So after having a few friends encourage me to blog again and talking to Eric and him telling me that when I post to my blog it will update my Facebook, I’ve decided it’s time to come back. Yay!

Boy though was there alot of housework to do on here. My last post completely lost. Apparently at some point someone was able to get in and write over what I put, but thankfully for some reason the links didn’t post.

Lots of spam comments to go through! Most your typical Viagra, insurance, etc spam. A couple real comments from friends. And one that is eating under my skin so bad I could spit nails. I won’t go into it here. Trying to take the high road and put it behind me and am going to have to pray hard to get it pushed out of my head.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited to be back! New layout coming soon. Eric’s giving the talk in church tomorrow, so sadly my impatient self will have to wait another day or two, but I’m sure his talk will be great. Changing things up around here, both virtually AND in real life. Maybe it will help me out of this funk I’ve been in.

xoxoxoxo
Christina

It’s been something we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks.  Something until the girls have really started asking for one, I’ve been really not wanting.  But something changed within Eric and myself over the past couple of weeks.  Maybe it was when the two little ones wandered over her from the neighbors across the street and the girls played with and loved on them for an hour.

The last couple of days have been spent with research and I could really see it happening for our family.  I knew something was up this afternoon when Eric went to run unnamed errands.  After about 5 1/2 hours, Eric came home with a 14 week baby boy….

Presenting the newest addition to our family, Yuki (which is Japanese for snow):

Isn’t he just too precious.  Let me assure you this adorable little Bichon Frise has been in someone’s arms for the past 5 hours.  And up until now has been so calm and we weren’t even sure he could bark.  Of course now, the girls are trying to go to sleep downstairs and Yuki is in his kennel so not happy that it’s bedtime.  I’m not sure how much longer I can bare to listen to him cry.  Poor baby.

First, a quick recap of my last couple of great days…

Thursday was a great day.  Golf lessons and swim lessons for Erica and then I was off to lunch with friends from church.  It was so great getting to hang out with them and enjoy a great meal.  Then a quick run to the park to pick up Erica from her afternoon with Pappa, a few moments helping her to continue cleaning out her closet and then I was off to dinner with GNO church group.  We got there at 6:30 and just about closed the place done when we left at 9:30ish.  It was such a great evening.  Such a great way to get to know each other better.

Yesterday, golf and swim for Erica again.  Then later the three of us went to the driving range to hit balls.  It was then that I really realized how completely tired she was.  Poor girl fell into a pool of tears right there on the driving range, because she was having such a hard time hitting the balls.  But she wanted to be there so bad and would not let me remove her.  So Eric came in with the Daddy touch and smoothed it all over and she did pretty well.

Afterwards we met the Patillos for dinner at Red Wok, my favoritest chinese restaurant (obviously as I had been there two nights in a row for dinner).  It had been almost three weeks since I had had a chance to talk with her.  We each had been so busy with our kids since school let out, we hadn’t really had much of a chance.

But the best news of all…  The girls are home from Girls Camp.  I had missed them so much, and knew I had, but didn’t realize how much until I saw them.  Jackie went straight for the showers, but Ally has been hanging out with us since she walked in.  She smelled so good.  Like campfire.  Upon sufficiently wetting her sweatshirt with happy tears, I found out that not only had my little girl turned 13 while she was gone, (she’ll kill me if she knew I posted this) but my little girl transformed into a young woman yesterday.  She said she cried about it when she realized what had happened.  And she was especially bummed as she was about to go swimming.

Anyway, Eric and I hadn’t bought her a present yet and she was noncommittal about what she wanted.  And since I’d heard the Jonas Brothers were coming to town, I knew that was something right up her street.  So after talking about possible gifts, new bike, DSi, and Jonas Brothers (which her eyes totally lighted up at the last choice).  We hadn’t bought tickets, but I knew they were still available but didn’t want to buy them until she showed interest in really wanting to go, we threw her off by telling her we didn’t think they were available.

So after her reaction, I went online and bought them.  Not the greatest seats in the world available, but she won’t care.  She’ll just be so excited to be there.  Anyway, we’ll take her to dinner, somewhere not too nice like her favorite, Ruth’s Chris, as I know there will be a scene.  We’ll put the tickets in a card.  And hand the card to her and tell her as she can tell by our pick in restaurants is not the one she would want to go, so things are tight and this card was all we could do this week for her birthday.  She’ll look a little bummed, but she’ll put on a brave face and say that’s okay.  Then she’ll open the card, see the tickets and then there will be much happy sounds and possible jumping up and down her seats.  At least that’s how the scene preplays in my head right now. 

Seriously though, I am really excited about it and can hardly wait to see her face when she sees the tickets.  Oh! I better remember to bring my camera.  Now to figure out where we’ll take her for dinner.  Should make it one of those places where they make a big scene about birthdays. 

It’s official.  I have two teenagers in the house now.  Really it’s just a number.  She’s already had the whole teenage thing going on.  I really did bum out pretty hard today that we weren’t together today to celebrate it.  It’s okay though, we’ll celebrate with a party next week.

We did celebrate Eric’s Dad’s birthday tonight though.  We took him out to dinner with us.  I don’t ever think we could top the birthday present we gave him 13 years ago when his 2nd granddaughter was born on his birthday.

With the older girls at camp, Erica and I have kept ourselves pretty busy.  Yesterday was the first day of golf camp.  She was just too cute out there.  She’ll go everyday this week and then they’ll play a short game each week until August.  She seems to have the form down, but I think 1 1/2 hours doing the same thing is kind of too much for her.  I noticed today while there were supposed to be hitting balls, that she was picking them up by hand instead and throwing them at the car thing that picks up all the balls.  And then to top it all off she got three other little boys to join in with her. 

Of course when we arrived at the course yesterday, we realized she really, really needed a few polos.  So we hit all over Zona Rosa and finally found two (clearanced at that).  So not the time of year to be looking for polos for little girls.  Then after we finally found what we wanted (in the middle of a huge downpour) we went to lunch at Bravo.

Today was another day at golf camp, we came home and started reorganizing her closet, then went to her first private swim lesson of the summer.  A quick stop at home for showers and a change of clothes and then we were off to celebrate Pappa’s birthday by taking him to dinner. 

The great thing about the busy days, is Erica has not complained at all about being put to bed in her own bed and at a decent time at that.  And I fall asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow.  Speaking of which…

Here’s a pic of our youngest golfer:

I almost got everything done I set out to do yesterday.  Still need to get Erica golf clubs, Jackie golf bowls and those little stick things you put in the ground (hopefully both in pink) and I didn’t get to making dinner.  And I did it all with almost keeping my sanity in tact. 

Erica has been extra, what’s the word, spunky lately.  She won’t take a no, non stop chatters (very loudly), wants everything she sees at the stores (she was my companion to both the grocery store and Target) and has become very strong willed and defiant.  So needless to say I decided after calling Eric from Target and stressing out about what on earth a stinking triangular bandage and not finding anything that sounded like that on the shelf I came home for moral support. 

She gets me so stressed out lately that she literally makes my stomach hurt.  Which kills me, because I love that little nut so much, and it really is bumming me out.  I blame it on all the years that everyone has given her her way almost every time.  Erg!  Oh well.  She’s at least spent the last seven days in a row in her very own bed at night.  I had bought a couple of toys a couple months back that were really, really clearance, but toys she would love for when she accomplished such a task.  She found them in the cupboards in the scrap room a week ago and I told her what they were for and she was psyched.  So she was so excited when she woke up this morning as Mrs Easter Potato Head was finally hers.  And even better, it wasn’t 6am that she woke up this time either!

Ah, and it’s the first full weekend of the month, which means I get to spend today and tomorrow scrapbooking!  I am so ready for it!  Not only am I needing to be with friends right now, but I am so excited to get some of my own scrapbooking done.  I’ve been getting my pictures printed lately as I’ve uploaded them to the computer.  So I’ve got pictures matched up a few layouts and hopefully if I get my act together, maybe pull some things together to do one I thought of on my very own!

So I’m off to go check out blogs, check my email, switch the laundry, run my head under water (I collapsed into bed last night with my hair still wet) and my scrapping things that I’m going to need packed up. 

As I’ve got a whole bunch of these getting to know you things that I want to fill out, I will leave you with this one today:

1. Do you like Blue cheese dressing?     LOVE it!

2.. Have you ever smoked cigarettes?   Sadly yes.  I tried them when I was in tech school in the Air Force because hey everyone else did.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.  That’s exactly what all my smoker friends told me to.  So after a couple of hours, I gave it up.

3. Do you own a gun?  Eric does, so does that mean I do as well?  Actually I would really like him to buy me my own and take me to a shooting range and let me try it out until I’m comfortable with it.  It used to scare me to have a gun in the house until Eric showed me how to use his, and now I worry about if I’d be able to remember all the steps and be able to cock it back to use it if heaven forbid I ever needed to.

4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite?  Tropical Punch

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?  yes

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Prefer them grilled, if they aren’t not really excited about them.

7. Favorite Christmas movie?  Christmas Story

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?   Ah, there is nothing like the burn of a cold Diet Coke first thing in the morning.  But I really am trying to cut back on how much pop I’m drinking.  So now it’s bottled water.

9. Can you do push ups? This was Paula’s answer.  I think I like that one best, although they make them in chocolate, so I’d have to go with those!  – Sure….I prefer the orange flavored ones….. yum!  

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?  My wedding ring.

12. Do you have A.D.D.?   I don’t believe so.

13. Do you wear glasses?   No.  But I really wanted to when I was younger.  I also thought they made people look smarter.

14. Middle name?  Marie

15.Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: 1) I really need to get off this computer and get going  2) I really need to figure out how we are going to celebrate Ally’s 13th birthday.  Her birthday will be during Girls Camp, so we are thinking we will have it the Friday after she comes home from camp.  3) Glad I’ve got the girls all packed for girls camp as I’ll not be able to do it today or tomorrow and we need to have it dropped off Sunday evening.

16. Name 2 or 3 drinks you regularly drink?  Water, Crystal Light and Diet Coke

17. Current worry? How long is this thing?

18. Current hate right now? Being ignored and being talked back to.

19. Favorite place to be?   Scrappin’ with friends!

20. How did you bring in the New Year?  Nothing major.  Here at home with the girls.

21. Where would you like to go?  On another cruise, but not now, I don’t do heat very well.

22. Name three people who will complete this: Anyone with the time

23. Do you own slippers?  Yep.  Two pairs.  And I don’t wear either.

24. What color shirt are you wearing? White

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?  no, they move around too much.

26. Can you whistle?  Yes

27. Where are you now? On my bed on my laptop.

28. Would you be a pirate?  What kind of question is that?  No.  Sea sickness, not really into being on ships that long or sailing around and stealing things.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?  Hmmm…  You know it’s been awhile since I’ve sung in the shower.  Sometimes I find myself every once in awhile singing, “I’m Going To Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair.”  Not something I intend on doing.  Just seems like the appropriate place to sing such a thing. 

30. Favorite Girl’s Name?  Jacquelynn, Allison, Erica, Emma, Chloe, Elizabeth, Samantha… 

31. Favorite boy’s name?  Jonathon, Richard, Alex, Alan

32. What’s in your pocket right now?  No pockets

33. Last thing that made you laugh?  Something Eric said last night.  It was pretty funny, I just can’t remember what it was though.

34. What vehicle do you drive? Black Cadillac Escalade

35.  Worst injury you’ve ever had? I guess I’ve been pretty lucky in that department.  If I had to come up with one I suppose I’d say when I was about 9 or 10 we had high ovens, and I took a roast out of the oven and tipped it towards me too much as I was stepping down from a chair and spilled all over the front of me.  I still have a scar on my chest from that.

36. Do you love where you live?   Absolutely LOVE it!

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? Two.  We will probably add one more in the mix soon. 

Erica has been awake since 6am!  On a summer break day.  And anyone that knows me, knows that no matter what time I go to bed, I’m really not functional until about 9ish.  Used to be much later in the day, but I’ve gotten better about seeing daylight early (I blame it on the shades in our room really).  Anyway, before I leave the house to run all our errands:  More pool toys and towels, stuff for the girls for Girls Camp, Sign up Erica for Junior Golf and Jackie for private golf lessons, Grocery shopping, and Jackie and Ally both need electric razors.  Then I should stumble into the house right in time to fix dinner and head up to the church for a Primary Activity.  Erica heard the word water, and has been anxiously awaiting tonight.

So, as my body is up right now, my brain I believe is still in bed.  So here’s for something light to keep me blogging.  I got it from Cheryl’s blog.

1. What is your occupation right now? Domestic Engineer.

2. What color are your socks right now? No socks.  I only put those on when I have to wear tennis shoes and am leaving the house.

3. What are you listening to right now? The washing machine going and Erica playing with all the girls’ camp stuff.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Chocolate Chip cookies from McD’s last night

5. Can you drive a stick shift? I actually can.  I really learned on our first car together, which was brand new.  I actually kind of like it now.  Of course we don’t have one.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Eric

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? What kind of silly question is this???

8. How old are you today? Let’s see, I have to do the math first…  33.

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Figure Skating

10. What is your favorite drink? Cold Bottled Water.  Don’t worry, we recycle the bottles.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yep.

12. Favorite food? Dark Chocolate.  And anything chocolate and peanut butter.

13. What is the last movie you watched? Benjamin Button (Okay, sure I spelled that wrong, but remember my brain is still in bed).

14. Favorite day of the year? Any day the sun is out and it’s 75 degrees with a light breeze.. Oooh, Cheryl, I like that answer, I’ll still that one too.

15. How do you vent anger? I swear.  This was Cheryl’s answer too.  And let me first say, I just don’t see that being so.  But it is nice to know I am in good company.  I guess I know it’s one way of getting Eric’s attention really fast, especially when I’m angry with him.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies, Cabbage Patch Kid, and my bananna seat bike

17. What is your favorite season? Spring

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries, but not just any ones.  I think my favorites are the Mt Rainier ones. 

19. Do you want your friends to answer this? Sure! I invite them to post it on their blogs, too.

20. Who is the most likely to post it? Not sure

21. Who is least likely to fill it out?  Don’t know

22. Living arrangements? A house. 

23. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Eric’s stuff from his last business trip.

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Amy

26. What did you do last night? Went to Red Wok for dinner and then watched Benjamin Button on On Demand.

27. What are you most afraid of? Something happening to my children.

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheese.

29. Favorite dog breed? Not sure.  I’m actually about to start researching this as I’m thinking maybe when Erica turns 8, we will get one.  Looking at hopefully something mellow and small and something that isn’t bad on the allergies.

30. Favorite day of the week? Mondays.

31. How many states have you lived in? 7:  California, Texas (for Basic Training), Mississippi, Montana, Michigan, Oregon and Missouri.

32. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

33. What is your favorite flower? Carnations

Okay, there it is.  Hopefully you’ve learned something new about me.    Off to look at other blogs, check my email, maybe a quick look at FB.  Depends on how long the battery on my laptop holds out…

Okay, so it’s been literally almost forever since I last posted to my blog.  I can’t even begin to come up with a decent reason in why.  Other than the fact that I’ve pretty much taken a vacation from my computer.  Oh sure, I’ve gotten on the computer here and there, but I’ve really been trying to limit how much time I’ve spent on here, as I can get sucked right into cyberworld, and then it’s hours before I realize how much time has past.

But I really am missing reading everyone’s blogs.  And blogging has been a really nice way of keeping my family updated on our daily going ons. 

Here is a real quick photo recap of what has happened in the almost last three months:

We went to Nauvoo, IL over Spring Break.  It is always such a peaceful place to go to.  For those not familiar with Nauvoo, it is a really big history site for our church.  When the LDS people left Missouri, they built this amazing city out of this swampy land of nothing.  With the exception of food and lodging, everything in historic Nauvoo is free and is ran by the senior church missionaries.

Here are the girls and I with our “Prairie Diamond Rings” made from horseshoe nails in the Blacksmith’s Shop:

Here are a few pictures from Easter of each of the girls:

On Tax Day, we went downtown to the “Tea Party”.  It was quite the experience.  The first protest or rally I had ever been to, or you know I would have whipped out a pretty nifty sign myself. 

Ally’s last Orchestra Concert for the school year.  Most likely her last one.  She didn’t quite care for the daily practice and such, so she didn’t sign up for it next year.

Then just a few days after was Erica’s big Spring Recital.  This was her second year.  And I was surprised to find myself crying again.  She just looked so grown up on the stage.  And the whole class was really, really good this year.

And by the week’s end, my baby graduated Pre-K. 

Then two days later, the last day of school, which was Field Day.  I got lots of great pictures and lots of pictures with her friends.  But as I’m not sure how other parents would feel about their child’s picture out in cyberspace for all the world, I am really trying really hard not to post some of those great pics with her friends.

And alas, after being asked at least on a daily basis when the pool was going to open back up, Memorial Day weekend came, and we braved the very, very cold water and hit the pool.  Jackie wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, so she stayed home instead.

And I went to a Scrappy Sisters crop and I was blown away by my friend Vickie and how much she got done with pictures on it even.  So I decided to quit being so hung up on being caught up, I’m going to start taking more everyday pictures. 

Now my only problem is that the older girls are less willing to dress up as princesses or go for a spontaneous photo shoot.  So I’ve got to figure out how to not have a billion more pictures of Erica than them.

So that’s been our life for the past couple of months.  With the school year ended, I now have a girl going into Kindergarten at the brand new elementary school, a 7th grader at the middle school and a Freshman going to the 2 year old high school.  It will be a crazy year next year.

But thank goodness I should be half crazy by the start of the school year with our summer schedule.  Erica will be doing dance, junior golf camp and swimming lessons.  Ally will be doing Girls camp through church and summer school.  And Jackie decided she wanted to be on the golf team next year, so her summer is filled with Girls camp through church, Golf camp, private golf lessons once a week, and golf with the team once a week. 

Jackie had her first golf outing with the team this week (and mind you she has no experience) and the coach recommended she hit about 10,000 more balls.  Hmmm…  Not quite sure how to take that.  Is she beyond hope, or with practice stands a chance?  And if it is the latter, which I really hope because she really enjoyed it (in spite of getting hit on the shoulder with a stray ball, sunburned and carrying the bag of clubs through the back nine), then how many balls a day does that work out to through the summer?….

I found this on Lori’s blog and had so much fun with it, that I had to post it to mine as well.  According to this, Dorfus Gizzardbutt is my name.  What an image, right? 

The following is excerpted from a children’s book, Captain Underpants And the Perilous Plot Professor Poopypants, by Dave Pilkey, in which the evil Professor forces everyone to assume new names…

So:-

1. Use the third letter of your first name to
determine your New first name:

a = snickle
b = doombah
c = goober
d = cheesey
e = crusty
f = greasy
g = dumbo
h = farcus
i = dorky
j = doofus
k = funky
l = boobie
m = sleezy
n = sloopy
o = fluffy
p = stinky
q = slimy
r = dorfus
s = snooty
t = tootsie
u = dipsy
v = sneezy
w = liver
x = skippy
y = dinky
z = zippy

2. Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half of your new last name:

a = dippin
b = feather
c = batty
d = burger
e = chicken
f = barffy
g = lizard
h = waffle
i = farkle
j = monkey
k = flippin
l = fricken
m = bubble
n = rhino
o = potty
p = hamster
q = buckle
r = gizzard
s = lickin
t = snickle
u = chuckle
v = pickle
w = hubble
x = dingle
y = gorilla
z = girdle

3. Use the third letter of your last name to determine the second half of your new last name:

a = butt
b = boob
c = face
d = nose
e = hump
f = breath
g = pants
h = shorts
i = lips
j = honker
k = head
l = tush
m = chunks
n = dunkin
o = brains
p = biscui ts
q = toes
r = doodle
s = fanny
t = sniffer
u = s prinkles
v = frack
w = squirt
x = humperdinck
y = hiney
z = juice

Post a comment with what your new name is. 

I can’t believe it’s really been almost two months since I’ve last blogged.  I think this has been the longest thus far.  I really wish I could come up with a good reason in why I’ve been absent.  And please don’t take offense if I haven’t left a comment at you blog in that time either, as I haven’t even been a very good blog reading friend either.

So, I’ll keep the words to a minimum this post and just give you pictures instead.  After all, don’t they say a picture is worth a thousand words?  Think of how many words I’m saving you! 

Probably the biggest even in our house, was Jackie’s first dance.  It was a church dance and a formal at that.  I know it wasn’t necessary to go out and spend so much money on a dress and stuff, but I wanted her to feel special.  I was blown away with how quickly hair, makeup and a dress can turn a little girl into a young woman! 

The whole thing was definitely way out of her comfort zone.  From what I heard, she was asked by several of the young men to dance, but she only danced one dance with one boy.  When I talked to her, she said she was just so uncomfortable.  While she was dancing her cheeks were so hot that she was sure they were going to just about burn right off.  Poor thing.  She’s just entering into this whole brand new world. 

We finally got a really good snow!  Hey, end of February, why not!  Eric really went all out and helped the girls build a snow fort.  It was really cool!  It fit either 1 grown adult and two kids, or all three kids at the same time.

I have actually been doing quite a bit of scrapbooking.  With the exception of some journaling and getting layouts in albums, I’m back to being caught back up now!  Woo Hoo!  I’m still into the pre designed page packs, where you cut everything out, ink and adhere, but I’ve really gotten into using up my own stuff with this really great online sketch class that I learned about from some scrapbook friends.

Actually I loved it so much, that I went back and signed up for the rest of their sketch classes that were already done, but they still had all the content up.  Here are some of my layouts I did from those sketches.  Oh here is the link to their blog too in case you want to check them out.  They just finished their Got Sketches 103 class, but it’s not too late to sign up for it and get all the live class benefits.  The forum, gallery, pdfs, videos, etc are all still up.

And finally, on Facebook (yep another place on the web for me to spend my time, although I’m not as active on there as I would like either), Maricar had asked me to share pics of my scraproom with her.  So I finally remembered to get out my camera and post them for her.  Thought I would post them here too, just in case anyone else wanted to see it.  Although I’ve reorganized a little bit since I’ve took them about a week or so ago.  Nothing major.  Everything pretty much looks the same.  Just moved my Cricut stuff over to the double white tables and L&B systems and moved some of my Quickutz, Sizzix and Heat gun over to where the Cricut stuff was.  Just works better for me.

The only thing I didn’t really take pics of was that all the cupboards over by the bar area all have fun little books, albums and misc other stuff to alter.  I also house my smaller punches and corner punches in the drawers over there as well.  And I didn’t take pics of the wine cellar either.  Since we don’t drink, I’ve used that to store on one side more of my scrappy stuff and on the other side, stuff the girls are allowed to use no questions asked.  But you’ll just have to imagine that as it isn’t very organized at the time, and my excuse has been there isn’t a light in there, so it’s hard to really see.  Well, as I type this, the builder’s crew is installing one in there (they are finishing up some things leftover from our one year warranty type of inspection, like more cracked tiles, a few fogged windows, things like that).

Okay.  So I feel caught up on my blog.  Now time to go get Miss Erica all ready for school and hopefully, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to catch up on everyone else’s blogs after I drop her off at school.  If you don’t get a comment from me today on your blog, life happened, and I promise, I will be dropping by soon!