It's that big Spooktacular day!

Happy Halloween !!!!! We have a busy day ahead. For those that would like to know, there was no diva hair moments this morning as Kirsten donned her costume :)

Luke however had managed to put his costume on inside out, upside down, legs in the arms-it was a mess! But I, the supermom

Took matters into my own hands and turned out the best ninja ever!

I'm so glad he'll be around to protect us all tonight, as even I will be in costume (not my superhero suit:( )

Tonight I will be the "momma angel" I know it's not real origianal, but you can't expect me to be the "momma ninja" now can you? Seriously do not want to see this mom in a bodysuit-I'll save you all from that horror:)

Here is the final member of the family in his costume (daddy, and Rascals are being party poopers)

Herrrreeeeeessssss SCRAPPY, THE FEROCIOUS LOBSTER!!!!!!!

here's some pics of pumpkin carving. I will send pics tomorrow of the fun from tonight!

She couldn't believe that she had to scoop out he guts herself (I've always done it for her, but times have changed and this year they were on their own)-Luke was much better about it, as he yelled Wooo-Hoo, Oh YEAH!!!!

Ok well that will have to happen later as I'm having problems uploading pics :(

I'll be back with more on Halloween tomorrow!

fun project/gift idea

Here is the pocket folder that I created over the weekend. I had seen it done in the scrapbook store while in WA at Lasting Memories. I loved the concept and this is what I did with it.

This Bible verse reads: "Be Joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1Thessalonians 5:16-18

This verse reads: "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:22
Here is how to make your own: Start with a plain two pocket folder, I used white found at Office Max, colored would work fine too.
Reverse the fold so that the pockets are now on the outside and the folder looks wrong side out-as shown in the photo above. Now your going to quarter fold both sides so that the pockets are folded inside and you now have 4 even pages/pockets and it looks like an accordion, like this:

I started mine by inking all the edges using inks in the color palette of my paper. Now you all you need to do is cut and glue (I used a glue stick) all your paper and embellish as you wish. Tips: I cut the front paper, to be used on the front of the pockets, with an extra 1/2 inch in length to fold over the pocket. I also covered the back 3 sections with some solid card stock to finish the look instead of leaving it white (not shown in any photo)

Here is a link to the blog from Lasting Memories where I got the idea-it'll give you some other ideas

http://lastingmemories.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/index.html

(look under August 17th)

I also thought themes like shopping list, monthly receipts, coupons would be good or using as a unique photo album with the pockets for holding mementos.

Hope you enjoy!

My weekend getaway

Hi everyone! Wow I had a great weekend! I feel like life has been on the fast lane (otherwise known as the carpool lane to some of you:") since Thur. I spent most of Thur running after the toddlers and preparing meals. That was busy enough. Friday I woke up at normal time and got the kids off to school than it was crunch time. As some of you know I went on a scrapbooking retreat over the weekend and as of Friday morning I had packed 0 items. Agggghhhhh!!!! last minute packing is becoming my specialty, but not one I want to have. Miraculously I managed to pack everything and the kitchen sink, run for soup bread (my meal contribution), coffee, picked up my friend Erin, and made it back ontime to pack Ann's saburban and head out of town with those 2 plus Teresa by 11-on the dot on time!!!!!! For anyone that really knows me, you know that's a major accomplishment :) ( not one of my finer qualities)

The cabin we went to was awesome, here's the link if you want to check it out. Although the website doesn't do it justice http://www.cropalotcabin.com/ Here's a few pics from the weekend. I'll post some of the projects I worked on tomorrow with "how she did it" steps :)

these are pics of the packing fiasco that occured in my kitchen

This is the craft room were all the magic happens :) Where inspiration meets eager crafters.

the living room was a great space, but not enough seating (must bring floor pillows next time-note to self)

This is all I have for now. I will post again later. Thanks for reading!

The Life of my Asthmatic son...

Hi everyone! I thought today I would talk to a bit about Luke's asthma, as it's a pretty serious condition for him.

Some of you may or may not remember that when Luke was a baby he had had apnea breathing, which in short means that he would stop breathing for a short period of time (you know no big deal, we were only first time parents-piece of cake). He was almost a full 3 weeks early and weighed 6 lbs 3 ounces but it was enough for his lungs to not be real strong. The day I had him he turned blue in my arms the 2 times I tried to hold him. I remember panicking a little but the nurses and doctors didn't have many ideas for what had happened. I won't go into all the details of that first week as it's just exhausting but the long and short of it all is that after a week in intensive care he was brought home on a heart monitor. Ten years ago it was a box about 8x10 inches and wieghed around 15lbs (more than twice the wieght of Luke). It had 3 cords that would stick onto his chest and stomach with tape and attached to a 50ft cord.
So that was it, here was our baby with a box and 50ft. I remember how happy I was that my mom had bought us a bassinet with wheels and a basket underneath. We would put the box in there and the baby in the baskett and wheel him around the apartment. I remember the cords needed to be put through the tab of the diaper and out the bottom of his clothes (I was a whiz at changing a diaper, anyone who can do the basic diapering and toss in 3 cords to boot is a champ:)

Over the years we've had some bad spells and he's developed allergies to anything on four legs that sheds, air pollens, dust, mold etc...So the allergies are what cause his flare ups along with extreme weather changes (yeah were living in the wrong area for that) Heat is bad and so is extreme cold (seriously where would we go to escape? It's all bad)

We typically seem to have problems in the fall and again in the winter, with the season changes. Two years ago we started a series of doctors visits that seemed to always include chest exrays and head exrays. The conclusion was that his chest and sinus' were blocked (duh!) however it wasn't a sinus infection. So he began a drug called Prednisolone, for flare up's. It's a very good drug with some side affects, one of them being an increase in appetite and another being extra energy (like he needs that). He also started advair diskus (the purple circle thing you see on tv) twice a day (for daily control over his asthma), and singulair (for control over his allergies). All this was very good. He's been able to run around and partake in normal child activities including baseball in the summer. He enjoys bowling league in the school year, ice skating, sledding, and running around all year long. Up until about 8 months ago all was very good. However when I started working at home we ran into insurance problems-there is none. So his doctors have been good about supplying his advair but the singulair is 200$ a month so we switched alavert over the counter and that has proven to be just as good.

We seemed to be doing pretty good keeping control all summer but as the fall weather turns to the colder wintery weather he's been having problems again and I knew our time of not having him be seen was out so I brought him in. Let me tell you what it's like to watch your child actually struggle to breath. Sometimes I wish it was just a small short spell from being knocked out because he was playing too hard, because of course than he'd recover and all would be ok. But when your child has asthms like Luke does, it's very exhausting. He will typically stand up and lean on something instead of sitting just so he can open his air ways. The skin on his chest will stretch over his ribs real tight while he labors to take a normal breath (something most everybody takes for granted). You can hear the wheezing sound as the air travels through his air ways which are inflammed and sore (this is caused from the broncchial infection that causes asthma flare up's). He gets a really rasppy cough that will stress his lungs every time he coughs. Also sleeping at night is so tough he usually has really dark circles under his eyes and has a loss of appetite (in his case thats really not good, he was down to 46.2lbs yesterday!) The whole thing is complete misery. He can take a nebulizer albuterol treatment every 4 hours in times like this but when it gets really bad like it was yesterday he would like to have it every 1-2 hours to be somewhat comfortable. As a mom it's really hard to tell your child they can't have the medicine that you know would bring comfort. So off to the doctor we went. He just finished a week of the Prednisolone last week but the doctor felt a much more intense treatment would help so he's taking that again only now its for 2 weeks. I should mention at this point what a great kid Luke is because this medicine in the worst tasting thing I think any parent could give to a kid. I of course have had a teeny tiny lick of it and that was enough for me to know that I would never want to ingest any. It's kind of like nyquil to the power of 10. Usually he has to take 2 tsp with food which looks like this

however right now its 3 tsp for 4 days, than 2 tsp for 3 days, than down and down it goes until it's done. He's such a trooper. He shoots the whole thing into his mouth and chases it with milk :)

I pray that someday my little man won't have to deal with this anymore. I know that God can heal him and I leave it in his hands. I'm really grateful that there's a medicing he can take to "fix" him for a while. Now it's just a matter of how long this will sustain him.

The "inhumanity" of it all

As many of you know we are the proud parents of not only 2 great kids but also 2 lovable dogs, Rascals and Scrappy (both appropriately named). Here's a typical "brotherly" occurrence in our house: (first a little background)

Luke is home from school today with asthma trouble (don't worry I've called the doctor and all will be fine-it's the same stuff, different day). I had read online that taking a bath is good for asthma flare ups, so in went Luke. Now, Rascals loves to hang out in the bathroom when someone is in the shower or bath. Whether its the possibility of getting away from the rest of the house, getting to lick up puddle's, or the thought that taking a shower could be fun if he could just work up the courage to jump in-were just not sure but he loves to be in there. So Luke is in the tub and there's Rascals waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more...

(note, Scrappy is just checking on Rascals, he doesn't really care what else is going on) ...Than he decides to check into matters a little more and discovers the coolest looking toy ever (the kids usually shower now so there isn't a whole lot of tub vs. toy action anymore)

At this moment I'm getting the look that says "please, mom? I just want that one?", at this point I'm sure the person behind the curtain has assisted a little because the next noise I here as I'm folding laundry and chasing toddlers is an annoying squeaking that doesn't stop. I went in to tell Luke to stop and found this instead

He had gotten the toy and I'd forgotten that it squeaks (which is why it became a bath toy to begin with-water in the squeaker=no more squeaking, but apparently it had dried out over time)-I'll have to take care of that later, as for now it's in the grips of a very happy doggy.

But this is were Rascals always runs into problems and it's called Scrappy (notice in the middle of that name it spells crap which is what Rascals is thinking)

Now most of us wouldn't let something that weighs only 3 lbs push us around but Rascals has adapted to the theory of give in and no one gets hurt. Although sometimes I think he gives up a toy in exchange for being left alone for a few minutes. Every time Rascals is happy with a toy or a chew bone Scrappy comes around the corner and attacks! and usually comes away with the prize.

I think this picture says it all for Rascals

"Oh, sorry buddy, maybe tomorrow"

I'm welcoming myself into "blogdom"

Here I am! I've decided to start a blog. I think this will be the best way to stay in contact with my family and friends that are scattered all over the place. As an added bonus I can put down my random rambling thoughts-translation: I can talk a lot about nothing and no one can make me stop :)

I had a pretty busy weekend but it was fun all the same-I guess. On Friday both Kirsten and Luke had a friend over (no school). I had Kirsten and her friend help make caramel apples, we had lots of fun and they taste great!

On Saturday the kids had their bowling Holloween party. For most people it meant getting their kids ready in a basic costume and out the door they go, but for me it meant an hour an half to prepare the prettiest little golden angel you ever have seen only to have her burst into tears because there were too many curls! Such drama!

Haaaa, sigh, what could I do but laugh? We were running as close to late as you could get (we didn't want to miss the costume judging). I got her hair pinned up and passed the "acceptable ok" and out the door we went. We got there just on time for the judging (mind you Luke had stayed at a friends house overnight and came with them, so I didn't even have to help him into his ninja costume) So the judging gets done and the kids start bowling as the judges make their decision. After all that Kirsten's friend takes the prize for her great Poccahontis costume (really good) and Luke gets the prize in his age level for being a ninja! It took him only 2 minutes or so to put it on! UNREAL!!!!!!

Oh well, after all it wasn't really about all that anyways, right? :)and Luke was really excited. The kids had fun bowling in the neon lights (Kirsten's wings glowed-it was cute) and eating lots of food and candy.

Kirsten than had a birthday party to go to (this was the fifth one since school started!)So we dropped her off and after bringing the "boys" home (Luke and Scott) I went to Michaels and True Colors (for a little thing I like to call retail/crafting therapy). I found a few items to create our annual christmas card and I bought the Oppisites Attract Cricut cartridge (birthday money from inlaws :). I spent a good part of my free time over the weekend constructing "the card" and here is the finished result. I won't show you the inside so you can have something to look forward to :)

Here is how I plan to keep my Christmas season organized. I made this little book to jot down notes, wish lists, ideas, card list etc... It turned out cute so here's a pic

Well that's all for now, I'll try to get some more out throughout the week!