Logan - Lexi - Love - LIFE!

Puppy School

2011-01-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

Chloe's puppy school teacher told us to write the top things we want from our dog... so this is our list.

Not asking for much are we?????

Chloe
The dog we want:
- is a playmate with our 6 year old, Lexi. Not someone that Lexi is afraid to be around because the dog thinks she is a littermate and is constantly biting and climbing all over her and her clothes
- is one that we can trust to be in a room by herself for more than 10 seconds without her getting into things, chewing on stuff, climbing on things, etc
- comes when she is called – she has made us late for appts, missed busses – all due to running away from us and playing hard to get
- ultimately leaves the cats alone. We have one cat that seems kind of interested in playing but she does not understand being gentle and that all cats don’t like her so I would say she needs to stay away or at least when we tell her to
- actually listens to us when we use our “no” sound – instead of completely ignoring us
- stays off of the tables and counters and out of everyone’s food
- only potty’s in the yard – not in the house (gives us warning to go out) and not on the deck (makes it all the way into the yard)
- will play with our 9 year old, Logan, but does not bite and knows that it is not always play time – like when it is time for homework
- stops picking up anything and everything she can find to drive me crazy!!! – plays with her toys!!! ;)

If I had a Million Dollars....

2010-09-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Logan's class assignment was to write a diary entry of what a typical day would be like if he was the richest person in the world. So... his started that he would wake up to the smell of pancakes since he would have someone that cooks for him. In a nutshell, he would spend his day playing video games, watching tv, eating oreos and milk, playing legos and beating the chef at bakugan. My favorite part of the whole diary entry was the last line - 'Being rich will be wonderful because I can have everything that I want but the worst part about it would be that you would have to sign alot of autographs.'

Luck 'o the Irish

2010-03-17T12:50:00.001-07:00

He totally cracks me up!! He loves this shirt and totally wants to change it to 'ALL' instead of 'Irish' after today. Wow...

Did I tell you how a couple weeks ago he was telling me how a little boy in his class was asking him why he was offering to do something for one of the girls in the class and I said why? It's nice to do things for other people! And Logan said "Yeh - and how else do you think you get girl friends?!" He is in 2nd grade!!!!!!!!!

Happy St Patricks Day!

This one is for YOU Daddy/Poppy!!!

2010-02-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY / POPPY!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh My Goodness! I have a 5 year old!!

2009-11-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

Where did the time go?? My baby is five years old??!!! Can that even qualify as a toddler? People aren't kidding when they say that time flies by quickly!

Little Miss Lu Lu had a great birthday again this year! She decided she wanted to go to Applebees for her dinner and Grandma and Poppy joined us there. Afterwards we sat out at the car and opened presents, sang Happy Birthday and ate the cupcakes that Lexi helped make. Quite entertaining doing this in the restaurant parking lot... but everyone really had fun! And to top it off.. Lexi got her Zhu Zhu pets for her birthday!! For anyone who doesn't know - these are little toy hamsters that are the hottest toy this year and are next to impossible to find - Todd and I had actually waited in line at Toys R Us that weekend and actually got the ones for her birthday!

Then for her friends party she had a party at a local laser place in the inflatibles area so the kids could jump around and slide. They had an absolute blast!! And of course she ended up with even more fun toys to play with from all of her friends!

My sweet boy is 8!

2009-09-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Legos, Legos and more Legos plus a dart gun, WDiary of a Wimpy Kid book and money that will probably go to buy more... you guessed it... Legos! That is what he got for his 8th birthday!

Lego Master & another toothless?

2009-06-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Check out this amazing creation that Logan has made with his Legos!!

And yes - my 4 year old actually lost a tooth today!! Absolutely crazy! But she did get xrays 2 weeks ago and her adult teeth are right there... so she did loose it for a good reason!! Except that she is growing up WAY too fast!!!

Dance Recital - Dress Rehearsal

2009-06-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness - I am so in love with my little dancer!! She is so beautiful!! I love watching how focused she is at dancing! Here are a couple cute shots of her offstage. I will add some more later - my fabulous friend Karrie took some action shots that I will post soon! Tonight is the actual recital and I can not wait!!! (except that it will be over for the year)

She is growing up..

2009-06-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Look at this beautiful little girl! Lexi wanted to get her hair cut - and she wanted it cute like her cute little friend Emmy. The stylist kept it a little longer for us to begin with so "no one ended up in tears" - and yes she was referring to Mommy!

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

to one and to all!

A beautiful Day for us - Christ has risen and wonderful family time!

Just some of the things that made this day so special:

* easter sweater and matching argyle socks for Logan (he picked it out)
* pink polka dots for Lexi
* Grandma and Poppy sharing the day with us - love them!
* yummy waffles and biscuits and gravy
* easter egg hunt in the muddy back yard
* coloring easter eggs - yes we were late but with the beach trip... this is what worked for us this year - thanks Grandma!
* Yummy Blackberry Cobbler from the Peach Park in Alabama!
* amazing Masters Tournament watching Kenny do an incredible job and even though he didn't quite pull it out - have the incredible class he always shows. Proud of him!

The lisping has now begun...

2009-02-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

So guess what finally fell out today.....

Wow what a gap there is now! And no end in sight - only one of the adult teeth is barely even pressing on the skin so they are a long time coming! So this is the cute little (big) gap grin we will be treated with everyday! It was so funny today when shortly after he lost the tooth- he tried to say the word 'pennies' and the lisp has appeared. Cute!

A look back, for Valentine's day - I decided to make a full fondue meal for the family and our friend Karrie. This was the kids first time trying fondue. They were such good sports about trying new things especially when it took us 5 hours to complete our meal!! Logan's favorites were apples in the cheese, chicken in the bouillion and just eating the rice krispee treats. Lexi's favorites were the celery in the cheese, chicken in the bouillion and just eating the pound cake. No these silly children have STILL not completely decided to embrace the magic of chocolate! Who's are they anyway???

Mr. Hole in his face

2009-01-28T12:19:00.000-08:00

FINALLY lost his 3rd tooth! Now this tooth has been loose for literally 4 months!! About time it finally came out! To add to it - it was so completely loose for the past 10 days that Logan has been twisting it and shoving it outside his lips - pretty nasty looking. His gums were so red from all of the playing he did with it but he just wouldn't yank the thing out (or let us near it). Finally Saturday night he spent the night with our friend Karrie and when Karrie was tickling him and saying she was going to yank it - she touched it with a kleenex and it came out! Complete accident (or so she tells us!) That thing was barely holding on by anything!

Now this is Logan's 3rd lost tooth but the first two were loose long enough also that the tooth behind had grown in so much that you really did not see a hole in his mouth when they came out. So this hole in his face is brand new to us!! I am actually having a hard time getting used to it. I look at this kid with the big 'ole gap and realize how much he is growing up!

Not ready yet....

Why I love Christmas...

2008-12-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

* Santa Claus driving a Metro Bus around Northern Kentucky - made my day!
* Lexi 'reading' a book she got as a present. (It was about the birth of Jesus) - "You better not pout ... Baby jesus was born... he sees you when your sleeping... Mary was there...." Too cute!!!!
* Having cookies to eat!
* Seeing Lexi wander around in her new Princess Santa Hat
* How EVERY single item on Logan's Christmas list is Legos - even the $499 Star Wars Legos! Boy does he dream big!!
* How Lexi's Christmas list is random things she cut out of magazines and are things I know darn well she would never play with!!
* Knowing that my hubby will be home with us for a couple weeks straight!
* Sitting in 'my' chair next to our lit Christmas tree
* Friends and Families like you!!

Merry Christmas to you all!

I told them they better be good...

2008-12-13T18:08:00.001-08:00

Guess who just came to our house!!

The kids were absolutely shocked but had a blast showing him what they wanted for Christmas! He even knew that Logan is a good reader and that he reads AR books and he knew that Lexi is really using her words well these days!! He also told him to be sure we leave him cookies... Chocolate Chip!!!!

So remember
He sees you when your sleeping
He knows when your awake
He knows if you've been bad or good

SO BE GOOD FOR GOODNESS SAKES!!! (this last picture was from Breakfast with Santa yesterday)

My hubby doesn't think that I deserve to be a mom...

2008-11-10T16:41:00.001-08:00

(yes he was kidding)

there are just some times when the kids do and say something that I really should not laugh at and encourage but darn it I just can't help it!!!!!!!!!!!

So at dinner today - the kids had spaghetti in a bowl and a salad in a bowl and everyone was eating and chatting. Lexi was eating a piece of bread that was crumbling all over herself since she was not eating over the table.

Daddy - 'Lexi eat over the plate so you don't get the crumbs all over you"
Lexi - (she looks around...) 'I don't have a plate'
Me - thankful I didn't have a drink in my mouth since I burst out laughing!!!
Daddy - (his favorite saying when I fail at restraint) 'you don't deserve to be a mom'

I love kids! Too funny!

k

ps - still can't upload pics yet....

Pictures coming Soon

2008-10-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

I hope to be posting pictures of Lexi's 4th birthday and Halloween soon. I am having printer errors so I can't read my photo card. But I promise I will get them up soon!!!

Have a very Happy Halloween and enjoy your weekend! It's a long one here with no school on Monday & Tuesday!

Maybe not the most graceful

2008-10-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

but she loves it!!! And we love watching her! One good thing coming from my surgery is the fact that Todd and my mom have gotten to take Lexi to her dance class and watch her do her best! She may not be the smoothest dancer but BOY does she try to do everything and she LOVES it! I know Todd for one had a blast getting to see her!

Today mom even took her camera and captured this amazing picture of Lexi enjoying the chance to wear the big 'Cinderella' tutu. Wow how cute is that!!

She also got this fun pic of Lexi and Emmy dancing away. I am so SO happy she enjoys this so much because WE have all decided that watching her is the highlight of our week!

just a quick post

2008-10-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

To say we are all still here and doing okay! I am recovering well from my surgery and just have to admit I am getting nothing done!! Which of course is the goal of recovering!!! We were crazy the 10 days between Disney and my surgery and then have just been figuring out our life with only one driver and only one parent that can do much of anything while the other hangs out on the chair just watching everyone!! Tough transition!

Can't believe my little one turns 4 years old in one week!!!!!!!!! Wow!!! Boy time has changed!

I promise to get posting soon as I start getting more things accomplished! Lots of love to you all!

The Happiest Place on Earth!!!

2008-09-29T19:23:00.001-07:00

We were blessed enough to get to go again to Disney World with the kids and with Grandma! We had so much fun!!! The first thing the kids wanted to do was to take Grandma on It's A Small World. It was really so sweet. Here are a hog pog of pics from the week so you can see how much fun we all had!

We were once again down there during the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and this year the kids decided to dress up as Indiana Jones and Jasmine from Aladdin.

Okay - so totally notice Lexi's reaction to seeing Snow White! Lexi, Mommy & Grandma got to have lunch with the princesses in Cinderella's Castle and Lexi looked forward to this for months. Once there - this is what she did when she we saw the princesses!! BUT - after we had seen all of them she looked at me and said "I want to see them again mommy!!!"

She wants Glamorous...

2008-09-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Since Lexi was about to start preschool - last Friday I decided to take her to the Mall and Libby Lu for a fun girlie day out! Libby Lu is an all girl store where you can purchase all different kids of 'makeovers' for your little girls to gte all glamified! This was Lexi's first time there since she only let me start painting her fingernails about 2 months ago - the same time she started wearing ponytails in her hair. Her best friend Emmy And her mommy Michelle and baby sis Gracyn) decided to come with us.

It was so stinking cute!!!!!!!!!! !

Emmy got her hair done first like a pro - she has an older sister so has been there several times before - and she is very much a little girlie girl. Then came Lexi. She had the most intense and unsure face - but she was willing to sit and let the lady do whatever to her hair she wanted - braids, hair spray, knots and twists, bobby pins, glitter, headband - you name it!!! We loved it all but decided the headband was the greatest

After the hair came the nail polish - alternating pink and purple with glkitter just like Emmy. Then the make up and stick on jewels! She was so proud of herself! Especially the jewels!
I don't know if we could ever get Logan or Daddy to step foot in the store - but I will say it was a wonderful day spent for mommy and especially since we got to spend it with her best friend Emmy (and Michelle and Gracyn)! Hopefully she won't decide that this is the way she should always be dressed! Mommy is so not a glam chick - I would need help from someone else to keep her in style!!!

Just one last pic of Lexi and Emmy - they are so cute together and truly love each other!! We are a little sad right now - our dear friends are moving out of town in only a couple weeks! Makes us even happier that we got to do these fun little outings with them! We are going to really miss them but look forward to some fun road trips! What complete sweetness!

Ballerina Girl...

2008-08-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

You are so beautiful...

Here is Lexi right before her first day of dance! And she was excited! There were 6 little girls including her best friend Emmy and they were so adorable to watch. Lexi was so good and tried everything they showed her. But I have to say - as of right now - she is not the most graceful girl on the planet!But as we were climbing into the car she told me "Mommy, I want to go in there again!!!" So yay!!! I can not wait to watch each lesson and I am sure I will go ballistic at her end of the year recital! I'll keep you posted...

Our Big First Grader!!!!!

2008-08-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

.
He is really in first grade!!! And he is going to school all day! Wow! Seems really strange to have him gone all day. We set his alarm this morning thinking he might have trouble getting up especially since he had trouble going to bed last night. But by 7am he was awake and playing Legos. Maybe it is only Mommy who needs the alarmWhat was really strange was the fact him leaving was just so casual. He was chatting with his friend Tristin who lives next door and just ran to the bus without even saying bye to us!! At least he turned and waved to us from the bus. .
(he is behind the only window with writing on it of course.) And sadly I only got about 4 pictures!! Now what am I going to scrapbook....

And here is also a gratuitous photo of the adorable Ms Lexi waiting for the bus with Logan. She also had a big day and got to meet her two new teachers at the new preschool that she is starting this year. Two more weeks before she gets to go to school for a couple days to be like her big brother.
Best wishes to all of yours on their first day of school.

Things that are making me happy..

2008-08-15T17:55:00.001-07:00

* Hearing Todd and the kids in the bedroom getting ready to read bedtime stories and espcially when Logan reads to Lexi. Right now Todd is fighting with the two of them and the room has erupted into laughter.

* School starts on Monday! And Logan will be a big 1st Grader!!!! Yes it is a little sad having him gone all day but also happy.

* Driving down the road with the kids discussing school in the seats behind me - then all of a sudden Lexi saying "Logan you're a cheeseburger head!" And then hearing the two of them break into hysterical laughter (me right with them) I absolutely LOVE that sound!! Of course it then lead to "Sonic Head", "Ketchup Head" and so much more. Maybe I should stop the name calling.... hmmm...

* Baileys and coffee (and the company I have when drinking it) need I say more?

* In the car again and having Lexi and Logan join me in singing at the top of their lungs a song from the Mitch Hansen Band (inspired by Twilight the books series). The song is called Jacob Black - "You're nothing but a dog - nothing but a dog!!!"

* We just had a second Sonic open up in our area!! Diet Vanilla Coke - Yum!!!

* The Olympics!! I love watching them!! But I will be so thankful when the time comes for them to be back in the states because I have GOT to stop staying up until
1 or 2 in the morning!!! But of course I have to see if Michael Phelps makes all 8 golds!!!

* Lexi starts dance next week!! Both Tap and Ballet!!! I am hoping she likes it as much as I did when I was younger!!!!

I hope there are little (or big) things out there making you happy everyday!! Have a great weekend and I will post pictures soon from first day of school and dance!

What is going on now..

2008-07-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

First and foremost - I think after alot of hassle - the bathroom is done! For such a little room - it actually caused us alot of problems!! And I still have a pair of shorts with a big spot of paint on the back to show where I fell into the wall!! So here is a picture of the paint and a better picture of the shower curtain we based the room on. The room is so small I couldn't get a very wide angle pic - sorry. I think our final step is to get a wall shelving unit and for the kids and I to do a cute little craft based off of the curtain that I can frame for art! One room down 5 + to go!!!! ha-ha!

Lexi is becoming a very inquistive almost 4 year old. Caily I get to answer at least half a dozen - "Mommy why we have cars?" "Why we have houses?" "Why we have forks?" "why we have clothes?" "why we have bathrooms?" and on and on!!! It is actually really cute right now but I am sure soon I will go crazy! Here is a quick picture taken last week while she was posing for me. She is still the sweetest little thing with the funniest personality! My girlfriend Karrie calls her 'a little pocketfull of sunshine'. But I must admit... she has all of a sudden taken on the attitude of 'if I can't have my way I am going to scream and cry!' - I SO wish this will be a short lived thing...... Pray for me.

Logan is really picking up in his reading. We are having so much fun watching him get excited about reading and helping to read a book to Lexi every night at bedtime. When we went to the library last week - I came home with 14 books that Logan had picked out!!! Wow!! And since Logan needs money to spend when we go to DisneyWorld - Daddy is being extremely generous and paying him a dollar a day if he reads a book!!! Better than just giving him the money! hee-hee And school starts in only 3 weeks! He is so excited to be in the first grade and to eat lunch at school!! I hope it last for more than just the first week!!!

This week is Vacation Bible School at church so we have been very busy during the day and since I am co-craft chair - we have had to get there early each morning so I can safely say that we are all tired and in need of a day at the pool!!!!!!!! Next week here we come!!!

On the 17th I had a surgery with the plans to remove my right ovary and a mass formed there (cancer marker tests look great so that is not a concern Thank God) but with what they found - they decided to stop the surgery and just schedule me for a complete hysterectomy. Since we aren't in a rush - the Dr has no problem waiting until after our Disney trip in September. So October 7th is the scheduled day of surgery and what a great birthday gift for me!!!! Oh well - what a great excuse to actually get some sleep and to sit around and do nothing and not feel guilty!

I have actually gotten a couple scrapbook pages done! Not much and most of them are very plain and to the point but at least I am finally getting back to it! Let's hope this is finally the start of my reinvestment into creativity!!!!!

And last but definately not least.... I am impatiently waiting for the release of Breaking Dawn the final book in the Twilight Series. My friend and I are going at midnight tomorrow night for the release party and to get our copy. SO... I will not be sleeping much Friday night/Saturday!! So don't call me - I won't answer the phone!!! ;)

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll work on getting some more pictures of the kids!

Love you all!

PS. Please keep in your prayers my Mother in law Mrs. Perry, My Sister in Law Kay and my friends Mom, Mrs. Hogg - they are all battling forms of cancer and are in need of all the healing prayers they can recieve. Thank you much!

And I thought I would get better

2008-07-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

at this blogging!!! Boy I am slacking! I have been very bad lately at just spending all my time sitting on the computer surfing the net, emailing and reading blogs. This is fun but I am doing this instead of scrapbooking, blogging and definately cleaning my house! I have managed to scrapbook about 4 pages in the past couple weeks - simple pages - just getting them done - but I am glad to get back at it! I better get working cause I just spent 4+ hours uploading, deciding on sizes and ordering ALOT of photos from our 2007 Disney trip and my goal was to complete that album before our 2008 trip to Disney!!! And since we only have 9 weeks left before we go.... hmmm... looks like I am in TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So send good scrapbooking vibes my way!!!

Since I am so good at lists.....

* So around here things have been going along as usual! Non stop but not much to list! We have been hitting the pool alot and trying to make it through our lists of sight words to prep us for First Grade! Logan is really doing good with this whole reading thing! Now, Mommy just needs to set up a routine and actually make sure we spend time focusing on really learning - I can't believe how hard it is for Mommy to get motivated!!! Maybe I am the worst 6 year old!! They do have ADD for adults....

* Lexi has taken a big step into being a little girlie girl! She has finally allowed me to paint her fingernails and toenails! Bright pink even! What fun!!! She has been talking so much and is just totally cracking us up with her comments!!!! She and Logan get going into some of their conversations and WOW - we are laughing and wondering if we could market them and make lots of money (think Laurel and Hardy)! I need to work on that promo....

* After 6 months of sitting in the garage... I also finally opened the paint we bought and painted the kids bathroom! After every disaster known (falling into the wet wall paint, peeling a spot away with the curtain rod, the border tape completely pulling up the entire area of paint and the cat sticking to the paint! Okay Okay - so the cat didn't get stuck but everything else did happen!!! ;) Todd is now re-caulking and then I have bought towels and rugs and we are hoping by the end of the week to be completed! Yay! One project of MANY almost done!!! To think, we want to paint the entire front room but since it has essentially taken us 6+ months to do one tiny little bathroom.... hmmm... that one just might stay on the list..

* I'd like to say that we have been cooking out and enjoying the summer BUT - low and behold, when I decided to get the grill all ready to have a great BBQ (a little late - but oh well) When I lifted the lid to clean it... I found a birds nest with 4 little eggs in it!! I did not have the heart to throw it away so we decided we get to wait out the nesting stage! We saw the mom bird in there a couple days later but actually we have not seen it lately. The eggs are still unhatched so I think we are about to safely proclaim the nest abandoned and get to clean it out without a guilty conscience. With any luck we will be having grilled steak by the weekend!!! Yay!!!

Well - that is some of our life lately - I will get some pictures uploaded soon since some of you have been asking to see more kid pictures - especially of Lexi's own designed outfits! Have a great week to everyone! We love you all!!!

Our Summer so far

2008-06-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Lego Camp - YES I said LEGO camp!!! Can you only imagine how much fun my son had!!!! There is a science program based in CIncinnati that does summer camps based on grade level and different forms of "engineering". Logan went this past week with the 1st and 2nd graders for the Lego FUNdemental engineering camp and had so much fun building all different vehicles and ended the week building a dog that barks and wags its tail. Friday night was a little ceremony where he received a certificate of completion and got to show off his dog. Todd and Logan enjoyed the little presentation and video they took of all the different camps

Visit from cousin Kaylee - the kids LOVE it when Kaylee comes!!! Poor girl has to read, build Legos, play Lego Indiana Jones playstation, watch cartoons and listen to Logan & Lexi bable non stop!!! I am sure she is looking forward to getting back home to rest!!!!!! But we love having her - and Todd and I even took advantage of her and went out for a nice getaway evening friday night! All of us agree she can come back ANYtime!!!!!

Swimming - the kids love it! We have been hanging out at the YMCA outside pool and at the pool at a friend of mine's house (actually Logan's kindergarten teacher) and they are just loving being in the water and Logan is getting really good at swimming! Now if only Lexi could learn to really swim so I could relax more!

My High School Reunion - yes it was that time! And i would like to say thatit was my 10th year reunion but we all know that would be a lie! So my 20 year - yes twenty!!! - reunion was last weekend. Though I only went to the informal get together on Friday night - it still was very entertaining. And best of all - we spent the weekend with one of my dearest friends - Sharon and her hubby Steve and her son Simon. We all had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saw some people that I enjoyed seeing again - especially Carianne and Andy - and then relaxing Saturday night playing games at Sharon's house and eating Pizza King pizza!! Yum!!!!!!!!!! To keep with the theme - we played a couple 80's games - one about music and the other trivia from the 80s. You could probably guess that I did really well with the music but not so well with the trivia. I am sure Todd and Steve thoroughly enjoyed Sharon and I breaking into song constantly and singing some of the most obscure songs of the 80s!!

Reading - Logan has decided that he is interested in reading and he is really doing pretty well with it! He has much loftier goals than he is currently ready for - but he is trying! We now have our site word flash cards (thanks Karrie) and he (and Lexi) are enjoying going through them! Even Lexi brought them to me yesterday to do them while Logan was at camp! Now we just really have to work into our days - reading time for him to practice! I am excited about his desire - cause I wasn't sure he was showing as much interest as I thought a kid his age should be... But what do I know!! ;) Of course I will know ALL when Lexi is his age!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all are well! I need to get onto my picture taking for the summer so I can then post you some pictures of what is going on. And see how those kids are growing!!!!!!!!!!

Why did I want her to talk??

2008-06-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

SO this week on both Tuesday and Wednesday we had Tornado Warnings with really bad thunderstorms. On Wednesday, I had both kids down stairs and Todd calling form work wanting me to keep him posted of the news so he could keep his people in safe spots as long as needed. SO I am desperately trying to listen to the tv. Lexi keeps talking and so the conversation began...

"Lexi please keep quiet a minute, mommy has to hear this"
"no, I can't"
"yes you can - please let me hear"
"I can't"
'Lexi, please"
"I can't not talk"
"Lexi, mommy needs to know what is going on"
"I can't not talk" louder this time
"Lexi"
"I can't not talk!!!!" even louder
"Then Lexi please go to the other side of the room"
"FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My friend Michelle loves to keep telling me... You asked for it - and she has 3 years of not talking to make up for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a great week!

2008-06-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

These are things that made us VERY happy this week:

* Todd's brother won the golf Tournament and Todd got to spend Wed - Sunday there watching him and spending some time off the course with him. He really does not get to spend enough time with him.
* Todd also got to spend time with several other family members and friends while enjoying the tournament. Again - family and guy time is so seldom for him that this was extra special.
* Grandma & Poppy took 5 of the grandkids to see a Chinese Acrobat show and they absolutely loved it!! What a great outing with the Grandparents!
* I got to spend the time with my brother and sister-in-law watching the golf tournament on the computer (yay internet) what a fun (even though stressful) time together! I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone else!!
* Friends that are willing to go on sanity breaks with me to a relaxing lunch and to a bead store to do something creative! Now my cell phone has a little bling! hee-hee
* New friends that have come into my life that I have truly enjoyed getting to know. Old friends mean everything but there is something truly special and new ones that come into your life and give you new enrichment.
* The special edition release (Eclipse) of a book series (Twilight) that I am obsessed with that let me get a glimpse into the final book coming out in August. Yes, Todd is laughing at me hysterically....
* Spending mommy time with the kids while daddy was away. They really are great kids. EVen though I needed that sanity break..
* Compliments from friends about how wonderful my children are. Boy does that make you feel good.
* Getting to eat dinner twice with Grandma & Poppy! We LOVE these times and really MUST schedule them more often!

I hope you all had a good week also and I promise next time to post some pics. I haven't posted any of the kids in awhile. We love ya!

What have we been up to??

2008-05-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

* Trying to grasp the fact that school is almost over!! He have had our last weekly Church Youth Night last week, one of Lexi's speech therapy appts is about to end for the year and with the end of the year come end of year gifts and class parties and fieldtrips!
* Watching alot of golf on tv and online since my brother-in-law has been doing so great!! Yay Kenny!!!!!!!!!! The kids are loving getting to see Uncle Kenny on tv!!
* We finally bought a new mattress after a frightening number of years of desperately needing one! Let's see if I can now actually sleep!
* I have become obsessed with a new book series, Twilight, and have been trying to get everyone I know to read it - I have even gotten Logan's Kindergarten teacher hooked!! (Have you read it yet?)
* Lexi has been playing soccer!! Yes - very entertaining watching 3 year olds play!! She does whatever her coach says to do and is very literal - if he says stand there... she stands there!! Even if everyone else is running to the ball... she stands there!! Then the coach realizes he has to tell her to move - and she moves!! So funny!
* Lexi had her first dentist appt and did well!
* Logan's Kindergarten teacher told me he read almost all of the 1st grade sight words!
* Todd took my mom and I to the Ballet doing Carmina Burana for Mother's Day! It was absolutely wonderful! Todd and I's first official date was seeing the Symphony perform Carmina Burana!
* I have been actually working more at the scrapbook store since we had several employees leave due to beautiful babies and other home matters. Makes it harder to spend family time when I am gone 3 work nights, church and some other activities that I am in and then some random work dinners for Todd!! Yes - family time is something that we need to make a priority!!!!!!!!
* Todd's b'day is coming up and so is our 11th Anniversary!
* Failing miserably to update the blog or to even scrapbook!!!! But this too - hopefully will change!!!!

Much love to you all!!! Promise to upload some new pics soon!!!

Lexi-isms - Update

2008-05-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Okay so we just fought over trying to get Lexi to clean up her room and her response to me was "No - only boys clean up!!!"

This goes with the one last week where I told her I was no longer changing her pull-ups - cause Mommy is through changing you! "Okay - just Daddy do it"

Boy does she live in an interesting little world!!!!

Just little tidbits..

2008-05-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

The World According to Lexi

* Lexi refers to Logan as "MY BOY - My silly boy"

* How do you spell your name? "Letters X-I-L-E"

* When we drove into the bank to go to the ATM - she yells "Mommy! The Money Store!"

* Gave her some Propel to drink and she goes "Propel - Oh Yeah! - Propel - Oh Yeah!!" in a chant complete with the Cabbage Patch Doll dance

* While at church she noticed on the large cross over the alter the white fabric draped over it that hangs kind of like a w with tails at each end - she turns her head so she can look at it upside down and says "that's Mc Donalds upside down and it should be yellow not white!"

* asked to clean her room "I'm not doing that! You do it!"

I can't wait until she actually starts having an opinion! ;)

No WAY!

2008-04-22T16:32:00.001-07:00

Anyone who has known me for a long time will be shocked... You know that over the years I keep getting my hair cut shorter and shorter with the biggest change happening about 7 years ago when I cut off 14 inches. Well today I went and said do whatever and really she just trimmed me up as usual but decided I should go shorter.

So here is me with the shortest hair I have had in well over 2 decades! And yes it is straight also! (well as straight as 2 1/2 hours at the park in the humidity will let it be). Just imagine how much shorter it will be when the curl comes back tomorrow!!! And no mom, it is not a pixie... I don't plan to go that short ever
again!

Just thought some of you, especially Shaye, might get a kick out of me with the new shorter hair!

The Big Cheese!

2008-04-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

They grow up too fast!! My little boy lost his first tooth yesterday!

It has actually been loose for 4 weeks but he was not willing to wiggle it much so it lasted in a long time! The tooth behind is already almost halfway up!!! So you don't see as much of a gap as you would expect. (Bottom left side tooth if you can't tell)

He lost it yesterday while at school so his teacher took him to the office to get a little 'tooth keeper' treasure chest (she told me he was so excited he skipped all the way) and as soon as he got back in the hallway to go back to class - he looked at his teacher and said 'We are going back to class and calling my mom right!?' His teacher being as sweet as she is said "Well I guess so" so thus the reason I got a phone call from an excited little boy at 2:40pm yesterday! So cute!!!!

Also last night Logan's Kindergarten class performed at the PTA meeting. So much fun! As soon as I can figure out how to load a video I will let you all see.

Of Course She Did!!!

2008-03-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with everyone my precious little girls Easter outfit that she wore.

And this after I went to 5 stores and 3 dresses bought and brought home before she found one she was willing to wear. I'm glad I never found the perfect pair of shoes....

Also wanted to share a picture of my beautiful blue eyed boy... He seems so angelic...

Welcome to the sick house!

2008-03-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

Okay I know - it has been forever since I posted and you are all thinking... I am going to stop checking this regularly cause she is slacking! No No!! STay with me! This has been a crazy couple of weeks with some of it being the fact we all caught the tummy bug! What fun in our house! Todd was the last to catch it - thinking he was cool enough to avoid it - and today was his last day of hooky from work and so hopefully tomorrow will be the start of a healthy house!! Yay!!!

But the other thing that I have done in the past couple weeks that kept me away was much more pleasant and actually life altering. I spent 3 1/2 days at a spiritual retreat called Via de Cristo. It was absolutely amazing and one of the most beautiful things I have experienced in my life! Besides the spiritual and emotional beauty - we also were located at a camp in Indiana with HUGE windows overlooking a lake and hillside and watching 8-10 inches of snow fall! WOW! If anyone of you ever gets the opportunity to go to a Via de Cristo (or Curcillo or Walk to Emmaus) - DO IT! You will not regret a single moment! I can't wait for Todd to go next fall so I can talk all about it with him!

Wanted to let you all know we were still here and to say we miss you all! Have a great week and a glorious Easter - remembering why we celebrate the season!

Love ya!

But they go with everything!

2008-03-03T18:36:00.000-08:00

So what exactly do you wear leopard print and pink rain boots with? If you ask Lexi - the answer is EVRYTHING!!!

This has been by far her favorite Christmas present - she wears them 6 days a week. She might give into us on one occasion. (Thanks Unc Kev, Aunt Mare, Joseph, Jack, Erin & Emma!)

She even wore them with a floral skirt to preschool for her class picture last week... I think they stuck her in the back row to hide them.... ;)

This picture is just for Aunt Marianne since she thinks Lexi's only clothes are Leopard Print. Talk about stylin'!!!!

Finally

2008-02-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last week we finally had a REAL snow day. Now our school system has had MANY called snow days - but there was never really any snow to actually be a FUN snow day. So finally last week we got one and the kids got to play in the snow. We got about 2 inches of the fluffy pretty white snow. The kids were so excited and Logan went immediately to start making snow angels. Lexi was much more hesitant in the snow and it took her awhile to actually even decide to touch the snow. But then we brought out the little sled and set up a snow bumper to keep them from going into the road and off they went! It was so hysterical!!! They were both loving it!!!! The laughs and 'screams' of joy were music to my ears! I even managed to get the driveway shoveled while they took turns helping each other get on the sled and going down.

Now this is what a snow day from school should be all about!!!! When everyone was finally tired and frozen we came inside to watch a movie and drink hot chocolate. Yum!!

My funny Valentines

2008-02-14T18:30:00.001-08:00

I am so in love with these two!! They are such sweeties and are so much fun to be around! We had a great Valentine's day after our two snow days (two too long). And to surprise daddy, the kids even helped me make a big cookie with icing and sprinkles on it! Yummy!

Also on this day, it is amazing when you think about all the people you love in your life! It is overwhelming how many people in my life affect me so much and I can say I have love in my heart for. Thank you to you all and I hope I let you know often how much you mean to me!

logan look a like

2008-02-14T18:19:00.001-08:00

My friend Karen had this on her blog and I thought it looked like so much fun! Sadly both of my kids fall in the look the same like their mom and dad - would have been more interesting to see which one of us is favored. Maybe I will try another picture sometime...

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Lexi look a like

2008-02-14T18:15:00.001-08:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Dynasty - Family history

So do you know what a power path is?

2008-02-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

Or how about how many doors does a sand crawler have? Or what color is Obi Wan's light saber? And did you know that the lego police station - the new one not the one I have - has bendable parts on the garage? What kind of animal is Chewy?

Well - neither do I!!! But these are the kinds of conversations that I have daily with my son. Today I actually sat down with my son for lunch - just he and I - and our entire conversation was about his game Rock Riders by Lego on the computer. He told me all about how this building has 4 power paths while it only needs 2 and guess how many power paths this building needs - only one! And that if I walk into this hole then push this button that I can blow up the rocks so that I can get to the stuff built underneath?

So I sat there thinking to myself - do I act like I am interested in this converation even though I have NO IDEA what he is talking about??? Is that what a good mother would do? I found myself doing the grin and nod and saying "really?" alot. He must have been okay with that since he kept talking anyway!

I look forward to the day my daughter wants to talk about more girly things. Now mind you - I am in NO WAY a real girly girl but - I would definately do better with discussing which princess ate the poisonous apple or which shoes look better or should the princess ride on the horse by herself or with the prince (it's all about girl power you know).

These things I can understand and actually have a more intelligent conversation about! Light sabors and power paths - not so much so.

SO for now - I guess i will continue to grin and nod and keep saying "why don't we call Daddy and ask him!!!!" And hope that the time does not come too soon when he will decided he doesn't want to talk to Mom any more cause she is not cool - because I know it will be sooner than I want!! So, I'll just revel in the fact that he still thinks I am cool enough to share and maybe some day I will actually learn what a power path is!!!

M & M Potty Party!!!

2008-01-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

It is party time in the Perry household!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lexi finally decided today to use the big girl potty!!!! Some of you may know that this is absolutely HUGE!!!! She has NEVER done this in the past - was willing to sit but that was it!!! But twice today she has gone and we had big celebration with M & M's and Mike and Ikes candy.

I had always assumed that since she was a girl then she would be MUCH easier to train than Logan - But last week - she offically was the age (3 yrs 3months) that Logan was when he trained - So I was obviously getting disappointed. But hopefully no more!!!!!!!! Now we just have to keep with it and have a PARTY every couple of hours!!!!!!!!!

Wish us luck!!! And send us some M & M's or Mike and Ikes please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kelly

ps - sorry this was such a bizarre post - never thought I would post about peeing.....

This is fabulous!!!

2008-01-26T06:52:00.000-08:00

Okay so the other night my MOMS CLub was invited for a sneak peek at the new DREAM DINNERS store in the area. About 20 of us went (bringing our own wine) and they let us make for free an entree to take home to feed our family the next day or whenever. Dream Dinners is a place where every month they have a new menu and you choose what entrees you wnat to make and they have ALL the meat, pasta, chopped product, spices and directions for you. It takes just a few minutes to put together one entree following all their steps and how easy they have the whole workstation laid out. It was amazing!!! So we got to make Cornflake Crusted Chicken with Ranch Dipping Sauce - and it was really yummy! Even the kids ate all of theirs!!!! Now THAT is AMAZING!!!!

Each time you go you would make about 12 meals and I have heard that this is a great place to get your freezer stocked for those last minute meals as well as for good and unique recipes. My friend Erin goes about every other month and she raves about it constantly!!! I can't wait to try more meals. Some of us gals signed up for a private party at the end of next month there and Todd and I are already planning on what items will be on our menu!!! I'll be sure to post someof the fabulous meals I will be making! See I might be a gourmet sometime yet!!! hee-hee

My family will finally get homemade!!!

Beautiful Blessing

2008-01-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Isn't he Adorable!

Todd's nephew Marty and his wife Ashley were blessed with this little angel, Cole Hudson, on Wednesday, January 9th. We just wanted to send them our congratulations and our prayers. We miss you guys and can't wait to meet the little man!

Poor Wicky

2008-01-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

Per Michelle's request... I have posted this sad little photo of my baby boy (kitty) Wicky. He is a beautiful huge black persian that unfortunately had to get shaved today... A cat just does not deserve a poodle haircut!!!!

Poor Baby!!!

update: Per Karen and Sharon's question - poor Wicky just had horrible knots that we could not get out - nor could the groomers... thus the Poodle!

Note to self

2008-01-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you have to live with the results of your families genorosity when you do something for yourself!

My fabulous family let me get away to go scrapook at an overnight crop. While away -Todd took the kids to see the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks. And now, after a trip to Target where they bought the CD - I now have Todd, Logan & Lexi singing the songs from the movie at the top of their voices! And they do it in chipmunk voices!!! With "ALVIN" yelled throughout!

What a joyous thing!!! Maybe I can figure out how to add sound to my blog! hee-hee

Where else should they go???

2008-01-04T10:30:00.001-08:00

Okay - so you think I would learn... or better yet... you think Lexi would learn!!!

After school yesterday the kids wanted a snack - so they decided on YoGos - little balls of fruit dipped in yogurt (about the size of a pachinko ball). I was working in the kitchen and then heard "MOMMY - arrrrrrr!!" You know - that dreaded voice! I run into Lexi and ask what is wrong and she says 'my nose'. The sad thing is - I knew immediately that she had decided to stick a Yogo up her nose!!! I was envisioning the whole trip to the ER saying 'yes - she stuck the yogo up her nose - and yes I do think she did it one other time - no I did not learn!!'

So I could not grab it with my fingers - way too far up. We went to the bedroom for some tweezers and luckily the yogo was just soft enough that I could grip it with the tweezers since the tweezers could not get past it to get a real hold. After I pulled it out - I asked if there were more - since her nose felt wierd and she said "no just purple". Isn't that so nice of her to have noticed what color she was going to shove up her nose????? And purple used to be her favorite color! And what makes a 3 year old decide - I'll eat this one but then shove this one up my nose!? Can anyone answer that? (yes mom, I know, around that age I decided that a rock should go in my ear...)

So - maybe I should put away the yogos and hopefully - my beautiful daughter will decide to leave her nose alone! But I will say she had such a pretty purple nose the rest of the day!

Goodbye 2007 HELLO 2008!

2008-01-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

A very Happy New Year to you all!!!

As I get older - I truly understand now why people say that time goes by so fast! Where did 2007 go? When I reflect - I can say that we did have a wonderful year.

* Logan's start to his school career - and seeing how much he truly enjoys going to school and hopefully continues his desire to learn.
*Lexi's daily changes from a toddler to a little girl and watching that beautiful personality grow
* glorious family time in Disney World
* more adventure with Lexi in her experiences with speech Apraxia and her desire to learn
* getting to spend some time with our familys to create more memories - but not enough - we are truly craving more and will have to work on getting together much more often
* the wonderful friendships that have begun this year as well as the one's that keep growing stronger every year that provide us amazing support.
* the birth of our beautiful new niece - Emma, Logan & Lexi's first little 2nd cousin Maeve and some wonderful new little friends of ours Gracyn and Lyndsay.
* Continued health for us all and our familys.

I hope that you all take sometime today to reflect on your year while you are thinking of those new years resolutins... maybe I will have to post ours soon after I ask the kids what their resolution is... this could be quite interesting!

Much love to you all! And enjoy the New Year!! kelly

ps - Thanks Michelle for another fun filled New Years Eve - it is truly wonderful to be invited to share with you and your family! They are so wonderful! (And - the kids slept until 11am today!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!)

A Very BLESSED Day

2007-12-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours! We love you all and miss you all! Hopefully we will get to see you all and spend some time in the New Year!

Kelly, Todd, Logan & Lexi

ps. I will post pictures later!

Kaufman Speech Apraxia Seminar

2007-12-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Wow - alot to take in but some great information! My mom and I spent last Friday all day at a seminar given by Nancy Kaufman - a specialist in the Apraxia Speech Diagnosis and Therapy. It was really fascinating and actually made me feel a little better seeing actual footage of children and the giant strides they make in their therapy. She had footage of some of the kids from age 3 and then again at age 18 - and you couldn't even tell they had a speech delay. Mom was happy she was able to go with me so that she could learn more about the delay and techniques of therapy so that she could understand Lexi and my discussion of her therapy much better. I so LOVED having her there so that I could have a second set of ears and just some support in this new world that we are getting into.

This seminar was geared towards speech therapists but there was a discounted parent rate and so my mom and I and 6 others were the only parents (grandparents) out of about 250-300 attendees. What was really neat is that Mrs. Kaufmann invites the parents to sit with her at lunch time so that she can have some one on one time with them to find out about their child and to answer any specific questions that you have. We got some good tips and saw things through other mom's eyes. We also found out how blessed we are to be living where we are becuase these mom's came from counties surrounding us and other states and we are so lucky to have the school system paying for Lexi to be seeing the specialist!!!

All in all - from what we saw and learned - we have high hopes for Lexi and do feel that she has some amazing things on her side and do feel that she will improve greatly and be talking our ears off with all of her stories in no time at all! If you could, mention her and us in your prayers in hopes of succesful therapy and the extreme amount of patience that all of us will be needing in the years to come!

Beautiful!

2007-11-21T18:27:00.001-08:00

I have been meaning to get these pictures from Lexi's 3 year photo shoot online but I hadn't figured out yet how to use the new scanner (and obviously still didn't do too great since some of the pictures didn't come out fabulous.) BUT - no matter... I am sure you can tell that WOW!!!! She is such a cutie and those eyes are going to make our life difficult!!!

Trick or Treat!

2007-10-31T19:33:00.000-07:00

Halloween is so fun! Look at these two adorable little kids! Lexi could have gone all night - just the idea of candy made her so happy!

kelly

PS - a giant HAPPY Birthday to my nephew Joseph tomorrow! Hope you have a gret one! We love you!

She's a big girl now!

2007-10-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well, my baby turned 3 years old on Friday! She is now much more of a little girl than a baby! It is so sad to see her no longer a baby but is amazing seeing her grow into this little person she is becoming. She has such an AMAZING personality and is so fun to be around (most of the time... she is a three year old you know!) She always makes us smile and also totally makes us crack up most of the time! She has gotten her big brothers flair for being a complete clown. She is so caring - often thinking of her brother and friends before herself and is such a mommy's girl!!!

Happy Birthday my little precious angel! You are so very loved!

Has this happened to you?

2007-10-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

So have you ever had one of those moments were you are just going on with your everyday life - trying to get lunches together for kids, everyone dressed, diaper changed, etc... And your hubby says something about being a mom and it totally just hits you - 'I am a mom! A mother!' How completely sureal! So many of my days are just functioning the best I can to take care of our lives and all of our needs and commitments - that I am not sure I truly think about the fact that I am a mother and that these two children depend on me so completely and love me so unconditionally. It is truly overwhelming but completely cool!!! I love this life!!

Best wishes and love to everyone! I promise to post some new pictures soon!

kelly

ps - please keep my girlfriend Michelle's hubby Mike in your prayers. He was in a very bad car accident yesterday and is in the hospital waiting out a spleen injury that hopefully wil take care of itself and he will be going home tomorrow. So if you could just add him to your prayers I would truly appreciate it. Thanks so much!

37 years

2007-09-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! Okay so it is my birthday and even though my dad says I can cut 10 years off my age I will say that I am 37 years old today. And I look at my hubby, my kids, my family and my friends and I would like to say that I am very happy with where I am in these 37 years of life! Thanks to you all for all your love and support! I love you! Still doesn't mean that anyone can call me old okay!!!!

Now onto the reason why I have not written in a while.... We have been to Disney World!!!! We just got back last night and had a glorious time! This was Logan's 2nd trip and Lexi's 1st time! So it was so much fun to see their faces and their wonder at all that was around. It was so sweet cause tonight I was helping Logan work on a journal that he needed to have for school since he missed a week and I was trying to give him some prompts and I asked him 'What he learned there". And his response to me was 'that dreams come true'!! I think I could have cried!!! This was based off of the stage show that we saw in front of the castle one day but it was oh so true!!!!! Disney is definately the most magical place on earth!!

I will have to give you more info in the days to come but I just wanted to drop a note to say we were back and show a couple pictures.

Have a magical day and I will post more later!

And to Shaye: (sung) It's my birthday where's my present... It's my birthday where's my present. To everyone else - it is an old joke we had in high school - not me being greedy! I promise! ;)

Our Adventure

2007-09-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

Here it is at 1 a.m. and I can't sleep so I have been checking out some blogs and decided to add to my blog. Lexi and I had a big day today - that I think has me all hyped up and why I am not asleep like I should be.

As you may know, Lexi has had a speech delay and has been receiving speech therapy for many months now. Today we had our second appt at Children's Hospital to have Lexi evaluated for Verbal Apraxia. She has now been officially diagnosed with this 'condition'. What it means for us is just validation that she will be needing intense therapy for awhile to come - actually for many years.

There are several consinants that she doesn't even say and when she does talk it kind of sounds like she is mumbling. She does fairly well at mimicing you when you ask her to say a word but when she uses that word on her own she has a hard time sequencing these words together and correctly as if she has not 'learned' the real way.

Don't get me wrong... the girl talks ALL the time - we just don't really understand her much! Luckily she has the greatest personality and so has not started getting upset very often when her communication isn't going well. The therapist today says that she sees alot of wonderful things in Lexi that she is really encouraged about that will help her and us in this journey and hopefully make it quicker and easier. Including that attitude and stubborn streak - see - it is going to pay off!!! Remind me that whenever she is making me want to bang my head into the wall!!!

So that is enough for now just to update you on our day and our journey - please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - that she can keep this beautiful personality and spirit throughout this learning adventure and be able to communicate to everyone what this girl wants!!!

SIX!!!

2007-09-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that my little boy turned 6 years old last week??!!! I am a little late at posting pictures but I wanted to share with you all my little man!

I can not believe that 6 years ago the answer to Todd and I's dreams came into this world. When I had difficulty getting pregnant - there was a time that I was concerned that we were not going to get to share our lives with a little angel of our own. But as always - God took care of us and blessed us with the most beautiful little boy. It has been amazing watching him grow up each day and seeing the little person that he is becoming. It seems like he is going to be SO much like his father. And since I am in love with his father that just is not a bad thing!

I have had a couple meetings with Logan's Kindergarten teacher and she has told me "He is one of my smart ones" and "He is just so sweet and adorable that he is one of the ones that I would love to take home with me." She can't even invision him causing any problems at all! (You can tell she doesn't have any children ;) And these are moments that make me realize that he is just a wonderful little boy with an amazing personality. I hope I can be accountable for some of that but no matter - I love him for who he is!! And I can not wait to keep seeing him grow into who he is going to become!!

Just not TOO fast!!! I do really miss my baby!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday my Little Angel!

The Little Things

2007-09-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Just a few of the little things that I love about the kids

* Lexi's amazingly large eyes
* Logan's beautiful blue eyes
* The budding artists they are becoming
* Dora piloting the Millenium Falcon
* How Lexi hugs Logan so hard her eyes close
* Logans engineering brain and his Lego creations
* Lexi 'having' to wear her princess shoes to run errands
* Hugs from my 'babies'
* Their infectious laughs

I just had to capture them! And when I saw this new paper - I knew this was the perfect choice.

Have a great weekend and be sure to enjoy the little things in life! Especially the ones with two legs!

One week down - ? to go

2007-08-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

So we have finished our first week of school and Logan is still happy about going everyday. Over the weekend he kept telling us and even 'Poppy' (my dad) that he had homework to do! We heard him say this at least 10 times!!! And I re-read his note from the teacher and all I could get was practice writing and read to them everyday. So I guess this was to be our homework? So we have started taking on a more formal responsibility of practicing our letters every day according to the Denelian style (by the way - where did this come from???). And of course we always read everyday so I guess we are doing well on our homework so far! Hey this may be easy after all!! hee-hee.

And in case you are wondering... we STILL do not get much info out of him after school. All we know from yesterday is that they danced in the gym and said the Pledge of Alligence! Hmmm.... His friend Tristen came over after getting off the bus yesterday - but before we would let them in the house - his mom and I tried to grill them about what they did - and STILL that was all we learned!!!

So tonight is the next phase of kids school - I get to go meet Lexi's pre-school teacher. I am excited because it looks like she is going to have one of Logan's old teachers and he absolutely loved her!!! So it should be a good year. Now if only we could get this communication thing with Lexi down!!! ;(

Hope you all have a great day and be sure to post a note saying 'hi!' I love knowing who has stopped by!

Time to let go - a little

2007-08-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well - today was the day! Like so many others - I watched my little boy head off to school. His first day of real school ever! The beginning of a lifetime of learning! Wow! I am not sure it has hit him yet that this is an everyday thing just yet (heck - I don't know that it has truly hit me yet).

So I took he and Lexi to McD's for a first day of school lunch and then headed home to wait for the bus. The neighbor boy, Tristen, who we found out was in his class, came over 20 minutes early cause he was so excited to go to school with Logan. Logan was ready to get going and get his day started! Todd came home for lunch so he, Lexi, Logan & I and Tristen, his mom and dad - all stood at the corner waiting for the bus and we all got excited when we saw it coming. Then the boys climbed up on the bus and so nicely paused for us to take photos of them as they were climbing on (Tristen's mom is a scrapbooker also). They were the first ones on a took a seat together three rows back. I talked alittle to the bus driver and then asked if I could climb on and take a photo. WOW! It really strikes you when you see that they are barely even tall enough to have their eyes over the top of the seat in front of them! And he is going to school? Unbelieveable!

After saying goodbye (more about that at the end) - Lexi and I decided to race to the school to see Logan get off the bus and get a picture of him walking into the school for the first time. Logan saw us and waved and then just headed on in for his day! We obviously were not a distraction for him! I guess that is a good thing...

So along comes 4 o'clock and time to go wait at the corner again for him to get off the bus. In the afternoon they have all the elementary kids (not just Kindergarten) so the bus was full. Logan & Tristen were in the first seat and the first off. So I took a photo (of course) and then hugged Logan and asked if he had a good day and he says "I had fun riding the bus!". So do you think this a sign of things to come?

So then I started asking him about his whole day and this is about our conversation:
- what did you do at school?
- Do you want to know what I had for an afternoon snack?
- of course what did you have?
- well they had hamburgers but I said I didn't want one of those so I had carrots and peaches. And we have a block that we have to put in this little box each day to say what kind of drink we want. There is orange juice, chocolate milk, just milk, and green for bringing drink. I had Orange juice!
- okay, so what else did you do today?
- my shoes came untied 2 times so I had that other teacher tie them the first time and then I had Ms. Kennet tie them the next time.
- That's great, what else?
- well we talked some.
- did you play or draw or go to gym or anything?
- I don't know.

Thus ended our conversation! What a plethora of information he is!! (Mom and Dad - does that conversation remind you of someone?) When Todd got home we did manage to get a little more info out of him like he has to say "no thank you" if he doesn't want a certain food item and that the teacher read a book about names. Wow!! It is amazing how little can get done in 3 hours!! hee-hee

But he says he had fun and he seems excited about tomorrow so I guess that is the best thing possible! It is unbelievable that my little boy is in school but I did very good and did not get too emotional. Now most of that was because I was in pain!! (here is the rest of the story) So as I was climbing off the bus and talking to the bus driver, on the last step I stepped on the side of my ankle and fell HARD on my butt in the road and threw the camera in a patch of grass. So my emotions were dampered by the xtreme pain in my ankle and the major embarrasment I was suffering. The only thankful thing was that Tristen's dad did not get me on his videotape!!! So I missed out on knowing what direction my emotions would have gone. Maybe that is a good thing??????

Just wanted to let you all know how his day went and hope everyone else's school experiences were fun (and not painful). Have a great week! We will keep our fingers crossed that Logan's enthusiasm stays up!

one week

2007-08-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

In only one week my little boy is starting Kindergarten! I can not believe how the time is flying! In one week he will beginning that first step into 13+ years of school! In one week I will be standing there and watching him climb up onto the bus for the first time! In one week he takes that next big step into growing up. I know he is going to love the bus and will have so much fun meeting new people and doing everything at school but as a mom I still have the right to be a little nervous and sad. We get to meet the teacher tomorrow and tour the school so I am sure after that I will feel oh so much better right!!! ;)

Watch next week and I will post some of those precious getting on the bus pictures for you all to see. Hopefully my tears will not short out the keyboard!! ;0

ps - special greetings to my girlfriend Michelle for the birth of her little girl Gracyn this morning and to Susan from the scrapbook store for the birth of her little girl Lyndsay on Saturday. What true blessings for both of you!!!

My Beautiful New Niece

2007-08-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

Look at this beautiful little girl! We welcomed little Emma Rose to our family this evening. She joins my borther's other wonderful children: big bro Joseph, Big lil bro Jack and big lil sis Erin.

That Look

2007-07-27T19:14:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to drop a note to say hi and to post one of my recent scrapbook layouts I have done. Been wasting too much time just sitting on the computer doing nothing important after I catch up on my blog reading that I have not had the chance to scrapbook much this week. I did finally get all of my stuff unpacked from the overnight crop 2 weeks ago! There is the first step!

This page is a fun one of Lexi in her first 2 months of life. She sometimes gave us this "I can take on the world and you" look that always cracked us up! Used another set of Autumn Leaves journal stamps that I love and the real fun Scenic Route arrow. It had a pattern on it that I could not use so I just turned it over to the white side and journaled on the arrow. I have loved this Basic Grey paper but could never figure out just how to use it. I'm happy!

So enjoy your weekend to all! Luv ya!

26 hours

2007-07-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

>

That's how many hours my mom and I had the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows book before we finished it. It was a wonderful weekend - my mom and I waited for our ticket number at barnes and Nobles (19) and then shoppped and ate dinner before heading back to B&N for the potter festivities. It was so much fun to people watch! Especially seeing all of the amazing costumes. The two best hands down were the Sorting Hat which was unbelievable and the Hagrid. Hagrid actually won the contest. I did not manage to get a picture of the one month old baby in its' stroller that had on glasses, robe, scar and mini Hedwig - he was adorable! (Congrats go out to my girlfriend Shaye's son Simon for getting Honorable Mention at their release party in Indiana! (www.smarterthanpancakes.vox.com)

I started reading the book outloud to us in the car as soon as we left the store at about 12:12am. When we got home - I read until about 5am and mom read some then slept an hour then read then slept, etc. Again my fabulous hubby tried to curtail the kids so we could read until he needed to go into work for awhile. But more or less, mom and I sat around reading all day. The kids loved their day of computer and TV! Then when the kids went to bed - it was our key quiet time to read again and by 2 a.m. Saturday we were done and spent the next half hour discussing it before bed. It was so much fun getting to spend the weekend with Mom and sharing in the mania of Harry Potter and getting to discuss chapters and events all along the way in the book. I have learned though that my mom reads MUCH faster than I!! Thanks mom for a wonderful time! I love you!!

So onto my thoughts - WOW did she jam pack this one with information and new characters!!! There were times my head was spinning. I do think it was a great book!!! and i did Love it!- but I think just because it is over (and I am sad) that it will never be the greatest and I think she was a little bit more 'brutal' with the characters than I had wished she was! But I do think it was wrapped up well and that I do not think there is much left unanswered in my mind from the series. It has been a wonderful ride and I will miss the anticipation of more to come.

Be sure to email or call me if you want to chat about the book in more detail (I ecpect to hear from Shaye and Kaylee soon!!)! I would love to since I can't say much at home since I expect it will be about another 2 years at least before Todd gets to this book!

Hope you have a great weekend! Off to actually communicate with my family since I basicly was in my own (or Harry's) little world yeasterday.

Luv ya all!!

It's finally here!!!

2007-07-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

I bet you know what I will be doing all weekend after hanging in line with my Mom, friend Becky, her daughter and her mom and several hundred of my 'closest' friends!

Scrapbook zen

2007-07-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

My hubby is wonderful! He was willing to hang with the kids for part of the weekend so that I could get away and do a 24 hour crop. I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep but had a great time chatting with new and old friends and scrapping!! I didn't get a huge amount done but I managed to get that zen type quality that comes from scrapbooking. I loved it!

One of the pages I did get done is the 4th One Little Word Challange - NEW. It was due a week ago so I missed the deadline but I had to do the page because once I sawthe word - I knew exactly what my page had to be about. Todd and I had just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary in May and had gotten some pictures taken for the ocassion. We danced to the Disney song "Whole New World" from Aladdin on the night we started dating (at a wedding we were in) - so it was appropriately our first dance at our wedding. This was my way to scrap our anniversary picture next to our wedding picture. I love it! And I got to use this fun new paper from Deja Views!

Have a great week! Mine will be a fun one full of alot of activity. Tomorrow night we are making our much anticipated trek to see the new Harry Potter movie! I can't wait!

2007-07-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since i have blogged so I got this idea from some of my friends blogs to just let you know that I am still out there.

Some things on my mind

*I wish my scrap area would remotely stay uncluttered so that I would get the desire to scrap. I know it will take me a good hour and half to just pick it up before I can even get to scrapping.

* Why does making 12 little cupcakes seem so difficult on some days? - no butter - got some - accidently left it out all night - go buy more butter - chocolate cake mix expired a year ago - go buy more choc cake mix - realize don't have my decorating supplies - call friend to bring over - etc...

* Boy this summer is going fast! I thought I had all the time in the world to get ready for Logan starting school, going to the pool, losing weight...

* When am I ever going to get started on painting the kids bathroom? I have had the paint for a month!

* Why when you mop the floor - two hours later the kids spill the nastiest stuff on it so then you figure why ever mop?

* I need to get out of my scrapbooking rut of same ol same ol..

* I am praying every day that Lexi finally starts talking in a way that we can understand and that there is not something more to it...

*Why is Webkinz just so much fun for grownups to play??? If only we could truly earn money that way!!!

Okay - so that is some of the things flying around my head this beautiful Monday morning. I hope you and yours have a glorious day! And I hope I can get these crazy cupcakes done!!!!!

harry potter

2007-06-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Yes - I am extremely excited! But as a friend said... it will be bitter sweet.

MY - OLW Challenge

2007-06-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't had many chances to scrap lately but I did finally take the time to create a layout for the current One Little Word challenge. The word is "MY" and as soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I needed to scrap about...

Journalling:
Life with a 2 1/2 year old
Whenever Lexi sees something she wants - she looks at me and asks MY? MY?
it totally cracks me up since she even asks when things are clearly someone elses!

This was a different style of layout for me but alot of fun since I let Lexi create the background paper.

enjoy!

STOP - OLW Challenge

2007-06-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here is my take on the One Little Word Challange (www.onelittleword.blogspot.com). The second word is STOP!

This page is what I need to say to myself to just get the will power and go forward with the diet and exercise routine that works best for me. Stop the Madness of trying this and that - just go forward

I printed the pictures up as 1 1/2 inch square photos side by side and trimmed them out together to serve as my one photo. I muted their color intensity so that they don't stand out - the journalling does. This was so different from my usual way of thinking! But it works for 'MY' mini album.

Thanks for looking and have a great week! kelly

PS - BIG congrats to my BIL for a great finish at the Memorial Tournament!

A Decade of Bliss

2007-05-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

10 years ago today I married my best friend. Every minute has not been perfect but I would say it has been a perfect life together.

I love you!

Happy Birthday Todd!

2007-05-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish the wonderful man that I married a happy birthday!!! You are so special to me and are an incredible daddy. Have a great day!

One Little Word

2007-05-21T09:59:00.001-07:00

I got some time to scrapbook yesterday which was wonderful! Most of the time I was just working on little albums for the kid's pre-school teachers as a thank you but I did also get the chance to make a page for the 1st challenge at www.onelittleword.blogspot.com. This was fun!

Their first word is 'GO' and you are challenged to create a page about whatever this word inspires in you. As I was online yesterday the kids were running around playing making ALOT of noise and I happened to notice on our desk the pictures of each of the kids from the hospital as a newborn and made me think - 'Where did the time go..." - thus my page!!!

I have decided that I will use these challenges as pages for my own little 9x9 album of favorite pictures and just things I want to say. So anything GOes!!

Enjoy!

Flattery

2007-05-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

They say that Imitation is the Greatest Form of Flattery. This is one of the many reasons I love scrapbooking. I LOVE to look at other peoples layouts and get ideas for my pages. Sometimes it is a color scheme, sometimes an embellishment, or a journalling idea and sometimes it is an entire layout that totally speaks to you. That is what happened when I was looking at an issue of Scrapbooks etc. lately and there was a layout by Janna Wilson that just totally grabbed me. And I knew I just had to copy it! And I knew exactly what picture. I was very blessed to get alot of cute pics from Easter this year (I have already posted several layouts and alot of the pics). My friend Ronda P. decided to play around in Adobe with a cute picture of Lexi and taught me a little about the software (still learning) so I decided to create a sepia version.

Thanks Ronda for teaching! And Thanks to Janna and all the other fabulous scrapbookers out there who help to inspire us with ideas and art!

If you are in need of some great new ideas - be sure to check out two new blogs that feature my friend Ronda - www.unpubbed.blogspot.com and www.onelittleword.blogspot.com. I can't wait to work on my pages inspired by these two blogs. Maybe I will post later...

Have a wonderful Sunday!

So Many Special Women...

2007-05-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

This post is going out to all of the wonderful Mothers that I have the pleasure of calling my friends.

First and foremost... my Mommy... if only we clueless teenage girls would understand how special our mothers truly are - then our growing up years would be so much better. I know now that she is truly one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life. I love you Mom!

Also right there is my mother in law - she raised 5 great children - and I hold her responsible for the incredible person that my husband is. He takes after her kind and gentle heart and I love it. Thank you!

And as wonderful reminders to me in my daily life of how a mother should be... I have all the incredible women in my life that I have met through MOMS club, Scrapbooking and schools. It is so refreshing to see how everyone else is learning the ropes like me and can give each other advice on mothering without looking down on each other and their 'cluelessness'.

Thank you one and all for your part in our life. I love ya!

Wonderful Weekend!!

2007-05-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

I spent the time with my fabulous friends - Tannile and Beth - at a hotel in town scrapbooking ALL weekend!! It was great! I missed my kids and my hubby but - you know that scrapbooking is just a great way to relax - reminisisce - share with friends - and be CREATIVE! It has been way too long since I have gotten to just create and chat with the girls about kids, scrapbooking, tv and even politics! Thank you two for such a wonderful time! (We even got to see adorable 2 month old Henry!! Baby Fever!!!)

I had so much fun getting to use some of my collection of new products and even uses some of my older ones.

Speaking of older product - Ali Edwards' AEzine challenge this week is to purge your scrapbook supplies and to use something old on a layout. I haven't gotten to the purging yet but I did do a layout for the challenge. So on this layout I used some of my older pattern paper that I have in my Lexi paper file. It is a cute pink floral from Me & My Big Idea a couple years ago that Susan & Erin from the store suggested I use for a cute Girly page (I had only been doing boy up until then). It took me awhile but it was so fun to use! Thanks S&E!

And new products - BOY I LOVE my Autumn Leaves acrylic journal spot stamps! I think I used them on almost every layout I created this weekend. What is so great about them is that it encourages me even more to use my own handwriting. Even my friend Beth - who NEVER writes her own stuff - used them for a couple layouts this weekend! Too Cool!

Enjoy this layout and be watching for some of the others I will post later. Have a great week!

kelly

postscript - my dear friend Elizabeth's son Matthew is having surgery tomorrow morning so please help me keep him in your prayers. I truly appreciate it!

Dealing with a 2 1/2 year old!

2007-05-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

Okay - so I admit it - I have hit the stage where it is just easier to deal with some of her opinions rather than to try to conform her to mine! This morning - I asked the kids to get their shoes on so that we could head out to the Y for me to workout. Well they did as asked and Lexi was so excited to show me her choice of shoes... her dress up Cinderella high heels!! Nothing I could do could change her opinion!!!! Since I was running late I let it go (have you seen her throw a tantrum????) Since she couldn't walk real fast I had to end up carrying her most of the time.

It was even more priceless when we decided to meet Daddy at the little chinese restaurant in town and here comes Lexi - walking in her "LOVE" t-shirt, jean skirt, cinderella heels and her Strawberry shortcake purse hanging around her neck! Tables of people were turning to smile and laugh at her and she was eating it up with that big grin on her face!!!!

As my friend Michelle says... "here comes Diva!!!"

Isn't she lovely!

2007-04-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Isn't she just beautiful! The newest addition to the Perry family. Todd's niece, Kim & her hubby Craig welcomed beautiful baby Maeve on Tuesday morning. We just wanted to wish them a wonderful congratulations and can not wait to meet this precious new addition to the family!

Love to all!

Another page to show you! Yay!

2007-04-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sinca that last page was so much fun... I had one other page in mind from our Easter pictures and even got the time to do this page! My hubby rocks!

I got to use even more of the Scenic Route arrows and their papers and chipboard embellishments. This is so fun!!!! This one is more of a test for me because it goes a little outside my comfort range when it comes to color but it was good for me.

We are also spending the weekend reorganizing everything including my scrap area so hopefully I will get to create even more!!!

Have a great week!!!

Yay! I have been creative!

2007-04-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

I got to spend some time and be creative today! So much fun and makes me realize how much I have missed it! Todd was so nice and kept the kids occupied while I put to paper an idea I had with using some fabulous new products we have gotten in at Scraps.

I used the fun new Bailey Line of paper and glitter chipboard words from K & Co and then also some of the grid paper and arrows from Scenic Route. (Yes Erin, I broke down and bought the arrows to go with that fabulous star paper we both loved) This is one of the Easter pics of Lexi that I love. I am going to try printing it in either Sepia or with Watercolor type saturation to see if I like that look of the picture better with the color of the paper. Her dress really clashes with the paper! Who dressed that girl anyway!

Hope you enjoy!

Have a Beautiful Easter

2007-04-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a glorious Easter and celebrated with people you loved! We got to spend the day with two of our favorite people! Grandma and Poppy! We love them!!! (thank you so much for sharing the day with us!) And Grandma even made sausage gravy and brought loads of fabulous fruit for us to go with all the food I had! We ate well! Yum!

The kids got to see their Easter baskets and did a mini Easter egg hunt in the house. Wasn't it fun to see the snow falling outside on Easter?!! Lexi had Poppy helping her open her eggs and smiled so big everytime he opened an egg and gave her the candy inside. Logan had Grandma watch over his candy after he opened his own eggs then he went back to his Legos. Boy does he love those!

I just wanted to share some cute pictures from the day with everyone. Logan chose his own shirt - isn't it beautiful with his eyes! And little Lexi - after a VERY large fight even getting her into a dress (I guess she is not going to be my girly girl) - she looked absolutely gorgous!

NEVER trust a 2 year old!

2007-04-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

How come I just can not seem to learn that! I think 'No not my sweet little angel!' The fool I am! It takes me way too long to realize that she is quietly off playing by herself so nicely... so I go to see - and she has an entire roll of toilet paper in toilet. Or - she has found a Sharpie in my bedside drawer and has drawn all over her face. Or she is nicely coloring a picture and when I walk back to see her pretty picture she has lovingly colored for her Mommy - I find red marker covering every toe and her hands and her arms! Or - when she picks up a crayon in the van and I think she is again drawing a picture and find out that she has drawn red lines all over her lovely little cream tights! (see why I never dress her up!)

So why do I STILL think I can trust her??????? Because of those innocent beautiful eyes of hers! So when she decided to play in the van yesterday while I was pulling weeds in the front yard... I didn't think anything of it! Until this morning when I have now realized that my beautiful - darling - sweet little girl - put every coin she could find into the cassette player!!! Isn't that just so sweet of her!!

Maybe just maybe.... I will learn to question the silence!!

Nah - I doubt it - Isn't this the face of an angel?

Baby Workshop Created!

2007-04-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

I did it! I have finished the baby workshop that I am going to teach at Scraps this month. This has been something I have been doing off and on for many months now. Finding time is just so hard. But it is going to be a class that the students will walk away with TWELVE 12x12 pages that will basicly get their 'babys' first year done! What a wonderful thing! It has been designed as a fairly basic design so that we can also sell them as a kit - maybe even to people that have never scrapbooked before. My fabulous mom went to the store with me this weekend and while I put together the girl version of the kit - she put together the actual kits for me! She rocks doesn't she!!! And to think I am actually getting most of this done a whole 4 weeks in advance!!! If only I could plan ahead so well with the rest of my life!

Since I have been working on this workshop - I have basicly done no scrapbooking of my own!! And I am really getting the bug to get some stuff done! (doubt my
scrapbook area is clean again...) So last night when I worked at the store (remember... the goal is to spend less than I just made while working... didn't work last night) I picked up the cutest little kit from Pebbles Inc. that included sticker letters that had individual words and sayings on them so that I could try to make just a quick mini alphabet album all about the Loves in my life - Todd, Logan & Lexi. Looking forward to it!

I originally thought of making one album for each of them but sadly enough I have discovered that there is very few pictures of Todd and I together!!! And almost none since the kids were born!! This has got to change! It is now a goal of mine to actually document in photos - Todd and I's life together! So if any of you see us out together and have your camera on you... be sure to snap a photo for me please!

Have a great one! I will keep you posted on my progress of my mini album!

Finally a little creativity

2007-03-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well - I finally got my scrap area at least a little picked up and got to sit down to do something creative. It was just a card but it was still fun to at least get to play some! I got inspired by a card that I saw on Two Peas this weekend. Todd's niece Kim is having a baby and her shower is this weekend. The colors of the card are very non traditional but the nursery is teal and brown and I know Kim's favorite color is celedon green so I decided to use the new My Mind's Eye paper that I love! I also got to play some more with the Autumn Leaves swirl stamps that Erin from Scraps let me borrow. I LOVE them!! Thanks Erin! I promise I will get them back to you soon! Especially since you have been spending so much time creating!

Just wanted to share that I actually do still create on rare occasions!! Hopefully the start of a wonderful trend! Have a wonderful weekend! I will be congratulating Kim & Craig on the exciting time that is about to come into their life with this being their first child! Keep them in your prayers!

I'm still here!

2007-03-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yes! I am still here!!! It has been a hectic couple weeks and just now trying to get life back into some semblance of a routine. Todd just got back into the states this weekend after spending 8 days gone in Germany. Luckily for me, my wonderful mother in law was willing to come into town to help me out with the kids so I wouldn't go completely crazy. She slept downstairs and since I wanted to let this be here 'domain' - I stayed away from the computer and my scrapbook area most of the time. SO.... needless to say... that mess on my scrapbook area has only grown over the last few weeks rather than improved! So I guess it will now be new and improved focus to try and get it picked up so I can actually create! First on my agenda is to complete the baby class pages and get them ready to make kits for them since they will probably be taught in April. Then I hope to actually get some of my own scrapping done!!!

Speaking of Scrapbooking - I spent Saturday with my mom helping out a wonderul program given to 3rd - 8th grade girls that was entitled "Empowering Young Women". What a great thing!!! It was all about showing these young girls that no matter what - they are all special and important in this world! What I helped with was a little 'scrapbooking' section where each of the girls got to create a page using a picture we took at the beginning of the day - to place in the front of their binder. Each girl was given a 8 a/s by 11 sheet of cardstock and two coordinating half sheets of pattern paper. They were also given letters to cut out for their name and some words to cut out to describe them. They were told to decorate however they want but to be sure to use some words or descriptions to show their strengths. Our 2 classes were made up of 6th graders and 3rd graders. It was AMAZING to see how these girls just took off with the little guidance we gave them and just went to town with their creativity!!!! Seldom did they ever ask for our help - nor did they ask their friends or copy from their friends! This was all about what they came up with by themselves!!! It was really fun to see them working so hard to create and the fun and wonderful pages that they made! It was a wonderful workshop and great for me personally to be able to share in (Thanks Mom!!) I hope workshops like these are around when my little girl gets old enough - but I also hope that I do well enough conveying to her at home that she is special no matter what!!!)

Also makes me want to be sure to get my kids into scrapbooking when they are young - to see what their minds can create!! Hopefully I will be posting again soon with something I have made myself - but in the meantime... I am still here and thinking of you guys!

Happy Birthday Daddy/Poppy!!!!

2007-02-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

A wonderful birthday wish going out to my fabulous daddy! (I love being Daddy's Little Girl!) Hope you had a great one driving back from Canada!! We love you! (isn't he cute! and what a great Poppy!!!)

Happy Birthday!

2007-02-24T06:56:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to send out a Belated wish to Cousins' Kaylee and Alan hoping they had wonderful birthdays! You are in our thoughts and we can't wait to see you guys soon!

Hope you had great ones!

Creative Chaos

2007-02-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

So how do you work in creative chaos? That is what I am asking myself everyday that I sit down to try and scrapbook. My hubby has been very kind to me and given me an end of our downstairs room to call my own - my Scrapbook Area. The problem is the area just doesn't seem to be big enough for all my 'collection' and I am still not coming up with the best storage solutions for my space. This area is also the catch all for family info, my mail, purchases, gifts, projects, etc. So at any given time it is a complete disaster! It takes me 20-60 minutes + to clean up before I can even sit down to create. Unfortunately dampers the creativity.

I have my eye set on a large cube bookshelf that I think will solve alot of my problems. I am anxiously awaiting IKEA to open but it will be a good year plus so I wait (Thanks to my friend's Tannile & Aysha who turned me onto this bookcase)... Meanwhile I have found a wonderful one at Meijers that I might even have to have to save me from the waiting. I'll keep you posted on that one.

I have been at least able to do a little bit of fun scrapbooking! I have almost completed a 14 page 1st year baby album pages that will be offered as a class and kit at the scrapbook store I work at. That was fun!!!! (Too bad I am done with most of those pages for my kids! ;) I also am having this bad habit of starting pages and projects and not finishing them! I currently have a canvas painted to do some wall art for my scrap space, large clothes pins painted to decorate also for my area, chipboard books cut and scored to be covered and decorated into mini name albums, Magnetic paint to make boards for my area, and three new sets of My Mind's Eye paper set out with sketches to do pages that just needs pictures chosen and then done! And that is just on one of my tables!!! See how sad my area is!! ;) But I still love it!

My goal is to get this area tip shape! So that I can thoroughly ENJOY looking at the space, being in the space and creating in the space. (Remember - my word for the year is ENJOY - I must embrace this). I have some organization methods that I truly enjoy that I have gotten from friends and books. But... if any of you have some great (and inexpensive) ideas... I would LOVE to hear from you!!! It is always better to hear from people that truly use these ideas and know they work.

So my wish for you all - Have a wonderful week and to those who scrapbook - Be creative and find your inspiration! My friend Erin (www.erinwells.typepad.com) has been so productive with fun and meaningful layouts lately that she has truly gotten me inspired! (and you said you wouldn't be scrapping anytime soon!) Happy belated birthday Erin to you and to Ronda A! Know you guys had a fun one!

INSANITY!!!

2007-02-14T11:16:00.000-08:00

That has been the theme of late at the Perry household!!

Poor Logan has been struggling getting healthy from a sinus infection - where he took an antibiotic that led to C-Diff - an infection in the colon (that is NOT pretty and very painful) which had to just go away on it's own... that was a rough week+! So now that he was better and ready to get out and have fun.... even more insanity began!

Remember back when I said our Carbon Monoxide detector went off a couple weeks ago... well - it went off again Monday the 5th around 8:30pm. We knew everyone had to get out of the house for the night until we could get the heating guys in to check. Thank God for my fabulous friends... Katie took all 3 cats and Michelle took my whole family in. I had the fire dept out at about 10:30pm and they got zero reading again!! The next morning the heating guys got zero reading again! This is getting old!!! So back into the house we move! (Back goes the new CO detector to get exchanged and a second one is purchased)

Then... Friday night around 7:30pm I drive in to find the alarm going off again!! I do everything they told me to do then immediately called the fire dept. They came over and this time they got a reading in the house. And they were extremely thorough and even tried to check all of us to see if we had excessive levels. So again - trying to find a place for all of us. Katie and Noah took the cats again - and my friend Elizabeth let us crash at her parents' condo that they have in town but don't live in year round. At least we all had a roof, heat and wonderful friends!!! (yes the firemen probably thought I was crazy since in the madness I was trying to get some pictures while packing... people just don't understand scrapbookers!!!)

Monday morning - time to get quotes on a new furnace!!! ARGH!!! And guess what - I had a THOUROUGH check up and NO Carbonne Monoxide detected!!!! (we had left the heat on all weekend to keep our pipes from freezing). The decision was that the detectors are not the most accurate and that my car into the garage was setting off the detector. So after cleaning the furnace and buying a VERY nice new detector - we were able to move back in!!!

So since Katie was so nice to have kept my kids all day while I dealt with furnace stuff - I thought I would run back to the condo to get stuff packed up and I find that my entire bottle of liquid detergent had vibrated off the washer and busted ALL OVER the carpet remnants!!!!!!! Why me??????!!!!!

So - off to get the kids and the cats and still make it to the grocery store for essentials since they are predicting 5 - 10 inches of snow with ice starting that night!!!! On the way - my car had a 'Hot Coolant Temp' light come on and my needle started sitting in the red 'H' zone. Yes - I found some milk and with some minor flaws (my entire large soft drink dropping and exploding all over my kitchen) we made it through the night. Note - my fabulous husband drove back to the condo and worked on cleaning up my nice spill for me... he was feeling sorry for me!

Tuesday we stayed home all day since school was cancelled and ice everywhere. We had a nice day doing absolutely nothing except for laundry, unpacking, watching tv and napping.

Wednesday I wake up to no electricity! And of course we were not prepared so our rechargable flashlights were not charged and no extra batteries for the one flashlight we could find. Are you getting the theme to our life right now!!??!!! Thank God - our power came back on around 8am so I didn't have to worry about keeping the kids warm and entertained. I did decide to venture out and get my car checked so it didn't get worse... and a cracked manifold - 2 days of service - and a rental car later... Lets just say it is going to cost alot to fix!! When I called my girlfriend Michelle to whine - she first said' you have got to be kidding - no never mind.. it's you!"

So anyway... that has been the basics of our insanity of late and why most of you have not heard from us lately. But what we realize in all of this is Thank God for the wonderful friends we do have (especially the generosity of Michelle, Katie and Elizabeth & her parents). And we are all safe, healthy and together! Throughout it all - the kids were absolutely wonderful and willing to share in all of our 'adventures'.

I leave you with some wonderful quotes from Logan through it all this week:

* While on the phone whining to Todd about my spilled drink - Logan came over and interupted me to say "I heard you mommy, would you like to share my drink?"

* While driving away from the car rental company in the little 4 door we got - my son who only remembers me driving a van asks "Mommy do you know how to drive a car?"

Our love and gratitude to all - stay warm and safe!! And remeber to 'ENJOY' (boy did I choose an appropriate word!)

aezine challenge

2007-02-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

I am finally getting around to do another one of Ali Edwards weekly challenges (http://aliedwards.typepad.com). Last weeks challenge was to name all of those scrapbook products that are essential to your scrapbooking.
Here are my priorities when I scrapbook:
1) My new Making Memories trimmer - I LOVE this thing!! So worth the money! I hated how all my other trimmers did not always cut straight and you could not shave off just a sliver. This one does! It rocks! The week I got it, I even sat on my bed and cut the pieces to make Lexi's birthday invites! In bed! How totally cool is that!
2) Bazzill cardstock - what yummy colors! (my hubby makes fun of me) When Scraps first started carrying bazzill - I swore the texture didn't mean much. I started going to it for the colors but have stayed because I do love the dimension that the texture brings.
3) Pattern Paper - I went for a good year barely even using pattern paper and then all the wonderful coordinating lines came out and I was hooked again! My current favorites are My Minds Eye (Wild Asparagus and Bohemia) and Sweetwater.
4) My Nikon Camera and my HP Photosmart printer - I am a digital girl! Love that I don't have to store all my printed pictures - I store them on discs and only print up the ones I need. I print up all my pictures at home which gives me the benefit of playing with my photo sizes ALOT! I am a huge fan of wallet sized photos so that I can get more pictures on every layout. I am also starting to do alot more single picture layouts in my family album and they are often 8x10s or 5x7s.

Since I was on a roll doing the challenges, I went onto this weeks aezine challenge which is about what are the extra things in scrapbooking that you can not live without. These are the things that make you want to scrapbook and stretch your creativity. So after thinking, I have decided my list of the extras that I am into 'right now' are:

1) Van Dyke Brown Ink!!! - I use this ink pad on EVERYTHING that doesn't move!!! My friend Emily keeps making fun of me!

2) Ribbon - LOVE THIS!!! I pretty much have it on everything! What a wonderful cheap product with fabulous colors and patterns!! And looks so pretty display in jars in my scrap area.

3) Rub Ons - I love the words, letters and doodles. It doesn't matter what it is... I am even breaking out of my comfort zone and putting them on pictures, ribbons, etc!

4) Flowers - what a fun embellishment and great colors out there! I am currently enjoying the larger ones right now.

5) Staples - fun, easy, plentiful and a great way to attach ribbons and transparencies. Also a very 'boy thing' for Logan's pages.

6) Stamps - starting to really enjoy these on my scrapbook pages. My current favorites are some from the dollar bin at Michaels, the It's a Date stamp from Stampin' Up (thanks to Lisa) and Heidi Swapp words (thanks to Erin). I have even started looking at them online and plotting out which ones I want to start using in my journaling (love those new Fontwerks). I thought I was sort of 'done' with stamps since I really haven't been making too many cards these days.

I even went the extra step and made a little page all about the 'stuff' that I am into. This page is for a 9x9 album I started as an All about Me album. This is only the second page in that album since I obviously don't do much scrapbooking about me... I hope to change that this year!!

Hope you all have a wonderful day and stay warm! Thinking of you! k

I love Harry!

2007-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Okay.. I admit it.. I love Harry Potter!! I love everything about the books and the movies. I am absolutely amazed at how a book written for children can speak to a 30 something (hee-hee) year old and 'be on my level'. I am one of 'those people' that counts down until the newest book comes out (July 21st in case you haven't heard). The last two books - I was with 300 of my closest friends at the Barnes & Nobles at midnight waiting for the release of the book. Then of course I would go home and read until I got 'tired' which never seemed to happen with a Harry Potter book! I would have 700 pages read in just over 48 hours. Of course my family never got to talk to me. But if Todd and the kids will let me - I plan on being there again this July and reading all weekend - (let me know if you want to join me!)

So in preperation for the final book to be released and the 5th movie... A friend of mine (hey Ronda!) and I decided to reread all 6 books (one a month) and see if we can find some of the hidden answers to what will happen in the 7th book. I made us a cute little Harry Potter journal to jot down our thoughts (since I don't seem to have much of a memory anymore.) Ronda's daughter Lexi, my mom, my friend Sharon and a friend of my moms have all decided to join us in this quest! By the time we are done... we will have it all figured out and have all the answers!!! Unfortunately I can not share any of these with my husband - he is currently reading the 5th book - which is supposed to be read by the July movie release. I haven't even been able to talk to him about who died in the 6th book!!!!! Thank goodness for my mom and friends that will commiserate with me!!!

So - until July - you can find me reading my Harry Potter books (maybe that is why I am doing so few blog entries - that or the playing of Webkins) and if you have any thoughts about what is to happen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I would love to hear them. I can theorize with the best of them!

In parting I leave you with this thought from Dumbledore (note to my dad who will never read or watch HP - he is the headmaster of the wizarding school)

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

89 dollars later...

2007-01-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

This is what I saw at my house today!! Don't worry - no problem... just read on...

Okay - so I get home at 2:00 today after picking the kids up from pre-school and a full day of running errands. I come home to find my Carbon Monoxide detector going off. It is not saying battery - it is saying get out to 'fresh air'. So - the kids go back into the car and my friend Michelle graciously agrees to take them (you do realize how wonderful you are don't you?!) She even had her youngest asleep and the older at a friends so she was actually going to get ALONE time and low and behold... (see - she is wonderful!!)

So I head back to the house to figure out what is going on. I call the heating/air company we use and they say they will send someone over. I open up the house and windows and shut off the heat. Within 20 minutes my house had dropped down to 60 degrees! Boy this is fun! After sitting around and waiting and talking with my girlfriend Elizabeth - we decided it would be best to call the Fire Depts non emergency line to ask their advice. They immediately told me to get out of the house and they will send an engine over to check it out.

So I go out and decided that I probably should have my cats out in case... I loaded the cats in their carriers and put them in the back of the van and sat outside and in my neighbors house. The firemen showed up and checked everything out. They did not get any CO readings. But they did mention that they tell people to open all windows but then it makes it hard to get any readings... Hmm... wonder how that is supposed to work then. So they left me knowing that Arronco Heating & Air was on their way to do a second check. Their check also came back negative. So we are assuming that even though my Carbon Monoxide detector has a battery low function and that was not being lit up... that my battery was actually the problem. I payed Arronco the $89 for the service call and changed the battery. Note: It has not gone off again. Also note: get a new detector!!

After everyone left... I went to go rescue Michelle and Mike from my kids and then met Todd for dinner (I of course had never thought about making anything). When we got home, we realized that I had never turned the heat back on after all the checks and so our house was at 57 degrees!!!! Nice!

All I can say - is thank goodness I had 'Smores for dessert at the restaurant!!

Enjoy!

2007-01-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

A blog that I read regularly (thanks to Erin & Ronda) by scrapbook artist Ali Edwards, had me thinking alot at the beginning of the year. Ali sends out a weekly challenge to get you to think about things in your life and to experiment in your scrapbooking and journaling. Her first challenge of the new year was to choose a word that will be your mantra for the year. Hundreds of people participated and told her about their word and her list of words being used totaled about 150!!!! Wow! That is alot of theme words as well as alot of people that decided to take on this challenge!

My word is ENJOY

* ENJOY the wonderful life I have and not dwell on the things that I think I am missing

* ENJOY my children the age they are and the way they are - don't wish for them to grow up or do things differently- it is happening too fast already!

* ENJOY my husband - make the time we have together special even though it is not as much time as we would like

* ENJOY scrapbooking and all the joy the art and working at Scraps etc. gives me. Embrace my own style - don't compare but don't be afraid to experiment with other styles.

* ENJOY everyday and embrace what God has blessed me with - family, friends and life!

So if you see me and I look like I have been pulling my hair out or am trying to understand what my 2 year old is trying to tell (yell at) me or complaining about my disastrous house - tell me to ENJOY so I can keep this word fresh in my mind!! (If that doesn't work.... tell me to go get a Starbucks! I will definitely ENJOY that!!)

Carbs Carbs Carbs!

2007-01-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

Okay - those fabulous foods that always seem to be on everyone's love or hate list! Most of us love them but realize that we should hate them because of what too much of the bad ones can do to us. It's been a battle for me -but the kids - they have completely opposite views of carbs.

Now Logan - he could survive on carbs alone if we let him! Breads are by far his favorite at the top of the list - and it doesn't matter what kind of bread - Wonder white bread to fresh cooked rye bread at a restaurant. He loves them all!! He chooses his favorite restaurants based on what kind of bread they serve - O'Charley's rolls (where he has managed to eat 5 one night) and Red Lobster cheddar biscuits being the top two. But along with bread, there is also pastas, cereals, french fries, crackers, chips, etc. Almost any carb - he will eat - and it is pretty much the only thing that I can assume he will eat a large amount of. I guess he is proof that the low carb diet is not the only way considering the boy is so skinny and has finally reached a whopping weight of 36 pounds!!!

'Little' sister Lexi has a completely different view of carbs. She views most of them just as vessels to hold whatever sauce she is currently eating. French fries hold massive amounts of ketchup (she gets that from her brother and her daddy), pancakes scoop up the syrup and biscuits hold the jelly. Now the french fries and pancakes she will actually eat - because that is the best way to get the most amount of sauce. But biscuits and breads are another story - they are to hold the jelly but she would much rather not have to eat the bread - she would rather hold it and dig her face into it until she can eat or lick off the jelly. Then she yells at daddy that she wants 'mo'. Makes for very entertaining dining - but probably not the best for eating out in public. As soon as she realizes that she could just pick up any sauce with her spoon - then we wouldn't need the carbs at all!!! And she - being our carnivore is catching up with her brother - she has now hit 30 pounds and is 3 years younger than him! (She is probably going to catch him in height before long also.) But this does make sharing meals between the two of them very easy!

This is just one of those silly little things that I marvel about everyday how these two little people growing up in front of me - who come from the same parents and are brought up essentially the same way - can be so very different!! It is so entertaining to see their own personalities develop while still trying to be like each other and like mommy and daddy. If only I could pick what traits they got from mommy and daddy! (I'm sure Todd would say the same thing.)

Have a great week!! k

ps - Logan is doing GREAT with his glasses!

My own adorable little Harry Potter

2007-01-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Well here he is!!! This is the big news in the Perry household. We found out Friday that Logan needs glasses, will have to wear them all the time and will probably have to wear them for the rest of his life. He had been suffering headaches for quite sometime but never told us that his eyes hurt or he couldn't see real well. I finally took him to the Pediatrician Friday morning and after checking him over they sent us for an eye exam. His eye exam shows he has astigmatism and about 20-50 eye sight. Unfortunately most of this meant nothing to me because I have had 20-20 all my life and so I was a little overwhelmed with information. We held off on looking at lenses until today when we could take Daddy and decide which ones were the best. We all chose these as our favorite and they are a great shade of blue that really makes the blue of his eyes stand out! Yah!! I was so afraid those baby blues would get hidden! We got to also pick them up today and Logan is currently playing video games with his Daddy and doesn't seem to have a problem with them. So far - he seems to enjoy wearing them and being like Daddy. I pray he will continue to feel that way! Now - if we can just keep Lexi's hands off of them (she destroyed a pair of Batman ones at Lenscrafters - obviuosly doesn't share her Daddy's love of Batman).

I have to admit I was a little sad when I heard he would have to get glasses so early in his life but we are definately all going to make the best of it and enjoy them! Especially now when he is young enough and will still actually listen to his Mommy and which glasses she thinks are adorable on him!! (Boy they do grow too fast don't they)

Also wanted to show a cute picture of Ms. Lexi also trying on glasses. She was very upset when after she destroyed the one pair, that we wouldn't let her try on anymore. Those 2 year olds!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful end to the weekend and that you are staying dry (it is miserably raining here).

Here we go....

2007-01-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

Okay - so I have been getting into reading a couple of my friends', Ronda (www.rondpalazzari.typepad.com) and Erin's (www.erinwells.typepad.com) , blogs so I thought I would give this a try! I was close to trying and then my highschool girlfriend Shaye (www.smarterthanpancakes.vox.com) started 2 days ago and gave me that final push to do it! Now I just have to find people that will want to read it!! ;) So here we are!!!

With scrapbooking being my obsession - Blogs have become a wonderful outlet for people in the industry and those that love it - to share their art, thoughts and become a great home to wonderful journalling for pages. A scrapbooking industry celebrity, Ali Edwards (www.aliedwards.typepad.com) , is one of the hottest blogs out there - and her amazing showcase of her life and art is such a strong pull to other scrapbookers to share - that blogging is now a very popular side aspect of being a scrapbooker. I hope to do this inspiration some justice with my blogs.

Now if I can just figure out how to make all of the side features work like uploading my pages and pictures of the kids!!! Keep posted to see my attempts! (note: it seems the page layout worked!!!)