Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's going to be 2008 in 1 hour! This year seems to have flown by. I changed my animated "me" to show how I would celebrate if I were going out! Looks like fun, but really I've been in my pj's since 7:30 watching movies with Zachary & Ryan and undecorating. We have big plans as a family for 2008. Lots of dreams we hope to fulfill. I'm thankful that my family has been healthy all year and only small bumps in the road. I'm thankful for the wonderful friends that I have and the new ones that I've made. My life has become richer because of them and can't wait to spend more time with them and my family in 2008! Have a great New Year's Day, we're spending it with my mother in law in the morning and maybe taking a movie in in the afternoon! Happy New Year!

A Very Merry Un-Christmas

Do you know that song from Alice in Wonderland? A Very Merry Un-Birthday to me? Just change it to an Merry Un-Christmas. I never thought that I could feel that Christmas morning could be ruined or go wrong. Until this year. Austin did something that took the wind out of my sails and had me sobbing. "Santa" brings his gifts unwrapped and clearly sets each kid's gifts in their own pile with their stocking in front of their gifts. Clear as day. While we were still sleeping~we as in Zachary too~Austin decided to rip open all of Zachary's gifts and dump out his stocking. He shredded the boxes to his stuff and most of Zachary's. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this. I started yelling, "What did you do? What did you DO!" And his response was, "I was bored." Ryan came running out and also started yelling the same thing. I quickly told Ryan to run and keep Zachary in his room until I can "fix" this. I had to tape boxes shut and find all of Zachary's stocking stuffers. I had to even switch toys that were the same, but gave Zach the unopened box. I don't think I've ever cried so hard. My heart ached. I really can tolerate a lot Austin does, but this just was unforgiveable. I talked a lot to him that day about what he did. But there was no empathy. I know he has problems and lots of them, but I've never witnessed so much selfishness that morning. We didn't open gifts until later that night. I just couldn't celebrate. So it was kind of a crappy Christmas, hence my not posting. I needed the sting to go away.

I hope all my friends had a nice holiday. I'm excited to still have Ryan home a few more days. Tomorrow we're taking Austin to my Grandma's for 4 days........BIG SIGH.........I need the break. I'm getting to scrap on Wednesday and Friday, maybe I'll make a big dent in my pictures. I can't wait for a little destressing time!

Here is a picture from the 23rd where we celebrated at my mom & dad's house. I love this picture. The second one is of my brother and his girlfriend Evan. She's SO pretty! My brother is wearing my Grandpa's red holiday jacket. My Grandpa died 5 years ago on Dec. 21st. It was his favorite holiday and he always wore this jacket.

We're going to watch a movie now, I now pronounce you Chuck & Larry. Hope it's funny!

I am pooped!

I went out shopping today at 8am! Aaack! I had to. Those little things that just seem like you aren't done yet are lingering, but now no more. I hit the mall. Front parking space. Very nice. I was there for a few hours and then left and went to Wal Mart and Linens and Things. I found these for Zachary. Do you know how hard it is to find toddler friendly Star Wars stuff? I also go Hans Solo and Chewbaca. Their about 6 inches high and they're calling them the "trendy" version of Star Wars. He's going to love them! I think they're new? I've never seen them before. So I'm done. Finished. Phew! Ryan is out shopping and I'm going to go get a pedicure and then come home and wrap. I want to share what I got Austin too. He's going to be thrilled! He asked for a video camera. And we looked at the kid ones. So not worth the money. Just crappy altogether. Then Amazon reccommended The Flip. I remember seeing this on Oprah's favorite things. It is really cool and cannot wait to open it! You do not need a video tape and it just plugs in to your tv or computer and transfers. So easy to use. And the best part is that it (60minute rec time) was on sale for the price of the 30 min one! Hopefully he'll let me use it and then I can post some videos here!

I work tomorrow for a short while and then we have a dinner at my parents house. Monday is Ryan's Birthday. We're going to an early lunch and then having dinner again at my parents. I can't wait to give him his birthday present. He keeps dropping hints he wants a watch and I keep telling him it's SO out of the budget......hee hee.....but I bought one for him!

Everyone have a great holiday and be safe! I hope to see some of my scrappy friends after the holidays.

Pictures as promised

I seriously feel like time is running short and to sit here and upload pictures seems like it takes forever! But here are some as promised. I'm really sad about Zachary's program ones. They are so dark and fuzzy. They asked you not to sit in the aisle, so I just snapped from my seat. I hope we can get some off the video camera to make pictures from. He was such a hoot!

I have one shot from my birthday, one of the boys at Snow Day, Ryan & I at his holiday party, Zach's holiday program and Zachary helping make cookies. Today I've stayed home all day baking. I've made a lot of stuff. I need to go put some chocolate on top of the scotcharoos that I made so I better run. Maybe I can write more later when I'm not feeling frazzeled!

It's getting closer!

I cannot believe Christmas is in one week! I was on the ball and then it seems like I've just run out of time! So much to do and so little time. I feel like I've been on the go since Friday. Running around shopping for Birthday & Christmas presents. Made presents Friday night and got home late. Saturday: Snow day and more shopping and KIA's Holiday party. Sunday I worked all day and did more shopping. Today I was able to workout and knock out a big chunk of shopping this afternoon. My MIL picked Zach up from school so I could have some time alone and then I went to Austin's IEP. After that my mom calls and asks if we could come over for dinner. I guess? We weren't able to get together for my birthday so I had to put Santa's visit on hold til tomorrow. Zach has one day of school left and then his holiday program. Austin has 3 days and then they are off! This next week is going to fly by! I haven't baked any goodies or made out Christmas cards. Where did all my free time go? I promise to upload photos tomorrow, I have lots to share. Good night.

Happy Birthday to me!

I'm 36 today. Nothing exciting going on today. Just the normal stuff. Working out, cleaning, making gifts. Tonight we're going to the Cheescake Factory with the kids. I haven't been in a long time. I'm looking forward to going. I ate a bowl of cereal for lunch so I can have yummy dinner and piece of cheesecake. I'm thinking of running up to the mall and buying myself a small present. I really want this; I think white would be nice since I have some many colorful sweaters. OH! I just remembered I have city cash for here!!! And that starts tomorrow! Yeah, now I really can get it. (its NY&Co)

I better run now, I need to get Zachary.

13 days left until Christmas!

Family Fun Day!

That was what our Saturday was designated, Family Fun Day! We went and saw "Enchanted" first. What a cute movie. Ryan laughed a lot, so I was happy he didn't think it was lame. He prefers to not go to the kid movies. Then a quick stop at Oasis-saw Erika & Steph! That was a nice surprise. I grabbed some holiday ribbon for some projects I'm working on. Then over to South Coast Plaza for a bite to eat. I had coupons for a kids meal for $1.99 at Rainforest Cafe. Not my first choice to eat. Or even my second, but the kids like it. Since we ate an early dinner (4:30) we got right in. Then off to the carousel. It's so stinkin cute! Instead of horses its reindeer and sleighs. Then next to that is Santa's Workshop. There are wooden decorations the kids can pick from and decorate. Zach got a reindeer and Austin chose a nutcracker. It was super busy, but they were really enjoying themselves. I had a Reality TV show sighting. Tamara from the Real OC Housewives was with her BF and his & her kids at the workshop. They weren't taping and amazingly no one bothered her or even seemed to notice her. In fact, neither did I. Ryan is the one who pointed her out. I do have lots of cute pics, but I don't know how to transfer from my phone to the computer yet. A task I need to figure out today.

I have a small vent~and most of my loyal readers and friends already know this. I HATE Adelphia. Guess what? Our cable box went out again. This is the 7th one in 2 months! We are officially shopping around for satellite tv now. It really doesn't matter how much money they credit us, their product is crap and their techs are dumb. We've had 3 modems, 4 splitters, 6 techs out,7 cable boxes and about 40 phone calls to them in a matter of 2 months. I think maybe it's time to call the better business bureau.

Tomorrow is my birthday!
There are 14 days left til Christmas!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Really it is. I love December. Both Ryan & I are December babies, so we both seem to be in especially good moods all month. I wish other months had such pretty decorating going on. I managed to get my sisters gift off in the mail today~her birthday is Sunday. I bought some other birthday cards for some special people who have December birthdays as well. I love cards. I could buy four or five for each person. I tend to usually give two because the cards (and humor) is just always the perfect thing to say!

Christmas shopped today. I'm about 50% done. Austin is my challenge this year. Everything he wants is SO expensive, but I think I've narrowed it down.
Tomorrow is a "stay home"day. With the anticipation of the rain, I'm going to workout and then come home to decorate.
Ryan has a meeting at work tonight about a MBA program at his work through Concordia University. I hope it's "a go" because he really wants to get his MBA. That would be such a great accomplishment for him.
Well I need to finish up some laundry and start homework. Have a great day!

Monday

Finally feeling better, though now Ryan has caught that nasty cold I had. An uneventful weekend for us. Soccer is finally done. Celebrated my little brother's 18th birthday and I worked all day Sunday. I'm doing some holiday make & takes at the Red Bee on Sundays. Come by if you can, they are a lot of fun and easy for kids to do. Though the one I'm doing this Sunday is an origami gift box. Eeek. I need to practice this week.
22 days til Christmas
9 days until my birthday.
Have a great day!

Still feeling lousy

Man-I never get sick and this is really taking its toll. I'm SO tired. And the coughing-yuck. No school tomorrow, so I can sleep in. I swear our school district sure has had a lot of days off this month. My plan was to go to Disneyland during the day and my brother's football game tomorrow night. But I think its a "stay home day". Oh yeah....it's my little brother's 18th birthday today! 18, I vaguely remember 18 :)

Here are a few pics from the Holiday weekend.

My sister and Grandma.

The Boyd cousins.
The Boyd "Boys". Not all of them were there. From left to right, my cousin Andrew Michael, my uncle Mike, my brothers Aaron and Colin, my Dad and my brother Garrett. My uncle Jeff was missing and my cousin Andrew David. Yes we have two Andrews!

Garrett's football game-the day after Thanksgiving. I missed it because I was working. They won and have another playoff game tomorrow.

I wanted to let my friends know that I do have my new cell phone! Finally I'm live again and can receive text messages. THis is the phone I got! Lov'in it but still need to figure out everything.

Also, I'm going to be selling two scrapbook things on Ebay, but if you're interested let me know. I'm selling my Best of Becky Higgins Sketches book and a set of NEW Technique Tuesday Stamps-Big Timber Line Lowercase Letters Extra Large. I'm trying to purge and what better time! Have a great day.

I'm back online!

Our internet had been down for a week. Talk about driving me crazy! Time Warner has been horrible for us and we're changing providers. We've had constant problems for the last 4-6 weeks with our cable & internet and we are just done with them! Any ways......my sister was here for a week. She left last night. It was really nice spending time with her. Today I'm sick and really sick. In fact, Ryan stayed home to help out. Last night he was joking if I was going to call in sick today. Funny. He said he didn't have any meetings and could stay home. I think he really wanted a day off. I started having that icky post nasal drip the other day and then my throat started hurting-bad like strept. Then last night the cough started and I sound very horse. I'm achy and tired. I never get sick, but I'll take advantage of it. It's so hard for me to just sit and relax. This is the first I've been online all day. I took a nap while the kids were at school. I'll post more later when I'm feeling up to it. I have some pics to share. I just wanted to check in and say HI!

Nip/Tuck

Did you see last nights episode? Finally they are back to their wacky story lines. I was not enjoying this season very much, but then Dr. Christian Troy won me back. He is just so hot and bad! And I love to hate Rosie O'Donnell's character, Dawn Budge. Man it was a good episode last night.

I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and enjoys the weekend. My sister flies in tonight. I won't see her until tomorrow. Should be a good time! Happy Thanksgiving!

Maui in July

It's official. We are going. I cannot wait! July3-16 we will be in Maui. I didn't know if we could pull it off because the airline tickets for the four us are going to be $2000. That's a lot! A lot more so because we really only have one income. But after talking with my parents, they said they would "gift" us two airline tickets. Basically it's our Christmas & Birthday presents. And that's fine with me because I want to go SO bad. We've been talking about it for weeks trying to see if we could do it because it's going to cost a lot. After Christmas I have to seriously save every extra penny. No extravagant shopping trips to scrapbook stores. Gotta cut back on eating out and I need to start using coupons more diligently. We want to go SO bad that we are willing to make the sacrifice for the next 6 months. But I guess it doesn't end there.........because I'm going to NY in the fall. This is probably going to be the toughest saving year ever. But it'll be worth it. :)

NYC October 2008!

I just got the BEST news. My Grandma is using all her frequent flyer miles to buy everyones airline tickets to go to NY next year! Woo-hoo!!!! So we have to figure out some dates over Thanksgiving. I could just bounce off the walls! I'm so gonna send in for tickets to Kelly & Regis and the View. I heard it takes up to a year to get in......so I guess now is the time! Yeah Grandma!!! I know I posted this before, but I need something NY to share!

269 Pictures

That is what I ordered today. What kind of scrapbooker am I that I haven't been printing my pictures? I ordered from Feb thru early August and I still have at least a hundred or so to send off to be printed. Oy Vey! I'm sooooo far behind.

I wanted to share just a little exciting news.....ok maybe it isn't exciting, but my sister sure was. She started her new job Monday at Espirit's Flag ship store in NYC. (it doesn't open until next Wednesday) She was so giddy today when she called me. She said that when you see the Christmas tree in Rockafellar Center the back of her store faces it. She said she can't wait until it's lit. I so wish I could go during Christmas time to see the city decorated. She'll be here next Wednesday night. FIVE whole days she'll be here. :) She said she's lost more weight since her boyfriend broke up with her last week. Poor thing. She's so broken up. But I told her to look on the bright side~now you're a whole size smaller!

Speaking of weight, I've seriously been struggling with mine. It's been a crazy battle the last few months with Austin's school and getting the help he deserves. We're *finally* on the right track this school year. It's been an up hill battle since day one of 4th grade. If you have a child with a learning disability or a special need you truly have to fight what is rightfully deserved for your child. No one else will do it. So with all this stress I've been eating too much, then not at all. Sometimes exercising 5 days in a row and then not for weeks. I swore when I went to Jenny Craig and got to my goal weight (not that I quite reached it) that I would never be heavy again. I pretty much have had smooth sailing until a few months ago. I just can't get it in gear. I cut back my work schedule to not work during the mornings while Zachary is at school to utilize that time to get back to the gym. So today was day one. (again) I'm going again tomorrow morning and then Saturday. And I'm going to join a Boot Camp program that starts in January. Once I start going regularly......I become better motivated. So I just need to keep telling myself that. But why couldn't I just be blessed to be thin and tall?

Finally!

I got the layouts up that I wanted to share. Blogger can be aggrevating.

I need to order pictures, I think it's been 6 months since i've printed pictures! Not that I need them. Scrapping this Friday night-I cannot wait! Going to the Nutcracker Boutique in the morning on Friday. It's a good one, check it out if you're in Brea. :)

I am SO happy the kids don't have school today. It's nice to have a lazy here and there. Austin doesn't have school later this week (Th &F) and we're going to go to Disneyland one of the days. I so hope they have some holiday stuff out. I know they said the 16th kicks off Christmas, but maybe they'll have stuff out on the 15th? Today we're gonna see the BEE movie. And then I'm gonna work on a project~Thanksgiving cards. I so hope I can get them done fast. I want to send the kids school pictures in them.

I went scrapbooking yesterday at work. I brought my ipod and just tuned everything out and got busy. I finished a layout that I am absolutely love. I'm doing about 4 version of them because I have so many pictures. My idea was to use black & cream. Candice Carpenter did a class way back in June at the Bee with the same concept. I downloaded her ideas and used them for inspiration. So here's the first one;
I'm almost done with #2. Using the black & cream stuff is much easier than I thought. I also did these bowling layouts. My Ali Edwards book, Designers Eye is one of my favorite books for inspiration and that's where I got this idea from.
Blogger is being a pain and I can't upload any pictures. I'll insert them later.

While I was working away listening to some tunes, I realized I've been kind of living in a cave. I don't really know any new artists. I know more of the "pop" ones, but the alternative music I'm at a loss. Ryan downloaded a couple songs for me. I saw these artists on SNL-Fiest and Spoon. I love their sound and would love to have a whole collection of alternative/indie sounding music. Does anybody have any reccomendations?

Well I have to run, I'll check back later to insert pics. Hopefully blogger will be behaving.

Gloomy Thursday

Is everyone enjoying this cold gloomy day? I just love this! Sweater on, candle burning, snuggling up to watch tv. Hope it lasts for a while. I wanted to share two finds. One is the 100 Calorie packs that Little Debbie has come out with. I bought these Snow Puffs a couple of weeks ago at Wal Mart and instantly fell in love with them! I have always loved Hostess Snowballs~it's my guilty pleasure. So when I ate one of these, I realized I have a new love. If you enjoy marshmellow and coconut and I mean really love it, you'll die for these!

I found another cute thing at Wal Mart. I don't usually ever buy anything scrapbook related from there, but I always look because you never know. Well today I found this cute kit and for a great price. We are renting a cabin with my parents in February (hopefully there will be snow) and I thought this would be cute for some snowy day layouts!

I can't believe I haven't posted this picture; Zachary hanging a spoon off his nose! I just about died when he did it. No one was talking about it or even doing it, he just took a spoon and did it! Illyse, you should be proud. I guess Sammi and Zachary are meant to be together!

We have this opportunity to go to Maui in July for 2 weeks for an incredible price. A friend of my dad's has a time share and lets him borrow it every other year. Well her sister has one too and is willing to let us borrow hers. We'll be there the same time and in the same complex. How perfect, right? That was until I started looking at airfare prices. Ugh. Let's just say that airfare will be 4 times the amount of the cost of the condo. I'm so sad. It's not like the prices will go down the closer it gets. If anybody knows of somewhere to shop for discount rates or knows any tips, please let me know. I would be so grateful.

Have a great Thursday!

Creative Cafe

Is at the Red Bee. It is so neatly displayed that you just want to touch everything. Click on here to see a pic http://theredbeeblog.blogspot.com/

We've been a busy family. Went to my brother's football game Friday night, they lost. Austin had a soccer game Saturday and they lost. I took the kids to Disneyland Sunday for a few hours. I was hoping some holiday decorations would be up, but I guess they aren't in full swing until Nov 16th. We'll be going on the 15th, Austin doesn't have school so that will be perfect. I'd go Friday, but I'm finally (after months) going to scrap with some friends that Friday night.

My sister is coming home for Thanksgiving this year. Normally she flies out for Christmas, but with a new boyfriend (that's pretty serious) she wants to spend time with him over Christmas. I'm really excited for her to come home. Normally Christmas time is such a whirlwind that we don't get to spend very much time together. Thanksgiving seems to be a little more relaxed. She flies in Wednesday night and leaves Monday night. I can't wait to go and visit her next year. I really want to go to NYC for Christmas time to see it decorated. That is one of my dreams at some point in my lifetime.

Have a great Tuesday!

Happy Halloween!

A quick post....

This is what "Midnight in Moscow" looks like!

I got my nails done this morning and I knew this was dark......but man is it ever! Lovin it.

A "Mexico" man. Zachary doesn't know what daddy is exactly so he just calls him Mexico. And a quick shot from this morning's parade at school. Love seeing all the kiddos dressed up! Have a safe a fun night! Ok, I apologize for the sideways pic, I don't have time to flip it.