Questionaire from the Dawgs

Q: What is your favorite activity and why?
A: Scrapbooking...I love to be creative

Q: What is your favorite style of Scrapbooking?
A: Simple...but I am trying to branch out

Q: Do you prefer candid pics or staged?
A: Mostly candids, but I do like staged every now and then

Q: Do you take your camera everywhere with you?
A: No, but I should

Q: Do you have a certain thing that you prefer to get shots of?
A: My kids

Q: Do you have a specific comfort meal?
A: Dessert!

Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
A: Still teaching, maybe living in a different town.

Q: What are the steps you will take to get to where you want to be in five years?
A: Just keep doing what I'm doing...oh and putting our house on the market.

Q: Do you collect anything?
A: Cows (and dust!)

Q: Post a picture of yourself
A: I already did. :)

Q: FINAL QUESTION: Who is a "Scrapbooking Celeb" that you try to lift?
What is it that you love about their work? Post an example of their work.
Hmmmm....Not sure on this one. I really like Becky Higgins' sketches though.

Ryan is counting in Spanish

My first digital scrapbook page! I used our family Christmas photo.

My second digital scrapbook page!

HOLY COW! It's been a long time!

Okay...so maybe 5 months is a little too long between updates! LOL! I'll have to put some pictures up later, but for now just a quick entry is all I have time for. (Laundry is calling you know!) Hmmm...since October...Thanksgiving was good. My mom hosted the dinner this year, and there was about 80 in attendance. She was quite stressed out, but it went very well. Christmas was such a great time with family, as usual. Ryan and Lenae had a ball. Ryan finally got into "opening" his gifts this year. Everything was "WOW!" as he opened them up. When he was finished with his, he wanted to help everyone else too. Including his sister...she didn't like that so much. Kerry turned the big 4-0 on New Year's Eve. Per our usual tradition, we got together with the Jakabosky's but also invited my parents and Kerry's parents to come celebrate with us. In Feb., Kerry took another 2 week business trip out to Arizona. Lenae's birthday is in a coupe of weeks. She's going to be 7! I can't believe she's getting so big! We've got a trampoline in the works for her. She's been asking for one for a while now...so I hope she'll be surprised & happy! I'd love to say Ryan is "growing like a weed", but the little guy is just that...little. He's two and a half and still wearing 12 to 18 month pants. He weighs right about 25-26 pounds. I hope he has a growth spurt sometime soon!

That's all for now! I'll get some pictures up a little later.

A bit of saddness

I didn't realize that it had been over 2 months since I updated. I'll have to do another post when my spirits are up. Tonight my furbaby of 11 1/2 years went to the Rainbow Bridge. Whiskers didn't greet me when I got home like usual. After running Lenae around to lessons, and finishing up supper I decided to call for him. He still didn't show, so I then went to look around the yard. I found him by our back steps. I knew it wasn't good. Kerry helped me get him inside where we made the emergency call to our vet. It was all over in about 15 to 20 min. from the time I made the call. We'll miss Whiskers. He was like no cat I had ever had or seen. He LOVED people. He was everybody's lap cat. As long as you extended your hand, he was there. Many people often commented on how friendly he was. He also liked to jump up into my arms...there was no waiting for me to pick him up. It was always, "Notice me, Now!" I know now that he is free from pain. Lenae of course it taking this very hard. I hope that she will soon heal. Death is such a hard lesson for little people, and big ones too. Until next time...Whiskers, I hope you are enjoying being free!

Kid Update

Part of this update should have been made back in May! Lenae graduated from Kindergarten and is looking forward to starting first grade in about 3 1/2 weeks. YIKES! That means I have to return to work then too. Wow, the summer goes by way to fast! Lenae has been attending Summer Camp through our YMCA, and has also just started swimming lessons again. She's in level 3! We are so proud of all that she's accomplished in the water this past year. It is really amazing how much confidence the lessons have given her. She wants to take gymnastics, but is afraid because of her asthma. We keep trying to encourage her, but we haven't succeeded just yet. Ryan just turned two this past weekend. We had a great time that day. Many friends and family gathered at our house for a BBQ and cake & ice cream. It was a lot of fun! Ryan is starting to pick up a few words here and there. Up until the past couple of weeks, he's only been saying about 10 words. He's added several more to his list: No, two, five, Nammy(Gammy), Yup, and Nommy(Mommy). Yes, that's right, after 2 years of waiting patiently, he's finally calling me "Nommy." YES! Enjoy the pictures, I hope to post more later!

Colorado Vacation

We had a blast! Drove out on Hwy 50 and stayed the night in a little town WAY out in the boonies called Walsenburg, Co before heading into Durango the next morning. The San Juan Forest was just beautiful! We did a very short hike at the Continental Divide so the kids could get their hands in the snow. Lenae thought it was SO COOL to be in shorts and playing with the snow. My friend, Karen, met us in Durango. She was able to stay with us for a few nights. Kerry, Lenae and Karen went river rafting the next day. Later that night, Karen, Lenae and I went shopping! Downtown Durango great for that! Lenae got tired, and we didn't cover near as much as we wanted to. We all rode the Durango to Silverton Train the following day. It was a lot of fun (even for the 3rd time around! - for me anyway). There is some beautiful country that you just can't see from the road. Karen also introduced us to Geocaching! We made our first three finds with her, and have found several more since we've been back home. Check out this site to find out more. It is a lot of fun, and free too! Well, except for the fuel. After Karen left, Kerry, the kids and I did a lot of driving around the area. We drove to Vallecito Lake, which is absolutely gorgeous! When we left Durango, we headed up the Million Dollar Highway. Talk about nature's beauty at its best! Wow! I've been down the road as a kid, but don't remember it much. Other than the cars my brother and I had spotted that had driven off the mountain side and crashed below! YIKES! Kerry laughed because I kept leaning away from the edge. He kept wanting me to lean way over and take pictures of the drop off. NO THANKS! Anyway, we stopped by Karen's on our way to Denver. The canyon outside of Glenwood Springs was beautiful! The kids were getting cranky, and it was getting dark, so we decided to find a place to sleep for the night. We stayed at a little hotel in Frisco. What a neat place! Too bad we didn't have time to shop. I'd love to go back there. :) We finished our drive to Denver the next morning and then spent the day with Kerry's cousins. The following day we took off and arrived home. Now...I've got to get scrappin'.

SUMMERTIME!

Summer is here! YAY! School ended on the 19th, and Lenae and I have just finished our first full week of summer vacation. I spent the week going through all of our stuff for a garage sale this past Saturday. We did pretty good, and got rid of A BUNCH of things. The kids's closets are now cleaned out, and you can actually see the closet floor! This coming week we are headed off on vacation. We'll be meeting up with a college friend of mine that I haven't seen for about a year and a half. I'm REALLY EXCITED! Until next time...

Another Montage

I made one of Ryan. Take a peek! (click on the picture)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Check this out!

I made this today. Click on the picture & Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Beauty Queen

She's growing up so much! I took some pictures of both of the kiddos (of course) on Easter, but since Ryan was just in the spotlight with the haircut, it is time for miss Lenae to have the limelight. It won't be long until we attend her "Kindergarten Graduation." I can't believe she's already 6! Boy how time does fly.

The Haircut - Before

Here he is, peacefully sleeping. Little does he know in about 10 minutes I plan to wake him up and hold him down for the next 20 while he screams! Oh yes, the joys of having beautiful locks at such a young age. LOL!

The Haircut - After

My little guy looks like such a handsome young man! He's a different kid I tell ya. Yes, it was 20 minutes of hollering, crying, and constant nose dripping...but we survived. And, as you can see...apparently it didn't scar him for life. :)

Hoppy Easter!

Well, I survived April 5th, and I received loads of "thanks" and compliments from parents, teachers & etc. I think I deserve a nice BIG raise! :o) The kids did a great job with the musical and the music teacher was there!

Today was Easter, Alleluia! He is risen! We went to mass in Salina, then ran around a bit before heading home. The Easter bunny came by and did his yearly deposit in our backyard (Eggs I tell you! Not the other kind of deposit!). Lenae had a grand time, and Ryan had fun shaking the eggs and then throwing them back on the ground. I'll post some pictures later of the kiddos. We had BBQ with my parents and brother later in the evening. It was yummy!

One more day off, then it's back to work. I can't believe school will be out in one month! I've got so much to cover yet! However I'm definitely looking forward to the summer. WA-HOO! TTFN!

Can't wait until tomorrow is over....

Well here I sit. It is 10:43 pm and I need to go to bed! I've been worrying all evening about tomorrow. You see, I, along with my colleague, am supposed to be directing our 48 5th grade students in a musical performance tomorrow. Normally, a little stress is normal. However my partner in crime has the flu! I've said lots of prayers for her today, and I hope she feels better! I'm sure everything will work out just fine. I'm sure I'd feel lots better though, if this wasn't going to be taped by our local cable access TV channel! EEK!
.....good thoughts.....good thoughts....good thoughts.....good thoughts.....

Just trying things out to see how this works. Here's a photo of my children taken this past fall. It was our "Christmas card photo."

Days go by

Welcome! I'm trying something new...and I hope it works. The websites I had for my kiddos were just too hard to keep up-to-date. And if you don't mind looking at ancient photos and reading old news...they are good places to visit! Anyway, I'm hoping to keep this spot filled with good, and most importantly current news and photos. Keep checking back, and I'll do my best to entertain you!

Just incase you want to see those old sites...follow the links below:
Lenae's page
Ryan's page