Officially Fall

Well Fall has begun and even though I love getting out with my new camera and taking pictures of the stunning colors I don't like it! Fall is the gateway to the awful season.....winter. The only two things I like about winter is Christmas and there is more scrapbooking time. So since I have nothing positive to say here are some pictures I took last week...

Update

Been a long time between posts - but with good reason. Time has gotten away from me as I have been busy juggling two jobs, two kids and everything in between. It is kind of nice that the kids are back to school and we are getting back to old routines but one more week of summer vacation would have been nice! So although I have been very busy there is not a lot of news to update you on, kids are great, husband is great and I am great. There is my update! And I will try and post more often........remember I said try!

I am published!

I was so excited a few months ago when I received an email from Canadian Scrapbooker magazine informing me that they wanted to publish a layout. It was truly a dream come true!!!! So now it has arrived and I can officially say... "I have been published!!!!" And what is even better that one of my dearest friends Shar was featured in the magazine too!

Aidan finished his project for the Heritage Fair and did a great job! His project was on the Flood of the Century in 1997. It was a lot of work and I think we all learned a lot from the experience! Like the fact that it takes a lot of patience to be a teacher!

The same day of the Heritage Fair Nic's class had a Mother's Day Tea. That meant a lot of running around for me. (but all worth it!) The kids sang to us, gave us a plant, bookmark and card then treated us to an adorable snack!

Calgary, Easter & Scrapping

Seems like I am always posting how busy life is - guess that may never end! Better to be busy then not I suppose! We went to Calgary at the end of March and had an awesome time! Learned some great new things and had a lot of fun! Deb & I got to meet Lisa Bearnson from Creating Keepsakes magazine! My parents are back - so good to have them back on our side of the border again! Easter came and went in a flash, it was great but way to cold. Can't wait until we get out of this cold spell and be reminded what Spring is really suppose to be like. Kids painted Easter Eggs!!

We had a visit Easter Day from the Easter Bunny!!! Must have come back to see if the kids liked what he left the night before!

I have been scrapping a bit, not as much as I would like but at least a little! Been designing layouts using product that we will be releasing exclusively at the Brandon Charity Convention in May. Awesome stuff to work with!!! Sorry for the lack of blogging lately, I will try and get it done more often!

The weather has been crazy from nearly -50 degrees last week to almost zero and rain today. Took the kids sledding today, they were flying down the hill with the top layer of ice. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out the house again!

We celebrated Nic's 7th birthday yesterday and answered a burning question - you can NOT fit 12 kids in our tiny house! We did not realize that 99% of the kids (including our own) would not want to watch the movie that we rented. So the party consisted of kids running in every direction and lots of screaming!!! We learned our lesson and next year Ruckers here we come!! Ready to party! For the boy that does not like Birthday Cake:

We are back from holidays and trying to get back into the "swing" of things. A little hard to do after being spoiled for 2 weeks. Had a wonderful time at my parents, the weather was great and despite the kids being sick a day or two all was well. Who could go wrong with a personal chef (my Dad) and a personal shopper (my Mom)?

So now it is time to get back to reality, work, housework, errands, school, and COLD weather!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays &

Happy New Year from

our family to yours!

Santa

The boys had their visit with Santa this past Friday and they gave them their wish lists and posed for a picture. Aidan did not want to go see him but after a long discussion I finally "nagged" him enough to get up there. I was pretty happy with how the pictured turned out.

We put up our Christmas tree today - took a long time but it looks great. Finally getting into the Christmas spirit!

Well seems like our warm weather is fading and winter is finally arriving. The wind is freezing and looks like sleet and snow on the way. I guess we knew it couldn't last forever! We had parent-teacher interviews last week and the boys both seem to be doing very well so far. The teachers really enjoy them and their work is great. It is so neat seeing Nicolas start to read and Aidan is such a whiz with the math. Tomorrow the boys are going for hair cuts and then it is off for a visit with Santa. Decided to do it early this year rather then waiting for the last minute. They have another in service from school tomorrow. Watched Survivor tonight and we were all cheering at the results, finally getting into the show! Trying to decide what to do with my Sizzix Machine and Alphabet dies right now. I would really like to sell them so I could invest in a cricut machine. Not sure if I should go through ebay or see if any friends would like to buy it? Will have to see if there is any interest out there! Well that is our life - school, work, TV, basketball, and just general running around! Have a great day! Here is my new favorite layout!

For my DAD

Here is a picture of the boys this morning.........

And look what we got.....

We went to Winnipeg last weekend to celebrate Mikes Moms' 60th Birthday and his Grandma's 90th! We were also able to sneak in a bit of Christmas shopping. You would have thought it was the week before Christmas rather then the first weekend of November, the stores were crazy! We were able to get a few gifts and had a great celebratory Birthday dinner at Olive Garden. The weekend passed by fast!

This is what I made for the Birthday girls.

Halloween is Over

Well another Halloween has come and gone and what do we have to show for it....CANDY! So much candy that it will probably last until Easter. I guess because it was so cold here and less kids around people were like us and handing out handfuls of candy rather then a few pieces. The boys had an awesome day, parties at school and trick or treating with their friends. To bad though it was so cold and there was snow on the ground. So now it is time to get ready for Christmas!!!!

My Favorite things...

Some of my favorite things right now are:

My new scrapbook room - it is beautiful!

Watching the kids at swimming lessons.

Ipod - who knew these were so cool?? Obviously not me!

Wok Bok, so yummy!!!!!

Grey's Anatomy, well it has been on my list for a while. (and will likely stay for a long time)

My new haircut.

Yogurt - french vanilla!

Diet Caffeine free Coke.

Back from weekend!

What an awesome scrap filled weekend I had! WHEW!!! I am completely exhausted, but in a good way! I met some awesome people, scrapped and laughed a lot! The food at the crop was amazing and I was so fortunate that our crop host opened her home to me! (more money to spend on scrapping and less on a hotel - always a good thing!) So I completed 6 layouts, did a great Make N' Take and took an fantastic class where I finally got the whole mod podge thing! The best thing about a crop - being with other people that share the same passion for scrapbooking. I was struggling with this layout (above) and Corrine walked by my table and helped me! I was so happy for the input and the results of the layout! Thanks Corrine. Big thanks to Lori, Paul, Chantel, Bonnie, Sandy & Zero!!! They worked so very hard to make the weekend fun for all of us and they did an awesome job!!!!

Hair Cut, Trampoline & Swimming

Been an eventful week around here - well eventful for us! I cut my hair really short! It helped that my hairdresser had hers completely shaved, made mine seem less dramatic! (she shaved hers for charity) I am really liking my new do - and no complaints from the family so all is well. The boys began swimming lessons this week, they are really happy to be back in the pool! Aidan is a little sad that he is in a class with all girls though! Poor boy! Last night while at a friends house Aidan fell off their trampoline, on to cement! They had a protective net - leave it to my kid to fall through a small slit!!! He is pretty sore today so he is home from school with me, hopefully he will heal quickly. I am leaving for my crop tomorrow and so excited - I do fear that I will get there and get scrappers block though! I must try and relax and go with the flow!

Thanksgiving is over and my parents have left - very sad! Time goes so fast and you do not realize until it is much to late. The weather has turned from a nice fall to cold & blustery, not fun. So excited about a crop I am going to next weekend - no kids or husbands allowed!!! A whole weekend devoted to scrapping, can you imagine? Heck if I only do a page or two I will be happy. I will be seeing some people I have met before but a lot will be a first...It will be great to put faces to names. Busy around here, kids start Basketball tomorrow and swimming lessons next week! With this yucky weather (cold & snow) it will be great to have some activities to keep us moving. Lots to do to get ready for next weekend, and lots to do just to keep up with the kids & house!

Been too long....

I can't believe that I have not posted here all summer - and now summer is over. Summer was filled with driving to the lake for weekends, working and hanging out with the kids and my parents then home to work at the store Tuesday & Wednesdays. It was hectic and crazy and the summer was over way to fast. Now we are trying to get back in routine but that has been hard since September started off hot hot hot! And it also included a garage sale and me putting out my back. I miss scrapbooking and hoping that my back smartens up so I can get back to it. I will be getting a new scrapping room soon - just need to paint and then put together my new desk!!! Should be exciting! Kids are enjoying being back at school and the house seems busier then ever! Picture of kids at Boo At The PArk

 

Long weekend is over already??

Where did the weekend go anyways? It passed much to fast as far as I am concerned. On Saturday we celebrated the one year anniversary of our store - it was amazing! We had cake, Tim Horton's coffee and a lot of fun!!! We then raced up to the lake to enjoy what was left of the weekend. Sunday was cool so we just relaxed and took it easy. Monday we went fishing and it was hot! Yep and me without my sunscreen - I am so burnt! But the best part of the weekend was when Nicolas caught his first fish! Well I guess he caught it - it was so big that Dad and Grandpa had to take over and bring the fella in! After some snaps we let him go back to his family. We ended the weekend with coming home and heading off to soccer. WHEW..........When is the next long weekend?