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.

I should be...

making supper but ehhh...I am too tired. I will get to it later. I am listening the the thudding of the TV in the basement as I sit on the main level typing...Kael is bugging them so he is crying off and on down there. I really should go get him, but again I am too tired. I had a busy day of errands and the daily stuff, so here I sit wishing I was having a bath listening to Spa music and just letting my mind drift. Ohhh wouldn't that be nice!
The kids soccer is now over, which Jacie is sad and Travis is happy. Near the end he didn't want to go at all. I thought about how to keep him motivated to go and came up with 'you joined a team and when a team player, like you, doesn't show up it hurts the team. You don't want to do that right?!' I have no idea if he got it, but at least he went. Dennis said soccer wasn't his thing...he said Travis would run along and then get unfocused and look around and say oh, daddy what a beautiful butterfly/bird/airplane. LOL Next year we will put him in tee-ball.


My surgery went well. It took about a week for everything to get back to normal and to get off Tylenol 3's...LOVE THOSE! The only bad thing is the Codeine making a person constipated...yes folks, constipated! Be prepared to shit a brick if you take it for that long! Totally worth it though...I sometimes want to take one just for the heck of it...they made me kinda out of it and put me in a constant state of happiness! While daydreaming about taking some, I would glance ahead and see myself on Oprah as one of those moms addicted to prescription drugs and there I would be in the big yellow chair saying ' it started with Tylenol 3's, and once those didn't do it for me anymore I went to...'

Danika is sleeping and I really should get her up if I want to get her back down at a decent time tonight. The kids are staying up WAY too late these days -even Kael- and it is not like them. I used to have them in bed sleeping by 8:30pm at the latest. These days I am lucky if it 10pm! It isn't like they are running around here...they are upstairs in their rooms by 8:30pm and then let the games begin...I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm not tired, I'm bored, I'm sure I already slept and it is morning out-so can I come down (it doesn't get dark here until 10ish!)! Good Grief! I think this is when I start to daydream about taking T3's! :)

Mom will be here soon...

She flies in today at noon for a week. I have my surgery (to get my left ovary out) on Monday. I am getting nervous about it already, but hopefully everything will go smoothly and I have a speedy recovery.

This week has been a super busy week...Monday I got a much needed hair cut. I just love it. Travis took this picture of me after he got home from soccer. I typically get my hair cut at Beaners out of convenience because the kids can play around while I can get my hair cut stress free...for those of you that don't know Beaners specialize in kids hair cuts...they have the jeeps, etc for the kids to sit on (while they get their hair cut), plus the ball pit to play in so it just makes sense. BUT this time I went to a newly acquired friends place that has her salon in the basement of her home. I had to take 3 kids with me, but whatever, I got a great hair cut. Man it feels good to have a hair style again. Tuesday I stayed home and cleaned the basement up for my mom. Did the whole works. Wednesday and Thursday was more errands for Dennis. Geesh he had me running all over the city this week, but hey at least he is busy! Good news! Friday I stayed home and didn't leave the house! I am super tired from this week.

Some exciting news...I joined up to be an Epicure Consultant! I love their spices and products, so I thought why not! I am not looking to do party's after party's right now, I am just wanting to let friends and family know and if they want to order they can place it through me. Their website is www.epicureselections.com .

I did this layout for the Gettin Sketchy challenge yesterday. I used everything, except for the cardboard piece, from Created with Paper June kit. I love this kit. This is the first time I used that bling and I love it! The tricky part is you have to make sure not to get any of it on your paper while you try to place it...good luck trying to unstick it! I took the picture outside and it is a bit shadowed from the sun rising...but I am tired of the layouts looking blurry and dull.

For family movie night we watched Marley and Me with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. It was really good. Way better then I expected. Even Dennis, who said NO to watching it, stayed up and watched the whole thing. It had some good funny parts. Totally worth the watch!

Tonight it is steak, mushrooms, and veggie pack...yum-o! Ps. Happy Birthday goes out to my friend Loryssa and my nephew Jayden!

Another wonderful weather day

today. Dennis went riding last night so I had Jacie and Travis' friends over for supper. When they were done that I loaded them up with chocolate milk and goodies and sent them downstairs to watch a movie while I stayed upstairs and tended to the little ones. It was a fun night for the kids and myself as well. I was glad to do it (and it was a rare thing to do-as it was a school night) for the kids.

I started and finished a layout yesterday as well. It was a sketch challenge from the blog Pencil Lines. The layout also qualifies for a challenge over at The Creative Type. I ran out of e's so I used 3's and turned them upside down. Everything from this layout was from Created with Paper Pocket Full of Posies kit. I just altered the white letters with Glimmermist to make it match the colours in this layout. I also received my prize from Lara over at Gutter Girlz...my name was picked and let me say look at all that goodness! WOW! Thank you Lara!!

The kids and their friends are playing on the slip n slip right now. They are giggling and having fun. Love that they are outside a lot...it wears them out and best of all they are having so much fun. Tonight they have soccer. On Monday Jacie had to come home early from soccer as she was having trouble breathing. I felt bad for her because she didn't want to miss out. She was pretty upset, crying and saying how she missed the goal cause she had to slow down and then someone kicked the ball away. Break my heart!! I will now pack her inhalers with her, so she can take it if needed and then play again. I grew up with asthma since I was about 5, so I can relate to how much in can hinder a person. The embarrassment of having to take it in front of people and suffering when you forget the inhaler at home...and it never fails that those were the times when you would have an asthma attack. I hope Jacie doesn't get in near as bad as I had it. When I was pregnant with Jacie my asthma improved and with each baby after. It improved so much that I would say I don't have it anymore. :) I hope she will grow out of it!

I didn't take anything out for supper...d'oh! It will be an easy supper anyways as the kids need to eat something quick and get their hine-ees to soccer!