Made some halloween and thank you cards as well as some tags/tokens.The tags can be used on gifts, attached to halloween treats of as an embellishment on a card or scrapbook page. They are available in the Etsy store as well!

Kids have early release day today and no school tommorrow! We will have to do something fun!

Creative kind of day

Just updated the etsy store w/ some new fall items.

The best birthday gift ever !!!!

What a wonderful hubby i have! Monday after returning from our weekend in the mountains he surprised me by taking the day off of work ! He took me to Crabtree Valley Mall and treated me to an afternoon of shopping and a wonderful lunch at The Cheesecake Factory! Such a wonderful surprise!

Thanks Kevin for a great birthday and a wonderful birthday surprise !

I want to share 2 picture from the mountains... One is of Kevin and the kids at the Dam and the other was at a scenic overlook as we were leaving Fontana. Kevin jumped out and snapped a photo . When it was developed i could not tell which side was up, the reflection of the mountains in the water was amazing !

Happy Birthday to me :D

Thanks too everyone who called and sent birthday wishes. Today was a busy day. I took a sewing class in Apex this morning. We made a cute little felt/ wool acorn. Super cute. We had a busy night... the girls had dance, we had open house at the school, we had a ton of homework, Andrew had hockey, and he had a ice cream fundraiser at Cold Stone(which we ran out of time and didnt get to attend) busy night ( kind of for the better .... helps you forget about the big 39!

I finished a few scrapbook pages and a few pieces for jewelry that i am listing in the Etsy store .





Kevin and the kids showered me with gifts and tons of homemade cards! I recieved Bobby Brown Bath Perfume ( so soft and fresh!) some yummy soap from Lush , a few candles from Bath and Body works, some Chocolate from Lindts, some new pj's and a new shirt ! A wonderful day!

Well we have returned from our fabulous trip to the Fontana Clogging Workshop . The girls had a great time and they are totally exhausted! They danced all day and night Friday and Saturday. I think they learned about 12 routines. (even 1 to Hannah Montana and 1 to a song from Hairspray) We had a great cabin. We toasted smore's . The boys played tennis and went canoeing in Fontana Lake. The last night they had an exhibition. Aryn's dance team performed to Trouble by Travis Tritt and they had a Hollywood themed party. The girls dressed up as the fabulous fabulous sisters :D aren't they just soooo cute !

On the way out of dodge we stopped at the Fontana Dam. Beautiful scenery and great pictures. The leaves are not changing yet but should be soon. The weather was awesome not to hot or too cold! ( about 70's)

Well, i am always sad to see a friend leave. we had such a wonderful time having Tania in our house. And for those of you who know me , know how i love to cram about 3 weeks worth of site seeing into 3 days ! We ran from here to the coast and back again. We had a fabulous time! We went to historic Wilmington NC, did a horse and carriage ride, went to the IVY COTTAGE, the Scrapbook Nook, Kilwins, and we enjoyed a soft shell crab sandwich down by the ocean! (and all of that was in 1 day ! )

We also visited the Raleigh little theater rose garden, Historic Apex NC, the Cupcake Bakery, we saw the Mamma Mia sing along (with Alyssa and Aryn), and we cropped at Archivers. Yes, in typical Monica fashion i ran the poor girl from sun up to sun down and we ate more in 1 week than should be humanly allowed - but dang, it was fun!

Happy Birthday to you , Dear Andrew! Gosh, can't believe this little guy is 12! We went out to eat at the brand new TGI Fridays ( i think that is his new favorite place to go) . They came out and sang him a totally funny song, which was quiet a treat as most places now days don't do that .


We then spent 25 minutes driving around looking for gas, either the line was super long or the gas was $4.79. Well Kevin is not a very patient person, and he refused to wait in line so we gassed up for 4.70 - gosh, that hurts!


After the gas shock, we came home and opened gifts. He got a corn hole game, new inline blades, a tennis ps2 game,a gift card to game stop from Uncle Brian and his family, and this awesome vintage hockey shirt from Uncle Aland his family. He got a majority of his gifts in the summer when we went back to Chicago.

And lastly , at Andrew's request we had a cookie cake to celebrate. I think this is a tad bit too big , anyone want some cookie :D

Tomorrow 9/13 my friend Tania arrives from Ct. can't wait to see her!

Some more about natures beauty. In North Carolina things like that mushroom just don't last long. They either succumb to the awful heat , the almost carnivorous Japanese beetles, or my kids .... on that note. My rose bush is blooming for the 4th time this year. I had to run up and snap up a few photos of it before the beetles attacked it , darn things!




I did get a chance today to scrapbook. This is my adorable and so sweet neice Rachel. Can you tell i am missing her a bunch. You know , she already has the angle... i walked over to her when she was eatting (or should i say wearing ) Uncle Tony's graduation cake. She saw the camera and turned away. I made a plea and she responded "What are you gonna give me?" I asked her what she wanted and she said "CANDY" ok, i will give you some candy. The day after we got back home i stuffed a large envelope full of sugar coated sweetness and mailed it to her. I mean look at her, who could resist!

The last layout was of a photo I took in Cancun. If you have seen the movie Nemo, the fish in the tank nick name him "shark bait" which is where the title comes from. In Cancun there are a ton of photo opprotunities with the locals right at the cruise ship pier. The kids were drawn to this large plaster shark , and giggled the whole time they were inside it!

Natures Beauty

Looks at the gorgeous mushroom. I have never seen anything like it. I think it may have been washed in with Hannah. ( maybe some exotic Haitian mushroom) I know, Monica get a life - but look at how pretty it is :D

Kids say the funniest things ....

OK so today we were in the van on the way home and Aryn said " Mrs. Melon said we get to go to the ABC store to see the Dinosaurs" .... We totally busted up. For those of you not from NC the ABC store is the Alcoholic Beverage Control . The liquor stores here are run by the state.... so what she said was she is going to the liquor store to see the Dinosaurs .... what she meant was " We are going to the RBC center to see the Dinosaurs" ..... i bet the ABC store would not be a school approved field trip...at least for another 16 years or so. and i just have to say , it looks a bit scary, i may need to stop at ABC before heading to RBC



Hanna blew through w/ about 5 inches of rain, some local flooding but not a huge amount, not a lot of wind here, no loss of power or cable ( :) - that's the important one) , no thunder or lightning - kids slept through it ! (can i hear a big amen )



7 more days and counting till my adorable, fabulous, beautiful,talented shall i keep going? friend tania will be in from Connecticut. We have a few wonderful events planned including cropping at Archivers, heading to the coast for a day ( for a soft shell crab sandwich) eating some Carolina BBQ , and a visit to the Raleigh Little Theater Rose Garden.Should be a great visit can't wait to see her again :D

Lots going on... First off , they have changed the current track for Hurricane Hannah. Thankfully it doesn't look like we are going to get much. Some wind and rain but not as bad as they had thought a few days ago. I am prepared though - bought the last 2 packs of C batteries, the last pack of D's and a flashlight at Food Lion. Also bought some bottled water... so just in case we have the essentials.

I am having another scrap sale .I cleaned out the scraproom (see yesterdays post) last week in anticipation of my company next week :D - Here is a link to my Craigs List posting.

The girls are back into the dance season. Dance started Tuesday night. I hav attached some photos of the girls with their clogging teachers Miss Jenny and Miss Brenda. Both are super talented and super sweet- and boy can they clog!

I went to Bath and Body works yesterday. Got a ton of stuff for not a ton of money . That makes me happy. Actually i am happier that the ever so delicious fall scents are out ......mmmmmmm... makes me want to decorate for Halloween/fall .

Lets see what else ---- oh, had the carpet cleaned today - what a sad life i lead that that is a highlight of my weekly posting ! I guess when you are a "domestic engineer: those kind of things are suppose to make you happy!

And lastly - just want to share that we have a new addition in the extended Josupait family. Kevin's brother Brian and his wife Vicki welcomed their 2Nd child. A little dude named Reed . He was born 9-3-08 . I have not seen any photos yet ( hint hint ) but i am sure he is a doll !

Cleaned up ye ole scraproom

Look how pretty ! The girls love it, they can clog on the hardwood floors now :D I almost hate to use it and dirty it up !

Sometimes you just feel like certain things were made for a reason. This little wooden box I bought at an antique store in Illinois , oh about 2 years ago. I was putting my vintage dairy bottles in it. Well the bottle went up on shelf and i couldn't decide what to put in the box. Look at how nice the paint fits in there . I know another one of those dorky it makes me happy moments.

Spoiling them with love

I love being able to be home with the kids. It is really a blessing. I can't even describe how very lucky that i feel to be able to be here for them every night , and to totally smother them with love!

New Items in the Etsy store

A few new items up my Etsy store. The bottom necklace was made for a friend on Scrapper's Daily dose. I hope she likes it.

Kids are adjusting to back to school... we are trying to figure out the bus schedule. CRAZY!

I am making the kids some Santa's suprise cookies.(peanut butter cookies with snickers rolled inside ) yummy! My friend Tania - who will be visiting in a few weeks (insert Peaches and Creams Reunited song here ) was already asking if we were ready for Christmas and that reminded me of those fabulous cookies.

On a sad note. Kevins uncle John passed away yesterday. This is the second of Mike's (Kevins dad) brothers to pass in the past 6 weeks. John has been sick for awhile so we were alittle more prepared for his passing. Not that you can ever be prepared for this . John was the pastor of Kevins childhood church, Kevins mom worked at the church for almost 20 years, and Johns son- also named John delivered Alyssa .(planned c - section not what you all think! ) His obituary has not been posted online but once it is i will link it up. Please keep Kevins dad and mom in your thoughts, as well as the rest of Kevins family, John's wife, kids and grandkids, and friends and family. Thanks

Back to school ....

Well the good news is they backed our school start times back by 20 minutes. So now Andrew gets to sleep in till 6:45 which is later than his bus came last year.... now the bad news... my poor baby girls didn't get off the bus today till 5:25 - yes, and to boot they had homework ! I surely hope the school district looks at these times and gets it straightened out. And yes, today was the first day so maybe it will work out but really, we are talking about 5-10 year olds getting off the bus with 2 1/2 hours till bed time ... and they are spending and hour of that doing homework.

Enough of my griping .... here are my lovelies. Sporting the new back packs, lunchboxes, shoes and school clothes. Don't ya just love the first day of school ! I spent the afternoon baking them a welcome home treat. Today was the first time i have been alone in a very,very , very long time.... wasn't sure what ever to do with myself!