12 Years Ago Today

My life changed in so many ways.
The birth of my first child, my darling son Logan. He is such and AMAZING kid, he is smart, funny, and sweet. Of course he is also sarcastic, bossy, lazy at times and downright frustrating some days, but I love him to death and can't imagine our lives without him.
I can hardly believe it! Where did the time go?
Wasn't he just adorable?

And in his honor, how about some of my fav layouts about him?

From a Dear Friend, to all of my friends

A most dear friend (you know who you are!) sent me this in an email last night after she had seen my blog post yesterday. It touched me greatly.
Then this morning during my blog run, I went to Cathy Zielske's blog and saw the exact same thing on there.
It must be fate...it must be meant for me to share this with all of you, my dear and loyal friends.
This is such a touching video, and so affirming. I intend to watch this over and over again. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Judy!

This photo was taken October 1999 at the Garth Brooks Concert in Minneapolis, one of my funnest memories of Judy. We had such a blast!

Today is the birthday of my sister Judy who passed away June 29, 2003.
This post is in her honor.

Today

Today you would be 59
Today I shall not cry because you are gone
Today I shall rejoice that you were here
Today shall be a happy day of remembrance.

I love you Judy. I miss you.

Happy Birthday Tim!!!!!!

Today is my nephew Tim's champagne birthday, turning 19 on the 19th, pretty cool huh?
Tim is an amazing young man whom I have blogged about before, but here is a pic of the adorable fella anyway. Boy oh boy do I love this kid...ummm...I mean man...really I do...it's just hard to wrap my mind around LOL
Been busier than a one-armed paper hanger but I promise to come back and try to post more this weekend.
Logan made me a beautiful ice candle that I am dying to show you all, but since it is currently -45 Celcius with the windchill there is no way I am going outside to snap a picture right now.
have a lovely day everyone

All Moms...You Have to Watch this

Okay, so one of my favorite stops on my Blog Travels is to the blog of Dawn Meehan, her blog is called "Because I Said So"...anyway, if you are a mom, had a mom, are about to become a mom or know a mom, you can relate to this.
Dawn's blog always makes me giggle, I can so relate to this woman LOL

Check out her blog video, the 12 Days of Christmas...it literally brought me to tears...of laughter that is...this could be me...only she has better hair and more guts, cuz there ain't no way you'll catch me singing online

Oh My! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas???

Okay I knew it had been a bit since I posted, just didn't realize it had been this long.
You all know how it is when the holiday season starts, right?
So, between shopping...ughhhh...Christmas get togethers and events at the schools etc, I have been scrapping,surprised? Yeah, me too!
Yesterday I went and volunteered at the Royal Canadian Legion, they put on a Christmas lunch for all of New Prospect School. Both Evan and Carly went and really enjoyed it. They had the whole shebang, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, ham, dessert, hot chocolate. A good time was had by all.
Tomorrow Logan will have his turkey dinner at Pinewood School and I'm sure he will enjoy that as well, but I'm not volunteering for that one, tomorrow is my scrapping day with Courtney...yeah!
So, here's a few layouts that I have done in the last little bit. Hope you enjoy, and remember you can click them to make them larger.
The first bunch was all made with the November Lovebug Kit, I loved this kit!





This is one of My Girls, Amanda and Courtney, these gals just make me smile!

Those of you who read my blog on a more regular basis than that with which I post to it, will remember the dreaded Webkinz incident, right?

And just a few randoms, one of my current "make me smile" layouts is the "Have Her Cake and Eat Her Too", just makes me happy.

My Boy is Off on his BIG adventure

Well this morning started at about 5 am, had to get up to have my boy Logan (11) to his school for 6:30 to begin their big adventure. He and his fellow Fine Arts students are on the way to Winnipeg for a packed trip. They will be arriving back home around 1:30 am, with any luck LOL
Their first stop is at The Forks for a trip to the Manitoba Theatre for Young People to see "Rich". They should enjoy this as it has received rave reviews and is all singing, dancing and skateboarding, what teen or pre-teen wouldn't enjoy that, huh?
Their next stop is at the Planetarium for a showing of "Planets Around Us. Logan isn't big on science, but neither was I and I always enjoyed going to the Planetarium so I'm sure he will be intrigued.
From there they are going to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and then heading off to of all things, the opera! WTH??? Okay it doesn't appeal to me, but these are Fine Arts students and this is a great opportunity for them. Apparently tickets to this opera start at about $95 a person, but our school has arranged for our guys to watch the dress rehearsal and they are doing it for only $10/person, so what the heck.
Now the opera they are watching is Il Trovatore which again means nothing to me, but the cast is apparently top notch and are very famous in that genre, who the heck knows?
I know Logan will have an absolute blast, unfortunately, me, the worry-wart mother that I am is sitting here with her stomach in knots and will remain like that until my boy is back home safe again. I am somewhat more relaxed than I normally would be as today is my Mom's birthday, and since I firmly believe she is our Guardian Angel and watches over us all the time, I know that today she will keep an extra special eye on my boy, so that is my comfort thought of the day.

Just for you Terry

Okay so my sister Terry took a little dig last night and reminded me I hadn't added any layouts recently, so here with absolutely no babbling (do you believe me yet?) are some recent creations.
Oh, and if you aren't Terry,you can look anyway *wink*








Oh, that wasn't enough??? Okay how about a few more...







oh, okay since you insist, how about just a few more, but that's it, I swear, I have other things to do today you know......

Are my kids freaking adorable or what???

Prepare yourselves, tis another bragging mom moment coming up.
Here are the proof sheets from the kids' school pictures.
It was so hard to pick just one pose with these cuties I tell ya.
Can't wait to get the real photos back!
Remember you can click on each image to make them larger.
And NO, my children do NOT have "lifetouch" tattooed on themselves, they are watermarks you goofballs.
And YES, Evan did indeed cut his own hair the week before pictures, that's another story for another day...sighhhhhhhhh

In Remembrance

Well Remembrance just passed and I can't believe I didn't post about it or post pictures, my bad...sigh
So it was cold and yucky that day, and Evan was supposed to go in the parade with his Beavers troop and I told him it was cancelled because it was too cold. The guilt got to me, so 15 minutes before he was supposed to be at the Royal Canadian Legion, I started the van and went and picked him up at school.
So glad I did, it is so important for our children to understand the sacrifices that were made on their behalf so they can enjoy the freedoms they have each and every day.
Here is my darling boy carrying the Beavers flag, and here is one of the reasons it is so important to remember. This is my Uncle Howard who served in the war and sacrificed one of his legs in doing so, I sure do miss you Uncle Howard!

APPRENTICE IS A HIT!

Holy canoli, once again I am floored by the overwhelming response to a Lovebug event.
My Lovebug Apprentice kicked off on Monday, November 10th and I was expecting a nice little showing of about 20 players...we are now at 47 and the talent and fun are overflowing the site.
I am so totally thrilled with this turnout, and my "favorites" file in the gallery is overflowing with layouts that I fully intend to scraplift.
Sign ups for the event are now closed, but please pop in and play along just for fun if you like, or just browse around and enjoy all the lovely eye candy the players are turning out.
Hope to see you there!

LOVEBUG APPRENTICE STARTS TOMORROW!

Who loves The Apprentice?
Ever wonder how it would play out on a scrapbooking forum?
Well, now is your chance!

Join us starting Monday November 10th (sign ups will remain open until the 14th) on the Lovebug forum to play along. The game will run through the New Year so lots of time for fun, inspiration and competition.

Watch the forum for the official sign up thread.

This event will encompass a variety of things, including challenges, posting, shopping, games etc etc...maybe even some blogging if you choose.

All current, past and new members are welcome to join in the game and as always, no judging will take place. Everyone has an equal opportunity of becoming "THE APPRENTICE"

How will this be like "The Apprentice"?
* it will have tasks that you can complete or choose not to complete
* it will have prizes
* it will be challenging and fun

How will it be different from "The Apprentice"?
* absolutely no one will be fired
* there won't be any cut-throat antics, (but there will cutting of paper and there will be silly antics, of that I am sure!)
* I have way better hair than the Donald

So, who is up for it? Can't wait to get started!

Beautiful Birthday Greetings and translations.

So this evening after dinner, Evan disappeared, we found him hard at work at my desk, with his dad blocking my view as little Ev made me a card. You can see it in all it's glory here...






The translation is:
(front of card) Happy Birthday Mom! To Mom From Evan
(inside of card) I will always love you no matter what. I'll always.
Incredible Me E. Hi!

And of course not to be outdone by her brother, Miss Carly decided she should make one too, and to get one up, she used color on hers LOL







Translation:
Happy Birthday Mom! To Mom from Carly
(inside) Happy Birthday Mom. I'll always love you no matter what. I hope you never leave us. I hope you feel nice and good.


Gee, does Carly's sound familiar to anyone? LOL
And I don't know where the "i hope you never leave" thing comes from either...weird..my family is a freak show without the tent I tell ya.

Logan of course is too mature to make a silly card, Lord save me from pre-teens.

And Paul, well what Paul gives me is just plain none of your darned business...bwahahaha...now those who know me, that is just plain old fiction.

Have a wonderful evening everyone, and thanks to each and every one of you who emailed me, posted on Lovebug, posted on my Facebook or called me today with your birthday wishes, I was touched beyond words...Mwaaaaaaaa....sloppy kisses for all