and while the kids are playing...

Sam gets his running around done:

Soccer Season!!!!! Rianne's first two games... well kinda

Rianne has had to soccer games already too... well sort of. She had a absolute meltdown before her first game and so we ended up missing her first game. I'm really hoping we dont' have to do that again. It's amazing to watch Rianne. She's a absolute natural at this. She just jumped in there and looked like she has played for a couple of years.
There are only 3 girls on the whole team so when they see eachother, they are jsut besides themselves!










Funny thing happened at Rianne's game yesterday when she was put in as the goalie. She got her hair band stuck in the net. They called a time out and it took 5 minutes to get her untangeled.... i guess we know better next time what not to put in her hair.









and just a few more of my tiny soccer star... too funny that she looks all clothes and no body in her soccer uniform!

Soccer Season!!!!! Daylon's first two games...

We put both Daylon and Rianne in soccer this year. I really don't know why we waited this long to get Daylon in, but this is the first year that Rianne could play. Both kids ABSOLUTELY love soccer! And for either one of them to have NEVER played soccer, i don't think they are too bad at it (although Rianne is a natural at it!)The kids play twice a week on tuesday and thursday. It makes for VERY long nights but totally worth it. I've forgotten how much i love soccer

I didn't get many pictures of daylon that weren't so incredibly blurry. He plays on a full size field and his last two games were later in the evening so the lighting was terrible. Here are few of the ones that did kinda turn out though. He's the #6 in blue (or red, in the first game pictures)..... don't get confused with the little girl or the other boy in blue who is also #6!

(CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE THEM BIGGER)

And as usual, he's the one always messing around on the field. Here is his first game where the coach is after him for all the talking... you can barely see his face on the other side of the #6 kid telling coach that if he'd put him more in the game he wouldn't talk so much!

*SIGH* i guess he takes after his grandfather a bit more than i thought he did!

a little {happiness} all around

Yesterday was Riannes first day of Kindergarten. She's SO excited to be able to FINIALLY be able to go to school! She had her backpack on and ready to go the moment she was dressed. She watched morning cartoons in her backpack and even ate lunch with her backpack on. She's truely been ready for this moment for years.

I have Daylon picking Rianne up from school so that they could walk home with eachother every day. I can't tell you how cute it is to see them walking hand in hand all the way home. Turns out that school is still fun even after the first week. Daylon still loves school even though it is tougher for him. I think it's just because we have to get back into the swing of things again... his attention span is zapped after summer.

Since i had the afternoon to myself, Sam and I went shopping. He found these super cute Fisher Price cars and threw them in the cart before i even had a chance to see what they were. I love that they are so little that they fit in his little hands. He spent the afternoon playing with them while the other kids were in school.

Check him out. I just love that he plopped himself down on the carpet and started playing away. He couldn't wait for me to open the package soon enough! I got him a second set for sometime later... i guess Christmas is coming sooner than i expect. And i know he loves them!

I haven't gotten much done in way of scrapping... but i did get this done:

this is the next prompt for This is Me. My FFOTM (favorite friend of the moment) happens to be Lori. Might be a bit lame on my end considering she an internet buddy that i've never met. But she is my best bud right now and i love hanging out with her most nights..... she's my scrappy partner in crime ;-) Now if we just lived closer together, that'd totally make my day!

Rolo... dex

I've always wanted a book of quotes and in the scrapping world people are altering Rolodex's. They seemed to go hand in hand so Lori and I decided to do a rolodex full of quotes together. Here are my first four quotes...... now on the lookout for more quotes!

Hobbies

this is prompt #2 at This Is Me - a Journal Challenge. It's fun working a bit out of my box. I'm not too far out but i get to experiement a little where i normally wouldn't. I got to use my Elsie goodies that Lori sent to me for my birthday! I'm really loving me some Elsie! Prompt #3 is going up tomarrow! I think this may be something i can keep up on!

I'm so happy i could just cry!

My baby sister has made me a Aunt again!

It's a Boy!!!!

His name is Zachery W. Johnson (and i already see a lot of Brandy in him!)

He's 10lbs even and 21 inches long. He had quite the time getting here from the sounds of it. He broke his collarbone on the way out and is having a tough time breathing (ever try breathing with a broken collarbone? OUCH! it's pretty tough and painful!) and he's a bit bruised. He's spending some time in NICU but I'm confident all will be fine.

I REALLY wish that we could be down there. I'm really shooting to make a trip for the blessing... that is if everything else cooperates. Looks like i've got some great shopping to do! I really can't wait to see more pictures and i'm tickled pink that she's got a little baby boy to go with her super adorable little girls. Now baby Sam isn't the only little guy in the family! There's only a year and a half between the two. Sounds like a lot now but just wait! It won't be much when they get older! And from the looks of it, Zachary will tower over Samuel in just a few months!

Can't wait to see you guys and hope to hear the girls are loving you just as much as you are! Take care of yourselves and that precious baby boy!!!

LOVE YA TONS!

AWWWW...... he's sooo cute!

Yup, Daylon is the proud owner of a new dog! He's a Lhasa Apso/Jack Russell Terrier mix and he's just under a year old (he shares the same birthday as Rianne!). The previous owner's called him Scooter so that is what he goes by here, although he looks like a Max to me.

Daylon went to work with DarRell last Friday over to Wayne County. While he was there the contractor told Daylon that he could use all the scrap wood around to build whatever he wanted to. Daylon went to work building a dog house. The contractor asked him what he was building and when Daylon answered a dog house, the contractor went and got his tools and spent the day helping him build it. When they finished, the contractor asked if Daylon had a dog, and he answered no (i guess Pudge doesn't count since he's DarRell's dog), so he took him to go see his dog. It turned out that the contractor has a VERY disabled daughter that they got the dog for. He ended up being a bit too much for her and wasn't able to keep him. They were looking for a good family to give him to and ironically, that is when Daylon happened to go to work and build himself a doghouse for a dog he didn't have! DarRell went and picked him up Monday and brought him home (although he's the only one who doesn't want the dog). He's VERY well behaved and just too dang cute! He's going to be a great dog for Daylon (and for me, cause i've always wanted a wire-haired mutt-looking dog!).


Rianne has gone to claiming him as his own and gets really bent out of shape when Daylon has him on a leash. Although Rianne does take super good care of him while Daylon is at school. He seems to be a dog that the kids can handle which was a big plus when we were considering on getting him.


Here are a few pictures that the previous owner sent home with Daylon

IMHO

here's my week one page for the journal challenge at This Is Me. I had fun but i should have done more. I decided on a smaller album so it would be a quick easy one to keep up with. Now i'm kinda regreting my decision. Oh well... i might thank myself later on.

a little scrapi-ness

Just been doing a little bit of scrapping tonight.



This is the cover to my journal for This Is Me... a journal challenge.

I think i'll takle the first prompt tomarrow... This is going to be SO much fun!

Huh? is that what people think?

I was blog surfing today and came across a blog that ranted on about parents who were happy that their children were going back to school and when asked, they publicly admitted it (I actually read it over and over and over again to make sure i wasn't taking offence at the wrong thing, and then again maybe i am). Ok, so what is so horribly wrong with that? I am one, who when asked, will gladly admit that i am happy my children are going back to school. Why? Because they NEED that time they are in school, I NEED that time they are in school. My children need the interaction from other people rather than just their family. They need to be out experiencing how the world really works, that they need to accept and learn to get along with people out there who are different, and know that the world does not rotate around them. I can only teach my children so much. I know what my limits are. I know i can never teach them what they need to know to make it in this world. They need more than just my Mommy experience. My children look forward to going to school, they enjoy it and so they should. So what makes me such a terrible parent that i want my children that kind of opportunity? Do people honestly think that my children are damaged because i send them to school? Or more specifically, that my children are mentally abused because, when asked publicly, i admit that i can't wait for school to start? that my children think that i can't wait to be rid of them? How twisted is that? Should i feel offended that my children want to go to school? Ever think that they want to be rid of me? My children know respect, and they know bounderies. But... they are children and they are still learning, and i don't expect them to be "perfect", and sending them to school is just part of that learning experience. I respect those parents who choose to home-school. I have plenty of friends and family who actually do! But... I know i could never do it. I don't have the patience or the knowledge to even begain. But to flame parents who choose to send their children to school and are just as proud of it as are the parent who choose to homeschool? Give me a break! My children are fine. They are well-rounded and they are happy. I am home when they get home. I am here to help out with homework, to feed them, to put them to bed. And i am here when they wake up in the morning, to feed them breakfast. And i'm even there when I send them off to school in the mornings. Because i choose to exercise my limits and send them to school to give them what i cannot does NOT make me a bad parent. It does not diminish my parenting skills and it does not damage my child. Lighten up and consider very closely what you are saying to those parents who choose not to homeschool. We, perhaps as a whole, might be offending you, but you, as an individual may be offending us as indviduals... each and every one of us.

School is in!

WhoooHoooo! I know it's so bad of me to think so but this has been one LONG summer. Daylon has been bored out of his mind the minute school ended last year. There just isn't enough for him to do he says. Not enough friends, not enough video games, not enough movies, just not enough. So, it's a bit of a releif to have him back at school and as of this morning, he was quite releived also. So... off to 4th grade he goes!


He's been so moody and i just don't know how to handle that. He's been my happy kid from day one and for him to sulk around and be angry is just not like him. He was angry at his dad last night. When i questioned him why, this was his responce: "Dad always use to say yes to everything. Now all he says is no, no, no to everything... just like you!" How's that for a heartbreaker. How do you teach your kids that they just can't do everything they want. That we do have their best intrests at mind and that we really {LOVE} them? Geez... i'm feeling a bit like my parents did i guess.

Rianne is a bit bummed that she isn't going to school today. She doesn't start kindergarten till next monday. I guess they are having Kgarten testing all week long, hers is Thursday. She has afternoon classes so it'll be great that Daylon can walk her home from school. That'll leave, hopefully, a quite afternoon for me since that is also the same time that Sam takes his naps. I just might get a few hours of quiet scraptime to myself! And..... if our schedules work out right, i just might be able to do some cyber-scrapping with Lori....... Maybe.


Speaking of scrapping, here is a layout i finished up last night. I guess i've been a bit sentimental about the kids going back to school after all. Look how cute Daylon was! This was his first day of Pre-school back in 2002. I feel a urge to scrapbook this years pictures right now. I'm actually in such a scrapping mood right now that i just can't contain myself! I got so much i want to do and so much i want to play with that i just can't make up my mind on where to start! Crazy but true. Got a few projects in the works and waiting for my DT goodies from The School of Scrap to arrive so i can really get to some serious scrapping.

i will catch up and follow along...

why? because i need the motivation. That, and it's part of my 33 things i want to do before i turn 34 pact i made for myself, thanks to Elsie. So... what am i catching up with? My Mini Art Challenge (AKA my 52 card pick-up of life! hahahaha!) that the uber talented Emily is hosting. I got a kinda late start on it but me dragging my feet has really put me behind. But i do vow to keep up and finish the past prompts.

here is week #32

the front.
journaling reads: your first decent sleep after a long nine day battle of a nasty bug... lets not do that again! Life is just not normal with you so sick

Take a deep reath and enjoy the quiet. It's been so long little man.

The back:

i've gotten my money's worth out of my alchohol inks. I love playing with them and so far have only made a huge mess out of them. But never the less, i'm having a ball with them and they've got to get used somewhere right? I'm not much of a journaler so i'm doing this only for me, but journaling reads: After a month of complete chaos, it is time to enjoy the quiet. It's been so long since i could sit back and listen to absolutely nothing. Savor every moment slipping away... it will all be gone too soon.

I know it seems like i'm such a copycat but i love her techniques. So i've also decided that i'm going to take something of hers every week and incorporate it into mine. So go ahead and call me a copycat... i don't care.

i decided to use the ghost letters on this (took that from hers this week)... it just seemed to fit perfectly.

I've done a few more but maybe in another post i'll show you them. For right now, i'm caught up with RIGHT now. For the biggest part... that is all that matters!

Daylon's 9th birthday party

Daylon had a great birthday party this year. He asked for a birthday party that he could invite his best buddies to instead of his normal family birthday party. I told him he could five of his best buddies, he invided three and his dad invited one more and his baby sister. Only three of them showed up plus the baby sister. And the neighbor girl came over. It turned out wonderfully. He decided he wanted a pirate themed water party. I do have to say it turned out really good. We let the kids swim for a while to begin with so i could get home from work and join in on the party.



I made him a pirate boat birthday cake and found his old pirates of the carribean action figure and ploped it down on top. I loved how it turned out!


We had a bunch of old boxes and a few old bottles laying around so we put them all together on some old wood to look like a ship deck. We found DarRell's old fish net and hung it up on the outside of the old house. Threw down a bunch of coins and called it good. Made a GREAT backdrop!


Even sam got in on the action!


















eating the yummy cake!

and he made out like a bandit on the gifts. Lots and lots of great gifts.

I'm so glad we could make it a memorable party for him this year.

4th of July fireworks

of all the 4th oj July fireworks (most of which didn't turn out), this is the most amazing picture ever. I love that Daylon's face is lit up by the sparklers. It truely is one of my all time favorite pictures i've ever taken. Someday i'm going to scrap my all-time favorite photos... Someday.

Birthday wishes

i've been following Elsie's blog lately. Today she has a challenge up on her blog (along with a absolute fun blog party today!). It's something i should really do! I feel like my life is kinda stagnant (is that really how you spell it?), and besides trying to be a great momma to my children, i feel like i have nothing more to do in my life. So, i'm going to do this challenge. And then i'll scrap it, because honstly that is about the only thing that keeps me sane right now (expecially since i'm off work for the next two weeks). So here it is: 33 things i want to do before i turn 34 (Man! am i really that old!?)

33 Things i want to do before i turn 34:

1. learn to play chess so that i can actually sit down and play a real game of chess with Daylon (who is amazing at chess and instead of buying video games with his saved up birthday money, he bought his own pirates of the carribean chess set!)
2. Finish up my card a week challenge - i'm so far behind that i just can't stand it.
3. get my fingerprints done so i can donate some time in the kids school this year.
4. Lose at least 7lbs from the weight i'm at right now (154lbs if you must know)
5. Learn to use my camera and all the fun settings on it
6. Re-read all the Harry Potter books
7. Visit a new tourist sight close to home (there are so many here within a 2 hour drive that i'm embarrassed to say that i haven't visit any of them)
8. Finish all the challenges in Elsie's 52 scrapbook challenges book
9. Find the perfect salsa recipe and keep it in my recipe box
10. Paint my bathroom
11. finish hanging the pictures in my house
12. throw out all those clothes i just won't wear
13. get a family portrait
14. try something new on the menu at Little Wonder Cafe
15. take Sam to the zoo
16. scrapbook Daylon's beach pictures from when we visited california when he was Mike and Kristen's best man
17. go fishing with the kids
18. go do something really girly with Rianne
19. narrow down what tattoo i want to get (some kind of crawling tree frog) and where i want it
20. Hang out with Kathleen for a day while i'm up in the end of the woods
21. pay off one of my credit cards
22. send out a family picture for christmas cards this year
23. replace one bottle of soda a day with water (or crystal light)
24. go outside and play with the kids in the sandbox more often
25. scrap Sam's ultrasound pictures
26. start putting away $25 a month into a savings account for Sam like we've done for Rianne and Daylon
27. get grass in the backyard
28. have no regrets when it comes to grandpa and grandma Payne when it comes to the kids well-being (and their well-being as well)
29. find a cute funky hairstyle and get it
30. spend more one on one time with Rianne
31. plant some rasberries
32. finish my dad's navy album
33. organize my linen closet

and one to grow on: make a layout of these 33 things.

I have a whole year to go since the 23rd of July was my 33rd birthday. It wasn't much of a celebration, but not totally forgotten, and for that i guess i should be thankful.