Tim Taylor, tunnels and worms!

We found out over the winter what fun it is to buy a home from someone with the mentality of "Tim the Tool Man" Taylor. I'm not kidding these people who owned our house before us must have jacked with everything and did it half-assed. Here we are digging up the sump pump line and relaying it. The idiots before us layed the line about 1/2 inch underground, which in freezing Northwest Illinois winters, it cracks, and then defeats the purpose of having the excess water pumped AWAY from the house. So, we dug down 14 inches and layed new pipe.....Lance says it will not freeze now. The girls were loving this weekend, because 1st - we got to dig in the dirt. Then, 2nd, we got to walk in the "tunnels" as they called it. And, finally, 3rd as the photos dictate we got to play with worms! Avery & Gracie thought the worms were fantastic little pets and wanted to know if we could put them in a jar and keep them. Ummm, no girls, no pet worms. LOL! There is more work planned for this weekend, so expect some more pics!! Have a happy week!

Thoughts - as borrowed from another blog

what inspires me:
1. watching people, their emotions, reactions and interpretations of life and its surroundings
2. my daughters, each and every day
3. children, all children and their innocense
4. the beginnings and continuations of friendships that i know will last forever
5. handmade cards/gifts and handwritten words
6. nature and all of its beauty and glory

things that crack me up:
1. comedy central (most of the time :o) hehe)
2. my girls most of the time
3. a good movie (Tommy Boy, Caddyshack, Animal House)
4. my nephew and girls doing the "straw farting" out of their armpits!

what scares me:
1. dying young and without reaching all of my accomplishments (like raising my girls)
2. losing my parents and/or children
3. heights (i can do it, but i do NOT like it.)
4. violence and violent crimes
5. the unknown

on the dream horizon:

1. travel: Hawaii, Jamaica and Europe are top picks
2. catching up on my scrapbooks!
3. learning the "learning curve" of photography and digitally creating art
4. i would love to write a book. someday :o)
5. hearing the song "she's a hottie" and knowing that is ME! ha! not likely, however, this is the "dream horizon"

my favorite places on earth:
1. my bed
2. estes park, colorado
3. maui, hawaii
4. walt disney world, florida
5. cape may, new jersey

issues i often have to confront/work hard at:
1. patience
2. accepting my imperfections
3. finding that "perfect" balance
4. not worrying about my health

things i'm good at:
1. being a loving, supportive mommy
2. celebrating - even the little things
3. being a good friend to those who are good to me
4. working through conflict
5. cooking, i love to cook and i think i do pretty okay
6. having faith in the big picture
7. smiling. i'm a smiler. giggling. i'm a giggler too.

things i'm not so good at:1. being on time (for anything!) i am a procrastinator.
2. planning ahead (for birthdays, holidays)
3. staying on task (i tend to jump around from laundry to dishes to cleaning to dusting)
4. forgiving those who have hurt me
5. mornings (i do it, but i am not so hot about it, ask my girls)
6. gardening (and i really wish i was!)

foods i have a weakness for:
1. lasagna
2. cheddar baked potato soup
3. turtle cheesecake
4. my hot nuts (flamin' cajun crunch by planters)
5. Coke

why i do what i do:
1. because it pays me well.
2. because it has a better retirement.
3. because i want to
4. because it feels like me

The Good with the Bad

My cousin Christopher and his fiancee Allyson are being married over Memorial Day weekend. Our original plans were to drive from Illinois to Houston, Texas with all three girls. 18 HOURS of driving with THREE girls. I think Lance thought I was losing my mind. I thought it sounded like fun, except that we'd have to make the trip in 5 days, driving included. With the gas prices soaring higher than ever, we decided last weekend that Avery and I would fly down to the wedding and Lance and the eldest girls would stay home. Hannah and Gracie aren't even that bummed about it....they have "Field Day" at school that Friday and would have otherwise had to miss it. Avie is done with school on Thursday so it will be a little celebratory weekend for her and I. I am so psyched to see all of my aunts and uncles, cousins and their children. It's been since my Grandpa Hook passed away in 2006 since I've seen most of them!

On the other hand, we received word yesterday that Lance's Grandma Midge passed away. She had suffered at the hand of Alzheimer's Disease for many, many years. I am pretty sure she has had it since I have known her, almost 13 years. She is his step-grandma, she married his Grandpa Catour after his Grandma Catour passed away. But, she is still his grandma and we will all miss her smiling face. We will spend this weekend with his family saying our goodbyes and attending services. Seems like we have been doing this all-to-often lately and it really bothers our girls. We are going to have them attend the visitation, but not the funeral. They did not see Grandma Midge much (usually just family reunions) and they would be much more confused by it to go. Wish us luck!

Nesting, Exercising and Music!

Been a little absent lately. Not that I haven't been here, just nothing profound to write about. We've been happily enjoying the 70degree weather the past couple of weeks. We've cleaned out our garage, our basement and all of the closets. Everything is so much nicer to be around when it's clean and organized. I've done a little card-making but no hard-core scrappin' since I sorted the pictures. Which I find as funny since that's the excuse I used FOREVER as to why I wasn't caught up.

I've taken to working out 3 times a week to the Biggest Loser Cardio Max and Power Sculpt DVD's. You know how women are always trying to lose that "baby weight", well I never had that problem but I have 30 pounds of "chemo weight" that I need to lose. I need to feel energized, alive and happy again. Not that I'm not happy, I just don't like the way I look. So scratch that, I want to feel pretty again. The tapes are really making me feel good about myself, even though I don't "see" the results yet. I will keep plugging away.

I leave you with a pic of my girls at Hannah's Music Festival last night. It was a "Go Green" theme, all about preserving our earth for the generations to come. Happy Weekend, I'll be back next week!

Photo Organization ~ Mission: Accomplished!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but I took on the task of organizing my photos. You see, I used to be an organized scapper, I scrapped in order and never got out of order. That's how I always knew I wasn't caught up, lol! I spent all of last week and most of this week organizing all of my photos in order....you know the photos that were all thrown in a box in the Shutterfly and Walgreens sleeves. I put them all in chronological order in photo boxes to match the color scheme in my scrapbook room. I feel so amazingly exhilerated to have that done, and all without reading Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom....not that I don't want to, I just can't find the time. It's on my list.

So, I came across (in my pile of crap under my scrapdesk) a bunch (like 50) of old layouts that were ruined a couple of years ago when we had water backup into our basement. I managed to save all the photos with the help of some great photography people who gave me info on how to save them. Here is my first layout "re-do" of these pages. I actually saved the pages too, to be able to transfer the journaling accordingly.......this is Gracie's 3year old preschool class carnival. Here's hoping this inspires you all to make a page or two.

Fabulous!

After some debating as to whether or not I could control three little girls watching the ever-popular High School Musical: The Ice Tour, I broke down and bought us tickets for the Sunday, March 30, 2008 show. We drove to Peoria (about 45 minutes away) for the show and it was as FAB U LUS, as Sharpay would say. I think this was MY favorite ice show as well as the girls. Sure, not as much "ice show" as in twirls and jumps, but enough of them and wonderful choreography....I mean, they played basketball on the ice! That is talent enough for me. The girls loved it, and I stuck to my guns of not buying any paraphrenalia (so outrageously priced) and easy to pick up anything HSM or HSM2 at Walmart and Target. At first, they didn't like that idea, but them came to realize if they were spending their own $35 for a tee shirt, they wouldn't buy it. We're trying really hard to teach that part of life to the girls and they're slowing starting to get it.

On Saturday, we took the girls to the annual Bill Dahl Memorial Easter Egg Hunt. This year kids up to age 10 got to hunt, which was a treat for Hannah because last year she didn't get to hunt because the cutoff age was 8. Hint: Even big kids like to hunt Easter Eggs!

Avery was all about being quick and getting the most eggs, although she was somewhat disappointed in not getting a prize. We told her that the Easter Bunny brings the best presents to your home....that perked her up. Gracie and Hannah both enjoyed the Hunt this year, although we were all a little in shock from the 30 degree weather we were out in, but hey, at least it wasn't snow, right?!

Our friend, Emily Snell, helped arrange this Easter Bunny photo! That lucky bunny with fur did okay in the cold weather. Hope your Easters were just as blissful and fun! The other photo is of the girls in their Easter dresses, love getting all dressed up for church! This year Avery wanted an Easter bonnet and purse, which I was more than happy to oblige ~ isn't she just fantastically adorable! Happy Spring!