Wii Wii Wii all the way home.

We had a great Christmas here at home with our family. Jared and Hunter spent the night a few days before the holiday. They were mesmerized with all the presents under my little tree. (I was lazy this year and only put up a small one.) I told them that they could look but not touch. A little while later Hunter passed by me with a flashlight. I watched to see what they were up to. Sure enough, they were down on the floor shinning the light on presents trying to see the names. When I started wrapping this year I discovered that I didn't have any name tags so I did them on my computer and printed them out. I plan to do this next year because it was much easier. So all the names were clearly printed on the tags for the boys to read.
On Christmas day we pass out gifts after a late lunch. Our tradition is to take turns opening a gift starting from youngest to oldest. We had a surprise "one last present" hidden in the basement for each one. We brought them out after all the others were unwrapped. I had a bought each boy a foam sled board and they were so excited.....of course we had a record temp the next day and all the snow melted fast. But they got to use them on Saturday. I wrapped a Wii for each of my girls. Michelle got a new digital camera and tripod. We gave Craig a drill that he had been wanting. I love Christmas and always spend too much. Just ask Larry and he'll agree. But, for the most part I buy practical items. Everyone always gets clothing and the boys are happy to get them. Of course they need some toys to open too. I always get in trouble from the parents. But, I just call it payback.
Larry bought me a Wii also and we have enjoyed playing. Darrin and Hunter spent the night on Saturday. They were so excited to bowl and play baseball. Now remember, Darrin is only 6 years old and he had only bowled one game on the Wii when he challenged grandpa to a game. Would you believe he rolled a 175 game!!!!! He was so happy to beat grandpa. I had went to Walmart Friday evening and bought another controller and a couple more games. I found a Monster truck 4x4 game with a free steering wheel in the sale bin. I was excited to get it for what I thought was a great price. I knew my gang would love it. Sure enough that is the boys favorite game. I also bought Carnival games which we've only tried once but doesn't seem to be a game that we enjoy. I need to explore it without any boys around so I can figure it out. I should do more research before buying anything else. The games are kind of pricey. Anyone want to share their favorite game? I got a free game with my new controller and it has fishing. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds exciting. I also hit Ebay and bought lots of fun things. Boxing gloves, guns, sports pack, and steering wheels. I wanted 2 of each item and they were listed for a good price. Anyone have a Wii Fit? I need to research some more on that because that was why I wanted a Wii.
Now that the holidays are over I need to get back to my favorite hobby. However I packed up my scrap supplies before Thanksgiving because they had taken over my dining room and I needed the space for our family dinners. I have everything in the basement and need to decide where to organize a space. I really don't like scrapping in the basement. It is a finished basement but it just seems too detatched down there. Also I need to invest in better lighting if I decide to create a space there. I'm still holding out hope for a new addition to our house this spring so I'm hesitant to do anything permanent. So for now I run up and down the stairs gathering the supplies I need to work on my latest project. Such a pain because I'm always forgetting to grab something. I even contemplated switching the boys room to the basement so I can have their small room back as my sewing/craft room. I don't think they would like that though. I'll figure something out. Scrapbox would solve a lot of my problems. Think I can convince Larry that I desperately need one???? Me neither. :( May need to dip into my own money. (Gasp) Why does it have to be so expensive???

Getting behind

Ok, so I'm falling behind on my blogging. It's been a busy few weeks. I also fought a cold bug and finally won. We had a good Thanksgiving. I've been watching Shay and Hunter for Crystal while she works. I have been staying home most of the time with the baby because our office isn't finished yet with the remodel on one wall. That's a story for another time. We have gotten a new contractor to redo/finish it and will be taking legal action against the previous contractor. But since the weather has been so cold it's not a big deal for me to stay home. I can keep my work caught up on the weekends. It's taking a little time getting used to a new schedule. I have to get up much earlier and then have Hunter ready for preschool. Grandpa takes him to school and also picks him up in the afternoon. And it's been a challenge getting used to having a baby around again. It's been 4 years since we've had one in the family. It keeps me busy but I enjoy all those toothy smiles she's been handing out. Just starting to coo a bit now. She weighs a whopping 8 pounds but she still seems to be the boss of me. LOL Oh, I'd love to give the person that invented the pacifier a piece of my mind. That evil green glob of plastic is a pain in the neck. She loses it a hundred times a day and it's my job to plug it back in. It isn't even one of those cutsie ones. It is the one she got in the hospital and the only one she likes. I went through this with my first daughter and decided the second one wasn't getting anywhere near a one!! Life was much simpler without it.

Here's a picture of my boss and her "Sass-afire". See? It's about to fall out right now. Oh well, I guess that's job security.

Weekend

It's been a pretty quiet weekend at our house. It makes for long evenings now that it gets dark so early. We did go to the grocery store Saturday and that's always a shock. I only go once or twice a month and so it seems like I spend a lot. I spent part of the week baking for Thanksgiving. I have rolls, noodles, and pumpkin bars in the freezer. I am going to do more this week since the weather is going to be rainy. We don't have much going on at the office so I get more time at home.
We went to JoAnn Fabrics today. There is a big sale on fleece. It was 50% off and I had a bonus coupon for another 10% off my total purchase. I had the cutting lines backed up for awhile! It was really busy in there. Everyone always asks me what I'm going to do with that much fleece. I ended up spending $400 and that was after a 60% savings. I love a good sale!!
We went to watch the older boys play their second basketball game tonight. It's so fun to watch them. They are learning and getting better at playing.
For some reason I have been sorting through kitchen cabinets this week. I need to purge some of the dishes and things that I never use. Why do we keep these things? I don't get this "urge to purge" very often so I need to take advantage of it. I have been asking for a craft room to be added on for that past several years. Finally got hubby to call and get someone to come and give us an estimate on building a room and they have never made it here to see what we want. Guess I will have to remind him to call them back again tomorrow. But it will probably be over our budget. If so, I will be redoing my basement instead. Talk about purging......that will be a major job!! We have been under construction at the office for the past 2 months. The contractor is sooooo slow. We are fed up with them but they were paid last December and we're stuck with them until the job is finished. (Needless to say we aren't asking them for a bid for my new craft room.) Construction is never a fun time but, I'd be willing to put up with it for a new craft room. Maybe Santa will be good to me this year!! Maybe not......

Shay's first portraits

This one was taken by me. How lucky to catch a smile!!

Hunter (4) and Shay (2 1/2 wks) had their pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. I was so happy to get a CD with all of the poses and a release to print them. I need to do that and scrap them but we all know that takes awhile to get acomplished. I still think my favorite picture of Shay is one I captured by accident. Just as I took it she gave me a big smile. She was 2 weeks old in my picture.

Way Behind

I'm way behind on posting my swaps. This should catch me up. I enjoy going back and seeing all the ones that I have done.

My recipe swaps

A couple of Card swaps

Bookmarks for a swap last month.

I promise

Note to self: I promise to update my blog this week. I have lots of swap pictures that I want to upload. I have some Halloween pics to share. I even have a story to tell. But this is all I got right now!

She's Here

Mom & baby Shay

Aunt Randi gets to hold her first.

Grandma & Hunter are checking her out.

Mom and kids

Proud Grandpa and grandkids

Our newest grandbaby, Shaylynn Marie, arrived at 11pm Tuesday evening. Randi and I watched as she was pushed into her new world. It was a very easy delivery and both mom and baby are fine. Hunter and grandpa were there too and got to watch as the nurse cleaned her up and took all measurments. She weighed 6lbs 15 ozs and was 19 inches long. Such a sweet baby and didn't utter a cry. Just whimpered a time or two and went to sleep. When the nurse wrapped her in the blanket she was opening her mouth everytime the blanket touched her cheek. She was ready to eat. Her fingernails were very long and needed trimmed. Hunter is a proud big brother. The other boys came up to the hospital Wednesday night and I got all their hands washed so they could take turns holding their new cousin. I printed a picture of Hunter holding baby Shay so he could take it to preschool. His teacher told me this morning that everytime somebody mentioned it yesterday he would whip the picture out of his pocket and show them. She thought that was cute. I brought mom and baby home yesterday and they are getting settled in to a new routine. They went to surprise Hunter by picking him up at school. He was very happy to see them. I drove him to school today so mom could rest. I took a lot of pictures so I'll be scrapping on Sunday afternoon. Glad I have a couple of albums ready to just add pics.

Baby is getting closer

Our daughter went to the doctor today and had a "membrane sweep" done. She is 2 1/2 cm dilated and 60% effaced. The doctor said she probably wouldn't make it till next Friday. If she does they will induce. So I guess I only have a week left to get ready for a new baby in the family. It will be interesting to see how Hunter acts when he finally gets to meet his baby sister. I just hope and pray that labor starts in the daytime. I am stressing about getting a middle of the night call and making the 30 minute trip to the hospital. Can't wait to meet the new baby face to face. I'm going to guess a weght of 6lbs 10 0zs and see how close I get to the actual birth weight. It's been a little over 4 years since we had a new baby. They were arriving on a regular basis for awhile! It will be fun to see the difference between grandsons and granddaughters. She will have lots of protectors when she gets in school. Four boys will watch her like a hawk and make sure she is treated good by any boyfriends. She will probably hate it though. I'll update when she arrives and post at least 1000 pictures. (Just kidding!!) I already have the camcorder loaded in the car. My digital camera is always in my purse so this scrappin' granny is ready and waiting.

Grandparents Day

Grandpa, Hunter, Jared, Cole & Darrin

Cole is always MIA. He's the hardest one to get pics of.

Larry and I went to eat lunch at school with all 4 of the boys last week. It was nice to see so many grandparents showing up and being involved in their grandkids school activities. We try to attend all the kids functions and I even went on a field trip with Cole last year. I will probably go on Hunter's first field trip because his baby sister is due at the same time. This year we have Jared (7) in second grade, Darrin (6) in first grade, Cole (5) in kindergarten & Hunter (4) in preschool.

We celebrate 3 birthdays in September. Mine is on the 6th, our daughter-in-law's is the 10th, and our oldest daughter celebrates on the 22nd. We haven't been to a truck pull in the last two weeks because of the rain. That gave me a chance to do some cleaning in my basement. I still have a lot of purging to do though. Remember the Beanie Baby craze??? Well, Larry and I were crazed too and collected lots of them! Now what do you do with all those rubbermaid containers of McDonald beanies and the Ty beanies that have no value now???? I guess you just store them and let your kids inherit them. I don't even want to talk about how much money we invested in them. As my mom used to say "Live & Learn"!
I have been painting at Crystal's house and still have a couple more rooms to do but I'm taking a break this week. New carpet is the best excuse to paint. I'm trying to talk Larry into letting me have a room added to our house so I can have all my scrapping and sewing supplies in one spot. I'm not confident that I can talk him into it. He doesn't have the same passion for scapping and sewing that I have. LOL My sewing machine is in the basement right now and my scrap supplies are in the dining room. I would love to have a room upstairs for everything. Probably won't happen soon. But that won't stop me from trying to sway him to see my point of view. He just looks at the cost. Now if I could just sell all those beanies......

My new purse

Just a quick post. This is a picture of my new purchase at the State fair. I fell in love with the color. Imagine that!! I will have to carry it for a loooooong time to justify the cost. I am more of a $10 purse gal. It doesn't hurt to splurge once in awhile though.

State Fair

We went to the state fair last weekend. The main reason was to see if Larry and Craig could qualify for the pull on Monday. We left at 9:30 Friday night. Larry had to be signed in by 10 am Saturday morning. He did qualify and the truck held together. (Yippee!) Craig also qualified in the diesel class but had a minor break. He worked on it and got it fixed before time to pull on Monday though.

Since the pull was on Monday that left us with a day to enjoy the fair. The boys had fun checking out the animals and exhibits. We walked as much as we could handle. Saturday night we bought arm bands for all 4 of them so they could have unlimited carnival rides. We got there at 9 and stayed until midnight. The all got to ride lots of times since there was only a small crowd and they didn't have to wait in line. Only one mishap in the Haunted House.....Michelle was going to take all 4 boys in by herself. Then she realized she needed help so yelled at me to come over and go in with them. I DO NOT LIKE HAUNTED HOUSES! I don't even watch scary movies or read scary books. But, being a good grandma, I didn't want to disappoint the boys so I bravely got in line behind them. We walked through the door with Michelle leading the oldest to the youngest boy and me bringing up the rear. Michelle called back and told all of us to hang onto the wall (it was pitch dark in front of her) so we'd know where to go. As she finished saying this I reached out and touched the wall at the exact same time she rounded the first corner and set off a buzzer that blared and shook the wall. Yep you got it.....I screamed bloody murder and scared the crap out of all of them. I thought Cole and Hunter were going to mow me down. I was backing up to get back out the door and they were running headlong right towards me. The other two boys and Michelle weren't far behind. Jared was scared and asked if we heard the screaming. I raised my hand and said "Yes, that was your grandma!". Needless to say, we didn't venture back in. Michelle and I laughed until we cried!! I still laugh when I think about it.

On Monday we did some shopping and hit some stores in town. After herding 4 boys all weekend we were exhausted. So, Monday night the three of us gals thought we deserved a treat and all got expensive purses at one of the booths in the fair. (I won't say how much I paid for 3 purses.) But since Larry said I could get one, I bought one for me and one for Crystal and Michelle. I have never paid that much for a purse in my entire life. But I sure do love it! The girls were excited to get theirs too.

Monday evening was the big pull event. Larry's class was before Craig's. He started out great but of course something broke and he didn't get to show the crowd what he could really do. He was so disappointed!! Later Craigs's diesel class pulled and his truck held together. He got first place and a huge trophy. We were all excited!!! After loading up we headed home. It was around 2:30 am when we pulled in the driveway.

Since we were gone, one of our emplyees had to supervise the delivery of my new washer and dryer on Monday. I was so excited to see them already installed and ready for me to use. I love them!!! After reading the manuals on Tuesday morning I decided to try them out. Hunter and I watched through the glass top on the washer. We were entertained by the way the washer worked. You couldn't even hear it spin! It uses a lot less water and the clothes come out much cleaner. The dryer was so fast that I had to wait for the second load of clothes to get done washing. Amazing!!

First pull with the new motor

Larry bought a new motor for his pulling truck. This is a video (excuse my shaking) that I did with my regular camera. He had a minor breakdown so he got third place. Hopefully it will be repaired by this weekend and he can try it out again.

My swap pages

Here are a couple of recipe pages I did last month.



Some atc's from the last couple of months. This one was a Black & White theme.


My "Nature" Atc's were a stretch. I didn't follow the theme very well.

12 on 12

This was a fun challenge by Martha that I managed to do. The instructions were to take 12 pictures of your everyday life on the 12th of the month. It just happened that the 12th was on a Saturday and I was at home all day.

1. The first thing I do each morning is check the rain gauge. Sure enough, we had a sprinkle during the early morning hours.

2. Next is my morning coffee.

3. Babygirl needs to go outside. She wasn't too happy having her picture taken.

4. I have an OCD thing about making my bed. (Even when I was a litle girl at home.) It gets made every morning. I was very sick one day last winter. DH commented that he knew I must be on my death bed because I didn't make the bed that day.

5. Laundry....need I say more?

6. On this day my clock needed winding. My dad made this Grandfather clock and I inherited it when my mom passed away. I love it! He also made the china cabinet next to it. He made 3, one for each of my sisters and one for me. Makes me miss my parents when I look at this.

7. A quick look out the door shows that the rain is still coming down.

8. Lunch time. Nobody here but me so this is what I fixed.

9. Time to watch a couple of shows that I recorded. There's usually cartoons on my TV so this is a treat for me.

10. The sun is out and it's playtime for two of the grandsons. They stayed all night and we shot some left over fireworks later that evening.

11. Grandpa is grilling hamburgers for supper.

12. A perfect ending to a rainy day.

First loose tooth

Both boys had their first loose tooth. Their aunt Crystal pulled both teeth. I tried to get Jared to go first since he's the oldest but he was a little afraid. Darrin was brave enough to have his pulled and when Jared saw how easy it was he decided to have his pulled too. We were in the basement waiting out a storm that evening and this was how we spent the time. They each have another one that's loose but not quite ready to come out yet.
After KM's comment I realized that I hadn't finished my story. I wrapped each tooth up for them to take home and put under their pillow. I asked them what they thought the Tooth Fairy would leave. Jared promptly said he hoped it was a puppy! Darrin agreed and thought that would be the perfect exchange for their first teeth. I wasn't so sure mom and dad would agree with them though. I told them to call me and let me know what they found. Jared called me the next morning and was excited because he got a dollar and so did Darrin. I guess the puppy was too big to leave under the pillow. Well, maybe next time boys.

Been awhile

Didn't realize it's been so long since I blogged. I've been playing around with Twitter &Facebook and sadly neglecting my blog. I do most of my internet surfing while I'm at work. It makes the time go much quicker. DH usually has the home computer in the evenings and I don't like to interrupt his Poker time. I have several pictures to upload and chat about. I'll get to those sometime this week. Summer is such a wonderful, busy time of year. I love the long days that are full of activities. OK I'm off to upload some pictures.....had another birthday boy this week.

Friday and Saturday were busy.

We finally got the renters out of our house on Friday. You can't imagine what kind of mess they left. How do people live in such filth??? Their sons bedroom was still wall to wall toys and a playpen full to the top with clothes. The hot wheels toddler bed was also filled with toys. All the floors were covered with trash and stains. Two windows were broken and had blankets stuffed. They had ripped up the master bathroom carpet except under the stool and in front of the tub. We took away 5 pickup loads of trash. We hauled 5 pickup loads to the local auction. I sorted through the clothing and ended up with a trash bag full of boys clothes to take home and wash. There were 6 jackets that looked new, lots of shirts and shorts, and some nice jeans. We also salvaged lots of toys. A VTech/VFlash game system with 2 games, a battery operated 4 wheeler, lots of trucks and motorcycles and WWF action figures. Needless to say I disinfected everything! We started on it Friday afternoon and were cleaning like crazy because a couple wanted to look at it Saturday at noon. When everything was hauled out of the house we began cleaning ceiling fixtures and walls. I had to empty the vaccum cannister 2-3 times per room. The couple liked the house and we rented it. They agreed to finish cleaning and plan to paint and put down new flooring that we will pay for. How lucky is that?? We're also putting in all new windows since the existing ones are so old.

There was a truck pull Saturday evening. So even though we were tired from all the cleaning we decided to go. This is a video of our first truck pull this season. I apologize for the shaking. It's the first video I've taken with my camera and I thought it did pretty good. The truck wasn't running top notch and Larry was disappointed with his distance. I'm sure he'll do better at the next pull. I'm always thankful that if he can drive it off the track and it doesn't need to be towed. So Summer has officially begun for us.

Been awhile since I bored you with a story.

It's been awhile since I posted. I had a couple of swap pictures to share but I accidently deleted them. I thought I was adding them to my picture folder and so I deleted them from my camera card. When I was done deleting, I decided to take a closer look at the pictures in the file. Crazy me! I didn't get them in there and now they're gone. Just glad it was my fun stuff instead of family pictures. I'll pay more attention next time!! Since I don't any any pictures to share I'll bore you with another grandson story......
Last week I got a call from two of the boys saying they wanted to go to church with me. I went to pick them up and at that time was driving the Silverado which has an extended cab and dual rear tires. It's like commanding a ship if you're not used to it. I was taking pains not to get too close to the other vehicles parked in their driveway. Their drive is on a steep hill. The boys came out and got in the back seat. I was in deep concentration thinking about how to back up and turn the truck around. I didn't turn around and look at them when they got into the truck but I said "Good Morning" and asked if Cole was still asleep. They said he was still sleeping so he wasn't going with us. Still planning my escape route, I asked them if they were both buckled up. Jared said yes but, Darrin said no because he was having a hard time buckling with one hand. This finally got my full attention. I turned around and there he sat with a proud smile on his face, one hand on the seat belt and the other hand up in the air. I wasn't sure I was seeing right so and I had one of those "Double Take" moments. There my adorable grandson sat holding a long whispy snake skin! He said "Look grandma." I screamed at him and said "What are you doing with that thing???" He kept smiling and said he wanted to show it to a friend at church. I said "Get it out of here now!!!" He lost some of his smile and then I realized that I had been shouting. I tried gently to tell him that his grandma is not fond of snakes or anything that has been tightly wrapped around one. He insisted that his friends would think it was cool. (In my head I could hear all the girls/women of the church screaming! I knew it was an exaggeration but, you never know.) I insisted that he step out of the truck and take his treasure with him. He started laughing kind of rolled his eyes at his brother then and said "OK Grandma." At that moment I felt like the child! He hopped down from the truck and laid it down gently in a spot where it would be safe until he returned home. He jumped back in the truck and buckled easily now that he had two hands free. Still smiling at me he said "I'm ready to go". So I turned the truck around and down the hill we went pretending nothing had ever happened. But I know this little 5 yr old is sitting behind me smiling sadly and feeling sorry for his old grandma because she is such a sissy!! And I'm thinking how much of a "boy" he is and so grateful that it was only the outerwear and not the actual critter that he wanted to "show and tell".
I shared this story with his dad the next day. I recieved no sympathy.....just hilarous laughter and a "That's my boy!".
Now you see why I need a granddaughter!!! We will have tea parties, scrap wonderful pages together, shop, and play dress-up. I will teach her to sew and make crafts. Yeah right.....get real! . She will be a "sassy" (which is what I've already nicknamed her) tomboy who would rather follow the boys around than do any scrapping and crafting. Do you think she'll like to fish and truck pull??? It doesn't matter either way. Boy or girl, each grandchild is a blessing!!! Except for those moments that they scare the heck out of you.

4-Wheelers and the law

Isn't there a law somewhere which states that grandmas aren't allowed to watch while 4 yr old grandsons are being taught how to ride a 4-wheeler???? If there isn't a law like that, there should be. Hunter is getting his first taste of riding by himself. His uncle Craig and aunt Michelle decided to let him have the smallest 4-wheeler that their boys learned on. Right now Craig is walking and sometimes running beside him ready to grab the machine. Of course Darrin, who is 6 on Friday, is flying around on his because he's an old pro. I am cowering here inside the office and taking peeks outside to see if everyone is still OK. My girls always rode ours but they were older when their dad taught them. Hunter seems to be having a wonderful time but you know he's gonna pitch a fit when it's time to come back inside.

Birthday boys

Jared was 7 on May 2nd and Hunter turned 4 yesterday. We have two more birthdays coming up next week. I'll post Darrins pictures then. His birthday falls on the last day of school. I don't know if I'll get to eat lunch with him. I know he plans to spend the night and go shopping for his presents. I gave him the same option as I gave Jared. They both chose to pick out their own presents. I made Hunter's mom do my shopping for his gifts. Cole will have to wait till July for his special day. And of course there will be another birthday added to the calendar this October. We'll know in about 2 weeks whether pink or blue will be the color to paint the nursery. Pink would be great but I think blue will be the one we'll be doing.
We have a granddaughter and an older grandson but haven't seen them for a few years. My step-daughter got mad at all of us a couple of years ago and moved out of state. She is the type to always be causing some kind of trouble wherever she goes. She loves creating drama and trouble between family members. Almost caused a divorce for her brother. I feel sad for the grandkids. I wish we could enjoy those two grandchildren as much as we do the other 4 boys. Azlynn will be 7 next Wednesday. Aidan will be 9 years old in November. Hopefully one day we will get to see them again.
So now I've caught you all up on some of our family drama. :) Sadly, I'm fully expecting more drama this summer. It's been so nice and quiet for the past few months!! How I wish it would last. But, I know it's coming and I'll do my best to be detached from the whole mess that I know he'll create. I'm just going to sit back and let him show his true colors. Ok this was supposed to be a happy birthday post and now I've gotten completly off the subject. Gonna stop now and concentrate on the good things in life. Hunter wants to go outside and play. I love to watch him use his imagination during playtime. That's one of the good things!