Table and chairs for 5, please.

I have a dining room table and six chairs! Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

Quinn also has a special spot now. We bought a "space-saver" high chair. Saving space wasn't necessarily the priority, but we liked the idea of having her sit at the table with us. I think she approves. :-)

Gotta love a bonfire.

Our friends Ray and Laura are in town for a visit. Tonight we did a little bonfire in the backyard with the neighbors. Mmmm ... s'mores. I've been wanting s'mores since I got back from the lake last weekend but it has been windy.

Ray played football with Noah and Trev. Football is a loose term. It was more of a "let's pile on Ray" sort of game.


Note G and his lawnmower, completely ignoring them. G actually mows in pattern sometimes - he is quite fascinated with mowing and watches Bob from the window so he sees Daddy go back and forth. Little mimic.



Quinn scootched around and looked cute. As usual.



Plenty of s'mores were eaten by all, and now the kids are in bed. Yay!

Here's a couple of quick shots from last weekend at the lake.

Mark - getting some air.



Turner on the boat (where he likes to take a nap).



The kids watching tv as the night wore down.

July is here.

It is actually cool today - in the 60's this morning. A nice break for the heat!

As I type this, Quinn is licking the legs of the table and the boys are playing some sort of yelling/running/action figure game that involves lots of growling. We have also taught G to speak like a pirate. It is too funny.

Last week was busy. The kids and I went to stay with Mark and June at the lake for a few days. We had a blast. Mark and June are awesome hosts and I love hanging out with them. G literally did not wear a pair of shoes from Thursday until Saturday. Now that is a good trip. I took a ton of pictures but I need to look through them and pick some good ones to post. Maybe in the next day or so.

Then on Saturday it was Rock-fest in our town. Griffin LOVED the parade. He was a candy-seeking machine. Noah had fun too, especially when the Pepsi people gave him an entire 12-pack of pop. It was Africa-hot and humid but definitely worth it. We also stayed up late to watch fireworks (well, late for the kids - ha!). It is always a good show. The neighbor kids and our kids had glow sticks and ran around the backyards in the dark like little crazy people.


I am in scrapbooking crunch time right now. I am doing page samples for an upcoming trade show, and I am about half done. Here's a layout that went up at 2peas today ... I designed the paper in the background in one of my digital kits. I made the flowers for another kit - both kits can be found here and here.

Isn't she cute?

I know it might be a bit controversial to pierce the ears of babies, but I have been thinking about it since she was born. So yesterday (when June and Jackie were here for moral support), Miss Quinn got her ears pierced. I actually got cold feet a few minutes before it happened. Who wants to inflict pain on a baby? But she only cried for a minute, and so far it has been just fine. She eats and sleeps like normal, and it doesn't bother her when I clean them or turn them.

June said that she is just learning that beauty can be painful. Ha!

Summer is here.

The weather yesterday was fabulous, and we spent the better part of the day outside. I took a few (ha! when do I ever take a FEW??) pictures. Here's little miss Quinn in her polka dot hat.



Noah started t-ball last night. I have volleyball on Tuesdays, so I couldn't go. He was so excited when he got home ... told me all about it. Griffin managed to fall down the bleachers. Luckily, no broken bones or significant bruises.

Noah is officially done with kindergarten. Grandma Judy, Grandpa Terry, and Aunt Jackie came to his graduation ceremony. It was a nice little (short) presentation. Noah's teacher makes each kid a scrapbook. These things are pretty impressive. They have artwork, pictures, monthly summaries of class activities, and must be a TON of work. Very cool stuff. Bob was manning the camera and got some good shots of the graduation. The St. Cloud Times was there, too - the Rockville kids made the front page of the paper the next day. And so did Bob. :-) The photographer took a picture of Bob taking pictures. Bob thinks it is because we have a cool camera. Hee hee! You can see the pictures here: St. Cloud Times photos Click on the "next" button to scroll through.



And this kid ^^^^^^^ slept until 9:30 this morning. I need him to teach that skill to his little brother and sister. :-) Have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day!

I took some pictures of the kiddos on Friday. This one is my favorite - look how Quinn is touching G, that look on G's face, the way Noah is overseeing everything. You can see their personalities, each and every one!



And this is Quinn at 4 months. I might be biased, but I think she may be the most beautiful little girl EVER. :-)

A local photographer was doing free sittings for photo shoots for moms on Friday and Saturday this week. I had stuck a flyer in my diaper bag but forgot about it, so when I called on Thursday there weren't any spots. But luck was on my side - she called on Friday morning about 10:30 and said she had a cancellation for that afternoon at 2:00. So I scrambled around the house to find something remotely matching for me and the 3 kids to wear, got myself ready, got them ready, and raced out the door. The funniest part? We ended up running to JCPenney (the photo shoot was set up in a temporary location at the mall) and buying white shirts for me, Noah, and G. Quinn wore her little white/lemon Easter dress. I get to see the proofs next week. It was chaotic but a little fun, and I hope there are some good pictures. :-)

Have a happy mother's day weekend!

NSD

Yesterday was NSD (National Scrapbooking Day - and no, I'm not making that up). I didn't actually scrapbook, but I was part of the festivities at twopeasinabucket.com. Jackie Bonette and I hosted an online chat at 3 pm. We had prized to give away for different things. One of the challenges we posted was to show a picture of your letter sticker stash. So here is my picture, with a model for a sense of scale. :-) My model also liked to chew on the letter stickers. Lucky for me I have plenty. Ha!

I also wanted to mention that BHG Scrapbooks Etc is part of a fundraiser for breast cancer research. You can check it out at scrappink.com. Definitely a good cause.

Random photos of the little ones.

Here is Quinn, demonstrating her "deer in the headlights" look.

And here is G, eating "chiptsths." The phonetic spelling of the way he says it is not possible with the alphabet as we know it. But it involves lots of "th" and "sh" and possible a "f" noise at the end of the word "chips." He is eating cheddar and sour cream chips in this picture. But I don't think the flavor matters much. He loves ALL chips. And he frequently asks for them for breakfast (no, I don't let him have chips for breakfast but some morning it could happen).

And here is our big boy, reading. He can read pretty well. This page is one I did for the creating garden at twopeasinabucket.com.

Last but not least, here is my latest pair of socks. I know, I know... you are all waiting anxiously to see what I am knitting. But hey - it is my blog, right? Hee hee!

Have a great weekend!

Miss Quinn's room ...

is getting closer to being completed. It is now painted. And what a saga that was! Marcy came to help me, but our plans were totally thrown out of whack by problem after problem. First, the old wallpaper border was a HUGE pain to get off. I have no idea what the issue was, since we put it up the "right" way because we knew it would eventually come down. Next, the orange paint took forever to dry. We painted the first coat on Saturday and finished around 6 pm. We figured we could recoat around 10 pm. Um, no. At 10 pm it was still tacky. And at 9 am on Sunday it was still tacky. I was about ready to panic. Thankfully, the paint eventually dried. The paint department at Home Depot told me that orange and red take longer to dry because of the colorant. That would have been a handy little tidbit of information to have before I started this project and decided to paint 3 walls orange, and red/orange/yellow/brown squares on the other wall. :-) Then there was the issue of getting the orange to cover evenly. I painted those 3 walls at least 3 times with orange. It was a project. But I think the end result was worth it - I LOVE the grid. I am now on the prowl for the changing table or dresser, whichever I can find that I like. And I still need to make the curtains. But it's coming along.


When I'm not painting (HA!) I've discovered a new love. I knit socks. Yes, socks. The sad thing is that I'm off season ... can't wear socks when it is so nice outside! The kids and I have been spending a lot of time out in the fresh air. Griffin can't bear to be inside ... he stands and the patio door, pounding and yelling "I go swing! I go swing!" until someone takes pity on him.

One more picture. I bought a "new" swing for Quinn off ebay. So the old swing is in the toy room, waiting to be moved into the basement. Last week, I was in the living room with Quinn and the boys were playing in the toy room. Noah came and said, "Mom. Come here. You have to see this." And he was right. I rounded the corner of my scrapbook island and saw my little goof. Talk about your kodak moments, eh? :-) I'm pretty sure he exceeds the weight limit, but since it isn't far to crash I figure I'll let him have his fun.

Updating ...

Wow. Life has been crazy busy, as usual, since I last posted!

Let's see ... G is 2. He celebrated with a big Cars birthday cake and lots of presents and playing. Bob and Noah also found the motherload of Cars at ToysRus on his birthday, so they came home with about 10 or so of the beloved diecast characters. Heaven for my little guy (and his big brother!)


Noah had his first school program. He was a bee. The kindergarteners and first graders did their program together. Noah was one of the two kindergarteners to have a speaking part. He did GREAT! We have it on DVD if anyone wants a copy - just let me know and we'll burn it and send it. Noah also lost his other front tooth. He wasn't happy. He blames Daddy for making "hard toast." We tried to explain the tooth was ready to fall out and the toast didn't have anything to do with it, but he doesn't believe us.

Quinn got baptized with Jackson last weekend. She looked so pretty in her gown and bracelet. She wore the same gown I did (and Jackie, for that matter). Jackson looked all dapper in his little vest and pants, too. What a pair! The baptism was after mass in Groton, and was total chaos. Either Quinn or Jackson or Griffin was crying just about the entire time, and Jackson and Quinn both managed to spit up during the service. Poor Father David was about ready to run and hide, I think.


And then there is me ... and my pretty pink cast. I fell over a laundry basket. 34 is too old for your first broken bone, I think. Actually, it might not be broken. The x-ray wasn't conclusive, but the area I damaged is hard to heal so they casted me to immobilize it. It sucks. Poor Quinn has a rock for a pillow when I hold her. I get it cut off and re-x-rayed next week on Monday - yay!

Bob is busy at work and busy working at home on the laundry room/bathroom. He's planning to hang a door tonight so the bathroom will be functional for guests. Can't wait!

G gets glasses & other stuff.

Alliteration is such a cool thing, isn't it? For those of you that have not seen him, the Griffin-monster now has glasses. It was actually harder on mama than on Griffin. I shed a few tears when the opthamologist told us Griffin needed glasses. He is far sighted, and his eyes cross when he tries to focus. We caught it really early, so that is good news.

It is incredibly hard to find glasses that fit little guys. Even little guys with big noggins like G. We decided on these. He screamed bloody murder when we tried on the first pair. The second day of glasses shopping was better. And by the third day, he only yelled "No no no" but didn't inflict bodily harm on us or himself when we put the glasses on him.

This is a layout I did for the garden at 2peas. (The main part is digital, then I printed it an layered it on paper and added some stuff.)






And, in other news, Quinner is 2 months old today! Here she is, in Noah's current favorite outfit. She is such an alert little girl. I think we have spoiled her, though ... she likes to be held all the time. ALL the time. Oh well. They are only babies for such a short time!






Noah is doing well. Kindergarten cuts down on my picture taking time. :-) Actually, I haven't had the camera out much lately. Something has been keeping me busy. Oh yes - the children. Ha! Between picking up toys, changing diapers, figuring out what to eat (although Bob is a better cook than I am and generally makes supper when he gets home), time flies by every day. Add in the scrapbook stuff I've been doing and suddenly there is NO time left.

Well, maybe there is a little time. My nightly reward is to knit. No, I am not turning into an old fuddy-duddy. I just find it relaxing. Except when I screw up and drop a stitch and have to rip out 4 rows. That is not quite as relaxing. Anyway, this is the little dress I'm knitting. I have no idea if it will fit. But I love the colors and am having a good time working on it.

Some digital layouts ...

from ages ago. I need to have a host site for these so here they are. Carry on! :-)

A not-so-successful attempt at getting a picture of all the grandkids.

Attempt 1.
Attempt 2.


And these are the best of the photos! :-)

Long time, no post. :-)

I've been busy adjusting to life with 3 kids. And I've been doing a few scrapbook assignments. Here is a layout I did for CHA Winter (a trade show that is at the end of January). I am not going to the show, which is sort of a bummer since it is in California and I've never been there. Maybe next year. The first layout is my big boy and my little girl. :-) He adores her - more than I could have guessed. Noah is such a sweet kid.

The second layout is Griffin. He loves to look at the scrapbooks. Noah really never paid much attention - he'd look at a page that I had finished but didn't really care beyond that. Griffin, on the other hand, drags the scrapbook off the shelf every couple of days and looks at the pictures. He also likes to shout out the names of the people he sees.

The last layout is from the hospital, right after Quinn was born. And it is totally true - Bob is wrapped around her little finger.

I bought tights.

I have officially crossed a line somewhere ... who would have believed that I would buy tights for my baby girl? But she needed them. And if I could have found the right size, she would have also been the proud owner of little black mary janes. Too bad I couldn't get them in her size. :-)

This is Quinn, on Christmas Eve, after mass. She is fascinated by our Christmas tree - probably because I have 10 or so strings of lights on it. She was lying next to the tree, quietly watching, when paparazzi mommy got the camera out.

The attempt to get a photo of all 3 of them earlier in the night was not so successful. Griffin is impossible to photograph. He looked so cute in his little jacket, too ... Noah, on the other hand, is more than willing to hold Quinn and pose. Gotta love that!



We let the boys open one present tonight ... new Cars jammies. They both liked the gift, which is pretty amazing since it is clothing. Again, not much success in getting a photo of G where you can SEE his jammies, but here are a couple of him playing with his beloved Cars. The best is when Griffin says "a-cow" and "cha-chigga" (noises that McQueen and Chick make in the movie). We also learned that the Cars book from Dave & Connie is NOT a good thing to take to church, because of said noisemaking.



Merry Christmas!

Hello, Baby Quinn.

She is here. Born around 2 am on December 15. 8 pounds 15 ounces, and 20 inches long, with lots of dark hair.

We are officially in love.