Has Anyone Seen My Summer?

Holy crap Batman! It is almost the middle of July and we have had ONE decent day this year...rainy, cold, dreary...UGHHHHHH

Off to take the kids to the pool today, hopefully they will burn off some pent up energy and stop fighting long enough for me to fight the urge to drown them all (come on, relax, you know I am kidding,I wouldn't REALLY drown them...)

Hope everyone else's summer is going better than mine with this yucky weather.

Anyone willing to send some sunshine this way???????

Be back later after swimming and working on the building plans for the ark......

I'm a Grandma! ??????????

To an Eastern Grey Kangaroo LOL

Megan adopted one for Logan, Evan and Carly while she was in Australia. The kids think this is totally cool (way cooler than adopting a WebKinz according to them BWAHAHAHA).

His name is Ugg and he is apparently quite the character. Seems he tried to kill Ranger Tom by kicking him off a cliff or something...figures he'd be "one of mine", huh? LOL

Here is the adoption certificate and a picture of Megan "spooning" with the adorable little creature.

How freaking fun is this!

5 Years Ago Yesterday

Our family chain is broken and nothing is the same but as God calls us one by one our chain will link again.


We lost my oldest sister Judy, one of the toughest, bravest, most wonderful women I have ever known on June 29, 2003. Yesterday I decided to have my day of remembrance and to wait until today to post about it. I laughed and giggled and thumbed through photo albums, remembering all the good times, and boy there were a ton of those!

She struggled with illness most of her life, Crohn's Disease, Colitis, Ileitis, all household words to us.
But through it all she had grace, dignity and more bravery than I could ever hope to have.
Judy's biggest gift to us all was her philosophy of "Never Give Up".
I love and miss you dearly Judy, and think of you every day. No tears here, nope, only smiles and giggles for all the fun times that we shared.

That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind.
William Wordsworth

BUGZEE BEGINS (Yahtzee - Lovebug Style) *edited for correct entry date* thanks Rachel LOL

So excited that our next big event at Lovebug is starting today. If you haven't already joined in, you have until this Sunday, June 22th to enter the fun.
We have some great prizes and you are guaranteed to have a blast and get lots of pages done ( I believe there was some mention of Glitz *wink*).
Keep in mind that at Lovebug, we never do judged contests or events, all levels of scrappers are welcome and encouraged to come and play along.
If you join now and mention you heard it on my blog, I have a wonderful rak for you.
So come on out and play some "dice" with me at Lovebug, you won't be sorry!

WARNING! Proud Mom Bragging Below

So my oldest son is an amazing kid, and I'm not just saying that because he is mine.
He had a great week last week.
Thursday was his YBC Bowling Banquet. His team the "Royal Pains" won the League Championship, how awesome is that.(cropped the others from the photo since I didn't get permission from parents to post photos of their kids on the net)
He also won several individual awards: Beat My Coach, Beat My Average, 100 Pins Over Average, Bowler of the Month for September and League Hi Triple with a score fo 564. He should have also received the League High Single with his 252, but our alley owners will only give 1 award like that per bowler, so the boy who got it had a 238. I don't of course agree with this, I firmly believe if a child earns an award they should get it, if they don't earn it, they don't get it..plain and simple...but what can you do, right?
His other major accomplishment is one that he has been aiming for all year.
There is a program available here called the Fine Arts Program, it runs from grades 6 through 8, he will be in 6 next year.
It is an excellerated academic program with a strong focus on the arts as well. They do the same curriculum as all other grade 6 students, but in 2/3 of the time. The entire afternoon of their day is dedicated to art, music, drama and dance.
To be eligible for the program, they must have a minimum B+ average, be recommended by their current teacher and their current principal, and go through an interview process in which they bring a portfolio of their work. Logan had his interview on Friday evening and the principal of the new school was very flattering and impressed with his work and with him. She made several commments on his writing, telling him he has "great voice" in his writing, a great sense of humor etc...(must get that from me **wink**). She told him he was fabulous and would make an excellent addition to the program. He is so happy and proud of himself, as are we.
Paul and I must be doing something right as parents, don't you think? Now...if we could just get them to stop fighting, start listening and lose the attitudes....think that is a losing battle at this point LOL
Have a fantabulous day everyone!

Buggy Lovebugs and Endangered Zebras...Oh My!

Okay, so a few weeks ago a bunch of the Lovebug gals were going on and on and on and on and on and on...(getting the idea here?) about their new addiction....Webkinz...yep, grown women going gaga over these weird little things. Me of course, being me as only me can...felt a need to point out that Webkinz were a mere communist plot to take over the world, that they were evil and dark, tools of the devil...etc..
Anyhooooooo, it ended up being a whole big thing with me teasing them, them teasing me etc etc...then that sneaky Allan ("Mr Lovebug"...not to be confused with "Mr Universe" atleast not in this dimension) decided to alter my avatar photo with a sad, deranged and disturbing chicken...
and then today......this happened..


Now Allan (hereafter to be referred to as "Zebra") has declared that I even messed up the picture as the weird little chicken (who I refer to as Allan the Dumb Cluck) is supposed to be affixed to the hat with the string which is not visible in the photo...oy vey....... LOL

Sweet Johanna!

I just have to brag for a moment and show you all the lovely RAK I got last week in the mail. I got it from the uber sweet Johanna Peterson.
I love the Queen & Co felt, such great bright colors and of course who wouldn't love Heidi Swapp XL flowerd shapes? The matchbook is too adorable and the rubon titles are fabulous. Want to know my favorite? It was the sweet note that Johanna included in the package, talk about making a girl feel special.
There is only one thing I don't like about Johanna...she has this addiction to scrapbooking tools and she loves to share them on videos with Leah on ther Vblog so everytime she shows one, you just know that I have to have it LOL
Johanna is on the Around the Block design team and they have of course some of the most coolest tools.
If you haven't checked out Leah and Johanna's videos, click on the link above, you will be quickly hooked I am sure.
Gotta run for now, got some big announcements I have to make over on Lovebug,be sure to come and check them out, FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memories of Mom and How I Want My Kids to See Me

It has been 16 years today since Mom passed. But I'm not that sad, I choose to remember the fun and wonderful times and not focus on the sadness of this day. It was only one terrible, horrible day compared to a lifetime of wonderful, happy memories.
Cruising the photo albums today and what did I find? This gem. My mother in all her wacky glory...who gets this excited about sticking their head through a toilet seat I ask you? It's gotta be one special woman, right? LOL

Carly and I spent some time today watching old home videos of my Mom (who of course passed away long before little Carly was born) and laughing our butts off.
Was my mother perfect? Of course not, but she was close enough for me. I hope and pray that someday my kids will look back and feel about me the way that I feel about her.
I leave you today with the request that you take a few moments to think of your Mom, or a mother figure in your life, take joy in their presence in your life whether they are still with you or not.
Here is a layout I did a long time ago about my Mom, I might have shared it here before, I can't remember.

I also leave one that I completed yesterday (my apologies for the crappy photo of it, it's the best I could get for now) that talks about just how I want my kids to think of me.
As always, just click on the photo to make it bigger if you care to read the journalling
Have a wonderful day everyone!

It Ain't Right, G'Day Mate, and Silly String

I have to say it just ain't right that my children are so photogenic and every picture of me is horrific. Check it out, 3 kids with gorgeous blue eyes and angelic looks...check it out a mom with atleast 3 chins and a spare tire around her belly, and no that is not where my boobs normally are...it was the weekend, a girl shouldn't have to wear one of those things on the weekend..



We'll blame it on the fact that I was wearing my old sweats, and old sweatshirt and my niece's jacket. We'll also blame it on the way I am slouched so totally unladylike in that chair.
In reality,I am a very svelte lady, just so you know....... (I also have some prime real estate in the Brooklyn Bridge area if you are interested...)



Anyhooooooooo, This photo is of my niece Megan, nephew Tim, and of course my rugrats, Evan,Carly and Logan. Point of interest...Megan is heading to Australia in days. She is going as a volunteer and will be working at the Wildlife Walkabout Park just outside of Sydney for 2 weeks, and then spending 2 weeks doing those death-defying activities like white water rafting, rock climbing etc that I am way too much of a fraidy kat to do LOL Gonna miss her tons g'day mate!

And look what Megan did on Saturday night to her parents' nice clean house...she attacked...completely unprovoked...with silly string, see how she almost got it all over her brother Tim's plate and his friend Stephanie's plate? How rude LOL. It wasn't me...honest it wasn't... okay so it was my idea, but she didn't argue when I told her to grab the other can and help me LOL

Evan says

"You are the worst mom ever, and you have ruined my whole life"...sigh....another morning in the Waller household.
What prompted this statement? Well, apparently today is "Twin Day" at school...I know it's a ridiculous idea but the teacher in charge of "spirit days" is a coconut head to say the least..anyway, I digress.
Apparently Evan made arrangements with his buddy Bailey to wear the pants they both have (which ones? how the h*ll should I know???) and didn't tell me. So after a week of reminding him to get his dirty clothes picked up off his floor and put in the hamper to be washed, he finally did it last night. Now it would appear that the aforementioned pants were not washed...thus I am horrible. Oh well, crap happens...that should be his biggest problem today, right?
But...alas...my Evan is always the first(and usually the ONLY) of the kids (or husbands) in this house to admit he is wrong. He walked about 200 feet towards the bus this morning, came running back in the house, gave me a big hug and said "you know I didn't mean it Mom, you're the best....can you rent Zelda for Wii today?")...sighhhhhhhhhhhh Now I could of course think he was only sucking up, but today I am feeding on delusions and have chosen to believe that the whole Zelda thing was just a coincidence...
Well gotta run and put on my rose-colored glasses and head to the video store...Zelda, here I come!

I'll admit it..right here...I'm not afraid to say it...

I am not perfect, I am not a super mom, but I'm a damned good mom.
I read a lot of blogs and sometimes it just annoys me. Why can't people
admit they aren't perfect? Why do they always paint these rosy pictures
that their lives and families are absolutely ideal? Let's get real folks, everyone has a bad day, everyone has something that isn't going exactly right, don't they?
I'm not a Dr Phil fan, I find him to be condescending and just plain annoying, but I caught a bit of his show late last night on the dish and wanted to reach out and smack both him and his wife. I've always admired his wife, she seems so together and real (isn't that his catch phrase "get real"), well maybe they should
Phil's wife Robin said that never once in the entire lives of their children did she ever raise her voice to them, NOT EVER!!!!!!!!!! Anyone buying that? I sure as heck am not. There is no way in heck they raised 2 boys to adulthood without at least once in their lives yelling...bah humbug......

Boy, I am really on a tangent today, huh?
Moving on, be back later with something more interesting and relevant to say...just needed to get that off my chest....now I think I'll go yell at my children LOL (just kidding, even me with all my faults don't yell at the kids when they don't deserve it **wink**)

Oh and to prove that my kids love me with all my faults, here's a few pages of the "My Mother" book my 6 year old son Evan made for me. Also in the bottom photo is a gorgeous wooden tulip that my 5 year old daughter Carly made for me. SO THERE DR PHIL AND ROBIN

13 years on the 13th

Today, the 13th of May is my 13th wedding anniversary, do you think that's bad luck? LOL
I think Paul should give me 13 presents just to offset it, don't you agree?
Not much to say today, but I'll share a crappy scan of one of my wedding photos and a few layouts I did awhile ago that seems fitting today somehow.
Have a great day everyone!
There's another layout I wanted to share but can't find it on my computer right now, I'll have to go searching.
Again, to see the pics bigger, you can just click on them

Mother's Day...Gotta Love it

Well that is 2 hours of my life I will never get back LOL

Trying to upload the video of Carly's concert with no luck, I think it might have worked on you tube, but who the heck knows.

Anyway, hopefully you can see this, she is just too darned adorable in her High School Musical T-shirt, isn't she?

CRAZY busy....

Starting to figure out the winners of our Lovebug online crop for NSBD, so too busy to type today.

How about some eye candy? Here are the 4 layouts that I completed out of the 26....not such a hot average, is it? LOL but in my defense, I was a tad busy making sure everyone else got lots done

You can click on the image to enlarge them and hopefully make out the journalling if you are so inclined

Have a great day everyone!

Shout Out to my girl Kirsten!!!!! And Happy NSBD!!!

The internet is an amazing thing!
Through an online scrapping community I met a girl, and this girl is a sister that God forgot to give me(of course not to lessen my love for my real sister...see how I save myself there? *wink*).
She is my soul sister, so much like me it is almost frightening...or atleast it would be if it wasn't so darned awesome
Kirsten, my dear, sweet friend. I miss you to death and can't wait until we find time to get together again. Know that I think of you all the time and you are the BEST baby!!!!!! I was so happy to get your email today, gave me the biggest smile I have had for a long time.

Oh and a reminder tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day. Come and celebrate with me and the rest of the Lovebugs. Our online crop starts tonight at 7 pm CST and will run until midnight with new challenges each hour. Challenge posting will begin again Saturday morning at 9 am CST and run until midnight again. We've got lots of challenges, make and takes, games, surprises, prizes and fun going on. On and an amazing sale in the STORE too! (Did I mention that with the sale you can earn goodie bags AND get guilt-free shopping in June?)**And if this is your first time shopping at Lovebug, be sure to tell Denise in the comments section of your order that I sent you. Nice to let the boss know you are doing a good job, kwim?