The most recent...

Here are the layouts that have "caught me up". Whew. Now I am working on the ones from Easter... It never ends.

Ciao all.

Don't get me wrong...

I love holidays, but I love it more when everything gets back to "normal". I basically worked last Monday and Tuesday and that was it. I was off for the last 6 days. It was nice to be home and hang out and ignore some committments (like Taekwondo! Oops, sorry... hee hee) but it was also nice this morning to get up and get everyone back to school and head out to work. I really am a routine based person. I function best when there are things to do and time frames to do them in. And Marc was home for four days so I could NOT let those days go to waste. I set him about doing numerous tasks including power washing the entire house/back deck/front deck and walk ways, and re-arranging the entire basement. That particular chore took an entire day to accomplish. But wow, the end results! Amazing what can be done with an unfinished basement to make it feel more comfortable and useable! We have 1000 sq feet of space down here. It has really been unused over these past two years. Not anymore. I am impressed. Love it when that happens - I impress myself!! hee hee

On another note, I am totally caught up with my scrapping once again. I finshed Ethan's Christmas layout over the weekend and did another one for Bella. I am on a hot roll! hee hee Now I can download the Easter pics and get working on them. It never ends... But I guess that is the point if you scrapbook - you should never run out of pics to scrap... I am not sure that scrapping is actually a good hobby for an anal person like me. I like things to end. I don't like to go on forever and ever... Hence why I have adopted a new scrapping philosophy. I only scrap what I want to scrap, and not worry about every little thing. I think it is a bit ridiculous honestly. Plus this way, I don't spend any $$! That is a good thing!! Do you know that I only have 5 pieces of patterned paper in my house! No joke. And I may have about 12 pieces of cardstock - black and white only. Not kidding. I am sooo done with spending loads of money on this "hobby". That is all it is! This is not a life for me. It is just something to occupy a few hours a week - let off some stress - try to be creative... Progress I tell ya. It works for me.

Ciao all.

Happy Easter

Wishing y'all a blessed Easter. Enjoy time with family and loved ones.

On a roll

Wow, I can't believe it - another layout! That is two in just a few days! Whoo! I just have Ethan's Christmas page to do and then I am all caught up! Just in time for Easter... Oh well. I like this layout - it is simple - and I am okay with the dead space at the top. I think it is enough. And if you don't agree, well, I don't want to hear! ha ha Just kidding. No, I'm not. hee hee


And this is just a fun one of my sweet Bella and her Webkinz bunny. She really loves this bunny, even though she does not get the whole Webkinz thing. Suites me fine. I don't get the whole Webkinz thing either and frankly I don't care to! To her it is just a cute stuffed bunny. Gotta love that innocence! Ain't she cute??!!

Something I have been thinking about

I was blog surfing a few days ago and came across a very interesting blog by a mom. Now I have forgotten who it was... Sorry. But I am going to poach her question that she posed on her blog because it has stuck in my head for these past days. Her question was,

"When did Easter become the new Christmas?".

Seriously! WHEN did this happen? Why are my kids asking for presents for Easter? And why is there so much junk out? I did not realize that my happiness on this day was dependant upon crackling chocolate eggs and gold bunnies and caramel filled treats and marshmallow chicks.... I have to say, if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, then there is no point in celebrating Easter. Sorry. We are Christians to the core. I was raised Roman Catholic and married LDS and converted. We believe that Christ suffered for each one of our sins personally and died for us so that we could live with Heavenly Father again. This is the time to celebrate His life. This is the time to give thanks for what He has done so that we can have eternal life. We don't believe in the Easter bunny. We don't teach/encourage that. I am really at a loss here. Has Easter become so commercial because society has abandoned family time and family values and so this is a good "reason" to give gifts? I know that eggs are the traditional symbol of new life. Totally cool since Christ died to give us NEW LIFE. Love that. And I am sure the bunnies and chicks are symbols of new life born on earth... I get that. But why has this spiraled to such a commercial "holiday"? I would really love to hear your thoughts on this. I am serious. I would appreciate the education. As for us, we will continue to teach our children that it is not about eggs and bunnies and gifts. It is all about Jesus Christ.

Now, if you are not Christian or if you are of another new age faith that celebrates at this time of year (NOTE: I don't want any hate mail. I am not pointing fingers here....) and you want to celebrate the beginning of Spring and the renewal of life, and the beauty that is found in the grass growing and the tress budding and the flowers blooming, etc. then by all means buy chocolate and give gifts and celebrate. But this is not Easter. It is not the same thing. I think that is where my hang-up lies... I have to do some research here and figure this out.

Ciao all.

Creative

I had this picture of Bella that I knew I wanted to scrap, but I lacked inspiration. Then I went surfing on Jenni Bowlin's site, and voila. Total lift of one of her layouts, and I LOVE it! This layout came together in like half an hour. It was great to do. The journaling is all about life now at 4 1/2 years old. She is a character. I am glad I could get that across!

Quiet night ahead for me. Marc is in Victoria with his Scouts. They are attending the Queen Venture banquet. Big honour for 8 of our young men. It is a wonderful thing. He will be back late tomorrow night. So I guess there is laundry ahead of me tonight. That is okay. Tomorrow the kids and I are heading to the movies - we are going to see Horton Hears a Who. I am really looking forward to this. So if I do my "work" tonight then tomorrow I won't feel like I should be at home doing laundry and dishes and vacumming, etc. I will be able to enjoy my outing with my kiddies. That is good.

Okay, I hear my kids calling for ice cream. That sounds good to me too.

Love y'all.

Ciao

We have a champion

Saturday Ethan had a taekwondo tournament. He competed in forms, weapons and sparring. He won 2nd place for forms and 1st place for sparring! Oh ya!! I was one proud mama!! He is a fighting machine - but a crafty fighting machine. It was an awesome sight to behold! Way to go Ethan!!

Ciao all

They say it's your birthday....

Happy birthday baby!

Love you lots.

You know, life is never boring around here

Well, I can't complain that life around here stands still. It doesn't. There is always something going on - good and not so good... Last night I get a phone call at 8:20 pm from Marc. I am thinking it is his routine call - I am on my way home kind of thing. No. The call goes a little something like this:

Marc: Hey.
Me: Hey. Where are you?
Marc: On the Port Mann Bridge.
Me: Okay.
Marc: No. You don't understand. I am literally on the bridge. My car is dead. Right mid span on the bridge. Oh, can't talk now. A police officer has just pulled up behind me....

WHAT??? Wait for half an hour. Another call from Marc. His car died right mid span. No battery. No lights. No nothing. What a total blessing that the highway patrol was literally two cars lenghts behind Marc and saw the whole thing and pulled up right away and blocked traffic around Marc and protected him. My greatest fear at that moment was some idiot would run into him at 100 km/hr and kill him. It happens every day on that bridge. And blessing no. 2 - a lady coming onto the bridge going the opposite direction saw Marc's car dying and she called the bridge patrol people so they were already on the way with their big truck to push Marc's car off the bridge and get it safely on the other side. A few phone calls later to BCAA Marc's car was towed to the mechanics and Marc was brought home. Only 1 hour late. Seriously. What could have been a total nightmare was just a mere inconvenience. And today the car was fixed - it was a wire that had burned out that delivered power from the alternator to the battery. That is all.

We are blessed in sooooo many little ways each and every day. I am grateful for them all.

But I do have to admit - I wish life would sometimes be a little less exciting around here... Hee hee

Ciao all.

TO DO today

1. Dollar Store: we are hosting a children's carnival Friday night and I need prizes for the games. Good prizes like giant chocolate bars and nerf footballs and glitter pens and lip smackers and candy, etc. etc. If you are going to play for a prize, you need a GOOD prize!!

2. Costco: need goodies for the kids at the carnival. I am thinking mini bags of carmel popcorn and bags of assorted candy like gummy worms and jellybeans. I can hop these kids up with sugar and then send them home!! hee hee

3. Scrap book store: have not been in months. Literally. Time to go and stock up on a few things and get some inspiration and do some creating.

Have a good day all.

Ciao

Things that make me smile today

My husband came home today with a bouquet of flowers for me - just because. Love him! Looking back on today, I really needed them acutally. It was a strange day at work - too quiet/calm - and then I came home to find an email from work that caused me grief = turning my strange day into a crappy day... Now I will fret about this email for the next two days - knowing there is nothing I can do about it. My stomach is in knots. And why?? It is nothing bad - it is just that I feel that every move I make is scrutinized and I have to justify everything. And even when I receive instructions and carry them out, I am wrong for doing what I was TOLD to do!! I can't work like this anymore... Now I am angry. That is no good. So I look at the flowers from my loving hubby and the pic of my smiling girl, and remember that there are very good things in my life and this is where my focus needs to be.

Ciao all

What do you say??

My conversation with Bella this morning:

Me: "Bella, get dressed. You have school today."
Bella: "I don't want to."
Me:"Bella, I said get dressed. You are going to school today".
Bella: crying now and whinning...
Me: "What is the problem?"
Bella: "I don't want to go to school."
Me: "Why? Are you sick?"
Bella: "No...." - still crying....
Me: "What is it then?"
Bella: "You are stressing me out!"

Apparently asking a 4 1/2 year old to get dressed is too much stress... Oh boy. Can't wait to see what happens when she is 12 or 16 or 18....

A little catch up

So here is what has been going on around here the last few weeks:

1. First row - watching the lunar eclipse. Way fun. It was right over our garage.

2. Second row - science fair project - Jupiter and some of its moons - and taekwondo testing.

3. Third row - Ethan's choir competing and my invitations for Relief Society - we are having a birthday party so naturally the invitations are goody bags. Big difference making a few goody bags vs. 100... Did I ever tell you how much I really don't like being the Enrichment Counselor some days...

Have a great day all. We are celebrating Marc's birthday part 1 tonight with my family. I am making seafood crepes. Mmmmm.... Soooo good!! And for dessert we have cheesecake and a lemon torte. Oh ya. Next week we will be celebrating Marc's birthday part 2 with his family. I think for that I have decided on a menu of roast pork and couscous and tiramisu for dessert. Maybe.

Ciao all

Disappointment

Well, after much hard work, Ethan did not pass to red belt. He was unable to do his forearm strike board break in testing (but did do the more difficult side kick board break!!) = no advancement. He was devestated. My heart broke for him. But this is a good lesson to learn - he needs to know that it takes more than just hard work to pass - you have to REALLY want it, plus work hard for it in order to get what you want. So he will do brown recommended again and in 8 weeks we will see if he can break his boards. His forms were perfect. His self defence and sparring was right on. Just have to do those board breaks. In a sense I am relieved. For red belt he has to do a crazy flying jump kick to break a board. I am not ready for that!! My nerves can't take that kind of stress!! hee hee

All else is relatively quiet. My garburator decided to die on Friday. Made me mad. I so live in a different world where appliances were made to last 25 years, not 2 years - and I expect these things to last and get really ticked when they don't... So off I went to Rona on Saturday to buy a new one. My dad is coming over tonight to install it. Thank goodness for that!! My dad is a master plumber. We could not survive without him!! No joke. It is funny - my sister and I were just having this conversation last week wherein we were complaining to each other that just as you manage to "get ahead", something happens. For Laura it was her washing machine. For me it was the garburator. Sometimes you can't seem to win. But such is life. At least both Laura and I agreed that thank goodness our hubbies were able to do a few contracts on the side and make extra $$ = $$ to pay for these things and they did not have to come out of the monthly budget. So we are grateful for the little miracles in life! They make a big difference!

Have a good day all. I am off to book an appointment for my car to get an oil change and get serviced, and then I am off to watch Ethan's choir compete this afternoon.

Ciao all.