Danielle's Days

Walt Disney World Vacation Photos 2009

2009-03-01T15:29:00.003-05:00

I noticed as I posted the Pinewood Derby photo links that my previous post was posted during our trip to Florida and I never posted our arrival or any of our vacation photos. I took lots of fun pictures.....too many to resize and post in my blog so I uploaded the best to my Photobucket account and if you click the title to this post it will take you to a slide show of our Walt Disney Vacation Pictures.

Pinewood Derby

2009-02-28T19:35:00.002-05:00

Justin had a great time at the Pinewood Derby today. He came in third in his Den and won Most Creative in his Den. Gary and Justin worked for a couple weeks on the car and did a really great job, especially for their first attempt at building a car out of a block of wood! Click the title for a link to the photo album.

Perry, Georgia

2009-01-24T06:17:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

We drove 15 hours yesterday and made it to Perry, Georgia. Hopefully we have about 6 hours left for today. It is presently 6:20 am and we getting ready to leave. The kids were amazingly good yesterday, even through our one hour of just sitting on I-75 in Kentucky. Apparently a truck tipped over and was blocking all of the south bound lanes. We stayed in a cheap Howard Johnson's last night, but it was clean, had free wi-fi and has a free breakfast. We are pleased and know the hotel my parents booked for us will be much nicer!! :) The only disappointment from the kids is that we didn't go swimming last night because we got in later than we had hoped we would. Even though they didn't have that energy outlet they were also really good in our room and watched the Incredibles on TV until the fell asleep in their beds. Gary and I went to sleep when they did and I can't say I am feeling well rest this morning when our alarm went off at 5:30am but I will survive. Well it is time to be off!! More coming soon! Danielle

Floor Hockey starts

2009-01-17T13:39:00.004-05:00

Justin and Megan started playing Floor Hockey with their teams this morning. They both did a great job and had a good time. The only person who isn't as thrilled by our Saturday AM activity is Kyle. This year instead of just sitting through one game, Kyle gets to sit through two sets of games. It's too bad they don't have a team for his age level, with all his energy Kyle would be great a Floor Hockey.

I am posting this blog entry on my laptop which made its way home to me from the repair shop yesterday afternoon. I spent a frustrating afternoon trying to be patient while attempting to reinstall all my necessary programs and files. I think I am most there, although things are never quite what they once were, but I am certainly better off than when it wouldn't work at all. Anyway hopefully this new hard drive will continue to function and I won't have any further troubles. Meanwhile I remain the back up queen.

For those of you not in Michigan we remain pretty much house bound with our frigid weather. It warmed up this morning to only -1. To top it off we are getting snow supposedly 4-6 inches worth. I think I will end this post and go start packing for our trip to Florida this coming Friday! The kids are getting pretty excited about going to Walt Disney World. :)

January Updates

2009-01-11T13:26:00.010-05:00

I think in my last post I mentioned we were going to paint our basement. We spent the first three days of our two weeks off painting. While we still have too much stuff, the rooms look fresh and clean again. Luckily we got our project finished right before I got layed up with my pneumonia. If we had waited we probably wouldn't have been able to do the project over the holiday break at all! I am thrilled to have the project complete!!

Sledding Fun!!

Hello Everyone,

It has been awhile since my last post, so I better get caught up. I was laughing as I read my last post. I was having a very productive day and out of the blue decided to back up 90% of the content on my 4 month old laptop. I will never be sure why I decided to do the back up instead of the long list of other Christmas things that were on my list....but it turn out to be one of my better decisions. Four days later my computer starting acting slow and not functioning properly. I discovered that my Internal Hard Drive was going bad fast, so fast I wasn't able to back up the few things that I hadn't done 4 days previously. And as annoyed as I am that my laptop is still in Texas being repaired......I am so relieved that I didn't lose all my content. I store a ton of photos and digital scrapbooking stuff....not to mention all the other stuff I try to keep track of and organized in my life. So that day of organizing turned out to be such a huge blessing. I also realized how spoiled I had become by being able to use my laptop up in the kitchen where I spend most of my time. Now that I have to use the desktop in our basement I just don't make the effort as much. Thus you haven't seen a post in a month. Not to mention we had a couple of holidays in there and I also had a wicked bout with pneumonia over Christmas as well.

This last week I am finally feeling more my normal self and my energy level is returning to normal. It was nice to have the kids go back to school and get back into our routine. My parents were able to come for Christmas. They weren't able to get here until the evening of Christmas Day due to the weather but we were glad they were able to make it. Ryan and Lisa tried to come and join us on the 26th but after two hours they had to turn around and go home due to icy road conditions. Luckily they were able to join us for a few days the following week.

At present we are enjoying a snowy weekend at home. We got about 10 inches over the weekend. This morning Gary and I were able to take the kids sledding. Everyone had a great time. At least once we got there, getting 3 kids ready to go out in the snow isn't that much fun!!

We have also been finalizing our plans for a trip to Disney World in a couple of weeks. My parents have graciously invited us to join them at their timeshare condo in Orlando for a week in January. So we are looking forward to a week in the warmer weather and doing all the theme park stuff! Since last fall when Kyle was still giving me a hard time about being completely potty trained for preschool. I told him even if he didn't want to go to preschool he still had to be potty trained to go to Mickey's house. The other day Kyle told me that he was going to tell Mickey that he was putting all his wee and poo in the potty just so he could come give him a big hug. We will see if he has enough guts to actually give Mickey that big hug! And it did work he doesn't have accidents too often these days!! Kyle was 11 months old the last time we went so he has no memories of the trip at all. This time I think they are all at ages where it will be magical for each of them.

I will post some pictures from Christmas and sledding. Enjoy!! And Happy 2009!!!

Snow Day update

2008-12-19T17:47:00.002-05:00

It finally stopped snowing about 2:00pm. We took a ruler outside and we have 9 inches of snow. Our backyard is relatively flat, so the kids and I shoveled the snow off our elevated patio to create a mini hill. They took turns using the sleds to slide down our slope. I don't have any pictures however as snow was blowing like crazy and I didn't want the camera and lens to get wet. After our snow adventures we came inside for some yummy hot cocoa! We even used candy canes for stirrers, whip cream and marshmallows!! I didn't accomplish much else today, but I did get some computer maintenance and back up completed. Gary is on his way home now. He tells me he accomplished what he had to get done and now he can officially take 2 vacations days next week and be off until the new year. (Except for phone calls and email checks :) I'll take it, we haven't seen him much lately!

Snow Day

2008-12-19T08:21:00.002-05:00

The kids are home for a SNOW DAY today. Today was the last day of school before Christmas Break. Luckily we had school parties yesterday. Gary went to Kyle's preschool party and I participated in Megan's in the AM and Justin's in the afternoon. By afternoon I was partied out! It is 8 am and we already have quite a bit of snow on the ground and it isn't supposed to slow down until after lunch. Right now they say we are getting 1-2 inches per hour. We live on a main road and usually it stays plowed and clear but the few times I have looked out it has been cleared but it doesn't stay cleared! ( The bottom pic is from my front door. Beyond the crabapple tree in our front yard is the road, but in the picture you can't tell what is what under the snow!) Traffic is pretty light as well. However, it didn't stop Gary from getting up earlier than usual and making his way downtown to GM for the day! Hopefully it will be is last before he uses some vacation added to the shutdown and is off for the holidays!

He can't wait I have a big painting project waiting for him in our basement! I don't feel to bad though, I wanted to get it done 7 years ago when we moved in our house....so it is long overdue and I have been patient! I need to get the patching started so all the holes and dings will disappear under the fresh paint.

The kids have BIG plans for some fun in the snow. I slowed them down a bit as they wanted to go out immediately after breakfast but I tried to hold them off until late morning or lunchtime and hopefully the snow falling will slow down. Our black dog was white after going out for her morning potty break. Hopefully I will be back later today with some fun snow day pictures!

Through the years

2008-12-13T13:14:00.013-05:00

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

I started looking through the files and was swamped with memories. The time seems to have flown by, it is amazing how much the kids have changed from year to year.

12 days until Christmas

2008-12-13T12:30:00.003-05:00

Today we went to visit Santa Claus. We love to visit the Santa in the Renaissance Center, which is where Gary works in downtown Detroit. In years past I would take the kids down and we would meet Gary for lunch and go see Santa. This is our first year with all day school for Justin, so we made alternative plans and went downtown on a Saturday for lunch and our Santa visit. We took the long route home and gave the kids a first hand view of some of the blighted areas in Detroit and tried to give some explanations about poverty and the like. I think Megan and Justin understood at least some of it. Megan kept saying, "this kingdom is very sad and dirty". I haven't thought of Detroit in any fairytale like scenerios lately, but I thought it was cute that she kept using "kingdom" rather than "city".

We are praying that the Big 3 get some government assistance really soon or things will be looking really bad for us and most everyone around us in SE Michigan. So keep us in your prayers. Meanwhile we are pretty much prepared for Christmas and looking forward to getting together and spending time with friends and our families in the upcoming weeks. Danielle's parents and Ryan, Lisa & Matthew will be celebrating together in Michigan for Christmas this year. We started playing card and other games during our Thanksgiving visit and are looking forward to getting our competitive streaks going again during our next visit. Megan and Justin are finally old enough to play some more adult type games and enjoy being part of the fun!

We hope you all are happy and well!

God Bless, Danielle

Megan's Nursery Rhyme Recital

2008-11-21T13:09:00.012-05:00

Both Kindergarten classes participated in the Nursery Rhyme Recital today. Megan was happily participating! Such a change from last year when she would just stand on the stage and not sing or do any movements. Megan is wearing a light blue shirt and is standing at the very top on the right side. Unfortunately 8 children in Megan's class were home sick today with the stomach flu today, so luckily we are going to get a repeat performance next week during their Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast! And I can't leave out Kyle. He hasn't had any recent performances but he sure looked cute cuddling with his bear! And I realized I never got a Halloween photo posted either, so here it is! (you will want to go to the bottom and pause the music before you start playing the video clips)

Justin's artwork at Book Fair

2008-11-21T13:06:00.002-05:00

Justin had his artwork displayed at our local Barnes and Noble this week for the Hill Book Fair that was held there. He was quite proud to go into the store and show us his masterpiece!

October Updates

2008-10-25T17:45:00.003-04:00

Megan and her friend, Sydney, made a trip to Libby Lu's today. They had a great time and so did their moms! I just noticed I haven't posted an update for ages. Sorry, we have been BUSY! One more week and soccer will be over for the year. I have been heavily involved in the school's PTO and our huge Jog-a-thon fundraiser. The event and the award ceremony were great successes!!!! Most of the other committees I am involved with are events of a much smaller scale. I have several friends involved and they all pitch in, so it is actually pretty fun to participate. The committee I am most excited about is the school yearbook. That is right up my scrapbooking alley!!

Justin and Gary went to Cub Scout camp this weekend. They stayed in a cabin with lots of other scouts and their dads. It is kind of cold and rainy here this weekend. Hopefully they stay dry and warm. I am sure they will have fun regardless!! There were lots of activities planned to keep them busy. Hopefully Gary follows instructions and gets me lots of good pictures!

Kyle is really enjoying preschool, at least most days. I was surprised today to hear him reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to Megan this afternoon. I didn't know he knew it!

I will be helping at both Justin and Megan's class Halloween parties this week. The kids are so excited to go Trick or Treating!!! Justin's class also has a field trip to the zoo this week. Gary is chaperoning. Justin thinks that is pretty cool. So lots of fun picture taking events coming up!!! October always seems to be a big picture month.

I hope to get more scrapbooking done now that the Jog-a-thon is over,so hopefully you will be seeing more pictures soon. Happy Halloween. Danielle

Blake's Orchard and Cider Mill

2008-09-15T18:31:00.001-04:00

Camping at Port Crescent

2008-09-15T18:29:00.001-04:00

Roller Skating

2008-09-15T18:28:00.002-04:00

Megan's T-Ball layouts

2008-09-15T18:25:00.002-04:00

Justin Baseball Layouts

2008-09-15T17:54:00.000-04:00

First Day of School Layout

2008-09-08T09:45:00.002-04:00

Here is my layout of the photos from last week of the kid's first day of school. I am getting a lot more scrapbooking done now that I have a laptop and can sneak in a few minutes here and there. It was more difficult when I was tied to the basement computer. I also work while I watch TV with Gary in the living room after the kids go to bed.

Justin's best friend's name is Carter, they met two years ago when they both attended the Young Five's Kindergarten and stayed best friends all through last year in their regular kindergarten class and it appears it is continuing again in 1st grade, they are happy to have the same teacher again. There are a lot of coincidences between Carter's family and ours,to start with his mom's name is Danielle and he also has a younger sister who is 5 and is now in Kindergarten with Megan. This has thrown us together with Carter's family frequently for playdates, sporting events and school. We have become pretty good friends. The funny part is we don't discuss it, except afterwards and laugh, but Danielle and I must think alike because we are constantly dressing our kids alike. Notice the bottom right picture, that is Carter and Justin. We did not discuss which shirts they would wear the first day of school. And I can't tell you how many times this summer at T-Ball, Safety Town and Soccer Camp Megan and Sydney (Carter's sister and Megan's friend) had their hair styled the same, down to the color of hair bands holding their pony tails or pig tales. They already had matching shirts at this events because you wear the shirts they provide but people kept asking us if they were twins. Just funny coincidences.

Today is Carter's 7th birthday and after school I have to pick Justin up (rather than the bus bringing him home) so he can get ready for the party at Chuck E. Cheese. I am picking up 3 other friends and taking them all to the party. Afterwards I have to bustle home, drop everyone off and run to the PTO meeting. We also have curriculumn nights on Wednesday (Kindergarten) and Thursday (1st grade) this week. It is where you go meet the teacher and get the scoop about her plans for the year. Oh and I can't forget soccer practice for Megan and Justin on Thursday as well. The arrival of fall is keeping us busy! But so far the kids love being back in school.

Last year Justin used to make books (daily) and go through a lot of paper. While it drove me crazy to see him use so much paper, I just bit my tongue because it was a good cause. Over the weekend Megan decided to take up where Justin left off. She (on her own) decided to make an alphabet book. One letter per page! Then she decorated each letter and is quite proud (and so am I) but I need to introduce the idea of using both sides of the paper. I couldn't get my stapler to go through all the papers. I am going to have to get brads to hold her book together.

Kyle's first day of preschool is tomorrow. I am sure I will have a report and pictures for that occasion as well.

1st Soccer games

2008-09-06T15:25:00.002-04:00

Today Justin and Megan had their first soccer games of the year. Gary and I had to split as they were at the same time. Since Gary is Megan's coach, he went with the Kindergarten girls and I took Justin with me to watch the 1st grade boys. Justin is playing with most of his friends and thinks it is great. Click the title to go to my Photobucket album with pictures from Justin's games. Hopefully I will get pictures of Megan next week.

Our first week of school went well. The kids love school and riding the bus. Justin is anxious to join Cub Scouts.

First Day of School

2008-09-02T20:40:00.002-04:00

click on the "First Day of School" title above to go to my photo album with pictures of Justin and Megan's first day of school. Justin is excited to be a first grader and Megan is thrilled to be going to school. She told me she was going to school and going to learn how to read today. I think she thought it could happen in one day. Both kids like their teachers and are excited to go back again tomorrow. :)

Tigers game

2008-08-22T17:23:00.002-04:00

Pictures from a Tiger's game we went to in June. We split a partial season of tickets with some friends this year. It has been fun attending games.

Soccer Camp for Justin and Megan

2008-08-22T17:16:00.003-04:00

Justin and Megan both attended soccer camp this year. They both had a great time. This was Megan's first year to be able to attend. This will be her first year to play soccer on a team and Gary will be one of her coaches. Justin will be on a 1st grade team of boys at his school. He already knows (and likes) all the boys on his team, so he is excited to start next week. With 2 kids playing games on Saturdays our weekends will be hopping. Luckily they both have practice at the same time and on the same day at the same park.......a handy benefit to Gary coaching and being friends with the coaches on Justin's team. :)

Nature Center Field Trip with Megan's class

2008-08-21T17:29:00.003-04:00

Megan's preschool class took a tour of a local nature center. The kids loved learning about the animals! They especially liked touching them. This guy was wearing the snake around his neck while he talked about him. Finishing this page today reminded me that on our last camping trip the kids were playing with some worms and recently Kyle had seen someone wearing a snake around their neck on TV. I look over at Kyle and he is trying to get is worm to stay on his neck. It was adorable until it fell down into his shirt. Kyle didn't mind, but the worm and I were a little freaked! YUCK!!

Port Huron Camping

2008-08-21T16:04:00.002-04:00

While we were camping at Lakeport State Park in Port Huron this year we met up with some good friends for the day and spent the day at the beach and riding on their boat. It was a blast. Their family owns a beautiful home right on the water. We had a lovely meal and great fun haning out that evening as well. This layout shows all the kids.

Megan Safety Town

2008-08-21T15:58:00.002-04:00

Megan attended a 2 week camp this summer called Safety Town. It is for children who will be entering Kindergarten and preparing to go out in the world on their own. I feel we have prepared her best we can to get on the bus and go off to school....by herself. She learned all about these different safety issues: fire, electric, stranger danger, traffic, poisons and ect. On the last day a policman came and let them check out his car and get in it and use the loud speaker and then they had graduation.

Photobucket Updates

2008-08-19T16:07:00.003-04:00

I have been (finally) uploading my summer photos in my Photobucket account to share. Click on a link title to see a slide show of those photos. Enjoy!!

Summer T-Ball and Baseball

Port Huron Camping trip

Hoffmaster Camping Trip

Soccer Camp for Megan and Justin

Flag Football

2008-08-05T15:18:00.003-04:00

I found this is my files. I had started working on it before all the computer woes. These are photos of Justin playing Flag Football last spring. It was his first time playing flag football or for that matter any organized football. He really enjoyed it and proved he is a really fast runner.

Click picture to go to my Iowa Trip 2008 photo album

2008-07-23T16:02:00.006-04:00

Basketball Camp

2008-07-22T23:39:00.003-04:00

Justin attended Basketball camp last week and loved it. Here is the 2 page layout I made. Megan had Safety Town during the same time, but for 2 weeks. She learned all about the different types of safety in our lives: electrical, traffic, fire and so on. They also got to take a bus ride to one of the local parks to familiarize themselves with bus safety for the upcoming school year. Megan has been busy telling me all the safety rules lately....not that she always follows them.

Justin and Megan are both playing ball this summer. Megan is in T Ball and Justin is in Coach Pitch....as parents we were in for a suprise that this year they finally give our coach pitch kids an "out"...in T Ball they didn't do outs :) More pictures and layouts to come.

We loved seeing all of our out of town "Iowa" family and friends. I will be posting more pictures and sending out pictures to you soon! Take care!! Danielle

Camping Photos

2008-06-23T18:01:00.006-04:00

Click the photo to go to the website with the slideshow of our camping photos.

Finally getting some layouts made!

2008-06-23T16:20:00.005-04:00

I have still been having computer woes, but perhaps I have finally solved my problems, at least for the moment my programs are up and running at a decent rate of speed again. As much as I love "playing" on my computer, I am definitely not a computer wiz! Hopefully all my computer needed was the "registery cleaning" after all the time I have put in to trying to make it run effeciently I will be mad if it dies any time soon. It is about 5 years old but until recently it has always worked great and does what I need it to do. I guess time will tell and in the mean time I am even more diligent about backing up all my stuff. As long as my new external hard drives don't quit like the old one, I will be in good shape. Photos I am a bit more obsessive about and they have always routinely been backed up to a disk as well, so in all my woes I have not lost any of my photos. Enough rambling about my computer.

We went camping "up north" with some friends last weekend and had a good (but rainy) time. I am downloading my photos from the SD card as we speak and hope I have some good ones. It rained a lot during our time at Harrisville State Park and on Saturday afternoon it also hailed. By the time the storm passed the ground looked as if it had snowed. Crazy!! We slept nice and dry in our pop up camper....our friends were a bit more damp in their tent. Over all though it was still fun. We love this campground as we had an awesome site right on the beach. We fell asleep at night listening to the waves and while sitting at our campfire we watched the almost full moon rise above the water each night. Unfortunately on the east coast of Michigan you don't get the awesome sunsets...but it is the only place I have ever seen the moon rise on the water and it is a site to behold. I tried my hand at taking some night photos of the moon...we shall see how they turn out. At least this year I remembered my tripod...last year I forgot the piece to mount the camera to the tripod :)

I spent all Sunday evening washing the damp and wet dirty stuff from camping. Today has been a rainy day, so since we are stuck indoors I have been cleaning my house...fun, fun, fun!

We are anxiously awaiting next weekend to travel to Iowa for our annual visit with Danielle's family and friends. The kids are very excited to go swimming and to try out the new golf clubs Grandma and Grandpa got for them. Oh and of course to drive the golf cart around and around and around Grandpa's yard.

New Email addresses

2008-06-13T18:04:00.002-04:00

Gary and I switched internet/cable service providers, so we each have new email addresses!

danielleclippard@wowway.com

garyclippard@wowway.com

Kyle's 3rd Birthday

2008-06-12T21:03:00.003-04:00

I am a month late in posting birthday photos, but normally I post scrapbook layouts and since I haven't gotten but one done in the past month, I decided to post pictures instead. If you click on the title you will be taken to the photo album with Kyle's birthday photos. He had a good celebration the weekend before his birthday with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan and Matthew traveling in from Chicago and Grandma Betty and Papa Randall coming in from Iowa. And of course the Clippard side was present as well :) If anyone notices....I am aware that Kyle had the same Elmo cake last year for his 2nd birthday, but he insisted on having Elmo again for birthday #3. He still loves Elmo and Sesame Street!! We had cupcakes and more presents on the following Tuesday which was Kyle's actual birthday. He got to help make them which he thought was great fun!

Preschool Field Trip

2008-06-12T20:57:00.003-04:00

Megan's class met at a local Nature Center and a guide taught them about animals and the nature around them on a walk and during a tour through the nature center. They got to touch a turtle and a snake and look a a frog. Megan thought it was all very cool.

click on the title to go to the photo album with Nature Center pictures!

Washington Oregon Trip

2008-06-12T20:37:00.006-04:00

During May Gary had a business conference in Portland, Oregon. I flew out and met him and we spent 6 kid-less days exploring. We spent a day on the coast of Oregon driving from Tillamook to Seaside (in the rain) but it was still beautiful. Day 2 we drove north to Astoria and crossed the bridge into Washinton and drove up the western coast. We stopped at several state parks and saw some cool lighthouses and scenery. That night we made our way into Seattle. We stayed for 2 nights and toured most of the popular sites. We also took time to drive by the house where we lived in Kirkland and checked out the neighborhood. Not exactly like I remembered it from 30 years ago.... Day4 we drove to Mt Rainier from Seattle. It was the only day it did NOT rain on us, we had clear beautiful skies. We drove around the mountain counter-clockwise and had to go 1 1/2 hours out of our way on the south side as Steven's Pass still was not opened due to snow. We stayed the night on top of the mountain at Paradise Inn. It was a cool hotel built during the Depression and had just reopened after being refurbished for the past 2 years. Our room was the size of a closet and it had no phone or TV but it was still a really cool place and they still had so much snow it was hard to believe. Day 5 we drove back to Oregon and traveled along the Columbia Gorge. It was so beautiful, there was just waterfall after beautiful waterfall. We stopped at all the scenic views and took little hikes and I took lots of pictures. Our last stop was Multnomah Falls, we hiked all the way to the top and it was a hike...UP!! Then we at the restraunt at the Falls. The next day we got up early, turned in our rental car and spent an entire day flying back to Michigan and our dear lovely children! Kyle says we are never to leave him again! Even so the kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Handley and are now wondering when they are coming to stay again?!?!?

You can click on the title if you would like to see my photo album of this trip, but be prepared it contains lots of pictures!

Kindergarten Class Picnic

2008-06-12T17:07:00.002-04:00

Justin is still in school until June 16th. Today was his final party. We had a picnic outside on the playground. The kids had a blast. Click on the title to this post "Kindergarten Class Picnic" at the top to follow the link to see all the pictures.

Preschool Graduation Pictures

2008-06-12T16:52:00.004-04:00

Megan's last day of preschool was June 6th and we had a big party outside at her school. The kids had a blast playing in the little pools and sprinklers. The preschool is located at our church. One of the things the kids get at the end of the year is a certificate telling which Fruit of the Spirit they display the most...Megan's was PATIENCE. Obviously she behaves differently at school than at home :)

About a month ago my External Hard Drive crashed and died which has been causing me a lot of delays in keeping up on my computer. I have only just started digital scrapbooking again as it has taken me quite some time to reconstruct my files to my satisfaction. Anyway here are some pictures with more to follow, just click on the link. http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/danigary/Megans%20KCP%20graduation%20June%202008/?albumview=slideshow

Touchdown!!!!

2008-05-04T20:15:00.005-04:00

Justin joined a flag football team this spring. This is his first experience with football and so far it has been a good experience. He has discovered a good use for his ability to run and run fast!!! He scored 2 touchdowns for his team last Saturday at their first game. This picture is proof that Kyle does indeed get into EVERYTHING!!! I asked him what he was doing and he told me "I am being a monkey momma!!" These are progressive photos of the same play, ending with Justin's touchdown.

Trampoline Fun

2008-04-13T03:50:00.001-04:00

Gary and the kids have been making good use of the nice weather we were having. Hard to believe it went from 70 degrees to 2 days later having snow and the low 30's!!

Elmo the Killer Fish

2008-04-13T03:40:00.004-04:00

We were cruising through the pet store looking for a special collar for our dog's ear. She has been battling an infection turned into an abcess and just a mess we have been trying to clear up with the vet for about 6 weeks now. Currently she wears an inflated tube around her neck 24/7 to keep her from scratching her ear. The tube is much better than the E-collar she was wearing before, we went through 3 of them because they break so easily and it was just large and really awkward. She now hates going to the vet and cries because she knows they are going to work on her ear again and it hurts!!! Here is her picture

Any, while we were there we ran across this Sesame Street fish tank on clearance and let the kids convince us to get a new pet. We ended up getting a red Beta fish. The kids kept after us to get more fish and I explained that the Beta's are aggressive and would kill any other fish we added to the tank. Next thing I know everywhere we go, Justin is telling everyone we got a new fish tank and our fish, Elmo, is a Killer Fish!!!

Bike Fun

2008-04-11T14:36:00.001-04:00

The kids are having a great time getting outside now that the weather is warming up.

Smile

2008-04-10T14:56:00.001-04:00

Bath Time Fun!!

2008-04-10T14:54:00.001-04:00

April updates...

2008-04-04T16:53:00.004-04:00

Here are the layouts from the Easter Egg hunt on Easter morning. As you can see, a good time was had by all.

We are having a cold and rainy day today. Wednesday we took Justin and his friend, Carter to the Tigers game. It was 50 and sunny, but today is just dreary!

Kyle and I both have colds again!! YUCK!! It has only been 2 weeks since our last colds.......

We plan on just hanging out and resting up this weekend. We hope you have a good weekend!!!

Megan's Birthday Dress

2008-04-01T15:41:00.003-04:00

Here is a picture of Megan in one of the dresses she picked out during her birthday shopping excursions. She told me she liked this page because she looked pretty and I assured her she was correct! Nothing like a new clothes to make a gal feel good!!!

Egg Decorating

2008-04-01T14:06:00.005-04:00

The kids (even Kyle got to participate this year!) had a great time decorating eggs. We didn't do anything fancy with them, just color and stickers. We happened to decorate the eggs on St. Patrick's Day....can you tell....except Megan she had a "good" shirt on and I made her change into an old shirt her cousins gave her. Maybe next year we will try some fanicer stuff.

Another Lost Tooth

2008-03-25T17:54:00.006-04:00

Hello! Justin lost tooth #5 this morning, it has been loose for days and I am relieve to have it safely out! We are off school for spring break all week. Today we met some of Justin's kindergarten friends and siblings at a Bounce House and the kids had a great time burning off some energy. I noticed Justin's face looks scratched up in the this picture.....apparently they were roughing it up as well. We also joined the group at Mc Donald's for lunch....Mommy was exhausted when we got home.

We had told Kyle when we got home from Chicago that we had to send all his binkies off to the new babies who now need them more than he does and we were true to our word. Last night Kyle didn't even raise much of a fuss about not having it at bedtime. However, nap time on day #2 was not so easy. I almost gave in....but managed to hold firm when I thought of his dentist and his firm reminder that the binkie has to go. A little sad, but mostly glad to be rid of the germ carrying instrument my son would like to have in his mouth 24/7.

Our dog, Jenna, has had a rough month. First she developed an ear infection that we had trouble treating and one ear then developed an abscess...so the ear infection was gone but now she had an infection on the outer inside part of her ear. And it would not heal. So one day she got anesthesics and they really cleaned the ear out and started cortisone and different ear ointment. We think she is allergic to the ear ointment as it just made things worse and the steriods ended up making our dog incontinent.....she absolutely did not know she was going wee. Our 110 lb dog is a big baby and has never spent more than a brief period of her days anywhere but in the house with us and the cold temperatures outside were not allowing us to put her outside . We tried pads and doggie diapers...none of which work very well. Fortunately, the vet figured out the problem and we weaned her off the steriods and incontinence problem solved. Now the poor dog is still wearing the E collar around her neck to prevent her from scratching her ear and I am still holding me breath daily that it slowly seems to be healing.....very slowly....by using nothing!!!! Thats right stop cleaning and using antibiotics and then it starts to heal....go figure!!!! I think poor Jenna thought we really hated her last week and was quite humiliated by diapers, an e collar and being banished to the non-carpeted portions of the house. I am sooo thankful she is getting better as I couldn't take the mess any longer. Since we got home I have been scrubbing EVERYTHING and now feel we are a pee-free none again.

2008-03-25T17:52:00.001-04:00

Here is a group picture of the kids taken at Ryan and Lisa's house after the egg hunt. The kids were much more interested in their goodies and playing than having their picture taken, so I feel fortunate to have one where their eyes are looking toward the camera......unfortunately it is not the picture where they are smiling......in that picture they are looking elsewhere. Oh well!!
We had a nice weekend in Chicago with the Handley side of the family. We were a day late traveling due to some nasty snowy weather, but we arrived safely, so we are not complaining. However, I do want to mention that my kids keep asking me....."it is spring isn't it mom????" and when I answer "yes" they want to know "when is it going to get warmer???" Good Question kids.....soon I hope!!!!
Anyway, back to our visit, we had a nice time and great food during our stay. The kids love playing with their cousin Matthew!! I have lots more pictures I am sure you will see soon in some Easter layouts....but no time for that now.

Megan's 5th Birthday Layouts

2008-03-21T16:26:00.002-04:00

I have previously posted some of Megan's birthday photos, but here is the 2 page layout that will go in her book.

St Patrick's Day

2008-03-19T15:30:00.004-04:00

The journaling says "Justin built a Leprechaun trap at school and then had to do some remodeling after Kyle tried to play with it. Justin filled the cup with water and put out some lettuce to lure the Leprechaun to the trap. Justin assured me that Leprechauns love all green foods. Later Justin discovered the bait had disappeared! In the trap he discovered a shiney gold dollar, but no Leprechaun!!

Click on the picture to make it larger and you will see a smiley Justin holding his dollar coin and on the counter is his empty Leprechaun trap. He wanted to save it for next year, but I assured him that he would need to build a new one, as the Leprechaun was too smart to fall into the same trap twice!!

Megan's Birthday Shopping

2008-03-15T14:29:00.004-04:00

Grandma Betty, Mommy and Megan went shopping and out for lunch today. We had a nice time...although Megan was a bit ornery..... She was able to get several outfits today. These photos show ALL of the new items she got for her birthday this year. Since she has outgrown most of her clothes (spring and summer) these will be very helpful as it starts to warm up outside. I love her smile when she feels "pretty" in her new clothes.

I posted these photos especially for Papa Randall who couldn't be with us and gave money for Megan to use for these new clothes. We thought he would want to see what Megan picked out. If you want to see a picture in a larger size, just click on it.

Megan's 5th Birthday

2008-03-15T08:50:00.005-04:00

Megan had a great 5th birthday!! Grandma Betty came to town on Wednesday to help us celebrate. Megan picked out the cake and Grandma Betty decorated it. (Megan selected the colors and design of the dress!) Megan started her day off by going to pre-school. Mommy, Kyle and Grandma Betty joined her at the end of school for a cupcake party. Megan was excited to help the teacher pass all the cupcakes out to her friends. Grandma Betty took us all to McDonald's for lunch and we brought a round of Happy Meals home.....a big treat because Mommy only gets Happy Meals on special occasions!!

It was a pleasent 50 degree day and the kids spent the afternoon outside playing in our soggy and muddy backyard...but they had a great time. Megan choose Princess Pasta for supper...the adults had adult pasta :) Then Grandma and Grandpa Clippard, Uncle Glenn, Aunt Brenda, Rachel and Becky joined us for present opening and cake & ice cream.

Megan received lots of great presents. Earlier in the week she had gone shopping with Grandma Clippard and picked out her Littlest Pet Shop additions and some pretty clothes. Today we will go shopping with Grandma Betty and Megan will get to pick out some summer clothes....and she got a special gift certificate from Aunt Brenda to take her shopping soon!!!! What a lucky girl with all her shopping. Soon Megan will be as addicted to shopping as her mother:) Megan also recieved a pretty swim suit, cover up and glitter flip flops from Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan and Matthew! From Mommy and Daddy (and Justin and Kyle) Megan recieved a puppy that grows (and shrinks), it also talks and sings to you. She really wanted it and it thrilled. We also got her several book sets to go with her Leap Pad, a Detroit Tigers hat, hair accessories and some crafts. Rachel & Becky also gave Megan a Barbie computer, a Barbie computer game and a purse full of little goodies. Grandma Clippard also gave Megan the 5th train for her Precious Moments birthday train. She was quite a lucky girl and very grateful for all the great presents.

2008-03-07T13:44:00.000-05:00

The last of the photos for 2007. All the layouts are completed for the entire year!!! Now if only I can stay caught up again for 2008 and catch up some previous years! :)

Christmas Day 2007

2008-02-28T11:56:00.003-05:00

I am working hard to finish my layouts and complete 2007. The top page will go in each book and then each child will have their page in their book.

Otters Floor Hockey

2008-02-25T15:40:00.002-05:00

This is a team picture I made for Justin's Floor Hockey Team. The real version doesn't have blurry names...that is just for the internet :) 6 of the kids are in his kindergarten class and he played soccer last fall with 5 of these kids. Last fall I made a team photo for soccer and gave it to all the players. I think I will print these out as well and hand them out on the last day with the medals that the city provides to all the participants. Gary and 2 dads coached this season.

Megan's Big Haircut

2008-02-19T09:51:00.001-05:00

Recent Layouts

2008-02-18T15:15:00.002-05:00

Play-doh fun

2008-02-18T14:40:00.003-05:00

Kyle spends hours playing with Play-doh!!!! It is sooooo messy but we play with it almost everyday. While Kyle is busy being creative with Play-doh he doesn't spend as much time trying to figure out what else to get into!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T20:24:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Megan had her party at preschool on Wednesday and Justin had his party at school today. As head room mom for Justin's class I am happy to say it was a success and I am relieved it is over. I will now be happy when all the sugary candy is gone.

We added 8 new Webkinzs to our family over Valentine's Day. Megan now owns 3 different ponies, Justin has 2 frogs and a hippo and Kyle has a new St. Bernard named Bernie and a penguin named Yogi...he named Yogi all by himself and since he has never watched Yogi Bear I don't know where he came up with the name.

The photos show Kyle dancing away in our living room and some shots of Megan's new haircut.

Take care!!

Christmas Eve

2008-02-03T17:05:00.000-05:00

One of the joys of digital scrap booking is the ability to duplicate a page and change just any part you choose. I was able to individualize the second page (one for each child). So for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th layouts you will see they look much the same except for the main photo on the top left. These were all taken Christmas Eve. Now I just need to finish my Christmas Day pictures and 2007 will be completely scrapped. Now if I can just keep up again in 2008 and finish 2005 & 2006 I would be completely caught up :) Probably won't happen this year, but they are good goals!!

We are having kind of a miserable weekend. It started Thursday afternoon when I realized Justin was running a fever and really crabby ( I noticed this after having sent him to AM Kindergarten...but really I had no idea he was sick that morning!). Anyway through the course of the weekend we have all ended up with fevers, coughs, chills, aches and some mild upset stomach issues. YUCK!!!! Justin said it felt like a cannon was going off in his head and now that I have the bug, I have to agree with him! Hopefully, in a couple more days it will have all passed. Hope you all are having a better weekend than we are.

Which one do you like best of Megan??

2008-02-02T19:19:00.000-05:00

Our annual Christmas Eve family photo

Which do you like better, the top one (black) or the 2nd one of Megan (lavendar)??

Megan with her teachers at her preschool Christmas party.

Kyle at gymnastics. His favorite part of every session was the time spent jumping in the foam block pit!!

Hockey and kid photos layouts

2008-02-02T13:27:00.000-05:00

I used the same template, but different pictures and scrapkits for these pages. The hockey photos have been posted before, but this is the first time for the kids pictures. I have beent trying to get a great shot of all 3 kids. It is not easy to do. I am still working on it. Notice they do not like to sit still for any length of time. The only reason they are all even looking at me is Gary is in the background with a stuffed animal making funny noises and every once in a while it bounces on my head. The kids think it is hilarious :)

Photo Update

2008-01-27T09:11:00.001-05:00

JUSTIN IS #12

JUSTIN'S GOAL!!!!

JUSTIN IS GOALIE AND HIS BEST BUDDY CARTER

KYLE USING HIS NEW ELMO POTTY CHAIR.

WHEN ELMO'S HAND IS PUSHED HE SINGS

AND SAYS ONE OF HIS PHRASES.

everyday life

2008-01-24T15:37:00.000-05:00

Hello to Everyone who reads my blog!

I have no layouts to post today, but I wanted to get a post in. My parents are on there cruise and it seems like they have been gone a month :) They certainly picked a great time to go, I envy the warm weather they are experiencing, because it certainly has been snowy and chilly here!!!! Burr!!!!!!!! So bear with me, but this update is mostly for my folks, because so much seems to be going on while they are gone and I will forget about it all before I talk to them so here goes.

I had to go to the dentist and have my temporary crown put on while my permanent is being made. My dentist was kind to me, but I hate going to the dentist :)

I started back (from our end of the year break) with my bible study group on Wednesday mornings. We are doing the Beth Moore study, A Woman's Heart. So far it is fabulous, it helps that I love Beth Moore.

The kids had a 4 day weekend over MLK day for end of the semester markings (teacher day) and MKL birthday. Justin and Kyle have had really bad colds and Megan had a mild version. Kyle still has a nose issue, I may have to take him in for his standard Sinus Infection that he gets every time he gets a cold. I am hoping to get through the weekend before I have to make up my mind.

Kyle has become VERY difficult this week. He is into EVERYTHING!! and once he gets his hands on it, he destroys it :) Not kidding!! Scissors, Sharpie markers....you get the idea. I did get the Sharpie marker off my white kitchen cabinets, but it is still on the magazine and all the plastic bowls he got ahold of.....I was just around the corner in my laundry room, he is quick!! I am not thrilled about the stuff he cut up, but can live without it. I fought with keeping his pants and diapers on for a couple of days and then decided to start potty training. He was unable to go in the real potty and I threw our old little potty chair away after Megan, as I swore I wasn't going to use one again. But I ended up buying an Elmo potty chair at K Mart and so far it has been a good investment. Kyle started using it right away, even for #2 and as long as we are home and his bottom half is bare, he hasn't had many accidents. Meanwhile he is using the chairs and barstools and what ever else he can to climb to what ever he wants they I purposely put out of his reach. I have yet to figure out the consequence that will make Kyle understand I mean business and I have tried them all. The poor kid has been in trouble all week. He needs one on one attention, which is difficult with 3 kids :)
Justin scored a goal at his floor hockey game last weekend and boy was he proud!!!
Megan decided she wants to take a break from gymnastics and I said okay. Luckily we just ended the first winter session and I hadn't paid for the next one yet.
Monday morning we woke up to a house at 58 degrees and had to call the repairman. Some valve that lets the gas in was partially blocked or something to that effect and needed to be replaced.......so several hours and $250 later we had heat :)
Gary sent me some beautiful roses today for no reason. He is such a great guy!!
I have stamp camp tonight. I am looking forward to my girls night out with my buddies. We are going to be making some fun Valentine's cards.
I went to Lowe's and Target today. I got a few more child proofing devices to try to lock Kyle out of some more cabinets and some more cough syrup for his hacking cough. I also got the kids their Valentine's cards for school. Littlest Pet Shop for Megan and some ones with Fun Dip in them for Justin. Kyle has been eating the Necco candy hearts up.
I also got a baby gift, I am going to a baby shower for a girl I used to work with at Botsford on Saturday after Justin's floor hockey.
We went in with another family (Carter's) on a partial set of season tickets to the Tigers. Justin is beyond excited!
I booked another camping trip to one of our favorite camping spots for the end of July. The state park opens up reservations six month is advance. It just seems odd to book camping when it is 10 degrees with a wind chill is below zero :)
Oh and I have been deep cleaning my house. We are having some couples over Friday night to meet. Our church is starting a new church-wide study called Trans4mation. For the next couple of months we will be hosting a small group in our home on Friday evenings (every other) to do the study. We belong to a VERY large church (11,000 attend each weekend), so there will be hundreds of other groups meeting as well. Megan is very excited because 2 of the couples that are attending have kids that go to her pre-school and she likes those friends :) The kids all hang out in our basement with the babysitters, while the adults meet upstairs. Controlled chaos. We recently split off with the group we used to meet with and almost everyone coming we know but not well, so my house needs a good cleaning so they don't think we are slobs. Also, it was one of those days when as I started looking to see what needed cleaning, it was EVERYTHING!! The hand prints, dirt smears and food particles seem to be stuck to all the walls, chairs, floors, door handles, ect.
Next Wednesday we are taking the kids to Sesame Street Live. Kyle is sooo excited. Justin and Megan will enjoy the show, but are not totally into Elmo like Kyle. He must have Elmo confused with Santa, because he is hoping to get to sit on his lap :)
I am having some ladies over next Thursday for a couple of home parties. Other than cleaning my house again it should be fun. Do you suppose I keep it clean a whole week?? My neither, I will be cleaning it again :)
Exciting it is not, but that is what has been going on at my house. I had to get it written down before I forgot it all and then I would just say, nothing much going on :) !! Have a good weekend! Danielle

Gingerbread House

2008-01-22T15:45:00.000-05:00

While Grandma Betty was visiting during the holidays we put together this gingerbread house. The kids had a great time helping to put on all the decorations. The kit even came with some extra cookies to decorate and eat. After Christmas the kids dismantled the house and ate a good portion of that as well!!

Cookie Decorating Party

2008-01-08T19:19:00.000-05:00

This is a 2 page spread of a Cookie Decorating Party we had in December. The kids and adults had a blast!! Decorating and Eating!!

Sledding at Sylvan Glen

2008-01-03T21:49:00.000-05:00

Gary and I took Justin and Megan sledding at a large hill near our home. They had a blast zooming down the hill....over and over and over. Poor Kyle was at home taking a nap....he was recovering from a nasty stomach virus.

Snow Fun

2008-01-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

The kids had a great time playing in the snow in our backyard. The snow did not roll into a ball well, but Gary helped the kids make a snowman of sorts!

Visit with Santa

2007-12-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

on Monday we took our 3rd annual trip to Gary's work to have lunch with Daddy and visit this Santa Claus. I like his looks and he is always great with the kids.

Boyne Mountain

2007-12-08T15:57:00.001-05:00

The Friday after Thanksgiving we headed Up North to Boyne Mountain to meet the Handley side of the family for a weekend of fun. We stayed in a great 3 bedroom condo and had lots of fun hanging out, eatting out, playing games and going to the waterpark! My kids had so much fun playing with their cousin, Matthew. They can't wait until Christmas so they can see him again!!

Remember to see any set of pictures in a larger size, just click on the image. When you are done click on the back button of your web browser. Enjoy!!

Leaf Fun!!

2007-12-07T21:51:00.000-05:00

I can't say that we actually got any leaves off the ground on this day, but the kids sure had fun making piles and jumping in them and tossing the leaves all about.

Tennessee Trip

2007-12-07T17:39:00.001-05:00

We had a great time in Tennessee. We spent a week checking out all the tourist attractions and fall foliage. Gary's parents met us there and we all stayed in a lovely cabin.

2007-11-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

Justin had fun at his school Halloween Party. All the kids dressed up and went on a parade around the school. Then we had games, crafts and food in his classroom.

Halloween Layouts

2007-11-18T19:11:00.001-05:00

Here are some of our best photos from Halloween. The kids had a great time and Kyle keeps asking to go Trick or Treating again :)

Frankenmuth

2007-11-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

Every year our friends at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth send Gary and I coupons for free meals for our birthdays. So, each year we make a trip for a yummy family style, all you can eat, chicken feast some time during the month of October. Before we come home we stop at Bronners to pick out our new Christmas ornaments. Each year the kids pick out an ornament that is special to them. I love this tradition. It makes decorating the Christmas tree a memory filled time, as we let each child put on their own ornaments and we always talk about who got it for them and when. Crazy as it sounds I like putting the ornaments away for the same reason, I get to look at each one and just remember. This picture was taken of the kids during a break from walking around the various shops in town. When Kyle sees this picture, he always says, "Look Mommy, Justin is saving me"...in reality Justin was trying to help keep Kyle in his seat so I could try to take the photo! :) But I love Kyle's take on the situation.

Leaf Hunting

2007-11-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

One fine day we went to a local nature area and did some leaf hunting. The kids had a great time!

Megan October 2007

2007-11-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

Soccer Team picture

2007-11-14T13:48:00.001-05:00

This is the team picture I made for Justin and his team mates. I blocked out all theirs names because this is the internet..... But you get the idea. I am going to mail a 5X7 copy to all the families with a thank you for the gift card they got Gary for coaching this year. Both Justin and Gary had fun this year and Justin showed great improvement...so all in all it was a very successful soccer season!

Megan's Field Trip

2007-10-18T16:14:00.001-04:00

Megan's Preschool class had a field trip to a Cider Mill as well. They had a great time picking out their own pumpkins, had a wagon ride, visited the petting zoo, climbed haystacks and played on the various structures. Afterwards, Mommy and Megan continued their "date" with a special lunch out and some shopping. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!!

Orchard Field Trip

2007-10-17T16:58:00.000-04:00

More pictures of Justin and his good buddy Carter taken while they were on the kindergarten field trip. The boys had a great time!!!

Bounce Party

2007-10-16T15:34:00.000-04:00

I blurred the faces on these pages for posting on the internet. I didn't want to offend or ask all the parents of the children at the party, so for privacy I blurred the faces, my copy does not look like this :) The kids had 4 hours of jumping, running and playing, topped off with cake and pizza. They were all sweating and exhausted when it was time to leave.

Justin's Birthday

2007-10-14T17:54:00.000-04:00

Next layout to do is the Birthday Party pictures!

Water Park on Labor Day weekend

2007-10-09T16:21:00.000-04:00

We had a good time at the waterpark over Labor Day weekend. It was a nice family time and the weather was great! We had never been to this local park, but it turned out to be a nice facility. I am sure we will go back in the future. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we are planning a mini vacation with Grandma and Grandpa Handley and Ryan, Lisa and Matthew in Boyne, Michigan, where we will spend some time at the largest water park in Michigan. The kids are really lookng forward to it and spending time with family. Ever since we went to Chicago for Matthew's birthday, my kids having been talking about spending time and the great time they had with their "best" friend Matthew! :) So sweet!!

FYI Each of my kids had there own page on the top and each will match up with the layout on the bottom making a double layout for each. I couldn't find a good picture with the three of them together for the left page...so I made an individual page for each one and individualized their journaling as well. So just image they are in a book and will be side by side :)

Justin's new haircut

2007-10-09T16:17:00.000-04:00

I thought Justin was in the kitchen doing a craft one afternoon and I thought I could trust him with scissors......however the pictures tell a different story. Poor Megan got an earful about scissors ans she didn't even do anything wrong....but if she did this to her hair I would have been devastated. Luckily on Justin it turned out pretty cute and now, a couple weeks later those spots that he took so short they were basically bald spots are filling in and it doesn't look like a self haircut rescue anymore.

Orchard pics

2007-10-01T20:57:00.001-04:00

Here is the first layout from the field trip last week. Justin and I had a good time. I am not often in front of the camera, luckily I like this photo :)

Adventureland pictures from Iowa trip

2007-10-01T06:57:00.000-04:00

These are the pictures of our trip to Adventureland this past August during our Iowa trip. The adults and kids had a great time. As I strolled around the park I remembered when I had come to Adventureland as a kid with my parents and grandparents :) Megan said the Frog Hopper ride tickled her tummy....we just love that photo!!

Catching Up

2007-09-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

I am behind on my scrapping goals for this year. My goal was to stay current. But I am not too far behind, I just need to finish up August. If I ever get caught up and am bored I have two years for each Justin and Kyle to catch up on. On a positive note, Megan is current. It wouldn't be such a job if I didn't like to take pictures as much as I do. But I am not complaining, it is a good problem to have :)

These layouts are from our trip to Iowa. One day we went up to Boone and took a trip on the train and the other is from our trip to the zoo. Remember, if you want to see the pictures in a larger size, just click on them.

Socer Game 4

2007-09-30T10:02:00.001-04:00

Justin had a great time and did a great job at his soccer game yesterday. I got some nice pictures and this is the result. Justin had a busy week....field trips, birthday, bounce birthday party. More pictures to come soon!!

Matthew's First Birthday Party

2007-09-26T16:33:00.001-04:00

We traveled to Chicago last weekend for Matthew's first Birthday party (my nephew). We had a good time visiting Ryan and Lisa's beautiful new home and hanging out. Matthew seemed to enjoy his cake experience!!

My baby, Justin, will be six tomorrow. Hard to believe!!! He has a school field trip to the orchard scheduled. I get to go as a chaperone. Should be fun. Grandma Betty is helping me get Justin's soccer cake and school cupcakes baked and decorated. He will take treats Friday as they won't be at school tomorrow. Then Friday afternoon we have a party planned at a Bounce Party Place. They are basically a big warehouse with several blow up bounce houses and slides for the kids to play on and I bring the cake and food. That way I don't have to worry about the house and any messes or the weather cooperating for an outdoor event. Should be fun... I have recruited both sets of grandparents to help chaperone the event. I am sure I will have pictures soon!

I also took pictures of Justin after he cut his own hair yesterday and then again after mom trimmed it up to even it out. Let's just say it is VERY short!!! My baby is almost bald!!! But he likes it...it would have been more appropriate last July...but I am not going to fret over it too much...it will grow back and I am trying to be grateful it wasn't Megan's hair :)

New Layouts

2007-09-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

Some new layouts I finished. The kids are getting into their routines and enjoying school. Kyle enjoys hanging out with mom, but kind of wishes he could go "play" as well.

Wednesday

2007-09-12T02:59:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone! Justin had his first outdoor soccer game for Fall 2007 last Saturday. He did a great job and had a lot of fun! 6 of the 10 boys on his team are in his AM kindergarten. We had Curriculum Night for Justin last night. Basically, you go and meet with the teacher and get the low-down on her routine and expectations for the year. I am the Head Room Mother for Justin's class, so I had to get some sign up sheets ready for some upcoming parties. I am really excited about the whole Room Mother thing, it should be lots of fun. Anyway, we really like Justin's teacher Miss Posey, she is sweet, energetic and fun. She is very big on literacy, which is a big bonus for us considering Justin went to a Young Fives kindergarten last year and is already reading a bit...I was concerned he might lose his enthsiam for it if he got bored.

Megan had her first day of preschool on Monday. Same school and teacher as last year, she just goes 3 days a week this year - M,W,F. I feel so light and free on Mondays and Fridays, Kyle and I are alone, we do major errand running during this time. Amazing how much faster you can move with one vs. three children to buckle in and out of your car. Wednesdays Kyle will go to some childcare at church and I do a bible study. We are doing a Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel this year. It should be really good :)

The past couple of days it has gotten a bit cooler and reminds us that fall is right around the corner....My favorite time of year :)

Justin's first day of school

2007-09-04T20:08:00.000-04:00

Today was Justin's first day of school. He liked his new elementary school and his teacher. He is very excited to have his best friend from school last year in his class.

I did this layout with 2 different pictures and one with red and one with blue journaling. I can't decide which I like better. What do you think, picture #1 or #2 and red or blue?????????? Let's see who actually reads my blog :) Remember, click on photos to see them larger and use back button on your browser to go back to the main blog page.

Science Center of Iowa

2007-09-02T23:25:00.000-04:00

More layouts from our Iowa trip.

SwimmingFun

2007-08-31T16:50:00.001-04:00

As you can tell from the pictures, the kids (and parents) had a great time swimming while we were at Grandpa and Grandma's house. I think even with all the rain that week, the kids still managed to squeeze in a little swim time each and every day! Remember to read the journaling or see a close up of the pictures, just click on the page you want to see. You will have to use the back button on your browser to go back to the main page.

Fountain Fun

2007-08-30T16:39:00.000-04:00

Cruising Around

2007-08-30T16:04:00.000-04:00

Journaling reads:

When Mommy was a little girl we would go to Iowa to visit during the summer.

While Uncle Ryan & I were visiting our Grandpa Handley,

he would let us drive his lawn tractor all over his big backyard. History
seems to be repeating itself, because your Grandpa Handley let you take

his golf cart out and drive it around his big backyard.

You spent a lot of time cruising around and I am sure someday you will think
back and have the same fond memories that I do of cruising around with your grandpa.

New Layouts

2007-08-30T11:47:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures I got put into layouts this week. The T Ball pictures are from Justin's last game. The baby layout is of David, my friend Amy's new baby. I was present for most of Amy's labor and for the birth with Amy's husband Dave and her mom. It was very special and I am enjoying getting my baby fixes without the midnight feedings attached. :) The bottom layout of Kyle with the ball was taken while we were in Iowa. We were in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard and Kyle was determined he going to hang out on top of the ball. He must of kept at it for 15 minutes. It was hilarious!! I took a ton of pictures while we were in Iowa, so be on the look out for more layouts when time permits. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. We had to cancel our camping trip due to Gary's work schedule, but I am sure we will find something fun to do this weekend.

We're home!!

2007-08-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

Hello All,

We made this trip in 13 1/2 hours and got home last night. We got to sit at a stand still for 1 1/2 hours in Indiana, didn't enjoy that part at all, luckily the kids were sleeping. I got my house re-organized today (mostly) now I just need to relax and recover from my vacation. The kids are in bed and Gary is working late...so I am having some computer time :)

I took my cell phone in today to see if they can repair it and the nice people gave me a loaner to use. Justin starts soccer practice tomorrow and is really excited about it. He tromped around our backyard in his new cleats for several hours this afternoon and kicked the ball around. Wednesday evening we are going in to meet his new teacher, he will start school Sept 4th.

vacation is almost over...

2007-08-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

We have been having a good time hanging out at my mom and dad's this past week. We have been really busy visiting and running the kids around to keep them busy and out of Grandma's knick knacks. I will have lots of photos to scrap when we get home and things get settled down. The kids have enjoyed swimming every day in Grandpa and Grandma's pool. Justin learned to swim without his life jacket and even goes off the diving board without the life jacket. Megan is progressing to a smaller life jacket and will jump off the diving board with the life jacket on. She is developing more confidence in her swimming abilities. Kyle keeps his life jacket on at all times. Just tonight he fell in...the deep end....the life jacket worked beautifully and he wasn't harmed at all...can't say he was too happy however. I was sitting on the side...fully clothed and had to jump in after him...wouldn't have minded so much if my cell phone hadn't been in my pocket.....I wonder if it will ever work again. I took the battery out and plan to let it dry for a few days before trying. BIG BUMMER!! This week we also went to the zoo, the science center, shopping, for a train ride in Boone and to Adentureland. I am exhausted from our vacation!! :) We plan to leave early in the morning and are hoping for a quicker return trip to Michigan than our trip to Iowa....15 hours is too long!!! I have got to remember to give Megan her medication in the morning before we leave...I forgot on our initial trip and the poor kid was sick 3 times before we stopped for 45 minutes and let the medication kick in. Motion sickness....YUCK!! I will keep you posted. Meanwhile I need to go pack :)

new layouts

2007-08-17T15:37:00.001-04:00