in your prayers regarding the whole "house" issue. The market's not bad here, so it shouldn't be a problem. The sooner it's sold...the better.

Go on over to my other blog - Nuts About Sketches for your chance to win an awesome scrappy prize provided by The Scrapping Spot.

Just a couple layouts to share with you and then I must get some housework done.