So my blog posts are few and far between...sorry! :) Let's see since I last posted:
In November, Marley had pneumonia. We began treating her with antibiotics and headed out of town for the wedding in Kansas. When we were there, she still just didn't seem "right", so when we came home, I took her back and found she had two forms of pneumonia! Poor kiddo had to endure 2 different antibiotics, two HUGE shots in her legs of another antibiotic (Brian had her at the doc that day and said it was simply awful) and 3 x-rays. It seems to have subsided though her last xray still showed some streaking in her lungs. Here's wishing for a healthy year for Marley!
On that note, the wedding was wonderful! Both kids looked adorable and were both very well behaved (which is hard for little ones during a full Catholic wedding and mass!) Jaxon did a great job as the ringbearer and both he and Marley danced the night away at the reception. It was HILARIOUS- Jaxon had a full dance card with three little girls all wanting to dance with him! :) Check out my facebook or the link to my scrap blog for pictures.
Thanksgiving was at my mom's house and we had a wonderful time with the family. The kids stayed the night with my mom and dad and then we went home, let the dogs out, left them inside and went to Rick & Carol's to watch the UT game. We ended up at a neighbor's house. They were really nice and we had fun- it reminded us of what our old neighbors were like. Anyway, the guys stayed and played cards, so I came home to sleep. I took out my contacts and only meant to lay down for a second, but I fell asleep still dressed!!! I woke up at 3:40 and thought, "Maybe I'll go check out a Black Friday sale" as I'd never really shopped in the stores on those days. I started at Best Buy at 4:00- waited in line outside for an hour but was pleasantly surprised at how orderly it was AND to find the thing we wanted to get Jax (and Brian). Then I figured since I was awake, I'd check out Old Navy- got great deals on clothes right now. Of course, then I thought I'd go to Walmart to get some toys (the WORST place to go on Black Friday- or any day really- I know now, but not TOO terrible by 7:00). And finally, after finding Toys R Us sold out of many items, I went to one last place, Academy and got the kids a big surprise. I had SO much fun shopping- don't know why I dreaded the idea of Black Friday all this time! We're still looking at houses online but don't have ours on the market- again just waiting to see what pops up. :)
Now it's just two days before Christmas and I've got to run out and get a few last minute gifts for the grown-ups in our lives and take the kids to their new dentist. Other than that, we're on vacation now and having fun. I started knitting (already have a nice chunky scarf finished) and I plan on scrapping today. The kids are playing and enjoying the time off too.
Anyway, I'd like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year! ♥ S
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Has it really been THAT long?
I guess so! I've been SO busy with school, the family and just plain life I've not updated my poor, neglected blog. So here's the cliff notes version of what's been going on:
In August, we put an offer in on a short sale in a nearby neighborhood and put our house on the market, but when someone outbid us, we lost out and after much thought, decided to pull our house off the market and just keep an eye out. We couldn't find anything else we liked for the price as much as we like our house, but we'll check online every once and awhile. We looked at putting in a pool, but we're waiting a bit... if we DO end up moving, we won't get our money back out of the pool, so until we KNOW we're staying put, no pool either. We go back and forth, looking online, trying to decide what to do... wish we could live where the kids could go to school with neighborhood friends, or live in a neighborhood where we had a bunch of friends with kids, or maybe just scrap it all and live somewhere on a bit of land without neighbors or a neighborhood to even worry about... oh well, we'll see what happens...
School started up and we barely got into our portable in time to get unpacked- the school district is great, but when it comes to construction and maintenance, it leaves a bit to be desired. Let's just say I FINALLY got backpack hooks in my portable this week- two and a half months after school started. I like that we can be loud out there - seeing as how my class is a language program, we are always encouraging LOTS of talking (we're almost the anti-classroom if you really think about it). It's also very quiet out there - nice because no one bothers you, but also a bit isolating. We'll see what happens next year as we may or may not end up moving back into the building. Jaxon and Marley are doing ok with school, but they miss "their old friends" from last year's classes. Hopefully, it'll be a good year for them both.
October has been a pretty rough month for us- lots of stress, everyone getting sick, etc. But now it's November and we'll try to put all that behind us. We spent Halloween with both sets of parents by trick-or-treating in the in-laws neighborhood. The kids had a blast of course, but I also think the grandparents enjoyed themselves almost as much! :)
Next weekend, we're off to a family wedding in Kansas. Brian's cousin Cecelia is getting married and asked Jaxon to be the ringbearer! We're so excited and he thinks he'll "look jazzy" in his tux! The groom's family has twin 6 year old girls who'll be flower girls, so Marley's not "in" the wedding, but she's still excited about the pretty dress she gets to wear to the wedding.
The rest of the fall is mainly getting ready for family holidays, get caught up on scrapping and watching football... sounds good to me! :) Hope to be back with updates more often (if life slows down a bit!)
In August, we put an offer in on a short sale in a nearby neighborhood and put our house on the market, but when someone outbid us, we lost out and after much thought, decided to pull our house off the market and just keep an eye out. We couldn't find anything else we liked for the price as much as we like our house, but we'll check online every once and awhile. We looked at putting in a pool, but we're waiting a bit... if we DO end up moving, we won't get our money back out of the pool, so until we KNOW we're staying put, no pool either. We go back and forth, looking online, trying to decide what to do... wish we could live where the kids could go to school with neighborhood friends, or live in a neighborhood where we had a bunch of friends with kids, or maybe just scrap it all and live somewhere on a bit of land without neighbors or a neighborhood to even worry about... oh well, we'll see what happens...
School started up and we barely got into our portable in time to get unpacked- the school district is great, but when it comes to construction and maintenance, it leaves a bit to be desired. Let's just say I FINALLY got backpack hooks in my portable this week- two and a half months after school started. I like that we can be loud out there - seeing as how my class is a language program, we are always encouraging LOTS of talking (we're almost the anti-classroom if you really think about it). It's also very quiet out there - nice because no one bothers you, but also a bit isolating. We'll see what happens next year as we may or may not end up moving back into the building. Jaxon and Marley are doing ok with school, but they miss "their old friends" from last year's classes. Hopefully, it'll be a good year for them both.
October has been a pretty rough month for us- lots of stress, everyone getting sick, etc. But now it's November and we'll try to put all that behind us. We spent Halloween with both sets of parents by trick-or-treating in the in-laws neighborhood. The kids had a blast of course, but I also think the grandparents enjoyed themselves almost as much! :)
Next weekend, we're off to a family wedding in Kansas. Brian's cousin Cecelia is getting married and asked Jaxon to be the ringbearer! We're so excited and he thinks he'll "look jazzy" in his tux! The groom's family has twin 6 year old girls who'll be flower girls, so Marley's not "in" the wedding, but she's still excited about the pretty dress she gets to wear to the wedding.
The rest of the fall is mainly getting ready for family holidays, get caught up on scrapping and watching football... sounds good to me! :) Hope to be back with updates more often (if life slows down a bit!)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Halfway over...
Summer that is, and I can hardly believe it! We just had Jaxon's 6th birthday party and had a blast. We'd done the sprinkler park and bouncy places, so when I asked him what he wanted to do this year, he said Chuck E Cheese. I almost talked him out of it (a friend said it best when she described her love/hate relationship with CEC- Kids love it/parents hate it!) BUT, I didn't and I'm glad- they had a blast and took care of everything for us. My summer has been SO busy that I needed a stress-free party, and that it was. Everyone seemed to have a good time and when I asked Jaxon if he had a good time we said "This is the best day ever!" Gotta love it!
We've been working hard to get the house ready and still a bit in the air about what to do. Our house is great with a nice, big backyard... if not for our neighbor moving in, I don't think we'd even be thinking about moving right now... Anyway, we're looking at houses again tonight and then deciding what to do. The house is "market ready" if we decide to put it up. Whether we move or not, this process had been great for me as it's making me get rid of "stuff" and get rid of clutter hot spots in the house. Of course, I'm home from work, so I have more time and energy to keep the house in tip-top shape, but as they say, it takes 21 days to change a behavior and I'm well on my way! Don't worry, I won't go all domestic goddess on anyone! :)
I also got my first Viovio photobook (a 10x10)- my Project 365 January-June and it is amazing! I ABSOLUTELY love it and I'm now sold on putting all of my layouts in viovio hardcover books. If you're on the fence about which printer to use, go for them- the quality rocks and they are very well priced.
Well, back to the grind... be back soon with more updates...
We've been working hard to get the house ready and still a bit in the air about what to do. Our house is great with a nice, big backyard... if not for our neighbor moving in, I don't think we'd even be thinking about moving right now... Anyway, we're looking at houses again tonight and then deciding what to do. The house is "market ready" if we decide to put it up. Whether we move or not, this process had been great for me as it's making me get rid of "stuff" and get rid of clutter hot spots in the house. Of course, I'm home from work, so I have more time and energy to keep the house in tip-top shape, but as they say, it takes 21 days to change a behavior and I'm well on my way! Don't worry, I won't go all domestic goddess on anyone! :)
I also got my first Viovio photobook (a 10x10)- my Project 365 January-June and it is amazing! I ABSOLUTELY love it and I'm now sold on putting all of my layouts in viovio hardcover books. If you're on the fence about which printer to use, go for them- the quality rocks and they are very well priced.
Well, back to the grind... be back soon with more updates...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Summertime...and the livin' is easy...
Mostly anyway! Sorry for the long delay in my posts! Let's see what's happened since I last updated... school is out for summer! YAY! My wonderful assistant Christy basically packed the room herself (she's unbelievable!) We hope our portable (or as we like to call it "the cabin") will be coming soon so we can set it up well before staff development days. I had such a great year working with Christy and Susan and look forward to another great one in "the cabin"!
Both kids are swimming every Monday night and Jaxon has advanced to the next level, Nitro 2. This is good news as it means he's made good progress, but bad news too because now instead of them having lessons at the same time and knocking it out in 30 minutes, they have classes back to back. But, it's worth it and they both have become little fish- even Marley, who was terrified at first, is comfortable in the water now. :) Jaxon had a week of tennis and we may sign up for more. We haven't started Marley in dance yet, but I think I've found a place and we'll go check it out soon.
We keep going back and forth about moving... should we move now because of the unwanted neighbor while interest rates are low? Or wait a year or two, when we could afford more? Do we want a little land and an older house or build in a new neighborhood? I'd like to be closer to school, but can't really find what I like for the $ nearby. There are houses I love in a newer neighborhood, but not a real sense of community there. We could live in a smaller section of a really nice community, but it's 20-25 minutes to school (and we'd be the poor folk in the neighborhood for sure!) What to do, what to do... We're going to finish getting the house ready and put it up on the market. It's a "wait and see" thing...
We just got back from a week in Napa, California for a family wedding. It was nice and not our usual scene, so it was a fun vacation. Who'd have thought a wine and cheese picnic would be so fun? The kids stayed behind with my parents in San Antonio- so my parents had the anti-vacation! :) They entertained the kids EVERYDAY- swimming, Incredible Pizza, and Six Flags for goodness sakes! Plus the trips to the store for more toys (you know, these poor kids have nothing, ha ha!)
So fun for all this summer. We've got to plan Jaxon's birthday party too- he'll be 6! Wow! Anyway, I'll try to do a better job keeping you posted!
Both kids are swimming every Monday night and Jaxon has advanced to the next level, Nitro 2. This is good news as it means he's made good progress, but bad news too because now instead of them having lessons at the same time and knocking it out in 30 minutes, they have classes back to back. But, it's worth it and they both have become little fish- even Marley, who was terrified at first, is comfortable in the water now. :) Jaxon had a week of tennis and we may sign up for more. We haven't started Marley in dance yet, but I think I've found a place and we'll go check it out soon.
We keep going back and forth about moving... should we move now because of the unwanted neighbor while interest rates are low? Or wait a year or two, when we could afford more? Do we want a little land and an older house or build in a new neighborhood? I'd like to be closer to school, but can't really find what I like for the $ nearby. There are houses I love in a newer neighborhood, but not a real sense of community there. We could live in a smaller section of a really nice community, but it's 20-25 minutes to school (and we'd be the poor folk in the neighborhood for sure!) What to do, what to do... We're going to finish getting the house ready and put it up on the market. It's a "wait and see" thing...
We just got back from a week in Napa, California for a family wedding. It was nice and not our usual scene, so it was a fun vacation. Who'd have thought a wine and cheese picnic would be so fun? The kids stayed behind with my parents in San Antonio- so my parents had the anti-vacation! :) They entertained the kids EVERYDAY- swimming, Incredible Pizza, and Six Flags for goodness sakes! Plus the trips to the store for more toys (you know, these poor kids have nothing, ha ha!)
So fun for all this summer. We've got to plan Jaxon's birthday party too- he'll be 6! Wow! Anyway, I'll try to do a better job keeping you posted!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
So I'm a horrible blogger
...but what's new right? :) Ok, so school has been VERY busy, but good too. Same goes for the kids. My house is kind of a mess right now but I'm too tired to really do anything about it. Seriously considering a monthly maid service! But... summer is ALMOST here so soon I'll have no excuse other than my own kids keeping me busy (but you know they really do keep you busy!)
So the end of March brought our anniversary- 8 years of marriage- and we went out to celebrate. Then my birthday in mid-April. 31. When I turned 30, I really considered it more like the end of my twenties, so 31 would officially be "in my thirties." I wasn't so sure I was excited about it. In fact, I had a terrible day-- it was POURING rain and even with an umbrella, getting my students off the bus I got soaked from the hip down. Of course I had no extra clothes so I was wearing wet jeans all day. Had a headache, looked like a drowned rat, etc.
I come home and Brian asks "Are we going to just dinner or dinner and a movie?" All I really wanted to do was hang around, but the inlaws had offered to watch the kids and maybe some kid-free time would help my headache, so I went upstairs, took a shower and quickly got around. Didn't bother fixing my hair as it was still raining so a curly-headed Stephanie went out with Brian. We headed to Alamo Drafthouse- hadn't been in forever and wanted a good laugh, so we went to see a comedy. We got in and Brian realized he left his phone in the car so he ran out to get it. As soon as he left they started talking about it being a "World Premiere Beer" night from a local brewery and I was hoping Brian wouldn't miss out. He comes back in with his phone, a PERFECT birthday card (the kind that looks like it was made just for you and makes you cry), a disc (I find out later it's Adobe CS3 Premium--YAY!) and then produces a box. I open it to find diamond studs. What a wonderful surprise!!! So I guess 31 isn't so bad...
School is finishing up June 3rd and I'm excited. I still can't believe how wonderful this program has been for me. We have had a very successful pilot year and are expanding next year. :) Nothing feels better than getting kids to an age-appropriate level and dismissed from special education. It is so wonderful to see these kids making such great progress. I absolutely love it! That said, I'm also ready for a little break! :)
Marley and Jaxon are doing great in school. Jaxon has loved his kinder teacher and wants to stay with her! Fortunately for him, even though he'll be in first grade, I assured him that he will still see her around! :) Marley thinks she's ready for kinder, but of course, she misses the cutoff so she has two more long years to go. She loves her class so I think she'll be ok, but I may look into private kinder that last year (of course that depends on the $). They both continue swim and are having a blast. Jaxon is finishing up flag football, and though I was worried at first, he really likes it and is doing very well! I think it'll be too hot for summer though, so we'll do it again in the fall. Jaxon wants to play tennis and Marley wants to dance, so between swim, those choices and possibly indoor soccer, we should be busy enough.
Gotta run, but I will post back soon (I think...)
So the end of March brought our anniversary- 8 years of marriage- and we went out to celebrate. Then my birthday in mid-April. 31. When I turned 30, I really considered it more like the end of my twenties, so 31 would officially be "in my thirties." I wasn't so sure I was excited about it. In fact, I had a terrible day-- it was POURING rain and even with an umbrella, getting my students off the bus I got soaked from the hip down. Of course I had no extra clothes so I was wearing wet jeans all day. Had a headache, looked like a drowned rat, etc.
I come home and Brian asks "Are we going to just dinner or dinner and a movie?" All I really wanted to do was hang around, but the inlaws had offered to watch the kids and maybe some kid-free time would help my headache, so I went upstairs, took a shower and quickly got around. Didn't bother fixing my hair as it was still raining so a curly-headed Stephanie went out with Brian. We headed to Alamo Drafthouse- hadn't been in forever and wanted a good laugh, so we went to see a comedy. We got in and Brian realized he left his phone in the car so he ran out to get it. As soon as he left they started talking about it being a "World Premiere Beer" night from a local brewery and I was hoping Brian wouldn't miss out. He comes back in with his phone, a PERFECT birthday card (the kind that looks like it was made just for you and makes you cry), a disc (I find out later it's Adobe CS3 Premium--YAY!) and then produces a box. I open it to find diamond studs. What a wonderful surprise!!! So I guess 31 isn't so bad...
School is finishing up June 3rd and I'm excited. I still can't believe how wonderful this program has been for me. We have had a very successful pilot year and are expanding next year. :) Nothing feels better than getting kids to an age-appropriate level and dismissed from special education. It is so wonderful to see these kids making such great progress. I absolutely love it! That said, I'm also ready for a little break! :)
Marley and Jaxon are doing great in school. Jaxon has loved his kinder teacher and wants to stay with her! Fortunately for him, even though he'll be in first grade, I assured him that he will still see her around! :) Marley thinks she's ready for kinder, but of course, she misses the cutoff so she has two more long years to go. She loves her class so I think she'll be ok, but I may look into private kinder that last year (of course that depends on the $). They both continue swim and are having a blast. Jaxon is finishing up flag football, and though I was worried at first, he really likes it and is doing very well! I think it'll be too hot for summer though, so we'll do it again in the fall. Jaxon wants to play tennis and Marley wants to dance, so between swim, those choices and possibly indoor soccer, we should be busy enough.
Gotta run, but I will post back soon (I think...)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Guest gig layouts...
I have two fabulous guest gigs this month- Ziggle Designs and Amanda Heimann Designs- both at Scrap Orchard. So I thought I'd add some of my layouts here too. You can find all of the products used in these layouts at Scrap Orchard. Hop over now for the BOGO sale too! :)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 01, 2009
March? Already???
Well, I can hardly believe that it's March already! I've very busy- between home, work and trying to scrap- so I'm going to make this quick!
We've been busy with school and having a blast. I am so thankful that I get to work at such a wonderful campus and that my kids are not only learning, but enjoying school too. Jaxon is keeping up with swim and will be playing flag football this spring. We plan on starting Marley in swim soon too and hopefully dance as well. We'd REALLY like to find something musically inclined for the kids and are keeping an eye out for that. Brian is golfing again too and has joined the golf club with his dad, so he'll have more opportunities to play now too. :)
As for the scrap stuff- I'm currently working on my project 365 digitally (the physical album is collecting dust) AND I'm all caught up! I've already got 22 pages and that's just through February, so I think I may print the book quarterly afterall.
Also, I wanted to announce how excited I am to have 2 guest gigs this month! I'll be guesting for Ziggle Scraps and Amanda Heimann Designs- both at Scrap Orchard. Be on the lookout for some new layouts with their amazing products soon! :)
Gotta run!
We've been busy with school and having a blast. I am so thankful that I get to work at such a wonderful campus and that my kids are not only learning, but enjoying school too. Jaxon is keeping up with swim and will be playing flag football this spring. We plan on starting Marley in swim soon too and hopefully dance as well. We'd REALLY like to find something musically inclined for the kids and are keeping an eye out for that. Brian is golfing again too and has joined the golf club with his dad, so he'll have more opportunities to play now too. :)
As for the scrap stuff- I'm currently working on my project 365 digitally (the physical album is collecting dust) AND I'm all caught up! I've already got 22 pages and that's just through February, so I think I may print the book quarterly afterall.
Also, I wanted to announce how excited I am to have 2 guest gigs this month! I'll be guesting for Ziggle Scraps and Amanda Heimann Designs- both at Scrap Orchard. Be on the lookout for some new layouts with their amazing products soon! :)
Gotta run!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Project 365...
I'm so excited about this new project I'm working on. It's based on the photo-a-day idea from photojojo. Someone on one of my forums was talking about the CK kit of the month coming out- I don't paper scrap, but I thought I'd check it out. I went to read about it from Becky Higgins here and here to read all about her actual product and thought it was a great idea. Apparently they didn't make NEARLY enough of them, but I was one of the lucky ones who was finally able to get through the busy server to order mine (lots of people didn't, and some were even really ugly about it on the KOTM blog, so I felt like I had the goose who laid a golden egg or something!) It's not REALLY scrapping as the items are pre-cut, but you can arrange them in multiple ways and add elements to it.
I really am enjoying taking daily pictures and trying to improve on my photography as well... you'd think I could convince my husband (who minored in photography) to take pictures for me (hint, hint)... and maybe I'll try to have him take some pics, but I really want to get better with my camera too, so we'll see. I thought my family would like to have something like this too, but how? So I decided to make digital pages for my Project 365 too. Of course, the photos and journaling will be the same as my "physical album" which will actually make it easier for me, but the digital kit I'm using has endless possibilities. I got Gina Marie Huff's Life 365 from Weeds and Wildflowers. I also had Darcy Baldwin at Sweet Shoppe Designs make me a custom font- DJB Stephanie S script- so that journaling is really my handwriting. It's a little thing, but makes the project feel even more like me. :)
I hope to keep updating slides each month (of course, my family will then get a "sneak peek" of their end of the year photo book) but I HAVE to share because I really like the idea... I'm up to date with pictures, and printing out week 2 now for my album, but only have the first week done digitally. Look for the monthly slide which I'll probably have to post up top!
I really am enjoying taking daily pictures and trying to improve on my photography as well... you'd think I could convince my husband (who minored in photography) to take pictures for me (hint, hint)... and maybe I'll try to have him take some pics, but I really want to get better with my camera too, so we'll see. I thought my family would like to have something like this too, but how? So I decided to make digital pages for my Project 365 too. Of course, the photos and journaling will be the same as my "physical album" which will actually make it easier for me, but the digital kit I'm using has endless possibilities. I got Gina Marie Huff's Life 365 from Weeds and Wildflowers. I also had Darcy Baldwin at Sweet Shoppe Designs make me a custom font- DJB Stephanie S script- so that journaling is really my handwriting. It's a little thing, but makes the project feel even more like me. :)
I hope to keep updating slides each month (of course, my family will then get a "sneak peek" of their end of the year photo book) but I HAVE to share because I really like the idea... I'm up to date with pictures, and printing out week 2 now for my album, but only have the first week done digitally. Look for the monthly slide which I'll probably have to post up top!
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