Happy New Year!

Wow, hard to believe that 2008 is coming to an end and we are about to ushered in 2009. The last year of the decade. Kevin and I were talking at dinner last night and we were recalling the scare that the world would stop (everything would shut down ) the day after 12-31-1999. Funny where we are now!

We will not be doing anything festive to celebrate The new year. Andrew is still sick , day 5 ! Alyssa woke up last night with a killer UTI. SO 2 sick kids makes for a cozy , crazy night at home!

Happy new year to everyone and hope 2009 is wonderful to all of you in every way!

and the winner is me !

yeah just got an email from Jennifer Mcguire, i won a drawing for a free set of rubber stamps! so excited and thanks Jennifer. You can check out her blog here she is very insprining and super talented.

Vacation... for some :D

I love having the kids home, but have to say they are exhausting! I feel like i am always answering the door, the phone, making something to eat, seperating fights, or cleaning up after them. I will miss them when they go back to school.(whatever will i do with myself :D)

Andrew is not feeling well, i thought he might have strep. The initial strep test is negative, and he seems to be on the upswing. I think this is the 5th year in a row that we have had some type of illness during the christmas holiday!

Yesterday we went to the last showing of the Nutcracker Ballet. Everyone loved it! (even the boys) We had great seats, we were right behind the orchestra.Alyssa and Aryn had a friend for their dance team who performed. He did a great job, and the girls have already said they want to try out next year. (a bit of shock from mom and dad). They did have some beautiful trees decorated in the lobby. The favorite was the "Sex and the City" hot pink tree. This is a picture of the kids. It was taken when we left the ballet, it has the Raleigh skyline in the backdrop.





We are just about done with Aryns room, we painted the walls, painted the furniture, added some new curtains and hardware to the furniture, bought a new bedspread, and she parted with a little bit of her "junque".(not nearly as much as i had hoped for but a step in the right direction) So we went from a pink floral/beach monkey theme to a purple "boho chic" She loves it , and i do too!


Aryns room before :


the new and improved:

Merry Christmas ....

twas the night before Christmas and all through the house... well it is 9:15 est on 12/24/2008 - Just tucked the kids in and hopefully Santa is on his way... Just want to wish everyone and their families a Joyous holiday season and a prosperous new year!

the new do!

I forgot to share some exciting pictures. Alyssa has been wanting to get her hair cut for awhile now, i had been putting it off. Well as it was getting longer it was getting harder and harder to take care of, was getting really damaged,and caused alot of screaming and crying - so i deciced to give in ... couldnt take the tears any longer. we cut about 5 inches off, it is so much more healthy and softer, not to mention adorable !

Before:







after:

Getting in the christmas mood ....

Saturday we ventured out to add some holiday cheer to our lives. Lately Christmas seems all about deadlines, wrapping, shipping, and spending. I want the kids to fell Christmas in their hearts as well. Saturday night we went to historic oak view farms in raleigh. They had a free Christmas event. It was very crowded, but we still got to see Santa and walk around the farm. If we decide to go again next year we will have to plan on going earlier as they ran out of cider and cookies, and the line was long for the sleigh ride (the horses were getting ready to call it a night). We still had a great time !



























Saturday we ventured out to add some holiday cheer to our lives. Lately Christmas seems all about deadlines, wrapping, shipping, and spending. I want the kids to fell Christmas in their hearts as well. Saturday afternoon we went to the Johnston Memorial Hospitals Festival of Trees. They have over 50 decorated trees. Some trees were decorated like a snowman, a few were Christmas Around the world themed(which were Andrews favorite), and some were so decorated you could not even see the trees. All of the trees were real so it smelled so yummy, and they had performers on stage (singing and dancing) wonderful way to get in the spirit!

Everybody loves field trip day!

Today Aryn and I went on a field trip with her class to Oak View Historic farm in Raleigh. They had each room decorated for a diffrent era in time. The kids learned about Christmas during the diffrent war times and the Victorian Era as well.The farm was beautiful. If you are ever in the area during the holidays i recommend stopping in.

ok, can you handle 1 more post today - forgot to add this to the last week in review post! Andrew has finished ! all 50 baby! what a work of love! He got Hawaii last weekend !

New favorite layout - ever ! love this ! Websters pages is my new favorite !

last weekend in review. Sorry i have not had a chance to upload any photos from last weekend. . We will start off with Friday. Friday morning it snowed. It didnt stick to the ground. The girls got up and got dressed really early and went out and played in it . Aryn didnt like it, i guess she doesnt remember snow. She was upset that her seat got wet when she went downt the slide ... ! Guess it is a good thing it doesnt snow often and doesnt last long!







Saturday was Kevins birthday . Or birday as the sign says... Aryn is so cute! I had forgotten to grab candles so i rummaged thru the drawers and found a hodge podge of candles, it was so bright( a few trick ones on there are well ) Love ya baby, hope you had a good birthday !

a few crafy projects completed and checked off the to do list

first off, i finally finished the halloween penny mat. I started working on it in september. It was very consuming and very took alot of time and energy.It was hard to focus on getting it done because i really just didnt think the end would ever come! Well i finished it! Alyssa told me if i am going to make anymore i should start them in January.

I have been working on calendar for mother in law. And although she doesnt read the blog, i should hold out on posting pictures of what i have done, because as soon as i post them they would make there way to visit teamjosupait's blog.

I have completed a few holiday cards , think i will put them in the etsy store. The kids have been helping with the holiday cards this year. They had a fun time stamping and die cutting! We are not close to being done , but they sure love to get their hands all inked up!

I did get 1 other penny mat done too. These are made from 100 % wool. Some of it is reclaimed, meaning from suits or coats or blankets. This project came together sooo much more faster than the halloween one, in fact i am almost done w/ the second one !

Today i received the Kreativ Blogger award from my friend PAT. Thanks Pat for the award, i was begining to believe no one read the blog anymore. Here are the rules for the Kreative Blogger Award: The rules of the Kreativ Blogger award:
1-The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2-Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3-Nominate 5 blogs.
4-Provide links to their blogs.
5-Leave a message for your nominees.

I nominate : Alecia, Wendi, tania , lynn and dana all super talented super sweet scrappers !

In the news... the girls dance troop has been featured a few times in the local paper.

this is a link to the trip to the Pope Air Force base tour article in the Cleveland Post . The online article features a photo.

this is a link to the article about their performance at the State Fair for the folk festival also in the Cleveland post.

I have began to slack on the blog again! Funny thing is there is not alot going on that is blog worthy, but at the same time we have been so busy! This week the kids got their report cards. They have all worked so hard and their hard work has paid off! We went out for a celebration dinner Friday night to Tir Na Nog. They had a live band in the pub and the kids enjoyed the " new " cuisine! ( andrew is a huge fan of potato soup so you know he was in heaven!)
Thursday Aryn got her spacers cemented in. We never would have thought our youngest, my baby would be the first to get orthordonticts. She had a hard time the first 2 days but seems to be getting better. She is also having a hard time saying good-bye to her beloved tootsie rolls, bubble gum and popcorn!

Andrew is working on a quilt for his math class. All the students in his class are following the same pattern , just personizing it with fabrics that describe you. Andrew chose a hockey pattern and a map (old world) pattern. He had a hard time putting down the money fabric and the soduko fabric.

Lastly just wanted to share some flowers w/ everyone. The dance studio sold cards list year for a free bouquet every month for 20.00 . I bought 4. Usually i get 1 or 2 at a time. This month i got all 4 at 1 time. Such a pretty arrangement ! Very bright and cheerful! Thats it for now !

Weekend update

Saturday Kevin and the kids went with Step Ahead Dance studio to Pope Air Force Base. They really enjoyed the trip. The dance troop has adopted the 43d Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron . If you click on the link above you can see some of the photos that the studio has posted from the visit. It was a great way to spend veteran's day weekend, and made the kids reflect on what they military does for our great country.



Sunday was Andrews first "travel team" scrimmage. We went to Apex to an amazing facility called Dream Sports center. Andrew's team has not played competitively before and the team they played has been playing together for awhile , needless to say , they got smoked. Andrew was the goalie- poor kid, worked so hard. He really has his head and his heart in the game !

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While the kids and Kevin went to Pope i got to do a little scrapbooking. I have incorporated my new found sewing addiction onto a few of my pages. I will share 1 w/ you today , the other has to wait( i am missing some alphabet stickers )

Today the gang is home from school. I was looking forward to a day to sleep in. Everyone was up by 6:50 am - i guess a 10 minute sleep in is better than nothing. We are heading to see Madagascar shortly.

First Communion Sunday

Today Aryn made her first Communion. She looked so pretty all dressed up and she did a great job. She led the entire congregational line for communion today ! Congratulations Baby Girl, Mom and Dad are so proud of you.

Happy Halloween !

So glad that Halloween fell on a Friday this year. So hard to let the kids enjoy it when they have to get up early the next day for school ! All 3 kids dressed up ( wasnt sure Andrew would actually do it when it came time for the actual costume!) Andrew actually went out trick or treating with some neighborhood friends ( ditched us at the last minute ! )

Didn't get as many trick or treaters as we thought and unfortunately have a ton of candy left over :(