A Few LO’s and a Challenge

I haven’t blogged for a few days….I know.  There’s really not a whole lot going on around here.  We finished up school last week and have not begun our summer schooling sessions.  The older kids will be doing math all summer.  Courtney needs to reinforce her math skills.  Tyler is still behind from when we were math curricula “hopping”.  Garret isn’t behind but I want him to finish Pre-Algebra before fall.  So doing math all summer is the answer.  Tyler grumbled all the way to the table for his test this morning….sigh. 
LO #1
Monster Man~

I used Crate paper’s orbit line, some thickers, and a piece of KI Memories die cut paper…oh yeah AND an old vellum quote.  Seth has always loved books.  He still sits around with books, flipping through the pages, pretending to read them.
Sidenote…I always thought/hoped this meant he’d be willing to learn to read.  Much to my surprise he didn’t want to learn to read because he thinks daddy will stop reading to him.  We can’t seem to make him believe that daddy will read to him every night at bedtime until he’s ready for daddy to stop.  :(  He has finally decided that learning to read isn’t as big of a problem, but of course he has that ole issue of Phonemic Awareness that we are working through.  I know, from previous homeschooling experience with Tyler that one day he’ll just take off reading.  It’s still frustrating for him to not understand what blending is all about….it just hasn’t clicked in his head.  Also, I read somewhere that some children don’t learn to read until they have lost their two TOP front teeth.  We’ll see….
LO #2
Defining Kewl

This one I will actually rework.  I don’t like how the Stickles look on my border.  So I’ll fix it and try again…More Crate Paper Orbit papers. 
LO #3
Giggly Baby
I’ve been having a hard time with two page LO’s.  I don’t know if I am just out of practice or have run out of ideas or WHAT…but I haven’t been happy with most of my two pagers.  They are BORING.

I like how this one turned out.  I used Basic Grey papers and some thickers and Primas.  I had a good time playing with my stash…that’s what counts RIGHT?

the polka dotted letters…I made these myself out of foam, Technique tuesday stamps, and Staz-On ink.

close up of the acrylic frame I used and the doodlng on my Primas.

More doddling on Primas plus a close up of the shaped paper behind my large photo.  This is a die cut from Silhouette.  I still love and use that thing often!

I used the stickers from the Basic Grey collection kit for centers on some of my flowers as well as brads from the same line on others (those you can see in the picture just above this one).
CHALLENGE
As you know, I have a message board called OSU that I run with friends.  Our team is volunteering to host monthly challenges on the board.  It’s June 1 and new challenges have been posted.  This is the one that I posted.
Color Challenge
Use these colors on a LO.  You may add other colors but all three of these colors MUST be on your LO!

Here’s my example LO

I used Jenni Bowlin, Cherry Arte, and LIttle Yellow Bicycle papers for this LO.  I am happy with the way it turned out.  since it’s a shaped background, I used cheap whte paper to put behind it in the album.  (no it’s not glued onto the paper)


And what would a blog post be without a cute picture of one of the kids:

No clue what she’s doing….LOL

Anniversary!

We celebrated 17 years of marriage yesterday! We had a nice date night . First off, we went to a Mexican restaurant near Vogelweh and had dinner. That was the BESTEST Mexican food we’ve had in a long time! YUMMERS!
After dinner, we went to the German Kino (cinema) and watched Vin Diesel’s new Fast and Furious! That was a great movie…if you are into fast cars and Vin Diesel. Dh likes Vin Diesel movies AND fast cars. I also enjoyed the movie.
OK…so we are boring people. LOL. You’ve seen what he got me for my anniversary gift in a previous blog post but he also handed me another little box yesterday. It was a Black Hills Gold icthus. Very pretty! Matches the rest of the jewelry he’s purchased for me over time, including the Mother’s Ring on my right finger!

I am such a blessed wife. I love this man…now if only he’d SMILE. Oh WAIT…I said that about a certain child of ours too, now didn’t I? LOL

Oh I missed this man!

I have already mentioned that he’s home.  I am so glad to see him.  ALTHOUGH I will say I did NOT miss his coat hanging on the living room furniture OR his shoes scattered across the living room floor….now I know for sure where the kids get it.  LOL!  We saw LOTS of this yesterday.  He didn’t sleep much on the trip home so was very tired yesterday.

This was eye candy for me yesterday.  Next week it might annoy me he’s sleeping when the kids are running rampant through the house like crazy people but for today…I am thankful he’s home and next week I’ll be thankful that I can complain about his quirks…ROTF.  (and if you know me, you know I don’t really complain. :P)
And if you’ve ever met my husband, you also know he doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body.  Nope, not one.  He’s not mushy, gushy.  He’s not overly physically affectionate either.  I have always known this and I married him knowing full well that he is who he is.  I love him.  Period.  Yeah, the woman in me misses an occasional mushy comment or hand holding by the light of the moon across a sandy beach…ROTF, but I love him and I know he loves me.  Occasionally, he will step completely out of character and surprise me.  He did this while he was gone. 
I am the keeper of the fundage…so it’s hard for him to surprise me with expensive gifts.  So he warned me that he was taking a rather large sum of money out of the bank and that when I saw where it was going to be spent I’d know what he was up to.  That comment alone made me know where he was shopping….ROTF.  And it raised my hopes of what he was shopping FOR.  He went to Eircil’s Jewelry . All of my “real” jewelry has come from this store…with the exception of my wedding set that we bought from Fingerhut back when we were poor (ok MORE poor-LOL).  It wasn’t an expensive set or even a nice set.  But I  am not a material girl much to the chagrin of Madonna I am sure…and I valued the original set that Pat placed on my finger.  Right after we PCS’d to Germany, I was carrying a laundry basket of clothing through the doorway and smacked my hand on the doorway…losing the tiny diamond that was in my ring.  I cried and NO I did NOT find it.  Pat talked about replacing it and I told him that the ring itself wasn’t worth putting a nice diamond…unless sentimental value counted (it does to me).  I mentioned at the time I’d love to replace the set sometimes.  Our anniversary is April 4th.  We’ll be married 17 years this year. 
In the end the stinker made two withdrawals to equal a large sum of money out of the ATM machine.  He wanted to make me doubt my knowledge.  He wouldn’t discuss it either.  Told me that he had to keep it put away for an additional two weeks after he got home.  GRRR.  I don’t like to wait. I am not known for patience.  Just ask him about my level of patience.  LOL.
So last night, I was lying on the couch and he cuddled up with me and I told him I had found my engagement  ring that had disappeared (it was underneath my desktop computer which was underneath my monitor which of course is right where *I* put it and he didn’t see when he moved the desktop for me).  He jumps up, grabs his carry-on and places a beautiful gold and burgundy box in front of me.  I grinned….and the tears started flowing.  BECAUSE this dude asked me to marry him the same way…by placing a box on the table in front of me (talk about self-assurance…he was pretty sure of what the answer was back then LOL).  He had tears in his eyes and I knew…he was asking again…or at least telling me he’d still marry me.  Thick and thin…I wouldn’t change our marriage.  Even the bad has ended in good.  This man loves me.  He puts up with my mood swings.  He gave me 5 gorgeous children.  I love him.  He is my best friend. 

I made him pose for a picture.  LOL…he hates his picture taken almost as much as I do. 

15 Years and counting

April 4, 1992= I got married that day. It seems like yesterday-REALLY! We've been tough times and we've been good times and we've been through GREAT times. And it's been worth it all. I'd marry him again in a heartbeat. It's so funny because we are such opposites, but we work well together. What I am missing, he makes up for and vice versa!!

We didn't do a whole lot of anything yesterday because Wednesday is AWANA day at church. The older four kids attend. So after dropping them off, Pat, Emily and I went to Chopsticks for dinner. Ahem...do NOT ever give a 2 year old Mountain Dew in a restaurant (insert bugged eyed smiley HERE). Afterwards, we went in to Wal-Mart where I bought some cute sandals. Then off to pick up kids from AWANA. We dropped by the PX as well but we didn't all get out. We had been there earlier (just Pat, Em, and I-hey I came home with a CUTE outfit). I bought Pat a new watch. We got it home and it didn't work-so he went back to make them put in a new battery. LOL!!

Tomorrow night we will go on our REAL date. I think we are trying a new to us restaurant in Dixon. Can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but it's a steak house and a New York Strip sounds GREAT to me. :D

Most of you know that I have been working my bum (literally) trying to lose this baby weight. So the actual pounds aren't shedding but I think I look much better than I did a year ago. I have lost about 7lbs and several inches (I didn't bother to measure). I feel better-my clothes fit better and I am really getting more toned.