Onto the side

Here is a side view of the house! Art has gotten pretty far with the siding! Woo hoo!

See that board that he has to stand on? Eeeks. I tried to stand on it when it was on the front of the house, and I was too scared. Now he stands on it and it is higher. I don't envy him!

In other news: the boys spent the night last night across the street, outside in a tent. How fun! There were 3 little boys. I can only guess how much sleep they actually got. But it was a great night to do it! Nice and warm.

This is how far Art had gotten on the house by Saturday. I love the way the dark gray looks!

It was so hot on Saturday-- in the 90s. Too hot for Art to work on the house, so he offered to bring us all to our *secret place* (that's what Colby calls it!).... it's a stream near the house where our friend Helen lives.

Here is Colby splashing his feet in the water. It was actually really cold, really clean water. It looks brown but that's because there are tons on rocks underneath. It's actually pretty shallow where Colby was.

Samantha and Daddy.

Colby, Uncle John, and Will showing their "muscles". I don't really know what Colby is doing....?

We brought Shea along for the ride and she had a ball! She loved playing in the water and swimming. We would throw her toy and then she'd go and fetch it, over and over.
She slept great that night!
We all had fun. It was nice that Uncle John met us there (Art's best friend). The kids really like hanging out with him. In fact, he was helping Will and Colby build a dam.
Art and John both jumped off the bridge, much to the delight of the kids!
It was a wonderful way to spend a HOT Saturday.

Blog Builder Challenge #11

I love the smell of _______ because it reminds me of ___________.
I love the smell of *rubbing alcohol* because it reminds me of *when my babies were born*.
I really do love that smell. You know when you have your baby and they give you those little wipes to put on their umbilical cord until it dries up? Well, I LOVE those little wipes. I could smell them all day long. It makes me remember when Samantha was so little... just 5 pounds... laying in the NICU... healthy but small. And the boys... big little babies... but yet so seemingly tiny... so needy... my angels.
Man, I would love to have that time back again! It is gone so quickly.
But that smell, that alcohol, ALWAYS makes me remember.

We're Home! Part 2

Here some more pictures! This one was taken at the top of Bald Mountain. It is me, with my father-in-law, and the children.
This is Will. Doesn't he look so cute? I was so nervous to see him sitting on the ledge like that. It looked like a drop off!
Here is Will standing by the view. The view was breath taking!! Doesn't it look so pretty?
And Samantha by the view!!!
Bald Mountain was so fun!! The weather was cooler, about mid-sixties... but we were sure sweating on this trail! All the climbing and walking! And of course, we never thought to bring snacks or drinks. Bad mommy!! Next time we hike a mountain, I'll bring a drink!!

What a fun time we had in Old Forge, NY! We are already planning on going back next year. :)

We're Home!

We are back from our mini-vacation!! We had such a great time!! The weather was really cold... to our surpise. But we made the best of it! On Sunday night we took a walk around town and played miniature golf. The picture above is Samantha, taken in front of some stairs. The store is the store that makes those shirts that say "Life is good".
Here is a cute picture! Yes, I told them to hold hands, but I just love the way they look!
Sitting on the big rock. Colby loved the rocks!
Not a great picture, but here is our family sitting on the swing on the front porch of the cabin. This was taken on Tuesday morning.
On the trail, hiking Bald Mountain. The kids found this tree laying across the trail and wanted to sit on it!

Well, we got to our campground on Sunday afternoon. We rented a cabin, and it was HEATED!! We were so happy because it was cold! It was a small cabin, but enough room for the 6 of us and that's all we needed. We went and played miniature golf at this run-down place... but the kids had fun! There was a Wizard of Oz theme at the end!! So we got to play on the yellow brick road.

That night we went to dinner at a really nice restaurant. They served us all cream of chicken and brocolli soup and the kids LOVED it! Especially Will, I think he filled up on it. Who would have known?

And of course we had a fire that night and made some S'mores...although Sam went right to bed and fell right asleep so she missed it.

On Monday we went to the Enchanted Forest, Water Safari. Yes, it was barely 60 degrees. But we were troopers! There were quite a few dry rides so we started with them. Sam ended up loving the ferris wheel where you sit in a cage and flip yourself upside-down. And the boys loved the round-up... where you stand and it spins so fast you stick to the wall. None of us adults went on the dry rides!!

We did do some water rides....brr!! Some of the water was warm, but some was downright freezing!! Samantha and Will especially loved the slides, they did them over and over! (Of course, there were no lines!) Colby found a little kid area and he stayed there for a while... he doesn't like the big slides but he was very happy with the small ones! At one point he was shivering and shaking and turning blue and still kept going....

I was the first to get dressed. I was way too cold!! Eventually we all did, and went on the dry rides again. And then near the end of the day, the kids put on their cold, wet suits and did water rides for another hour! Crazy kids!

Of course, I didn't bring my camera there because I thought we'd be on water rides all day. But I did bring my book!!

That night we went to eat at a restaurant where the spaghetti sauce tasted like cigarette ashes. Eww eww eww!!!!

On Tuesday, after checking out of the campsite and having a late breakfast... we went and hiked Bald Mountain! Colby heard about Bald Mountain in a children's book called "The Adirondack Kids" and so he begged me to find it. And I did! And we hiked it! It wasn't too long, about an hour up. What a walk! I took awesome pics... I will post some more in my next post. We all got a work out on Bald Mountain!

He started siding!

Look!!! See the 3 new windows? And along the bottom there, see the new siding?? It is this color, dark gray. Art started putting it on last night. He is pretty sure he will have that whole section finished by tonight. Oh I can't wait! Then we'll really be able to see what it will look like. All I know is, anything would be better than the dirty white siding!! :)

On another note... tonight is High School Musical 2 premier! Because Samantha is in the play, they are invited to a local mall for a party! They will sing too! I'm excited! And so is she! I can't wait to take cool pictures!

Another layout!

Here is another layout I did for the Scrap n Circle challenges. We are onto week 4! I am so nervous... check out the gallery, www.scrapncircle.com there are some very talented scrappers there!!! Wow!

I love how this layout turned out... my boys are so darn cute!

More pictures!

Here are some new pictures!! The top picture is a picture of the outside of the house... you can see where some siding was ripped off, you can see the mess in the yard, and you can see insulation.
The second picture is inside of Will's bedroom. These are the windows I picked out! I LOVE them!! Of course, there is no trim and his bedroom is all out of order... but you can see what the window is going to look like!
So far Samantha's window is also in. And there is plastic where the old backroom window used to be!! That new one is a little bigger than the old one... so Art has to cut some out of the wall before the new window goes in.
He is so handy, I love it!!

Here we go!

How weird! I already did this entry...and then it disappeared somewhere in cyberspace. So here we go...again!!
This top picture is our door... our OLD door. We are starting a little renovation of the house (finally!) and the door was the first thing we changed.
And this is the NEW door! I love it! We love it! It is awesome. It really brightens up the inside... even with such a small window opening, there is tons of natural light. It's awesome!!
We also are putting in ALL NEW windows and new SIDING!!! The windows are here... in the garage actually. Art was going to put in the new living room window yesterday, but of course that window is DAMAGED and had to be re-ordered. So he made a new plan... he started ripping off the old siding. He also has to take apart the front deck... so we may be getting a new front deck too!! Not planned, but I'll go with it!!
The house looks funny with no siding on the front, just some new insulation. Our house had hardly any insulation in the walls... no wonder we could always feel drafts! When we are done with this, it will be so tight no draft will get through! Mwah ha ha!!
Poor Art is doing all the work himself (he's so handy!) which means long days for him.... and me not seeing him all that much, except to bring him drinks. I can't really help, I'm more of a hindrance because I have no idea how to do anything that he is doing. He did let me use the nail gun yesterday though! That was fun!!
I'll keep posting new pictures as they come.

Here we go!

Here is the old door...
And here is the new door! We love it, we love it so much!! Art spent 6 hour putting it in... poor guy, his square was bent and so he had to use his level the whole night... which took him a lot longer! But he did it and it's done!!
And our new windows came in, so they are in our garage!! Yippee! But unfortunately, he was going to start with putting in the big window in the living room, and of course that window was damaged so it had to be re-ordered. So he changed gears and started ripping off the siding. And then he put on some insulation. What a difference! The house looks so weird. But not worse, it couldn't look worse! Ha ha ha. I'm so glad my husband is so handy. He is saving us bunches of money by doing this himself. Of course, it makes for long days for him... and I can't really help. But he is awesome!!!

Look at this!

I joined an online contest at Scrapncircle.com and this is the third week. It's an elimination-type contest, so I'm so excited to still be in the running after 2 weeks! There is some AMAZING talent in this contest. Anyway, this is my latest entry. The challenge was: the layout has to be a shape other than square or rectangle, you can only use one picture, there needs to be a lot of words (not journaling), and you need to use some sort of office supplies.
There is one photo. My layout is in a circle. There are words on the background paper, plus the strips (it's a poem by AA Milne) and also on the bottom of the 6. Can you tell it's a big six? I cut it myself!!! And I used string, labels, a clip, staples, and ink. :)
I'm so proud of this layout!

Another Blog Challenge

Blog about your scraproom...

Well, most of you already know that I don't have a scraproom! Nope, not me. But, I do manage to take over the back living room in my house!! Half of the room is covered with my scrap stuff!! DH sometimes has me "move it" so he can watch a movie. But it's so hard. There is so much crap (yup, I said crap!) and no room to put it all. But I just can't get rid of it because I'm sure it's also useful and necessary! I keep plastic bins full of stuff like stamps, ribbons, paper. My Cricut is set up under one of the side tables. There is an old trunk filled to the brim of odds and ends...
It is awesome! I love my room! There is a TV and stereo, and most of the time my kids are in there also! And there's a big window with natural light that is so nice!!!

I've been tagged!!!!

Seven things you don't know about me...
1. I always wear socks to bed.
2. I am obsessed with my weight and weight myself every morning.
3. I was an exchange student to Spain when I was 15.
4. I have already started my Christmas shopping.
5. I love to write stories.
6. I have a baby brother who is 30 years younger than me.
7. My house is almost always messy!

So I have to tag 7 people and I choose....AmyMarie, Jenn U, Glenda, Katrina, Kim, Carla, and Amy... my Scraptown friends!, You don't have to play if you don't want. No one will check up on you!

Another blog challenge...

As per Scrapbook Chalet's Jozzie's Blog Challenges:
# 20. Write about something you love to do with your children.

My answer to this one is that I love to do anything FUN with my children. Anything that makes them SMILE and ENJOY themselves. I love to hear my children giggle and laugh. I love to see their faces when they are happy.
I was able to do this just this past weekend. Colby had gotten a book of tickets to Hoffman's Playland from Grammy for his birthday. Seeing as it was a nice day and we had nothing else to do, we decided to go and use them up.
We brought Desiree too, which was nice for Samantha because she had another girl with her and nice for Will because Des is one of his best friends!
So, $50 later.... we had bought 2 extra books of tickets and the kids had a ball!! They were able to go on most of the rides. Art and I just sat back and watched...it was nice to just have little conversations with him while the kids were either in line or on the rides.

I love this photo! Samantha, Desiree, Colby and Will.


This photo was actually taken that morning... I just love how Colby and Art are looking at eachother!!!

Desiree, Colby and Samantha on the tilt-a-whirl

Will and Desiree on the flying umbrellas.


And a rarity- a picture of me and Art, taken by one of the kids :)

What a fun fun day we had!! Samantha got blisters on her hands from the tea cups-- she loves to spin them so fast!!!

And we ended the night with a trip to the Old Country Buffet, one of the kids' favorite restaurants! So, we spent about $100 but the kids had a wonderful time and we got to have real family outing. Thank goodness for Hoffman's!!

Cannot live without....

One scrapbook item you cannot live without!

This is another blog challenge question. My answer to this is: my Xyron X adhesive!!! The reason is, because with my new cricut and also my new favorite chipboard letters, this tool is a must for sticking the letters to the paper!! Especially those hard things... like the dots for the "i" for instance. And the chipboard fits. I even use it for ribbon. I love my little "X"!! I really don't know what I would do withouth it.

I used it for the above layout to adhere the word "Snaggletooth".

My favorite indulgence

Scrapbookchalet.com is having a month-long party with contests, prizes, and fun! You should definitely check it out! One of the things they are doing is a blog challenge... so here is my first entry in that for my first point :)

My most favorite indulgence
I've been on Weight Watchers now since January. I have lost 20 pounds. For the past month I've been at a stand-still. Not losing, but not gaining either. I guess that's not all bad.
I haven't really been sticking with the program either... allow I must say, it's certainly changed the way I look at portions and snacking!
So I'm going to say right now that my biggest indulgence lately is ICE CREAM!!! Yes, my favorite thing in the whole world! I love ice cream!! I try not to keep it in the house, other wise I will eat the whole carton. But it's been very hot lately and the kids keep asking to go get ice cream...and who am I to deny them??? Yesterday I had Perry's "coconut almond fudge" ice cream. Wowzers! Yum yum yum!!!

More Metal In Our House

Yes, that's right! Samantha got her braces put on yesterday! I think she looks adorable with them... And she chose my 2 favorite colors for the bands- blue and orange!
She is definitely uncomfortable with them.... they hurt. We bought her soup, string cheese, yogurt and ice cream to eat. So far, so good. She told me she can't have sprinkles or M&Ms on her ice cream anymore because the said "no candy"... I'm certainly not going to argue with her!
Now we have two children with braces. We should run and get some put on Colby so they can all have them! Not!

Check it out!

A layout I did is on someone else's blog!!
http://www.kittyskloset.blogspot.com/
All you scrappers out there, this is a really cool site. If you want, I can send you an invitation and then if you start posting we both get shoebox points. Check it out!!