I have finally Scrapped :D

I have gotten to attend 2 local crops over the past 2 weekends. Last weekend i attended the Mommy and Me crop at Archivers with the girls. They had a blast, as did I9see layout below) I think combined they got a total of 75 pages done! Last weekend i attended a charity crop for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer society.

This is a a cute card using a Unity Stamp. ((mwah)) love them!


This is a card made with a Stampendous stamps set. I think this one might be the best card i have ever made. Love it, and now, not sure i can get rid of it:D


Girls at Archivers Crop


Cherry Blossoms in bloom, Washington DC april 2010


White House Egg Roll 2010



Thanks for looking ! Sorry this is so brief .... in happier news. countdown for summer vacation has started! 14 days!

Home from Spring Break .... 2010

we had a great time catching up with family in DC. It was nice to get to spend Easter with family. The kids got to enjoy their cousins, have and egg hunt, get a visit from the Easter bunny, and enjoy Easter dinner with Family.

On Friday we made a visit to Mt Vernon. My kids love history , they were really absorbed. The plantation was beautiful. Flowers and Cherry Trees in bloom. Weather was great. New babies in the barnyard. What a great day! If you ever have the chance to visit the area it is a great place to spend a few hours. (the kids want me to add that the Mt Vernon Inn has the best homemade potato chips ever!)




On Monday we went to the White House Egg Roll. It was a fun, celebrity filled, event! The kids will never forget it !



the kids with Shelly the Vera BRadley Egg - had to sneak that one in :D



on the lawn in front of the white house:D

Alyssa getting Dillon Sprouses signature. He is an actor from Suite Life of Zack and Cody


Here is Alyssa showing the NFl stars how it is done :D



The kids are back to school tomorrow. They have to make up a lost school day from a snow storm earlier in the year.

The weather in NC has been wonderful. The air is filled with lots of pollen. I am hoping for a spring shower to help relieve the sinuses :D

He's the man!

This kid is amazing and i am so blessed that he is mine! He has achieved so much, is so dedicated, and hardworking! Love him and so proud of him!

Science Olympiad 3-6-2010 Campbell University. Andrew earned a 2nd place in "shock value".
High 5 when he received his award !

Andrew and Coach Cooper

Breaking the Bridge


Andrew and Jade , his team mate in the build a bridge


3/9/2010 Being honored for his math counts achievements by the Johnston County Board of Education.++++ ok, blogger won't let me upload the photos so i will just brag about him in writing!)
On Tuesday 3/9 Andrew and his Cleveland Middle School Math Counts team were honored at the Johnston County Board of Education meeting. He recieved another trophy !
on 2/27 Andrew and the Clayton Extreme played in the Coastal Carolina Cup Roller Hockey tournament. They finished 4th! Andrew played goalie in all 4 games !
On 2/28 was the County wide Math counts contest. Andrew recieved 2 nd place overall and 2 nd place in the speed round. His team finished 3rd overall. On 3/6 the team advanced to the Regionals in Raleigh. His team finished 17th overall.

SO proud of this kid, and when i can i will post some hockey and math pictures !

Busy , short weekend

a busy , semi crafty kind of weekend. Saturday the girls participated in the Celebrity Dance Competition in Raleigh. Aryn placed 3rd in the Open Solo Intermediate level, Alyssa and Aryn's duet placed 1st in the Open Intermediate Duet Category and 1st in the Intermediate Overall Duet Category. Alyssa is also in a tap trio with some great girls, they placed 3rd in the pre-teen tap trio category. It is so great to see them having fun and showing great sportsmanship! Andrew participated in regional math counts competition in Raleigh. He placed 53 out of almost 300.He really loves math, it comes pretty naturally to him! We are so proud of all of the kids. They have all worked really hard to achieve their goals. We celebrated at Outback Steakhouse after a busy day out. I just want to say "THANK YOU OUTBACK FOR BRINGING BACK THE SYDNEY"S SINFUL SUNDAE". If that isn't a reason to be happy, i am not sure what is!









Sunday we had a delicious breakfast. We had some fun hot chocolate w/ floating shot chocolate shot glasses. You could do this w/ out the whip cream under the shot glass, or even add a shot of Baileys. (for the over 21 crowd).The cup melts in your cocoa as you are drinking it.

We made 45 Valentines Day cards for the girls class exchanges. The "you rock my world" stamp came from the $1.00 stamp spot at Michael's. Gotta love it when an idea like this comes together! It would also be fun to attach and i-tunes gift card.



Made 2 cards using my new Copic Markers. These are birthday cards for some special little ladies in Illinois.

First snow fall of the season !

2010 -is off and running! The girls have started the dance competition season! They had their first competition 2 weekends ago at Campbell University. Alyssa and Aryns Duet got a platnium , Aryns solo got a platnium and Alyssa trio got a platnuim. Off to a rockin' start!



Andrew competed in the county wide math counts competition. He placed 2nd in the lightening round,(and was the last student standing), he placed 2nd overall on the written test, and his team placed 3rd overall. This weekend is the regional competition in Raleigh.




We got 4 inches of snow on Friday Night/Saturday Morning. You never know what to expect in North Carolina when they call for snow. Sometimes they don't call for it and then we get 15 inches, other times they call for 4 inches, they cancel snow and we get nothing. Once thing you can count on.... when the call for snow , or a possible snow fall, you better get out and get some milk, eggs and bread. There is always a huge run on these staples, and you don't want to be left out. :D

Well the 4 inches does not seem like a ton of snow, esp. to our New England and Yankee friends. However this 4 inches pretty much shuts us down. Saturday i was suppose to spend the day with a friend who was in town, the day spa we were headed to was closed. Sunday Church was cancelled! Monday and Tuesday school was cancelled. Today, we began to get back on track! The kids have to go to school this Saturday to make up for some of the snow days!

Of course we could not let this opportunity pass ! Had to play in it! And that they did, the kids were outside all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday! Monday it was almost 50- playing in the snow in 50 degree weather! Gotta love it!

Happy Holidays to all !

Well we have lost the motivation to just get up and get out, it is 2:15 in the afternoon. The kids are still in their pj's. They have enjoyed playing the many Wii games they got for the holidays, Alyssa and Aryn have been reading, Andrew has been playing with his friends. Everyone is finally better... We are just enjoying staying home today.

Last week we went to Lake Myra Christmas lights. This is just a few neighbors who have put up a ton of lights, and synchronized them with a computer to some really great Christmas music. We saw 3 movies! We all saw Alvin and the Chipmunks and Old Dogs. The girls and i saw The Princess and the Frog ( the boys went golfing!) Tomorrow we are heading to the NC Museum of History in Raleigh. We have never been! I think it is time we ventured out!




pictures of Lake Myra


Christmas morning , in their new pj's :D



Alyssa got these cute jammies from Uncle Brian and family, Aryn liked them so much she spent her Target gift card on a pair for herself!


Our tree


We went to see Santa at Triangle Town Center. Boy times have changed! 2 years ago we were given a pager(like you get in a restaraunt)this year signs up in line that read" no personal cameras or cell phones permitted past this point" I have to say i was a bit taken back.So needless to say, i had to buy a package w/ a flash drive just to get the digital rights to the photo!




Hope everyone had a joyful holiday season, and we hope that 2010 is filled with magic for all!

We are back from a trip to Chicago ....

and boy are we tired ! This was the first long social visit of the year and we had a ton of catching up to do !
We were blessed enough to have a Thanksgiving celebration 3 times in 1 week! We are thankful that so many people were able to share their time with us. We also were able to squeeze in a trip to the Aurora Outlet mall and Downtown Chicago to the Christkindlmarket .... as well as a stop to White Castle!

We are now gearing up for Christmas, and so much more.... the girls are marching in a parade on Saturday, having a fund raising Pancake breakfast with Santa for their dance troop and we have tons of Holiday events and parties coming up. We are hoping to squeeze in a weekend at Winterfest..... can you believe Downtown Raleigh has an outdoor skating rink?? I will share photos when we get to go.

Happy Holidays to all our friends and family!







At the german christmas festival at Daly Plaza in chicago


In front of the famed Chicago theater- we are standing in front of the Macys' windows, the day before the parade.

Kevin enjoying his birthday with the cousins ..... and a homemade german chocalate cake , compliments of Martha Stewart's twin sister, Debbie :D

Happy Halloween , turkey day countdown has began!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you collected tons of good candy (make sure you send in the leftovers to school for the treat/ treasure chest) We have 5 bags of candy that were not even opened! We had a total of 30 trick or treaters! I was hoping with it being on the weekend we would have some more.

This year we spent a great afternoon at the Farmers Market picking out our pumpkins. We also enjoyed some goodies from the German bakery :D


Andrew said he was not going to dress up this year. Made my heart heavy. Then at the last minute we picked up this mask, he tied a black blanket around his neck and put on his roller blades. he had fun terrorizing the pre-teens of the neighborhood! (and of course his sisters!)


Alyssa reused her witch costume from a few years ago, she looked lovely w/ some black lipstick and purple eye lashes!


Aryn was a candy corn witch, so cute!


The crew , ready to haunt!

September is always such a busy month

and after i flipped the calendar i realized october is just as crazy! We have visitors arriving next week, the girls perform at the state fair, halloween, and lots of school, dance and hockey things happening! Before we have the time to stop and take a breather , christmas will be here ! YIKES!

Speaking of christmas , yesterday i was at target and they had a little x-mas countdown- 82 more days! Now that is a scary thought!

We just returned from the mountains of North Carolina (Fontana to be exact) We attending the Fontana Clogging Jamboree for the Second year. The girls had a great time. We had some great cabin mates, and i had my first ever "surprise party" A special thanks to Joann and Melissa for arranging it for me!

On the way home we stopped in Hendersonville and picked apples. They have been yummy! I made apple pie squares, a carmel dip, and carmel apples. (and we still have a very large bag of apples!)

Enjoy the cooler weather, i will post again when i am able to take a breather !

It has been almost 7 years since the entire "Josupait Clan' had been together. This weekend the 7 year dry spell came to an end . The kids got to play w/ cousins they have never met, we got to celebrate birthdays, and see family we had not seen in along time.
Grandma and Grandpa with all of the the Grandkids






everybody together again...



silly kids :D


Birthday Princess and Aunt Linda



the boys...





sweet justine w/ her first webkinz from alyssa, aryn and andrew

little man Reed