4th of July Weekend

We had a nice 4th of July. Beth had to work, so we had a cookout after she got home. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and macaroni & cheese. Later in the evening, we shot off fireworks. We put on a good show!

Today (Sunday), I was FINALLY able to finish Ethan's alphabet book. The album is an 8 x 8 Pioneer album. I put Colorbok chipboard letters, covered in Colorbok chipboard letter stickers, on the cover. The cardstock used for the base of the pages is by The Paper Company. I used the Zooballoo Cricut cartridge to cut all the animals and letters. The letters on the title page and end page were cut from adhesive-backed cardstock I bought from QVC, and all the other letters and animals were cut from Bazzill cardstock. The animals are attached on the outside of the page protectors with velcro so Ethan can take them off and put them back on. I used my YourStory machine to laminate the animals.

Weekend Went By Fast!

I can't believe it's Sunday night already! It's been such a busy weekend. Yesterday I watched Ethan while Beth was working. Then yesterday evening we went to the Shoreland Festival and then watched fireworks after that.

Today we went to the fireworks store in Michigan, Platos Closet, Menards, Lowe's and then finally home. We had leftover spaghetti for dinner.

At least this is a 4 day work week, since Friday is a holiday. I will then have a full work week the week after and then vacation the week after that. I'm really looking forward to having Russ and Larry home!

June Is A Busy Month!

June 10th was Mother's birthday, as well as Andy's 16th birthday! I'm glad I was able to get him a present he really wanted - a bigger hard drive for his XBox 360. We gave Mother money. After Mother and Andy opened their presents, we went to Bob Evans for dinner.

While Beth was outside, I decided to take pictures of Ethan and me. Here is one that I really like of the both of us. Look at the little devil posing!

On June 16th, the Toledo Zoo had an employee night. For this, the employees and their families got to see the new area that would be opening on the 19th. Ethan loved the goats, as you can tell by his face in the picture below.

On Father's Day, we set up Ethan's pool. Here he is sitting in it. He didn't even wait until he got his swimming trunks on! We had a cookout, and our menu was hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad and chips. It wasn't much, but after all the work we did that day, it was good.

Did A Little More Scrapping

Last night I worked some more on Ethan's alphabet album. I have one letter, an "a", that I need to recut because when I ran it through the Xyron, it flipped over and the adhesive is on the wrong side. I'm excited to be in the finishing stages of this project. Hopefully I can finish it tonight and post some pictures.

I plan to also make Ethan albums on counting and colors.

Giveaway On a Cool Blog

I saw a post on the CKMB for a giveaway on the Picture to Paper blog. Here is the link: http://picturetopaper.blogspot.com/ Look at the post titled Favorite Friday.

I looked around the blog and they have some really great projects. I've added it to the Places I Like To Visit.

Just thought I'd share with you.

Did Some Scrapping Over the Weekend

On Saturday night and all day Sunday, I used my Cricut and cut out all the animals and letters I need to make Ethan's alphabet album. Now I just have to trim cardstock down to 8x8, laminate the animals and then start assembling. I can't wait to get it done! I'll make sure to post pictures of the album here. Hopefully tonight I can do some work on it as well, but who knows if I'll have time. If not, I'll definitely work on it tomorrow night.

I also have to make birthday cards for Mother and Andy, since their birthday is next week.

The Weekend Is Here

I'm so glad that the weekend is finally here. Tonight I watched Ethan while Beth was working. He was being silly and we played a lot. Then all of a sudden he got tired and was ready for bed.

My plan for tomorrow is to start cutting out the animals for Ethan's alphabet book. I'll have to start it when Ethan takes his nap, and once he wakes up, I'll have to wait until Beth is home from work to start cutting again. I'm excited to start working on his book. I'm going to laminate the animals and attach them with velcro on the outside of each page. That way he can take the animals off and put them back on.

This Seems Like the Longest Short Work Week!

I know this is a short work week, but it sure does seem like a long one! I wish the weekends would seem as long.

At least when I get home from work, Ethan comes running to me and gives me a kiss. It's so cute! He sure is developing quite a personality. He likes to play and giggle a lot. At the store he'll sit in the cart and just chatter away. Then when I answer him by saying "Is that right?", he'll start shaking his head no. Sometimes he shakes his head so fast that he gets dizzy.

Hopefully tomorrow when I get home from work I can start cutting out the animals on my Cricut for Ethan's alphabet book. I can't wait to work on it and see Ethan's face when I get it done. He loves books.

Summer Is Right Around the Corner

Today was so humid, that you couldn't help but know that summer is right around the corner. We had on and off thunderstorms today. I just hope that we don't have too hot of a summer.

On May 17th, Beth, Andy, Ethan and I went to Pearson Park. Here are some pictures:

Here is Ethan swinging

Here are Andy and Beth with Ethan on the slide. You can tell by Andy and Beth's face that they are enjoying the time with Ethan. It's nice to see Brother and Sister enjoying time together.

I love the next two pictures of Beth and Ethan. They didn't know I was snapping pictures, but you sure can tell the special bond that Mother and Son have in these photos.

Ethan sure was tired after we got home from the park. He went to bed early and slept pretty well.

In the following picture, Ethan is 19 months old! He's such a ham!

We had a nice Memorial Day. Our menu was hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, corn on the cob, potato salad and chips. We went the easy route and clean up was a breeze since we used paper plates and plastic silverware. Here is a picture of Buster enjoying the sun.

I've Got To Start Blogging More!

I made myself a goal to update my blog more often. I started out fine, but have been really lax about it lately. I'm seriously going to try to get better about it.

This weekend I plan to upload pics from my camera to the computer. When I do that, I'll post a couple of the pics.

Well, I'll be leaving work shortly to start the Memorial Day weekend! I can't wait to have an extra day off!

First Day of May

Really? May already? The first half of the year is almost over. I'm not sad though, because now we are getting into warmer weather. Now if only we could get it to stop raining so much.

This is also Larry's birthday. We wish he was here to celebrate with us, but we'll have to make up for it when he's home in July.

Sunday is Mom's 85th birthday. We will be celebrating on Saturday though. Hopefully I'll be able to get a five generations picture with her. I'm going to bake and decorate a cake and we'll surprise her.

The Sun Is Shining

This sun is shining today and it's about 60 degrees out. Tomorrow and Saturday is supposed to be about 80 degrees. Time to get the screens in the windows and open the windows to get rid of all the stale air in the house. I love the nice weather and having windows open.

Now that it's getting nice, we can take Ethan outside so he can blow bubbles. He's got so many different wands to use. I also joined the zoo, so I'm sure we'll be making many trips therel

Spring Weather

I can really tell Spring is here. The past weekend was beautiful! Saturday (4/18) was about 70 degrees, so I took Ethan to the Toledo Zoo to see Beth. Sunday was a little cooler, but still nice. Then the rain hit today and is supposed to stay until Wednesday afternoon.

We had a nice Easter this year. The night before Easter, we colored eggs with Ethan. He did a really good job, and didn't throw a single egg. I think he's going to look forward to coloring eggs every year. Beth "hid" eggs for Ethan to find in the backyard, and Ethan really enjoyed it! Here are some pictures.

Secret Easter Bunny Swap

On the CKMB, I organized a Secret Easter Bunny Swap for the MITW group. I received my package yesterday from gotscrapz (Sarah). Here is a pic of the goodies she sent.

I can't wait to start using all of this!

Spring Is Here

I'm so glad Spring is finally here. Now I hope the weather warms up a little more too. I plan to start walking in the evening and will take Ethan with me if it's nice enough.

Speaking of Ethan, he is just on the go all the time. I think the only time he is still is when he's sleeping. He wears himself out walking all around the house. He's 17 months old now! How time flies. Here are a couple of pictures of him.

There's never a dull moment with Ethan around!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

My day started out taking Beth for a CAT scan this morning. After that, we picked up Brad and went to the Mud Hens stadium for Beth and Brad to put in applications. After that we dropped Brad off at work. After spending some time at home, Beth and I went to Hobby Lobby before picking Brad up at work. We went to China One for dinner and had to pick up Andy's dinner from Golden City. Andy didn't want to go out today.

Tonight I'm just trying to get caught up on some shows on the DVR.

MemoryWorks Independent Scrapbook Consultant

I decided to renew my agreement to be a MemoryWorks Independent Scrapbook Consultant. I figured if nothing else, I can support my habit at a discount on some supplies. Of course if anyone else is interested in having a gathering or buying supplies, I would love to help them out!

Got a Lot of Scrapping Done

Last weekend, I went to Sauders with Wendy for a scrapping weekend. I got so much done! I did 22 layouts and 7 Valentine's Day cards. It was so much fun, and I plan to go back in October for another weekend. Here are a couple of the cards I made that weekend, with the exception of the ribbon that I added tonight.

I don't know why the hears on the ribbon show up purple, they are actually light pink.

I still have some more Valentine's Day cards to make. Then I have a few birthday cards to make. Looks like tomorrow night is going to be a card making night!

Friday!!!

I'm so glad today is Friday! It seems like I've been on the go every night after work since Beth moved back home. This weekend I'm going to try to get the house more organized.

I can't wait for the weekend of February 6th! I'm going to a scrapbooking weekend with Wendy at Sauders. It'll be so nice to be able to devote time just to scrapping!

Ethan is doing very well since he came home from the hospital. I hope we won't have to go through that again. It was very scary to see him looking so bad.

A Lot Has Happened

Since my last post, a lot has happened around here.

Pat decided he didn't want to be married anymore and filed for divorce. Beth, while being upset at first, is actually relieved. She wasn't happy, especially since Pat was constantly trying to tell her what she could do, who she could hang out with and nagging her to go to his family's holiday gatherings while he was deployed. He also showed signs of violence when he was home the end of December, which she nor Ethan need. I also just found out that while Beth was trying to plan her wedding/renewal of vows for July, Pat's mom kept taking over things, so Beth wasn't even having fun with that. I told Beth that in the future when she decides to get married, she will get the wedding she wants.

Then, on January 7th, Ethan was admitted to the hospital for dehydration. He was very bad off. We took him to Toledo Hospital ER on January 6th because he had not been able to keep anything down since the 4th, and they sent us home. He got worse, so we took him to St. Anne's ER on January 7th. The nurse couldn't believe that Toledo Hospital sent us home because of how bad Ethan was. Luckily we got him to St. Anne's on the 7th, and then they transferred him to St. V's. He stayed in the hospital until the 11th. You wouldn't even know he was so sick. He's such a good little boy, and it's great to see him back to normal like nothing happened. Here are some pictures of him in the hospital. The last one was taken the day we got to bring him home.



Well, I'd better get off her so we can get some more stuff done around the house. It's been a total disaster since we had to move Beth's stuff in in one day and then spent time at the hospital with Ethan.

Over 2 Months Without a Post!

I have seriously neglected posting to my blog! I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I last posted.

Things have been pretty busy at work, and I'm usually so tired after getting home. I'm so glad that I am now on vacation until January 5th. YEAH!!!

Beth has been looking at wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses, we've booked the dj and will be meeting with the photographer after the first of the year. The wedding will be here before we know it!

Ethan is growing like a weed. The end of November he started walking. He looks so cute cruising around! He had his picture taken with Santa - twice. The first time, he looks like he's about to cry in the picture, and the second time he was just fine. Here are the pictures:



Beth and I are supposed to make cookies today. We are going to do cut-out sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies and peanutbutter cookies. We'll probably have to do some of them tomorrow when she gets off work.

Ethan's 1st Birthday

Ethan's 1st Birthday was Sunday, October 12. We had the party at my house. There were 17 guests. I made and decorated the cake and cupcakes. I also made a little birthday cake for Ethan. They are shown in some of the pictures here. Ethan sure did get a lot of nice gifts! He had a big day. He fell asleep while finishing his dinner that Jane was feeding him. He really enjoyed his cake though! We had a beautiful day for the party! It was in the upper 70s and was perfect for being outside. Jane and Don brought over their canopy, which was perfect.

I've Got a Lot to Get Done

Tonight I've got to finish clearing everything out of what is supposed to be my scraproom so I can get my scraproom set up. This way I can move the computer out of the livingroom and into the scraproom. I need to have this done before Ethan's birthday party on October 12th.

I also need to make Ethan's birthday card and alphabet book before his party. I'd like to get all the housework done tonight and tomorrow and then work on his card and book the entire weekend.

I've also got to do Halloween cards and get started on my Christmas cards. Where has the year gone?

Finally Starting To Feel Better

I've been sick just about all week, but last night was the worst. I kept getting chills and had an awful headache. At least it seems like I was able to sleep it off. Today I've only got a stuffy nose. I can't wait until it is completely gone!

Ethan is 11 Months Old Today

I can't believe Ethan is 11 months old today. Just another month and he'll be a year old! I have taken his picture on the 12th of each month since his birth. I'm going to make a scrapbook of his first year, and plan to do a page that has his picture for each month from birth to a year old. It's going to be fun to put together. I'm also going to make him an alphabet book with animals he can take off the page.

Did a Little Scrapping Tonight

I had some time tonight, so I decided to do a little scrapping. I got a 2 page layout done of Beth & Pat's wedding. It is a very simple layout.

Magical Memories is Closing

I received an e-mail today that Magical Memories is closing their doors. It was sad to hear, especially since everyone there is so nice. I also was disappointed because Wendy and I were going to attend a Friday night and Saturday crop later this month. Those have now been cancelled. I guess we'll have to make trips to Archiver's. I won't be able to go to Magical Memories on Monday when she opens here doors with everything marked down, but Beth and Mother will be going and checking things out for me. I'm going to give them a list of things that I want if they have them there at a reduced price.

Cricut 201 Class at Magical Memories

Wendy and I went to the Cricut 201 class at Magical Memories tonight and it was a lot of fun. We learned how to cut things for layering, as well as making a cute card. I now understand the way to read the manuals and how to put together everything. I hope to do some scrapbooking this weekend and use the Cricut a lot.

Some Photos from Washington Trip

I finally downloaded photos from my trip to Washington. The top photo is Dad with Larry and his family; the second photo is of Larry, Evelyn, Lawrence & Christopher; the third photo is me with Larry and his family and the bottom two photos are Montana skies.