TGIF!

Last night we bought a gingerbread house at Sam's, thanks to the daily chatter at TSR I thought it would be fun for the kids. A good picture opportunity anyways, not like I don't have enough to catch up on but xmas layouts are always fun! The kids slept a little better but between the both of them, I was up at least 4 times. I feel a lot better than the rest of the week though. My SIL is going to take them into the doctors today at 1pm when she takes my nephew so I'm hoping the outcome is just a common cold virus and nothing serious.

We've got nothing planned for this weekend so maybe I'll start on those xmas cards I have yet to send out. I just want to scrap! Haven't been to my scraproom the entire week. My secret santa's helper just delivered my package for the week here at work and I rec'd some xmas clear stickers and a paper reflections scrap pack.

Mail Day

Last night I rec'd a huge box on our front doorstep. It was the toys I bought for my cousin's boys from Young Explorers. Now I know why they charged me $14.99 for S&H, the box was huge and the stuff inside only occupied like 30% of it. Why do they do that? One item in the box was supposed to be for Micah's xmas gift but Kenzie was whining for her DAd when he wasn't home yet. I wasn't in the mood to deal with it from sleep deprevation accumulating over the last 2 days so I made a promise w/ her. I would open the handyman drill set and let her play with it only if she shares with her brother. Of course she agrees to it and of course she DOESN'T share with Micah. Poor little brother.

Was flipping thru my Jan '08 issue of CK and decided to check out the SOY's blog. Very interesting read and I really like her layouts. I love the outfit she wore on the cover of the magazine because of the cool color schemes. Now I'm thinking I want to get rid of the awful purple/yellow paint in my scraproom and turn it into the cool muted blue/orange/beige colors. I would have to take a 2 week vacation in order to move everything out of the way just to tape up the room but I can wish for now and start sketching ideas. I also signed myself up for a free issue of the http://www.marthastewart.com/blueprints magazine since this was one place she got her inspiration from.

Kids are both still sick. It was 30 minute intervals around the clock last night waking up coughing and crying. I was loosing my patience and started getting mad at them, now I feel bad, they were just hurting and uncomfortable. Please pray that I'll have the patience to be a good mom tonight and be soothing and help lessen their pains. I also called my mom to see how her job in the new dept was going, she said she hated it. I pray it gets better for her.

Sick,Sick, Sick!

Started out Monday night with Micah crying every half hour. Don't know if it is still from his ear infection, a tooth coming in because he keeps sticking his fingers in his mouth, or just the flu because he's been running a high fever but the boy could not sleep. So Lam and I both took the day off yesterday to be home with the kids. Everything he ate kept coming right back up. Kenzie just had a cough to start with but by the end of the day she was also throwing up and had a high fever. Phewey! I pray they get better because this is no fun!

We had lop over at mom's last night and Noc took Dara and Kenzie to ToysRUs. She came back with the Barbie Island DVD and a Uniqua doll. Micah kept wanting to play w/ it but she wouldn't share. I think the boy likes the color pink because he also prefers her Dora chair over his red lightning McQueen chair and her pink blanket over his blue one. I watched the DVd with her last night and really enjoyed it. That tells you how very little TV I get to watch. I could honestly say I only watch 1 hr the most out of a week or couple weeks even.

This morning Micah was crying from about 4am til 5:30am. Then I was wide awake once he finally fell asleep so I went downstairs to download some photos to Walgreens. Then Kenzie was crying for her momma. I can hear her tell her dad through the baby monitor "go away unca, I want my mommy" I don't know where she came up with the name but she's always calling brother and daddy "unca" or "ulsa" when they are bad. So Lam gets tired of her shouting back at him to go away and he tells her he's going to chucky cheese then and she can't go.

I ended up driving to work separate and dropping the kids off and this is the conversation we had in the car.

Kenzie: Where's daddy?
Mom: He's still in the house
Kenzie: He's going to chuckie cheeses?
Mom: (laughing) no honey, he was just kidding with you
Kenzie: He told me in the bathroom, he's going to chuckie cheese
Mom: no daddy's going to work today
Kenzie: He told me I no go, I cry, He noisy, I want my mommy
Mom: (just smiling and amazed at how much conversation she picked up when at the time she was just sitting on the chair observing) It's okay honey, I still love you
Kenzie: I love daddy and I love you.
Kenzie: I no cry no more. Look there's a yellow bus.
Mom: (chewing on a chocolate cookie for breakfast)
Kenzie: what's that? I want some

And so that starts off my day...

Scraplifting Fun

Post Thanksgiving

Where did the 4 day weekend go?

Thursday -had Thanksgiving lunch at mom & dad's then went to dinner at Ab & Koko's at 6pm

Friday-went Shopping at Walmart from 5am-7am, came home...fed the kids and got them ready
to go to grandmas. Then went shopping at Scrapfunattic from 8-9am for their 30% off sale. Got myself 4 idea books to read on the long car ride to HOuston for xmas break. Then came back home and started wrapping all the toys for the kids. Nephews called saying Kenzie wanted to go bowling w/ them so I went to the PO to mail Tami's gift and Catherine's gift then met them at Thunderbowl. Lam met us there later then I went to the mall...got some clothes for the kids at JC Pennys and Children's place. Then back home to start xmas decorating.

Saturday-Home all day til 3pm then dropped kids off at Nok's so I could scrapbook for a couple hours. I worked on some gifts for my secret santa at work. The kids were napping the entire time over there so I didn't feel too bad. Lam went to the casino w/ his mom.

Sunday - church, then took the kids to chuckie cheese with all the nephews. Lam finally put up our xmas lights in the afternoon and ran out of hooks so took the kids to Target to get some. Poor Micah was throwing up again yesterday.

And here we are at the start of a new week. I didn't get as many people bought for as I had hoped but I did make a dent on my list. So many things to do and never enough time!

Early present

Yahoo! I rec'd a super fun package in the mail last night. I saw the return address was from Amazon and thought that it was the preorder for Hillary's book but when I opened it up...It was the christmas gift that Kim and Ryan got us...the Flip video! I had so much fun playing and testing it out last night. The kids wanted to see the screen as soon as it was over shooting it. I didn't have any time to download it to the computer but after I learn how to, I'll post an example here. I was really bummed for a while because I thought I broke it. Was deleting some videos that the kids took and all of a sudden, the thing froze on me. Lam took the battery out and after we popped it back in, it was all good. The only down side I can see so far is it doesn't have a flash or lighting so if it is dark when you are shooting, you will not see anything on screen but other than that...this thing is SLICK!!! Thank you sis and bil, this was an awesome gift! Oh, and I love the pink carrying case too, perfect attachment for my purse. :)

More layouts

Xmas Projects

Here is the advent calendar that Shirley had posted at TSR, I had lots of fun making it.

Makenzie helped me with the button trees. She was so good with handling the needles, never even pricked herself once.

Shopping List

Black Friday is this week! I've got to start my shopping list since I have zip, nada, zero christmas gifts purchased yet. Well, at least I know of two gifts to buy. My cousin's sons in Houston have a very detailed list so that one will be easy. And I just found out that Scrapfunattic is having an entire store 30% off sale from 8-9am so you know I will be there! I'm going to have fun shopping for my scrapbooking friends.

Scrapfriends (8):
1. Stacey
2. Stephanie
3. Mikey,HeidiQ, and Carlane
4. Nicole, my old roommate
5. Tami and Shell O, my wishlist sisters

My family (25):
1. Both parents
2. DH
3. Kenzie
4. Micah
5. 3 nephews
6. BIL and SIL
7. My sis
8. My brother
9. Cousins: Yen and Peter
10. Mimi & Kelvin?
11. Astrid and Anna?
12. Kaitlyn & her sis
13. Ann and Tina
14. Minh and Thien

Weekend Recap: Took Micah to doctor's on Saturday and they comfirmed he has an ear infection. Went to Mimi's b-day party then to Lam's friend Keo's house Saturday night. Sunday was all day laundry and at home with Micah. Nok took Kenzie to the bookstore and toystore, she got a Backyardigans book and some hair clips and her fingers and toes french manicured.

Sleepless in Seattle...I mean in the Amphone house

Another rough night. I thought it was only supposed to be rough like the first 2-3 months with kids but not mine. Micah is feeling a little better but still feeling pretty hot.

Ong/Ba Ngoai called to invite us to Thanksgiving dinner next week and they wanted to talk to Kenzie on the phone. She sang her alphabet song to them then Micah was crying for the phone. He's so cute he'll hold the phone with the back of the speaker facing his ear and just act like he's talking away an intelligent conversation. Just to kill some time playing with the kids, I got out my old Hawaiin lei's and outfit I made for Halloween like 4 years ago and had Kenzie dress up in it. Of course took lots of pictures...she loved it so much, she didn't want to change out of it. Then we worked on the little mini house scrapbook for her based on the free mini class instructions posted at TSR. She picked out the papers and photos she wanted to use, purple is still her favorite color.

I'll be out at a Tax Conference on Thursday and Friday for the entire day so I probably won't be back to update my blog until the weekend or Monday. This weekend we're going to a birthday party for Mimi. Which reminds me I better stop and get a gift today.

Sick Day

Well, I was going to call in sick today to stay home with Micah because last night he had a fever of 103 and threw up all over me and was not feeling well the entire night but this morning as we were sitting on the couch at 7:30am helping Daddy get sister ready to go, Micah climbs off the couch pulls my finger and walks towards the back door to the garage. It points to it then trys to put his feet into Daddy's sneakers. So I guess he was feeling a little better so off to grandmas he goes. I'll be checking in on him all day from work, hoping he feels better.

Kenzie's famous most used quotes these days: "Oopsie Daisy" "Gat(what) the Heck" and "gootbeer" (rootbeer)

Each night she wants to go to the basement and turn on the stereo, I have an old tape stuck in there and mommy and she will hold hands jumping up and down then we race back and forth across the basement. That's my exercise for the day since I've been doing sooooo poorly going to the gym. Only went once last week and i skipped out again last night. Since Lam offered to pick the kids up, I went home and completed 2 layouts. I needed my ME time even though it was a short 1 hour.

Diet not going too well either. I had a bowl of cereal for dinner then at 10:00pm I got the munchies and sat there eating chips and salsa with Kenzie. This bulge is stuck with me for life!

Layouts

Just catching up on my assignments for NYCScraps - Scrap Your Events with Debbie Hodge.

Weekend Recap

I hate Mondays, it's so hard to wake up. Of course having two kids that got me up at least 4 times last night didn't help either. Micah did not nap well or sleep well yesterday. He was crying all day, he felt hot and sweaty feaverish. When he finally got to bed, Kenzie cried for me around 5:30 or 6 this morning. Didn't get a single thing accomplished the whole weekend except for 5 loads of laundry washed and folded. How many times do people do laundry a week? I think my MIL washes clothes daily because she always gives the kids a bath during the day, twice if I pick them up late and sometimes the kids will be wearing the same thing they wore that morning except it has been washed. I thought once a week was plenty but with 4 in our household and we each shower twice daily plus all the icecream stains, it makes for a LOT of laundry!

Saturday I took the kids over to Nok's I tried to do a photo shoot of the kids for Blou, my other SIL. It's just impossible to get five kids to smile at the camera at the same time. Portrait Innovations took over 80 shots the last time and we still could only get 4 out of 5 looking straight, well I only took about 20 then Micah got really anzy. These were the best.

I rec'd my TSR kit in the mail plus the two bonus kits, SR Salem and Love Elsie. I love getting scrapbook supplies in the mail! They just make my day. Wished I had time to scrap though...I didn't even get to pull them out of the ups box the whole weekend. Yesterday was one of those days where both kids were crying to be held and I was thinking, what in God's name was I drinking when I decided to have them so close together?!?

But I did manage to get about an hour's worth of time in my scraproom after 11pm last night. I worked on this project I'm doing as a xmas gift for a really good friend. It is turning out sooooo cool. I can't wait to post pictures when I'm done.

Candlelight Dessert

Happy B-day

Happy Birthday Honey, yep Lam is the big 3-4 today!

He's never liked to celebrate his b-days so I don't have anything special planned. He's been craving pumpkin pie so I'll stop after work & get him one and stick a few candles on so the kids can blow them out for him. I gave him his present this morning, some new cologne.

Last night we rolled out the carpet remnant in the utility room that I cleaned up over the weekend. I'm wanting to use it as my practice studio. Bought a cheap curtain $9.99 from Wally's for the backdrop and the kids ran around and posed for me. The set up is great except the lighting is so poor in there. Another item I'm putting down for santa is either an umbrella light or softbox. But this comes after I find a decent deal on a flash. This photography hobbie of mine is worse than scrapbooking! Everything costs sooo much.

While we were still in the utility room, I decided to set up the Christmas tree and maybe do an early shoot for my christmas cards this year. Kenzie starts to whine and cry telling me she doesn't want the tree, put it away. I think she's actually scared of it. Lam told me she was scared of all the santas and xmas decorations the last time he brought her to Lowes. Oh my, this will be a crazy holiday. I will be very sad if I can't decorate my house for xmas because I've got tons of stuff and it's my favorite time of year to decorate.

We hit the gym after work yesterday. It's been since April since we did that. I really hate running with a passion but I guess I can say I felt better when I was done. Today will be day 2. I'm resolved to lose 5 lbs before the end of the year. Let's see how far I get.

This morning I put on some pantyhose and a suit to wear to work. Makenzie was touching my legs and asking me what is that Mommy? Then of course she said "I want to wear pantyhose" It's 40 degrees outside and I"m helping her take off your cozy sweats and put on a dress and pantyhose so she can look like me. I'm just glad she still had a pair. I stopped buying dresses for her because she got into a stage where she hated wearing them. And usually she wants to wear something just like what I have on but there's nothing similar in her dresser so we go on a crying spout. Micah was up early at 6:30am pulling out her swimsuit and trying to pull it down over his head.

I was late to work again. But this time only by a few minutes. Just go glad it's Friday.

Flip

Here's the link to it.

http://www.amazon.com/Flip-Video-Camcorder-60-Minutes-White/dp/B000ONFQ2K/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6266285-4374268?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1194394111&sr=8-1

M&M Update

Makenzie was a bad little girl yesterday. She is very protective of her toys at grandma's house. I don't know what the issue is but my little girl was aggressive and scratched Mimi (3yr old daughter of a close friend of my BIL) in the face over a simple toy. She and mimi are like best buds but if you're playing with her toy she'll come grab it from you, run off hiding it, then come back and be all peachy keen asking you to play.

Micah just learned how to clap. He is the cutest little thing. He saw them doing it on Barney and now when you tell him to clap, he'll have his chubby little fingers together. He also does the most adorable little bopping dance whenever there is music playing or you sing.

Kenzie can also sing the entire Alphabet minus the letters Y and Z. She gets confused because she thinks the "X" is an S so it goes like this.... "QRSTUVW...STUV now I know my....."

All these cute little things the kiddos are doing makes me want to get an iFlip. I just heard about this yesterday when Shell O from TSR posted a thread on it. We don't have a camcorder and I thought about it then decided against it because I know I would prefer to use my camera everywhere I go...but now I really want it so will probably order it this week.

My recent snapshots

These have got to be my favorite photos of Makenzie to date. She usually hates smiling for the camera these days and always gives me her fake look but I thought it turned out pretty cute!

Can't leave out my boys, these were taken at Pump it Up a couple weekends ago.

I'm On-line

Well, since I spend enough time reading everyone else's life thought I'd go ahead and try this blogging thing for awhile. I've been trying to keep up with my weekly snapshots album that I started from TSR so it couldn't hurt to write it down here then transfer the happenings into my scrapbook pages later.

What's new with me? I'm currently reading Ali Edward's new Life Artist Book. I just love her philosophy of capturing life, creating art. None of my layouts resembles her style but I love how she focuses on the everyday moments. I look at the photos I take and they are just head shots of the kids. I need a new point of view, I need to get creative and tell more of my story.

I've been e-mailing back and forth w/ my sister Kim. We're planning on driving down to Houston with my parents to visit my aunt and cousins the week of Christmas. I'm very excited about it but really wished my husband would go with us. He's not too fond of having to go to church more than his weekly Sunday hour. We haven't gone on a vacation or out of town hardly at all since having kids so it'll be a nice getaway for me.

Last night I got suckered into buying a vacuum cleaner from a door to door salesman! I can't believe he talked me into it. Lam opened the door then told the young lady, you'll have to talk to my wife about these things. I was washing the dishes and whispered to him, just tell them NO! and I'm not here! But of course I go answer and they hooked me with their speel of getting a free carpet stain remover cleaning. We have SOOOO many stains in our carpets from the kids eating icecream. You could see the rainbow of little dots, big dots, and trail of dots from the kitchen to the living room if you looked really close. Anywhoo, I'm even too embarrassed to say how much I dropped for this vacumm but it's supposed to do all kinds of fancy things like wash and shampoo my carpet, clean my blinds and hard to reach places, unclop drains, brush out dust from keyboards....yada yada yada. During the demo, they showed me all the dust they removed from just the top of my couches and matresses and it was not a pretty site! Guess i'll go home tonight and shampoo the rest of the house to see how it really works.