Pleading the Fifth

It seems there has been a constant stream of health-type notes going home in the kids back backs all winter. The flu season is finally over, strep throat has hit pretty hard and then there are always the lice scares. The latest now is Fifth's Disease. Well Miss E has it. (I'm glad to report we've missed the throat and lice stuff!) Fifth's sounds way worse than it is. She came home Friday with extremely blotchy cheeks. (They say Fifth's is also called slapped-cheek disease and judging from the way her cheeks looked, I totally agree). Of course guess who has school pictures tomorrow??? By this afternoon it was mostly gone, but this morning when she sang at the Sunday School program she was super blotchy. She isn't contagious, basically by the time they kids get the red cheeks they aren't contagious anymore. We'll see if P gets it. He's been battling a sore nose. I wouldn't say it's a cold or anything, I'm guessing it's allergies and it's making his nose look pretty gross. Luckily his school pics were a few weeks ago.

The sickies are also affecting Steve (the usual head/nose/sinus stuff) and poor Mister Cooper. I didn't see him till after 5 today...which for Cooper that's even a long time to stay hidden/napping. He's 13 years old and so he's not a youngster anymore. I'm thinking he maybe has an infected tooth or gum problem. We'll get him into the vet to see. He was very snuggly tonight though, but I don't think he's eating a whole lot....probably because it hurts. Of course this will mean that we'll need to "drug" him before he goes...since he has panic attacks issues at the vets office. I've actually been very healthy most of the winter, besides my moody back and neck. And even that lately has been cooperating for the most part. Sorry this post ended up being a medical report!

Yesterday was cold and dreary and E had soccer and tball back to back in the morning. With it being damp and dreary I figured she'd be a handful, but she actually did great. I couldn't get her to keep her sweatshirt sleeve out of her mouth, but at least she wasn't whining. In the pics she's in the grey outfit and of course you can't miss the hair. Soccer is 4 and 5 year olds (there was a lot of crying which was starting to irritate her) and tball is 5 and 6 year olds. She's the token girl.

They had their Sunday School program this morning. Poor P woke up with a bad stomache (he never complains about feeling sick so I knew it was for real. Miss E had a tummy ache the day before but with her everyday is an ache or pain so hard to tell) and after he slept a little longer he woke up and felt better so we were able to get in for the program after all. In the movies Emma is in the pink on the right and Parker is in the white/blue shirt on bottom row in the middle. Peyton is nearby in the blue shirt.

That ends this evenings report on the boring details of the Hansen family...Good night!

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

Well at least we haven't had snow in almost a week...of course that means rain instead. I still haven't taken the time to find my umbrella so the Care Bear one has been filling in. I look so glamorous...plus pink is my favorite color! I take Parker into TKD tonight for his promotion ceremony (where he officially gets his orange belt) and while trying to get out of the van and get the rock star umbrella open my brand new Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbooks Etc magazines proceed to fall right into a huge puddle. Well actually only one fell and then when I bent down to pick it up without smashing the umbrella, the other one slid right out...dang I'm good! In the mags defense, they must have some strong back covers on those things. They didn't get ruined at all!

Here are his pics from tonight. Can you tell he's a little bit proud?

FYI: No Parker was not going to the TKD studio they busted here in town - it was ran by a man who bilked a bunch of people out of money on the East Coast who then went to jail, then went into the witness relocation program because he had been associated with the mob and testified against them and then bilked a bunch of people out of money around here. In our little town, who'd a thunk? Although it's a sealed indictment, but so far that's what's been in the paper.

PSA: Do not cross the street in front of my building at work...city buses keep running people over...no I'm not kidding! I'm sticking with the skywalks and yeah for being in the parking garage!

Well Since It Snowed Saturday...

*Card removed for publication in Cards Magazine - December 2008.

I'll go ahead and post some seasonal stuff. I made some things this weekend for some current calls, so ignore the fact that some of them don't make sense since it's April! I'm not sure if I'm loving a couple of the cards, but they are done so we'll see what happens!

Back from a whirlwind of childrens' activities tonight. Off to veg...the laundry will always be there tomorrow!

O-R-A-N-G-E....or is that M-O-U-S-E??

It's official...he's an orange belt! Steve and I were in awe to watch him. He's one of the youngest ones there and he is so intense. He has been waiting for his test all week. The promotion ceremony is next Thursday so I'm hoping to get some pics. I posted a couple mini videos I took on my digital camera (he's in the middle on the left). Of course I took a bunch more that were better, but I forgot and held my camera vertically so you'd have to tip your head sideways to them! Whatever activity he's in he really does try his best. And he's loved everything he's ever done. I was thinking by this age he'd start not liking some things, so we could start weeding out some of the activities, but apparently that isn't the case yet. He is type A like me though and I think he likes being active.

Took Miss Noodle this morning for her dance pics. Of course I misjudged how long it'd take for us to get ready so we raced to the studio like a couple of crazy people. We were still 10 minutes early so not sure why I ended up getting so spazzed to get there. Her baton costumes are adorable - pink and grey mice, complete with ears and a tail. Of course she wouldn't let me take her pic, so I'll post what I did manage to get. From what I can tell all her professional pics turned out good. Her tumbling outfit is pretty basic since you really can't somersault with animal ears! (to see bigger pics, double click on them)

I must say I'm one lucky mom. They put up with my craziness, they are the best of friends, love to play together and watch out for each other. They are two great kids!

April Showers Bring May Flowers???

Sigh.... well at least the snow has stopped (I guess there was a touch of it last week), but not the rain has taken it's place. Of course on my way home yesterday it starts downpouring and I can't see anything. By the time I get home the sun is coming out. Baseball practice was cancelled tonight and tomorrow, a game was cancelled and their opening ceremonies tomorrow were cancelled. This did lighten up the load tomorrow, but the poor kids aren't getting to do much at all yet with Little League. Tomorrow we have E's baton/tumbling pics in the morning (of course I'm starting to stress about getting her hair to look decent in a pony tail and hoping she'll be in a good mood) and P has his orange belt test for TKD tomorrow afternoon. He is beyond excited! I'm pretty sure he'll pass, I know he'll be crushed if he doesn't.

Tonight is Friday Fun Night. Often Fun Nights happen when daddy is gone, because Mommy is a lot more lax on things. Today he is home, but we're still being lax! This involved favorite foods for supper (pizza, mac/cheese) on their TV trays in front of the TV while they watch Sponge Bob. Later they'll probably have a sleep over in one of their rooms. For an "appeteazer" (to quote Michael from The Office) Emma had bologna/celery/apple chops and Parker had carrot/chesse/apple chops. "Chops" are something Emma came up. She like to get things cut up small and then all mixed together. Celery chops are her favorite.

Didn't realize I hadn't blogged all week. Can't even remember what happened, but I know we were busy with the usual. I did get an email today from Paper Crafts and had 3 cards picked up for their Card Creations Vol. 6 that will be out later this year. I was just hoping for one...so I'm very excited! There are some other calls ending next week so we'll see if I get any more love. March was pretty loveless! This CREATE sign I made earlier this week using some more of my Rusty Pickle Pirate Princess. I'm not sure if I'm totally in love with how this came out...I'm not loving the jewels and buttons I put on the e's, so we'll see if I change it a bit. Sorry for the poor quality photo...with all this rain...can't get outside to take a pic!

Fundraising Blurb: I think most of you that read the blog I've already emailed, but she is selling pizza cards for her baton school. It's Casey's pizza and if you buy a large you get a medium 1 topping free. There are 10 punches for this"deal" and it's $10, so basically the medium pizza costs you $1 (10 medium pizzas for $10 total). If anyone is interested let me know. Thanks!

God Given Talents

The other night I overheard Parker and Emma talking. Emma says, "Look Parker. I can burp whenever I want to." I listen and yes she can! She is going to make some boy very happy one day! Parker says, "That's not fair. I can't burp like that." Emma says, "Don't worry Parker, we all have different talents. You can fart and I can't." So he gets all excited and proceeds to do the hand/cheek fart over and over and gives Emma suggestions. It's so nice they are there for each other!

Been really busy with kid stuff and it's only going to get worse now that baseball is starting. He's got a couple more TKD classes before he tests for the orange belt. I was trying to decide if he was ready, but he's doing a lot of the stuff better than the current orange belts, so I think we'll go ahead. Of course the test is on Saturday in DM, when we also have a tball game, dance pictures, Emma's tball practice and opening ceremonies for both of their baseball teams. Waiting to hear when the test is, but logistically I think we'll be ok. We just won't be home on Saturday!

Emma rocked it at her dance camp recital on Friday night. I've included some mini videos I took of the camera. (she's on the left, 2nd one back with all the hair) I was busy doing that so I didn't get much for still pics. (I also included a pic from P's cub scout banquet the other week)Later after it was over I was talking with a friend of mine and Emma disappeared. Finally found her out in the middle of the gym with a few other kids rocking it to the music that was blaring over the speakers. It's a little scary how a 5 year can already shake her booty like that. I hope Steve didn't see much of it!

Happy to report that Bosco didn't eat my latest package I got from Paper Crafts. It also helps that we were home when it came...lol. Even got a few extra scrap goodies in the package including some new Zach's bike and other cool goodies I know I'll use.

The weather warmed up this weekend so the kids got to spend some time outside. I debated with sunscreen, but ended up not putting any on them. I am paranoid with the sunscreen and so I felt bad when P ended up with some pink on his neck and E had pink hands. The weird part is their faces were still pasty white...not sure how that works? It wasn't a bad burn or anything, but apparently it's already time to start lathering up.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile!

Parker is a "bit" of a serious child. Once he warms up he can be silly and goofy and his teachers said he is so funny and laughs alot. But when he doesn't know people or someone is trying to be funny and he doesn't understand he can get a pretty stern look on his face when people talk to him. Last night he was worked up that someone named Cooper (meow!) on the bus or at the bus stop (I think it's an adult helper) keeps telling him to smile. He said, "Mom, I didn't want to smile and he keeps telling me too." I could tell it was bothering him. I figure it's not call-the-school worthy though...what do you say? Excuse me, but quit telling my kid to smile! He also very serious during his TKD, but there you are supposed to be, so I guess half the time in life he's right on the money!

Miss E is busy with dance camp after school this week. It's pre-k thru 6th grade so I imagine it's pretty much mass chaos. The big performance is on Friday. I feel so bad that she missed cheer camp when she was sick, so I'm glad she's getting to do this. She's pretty excited. She also got 2 high fives today (it's a little award for being helpful, nice, etc) and so she got something out of the treasure box. A cool little black and pink wallet. It matches the black and pink baseball shoes I just bought her...also very adorable :-) She put her childsafe ID, a movie rental card, an old insurance card and some bill dollars in there so she is ready to take on the world! She also informed me that I shouldn't call Parker honey, because that is what I call her and that I should call him Bud. That way she won't get confused about who I'm talking to...duly noted!

Stupid Is As Stupid Does...

I've really been oozing stupidity the last day or so.

Example #1: Get to church yesterday, walk in and sit on the side right in front of everyone. Luckily I move us to a different pew when everyone stood up so people wouldn't see all the "gear" the kids spread all of the pew because later I look down and Emma has a huge paper name tag stuck to her shirt. It's all disheveled since it went thru the washer and dryer. By some miracle (yeah church!) I was able to get it off. I think that's the first time I've ever been able to get one of those name label things off after it meets the dryer. Also lucky that I noticed this before we went up for the blessing. I can't have people thinking the "first lady" at church isn't organized and can't keep the kidlets spiffy. Litle do they know...ha, ha, ha.

Example #2: It was pouring this morning. I find the kids' Care Bear and Spiderman umbrellas and don't bother to think that I might need one. I forgot that when I drop Emma off at school we have to walk outside for a bit...oops! I didn't think it was fair to hog a 5 year old's umbrella, so I flung my bright pink coat over my head and ran (I'm sure I looked graceful like a gazelle). I really hope the principal wasn't in his office or he would have seen my attempt at running.

Example #3: I lost my cart at Walmart tonight. I was apparently so busy trying to keep my brain busy so that it wouldn't make me buy Chex Mix, that when I went to go get something probably 10 aisles away, I just left the cart there. Then I acted like I knew exactly where my cart was without looking obvious that I had no idea where it was. Then I was paranoid I had pushed someone else's cart instead and that half of the stuff I just got was in there instead. Then I wondered if maybe someone had taken it to play a trick. Finally I retraced my steps and there it was in the jeans section.

Another comment on the Chex Mix - I have a terrible addiction to it. That could explain some of the giggle in my wiggle. Anyway Parker is at his Tiger Scouts meeting the other night and they are learning about the food pyramid. One of the foods is Chex Mix and they are to figure out where it goes. Parker yells out so EVERYONE could hear. "My mom always eats the whole bag of the Chex Mix!"

Cheaper By the Dozen

ETA: Now there are only 11...one will be in the Paper Crafts Card Creations 6 magazine.

I ended up averaging one card an hour during the crop yesterday. I didn't win much, but feel like I got a lot done (for me). I was even happy with how they all turned out and managed to get a little natural light outside today when I took the pictures. It was little windy though so a couple kept blowing over into a leaf pile. If you want to see a bigger pic, just click on it.

After the crop the gang even went out for a margarita to celebrate Steph's bday. I will be posting that embarassing picture another time!

Parker also got his Tiger Scout badge this weekend at his Blue and Gold banquet and he was pretty excited about it. He's wanting it attached to his shirt asap...that is daddy's department!

Pick A Season Please!

I'll sum up the weather for you today:

First thunder and lightning...then...rain.....then....sleet.....then.....snow....then mud.....

BIG SIGH........

A Hoppin' Good Time!

Sunday was a whirlwind of Easter activity for the Hansens. Saturday actually was a little bit too. We colored eggs (even glittered some - not as messy as I anticipated) and then they each had to write notes to the Easter Bunny - one on the front door letting him know to come in and one on the fridge letting him know the eggs were in there. Since we woke to a dusting of snow on Sunday morning and the fact that we had to be at church by 8:00 and it was still freezing out, the bunny left them a note with their baskets telling them he hid them inside. They had fun with that and checked out their baskets. E got some Puppies in Your Pockets (her new fave toy for the week) and P got some Pokemon characters. They really aren't big candy lovers (besides gum) so E. Bunny goes light on the sweets and heavy on the plastics.

After church we headed to G and G Blue Houses for dinner. After eating Emma proceeds to fall asleep...sigh... We couldn't stay super long so we woke her up, let her get over being crabby and then headed outside to the freezing winds to go on another egg hunt. At the Blue House, the bunny leaves clues all over the yard leading them to their baskets at the end. After the hunt we quickly went back inside!

Mid afternoon we headed to G and G White House for supper and yet another egg hunt. Emma once again gets tired and I'm worried she's going to nod off. (They were up WAY too early that morning to see if the Easter bunny had been to our house). We usually try to go the egg hunt outside, but it was still freezing and most of the kids are pretty little so we did it inside. We proceeded to hide 100's of plastic eggs all over the house. There were so many that you ran out of places to hide them.

Later we headed back home and of course since the kids had school in the morning and were already tired from a busy weekend, they wouldn't fall asleep on the way home. Last week they didn't have school because of Spring Break and so Monday was a "wee bit" hard getting them up. I think they are both still a little tired. Monday we jumped back into kids stuff - E had baton and P had a Cub Scout meeting. Thank goodness nothing tonight...Mommy is pooped..although I'm still up way past my bedtime, but what's new?

Here are some pics from Easter...enjoy! (and of course couldn't get the kids to let me take their pics all spiffed up for church)

Naked Butts and Naked Feet

No I'm not talking about the Vegas trip. Although I promise sometime I will actually post some pics and some more funny stories about our doings while we were there.

We got our new fridge tonight. I finally have a fridge with the ice/water thingy in the door. I'm hoping this will help me to drink water. I'm horrible about drinking it and if I do actually drink something during the day it's usually pop or milk. The kids are little water drinking maniacs (remember pop is too spicy for them...sweet) and so we'll have to give them a "how-to" lesson on how to run it. Now that they are a little older this hopefully won't go horribly wrong. I say this because tonight Emma managed to ruin my wicker hamper by falling thru the side of it. It's like mom knew something like that might happen when I kept saying, "You don't play in the hamper."

P does a shower now so he went up after supper to take one and I hear him yelling for me. He's stark naked and says"Something just scared the pants right off of me." I have to admit I chuckled out loud. Since the water had been turned off, when turned on the shower it made a weird sound and the water didn't come out right away.

Other happenings this week included me battling one of my demons - naked feet! Ick! Last night was Maundy Thursday at church and they asked if the Hansen family would be one of the family to go up and get their feet washed. Steve is prez this year so we get to do lots of "things." I'm the "first lady" so I can't make him look bad so I say ok. It didn't go as bad as expected and I survived. It wasn't like our feet were shown up on a huge Jumbotron while they poured water on them. Whew! Parker looked so grown up doing it.

I also got to meet Cooper's namesake this week. My friend at work had twin boys on Tuesday and one she named Cooper. He was the more active one so I can see he's taking after my Coop. Hopefully he doesn't bite like mine does! Both babes were very cute!

Heading back home for Easter on Sunday with double meals as usual. There are also double Easter egg hunts and it's generally mass chaos, so of course lots of fun!

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

We are putting new tile in our kitchen and entry way and so the house is even messier than usual. Tonight Emma says "Wow, mom. We are doing a lot of new things to our house. It's just like Flip That House!"

Tonight Parker is reading me a book about sharks. It mentions that some eat sting rays. Parker says, "I should get a sting ray suit at the store. Then they wouldn't sting me. Wouldn't that be amazing? Or even a shark suit because sometimes they eat people on TV."

I guess I should be paying more attention to what they see on TV...although I don't like Jaws so not sure where he saw that....Grandma Beymer perhaps? :-)

The Quiet is Deafening....

**Card removed for publication in Paper Crafts' Card Creations 6.

**Card removed for publication in Cards Magazine - December 2008 issue.

Wow it's quiet around here. We are leaving for church in a couple minutes and I'm already ready and not having to pack the snack/activity bag or anything. Sounds like the kids are having a good time. We'll see how much they can talk G and G Blue House out of when they make their usual WM trip when P and E visit!

Had a great time at the crop as usual. They always give you tons of goodies and I even had my name drawn for one of the grand prizes. What's even more shocking is that Roni did too and her's was one of the first! And poor Steph didn't :-( I got a traveling organizer thingy. In theory it should help me bring less to crops....

Here is what I got done. The baby card I put together last minute so it was pretty simple. (The album was mostly completed (8 pages front and back), but I put some finishing touches on it and have just a little bit of journaling left to do). Sorry for the awful pics as usual. I really need to figure out how to run my camera and plus our house has absolutely no decent natural light. One of these days I'll actually be able to take some outside. Plus I was taking these last night so that wouldn't have helped either. The turtle card was in honor of Steph and her bad week.

Crop till you Drop

Heading to a crop tomorrow with the usual gang. I already know how it'll go! I'll bring way too much stuff, only get a couple things done and Steph will win a bunch of prizes!!

The kids left tonight to stay with G and G Blue House and G and G White House until Monday. Was a little worried they wouldn't be able to go (they were very excited), because Emma woke up under the weather this morning. I guess strep was going around at school and we didn't know if that's what she had. I looked up the symptoms and she didn't have a one of them. After a couple of hours she perked up and ate non-stop for the rest of the day and was feeling awesome. I think maybe she had some drainage issues that made her sick to her stomach? Who knows?

Thursday night took P to TKD with Emma in tow. Emma of course made new friends with a litle girl there and her Polly Pockets and Emma Pets got along fabulously. Parker is just LOVING his TKD and gets so excited and intense about it. Mommy is generally pretty laid back, but I'm a little stressed about the fact that he now needs a mouth guard and a nard guard since they spar (fight). What???? He's 7!!!!!

Fact of the Day

To burn the calories from one plain M&M candy, you need to walk the full length of a football field.

Losing Time

As with most families I'm sure, we are trying to get everyone adjusted to the time change. It's like Parker knew it was coming because he had been getting up by 5 every morning for the last week or so. One day I guess it was even 4, but he said he just read a book since no one else was up yet. Of course then last night night he crashed and was extremely emotional. Today my sweet Parker is back! Had Emma's PT Conference last night. Of course glowing comments! She is a little reading maniac and now tries to spell everything too. We also discussed how she is very much a perfectionist especially about her art and that she sometimes will freak out about it if something isn't quite right on it and she'll want to start over. I hope she lightens up a bit! Parker is also very serious about things, but miraculously not really a perfectionist.

Let's see what else has happened since I haven't posted in almost a week! Got the kids signed up for their summer/fall parks and rec stuff... The programs are cheap, but the $ does add up...ouch! They were able to get outside this weekend since it was pretty nice out and even ride their bikes (in the garage). It was in the 50's today here and I thought Emma was going to explode she was so excited. Plus our roads actually weren't even that muddy. Guess we've just been busy with the usual kid stuff. When I don't post, I forget what happens!

If anyone happens to see the April/May issue of Paper Crafts that just came out (I think WM might carry them besides scrap stores), on page 9 there is an advertisement for one of their special issues and it's my black and white picture frame in it.

Time to kiss the kidlets for bedtime and then settle down to watch BB. I already cheated though and looked to see what happened. Boring season in my opinion! (Too much reality TV on right now...it's seriously cutting into scrap time. Plus I have a TV in my scrap room, but it's just not the same!)

Wash Me!

Ok. The van has been splattered with mud forever, but at least you could tell what color it was. Our road had a bunch of mud spots again today and half the time I forget about them and they about pull me in to the ditch. Lauri was sick today so I picked up P from the bus. I had the "brilliant" idea to go a different way to pick up Emma from school. The road initially looked really great. As soon as I discovered it was too late to turn back, I hit mud, mud and more mud. I knew that if I let up on the gas at all I was stuck in the muck. I told P to be quiet, I tried not to hypervenilate and tried not to think about the fact that Steve is over an hour north of here right now. Luckily this gravel is not heavily traveled since I was all over the road. Plus parts of the road were only one lane because of the snow on the sides. Someone was looking down on me today because I managed to get thru it. At one time mud splashed so hard on my windshield I had to slam on my brakes to get it clean enough to see. (Luckily I stopped on a dry spot). I have cussed the van on a number of occasions (i.e. the numerous flat tires, the moody automatic doors and dashboard warning buttons), but she came thru today. When the kids and I went into town later for TKD and I had a church meeting, we went the usual way....no more brilliant ideas from me tonight! Plus by then the road had hardened (frozen) up a bit. I had to stop at the gas station to squeegee off the side windows and headlights so I could see when it got dark. (That's the second squeegee stop of the week). I was mortified that I was driving this. I broke down and did a quick rinse on the way home at the car wash. We'll see if I can open my doors tomorrow! P.S. My van is usually blue.

Today was Wacky Socks Wednesday for Emma. (They celebrate the birthday of Dr. Suess at school). She wore funky striped tights and looked like Pippi Longstocking. (I told her that and of course she had no idea who I was talking about). And as usual I forgot to take a picture! Maybe I'll dress her up another time just for the pic. Of course when we left daycare today she was in the best mood and even moving quickly and tripped on the sidewalk in her shoes boots and wiped out. She fell right on her hands and knees and I can't believe her hands weren't bloody. She ripped holes in the tights and all she ended up with was a tiny bloodless scrape...which of course required a bandaid and strawberry milk.

My thoughts on Big Brother... duh, like you didn't know that "surprise" was going to happen.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

Usually winter doesn't bother me much, but this year it's driving me insane. I know I'm not the only one!!! It finally warmed up this weekend, but this caused melting which is reeking havoc on parts of the house. It's also destroying the gravel road and this weekend if you stopped in the road, you were stuck. I just kept the pedal down on the Sedona and hoped I didn't meet anyone (since half the time you had to drive on the wrong side) and made it home. Then last night it gets cold and snows/ices again. Normally my drive takes 25-30 minutes to work. Today over an hour and a half. It wasn't too bad till I got to town. Then the road I take is extremely hilly and I think half of the city was stuck on that road today. I then turned around and went a different way. Still slow going, but FINALLY I got there. I have been taking that road for probably 8 years and have never seen that happen before. There are also areas that are starting to flood..sigh... I also constantly wear mud on the back of my pants. Taking P into TKD tonight I noticed that I couldn't see much of anything on the road in the dark. I was hoping something hadn't happened to the van. (It's been a little moody lately). Got to town and realized that my headlights were covered in mud. Again sigh...

Well enough whining I'm off to bed. Busy week again. Hopefully the kids have a full day of school tomorrow. Emma's ended up being cancelled. They are now both going into June.

Ask and You Shall Be Answered

Parker is becoming a bit more of the usual 7 year old. Arguing with us more and not listening as much. I still can't complain though most of the time. Going to his Cub Scouts meeting and seeing some of the kids running around and the parents doing nothing, makes me appreciate him even more! Anyway we have begun some home improvement projects around the house (ok Steve has). Our house is 30 years old and most stuff still seem original so it's time for some new stuff before the whole house falls apart. Plus all of this snow, rain, wind, melting we've had has wrecked havoc on the outside. The first job is new tile in the kitchen, entry way and around the woodburning stove. Steve was grouting yesterday and Parker kept walking on it and he kept getting cussed. Steve finally asked him, "How many times do I have to tell you now to do that?" Very seriously P answered. "I know it was less than 50."

Lets see what else has been happening around here. I haven't felt quite tip top the last few days. Or maybe it's like Wayne from Wayne's World. "I thought I had mono once, but it turned out I was just really, really bored." Plus being back in the real world after having a few days in Vegas, it takes you a bit to get your bearings back. I know I promised some pictures! I promise I'll get to it. I'm horrible about doing anything with the camera - this includes taking decent pictures, cleaning them up, resizing, emailing, getting printed etc.

We've just been busy with the usualy kids stuff. Plus I was extra busy with work this week. P has been working hard on his yellow belt (He is so obsessed with TKD) and E has been a creating maniac. I just am amazed at what she draws and creates. I'll try to get some of that posted soon too. Got the official word she's in year round school for K this summer. P has intersession the next two weeks at school.

I got some exciting news on Friday. I got a couple layouts picked up for Memory Makers Readers Idea Book. They kept bouncing back while I was in Vegas so I was afraid I'd missed the deadline. One is about my Grandma Gert (who passed away last summer) and so I am especially excited about that one. Of course in scrap mag world time this won't be out till later in 2008. I wasn't very creative in February, although I did finally clean up my scrap room and even vaccummed, so I need to get back at in March. I didn't get much picked up in February, but I need to get some new stuff done in order to get a chance to get something picked! (Alhtough the pages I got picked up I made probably 6 months ago plus) Going to a couple crops in March so that will help too!