Where does the time go??

Sorry to have been MIA for so long, November was the craziest month around our house, sick kids, dental work, house issues and then our keyboard died ---- now Dec is here and I can't believe that the year is almost over.  3 more weeks to get ready for Santa to come -- the kids are so excited already, the only other thing they want almost as much as Christmas is SNOW.  I would actually like to see a white Christmas that would be neat, but the blizzard of last year can stay away. I have some great pics to past later about a walk thru light festival we went to Thanksgiving weekend, and of course there are so many great holiday scrap kits out there and so many great ideas to share so be sure to keep checking in.  Now that our new keyboard and mouse that arrived today have been installed staying in touch will be so much easier.  Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Out and About

     It's been a fun week around our house.  On Friday night, the kids had a friend over and we got out the HALLOWEEN decorations and got the front yard almost finished.  There may still be some minor things we may add.  They had so much fun, even if they were being goofy and singing Christmas songs, since they said they did not know the words to any Halloween songs.  We have since made a CD of songs with the general theme of monsters, vampires etc to play in the car.  Some examples are Monster Mash, Purple People Eater, Thriller, This is Halloween (from The night before Christmas), some theme music to TV shows such as Twilight Zone, and movie scores such as The Shining.  We could not resist also adding some regular songs that myself and my husband like -- i.e.-- It's a dead man's party, Bloodletting (Concrete Blond).
     Yesterday we went to the pumpkin festival a local pumpkin patch, we were there for 5 1/2 hours if you can believe it.  There was so much to do:
                       * face painting
                       * small petting zoo
                       * super slides
                       * a hill shaped non enclosed inflatable bounce, they had a blast!
                       * water pumped plastic duck races
                       * haystacks to jump off of
                       * pedal bike race course
                       * a small train ride
                       * a corn kernel "sandbox"
                       * a egg hunt with orange and black eggs filled with small
                          Halloween themed treats.
                       * several small mazes for the little kids
                       * pony rides
                       * pig races -- The baby piglets were so cute racing around
                          the tract, fast too.  The pot-belly pigs were slower.
                       * a seed spitting contest and a pie eating contest
                       * an apple canon , trying to hit two different flag targets
                       * a giant corn maze -- this year it was the logo of the
                          Washington Redskins,the team name and the same of the farm
                          spelled out.  It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to find our way
                          thru, everyone we ran into on the path was having trouble.
                          They also run the maze at night.  I would not want to find my
                          thru this one with a flashlight.
                       * and of course a hayride to the PUMPKIN PATCH
I don't have the pictures uploaded to the computer yet, but will post some of the best ones which they are on.
                    

Sept Endings Oct Beginning

September has come to a close, the kids have made it thru the first month of school.  Poor Gavin has lost so many teeth that it is hard for him to eat -- 3 on the top with another one ready to fall out and he just lost one on the bottom.  All the kids audtioned for different levels of the competition teams at their new dance studio, the boys for mini-company, they did not make it, I did not think they were ready.  It was more to do for the experience so they would know what to expect in the future.  Alexa audtioned for the Repertory Company and the Danztastic Jr team, she did not make Rep Company but did make the Danztastic Jr team, at first she was disappointed because most of her friends from class are in the Rep company, but after the first class, she was feeling better about the team because she know more people than she thought she would. 

The air is getting cooler and crisper, football season has started, the leave are changing colors.
Everyone is getting excited about Halloween approaching, the kids love to pick out costumes, and help decorate the yard

Here are some pics from previous years



The boys are in their 50's outfits from a dance recital and Alexa is a zombie ballerina



One of the many pumpkin carvings we have done.



The boys went as a mummy and a ninja.





Alexa was a school girl witch, she got tired of her hat.







Scrappin' News!!!!!!

First off, let me share that I have been asked to join Azur's CT team and accepted, she has great designs, bold colors, whimsical feel, great for fantasy and scene LO's or more traditional LO's.  Azur sells at Scrapbird and Coolscrapsdigital, and she is having a SALE!!!!

Just in time for the haunting season, Halloween is just around the corner..her latest kit is BOO.

Then I opened up my email to the title "Do you know what this picture means" and it means that
Digitreats is back.  Read all about it on her blog post linked above.:)  Stop by and tell her Welcome Back!!!!!

Can you say Woo-Hoo

First of all, its beause the Redskins hung on (by the skin of their teeth) to beat the Dallas Cowboys, what a great way to start the season:)!!!!!!

And I made it to the second round of layout contest at The Studio and Brownie Scraps, if you want to see me move to Round 3, please go to the links and vote for me:)
My layout for the Studio

My layout for Brownie Scraps

It's Birthday Time at The Studio!!!!!

Yep, it's Birthday time at The Studio--they are having their 4th annual Birthday Bash and they are throwing a GREAT party.  All kinds of special challenges, a next designer contest and a layout challenge contest for spots on their store CT.  If you participate in the challenges there are also some great giveaways to be gathered, come play some games and participate in a progressive scrap.

I am participating in the Layout Challenge and for week 1 we got to use the kit Autumn's Kiss by Mitsybelle
Isn't is a gorgeous kit.       

Please help decide who makes it thru to the next round, you must be a member of the studio to submit a vote -- Voting begins after midnight tonight Sat 9/4 and ends Tues 9/7 at midnight.  Vote here

Here is the layout that I made with the kit, Autumn's Splendor's        

And here is a preview of all the layouts in the challenge

September Blog Train

............ is here:)  With a beautiful color swatch and fun theme, the next blog train has rolled into town.
The theme is Fall Carnival and the color theme is
Click here to go to the main blogtrain site.
I have made a page with part of the blog train kit by Design by Anita, her portion of the kit is

 Click here to just grab Anita's portion.  My layout is called Round and Round

Back to School

I know, I still need to post vacation pics and that will get done,but wanted to share about Back to School 2010.  I really can't believe it is that time of year already -- now if the weather could just catch up and change to cooler fall temperatures.  We are really tired of high 90's, some 100's and lots of humidity.
This year our Ms. Purple is in 7th grade, still in honors classes -- can't believe that next year she will be a teenager.  Gavin is in 3rd grade and still missing his top two teeth.  This year he is also in an accelerated math class.  Our youngest is at different school this year since he was accepted into the Gifted and Talented program. He has to ride the middle school bus with his sister and then take another bus to his school -- its so early for a 1st grader.  The first week went well for everyone, only one tantrum about homework.  Jaden doesn't have homework until next week, although he did have to put together an "All about Me" box -- what was in it??  He put a Thomas train, a photo book I made him with a Thomas theme  to the backgrounds, a webkinz animal, a baseball, crayons, and a calculator.  There may have been a few more items but can't remember them off the top of my head -- I know he wanted to print out a picture of Mario.
I always take there pictures on the first day and the last day of school to compare.  Here are the first day pics.

Let's hope the rest of the school year goes as smoothly:)

Back from Vacation

We are back from our vacation in Ocean City and I hope I have lots of good pics to scrap with, then we spent the weekend in Roanoke with my in-laws, the kids are staying there another week and we will meet them halfway to pick them up on Sunday.  Will post pics soon.

Birthday Boy

Ok, so I am really behind, since his birthday was the 15th, but better late than never.  On their birthday

the kids always get to pick where they want to go out to dinner, for the third year in a row Gavin had picked
Edo, a Japanese habatch restaurant, they love to watch the food being cooked and on you birthday they either bring a dragon mask to your table and let you try it on, or they take a photo and print it and sign it and you also get a pair of fancy chopsticks in their own drawsting bag.  This year we got the dragon.
Here are some pictures of our fun evening out.

They love to watch the big flame at the beginning when he first lights the table, but their favorite part is the onion volcano, and for the first time this year the kids actually tried to catch a piece of food in their mouths when he flips it to you, sorry there are not pics of that but it was fun!!

And here is a picture of the birthday boy -- after hearing the drums and the staff bringing in a special dessert and singing "Happy Birthday" he got to finally try on the dragon mask!!!

After that was all done and the food was cleared away he finally got to open some presents -- they included a bucket of sidewalk chalk, a catch ball game for outside and at the beach, a dinosaur activity book, and some other scratch off coloring design books.

That is all for now, will be back before we leave for the beach with some reviews and other updates.

Booland Designs is BACK

............ and remember I told you I had joined her team as a blossom,-- well here is her newest release

April Blooms--it can be found at The Digital Scrapbooking Studio or The Studio for short, kit name is linked.  You can also find clusters, styles, and others items for this kit there.

Here are 2 of the layouts that I have made from this kit

and

Bad month for me

Sorry there have been now new posting in such a long time, was sick for most of the month of July and also trying to run around for end of year meeting for school and dance, recital, dance nationals and find the kids a new studio. Am starting to feel better and all of the others is behind me now, so hopefully more blog posts will be showing up soon.

Just Pinch Me.....

I know, I know it's been quite awhile since I have posted, tryng to get better....but then I think did anything really interesting happen today?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no but have been so busy finishing up with the end of the kids school year and getting ready for dance recital that haven't set down at the computer much except to catch up on some emails and blogs that I follow.  I have some great pics from field day of the boys and will try to get some posted by the weekend.  I would love to share dance pics but am more leery of those, since used to put them on my Flickr account but had too may people look without any comments for me to think it was a good thing, so now those are set to Family only. 

I do have some GREAT news to share with my scrapping friends.............. I am now a BOO's BLOSSOM for Booland Designs, she has been one of my favorite designers since I started in digiland and I am so happy to join her team, should have stuff to show ya starting in July:)

Do you ever just want to run away???

I love being a Mom but sometimes all the Why's and How does it work? and the many other questions and pleading that bombard me during the day just makes me want to run away to a beachhut or mountain cabin somewhere and have peace and quiet for a day or two.  Of course, that is not possible, so what do you do to recharge and energize yourself the face the next part of the day or tomorrow when all you energy has run out.  I find sometimes it can be as simple as a great big hug, time out for a bubble bath--sometimes they will leave you alone in the bathroom.  Other times my wonderful husband will take care of them all so I can go to a scrapbook crop or something to inspire my creativity without six little hands asking to join in. It is in these times that I can reflect on all the joy and happiness that these 3 not so little anymore children at almost 12, almost 8 and 6 1/2 have brought into my life and how empty it would seem if I was really to run away to that beach house or mountain cabin and I am ready to face the next day.  What do you do to recharge??????

What do you think life is too short for???

This is a question posted at Twitter Moms, you can blog your answer for a chance to win a copy of Lisa Quinn's .."Life is Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets: Your Ultimate Guide To Domestic Liberation".

Here is what I think Life is Too Short for......
*  a perfect house, I can live with a few dust bunnies and clean clothes in the basket for some extra play time with my family
*  healthy all the time, --yes eating your veggies is the best for you body, but we all need to relax and allow ouselves to have cupcakes with frosting for breakfast or a banana split for dinner, indulge you whims every once in awhile -- you will be happier and probably eat healthier in the long run for allowing yourself a little treat
*living by a spreadsheet -- yes schedules help us stay organized and on track,to keep an eye on what needs to get done, but is your life really going to crumble if you don't get x,y,z crossed off the list by 3pm because instead you stopped and blew bubbles on a sunny day, built a lego tower, or just talked about what pictures you saw in the clouds?  Enjoy these small moments because they go by way too fast and soon it is --homework and dance class and off with their friends instead of play time with Mom and Dad.

The most important thing is to just be present on your own life and that of your family -- really participate instead of just showing up.  Let me know what you think life is too short for by leaving a comment and see what others say by going to the original post.

Dance -- what he did for love.

I really am not sure where to begin, it is like saying goodbye to a family member.  As you know my daughter (and the boys) dance.  We have been at the same studio since we started 6 years ago, and now that studio is closing.  It has been a hard decesion for them and for all of us, but was somewhat expected.  The studio was founded by Tom Waters and they are celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and we are choosing to celebrate that instead of focusing on the closing but it is sad that it is coming to an an end.  Tom had a hand in teaching alot of people who now own or teach in most studios around the county. To view a trailer for a little insight into what Tom has meant to dance and the people who know him click the documentary link.
Tom Waters Documentary Friday, July 16, 7-10pm. Footlights will sponsor "Will Dance 4 Tom Waters".The evening will be a celebration of Tom's life and legacy of dance that he has helped form in Frederick County. Come out to support the Alzheimer's Assoc. and the Thomas F. Waters Scholarship Fund. Join us for food and drink, a silent auction, ...the documentary and special performances. Tickets are $25 and available at the Weinberg box office.

Blog Tour & Giveaway: "The Girls from Ames" by Jeffrey Zaslow

Blog Tour & Giveaway: "The Girls from Ames" by Jeffrey Zaslow--check out a great review and giveaway on the Luxury Reading Blog, I have always wanted to read this book since I first heard of it from a different source, but this review had just sparked my interest more. I love the reviews on this site, they always just seem to bring new twist or perspective that is just a little different and can usually draw me into a book I have just been on the fence about from other reviews.

Brotherly love

It usually all starts over some kind of game, be it on the computer, playing the Wii or even just running around outside.  Child #1 -- his talking is making me lose  #2 -- but I wasn't even talking to him  #1 but it is bothering me, can't concentrate, you made me miss and on and on..... #2 -- gets frustrated and hits #1, who responds by saying I am going to kill you--#2 -- Mom, he just said he was gonna kill me.  Me to #1--that is not a nice thing to say to which they respond --- I wasn't really going to kill him, just want to hurt him some, again my reply is that is not something that is nice to say about your brother and if you two can't work this out you are going to lost the privledge of whichever form of play they were participating in.  Which will stop the argument for all of 30 seconds and the cycle continues. Take the offending game away or turn it off and they are all I'm sorry and give hugs, grab a book and go off to have an imagenery adventure in their room.  Sometimes I think they actually play and act better without all the gizmo's and gadgets we have around the house.  What is it like at your house??

Mothers Day ideas and Treats

Do you always wonder what to give for Mothers Day?  Or are you looking for gifts to leave hints to your loved ones about.  Look no further than 5 Minutes for Mom, besides all their usual fun posts, ideas, chats they have a wonderful Mothers Day Giveaway going on, stop by and check it out.

Book review and Giveaway

Are you looking for a good book to read, I have one for you.  I had seen this book reviewed on several YA book blogs that I belong to, I had even tried to win it a few time, but alas did not ---however after the author emailed me and we wrote each other back and forth a few times,she sent me a copy of the book.  It truly lived up to my expectations and I enjoyed it so much, that with the authors permission I went out and bought a copy to giveaway to you.  Are you ready to hear what the book is, the title is Willow by Julia Hoban and here is a brief overview of the book.

Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen-year- old Willows parents drank too much wine and asked her to drive them home. They never made itWillow lost control of the car and her parents died in the accident. Now she has left behind her old home, friends, and school, and blocks the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when Willow meets Guy, a boy as sensitive and complicated as she is, she begins an intense, life-changing relationship that turns her world upside down. Told in an arresting, fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girls struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boys refusal to give up on her.
 
Whether you are a grownup who likes YA fiction, or someone who falls into the YA category, or even if you may have never read YA before, don't let the age category this book has been marketed to keep you from wanting to delve into this book, it truly has something to offer every age reader.  We can all relate to unexpected losses or tragedies in our lives and how people develop different ways of coping with the aftermath of such events, this book explores what has, for the most part been a "taboo" or definately misunderstood coping mechanism and brings it to the forefront.  What would you do if confronted by the events that occur, or how do you cope with your emotions, these are all great discussions that can come from reading this book.  I have one copy to giveaway to someone (US residents only please) and I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.  Please leave a comment below why you would like to win this book or what you are reading now for entry by Wed May 5th, midnight EST and I will let Random.org pick the winner.

Did you have fun???

I know that I did, this was my first time at the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Moms, so many great blogs to visist and new friends to make -- not nearly enough time to look thru them all.......I am still looking thru them.  Three new blogs that I found that have now become some of my favorite places to visit are listed below.

            Allergy Kid Mom -- always looking for new information and parents or kids to share peanut allergy information with, and that is exactly what her blog does, some really great food product reviews.
            Milk and Honey Mommy -- What a wonderful blog, full of all kinds of things, family tidbits, beautiful photographs, yummy souding recipies, homeshool tips and ideas if that is for you and a great writing style.
           Thanks, Mail Carrier --  Had to check this one out at first just for the name, but stayed because it is well written with a great sense of humor, great giveways and review posting and just made me smile.

There are so many more new ones that I am now following and enjoying that I would not know about if it had not been for UBP 2010, -- I am still finding new ones thru the links and I can't wait for next year!!!!

Easter Fun and Surprises

Everyone looked nice and clean but you have to check out the next picture............
This was the first time Alexa had let me fix her hair in a very long time, I think it turned out pretty good for the first try, got the design from the blog The Story of a Princess and her hair.

The next part of the day was our annual Easter Egg hunt, hidden by Grammy -- which for the first time in a long time was able to be held outside 'cause we had beautiful weather.  All 30 eggs (plastic not real) were discovered, but the best part was when Alexa went for one near a pile of leaves next to the Gazebo, reached down for the egg and ................this leaf......or what we thought had been a leaf but as you can see turned out to be a really ugly tree frog jumped right at her, scarred her to death -- wish we had caught a pic of her reaction but we were just able to get some of the frog after the fact.  Who knows what will happen next year?????

Getting ready for Easter Day

Easter was a fun day -- the night before we dyed our eggs, I even got in on the fun, take a look below for pics of the kids, my eggs and what they left out for the Easter bunny, they were kinda disappointed Easter morning that the Easter bunny had eaten their eggs and not taken them home to show to his/her family....but he did leave them a nice Thank You note:)

these are my eggs aren't they pretty????

This is what the Easter Bunny got to eat, hard boiled and specially decorated eggs, carrots and orange juice-, does that sound YUMMY to you.

Come join the party

This is my first year participating in the Blog Party and it is turning out to be alot of fun, great new people and places to read about and some great prizes that you can win too!!!! I started this blog primarily to share scrapbooking pages I have made with family and friends but am hoping to expand it more into sharing about daily life and the world around us thru our families eyes and more of the things we like to do, maybe even host some giveaways in the future. A little about me, I am married with 3 kids who keep us busy, mainly with dance related activities. Our daughter is on a competition team and the boys dance as well. Currently we are waiting to hear whether or not our youngest gets into the gifted and talented program for school next year, should find out sometime in
May. Waiting for spring to fully settle in and hopefully avoid the full out humidity of summer for awhile.

So many great prizes to choose from:
Of course my first choice would be the grand prize --Toshiba Satellite
My other top choices would be US17 --by Tasra // US18--goodie basket for Mom//US 78 9 piece Avon
//US 101  Human Touch Foot and Calf Massager //US7 tupperware prize pack
Other interesting prizes I would enjoy:
US4,6,10,20,28,31,32,35,53,55,61,66,73,74,80,87,88,97,107,110,112,113,114
USC 3,4,6,10,15,19,25,27,32,36,37,40,44,48
And I am sure there are some I even missed, any prize would be appreciated, no longer need baby/toddler prizes as my kids are 6,7 and 11 years of age.

Can you say..........CUTE

Well I'm not talking about me, but I am talking about him... Travis Wall from SYTYCD is definately coming into his own as a teacher and choreographer. My daughter got to attend the NUVO convention this year and of course I went along, who could turn down a picture opportunity like this.

Dusty Rose kit LO

Hey everyone ---

Did ya know I am now also CT'ing for Modern June -- this is her newest kit Dusty Rose
Check out this kit at DSA

and here is the first LO I have made with this kit -- a picture from the wonderful "Blizzard of 2010" we had here on the East Coast recently

Kids say the darndest things

We were at my daughters dance studio the other day and were talking to one of the teacher about if her little girls were going to start dance, she said maybe next year. One of my dd friends said I have been dancing here since I was 2 1/2, the teacher replied she did not know you could start that young and the girl replied "yep, you just have to be potty broken" mixing up the terms for babies/ potty trained with animals / house broken. It made everyone laugh:)

smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy. -- check it out, a really cool site:)