2 layouts are done

can you believe it?! I completed one today using the blog Sketches-which I just love! Feels good to get back into it. I have missed it. Now that winter is arriving I think I will have more time to do it. One good thing about winter! :)

My parents came for a visit last Wednesday and left this morning to go down South for the winter. They have officially become Snow Birds! This year Christmas is at our house so they will fly in for that. We had a hectic visit, but I'll take it. Mom, dad, Danika, Kael and I went and got our flu shots yesterday. It was a busy place...thankfully it went okay and the little ones didn't get cranky waiting! The should have an express line for people with children to get them in and out!

My arm is a bit stiff in the injection site, but it was a piece of cake. Nothing to freak out about.

Tonight I am making Turkey fried rice for supper (we had a turkey on Sunday as we were out of town for Thanksgiving). I can't wait for it...yum-o! I am starving.

On Oct 7th Kael turned 2! I made a homemade chocolate cake for him and had a little birthday celebration for him with just us. I just love the picture of him waiting for his cake and then of course he is trying to blow out his two candles. He is such a ham!

1st Annual Block Party

was on Sat and was a lot of fun. The kids had a bike parade which was very cute and then we mingled and when it was time for supper, I help grill up the burgers and hot dogs-which by the way I thouroughly enjoyed. Brought me back to my McDonald days! Then I ate some great food...don't think though in the back of my mind I wasn't thinking 'please let the people who made the salad use good hygene practices when making this'!! lol Those of you who know me know that I am a bit of a freak when it comes to germs and other people touching things I am going to be putting in my mouth!! BUT I sucked it up and ate lots. *shudder* LOL

Today we went to church and then came home, had lunch and watched Transformers 2. We were all excited to watch it as we didn't get to finish it yesterday because of the block party. It was good and finally nice to watch a movie again with the whole family. It has been a long time!

The budget is going great! I love it! For those who aren't on one, I highly, highly recommend it! It is wonderful. This week is going to be tight because the kids had their teeth cleaned (Jacie and Travis) and it came to $220-which I didn't save up for as we just started this budget, so instead of living on $380 for the week, we will live on $160! We can do it! eek...I am planning out our weeks worth of meals...so when I go get some groceries I will just get what we need for the meals. So far on the list is Beef Stew (which I already have all the ingredients for) and Easy Cheeseburger Pie (again, I have all the ingredients for)....so, so far so good!

Danika is fully crawling now and trying to pull herself up. She is babbling lots and I swear she is spitting out words. She is 10 months old now. She is eating her baby food way better and of course still loves her mush. I need to get another highchair that sits on our regular chairs...I am having a hard time finding the green Fisher Price one that I have already...I will have to phone around as the one they replaced it with at Walmart is crap looking compared to this one. GRRR

Danika is also on her last can of formula!! WOOHOO! I have been making her bottles this past week with 2/3 formula and 1/3 milk. Sometime this week or next I will make it half and half. This is to get them use to the flavour of milk and so far it is going good. I have tried just giving her milk before when we were out doing errands and she was fussing and she didn't like it straight up...

I think I am going to actually make a scrapbook page...man it has been months since I have touched any of my scrappy stuff. I hope to get my mojo back and get back to it. Wish me luck and a burst of energy...boy has it been a busy month!

Update

is finally here. We went camping last weekend and although we had fun there was too many wasps and it made it really unbearable to be outside. I got stung and Travis got stung in the hand. He is such a tough kid...he yelled owe, but never cried and never came running over to me. He just kept on playing with the kids. We were camping up in a mountain and boy did it get cold at night. Sunday morning we woke up to rain which then turned into heavy wet sleet. Here is Kael playing out in it...

Kael also went on his first dirtbike ride with Dennis...he loved it!

This week I have been a single mom as Den is working up in Crossfield. He leaves early and comes home later...sucks. We haven't ate as a family since Sunday and it is taking its toll. Tonight I think he is going riding, so that is another family time lost. Grrrrr

Thankfully I have helpers to keep the house in order. :)

Anyway I have been busy going through the kids clothes and taking the small stuff to the consignment store. I toook in a full rubbermaid on Tuesday. Travis was low on pants, so I picked up 2 pairs while I was there. I love our consignment store and they know my well. :)

Danika is fully crawling now and is doing a upside down V with her body. She is trying to pull herself up now which is quite funny to watch. She looks so little still which I love. I want to just take it all in as she is our last and they grow up so fast!

Last night I made chicken fajitas for supper. I love that supper. Too bad my avocado's to make the Guac dip were not ready (and I think one was bad)...so I had to just use sour cream...not near as good, but still so good.

SURPRISE

was yelled when Dennis walked into the house on Sat afternoon. His real birthday isn't till Dec, but I wanted to have the party while the weather is still nice out and this way he wouldn't suspect anything. He is turning 40 this year! Old fart! Just under 30 people came in and out throughout the day/night and it went so well. We have such great friends and family and they sure made Den's party a great time!

The next day we gathered with our neighbours/good friends and lawn chairs and relaxed all afternoon with them. Den fell asleep with his party hat on and we couldn't resist the urge and had to take a picture of him! LOL

The weekend before this we went to my dad's 60th birthday party and ripped it up with my family. We had such a great time and it is sure nice to party and get the whole family and all their friends together for a festive time. What a concept to gather all the family together for a happy occasion then just at funerals. We need to have more gatherings, it was sooooo much fun.

At the party I got up and roasted my dad. I was scared out of my mind and was SO nervous, but so glad I did it. My mom got a picture of me up there...

After all the speeches were done we danced the night away. Here is a picture of our 2 oldest kids hugging grandpa while he was cutting his cake. They just love him! He is such a good grandpa.

Tonight I met with my ladies for our monthly stamping club. Again good times...I got real tired near the end though, but it was so good to go and get out of the house with out the kidlets. I can't believe I am still up...Den is snoring on the other couch.

On that note I need to get to bed!! Be safe, Lori

What's New???

Well there are a few things...

I am an avid cook, some times I have have hits and some times I have misses...I am hoping more hits than misses! BUT as some of you know it is hard to come up with meals 3 times a day that:

Satisfy the family

Is wholesome

fun to make and eat

and of course the best is to hear the kids say mmmmm, yummy and eat with out the scowl, complaining and the FIGHT and to know what they are eating is good for them! I made a spaghetti the other night using just tomato sauce and Epicure's Bolognese Seasoning...I was out of veggies so I thought this would be a great time to try this seasoning...well to my shock the kids actually said 'this is really good, can I have this tomorrow, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so good' etc. At first I was like 'okay okay, quit sucking up' but they ate it all up and the next day Jacie ate it again for supper (she is like me and typically doesn't like leftovers). Only then did I truly believe she liked it! HAHA

So I am going to make an extra effort in preparing the best meals I can for my family and have decided to order "A Healthier You, feel better in just 28 days" through Epicure Selections. I have become a consultant through Epicure Selections because I loved their spices and have bought them over and over again for over 5 years. So I finally joined the company. I should get package/order in about 3 business days and then I am going to start journaling the recipes etc and give my honest opinion about this new journey I am doing with the family. This is NOT a diet, it is a better way to eat with great spices, seasonings, with little to no sodium, pure ingredients...which I am into...no diet for me. Here is a link to the brochure for more information...

http://www.epicureselections.com/Products/Categories.aspx?id=5

Also, here is my Facebook Group to keep updated on specials, promotions, etc

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=107156004047

We went camping this past weekend, with friends, and had a great time. We had great weather and camped right along the Sheep River...there truly is nothing better for the kids than camping and being in the outdoors! Jacie caught her first fish all by herself. Dennis typically catches the fish and lets the kids reel it in, but this time she did it all on her own. I grabbed the camera and took pictures! We were so excited for her.

Danika and Kael had their first bath together and thought they were so cute! I can't believe how big our babies are getting. She cut 4 teeth all at the same time and all in all was in good spirits. She is a great addition to the family and a joy to have. Kael is still FULL of energy but has such a great personality. He makes me laugh. He is sure talking up a storm these days and learns new words each day. My fav thing he says right now is 'bike ride' because it sounds so cute. He is now 22 months, Danika is 9 months.

Another thing that is new is that I am going to get us on a budget. To get a better grasp on that I have taped many episodes of Till Debt do us Part...and have a financial planner coming to our house on Wed. night. I hope to have things in place and know what I am doing by Sept 15th.

I'm back...

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted anything. I have only scrapped one layout in that time and then let it sit on my desk (where it still is) and didn't even have the strength to take a picture of it and enter it into the challenge it was for. I think I was just down right depressed and in a serious funk...life threw some curve balls at me and they hit me hard. I stayed down a long time but I am starting to get back up now!

First I had my surgery which went well and I am fully recovered from (Thank God)! I have made my appointment to go in for the results, but I feel no news is good news! Then, I had both my grandpa's pass away within 6 weeks of each other, so we had two trips to my home town of Moose Jaw...and the on going of people in our lives getting divorced...I am not sure how divorce is affecting people in your lives, but for us it has been the year of divorces. It just seems friends and family are throwing in the towel and moving on. Most of them have caught us off guard and I guess I let that affect me too much as well...even people I don't know like Jon and Kate Plus 8! I mean really, why let it affect me?! I just think it is all around sad and makes me question things. I take things so personal and it gets me down. The hardest for me is Den's sister and her husband are also lined up to get a divorce...it sucks as it is hardest to tell the kids. Jacie is understanding it more and more these days as it seems I am always having to tell her 'so and so' aren't together anymore.

Top all this off with Dennis working like a mad man, as usual, which I can't fault him for at all, but makes me feel like a single mom is just too much...if it takes him working this much to maintain this house and our lifestyle then it isn't worth it! So we will need to sit down and have a chat about what we need to do...it sucks as I have made a great friend here and the kids are settled in and it is a great place for the kids, but something needs to change here as I don't want us drifting apart (as I still like him!) :)

These pictures are from our camping holiday we took this year in the Golden area. We hook up with his mom every year camping and we all had a great time.

So this is the day...today is a new day...I am going to dust myself off and start living again...happily-dammit!

My laptop died last week

so I took it in to Laptop Depot and they wanted $300 to replace the hard drive and get it up and running again. So I was like okay, not as bad as I thought, but as I turned my head I saw an Acer computer with 3 GB, 250 GB, 2.16 GHz with a dual core processor on sale from $899 to $699...so in my mind I am thinking...well for an extra $400 I could get a brand new one...so then they said they would fix my old one, back up all the data on discs and get it up and running for only $99, instead of $300 (if I bought the Acer)! So I was like okay because this gives me two laptops for $1000 (time you add on extended warranty and taxes). SOLD! Now the kids can use the 'old' one and with Jacie entering Grade 3, she will need it more and more...I am just so happy to get them off my laptop...even Dennis is showing more interest and we were having to share my other one...I KNOW...Share?...no more of that now! So happy!

I haven't made a scrappy page in so long I think I forget how! I need to get my butt back down there and get into my zone! I miss it!

We are still under a tornado watch and it freaks me out. One of my biggest fears is tornados!

The kids are in VBS this week and the theme is Truth Trek. VBS is a summer Bible camp that runs for one week from 9am-12pm. The kids just love it and it is so good for them! After VBS on Friday we are leaving to go camping till Monday of Tuesday...just the 6 of us! I can't wait. Money Mountain here we come! The pictures below are from when I took the kids camping solo mee-oh (by myself). We had a lot of fun...can't wait till Friday to go back there!

I made stew tonight for supper. I forgot to do it in the crockpot, so it was stove top method and it turned out really good.