The Dunes

We had lots of fun with our Memorial Day Weekend (plus some more) visitors! Yes, Grandma and Grandpa came all the way from Canton to see our new digs and have a nice visit. And how do we repay that kindness you ask??? We drag them up the dunes! In the picture above you see her royal highness at the top of the dune. We were at Lake Michigan which you see in the background. It was a lovely day to do this... gorgeous sunshine and a little on the cooler side, perfect. Up on the dune it is pretty breezy (or it was that day). In order to try to show you the scale of the dune... here below is Max (he is in the red shirt). He literally had to crawl to go up the dune any further - it was so steep (and of course sandy) that otherwise he was just sliding down.
I tried very hard to get a picture with the blog in mind. Here is one taken by Jeff which shows Grandpa and Grandma and myself resting on a driftwood log. We were at the top - but there was another steeper section off to the left that we chose to avoid. It was so beautiful up there. People watching was a blast too. The teenagers had boards (like snowboards with straps for the feet - not sure what they were meant for, unless "sand surfing" is their real purpose) and would "surf" down the back side of the dune (which was sooooo steep that crawling up was the only choice even for adults). I really like this picture, may I add that Grandma and Grandpa got up that dune with no problem at all. Pretty impressive if you ask me!
After hangin on the dune for quite awhile we went down to the Lake for a look see. What a gorgeous day. It looked much different then the "sand/iceburgs" that were there the last time I visited! Whew! Look out for those Michigan waves kids!!! (waves my foot! clearly the people who say the Great Lakes have waves have never lived near the Jersey shore!!!)

We then drove to another section of Lake Michigan near the artist village of Saugatuck (which I have written about before) and also went to South Haven to watch the boats. We travelled over a lot of territory all in all! When we were done here's what the van looked like.

PS - yes I know that Max has a smirk and is clearly faking - just seemed very Max to me - he wanted to be included!!! :)

Happy (almost) Friday!
What did you do over the long weekend???

So Many Changes...

Good grief it has been a whirlwind of a month.
Whew! Feels like I can't even take the time to catch my breath... and reminds me of when I was teaching and the year end rush to "git 'er done". So, I'll be brief.
We've had a graduation from preschool. We got to visit with Baby Parker who is now almost six months old and is one cutie patootie for sure! He is my brother Matt and his wife Heather's little guy.
We visited our brand new neighbor who is now home safe and sound.
We got braces off. THAT is really big! No more braces! One thing though, Abbie suddenly looks about 14. If you can't tell in these pics - take my word for it. She looks so "teenager" now. Oy. In this first pic she did her hair for her first day of school with un-blinged teeth.
See - she's looking older I tell you. LUCKILY i never age or someone might be able to figure out that I am no longer 28!
Have a happy Memorial Day weekend. I don't know if I'll be posting until next week because of our visitors. So, have a fun week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I've Been Tagged!

Well, Spincerely tagged me a couple of days ago on her blog to fill out this little quiz. Since today seems to be a catch-up day of sorts for me it seemed like a good post idea.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Ten years ago I was teaching full time second grade with Kristin. Abbie was my only child and she was two. I was living on Rock Road. I enjoyed those years immensely.

2. What are five things on my to-do list today? Well, I wanted to blog (check), I had to babysit another three year old (check), took the boys to the library ( check), supposed to call my builder about the problem with the lawn (oh dog doo, forgot to do this one!), and I am working on cleaning up my scrap/guest room so that grandpa and grandma have a place to sleep! (in progress)

3. Snacks I enjoy? I'd love to say that I just adore every veggie and fruit is number one for me, but to be honest a good cookie works for me every time! I rarely indulge in them lately... so I will think of some things that lately I have been loving. Believe it or not cottage cheese and fruit is a favorite as is a yellow delicious apple.

4. Places I've Lived? Rahway, NJ; Mattawan, NJ; New Fairfield, CT; Canton, CT; Burlington, CT; Avon, CT and the latest - MI.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire? Oh my. Well, that is difficult to answer in full. I am sure I'd give some away. I would like to fund some important things. Support causes that are meaningful to me and that I would have liked to support more in the past. I'd take care of all my family and friends. I would drive a Mercedes and get Abbie her Coach purse. Then likely I would pull the kiddos out of school for a year to travel around. I'd home school them - and/or hire a tutor/nanny/cook to come with us on our travelling adventures. Eventually when all my fun wore thin I think I would like to open a school. That's just an off the cuff response - sorry if it seems shallow, but I am tired.

There now Miss Spincerely - done!

On to other topics - here are some layouts that I finished up over the past few weeks.

For the most part the left side of the two page layout is shown first.

So, this one is fairly recent... this year anyway. The swirls on the left and right are chipboard.

Yes, this is Max's last day of last year. First grade. One half of the layout is that, the other is from his author's tea also last year.Ah hem, well, this one is a bit old. You wouldn't believe how "almost done" this was for sooooo long. Well, now it finally is in the Halloween album where it belongs. Whew! [ps - that is Max in the Bob outfit, not Ethan - just FYI]Ah, another recent one. This was from a recent field trip of Ethan's. I think I like this layout best of the ones here this time. What's your favorite?

I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

I have to get back to cleaning out the guest room now.... [insert groan here] tootles! :)

Update on the Tag Sale...

Welp, I am finally done and cleaned up too.
Today I made somewhere around $45.oo.
With yesterday's total it's about $150 overall.

Not too bad.

I majorly decluttered... that's a good thing.
I majorly purged my scrap stash... great.
I am MAJORLY exhaused right now... oh well.
Oddly not many clothing items sold.
My big sellers were toys, scrapbook stuff, and VHS tapes (go figure).

Off to see my neighbors new baby now. He is a healthy 9lb. 2oz baby and is 21" long! Wow! Pretty darn big for a first baby AND his mom is only about 5' tall!
Have a happy weekend!!!! :)

Two Words

Yep, I've been a little blog neglectful.

Two words as to why...

TAG - SALE

Good grief - the work involved in these things! I am doing the sale with my neighbor down the road ... so along with getting it all together I did a ton of schlepping. Schlep, schlep, schlep. The sale was yesterday (friday) all day [ALL day - 7:30am - 8:30pm] and today it's just from 8 - 2. Yesterday I "made" just over $100. Not too shabby. My friend sold her wave runner for over $1000.00 and a mobile bar for $150.00 so she's doing great.

So, that's where i've been. And as soon as this is over we start cleaning/preparing for guests who will arrive on Thursday. Right now my scrap/guest room is a disaster to say the least. I did go through my stash though and was able to finally sell some old CM stuff hanging around and some old patterned paper at 10 for $1. Cool. Out with the old... in with the new...

Back to guests, since they will be here for about a week - I really cannot imagine I will be doing too much blogging - but I will try. Jeff is supposed to get the computer and desk out of the guest room so I have a shot maybe.

Who is visiting you ask? We will be having Grandpa and Grandma Maggie here for some Michigan fun. I hope our weather is nice... if it is we may subject them to a dune ride!!!!!

Now, I had a guest two weeks ago too. Guess who? No guessing if you know - we had a blast when she (hint) was here. Would you believe though that I have NOT ONE PICTURE?! I have failed as a scrapbooker. NOT.ONE.PICTURE. Good grief. I am embarrased for myself. We just moved around a lot I guess and it was pouring rain every day she was here until the day she left. This person holds the distinction of being my first non-family visitor. Any guesses???? I am hoping that the numbers of visitors will rise significantly over the summer [HINT<>

So, otherwise here's what we've been doing........

Ethan is finishing up therapy (OT) and having fun with his therapist "Miss Marguerita". Here it was a zoo theme day. He got to read a book about the zoo, and all his jobs {for lack of a better word} were zoo related. Here he is the "Zoo Keeper" and he is rolling the animals back to their cages (that white basket). The animal is on his back under his shirt. Yes, he is wearing hand and ankle weights and has to keep his head and feet up. Not as easy as it may look! He has a blast going and has progressed so far that as of June he will "graduate" out of needing it!! Whoo hooEthan has also been on a major lego kick. And speaking of kicking... here's our weekend. I think you can tell, but in case not Abbie is the one in blue. So funny that I got this shot because right after it she got spoken to for checking a girl with a bit too much, um, oomph. Cracked me up! So not Abbie!!! Her coaches from CT would chuckle at that, believe me they would. Max LOVES soccer as well. A lot. He especially likes offense. He and three other boys on his team really lead the team. They were pretty undefeated (though at his league they don't track things like that).His season actually ended [seems early to me!] and he got a medal. School is almost over here. Ethan is done next week and the big kiddos get out on the 6th of June. Time, which has been dragging, is suddenly flying by. I need to make teacher gifts and FAST. Good grief. Any ideas???

I hope you have a nice weekend. Wish me luck at day 2 of the garage sale okay? Oh and for a good laugh look at the time stamp from this blog post and you'll see just how little I have been sleeping lately. Happy Saturday!!! :)

The Meatloaf Police??!!

Oh my!
The meatloaf police are on the way to my house!!!
Good grief and oh my macaroni!!!
Yep, it appears that leaving my picture of my HEALTHY meatloaf up there is causing extreme duress, nausea, and all sorts of awful things.
Sooooooooo......
On to a post that i've been meaning to do since March 19th!
My princess is such the "tween" now, more then ever.
In recent posts many of you mentioned that she is looking so grown up.
You're not kidding.
Here is a photo review.
First Birthday. So cute. I know you covet my glasses, try to control yourselves.First birthday with the grandma's. Yes, she still enjoys gifts. AND I'll have you know she loved wearing those headbands! Really. I think I still have that one as a matter of fact! Here she is at a brownie dance at age 7. I have the least pictures of Abbie on digital. Now there is this machine that changes negatives into digital images. I think I am going to be calling my IT guy to see if we can get that upgrade!!! ;) Oh, and here is the IT guy himself.
Age 8 at a gymnastics birthday party. Age 10 with the gruesome twosome. (hee hee hee)Egad - here she is at 11. You will be amazed just how much she has changed even between 11 and 12 (I think so anyway).Skull and crossbones bathing suit optional to attend party. {It was a mini-sleepover and the girlies went into the hot tub before cake. Not a bad plan actually...}Here's my lovely 12 year old.
She is doing so well here, straight A's, soccer, band, swimming, babysitting, you name it. I love the young lady she is becoming. {OH! Perhaps except that she now would like Coach purses and Tiffany jewelry for her birthday instead of the MUCH easier barbies. Oy vey} [she didn't get either... but a girl can dream right??!!]

Even her room is looking more "teenager" to me. [sniff, sniff] The poster collection shown here has doubled since this picture was taken by the way.Well, now you don't have to look at the meatloaf.

Peace out dudes!!! ;)