The Swing

16 months old and he still likes to sleep in this swing


Rehearsal round for the real thing coming up in 6 weeks

Found it!

Have you ever lost something and spent time and time looking all over the house for it and it ends up somewhere obvious? I misplaced my badge for work and had to check into security for temporary access the last two days. I searched all over my car, all thru my coat pockets, thru both purses I've been using lately, my scrap bag, and my camera bag and couldn't find it. It's a $10 replacement fee and i was about to give up today and guess where it shows up? In the front pocket of the purse I've been carrying around. I really need to clear out all the receipts I have in it!

Micah is sick again. He's been getting up a LOT the last few nights. He's burning up and puked some. This boy can't stay healthy for more than 1 week straight.

My boss is turning 50 this Friday and we've been making plans all week. We're gonna fill up his truck with black balloons, replace his KU license tag with one that say's it's nifty to be fifty, bring wheelchair, canes, depends, and prunes as gag gifts. And I offered to make up posters to hang all around the building. I really wished I knew how to use Photoshop better.

I joined an exercise challenge. My goal is 30 minutes 4x a week. Kickboxing is tonight. Kenzie wanted to celebrate her b-day last night, (yes, even though it's not for another 6 weeks) so we baked a cake with green frosting, sang to her, and she blew out the candles. I"m so proud of myself for not having any cake. I'm giving up sweets for LENT. It is going to be harder than I think because I have it almost daily.

SB ETC

I love my sub to Scrapbooks ETC. It is by far the best scrapbooking magazine. This layout was a complete scraplift from Kelly Noel's layout.

LOAD layouts

For the not your ordinary A to Z class

DW Calendar day 21

Scrap your everyday life class #4 at nycscraps

Bad Day

Saturday I took the kids swimming at the new Cessna Activity pool. We arrived around 11am and I was disappointed that the slide wasn't open yet. The water was too cold and Micah was ready for his nap so he was cranky. We saw some relatives there so Kenzie played for 30 minutes then we showered and came home.

Kenzie had a 4:00 appt to get her hair cut with Tia. Here's is her new bob, it sure does bring out her cheeks!


AFTER


BEFORE




We tried again Friday night and this was the best photo we could get. Not exactly what I had in mind but it's still pretty cool.

I started getting my feminine cramps Saturday night and they really hurt. After being with the kids all day and doing housework etc and Lam didn't get home until 8pm. I wasn't in the best of moods with him. I just wanted him to play with the kids for a couple minutes so I could lay down and all he wanted to do was surf the net reading the news because he heard Anny was one of the 26 people indicted for drug trafficing. Any how we had a match out and I hate to argue when the kids are in the same room but what can you do when your husband responds "just take a pill". Somedays I wished the Lord would have just stopped with Eve, my world would be in a better state, well except I wouldn't give up Micah...he's my boy.

Icecream PhotoShoot

Last night Lam fell asleep around 8:30pm and the kids were still wired up. Micah has been taking his 2nd nap around the time we pick him up which is 6pm so he naps for an hour when we get home and him and Kenzie will be up until 11 or 11:30pm even! So I had them both to entertain.

It was a photo shoot. I saw this awesome awesome picture when I was at applebees last week and it inspired me to copy it. It was the cast from the tv show Friends. They were all sipping on straws from the same milkshake cups and I thought that would be a great valentines photoshoot. My idea was for the four of us to try that at home with the camera on a tripod and automatic timer.

Since Lam was already out I dressed the kids up in pink & red, we took a dozen of me and the kids & then 3 dozen more of just Kenzie and Micah but they wouldn't sip them at the same time. They were having a blast because I put 3 scoops of peacon vanilla icecream combined with rasberry dr pepper in a huge glass cup and they loved the taste. Think I'll try it again tonight, at least it killed some time.

Lao Bamboo Soup Recipe

We ate this last night and I asked my MIL how she made it so I can try next time. (Got one of my New Year's resolution done)

Ingredients:

Chicken Bones
Red Curry powder
Sliced Bamboo shoots
Pork
Fish Sauce
Salt
MSG
Can Chicken Broth
Can Coconut Milk
Noodles
Sliced Cabbage
Carrots
Bean Sprouts
Celantro
Mint leaves

For the soup base:
Boil the chicken bones for the broth, then discard the bones. Fry the curry powder with oil in a pan. Add bamboo shoots and pork. Bring to boil then add fish sauce, salt, coconut milk. The extra can of chicken broth is only needed if you don't have enough bones for the broth, it's all a taste test as to how much of everything you put in.

For the veggie topping:
Mix together the sliced cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts celantro and mint leaves

Mix the noodles with your toppings and soup and enjoy!

Not Pretty

Lam is usually playing blackjack on-line. Micah is trying to help daddy win a hand.



Kenzie always says this when you tell her she's cute or pretty, I'm not pretty, I'm Kenzie or else, I'm not pretty, you're pretty.

I won the Lottery!

Ha, no big 5 million jackpot but I managed to hit the right numbers on the roulette table when we went to Harrah's casino yesterday so it covered by $120 that I was already down plus an extra $50 to pay for my scrapbook supplies I bot! I felt like I won the lottery, what is better than getting free paper and embellishments? I can't think of anything. We also shopped at the Legends and I found $5 sweaters at Anne Taylor. Sweet...nothing like a good sale to put you in a good mood. I'm so glad we get MLK off as a holiday.

I've noticed a few visitors, thanks for leaving a comment...it makes my day :)

Crop Friends

Kenzie made a new Friend. Nicole spent the night at our house after the crop then we went shopping at Hobby Lobby, Scrapbook Garden, and had lunch at Applebees before she had to go home.

I didn't get the red shirt memo :) Here are my TSR crop friends. I'm the one in blue, Teressa is holding back the curtain that was in front of my face and Nicole and Erin are sitting in front. We had a fun Friday night!

Psst...and in other Big news...I found out today my sister is expecting! I'm so happy for her. Man is she lucky to be so fertile, I had to wait 1 year with Kenzie.

7 Layouts

Well I didn't get my goal of 10 completed but 7 in six hours was not too shabby!

The Young Love layout was a scraplift from Jessica Chastain, I love her work :)

Eye candy is from Hillary's Scrap Simple book

Together is a pagemap's sketch

RSVP is for scrap your everyday life class at nycscraps

Countdown 7.5

In 7.5 hours I will be cropping with 4 of my good friends at Scrapfunattic! My friend Nicole will be driving 3 hrs from OK to crop and staying the night with us. I feel bad we have no spare bedroom for her to sleep in. Lam and I put up the day bed that was in the storage room last night, at least that's better than the couch or sofa. I am hoping I will have at least 10 pages completed tonight to share.

I signed up for Debbie Hodge's Scrap your Everyday Life class at http://www.nycscraps.com it starts next Monday, can not wait... she is an awesome instructor. I've also been following along with the free photography class at twopeas, printing out the handouts but haven't had the time to really practice. Another goal for this weekend.

Idol Fan

I actually watched tv last night. It's been a long time since I watched anything. Lam played with the kids downstairs and I was finishing up two loads of laundry while I catched the first auditions for American Idol. There were some pretty good singers on there, I might be hooked this season. I think Paula Abdul is still pretty and I like her outfits, I'd love for my hair to look that good but then again she has a paid hair dresser.

I wanted to watch One Tree Hill too but the kids got tired of playing with Dad so I just saw parts of it.

Micah said a new word last night...."light" He was messing around in the bathroom so I turned them off and he pulled my hand and pointed to the lights and told me he wanted them on. And just when I thought he was finally over his cold, he's starting to sound worse.

I woke up at 6am this morning and finished the page that has been sitting on my scrapdesk for the last 3 days. Just a lift from the DW calendar but one more snapshot page complete. I can't wait until Friday's crop when I can play with all my new papers from TSR and SL's kit.

Work Attire

Just got the email at work today that they will allow us to wear jeans on Friday for either a $3/week or $70 annual donation to the food drive. Lam already bought this button but the engineers only had to pay $50/yr. I don't have a whole lot of slacks to wear so I'll be making my donation.

We had a sub at kickboxing class last night. I didn't think I was getting a good workout at the time because I wasn't sweating but the instructor was making us do a lot of crunches and lunges and I am SORe today!

Tonight is Kenzie's first gymnastic's class in her new session. I think I'm gonna have to buy her a new leotard because the ones from last year are tight.

Funny Sayings

Kenzie surprised me last night as we were saying our prayers together.

I always start by asking her "What'd we forget to do?"
Then she'd reply: "Pray"

Usually it is just me reciting the easy prayer "Mary my mother, be near me this day, at work at home, at school and play." and she'd be sitting there nodding her head but last night I asked her to lead the prayer and she said the whole thing without any prompting too. When she was done, I said to her "I'm so proud of you!"

Then she said, now it's your turn Mommy. So i say it. Then when I finished she say "I'm so proud of you." Totally cracked me up!!!

We've also been telling her that when she starts school this fall, she can't suck thumb, she can't carry her blankie, she can't drink a bottle, and she can't pee her pants. So after her shower the other night she was dressing herself and I noticed she put on her PJ bottoms with no panties. I tell her, you forgot your underwear Kenzie. She replys "I don't wear underwear no more, I'm a big girl now, I go to school" (another good laugh)

Poor Micah had a few hard falls over the weekend. First he falls off the kitchen counter (yes, we are bad parents. I thought Lam had an eye on him and he thought I did but neither of us did) and hits his head. Then at target he fell out of the bottom shopping cart and hit his head again not to mention he is just clumsy and falls down all day long.

Share the Meds

Sickness never seems to leave our house. Micah had a runny nose and was stuffed up all last night so he'd wake up crying nonstop. I just ate a big salad lunch at Logans so I am super sleepy from not only lack of sleep but a big stuffed tummy! And on top of that, I'm all congested too.

My friend Amy is getting married to Mike on 6/7/08! A true accountant for you! I offered to throw a bridal shower for her yesterday and rounded up two other friends to help me out. Showers are a lot of work but they are also fun.

No big plans this weekend. Since I'm not feeling too woopy, will probably stay home. Did take the christmas decor down yesterday. The kids just played in the storage room while I organized things. I need to find some plexiglass to replace the glass I broke. Man, I realzied I just ramble and ramble..... Oh, I'm excited to come home to a fresh clean home. Cleaning lady, thank you.

I'm a Diva!

Well today is the 10th and the scrap-room newsletter is out announcing the news I've been holding on to. I'm January's Diva! Very excited about it but at the same time, I'm kind of nervous. I hate to be the center of attention but at the same time, I like the praise. Wierd huh?

As Diva, I get to post a scrap challenge for the month and mine is to record those family relationships. This is my page for it. My brother Joe is hardly in any of my pictures or albums cuz he always hides away from the camera so I'm glad I could make one with him in it. Makenzie loves playing with him and wanted to wear jeans like Uncle Joe.

Noteworthy

I love this paper line!

Micah's Words

My little boy is expanding his vocabulary daily. Last night his new word was "PURPLE". If you don't know... this is Kenzie's favorite color. They were eating these little jello packs purchased at the asian store and he would pick out the purple one and run to Makenzie and say Sister... purple, kenzie..... purple and give it to her. {how sweet}

Here is the extend of his vocabulary at 15 months
1) Uh Oh
2) Momma
3) Play
4) More
5) Sister
6) Elmo
7) Night Night
8) Snack
9) Bubble
10) Fishy
11) Kenzie
12) Purple
13) Milk
14) Daddy/Papa
15) Grandma/Grandpa (I haven't heard this one but was told he says it)

Doctor Call

Well I learned something new this morning. I put in a call to the pediatrician because Micah's eyes have been getting really bad the last couple of days, some yellow mucas buildup. And this morning it was covering his eyelashes so much it almost closed them shut. He has pink eye. I always thought pink eye is the little swollen bump you get but I guess that is a sty according to the nurse. Anyways eyedrops were ordered.

I did 15 minutes of situps yesterday and the kickboxing class. I weighed myself and I'm at the same weight as last January. At least it hasn't gone up with all the junk I ate over xmas but I sure do feel heavier so I'm cutting out the junk food. Trying at least!

My 2008 Goals

1) To floss daily and make a dentist appt
2) To record those family receipes and learn to cook them
3) Use up my scrap stash
4) Teach the kids Vietnamese and learn laos myself
5) Call family & friends

Exercise and loose weight is a goal too but it's always my #1 goal every year and I never do good at following thru after the 4th month so maybe if I lay off the pressure, I will make it happen on my own.

Revive

"REVIVE" I think that is my word for 2008. I am always finding myself tired & exhausted. I want to change that this year. Gotta find me ways to pick me up and put on a smile everyday.

Let's see what happened this weekend...Friday night there were a ton of little kids at grandmas house so Kenzie did not want to go home with us. She kept on saying not yet when we asked if she was ready to go so she slept there. When I went to pick her up Saturday afternoon she still didn't want to go home because Noc was planning to take all of the kids to see Alvin and the chipmonks.

So with Kenzie gone and Micah to bed early, I got some scrappin done Friday night. Saturday I took Micah with me to the mall to exchange a sweater for Lam. I wanted a nice coat but got a $35 leather (blue) jacket instead. (It was 70% off) While shopping, Micah spotted this little girl, she was probably 4 yrs old, he wanted down and walked right up to her....I swear he was wanting to kiss her or something just like he did to Allison a couple weeks ago. She was actually scared of him and went to her mom and he just kept chasing her.

Lam and I went out to eat at Cibolas. Our total bill for just the two of us was $100.86. Talk about fine dining, our gift certificate that a friend gave us was for $100 and neither of us brought along enough cash to tip so we gave the waitress our credit card for 86cents. She came back and told us her machine was giving her problems so we left a balance on the gift card and will be returning. This was our first time there and the food was yummy! We had fried calamari and lobster tails for appitizers and steaks for the main course. I was warned that they charge you for every little thing, like $7 for bottle water without telling you so I always asked if it came with the meal when they were asking me if I wanted a salad and what side dish. But I didn't think it would be $2 just for the baked potatoe topping. It was just the regular bacon,cheese, and onions. Oh well, it was a free dinner except for tip and the service was very good.

Sunday, kenzie was testing my patience. Lam left after church to work at the car lot and when Kenzie asked where her daddy was, she had a melt down. She wanted to go too and didn't want me to take her. It had to be her dad. This crying went on for 1 hour and 1/2 until he got back home to pick her up. She is totally a Daddy's Girl!

WFD???

Don't ask me, ask my MIL. Gosh am I spoiled, I cook 2 nights out of the week at the most. Every week night Lam's mom cooks dinner for us when we pick up the kids. She has it all prepared hot and waiting for us on the table. One of my new year's resolution is to get these yummy dishes down on recipe cards and try to make them myself! Last night we had some BBQ cow tongue with bamboo and mince noodle and spring rolls. It is one of my favorites! Probably not very appetizing if you don't eat asian food but it was good.

Scrap Goals

I signed up for the BPS Get a LOAD of this class. It's to encourage you to scrap a layout a day. So far so good. Here's from day one. Day 2 completed but not uploaded yet.

Happy '08!

This is the whole crew we had at Moody Gardens. Such a fun vacation!

Today is my first day back to work after an 11 day weekend. It was so hard to get up but it was my fault for staying up til 1am reading the MB. Kenzie was up with me til midnight playing with her doll house she got for christmas.

I took the xmas tree down but the decorations are still up. Went to Office Depot with Micah yesterday to buy some folders and boxes so I can get all my receipts organized. I am going to be much better at it this year, no more clutter!

Lam ordered us new cell phones. He's been wanting one with internet access for quite some time. Our current contract with Verizon won't be up til March but they were having an end of year sale so he had to get us the Palm Centro. I haven't had time to play with it much but I now have text messaging so if anyone wants to send me one...I will text you back!