Strawberry Picking

The strawberries are pretty much gone around here...moving into blueberry season - our favorite! Here's a layout I did with the pics from a couple of weeks ago.

Full credits here.

Friday night??

It's Friday night already? How did that happen? Well...I spent the majority of yesterday in the hospital with kidney stones...again. Ugh - no fun at all. I got 4 rounds of pain meds (the last round made me giddy for sure!), blood work done and a CT scan. The doctor confirmed that there is indeed a stone trying to make it's way out - thus the terrible pain. I went home and slept pretty much until 2:00 this afternoon. I called into work because there is no way that I have enough energy to be able to work. So...somehow I missed pretty much a whole day! :)

Hopefully this stone will pass and tomorrow will be a semi-normal day!

Have a great weekend!

Welcome Ellie Grace!

My friend Marci had her baby girl today...

Ellie Grace

June 26 @ 2:30 am

8 pounds, 8 ounces

19 1/2 inches long

Adorable

Congrats, Marci, Jeremy and Carson!

Birthday Fun

An odd Saturday night post from me! I'm usually at work on Saturday nights, but took off today to go to my niece's third birthday party. Beatrice had a princess party -very cute! The kids dressed up (Abigail was Cinderella, I made Henry a Prince Charming shirt), made cute crowns, heard a story read by Cinderella, had a pinata and had ice cream cake. Fun times!

Here We Go Again...

Colin got a call today...

He's getting a new placement for teaching this fall...his sixth in six years...ugh.
He'll be back at the high school teaching social studies again. We don't know specifically which part of social studies or which grade, just that it will indeed be social studies in the high school. This is what he has taught so far:
1st year - elementary art (various grades)
2nd year - first grade art
3rd year - high school civics
4th year - high school geography
5th year - middle school art
6th year - high school social studies of some sort

It's hard to stay positive, but somehow Colin does. We are truly thankful that he has a job - that's the most important thing. He had a great year this year teaching art and really enjoyed working with Paul, the other art teacher. It's going to be tough switching once again.

Mulder Family (and specifically Hanks) Update

Hi everyone! Wow - we sure are keeping busy around here! Colin and I just said tonight that we haven't really even made our "What we want to do this Summer" list and it's almost the end of June already! Ugh! This week Colin has been/is working Monday-Thursday and Saturday lunches at the Grille and I'm working just Thursday and Friday evenings. Monday I watched my niece, Bebe, in the morning for a bit while my sister-in-law ran last minute errands for Bebe's birthday party. Yesterday I took the kids out to Costco and Rivertown for a couple of things. I love going to the mall, but it's always a much bigger, longer, more stressful trip than I anticipate! :) At night we went to my parents' pool and went swimming with our friends, Marci, Jeremy and Carson. My mom and I also walked five miles that night. Today we went to the Farmer's Market (like every Wednesday) and saw about 30 of our friends there. After bagels downtown, Henry got new Crocs here and then we got M & Ms (for Abigail) and a sucker (for Henry) at the Peanut Store. Tonight we had dinner as a family (burgers on the grill, fresh cherries and strawberries...yum!) and then I did some errands. Tomorrow I'll watch Carson for Marci (she's going to the doctor...39 weeks pregnant!) and then I work at night. Friday is work and then Saturday we have Bebe's third birthday party...fun, fun! Busy, busy also!

Henry went to speech again on Monday. He was retested and has definitely improved! He is now testing at around 15 months for his verbal skills...up from 7-10 months just a few weeks ago. We are definitely seeing improvements, but know there's still a road ahead to travel to help him improve. He's signing like crazy too, which is so fun to see...and totally helps with his frustrating levels! Hard to believe that little guy is almost 2!

On a scrapbooking front...I was asked to be a guest on the CT team for Dani Mogstad. I am super excited about that! It won't take place until this winter, but I can't wait! I haven't been scrapping a lot lately...not a lot of motivation, so we'll see if I have a new layout to post soon. I also haven't taken any pictures lately! Hopefully the next post will include some!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Dang...

Where have I been? Now that Colin is home more we have been busy, busy, busy...gotta catch up here!

Last Saturday my mom, Rebecca, the kids and I went strawberry picking in Dorr (anyone know where that is?). The strawberries were gorgeous and the picking was super easy. It was a hot, hot day and we picked around 40 pounds very quickly. Here are a couple of pictures from the day.

Then, Wednesday and Thursday my mom, Rebecca and I went to Chicago. On Wednesday we got there a little early and did a little shopping downtown. We met Joel and Kelly and had dinner at Sidebar Grille where I had an amazing Beef Tenderloin sandwich. We also shared this for dessert.

Then we went to Joel's new office. He works in the second highest building in Chicago, the Aon Center...on the 72nd floor...when it's really windy there have been times where people have had their coffee cups on their desks move because the building has a little give and will move ever so slightly...barf...I was even a little dizzy and nauseated just going up there to visit. He does have an amazing view...right over Millenium Park. The night we were there they had a concert or something going on there. Here is his view...

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Next we went to see "The Color Purple." Wow. It was amazing. So funny and moving at the same time. I highly, highly recommend it. I absolutely loved it!

We stayed the night at Joel and Kelly's place. The next morning we went to Kelly's restaurant for an awesome breakfast. We went next door to a fun kids' store called "Psychobaby." Then we went to Oak Brook to shop...love going there! I found cute baseball sheets on sale at Pottery Barn Kids for Henry's big boy bed (not yet...still in his crib for now), as well as lots of fun clothes and stuff.

We went to the pool today and I worked tonight. Tomorrow is a baby shower for my friend April and her little girl who is due right around Abigail's birthday. I also work at night.

There's the catch up post for you! :)
Enjoy the weekend!

Outdoor Discovery Center

Yesterday we went to the Outdoor Discovery Center with our Little Hands group. It was our last meeting time of the year! The kids had a blast there and the weather was perfect! Abigail's favorite part was the fields of wildflowers. She also loved being on the dock and looking into the pond. Fun times!

Abigail's New Shirt

My friend, Kelly, who owns and runs "Petunias" made Abigail a GREAT new shirt that she is in love with! Abigail thinks she is SO cool wearing a shirt with a big "A" on it! She's really into her name and letters lately so it's perfect! Petunias has tons of awesome stuff - I think I own almost everything she has made! Oh - th bow Abigail is wearing is also made by Kelly! Check out her site here!

Holy Scrappin' Shopping!

WARNING: If you read my blog and don't care about digital scrapbooking, then you may want to go on to another site! :) This entry is only about digi-scrapping.

I have done some SERIOUS shopping online in th past two days. Between sales and discounts I had piling up, I went on a serious spree...my Paypal account will never be the same! Luckily I had some cash in my account from Ebay sales so it didn't hurt me too much. Here's what I got...are you ready???

Okay...from The Shabby Shoppe and the SALE there:

Then...from Miss Hunibuni...on sale...

And from Dani Mogstad (LOVE HER) with a 20% off coupon...

Let's see...from Nancy Comelab at The Lily Pad (on sale)...

And this was in my inbox tonight from the CT I'm on...from Emily Farnworth at PDP...

There's more...this is a freebie right now at CK for their 100th issue...

And THEN, two weeks ago I won the "Lifts with a Twist" challenge and got a $25 gift certificate to Sarah Jones' store. I had only one thing from her, so it was fun to shop with FREE money! Here's what I got...

Okay...phew...I have enough stuff to keep me busy for months! I should have been scrapping tonight instead of shopping! :) Actually...after I end this post I think I'm going to go get one more kit...it's perfect for Father's Day cards...especially for my father-in-law who is getting a grill themed gift...I can't get a pic to link, but here's the site...c'mon...it's on sale big time!

Alright...I'm exhausted just from this post! Good night everyone!

Counting Down..

Until school is done! Abigail, Henry and I (okay, mostly me, me, me!) cannot wait until Colin is done with school on Thursday! Then...over 2 months of sleeping in, I mean...quality family time. :) Colin is again working at the restaurant this summer, usually 3-4 shift a week. He'll work mostly days so that I can work my three nights a week and we won't need to juggle childcare too much. Summers are also really busy for us for birthdays! Beginning on June 10 we have birthdays in the family without end! They look like this: June 10 (our sister-in-law Anita), June 25 (niece Beatrice), July 3 (brother-in-law Tavid), July 17 (Henry), July 24 (me), August 10 (brother in law, Brett), August 11 (cousin, Martha), August 18 (Abigail), September 1 (niece Sylvie) and September 24 (my mom). Whew! I LOVE buying birthday presents though so that's the fun part! It's hard to believe Abigail will be 4 this year and my little baby is going to be 2! Fun parties ahead! We also have anniversaries for my parents, Colin's parents, Haans and Anita, and Colin and I (7 years!) thrown in there too!

Colin's parents have also generously offered us a mini-vacation this summer. Colin's dad won a week's stay at a cottage/condo right by Lake Michigan. He is letting us split the week with Colin's brother and his family. They will go from Friday to Monday and we'll spend the rest of the week until Friday there. The place is pretty new and has a pool and is really close to the state park. It will be a blast to get away from the house for a couple of days. We'll do that at the end of July. So fun!

Let's see...what else is new. Next week my mom, Rebecca and I are heading to Chicago for 2 days to visit Joel, Kelly and newly groomed Harry. I am SO excited because my mom got us tickets to see "The Color Purple!!" My parents saw it on Broadway and said it was just amazing! We got awesome tickets too - can't beat that! Michelle Williams (formerly of Destiny's Child) and LaToya London (from American Idol) are both in the show so that will be cool to see also! We'll see that Wednesday night, stay at Joel and Kelly's that night and then probably shop on Thursday. Can't wait!

More fun, fun news! Our swing set is nearing completion. My dad has put many hours into making this the most perfect, sturdy, "my grandkids will never get hurt on this thing" swing set in the world! The swing part is completely finished and the kids have been on there tons already. I did a layout with pics of the swing set as it is right now. I will definitely post many more pictures when it is completed.

I think I have finished a couple of other layouts that I haven't posted on here. I know of three for sure, so I'll leave you with those. Have a great week!

Credits HERE.

Credits HERE.
Credits HERE.