Hockey

I just realized that I state that I am a big hockey fan and I hardly post anything about hockey. (Well, really I hardly post). Last night Mike and I had a blast. We went down to Mariucci. The Gopher's were playing North Eastern. The Gopher's really didn't dominate the game, but they did win in overtime. After overtime they had chuck-a-puck event, and Mike though five pucks. He almost won, he was the third puck from being the closest to center ice. He did pretty good for over three hundred pucks were thrown.

Happy Winter

Winter is here! Snow is on the ground. Cars are full of salt. Down jackets are needed. So lucky that I only have to drive five miles to get to work.

To be continued...

Most of August

Once again the month has slipped away. Where did it go since my last post...

We got a sudden call that the painter could squeeze us in, so we had to prep the house. Then the painter was here for the whole day. And then a day getting the house back in order after the painting was finished. Also, we had the kitchen painted a different color, which also meant a lot of shopping for new items to fit in.

Then I spent over a week and a half being sick. It was horrible, I didn't have the energy to do anything but sit there. Didn't even have the energy to watch TV. With the kids going back to school, it just made me feel worse because there where things I wanted to do and couldn't. I didn't make supper for the family for the whole time. I really felt like an outsider in our house!

When I finally started to feel better the computer got a nasty virus. Did it catch it from me?? I do have to pat myself on the back though, my whole family was "take it into the Geek Squad", but with endurance I got it fix on my own!!

Today we are off to the MN State Fair. Should be fun. Everyone has a list of what they want to eat at the fair. So I have already though of a scrapbook page focused on the "eats" at the fair.

Here is to September and everyone being well (including the computer)!!

Busy Days

Oh man, the last couple of days have been so busy. It all started with the painters finally calling on Wednesday and saying that he could get to painting our house the next day, Thursday. We were suppose to have a week notice. So Mike and I get home from work to work on getting everything off and away from the walls.

Thursday I don't work, and the painters were here all day, so I was kept busy keeping everyone out of their way.

Friday, after work, was shopping for rugs since we made a change to the color in the kitchen.

And today, was shopping all day too. Finalizing the rugs, getting school supplies and clothes, and some new things for the kitchen. And also putting everything back in their place from the painting.

It is exciting, but man I am so ready to just sit and relax for an hour.

Lots of Rocks!

To sum up my day -- WOW!!

I had a productive day scrapbooking in St. Cloud with three of my friends. I worked on my Disney photos from two summers ago. But I was in for a great surprise... I came home to a clean house! My hubby cleaned the house!! Mike, YOU ROCK!!

What is even more, Mike took Tate to a local beach and he says that he is swimming. I guess that there was a little girl there that was about two years older then Tate and she had taken three years of swim lesson and Tate was doing better than her! What a complete turn around from years before. Tate hated the water and if you would try and take him in, he would stand on your head if he could. Tate I am so proud of you! Tate, YOU ROCK!!

And for Will, he told me that he loves me without being all sweaty and stinky for dryland and weight lifting. Normally I only get the "I Love You" when he is all sweaty and stinky!! Will, YOU ROCK!!

Rock on people!

Fourth of July

We did do something for the Fourth but I was unable to post earlier because Tate has kidnapped the computer the last couple days. He discovered an online game and wants to play is constantly. Well, anyway on to the main part of the post...

The weather for the Fourth was perfect, warm enough for shorts but not so hot that you were sweating. So we decided to drive to Excelsior to watch the MN Orchestra play with fireworks on the lake following the music. We picked up Subway, found a great place to sit and just sat and relax. The orchestra was great, of course both Will and Tate enjoyed the piece that was the Superman theme. The fireworks were awesome and it was fun to play with my camera to try and get some great photos. At one point Will asked me if I was going to stop taking photos and just watch the fireworks. I had to kindly explain that as he enjoys watching the fireworks, I enjoy taking photos of them.

Finally we are having some nice weather and we were able to go to a local beach. Every year Tate gets a little more comfortable with the water, but he still had more fun in the sand. Will being a teenager, mostly sat on the blanket but he did get into the action when he found a stray bucket and decided to make sure his brother was extra wet!!

Also, last weekend we finally took my Dad and Mom down to the Mall of America. My Dad use to race sprint cars in his youth, so I wanted him to try the simulated Nascar racing. This was my Father's day gift to my Dad. We raced two tracks, but unfortunately my Dad said that he got shaken around too much and had to stop after the first race. After the second race we just walked around some and then had lunch at Famous Dave's. It was a very enjoyable day! Oh, and by the way in case you are wondering, Will won the first race and I can in last on both races!

Bubbles and Phone

Tate loves to chew gum. Today we were just sitting playing a board game and he started to push the gum out with his tongue. I talked him through blowing a bubble and he did it on the first try. We tried again and Tate couldn't get it, but a little more practice and he can blow a bubble almost every time now. He was so happy. It was so cute seeing him just so excited to do something that we, as adults, just do!

I also got a smile and a laugh today when Tate decided to answer the phone. It was a solicitation call, so I yelled to Will not to get it. But Tate decided to answer it anyway. The person on the other side of the phone ask for Michael. Tate then said "Michael!?, who is Michael" He then continued on saying that Michael is not available. The whole time I am trying to get the phone from him. Then Tate finally realized that they wanted his Dad. So the speech of... Oh, you want Mike. Mike is his nickname. Everyone in the family calls him Mike. Oh, my gosh was I laughing so hard!!

MN Zoo

Sleep is so precious! All of us were able to sleep in today, but Mike was going golfing. And for Mike to get out of the house for him without waking any one is next to impossible! Guess who he woke today?

Had a nice day at the MN Zoo for Tate's field trip yesterday. The weather was a little misty at first but by the time we got to the zoo that had stopped. The reminder of the time was cold but not overly too cold. Some highlights were the seahorse, a sea dragon, the takin and the gibbon. The seahorse and the sea dragon look so fictitious! The sea dragon look liked something out of a Dr. Seuss book. The takin was highlight the baby was butting horns with the parent. And the gibbon swinging back and forth in just a couple seconds, WOW! Actually the gibbon was the best part because it was what Tate wanted to see. We had stopped at the exhibit and both gibbons were just sitting there. And when we started to walk away, one took fight. Tate just stopped in the middle of the walkway and just stared. It was great to see the awe in his face.

Have a great weekend. I am off to do some scrapbooking. I packed light so I hope I can still get some pages done!

Sketch blog

I found this sketch blog and decided to give it a whirl. Here is my take on the Monday sketch.

So why are you still on my blog, go get your layout going too! The sketch I used is found at Sketches By Tamara.

Mother's Day

Hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful day of appreciation!

What a trying weekend for me that started on Friday at 7am. Friday started bright and early with cleaning my house since I was having a baby shower for one of my best friends on Saturday. The rest of Friday was cleaning, grocery shopping, food preparation and decorating. Saturday was the shower, it started around 11am and everyone left close to 4pm. Then on to church and finally drop!

By the time it was Sunday, I was so grateful that Mother's Day was at my mom's house! We had a yummy brunch. My contribution was fruit that was left over from the shower, how great is that! Very relaxing day and the guys did a great job of setting up the food and cleaning up afterwards. There was many times the kitchen was full of all the guys. I have a great family and in-laws and would not change a thing. Love you all!

Confirmation

Will received confirmation a couple of weekends ago at the St. Paul Cathedral. It was a really nice ceremony by Archbishop Flynn. Our church was the biggest group and took over two sections at the Cathedral.

Will's Grandma Mary Kersch was his sponsor. She did a great job teaching him and helping him grow spiritually. She is a great wealth of knowledge. Will is blessed to have her as a sponsor.

Unfortunately though, I don't think the whole proceeding meant to much to Will, except that he doesn't have to go to religion class any more. I hope that religion in the later years does help Will to continue to grow into a mature and well rounded adult. Until that happens and he is living under our roof he will continue to go to church with us.

Here are a few photographs from the night. The other boy is Alec, a classmate in Will's religion class.

Alive

Yes, I am alive. It has been a very busy last couple of months but it is finally getting back to normal. After being unemployed for over a year, I found a job out of the blue! It took sometime getting schedules into a normal routine, so now I finally have some time to do things I enjoy again.

I have been able to do a lot of scrapbooking lately and will be posting some very fine works of art soon. ;-)

In the meantime I hope you all had a great winter!!

Check this out...

My son Will did this in remembrance of 9/11. He did it over a month ago and put it on You Tube today.

Wills You Tube Video

Yikes, where did August go??

Wow, the month is almost gone and I am not entirely sure where it went!! Well, a good two weeks of it was on vacation and then a couple more days getting the house back in order. Then it was getting the kids ready for school with school supply shopping, clothes shopping and open houses. I also watched my sister-in-laws kids three days, which I had to get up early and that put me in a fog the rest of the day. I definately have to make sure to get my butt to bed when school starts for the boys!!

The rest of the month is going to be going to the State Fair, working at the scrapbook store and then it is September. I am so anxious for school to start so I can give my house a good cleaning, get all my photos developed, work on design team projects for Scrappin' and get ready for the October scrapbook retreat!!

Almost out of here...

I have been so busy getting ready for our vacation. We are heading off to upstate NY to visit my husband's relatives. I finished my swap for the 2scd board and finished my circle journal page. Also had the car maintenance done, got every ones haircut, found a new pair of shorts and still tons to do. So I might not be posting again for a while.

Here is my entry for Carrie's circle journal...

The way I see it...

The young have tons of imagination and creativity, so let them have fun and time to explore without adult interference.

But the adults can take a photo or two of them having their exploring time....

Design Gig!

I have a design gig!! I am making samples for a new scrapbook store in Delano, MN. It is opening today. Here is the sign that will be hanging from the store front.


The owner really wants to keep the samples just what she has in the store. Since everything hasn't been unpacked at the store yet I am not sure what I can all use. So needless to say my first sample is a little plain.

The Fourth

Had a good fourth. Busy but good. We had some friends and family over for brats and hamburgers. Everyone just had a good time. Here are a couple of photos from the day.

Wow I have been tagged. Not sure where it started, so there is no stopping it now! Here are the rules, post 7 random things about yourself on your blog and then tag 7 others to play. The 7 people I tag do the same thing and so and so forth...

My seven random things...
* Don't care for ice cream
* Love to do sudoku puzzles
* If I have money in my pocket I can't find a thing to buy
* I go to the grocery store almost every day
* Will, Tate and I seat danced to "At the Car Wash" at Taco Johns today
* Love the smell of coffee but can't stand to drink it
* My first job was in retail and to this day I still straighten racks when shopping

Hum, now to the harder part who to tag...my choices are...
Barbipoo
Shelley
Tobey
Amanda
Miranda
Becky
Kim