RIGHT NOW...

Wish I was here....... Today is the opening game of the season under our new coach! Can't wait...starting in 10 min!

A Bright New Comet

Reagan's first soccer game {tonight} as a Comet. She was like a flash across the sky as she ran the length of the field. Not that we're keeping track but she did kick 2 of the 4 goals scored by her team. The goalies, one of them her best friend, were great as well. The other team didn't even score once! What a fun night for everyone. Tonight Daddy was able to see her play. Unfortunately it'll be the only game of the season that he'll see due to conflicting soccer and softball schedules.

SIDE NOTE: This was my first attempt at using my new Photoshop Elements. I think I'm going to love it!

American Ideal

Look at these 2 beauties!!! Sunday night Emma and Reagan completed a 9 week term with the Back Stage Dance company. They presented a christian musical called American Ideal. It's a take off of American Idol. The kids did a great job and had loads of fun. In the meantime, hopefully there were people there who heard alittle bit about Jesus Christ, maybe even for the first time ever.
Reagan doing a cartwheel across the stage. Too bad mom's not a better photographer. Reagan was in 3 dances. For a girl who thinks she doesn't like dance she was awesome! Funny side note: Tuesday was the first dress rehearsal, it was also soccer practice. Reagan decided she should QUIT the musical so she could be at soccer practice. We urged her to do the right thing. :)
Emma is the taller dancer with the light pink shirt on. She was one of the backup singer/dancers. What a fun experience for Emma, I don't think she was ready for it to be over. She was in 4 or 5 dances. The girls did a great job calling cousins, aunts, grandparents, neighbors, etc. They had 12 people come for the dinner and production. We can't wait to see the video when it comes in.

I'm BAAACK!

Whew! I finally feel good enough to spend a little time on the computer again. I have been in bed or half dead on the couch for 2 weeks with West Nile Virus (probably). We are praying for continued health and healing. I've gotta say a HUGE "thank you" to my MIL for helping out with food, childcare and laundry while I was down. There's still lots to do...I'll be playing catch up for a while.

The girls went back to school mid August. Here they are sporting their new backpacks. So far they are loving their new school. After all, it does have a GREAT playground. ha ha
We have had a bunch of visitors this summer. Our friends have really blessed us. You all are welcome anytime at our "hotel". Reagan and her buddy from GI are giving me their best smiles.
One of our favorite visitors this summer was Great Grandma from Arizona. Her visit coinsided with our A/C dying so nana and papa not only had Grandma staying with them but our family of 5 as well. We now understand what it is like to have several generations living under the same roof. Certainly, not something we would choose to do long term. Can't believe the summer is over and the school year is already going full speed ahead. Softball has started for Chris and his JV team. The first set of games are Friday. Tuesday, Reagan has her first soccer game. Emma starts orchestra this week. And Olivia and I are enjoying our time together, planning on going to the library right after we get some house work done.

Who's Perfect?

My friend Suzanne from ScrapLove pointed me toward this blog and now I'm going to send you there too. I think almost anyone could get something good out of what this chick is saying. Sorry, don't remember her name.

Now go there....
http://ordinarycourage.squarespace.com/my-blog/2008/6/24/blog-series-embracing-imperfection.html

Have a great day!

Word for the day: no expectations

Looking Good!

I know I shouldn't have but I just had to share this picture of Olivia that we had taken today. The quality isn't the best since it's a picture of a picture. She was a champ and did everything they asked her to do.

BLoG STaLKinG

Never been one to read celeb blogs. To be honest, they don't seem like real people to me. It's not that I don't care about their lives, I just can't relate. That said...tonight I started reading Natalie Grant's blog. She's my fav Christian singer, you'll find some of her music right here on my blog. ANYWAY!! Now I have a link to her blog if you want to check her out. Do you remember the youtube of Emma's baptism? The song is one of Natalie's. Yep, love it!! If you go back to April on my blog you'll find the link.

So now I'm out of the closet, so to speak. :0

Tonight I had the best interaction with a doctor at the pharmacy. It was a complete God thing. I learned more about my daughter's health problems in 15 min from this guy and the pharmist than I did from her ped GI specialist whom I paid $700 for 15 min of HIS time. Aren't life's little blessings so incredible?

UPDATE on Jen. Everyday she is doing a little bit better. Keep praying!! Also, pray for Chris and I to share our faith with her.

Today's word: held

Summer Fun

Another sunday and another church. It was a bit crazy trying to find where the kids all go but once we walked into the worship center I felt at home. It was like being back at the "old CCV".

One very important request, our friend Jen is fighting for her life. Please lift her up in prayer. There is no medicine or procedure that can do more than the healing touch of our Great God!

Nana's surprise party was a big hit with young and old. I thought for sure we'd have little finger prints in that frosting.

Here we are at the little spray park. The older girls like getting drenched by the buckets. O would prefer to watch and maybe get her feet a little wet.

Still having fun with Craig's List. I hope we can keep up the selling. One day our house will be clutter free. FlyLady must love Craig's List!

My thought for the day: what would you want to do today if you didn't know there would be a tomorrow?

Creativitiy Again!

Aww, finally some creativity going on here....


Julie, Shelby and Mindi, thought you'd get a kick out of this LO of us. :)

I forgot to mention that this mosaic LO was created for the week #1 Summer Challenge at ScrapLove.

Our First Gathering

Wednesday night we surprised Nana with a 60th birthday party. She thought it was a house warming party and just in case she reads my blog (doubtful) I couldn't release that info. Here's the benefit, she brought both food and a gift to her own party. ha ha The look on her face was priceless. Ya know, one might think that a scrapper would be sure to take pictures. Well, not this scrapper! I even carried my camera around...WHAT'S THE DEAL?

How do you know if a child is color blind? It does run in the family you know. I'm sure Olivia is just expressing her stubborn will but the child does not know one single color. Who am I to judge? I am the same mom that thought she might have some delayed learning issues b/c she wasn't talking at all until she was twoish. Chris said if she has some retardation in learning she got it from me. Obviously he wasn't too worried. funny guy!

My word of the day....free!

Do you all know that I LOVE to paint? It truely is one of my favorite things to do for several reasons...
1. it gives me another creative outlet
2. it's a fairly inexpensive way to alter a room
3. it gives me a great excuse to be a perfectionist...b/c it matters!

For the first time in our marriage I have decorated our bedroom. My friend Lindsey, who is also a perfectionist and I painted my room green back in May. Finally I got to the stripes. They add just a little something to the room that really dresses it up. I am in love!! Also, for the first time in our 12 year marriage we have a headboard/footboard. (chris and I put it together without even arguing.) I can't believe how much I love my bedroom. We should have done this years ago!!

Tomorrow is our "house warming" party which I will tell you more about AFTER the fact. Anyway, I have loads of work to do today. No, all the boxes are NOT put away. No, I don't have stuff up on the walls in most of the rooms. No, my kitchen doesn't look the way I want it to. Yes, I am crazy for hosting 40+ people for dinner. :) It'll be fun and I can't wait to see the surprise we are going to unvail tomorrow evening. (No we aren't expecting!)

I had the most fabulous weekend with several friends. We ate at all our fav spots, stayed up super late, slept in, had total peace and quiet all night, and scrapped our little hearts out. Really, this side of heaven, could ANYTHING be better than that? I got 18 LOs done which is an alltime record for me. I haven't uploaded any LOs yet, hope to get to that soon.

Until next time: My prayer for you is to feel the Peace of our Lord and Savior in the midst of your chaotic life!

Around the Lake

Good Morning. As of late, I have been so lazy. It's driving me crazy. This morning I got up, rode my bike down to the lake and along the path part way and then up hill ALL the way back. That last mile almost killed me. Everyone is showered, dressed, fed and playing barbies while I do the laundry. Ok, it's time for me to get on the ball. There's stuff to get done.

Today is the last day of Patriot Softball camp and the hubby will be home soon.

Have a fantastic day!

God Bless America

Wow, is that ever an over used statement! I would have to say God HAS blessed America...over and over again. It's amazing how everyone gets so patriotic the first week of July and then what? Oh well, I do feel so blessed to live in America where I have religious freedom and the right to publically say what I want to. Hmm, thanks to a large number of men and women who have put their life on the line, even died for what they believe. Was that a soap box moment or what?

We spent Independence Day with some dear friends back in GI. The kids had a blast and none of the men blew off any apendages. That's how you know it's a great celebration. The greatest timing of the night was the low flying jet over the house right as we asked the blessing over the food. Rod said he planned it that way....WHATEVER!!

Look at these cuties.... E and Olivia were so excited to see eachother after being apart for 2 months. They had great coversations about potty training and tattle tailing on older siblings.And here are my older two darlings, with sparklers.
I've been trying to get the house put together. Next week we are having a "house warming" party. There's still lots to do and yet I must fulfill my need to scrapbook and socialize as much as possible. It's a rough life here. Who knew the maid service wasn't part of the deal when we bought this house?

One little side note here...Olivia dropped Emma's new headband in the toilet today. Chris thought we should just wash it. EWWW!! So I ran back to The Children's Place to buy another clearenced headband. Oh, they were all gone but the store is stocked with yummy new fall duds. OMGosh, I wanted it all. The girls talked me into buying 3 new headbands for $8, so much for my $1 item. :)

Peace Out
(don't know why I just typed that)

Ok all you scrappy friends out there, have I got a fun little adventure for you. I am a bit of a scrapbooking and ScrapLove addict. ScrapLove is a website with some of the coolest scrappin' ladies around. We're doing a little challenge which will help get you scrappbooking momentum going ...come over and check it out. You might really wanna join us. Click below and join the insanity of it all! :)

http://scraplove.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36966

See you around. Have a fun safe day today!

Garbage in ... Garbage out!

We've all heard that before, I believe it. Last night I stayed up late to journal and decided to focus on my most recent blessings. I was shocked to see so much written down and then I stopped to think about what has been negatives in my life lately. Really only 2 things. SO isn't it obvious that I should be flying high...jumping for joy...in the groove? However you wanna say it, life is treating me good and I shouldn't let a couple negatives bring me down.

With that said, today I had the best day in a long time. Chris even asked me what was wrong, he went so far as to take my temp. Funny guy, huh?

I know I was fearfully and wonderfully made. God wants me to rejoice and live life to it's fullest. Today IS the first day of the rest of my life and I am going to (with your help) thank God for my blessings and lift up those around me.

Hey Happy 4th to you all. We are going to see our buddies the Foley's (and others) and blow up all kinds of fireworks. As always when explosives are around, please pray for my hubbies safety! :)

A Sunny Sunday!

Look at this pic. Hm, it's June and 80 plus degrees yet what is that white stuff on the ground? Remember that terrible wind storm we had, it brought hail with it. This is just a little that was left over hours later.


Happy Sunday my friends! It's been a great day. This morning we stopped in on a new church. I have a good feeling about this place. It's small which means there's plenty of places for us to volunteer. The music was good, obviously they practice and come prepared. Their mission statement is good. What they call their list of essentials is right along with what we believe the bible says. It will be fun to learn more. In our adult lives Chris and I have been involved in two churches. There were positives and negatives at both CCV and TCCC, we'll draw on those experiences and pray that God leads us where He needs us to be. I am so ready to get plugged in somewhere. The girls enjoyed their classes too. They are coming from a church with a top notch children's program (thanks Lora) so I was happy to hear their satisfaction.

It's off to watch fireworks with ext. fam. tonight assuming the weather doesn't get all crazy again.

Happy Birthday to Michelle.

This and That

Remind me why Reagan wanted to quit gymnastics 2 years ago. She's such a natural!

Finally some scrapping again. Oh how I have missed my bazzill CS, white gel pens, glue dots and alphas. The house isn't put all together but some of my scrappy supplies are out and so happy to see me. :0

sorry these aren't cropped...deal with it this time.

It's hard being this cute! but don't let it fool you and I am going to give my parents gray hair. :) The girls had so much fun at Aunt Angie and Uncle John's wedding. Olivia was the last one on the dance floor but by the time we got to the hotel everyone was sound asleep.
Today was the last day of a 2 weeks session of swim lessons for both Emma and Reagan. They both learned so much and did a great job!

This afternoon we just missed another serious weather event. About 4:30 the girls and I decided to go for a bike ride around the lake. We got about 15 minutes from the house when the tornado sirens began to sound. It was a little stressful, trying to urge the girls to hurry home and yet keeping them calm. We got home just as the terrible rain and wind began. There are houses with broken windows, missing roofs, and no power. We have none of the above and plan to go watch fireworks somewhere downtown. All is good.

New Phone numbers

Hey, just a quick note. Chris and I have new phone numbers. If you didn't get an email from one of us just send me an email and I'll call you or email the number back to you.

I would love to say more but I've gotta run.

House is getting better.
No storms for 2 days! YEA!!
We're about to get our cable and internet!
Olivia is still trying to potty train.
Life is pretty good.
We haven't found a church yet but still shopping.

Have a wonderful day.

Wuv, Twoo Wuv...

...is what bwings us togedda

I hope you can see these pictures. I may haveto go back later and change the size of these pics. Below you will find Angie and John, married on May 31st. Each wedding that I attend takes me right back to the day Chris and I made that same commitment. I always cry during the vows and want to renew the vows we made. I'm such a sappy dope. You know, you don't have to agree! :) John, we are so happy to have you join our family. It's my prayer that you will feel welcome and loved. Take good care of our sister. There was a "no clink" rule during the reception. In order to make the bride and groom kiss you had to stand and sing a song about love. What a riot! You may be asking yourself, "did anyone actually do that?" Standing infront of a bunch of people and singing (usually off key) is not something that scares off anyone in this family. Below you'll find Chris and his cousin singing "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You." That was shortly after all the cousins sang "Love Shack" and the little kids sang the "Barney Song". It was a great party!

HOUSE UPDATE:
The carpet should be done in 2 hours. I have all the clothes packed and ready to move out of the inlaws house and into mine!!!
I'm so excited
I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control
And I think I like it.

Oldies but Goodies

Last May my family got together for the first time since my oldest brother's wedding in 1997 (I think). We had a great time and even managed to get some pictures taken of everyone. I am so proud of my brothers for not wanting to strangle me. Here's the end result. It only took 12 months to get these pics from my sister's camera to my hand. :) Thanks Laura for taking the pics and putting them on disks for eveyone. You are the best! This is one for the record books too. A picture of my immediate family. Really, it almost brings tears to my eyes. I love you guys and pray for each one of you EVERYday.

Just this past weekend was a wedding weekend in KC. I will soon have pics from Angie's wedding. What a beautiful bride...the groom was a close 2nd. haha

Just a positive note on the house situation. Hard flooring is IN and the carpet is being pulled out as we speak. YEE HAW!!!