wow...

so the madness is about to start...



tomorrow my mom and stepdad and two brothers will be here through next tuesday.

had Cameron's turkey feast today at the school. all i can say is that the bright side is that it's easy to top the awesomeness of a cafeteria thanksgiving.



thanksgiving count is at 22 now. this will be the first time i've ever spent a holiday will ALL of my siblings....all six of them! and significant others and children... pretty cool, huh? crazy/cool....



i bought a six pack of wine at the grocery store this week. brent says it won't be enough.



my house is clean momentarily. wait until my children get here.



meg's been sleeping in her big girl bed for two weeks now, and has been potty trained for two as well. here's a little peek at her room:

she has flat/semi-gloss stripes on her walls, and two different sections of butterflies hanging from the ceiling. These are all along the wall opposite her bed. she's been sleeping on the trundle for now, until she can stay contained in her bed for the night, and not wake everyone in the house with the loud boom of her body falling out of it at 3 in the morning.

had my sister's baby shower last weekend... turned out well, and she got some pretty cute things. my other sister susan had the camera, and had a grand time... i ended up with over 500 pictures from a BABY SHOWER. go girl.

had a craft day sunday with Brandy, Rita (oh ye who won't update her blog) and Sabrina... it was quite productive- i think i ended up with around 40 cards finished- woot! great start to the season. :)

off to finish some last minute stuff for the rest of the week... wish me luck!

still got it...

and have another 12 on the 12th somewhere that I need to put together... it was pre-camera breakage, so it's old news now.

Sometime, I'll learn how to make these all pretty, but in the meantime:

1.This is what happens when a 2 year old wants to dress herself. Sandals, with socks. check. shirt, two sizes two small, check.

2. dropping happy cameron off at school.

3. Megan's artwork- she's obsessed with fish since we went to nemo

4. she's also obsessed with the %&$* jack in the box- has figured out how to turn it, but not to get the goofy guy back in. So guess who does that part twenty times a day? Oh, and yes, she is in a semi-state of vegitation, watching Sesame Street. While I fold clothes.

5. Got a layout done during nap time. So uninspired these days. Could someone bring back the mojo???

6. our pool. we're at the water it twice a day stage. or i should say that brent is anyways. i just stare at it a couple of times a day.

7. the potty. meg's potty trained- woot! the downside is that i stare at this. a lot.

8. lunch with Ashley, but she didn't want her picture taken, so there's another one of Megan. one of my favorite places!

9. play date after school with Gray & Ty. got a chance to catch up with shawna.

10. ran to the store so people in my house wouldn't claim to starve. pish.

11. crap! my mom is going to be here soon! ack! yeah, been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get crap done before they come, and before we have 20+ people here both for Thanksgiving and the Saturday after. Ha!

12. bed time= story time for 30 minutes

love these two...

and LOVE the new Loveland papers! :P

Happy Birthday Brent!

Woot! 32 old man! Here's to another fabulous year to my most awesomest husband, and rockstar dad... I can't think of a better match for me- who else could possibly put up with me and all my quirks??


I actually let Brent pick (novel idea) what he wanted to do for his birthday this year... I felt like such a let down, but I have learned that as much as my husband is such a good sport about the constant plans and on the go and the social gatherings, parties, and miscellaneous obligations, sometimes he just likes to do....nothing. So that's what we did. Kind of. We went to Disney on Ice on Saturday to see Finding Nemo- the kids were enthralled by it the entire time- we had 2nd row seats, so it was pretty cool. Check us out with the fish himself- Meg is trying to rip his fin off:

Sunday Brent got a lazy Sunday morning pass in leiu of church, and then we met his parents for lunch. Then we finished up getting Meg's room together, and spent the latter part of the evening hanging in our friends next door hot tub with celebratory cocktails. :)

Our children are so lucky to call you Daddy (I'm keeping the mailman a secret- shh!!)


Thanks honey, and Happy Birthday! Love you!


(Please excuse my trashy children- one nekkid and one with his redneck sleeveless shirt on that he picked out deep from the drawer of what-other-people-give-our-children so he could show off that awesome tat. Nice and trashy folks.)

*day 4, no accidents. this chick rocks!

Chicago or bust!

the last time I did the "_____ or bust" I busted, but this time, it rocked! Had a fabulous time in Chicago, and only wish I could have had a day or two longer there- a beautiful city, with tons of character, and OMGosh the shopping is rockstar awesome! To top it all off, I met some FABULOUS ladies from all around, and I am SO glad I decided to take the trip! I was a little homesick- missed my kiddos, but overall, a great time was had... and just to SHOW you, in case you're interested in 5,000 pictures, you can look-



here,

here,

here,

and here.

(that's what happens when 15 scrapbookers get together. I'm pretty sure I was the only one that didn't bring a camera)



I know everyone's wondering about meeting 13 people you've never met in person before, so I'll touch on the key points of the trip...



everyone was pretty much exactly as I thought they'd be, save for a few, little itsy bitsy life altering moments.



one can never buy too much at Costco, or Sam's, wherever it was that Carmen went shopping before this trip. Thanks Carmen! Nothing says fabulous like a Diet Coke and a huge muffin in the morning.



It really is a windy city.



Sometimes, even when someone has two maps, they can still walk 20 blocks too many.



No matter how old you are, you get enough girls together, drama will happen.



I wish I would have thought of the damn American Girl store. those people are making a killing.



Brandy has a cute snore. I've spent the night with her plenty, but this was the first time I actually was awake enough to hear it. I think between the two of us we might have slept a full hour the whole time.



Those bike taxi dudes are scary. I saw my life flash before my eyes.



Chicago has THE worst traffic EVER. And lots of ambulances.



Laura is a drug dealer. and a lifesaver.



People don't type cuss words anywhere close to as much as they let them fly (I will omit, this is myself included(hanging head in shame))



You also can't hear those great accents (Carrie and Susan- LOVE them!)



I'm so glad I did not have to ride the elevator in the Sears tower. You have no idea how relieved I was.



Those cupcakes.... nah. Pass. The chai latte across the street? Bonus!



Puppy chow rocks. And the recipe is on the BOX. Same with scotcheroos. On the BOX.



It's really cool to get Krystn as a Secret Sister. And then give her a huge hug. Twice. She likes that.



I instantly knew Lisa and Bre would be awesome roomies when they had flasks waiting for Brandy and I when we got there. Pretty hard to top that coolness, so good thing we didn't try.



I gotta tell ya... Chicago deep dish.... eh. Good, but I like New York thin crust. Sorry.....



You can still bounce on metal couches. Promise. Saw it with my own eyes.



AND, I definitely want to do a trip, with ALL of these great fabulous peeps, again!! SOON!

Happy Birthday Em!

It's Emmie's 14th birthday!! Yay!

Went to dinner tonight, and sang an obnoxious Happy Birthday to her (I sound like a frog in a blender when I sing, for anyone who's thankfully never had the blessing of hearing me) and porked out on some serious sushi... who knew you could develop a gut from sushi...huh.

Poor Ethan was a trooper with his runny nose and sicky... but he's still adorable!

and my brother and Serene.... could someone PLEASE tell him to shave the 'stache??? I'm not going to tell you what I think of when I look at him with that thing, but it's from right around this time....at the rate we're going, I'm buying him Chicago's greatest hits for Christmas....

***Megan went potty ALL day today... NO accidents!*** just a small PSA for anyone who cares... :P

hmm...do you think...

that if your two year old is able to run upstairs,



scale the changing table,



lie down on top of it,



pick out a diaper,



and scream your name over and over



until you come find her



only to have her say,



"poo poo"



as she is laying there....



that maybe it's time to potty train?

some scrappy stuff...

These layouts were created with this month's Simply Obsessed kit: And this one was for Scrapfaith this month:

while I was gone...

I'll have to save the Chicago trip for another post with some uber fabulous pics (none of which I took, and the fact that all pictures taken of me helped to motivate me to get back on that diet bandwagon) but I had a fantastic time!

BUT, while I was gone...

our yard went from this:

to this:

my kids apparently had a great time with stickers: and my awesome flowers my hubs gave me for my anniversary finally bit the dust. :(And, as you can tell, the world is whole again, and I got my camera back. There's a peace in my soul that has returned.

My family will be here in two weeks- WOW! Lots to do, so I better get off the computer, huh?

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a fabulous one, and all the kiddos had a great haul! Here's a few pics of our handsome knight and adorable dragon....we're still at the mercy of others for pictures, so we've got a couple from the stop at Gramma's, thankfully. :)

The kids have definitely got this down now- Megan was hilarious at every stop- "Treat!" then "You!" and "Halloween!" ...she left out the "Trick or" and "Thank" and "Happy" but I think everyone got the general idea. She'd throw in an occasional "Raaar" too.

She's been a sicko like me all week, and was a total trooper, carrying that bag the whole time, even with Brent offering to carry her and the bag again and again. And Cameron can clear a street fast- that knight has never ran so fast as he could once he was done with one house and moving onto the next! It's great to see the different stages they're at- Cam at the "hmm... this gig pays out- wonder how many houses I can conquer!" and Megan at the "wow, every house throws candy in my bag- I dig this costume!"

I'm pretty sure Halloween is definitely the best holiday when it comes to low stress, big payout for kids holiday. :)

Brent and I decided next year to make our front lawn into a graveyard... some fencing, fog machine, and our neighbor is going to make a coffin for us. Should be fun! I think a tombstone for each of us would rock- I gotta come up with some creative epitaths :)

Link me to Halloween pics, if you've got them!