October's productivity

or should i say lack of?

I didn't get much done last month scrappy wise.

I got a woppin' two layouts done. That's it. Can you believe it? Where did the month run to?

I do have to say that they were both really good ones... or at least i think so.

A lot was going on last month.

FIL has been super sick and spent much of the last month in and out of the hospital. DarRell has been working his tail off trying to shoulder the load since his dad is completely unable to work now. That has meant early mornings and late nights. We haven't seen much of him lately. All of that, i guess, contributed to my lack of productivity.

That, and in October I tend to become a hunter's widow, although this year he didn't get much time in hunting (you know, that work thing always gets in the way). A few days here and day or two there. Mostly just the weekends. Such a change since life seems to be put on hold during hunting season in the past.

I also did get my scrappy room finished. Having my scrappy stuff piled high in all corners of the house trying to finish my room also didn't help out with productivity.

Anyways. Enjoy the only two layouts i finished last month. Good news though... I've already completed more this month than i did last month!

*3BT
~seeing DarRell and the kids show up at my work yesterday. Loving that the kids hated to have to leave and hearing Rianne cry "I don't want to go" over the auctioneer babble.
~three big hugs from the kids when i walked through the door at nearly 8:00pm last night when i got home from work. Even a big goobery kiss from Sam... Love it!
~Seeing long subraction finially click in Daylon's head. It's been such a long frustraiting road when it comes to math with him. One more hurdle passed and behind us. Now we can focus on the next one.

Halloween!!!

As promised, albeit a bit late, my scrap room:

You can find the rest of the pictures HERE. There are notes all over the pictures so you'll need to pan over the picture with your mouse to read them all. This is where i spend most of my available time. If i had a tv, a big comfy chair, and a little fridge i don't think i'd leave this room.

The kids had a ball with Halloween. I'm a bit bummed that Daylon didn't have as much fun this year. I blow it off as him just growing up, which totally breaks my heart, but mostly i feel like he's picking up vibes from his dad, who seems to not enjoy anything that disrupts life in general.


Here they are dressed up for the High School Carnival they have every year.




Daylon as some yucky doctor thing... scarey.
Rianne as a fairy
Sam as a pirate



RaDawn's Halloween party is always a hit! I look forward to it every year. Hopefully next year Sam will be easier to handle and we can stay longer. We missed halloween bingo and i REALLY wanted to stay for that.

Here's the pictures from the party:

Since halloween landed on a Wednesday this year i had to miss the school parade because of work. I had DarRell take pictures though. Thank goodness he's home with the kids on Wednesdays or i wouldn't have gotten any pictures at all.

I got home just in time to jump into the van to leave for Trunk-or-Treat that evening. I didn't get ANY pictures at all. I'm really bummed about it, but at least i didn't miss halloween completely.

*3BT
~ two boys at work last week giggling like little silly school girls
~ Sam totally checking out all the cool halloween costumes and not even being scared of any of them
~ a clean kitchen. One i can go into without rolling my eyes because i have to push something out of the way to sit and eat breakfast.

the project that finially came to a end...

WHOOOHOOOO!!! Lookie here: Scrap The Girls (if you can't figure out which one is mine... it's the first one). I'm sooo excited to have another layout featured here! I've waited so long to share the news that I'm surprised it's still there.

Long time no posting. I know, I've slacked. I've been busy though. I finally got my scrap room finished up!!!!! I'm so excited!!! Orange walls. White bead board. Lots of sheet metal. Magnets galore. Wall to wall shelving. And lots of room. I'm really loving it.

I've ordered a vinyl saying for the one full wall that doesn't have anything on it. It's going to say:

Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations ~ Mae Jemison

Daylon actually picked it out and we thought it would work great in my scrap room. So, now I'm just waiting on them to finish it for me.

I'll post pictures here soon. Just trying to tidy up a bit after moving all my stuff back in. I thought that would be the easy part but it's amazing all the stuff i have and even more amazing that with all the new shelving and stuff I've bought for the room, it still doesn't seem like enough.

3BT:
* great neighbors that make living where we are, bearable in the worst of times.
* everyone having their front porches alive with pumpkins, carved or uncarved... it doesn't matter.
*a beautiful (basket-ed?) plant sitting on my table reminding us of all the green that used to be outside.

finially some progress, Saterday morning, and sit-down together family meals

* GREAT progress on the basement! We got one bedroom completely ready for sheetrock (one more bedroom, the bathroom, and the family room to go). All plumbing and wiring ready in the basement for a washer AND a dryer. Everything completely framed, finially. And all wiring run... i think.

* having all three kids snuggle up with us in bed Saterday morning... after a GREAT night sleep.

* getting the kitchen table cleaned off so we can finially have sit-down together family meals. I've forgotten how much i love to just sit at the table and talk after dinner, even if the dinner isn't so pleasing to everyone.

Fire Safety Week

It was fire safety week at the Elementary school this last week. Rianne's Kindergarten class took a little walk down to the firestation on thursday. Since DarRell was working in town that day, he snuck away from work to spend the day with the morning (with Talmage and a bunch of Rianne's friends) and afternoon (Rianne's class) Kindergarten classes at the firehouse. I snuck down there durning Rianne's class to take pictures of her with her dad.

It's so cute to see how proud Rianne is of her dad in front of all her classmates! Her dad had been a firefighter for so long now that it's just a everyday thing now. But when it's something big like this, she beams all over the place.

And can i just mention at how sexy DarRell is in his turnouts? Even with the fact that he hadn't shaved for a couple of days and he was in his old dirty work clothes, watching him with all of those little kindergarten kids all dressed up just makes my insides do a little pitter-patter dance. There's nothing like a man in uniform!

Here's the rest of the pictures i took:

a bit of a family reunion

How cute is this little family???? Gosh i miss them so much! This is my baby sister and her two cute girls and her newest little man! Now all we are missing is her hubby (who I'm assuming is taking the picture).

It was great to open my mailbox this morning and see these pictures of them! The girls are getting SO big and well, little Zachary, wasn't so little when he was born!

I love getting pictures from my family. It seem that this is the only way i get to see them most times. So if you are reading this... send more!!!!

Ashley with her baby brother. Adorable Hailey.

And the new addition, Zachary


They sent these awesome pictures of the Balloon Fiesta in NM! I'm sooo jealous. I want to go see that SOOOO bad. Till then, I guess i live vicariously through her. Someday we'll make it out there. The kids would absolutely love it! But of course it always lands during school... but maybe one of these days, we'll take a much-needed vacation and visit... even if it means yanking them out of school for a day or two.

I can only imagine how incredibly awesome it is to have that many hot air balloons go up around you..... absolutely amazing!

And i love how they are all different kinds. Like all the cartoon characters and stuff like that.

I may have to start pulling on DarRell's ear. I'd really love to see this. And since his sister lives out there and my sister lives out there, there really isn't a reason why we shouldn't go visit more often. Well, other than the fact that life gets in the way by way of work, school, sickness, etc.

the big box, dad, and it still hasn't gotten old yet

*the simplicity of a big cardboard box. Watching Sam climb in, over, and around it like it was the best thing in the world is better than watching him have, well... the best thing in the world!

*Having my dad around. Just hanging out with him. Just talking about nothing. It was never like this growing up. Makes me look forward to him coming out again... real soon.

*Rianne STILL so excited about her newly peirced ears! I thought it'd grow old telling everyone around that she JUST got her ears pierced, but... NOPE! I'm starting to get over that guilty feeling of piercing her tiny perfect ears.