Days 263 to 276 and Funny Halloween Story

First, for the funny story. We don't really do anything for Halloween, but I won't get into that in this post. So, basically, we stay home and hand out candy to the 12 kids that show up at our door. I always buy a ton so we can eat some, too (too much, probably). Anyway, this year we had a couple of families come with little kids (about the same age as ours). The one family came and when I opened the door, their little boy ran right into the living room, sat down and started playing with the boys' cars that were on the living room floor! He totally wasn't interested in the candy or his parents trying to get them to leave. His dad had to come in and pick him up to get him to leave. It was quite funny. That boy certainly wasn't shy!

Anyway, let's get back to the pictures. They're still from September, but I think I actually move into October with this set!! Yay.

Day 263 (Sept 20):

This is a continuation of the weekend we spent in Virden. Here is my sister Michelle and her husband Tyler, posing with the cake the church had gotten to congratulate him on his ordination. He's now a Reverend (though I can't see me using the title too often ;) ).

Day 264 (Sept 21):

Monday Night Football. Out comes the jersey, game goes on the big screen. This is Monday nights from September to January-ish. Jason doesn't really like the new announcers but he still seems to be addicted. Often, the kids want to put their jerseys on, too.

Day 265 (Sept 22):

This was proof that it was actually fall. September 21st or 22nd (I don't remember which one) would have been the first day of fall and this leaf (there were a very few on the ground) was proof that it was fall. In the next picture, you'll see why we needed proof.

Day 266 (Sept 23):

Do you see those numbers in red? Do you see the date at the top? On September 23, 2009 the high was 30 degrees Celsius. This is not normal for this time of year. It certainly did not feel like fall at all!

Day 267 (Sept 24):

I actually won a prize. It doesn't usually happen to me. I had gone to a Mary Kay demonstration with my sister and sister-in-law at the beginning of August. The consultant had put all our names in this draw. I had completely forgotten about it but then got a phone call that I had won. That was pretty cool. It was a bag, some make-up and a pair of sunglasses that are supposed to look good on pretty much anyone. They look horrible on me, so if anyone would like to try a pair of sunglasses, let me know!

Day 268 (Sept 25):

This was a story hour day (when we actually went, cause I don't think we've gone since then). These are Xander and Evan's projects from that day. It was a perfect day as trucks and big machines were the theme. That was the most perfect theme for my boys!

Day 269 (Sept 26):

This was the day we took the boys to see The Backyardigans on stage. It was their first ever function. Here they are in their seats with their tickets. We actually only used two of the four seats because neither of them are heavy enough to comfortably hold down the seats! They really enjoyed it, though. The first half was spent completely enthralled. It got a bit long for Evan but he just walked around our seats, then.

Day 270 (Sept 27):

Here is Xander (Sunday is football day so he's wearing his jersey). He was being so cute and just yelling "Gentlemen, start your engines!" into the Wii microphone. He'll also use it to sing the (American) national anthem just like they do before car races!

Day 271 (Sept 28):

This is Evan's favourite book...NFL Colors. He has to read it every single night! This is his favourite page...I think because he could say it first. He kinda says pu-ple but he loves to say it.

Day 272 (Sept 29):

Here is Evan with one of his purple faces! Both the boys so love blueberries and this is what they look like after eating them. I thought this picture would be great with his favourite colour.

Day 273 (Sept 30):

This week I took both Monday and Tuesday's pictures on Tuesday. This happens on occasion. I had no ideas for a picture on Wednesday. Monday I didn't get any pictures taken because I had fallen asleep on the couch. So, I figured Wednesday's picture could be of the excuse for not taking Monday's on Monday (if that makes any sense to you!!).

Day 274 (Oct 1):

Thursday it rained. Quite a bit. There were puddles and I thought the rain looked really pretty making its little splashes in the puddles so I tried to take a picture of it and this is what I came up with. I think it turned out nice.

Day 275 (Oct 2):

This was my sister-in-law Jodi's birthday but she shared it with Lucas (whose birthday is on the 7th). So, we had a party for both of them that day. I don't have a picture of them together so I decided to go with Lucas and the cute Mario Bros. mushroom cake Jodi made for him.

Day 276 (Oct 3):

I just had to take this picture because of the conversation that revolved around it. I call this Mr. Potato Head's "butt". So, you put stuff in his butt. Of course, with Xander being 3, it ended up with..."What's in Mr. Potato Head's butt?" "Poop" Ha ha ha ha. They just say the most wonderful things!!

Anyway, I'm not caught up, but I'm catching up. At least I'm into October now! However, it is late and I'm tired.

Until next time...

A Freebie Kit!

Hi all, I'm back with another kit. This is a freebie by Scraps of Ellay. It's been awhile since she's had a blog freebie and this one's really cute! It's called No Ordinary Girl and is a tomboy girl kit. I had a little trouble working with it because I only have boys but I did this really cute page of my niece, instead. I used a template by Bouille and I totally love the denim background paper!

Here is a preview of the full kit (which you can pick up here).

I have no funny stories today but we did have my youngest son's 2nd birthday last Friday. I can't believe how fast time flies. It's crazy. I'll be back later this week with some new pictures and one of the cake, too.

Until next time...

Wild Wild West and Have a Laugh on Me

First for the laugh...they say if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? The answer, today, anyway, is me. My sister-in-law Jen says she needs inspiration for things to blog about...just have mornings like this and you'll have lots to write! Anyway, the morning started off as usual. I had a bit of a headache and cough from the boys but not too bad. The cough kept me up a bit so I probably could have been in a better mood. Jason left to catch his bus and I was trying to get the boys out the door to the sitter's. Evan was not in a good mood so it was a bit of a hassle but we finally got shoes and jackets on, backpacks ready and were out the door. I grabbed my keys off the hook as usual, locked the door handle and shut the door behind me. I went to lock the deadbolt and realized I had grabbed Jason's keys and had no house keys. D'oh! Now, this has actually happened several times in the last few months. I just go to work and have to wait for Jason when we get home. I was thinking, oh I'll just email him and let him know. Then I turned around and saw my garage. Our lovely garage, which, until recently housed a never-used Neon (now sold) and which has a wonderful automatic garage door opener given to my husband as a Christmas gift from my parents. However lovely our garage is, I then realized that it was now housing my car. And the doors were locked. And I had no keys. Great. What to do, what to do? Well, I need a phone. So we walked three doors down to some neighbours' house (they also go to our church). I figured, they should be up and home because the kids would be getting ready for school. I don't really think they expected to see me at the door but they very graciously let us use the phone and impose on their morning for about an hour or so! Honestly, it was not until I was telling her what happened that it dawned on me that I should just put some house keys on Jason's car key. Now, it gets even better...I tried calling Jason at work...no answer. It was 10 after 8 so he should have been there. I couldn't recall him having a meeting or anything so I figured I'd try in a bit. My in-laws also have a key to our house but my mother-in-law does not get up that early. I gave her a quick call, anyway, just in case but, as I suspected...no answer. I called work to let them know I'd be late and I'm pretty sure my boss was laughing at me. I tried calling Jason a second time...no answer, then I tried a third time and left a message. He finally called me back just before 8:30. I guess he had missed his bus and just gotten to work. The whole time I was trying to call him, he was sitting a dozen blocks away at the Golden Mile Mall (he pointed out that if I'd let him get an iPhone, I could have caught him before he got to work). There was a bus leaving from downtown at about 8:35 so he quickly hopped that. It also lets him off right in front of the neighbours house. So, about half an hour later, he showed up, we walked home, dropped the boys off, drove Jason back to work and I was at work. It was only about an hour late, too. Not bad. In this process, though, it seems Jason lost his gloves somewhere so no the best start to the day. It is a bit funny, though, right?

Lessons from this story...I have much to be thankful for such as:

1. We live a quick bus ride from Jason's work.
2. I have lovely nieghbours who will let my boys play video games while I use their phone and impose on their morning in general.
3. There were keys somewhere...I did not have to break in.

Anyway, I also have a new kit to show you this week. It's a western themed collab between Scraps of Ellay and Scrappy Cocoa. It's quite cute, even though we're not very "Western" type people. It did go perfect with some pictures of Virginia City from our vacation this summer. I used a template by D'ylian for these:
I think they turned out pretty cute. This kit has gone straight to the store and it is 30% off for this week only! You can check out the previews below and pick it up here.

Scraps of Ellay:
Scrappy Cocoa:

Well, I hope I amused you a little bit!

Until next time...

Days 256 to 262 - More pictures and that flying time...

OK, so life has been busy in the last little bit. First the good news, I had the next set of blood work done after I spent the time in the hospital and the readings they were concerned about had gone down to mostly normal. That was definitely good news to me. So, things are back to normal unless I have another attack. I'm trying to cut back on the fried/fatty food. I figure that if I have fast food it has to be subs or tacos...they shouldn't be too bad!

I have found life to be somewhat busy with working three days and then having Mom's group at our church on Thursday mornings and story time at the library on Fridays. I didn't realize how much I looked forward to not leaving the house on Fridays. It's a drop in story time so I don't have to go but the boys like it. Xander tells me he doesn't but I know he does and Evan loves it, even though he's not supposed to be there. However, last week we had to skip because we had company. Wednesday was blood work, work and then Bible Study. Then, Thursday was Mom's group and company!! It was a busy weekend. My sister and her husband and two kids were in Sasktoon Wednesday night for a concert by Chris Tomlin and then they were heading to Manitoba to visit my other sister. Since the Manitoba sister had to work, they came as far as Regina Thursday and then stayed until late afternoon Friday. It was good for the kids to get to play together and I got to give her her wedding gift (FINALLY!!) - it was the cross-stitch from Day 255's picture. Then, I had a cousin going from Winnipeg through to Saskatoon for a wedding. They left after work and got here late Thursday and then left Friday just before lunch. This is a cousin that I used to hang out with a lot when we were kids and it was so good to see her. She had a baby last spring and I got to see her for the first time, too. Unfortunately, it snowed again Thanksgiving weekend (but not as much as last year) so the roads were not very good for the travelers. We were glad we didn't plan on going anywhere, though!

After that, Thanksgiving weekend was not so busy. Saturday was a day to ourselves and we got together with a bunch of Jason's extended family on Sunday. All of the aunts and uncles were there, as were a bunch of the cousins so it was really good. I had a great time visiting with a bunch of people I haven't seen in a while. Monday Jason's family came to our place and we just hung out and played games. It was fairly low key and we didn't even do a big meal but it was nice.

Then came Tuesday and things would go back to normal, right? Unfortunately, Evan got sick (apparently brought to us by my nephew on Thursday). He had a runny nose for a while but in the middle of the night, he developed a hacking, wheezy cough. He woke up at about 1 a.m. and was just crying. It took me a while to get him calmed down so he could breathe easier and he actually fell asleep at about 1:30 a.m. but I was holding him upright to help the breathing so I did not fall asleep. After a bit, he woke up coughing again. We finally got to sleep about 4 a.m. but I slept fitfully because I wanted to make sure he didn't fall off our bed (the floor is hardwood) and I would also wake to his coughing. Jason was also sick so he was sleeping on the couch. Let me tell you, I see at times like this how a recliner would be an awesome thing to have! I worked Wednesday while Jason & Evan stayed home sick. I was exhausted because after work, we also host our Bible study group. Wednesday night Evan was only awake for about an hour and a half but I think he had a fever today. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow but I've decided to skip story time again so we can all relax. Xander started coughing a bit today but hopefully he doesn't get too sick.

OK, now that I've rambled and you're all caught up on our lives, I do have another week of pictures (from about a month ago!).

Day 256 (Sept 13):

When I had my sister's cross-stitch framed, I did a couple other pictures, too, because there was a big sale. Anyway, this is an ink drawing that we bought on the banks of the river in Avignon, France. He was drawing the buildings there. It was a horrible time trying to get a frame that looked good with this. The blue in the ink was just off of all the blue frames. We finally found this matte that was about the same colour and decided to go that way, instead.

Day 257 (Sept 14):

This is the last picture I had framed. I bought this print at Volcanoes National Park in Hawai'i when I was there in 2000. It took me a long time to frame it :). I love how it turned out. I'm not sure where I'm going to hang these two pictures, but I'll find somewhere!

Day 258 (Sept 15):

September 15th was Jason's Uncle Glenn's funeral. It was a really well attended funeral as he had touched so many lives. Jason was a pallbearer with the other nephews. What do you say about a funeral? It was a sad time, of course, but we know that he has gone to heaven to be with his Lord and Saviour so there is hope, too. Still, it was a hard and exhausting day.

Day 259 (Sept 16):

This was Wednesday. I have so little to take pictures of on Wednesdays because it's just work, home, Bible study. I enjoy the days and I love our Bible study group but not much happens picture-wise. This is the living room set up for our group.

Day 260 (Sept 17):

Jason and the boys were outside and when I went out, this is how I found Evan. Like a wonderfully curious almost two-year-old, he had been chewing on the purple sidewalk chalk. It sure made a very colourful mess. I assume it was non-toxic since there were no issues, but I did forget to actually check! Doesn't it look yummy?

Day 261 (Sept 18):

This was our first day at story time. Xander actually likes the craft part at the end best. Huh, maybe I should do more crafts with him at home. It just never comes up. He likes the stories, not so much the songs but this is definitely his favourite part. He really likes to glue and is good at it. He must have learned that at Sunday School!

Day 262 (Sept 19):

This was the weekend of my brother-in-law Tyler's ordination service (he is now a Reverend). We went down to Manitoba to celebrate with them. It was a gorgeous Saturday and the boys were having fun playing with my sister's hose and the water! I even had a nice nap in a patio chair. My parents and my Grandma Fehr all came down for the weekend, too. We had fun.

OK, that's all that I have edited for now. I have another week on the computer but I have to get the rest off my cameras. I should really do that soon! Maybe things really will quiet down a bit now (snort...yeah right).

Until next time...

Some New Kits

Well, time has just about flown away on me. First, I have about three scrapbooking kits that I need to tell you about and then we'll get into what time has been doing and I even edited some pictures for you all tonight! I'll put those in a separate post, though.

First, the business. Scraps of Ellay has two new kits in stores (one was actually there last week - oops on my part!) The first was a mega kit called Cosmic Charlie (you can click on the previews to go to the store). I managed to get a page done with this kit and I really like how it turned out!!

This layout is of the day we left for vacation this year. I thought it went pretty well with this quote for a quote challenge!

The second kit is part of a collab with Jewel of Mad Genius Designs. They did a Halloween kit. Ellay went a little darker on her part while Jewel did a more fun portion. We don't do anything for Halloween so I did not have any pictures to scrap with this but you can click the preview to go check it out in the store.

The last kit is a charity kit that some of the STS designers put together to benefit the American Cancer Society. The colours were all picked to represent several of the different cancers. Pretty much everyone knows someone touched by cancer so help find a cure and go pick this kit up!

That's all the scrapping stuff for now. I'll be back with some pictures in a bit!

Until next time...

More Adventure Than I Care For on a Weekend

Well, I guess it's time to post a few of those pictures that I've updated. First off, the adventure. The weekend started out normal enough...birthday party for my sister-in-law and nephew on Friday, some errands and a baby shower on Saturday and church on Sunday. Then it started to get interesting. We got KFC for lunch on Sunday. Big mistake. I had a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up I went to sit at my computer. Not long after that I got the most excruciating pain in my abdomen. No position made it feel better - not laying down, not sitting, not standing, not fetal. So, I went to the ER. It was not terribly busy and the pain stopped just as we pulled up (doesn't it always). I had also fainted at home and totally bent my glasses. Anyway, we were there for a few hours and they kinda thought it was gall bladder related - stones or something so we went home and returned on Monday for an ultrasound and more waiting in the ER. Thankfully, it's not gall stones but I do have sludge in my gall bladder (great picture, eh? Maybe I should get Shell V-Power to clean out that engine sludge ;) ). Some of my blood tests hadn't gone down, though, so I get to go "give" more blood tomorrow. Hopefully the readings will have gone down and I will just avoid fatty (KFC) type foods. That did take up most of Monday, though. I will say, though, unlike some other times that I've been on the receiving end of our health care system (i.e. when I had my kids) I actually felt well looked after and like somebody, somewhere had a clue. The ER doc was even the same guy on Monday so that was nice. We spent some time waiting but given that it was usually for test results (which take at least an hour) the time in there really wasn't that significant. I'm not saying I'd like to repeat the process but I definitely did not have any of those horror stories that you sometimes hear.

Anyway, let's move on to the much more cheerful pictures:

Day 249 (Sept 6):

This is my parents' hole in Turtleford. Xander had a great time going to see it with Grandpa and then going back with the rest of us to see it, too. They tell me the hole is now getting filled up with things like walls and floors.

Day 250 (Sept 7):

In Grandma & Grandpa's garden picking wonky coloured carrots (I think these are the purple ones). The boys had fun with that...there were purple, bright orange, light orange and yellow ones. My parents like to grow whatever strange variations they can find!

Day 251 (Sept 8):

Back at home, just chillin' on the couch. I love pictures of the boys just sitting back on the couch like this. They look like such big people but in such miniature proportions...so cute!

Day 252 (Sept 9):

This was the battle du jour. Evan went hungry and sat at the table all night rather than eat one single bite of this pizza. Just a few days before, he had downed several pieces of a similar pizza but he was stubborn this day. He refused to eat it for breakfast the next day and finally had (I think) one teeny tiny bite at the babysitters. I think this child is going to be an "adventure" in the future!

Day 253 (Sept 10):

We went down to the public library this day and got library cards for me and the two boys. We signed up for story time, too. Evan never did get into his but Xander's is a drop-in and since Xander won't let me leave, I've managed to sneak in Evan, too. Quite frankly, Evan enjoys it at least as much as Xander but he's technically a year too young for that one, still. Oh well.

Day 254 (Sept 11):

Can you tell I was in a creative slump? These are my sunglasses. I like my sunglasses. Really. That's all there is to this picture.

Day 255 (Sept 12):

This is it. The cross-stitch that I did for my sister for her wedding. It is all completed and framed. I really like how it turned out. It took me so long to do this that it is just totally exciting to finally see it in a frame. Sometimes I wondered if it would ever get there!!

Well, that's all the pictures I have ready for now. I'm still a bit worn out from the adventurous weekend! Hopefully Thanksgiving will be a lot quieter.

Until next time...

What a Slacker...

Yep, that's me...I've totally been a slacker lately. My creativity has just tanked lately so my layouts have been suffering, my photos have been suffering and my motivation to post has been suffering! I have a couple of pieces of business to post and then I am going to show you the few LOs that I've actually gotten done. I think I'm getting my inspiration back but we'll see how long it lasts!! I do have a few pictures edited and I would like to get a few more done so that I can post them...tomorrow, maybe! My husband says he doesn't know what's going on in his own life anymore so I'd better get back to my posting! :)

First is the new collab kit at STS. This month it's a huge kit and all the proceeds are going to charity. One of my fellow CT members, Tara, has been working to get an accessible playground for her daughter and the many other children who could use it! You can read about here daughter below and check out the cause here. All proceeds from this kit will go to help out these wonderful kids!! You can go to Stuff to Scrap here to pick this up!!

The second piece of business is that Scraps of Ellay is retiring some of her kits! I really love some of these and you really shouldn't miss out!! Just to make it easy on you, she's marked them down to $2 until October 31...after that, they're GONE!! Go to her store here to pick them up. You can see which kits in the preview below.

Now for the few LOs I've done in the last almost month! First I have this one from Thanksgiving 2008. I did this for a couple of challenges and I think it turned out really cute. It was a crazy weekend that year. We tried to go out of town but there was a storm and the roads were awful so we turned around and came home. This was the next day!

Kit - Harvest Time Mini by Christie Lemmon Designs

Template by Scraps 'n Pieces

I actually really like how this next one turned out. It's really simple and pretty (I think, anyway). These are pictures from our family photo shoot this past summer.

Kit - Celebrate! by Eva Marina Scraps

Template by jewelscraps

I really don't like this next page (shhh). It was for a mini-kit challenge (where you have to use every item they give you) and the colours and the items just didn't inspire me. But, this is what I did anyway, so I'll show it to you.

Kit - Serenity Mini by Designs by Jen Yurko

This next one was for a colour challenge. They're supposed to be fall colours but they really reminded me so much of Christmas that I just had to do a Christmas LO with them. I think it's kinda pretty.

Kit - Dawnting by TotallyD Designs

Template by Dumpty

This next one I really love. This was a Scrapping U-Turn challenge. Basically, the hostess describes a page to you and you try to recreate it. I absolutely love this page with this picture of Evan.

Kit - Like No Other by Eva Marina Scraps

Splat - Roxy by Eva Marina Scraps

Word Art by Shien Designs

This last page is from a freebie Eva Marina Scraps has on her blog right now. It's actually a HUGE blog train so if your interested, just hop on over here and start collecting! The theme of the blog train is thankful. I've realized that I have so few fall pictures that it's not even funny. I dug into the archives to get this one of Jason & I from 2001. We were dating at the time, I think.

Kit - Thankful by Eva Marina Scraps

Template by Kitcath

Anyway, that's all the LOs I've got for now so I guess I'll be done with this post. I'm actually working on a LO that I really like so far so hopefully it keeps going well!

Until next time...