No Excuses

I'm horrible at this. Apparently raising two very different kids, taking care of and loving my sweet hubby and cooking, cleaning, shopping and yes, working leave me very little time for keeping in touch.

I recently spoke to two friends of mine who moved away, far away, thousands of miles away. When they lived here I spoke with these women every day, cuddled their babies, laughed and cried with them and I hadn't spoken to them in over a year. The babies are in second grade and kindergarten and one friend has a baby I've never even met. How does this happen? How do we drift away from people who were once so very important? I still love these women, I miss them every day and I think of them all the time. But, I rarely pick up the phone, email or write - I wonder why? I hope to do better in the future letting the people who are important to me know it.

On another note, after 5 years of pretty consistent inactivity, Jim and I are back at church. It is a bit uncomfortable at times but familiar - like visiting your parents home as an adult. It is amazing to me how much, yet how little changes in the church. I'm glad to be back and I love the gospel, it will just take some time to get back in the groove.

I bring this up only because last night was our Ward Christmas dinner and Nativity. It was a good time with lots of people in attendance. The kids in the Nativity were darling; the food was good and of course the songs were beautiful. A nice evening.

Jim is sick. He has a horrible cold and he is trying hard not to complain but I can tell he is miserable... its rainy and wet here - (is it December or March?) and it was a great day to wrap presents and bake cookies.

Since I haven't posted all year, I'm putting up a slideshow with some pictures of the kids... another thing I'm hoping to get better at.

Scrapbooking, working and life

I'm scrapping on a pretty consistent basis. Considering I have 1200 Disney pictures, its a good feeling to be getting some layouts done and getting them into the albums. I'm also excited that I'm finally using supplies that have been sitting here for a long time.
Working a lot right now - working at St. Mary's about 30 hours a week and another 10-12 from home; I'm tired! But, at least I have a job now.
Life is always so busy - it seems as the kids are getting older we are busier. Sophie has cheer, Nic has Special Olympics and they both have school. The days fly by. I'm glad I have great photos to freeze time and remember these days before they fly by.

My Latest Layouts

2008 is here

New year, very busy! I hosted our family Christmas gathering this year and along with all the holiday craziness I've also been working a lot. We were lucky enough that Santa brought us a Wii and the kids have loved playing it.

Finally with the new year I have been finding time to scrapbook - it feels so good to have my creative release back again. Making a dent in my pictures and mountain of supplies feels good too.

so... where did those 3 months go?

So, I'm probably the worst blogger ever. My life is just so crazy sometimes. So, quick recap of the last 3 months...
Nicolas went to 2 more sleep away camps this summer and fell in love with his counselors at both camps. He started 7th grade at the beginning of September and is doing well. This year we hope he'll grow a lot academically because he's adjusted to the school he's in. Unfortunately, 6th grade was a transition year for him, not much growth because he needed to get used to being in middle school.
Sophie is Sophie. My nine year old going on 40. One new thing for Sophie this year is her participation in competitive cheerleading at Badger All Stars here in Madison. Its a great program and I already see her self confidence building. We'll be traveling to competitions, the first is October 19th in Peoria, IL.
Work at home has been slow, but I've taken a new position as an on-call coder at St. Mary's Hospital. It seems like a very good fit for us with the kids needing me home by 3 pm every day.
I turned 35 on August 17th - and to treat myself I finally bought my red convertible I've been wanting. Lucky me!
On August 23rd a tree fell on the house, crushing and destroying the master bedroom closet. Nice to get a big check for shopping, not so nice to have to deal with the water, the contractors and the mess. Just about done cleaning it up and I used the opportunity to move my laundry upstairs... woohoo!!

My nephew Kendric is smoking up the football field as the varsity captain at Monona Grove High School. We try to catch all his home games. He also made homecoming court!

My neice Alyssa is doing well with her baby Rhianna. Sophie's biggest complaint is that we don't get to see her enough.

My neice Chandra and her husband Nick welcomed their son, Wyatt to the world on October 2, 2007 after a crash c-section. Mom and baby are doing well and he looks a lot like his daddy.

I really want to try to keep up better... this really is a good way to keep everyone up to date on what's going on with us...

coming soon.... pictures of my awesome red car!

so, blogging is work...

life is always busy, isn't it? The time just flies by and all of a sudden I look at the calendar and it is July 18, 2007! What the?

So, new for me - a job!! Woohoo! Working from home! (Bigger woohoo) but not enough hours - I'm glad its slow right now with summer vacation and the kids being home all the time, but I hope it picks up soon.

My 12 year old, Nicolas has Down Syndrome. He's in the midst of all his summer camps right now. He had a lose the training wheels camp in June (see the cool story here: http://www.storybridge.tv/chronicles/011) and just returned from the Wisconsin Lions Camp.

I'm so grateful for places like these that let my little guy feel just like everyone else.

We went to the Dells in June with my good friend Michele and her daughter - and of course I burned to a crisp! We hit the Faith Hill/Tim McGraw concert in Chicago on the 13th and it was such a blast to go to a concert with my kids. Man, I wish my parents had been that cool!

Today we got a new member of our family - Rhianna was born at 2:52 pm to my niece Alyssa... amazing to me, since I remember the day Alyssa was born 20 years ago.

Man, time flies! Love your people - hug them lots and enjoy the ride!!