Today

Here is our little missy M with my sports bra on. She is in such a hurry to grow up! hee hee. Steve said she played with my bra for about 5 mintues and then he ran and got the camera!

Too funny.

We ended up going to the farmer's market today down in Mpls. Steve bought some more pickles to pickle. That's about all!

For Labor day we are probley just going to go to the como zoo. We have a bunch of ticket we need to use up at the kiddieland rides. Madison will have fun.

Oh, I put a new poll up to the right of this blog entry. I am trying to decide on how to spell Madison's nickname. Yes, YOU our friends will help determine how we should spell our child's nickname. Not that anyone really cares, but I have spelled it different too many times and thought it's about time we narrow it down to one spelling. So, get your votes in. I'll leave it up there for a month.

Happy September

Happy Friday

Just a little cute layout of Maddy. I don't know how I should spell Madison's name when I use Maddie. I could get very urban and spell it Madi. Hmmmm, I spell it a few different ways right now so maybe I'll post a new poll after the other poll is done with.
Oh...happy friday. whoo hoo.
Tonight I am going to go down to my sister Lynn's house and help her start painting her porch. She has this really great porch that she doesn't utilize. I am forcing her (not really) to do something great with it! We are going to paint is a awesome red color and then I want her to put white lights in there! Not sure if she'll go for the white lights but I am sure after she sees how great the red looks she'll go for it.
Well, gotta go pick up my little Maddy. Or Maddie, or Madi, or Mady, or Madee.

Today

Alexis and Jimmy went with us to the State Fair last night and they stayed over because Alexis left for Africa with the Navy gaurds this morning. I made a little layout for them. It's been great seeing them so much lately!

Madison and I had a fabulous day today! It was one of those Mommy days that every mother wishes for...the child is behaving, the mother is connecting perfectly to the child, the mother has patience, the child is happy and not whiny, the weather is perfect, we get the park all to ourselves, the child is beyond cute, the mother is just happy.......YES, one of those days. We actually even went down to the park twice. I got all involved with the sandcastle that I was building and trying to perfect to a tee (okay, I was pretending it was a 3 tiered wedding cake) and even though when Madison saw it and smooched it, I was still pretty dang proud of my perfectionism. No camera was with or you could bet there would be a photo of it to proudly display.

Even at Target she was good and for the first time in a long time we got to go without having to go up and down the toy isle. She was just such a good little girlie today! I bought us some clay (I determined that this afternoon was going to be craft day) and we cut out little squares and baked the clay so we could paint them and make refridgerator magnets out of them. She is still full of paint sleeping in bed right now. I will have to give her a tubbies in the morning!

Does anyone know Ty's email address? I can't find it. You can post it below under comments.

The Michaels

The Slide

State Fair

We ended up going to the State Fair last night. It was pretty fun! It rained a little bit but was more of a mist, so that was no biggie. Unbelievably, I didn't eat much there (shock, shock) so I am feeling pretty good today and not having a state fair hangover (food). Here is a layout of the child...

One more layout today...

Just had to play around abit more with my new papers. That's all I have time for. How fun! Well, I am off to the bank and to get car tabs. Fun stuff.

Finally my internet is back on! Last night we had some horrible storms again and it blew out the cable and internet. Jeepers....talk about withdrawl! I was expecially going through withdrawls because one of the designers that I do layouts for gave me a 20.00 gift certificate to spend at any digital paper store I want for me using her papers in the book that I was published in! I knew I had a 20 bucks to be able to spend and there was NO internet.

That was such a awesome gift for me. I choose this place called weeds and wildflowers at http://weedsandwildflowersdesign.com/. They have very cute stuff there. Here is a layout I did using their stuff. We did not get any damage from the storm. It was a pretty bad one...even Steve said something about us all going downstairs. Madison slept through it though!

We are going to try to go to the State Fair today with Jimmy and Alexis. I hope it doesn't rain because I don't think we'll go if it does. But who knows. I already promised Madison we were going....suppose I shouldn't of said anything to her. She did NOT want to go to daycare today to see her buddies and I had to brive her with letting her bring her HUGE gigantic monkey. Here is a photo of it (btw, the monkey is the orange one - hee hee):

When the kids saw her walk in with it, they yelled out "woah!!!!!!". Apparently she is the "it" girl today.
Oh, while I was internet deprived, I made a little blinkie for our family....That is will be it for blinkies for awhile as I burned myself out making the last 2. Here it is:

I just created this blinkie for one of the women I design for. Do ya like it? You might not know what a blinkie is. It is something that you use as a tag to your name to show who you design for if you are on a creative team in the digi scrapbooking world. Now you know! Not sure how else these are used. I figured out how to do these so now I am wanting to make blinkies for everything. This is another sleepless night, so I am able to do silly things like this. It actually takes a long time to make a blinkie. This one probley took about 1 hour to make. I am SURE this is way more information than you have ever wanted to know about a blinkie. Maybe you'll have it in a trivia question or something and you'll remember this blog entry about blinkies.
I'll let everyone be now and get off this subject.

Saturday

On Saturday we (me, Madison, Auntie Lynnie and Logan) went to this super awesome pool in Shakopee. It is a sand filled pool so it's like a beach at the lake, but still is a pool. I am so bummed that we didn't get there earlier this summer. Oh well...next summer I think we might get a pass there for the summer. That's how cool it is. Madison was too afraid to go on the slides that went into the water, so maybe next year she'll be out of the phase. I'm sure she'll be in another phase that will prevent her from wanting to do something.
Before we went to the pool we went to the park and played around abit. This is Loggie on the little kids stuff. He's funny. He's so good with Madison!

Well, TyTy is back off to college! We didn't know he was going to leave for school when he did. I wanted to take him shopping to get some school stuff. We took him earlier shopping for clothes so he has that at least. But still...i LOVE going school shopping for supplies. I am going to send him a little care package of stuff...so Ty, if you are reading this, tell me what else you need besides short and medium socks. Do you need notebooks or pens/pencils or anything? You can leave a comment under this blog entry and I will get it sent out to you asap. I may attempt to make you cookies again, but the last time I did that I just ended up eating them all, so we'll have to see!
Here is a little video of Madison swinging....fun stuff but still kinda boring! I am waiting for some good film footage to get on here!

Laughter

This is my all time favorite layout right now....not sure why cuz it's really simple, but I LOVE Madison laughing in the photo! The quote is pretty cool too!

Trading Spouses

Well, this weekend so far has been fun! Alexis is staying over the weekend so she can do her navy weekend at Fort Snelling! Steve went down to Jim's for the weekend. We are kinda "trading spouses" for the weekend! hee hee. They are putting in windows at their farm. Now Steve will know how to put windows in for our house! yeah! Madison is having a blast with her here! Here's a little video of the two of them playing out in the sandbox. Make sure you stay tuned for Madison's partial A-B-C's. Is she following in Tyler's footsteps or what?

My Book has arrived!

These are the layouts that are in my book! There are 4 of them! How exciting to see my work published! All the paper that was used (digital paper) was from one of the women that I design layouts for using the paper that she designs. Her name is Berna Datema and has outstanding work. I was very excited when I found her designs and even more so when I got to start doing my layouts for her. She is going to start giving freebies out to those of us who have blogs so if you ever want to give digital scrapbooking a try, you have to look no further than my own blog! How fun! I just can get into my digital scrapbooking so much. Anyways...very cool to see my work being published in a book. Remember, if you want to order a book you can go to their (memory mania) website to order the book at: http://www.memorymaniac.com/

Today

Although it may appear all I've done is sit at my computer making layouts and playing, let it be known that it took me the last 5 hours to clean the office and make my desk look like this....(Steve will be so happy!)

I did do this funky layout of Tyler as an incentive to stay in this room and clean. It was BRUTAL cleaning in here.....and very, very dusty.

Happy Birthday Jake & Hunter

Boring Videos

I finally got this to work! Here's two little videos of Madison. VERY boring....I know, but it's so fun to put video on my blog. I'll try to work on my media content. hee hee.

Here's a little layout of the Michaels household to start off your Monday!

Camp Snoopy

Here's our little Miss Sunshine on the carasouel at Camp Snoopy. We put her hair in ponytails today because we told her she looks like "Boo" from Monster's Inc. That's the only way she would let me get her hair up!

I'm trying to upload some video (my latest obsession) but it is not working for me. If you see any videos above, I obiviously got it to work.

Anyways...here are some more photos of us at Camp Snoopy...

Madison and her boots.

Madison is obsessed with wearing her lil' cowboy boots. I made a layout of them.

Not much going on....we were going to go to the Cabin with Jimmy and Alexis and Dan but decided not go because of the baby and the fact it's too hard to be someplaces with her and nothing for her to do. Good thing we didn't go because it was cold and rainy!

Saturday Grandma Gracie and Auntie Lynnie came over and we just hung out. It was really fun. We watched some home movies and then went to Kohl's and then to Applebees for supper. It was fun hanging out on a rainy day!

Today we are going to go to the Mall of America and just hang out there. Too icky outside to do anything outdoors. Madison will get to go on all her little rides at Camp Snoopy or what ever it's called these days!

Tyler is Home Again!!!!

See him in action! Push the arrow and watch him!

Don't get a crick in your neck from watching this turned sideways *watch at your own risk!*. This is so awesome that I can get these videos on my blog! Ty came home last night again for summer break! Tonight he entertained us with his uncycle! Fun to watch him. He says he practices about 1/2 hr a day! Talent runth over da boy!

Madison got herself a pair of these awesome cowboy boots at a gargage sale...aren't they cute?

A Video.

This is a video that I created for our first anniversary. I just figured out how you can put video on this blog so I am doing a test. Make sure your sound is up on your computer and then hit the arrow in the middle of the screen above. This is sooo cool. Sometimes it pays not to be able to sleep and just play around on the computer. Shoot...now I am going to want to make more of my own movies. I want to figure out how to take video off my camera....I can't even remember if I can do that or not. Holy cow this is taking forever for this video to process....jeepers, maybe I won't be putting too many of these videos on here!

My Book

One of my scrapbooking books that I am being published in can be ordered online if you go to this site: http://www.memorymaniac.com/. The price seems high at 20.99 so I suggest you wait until I get my free copy first and maybe you just want to LOOK at it without paying the price. I am sure the excitement will wear off after you see it once. But if you feel you must order the book then go to http://www.memorymaniac.com/ and you will see it on the left hand side. I am really excited to see it finally. No word yet when the other book will be coming out. It is suppose to be at the end of summer which is now, but apparently their printing schedule is behind at the moment.
I have not submitted to anymore books or magazines. I kind of got my fill from getting these pieces published. If it paid more than I would but a free book and 20 to 40 bucks is not worth the work it goes into submitting them. Designing them is one thing....that is really fun for me and I get satisfaction from that, but to submit them is a long and boring process. Now I can just say "been there, done that" when asked if I have been published before. Plus I can put it on my resume (for all those customer service crap jobs that have nothing to do with graphics that I want nothing to do with -hee hee). Boy, do I ramble on and on.

Nothing Days

Here's one of my favorite layouts...not sure why but I LOVE these colors!

Not much is happening these days...Yesterday Madison and I went down to Auntie Lynnie's house. We were suppose to of gone to the Shakopee pool but it was just too cold/icky out to go swimming. So instead, we went to Michaels and Walmart *only got the necessities*! Madison was soooo good that she got to ride a little ride at Walmart and then got to jump on Auntie Lynnies trampoline in her back yard!

Tonight our friends Jim and Alexis are coming up from their farm in Farmington, and together with another friend Dan, are going to get together. We were all suppose to go to Dan's lake cabin but we aren't going to go because we don't want to get another babysitter for Madison because she was just at Grandma Gracie's and Auntie Kim's while we were in Sturgis. Tonight we'll go out to dinner with all of them. Madison's babysitter from across the street will babysit her.

Here's a picture of Jimmy and Alexis:

Well, gotta go because my dramatic child just flung herself on the floor because I told her she can't have a popsicle. Somehow we'll find a way for her to survive!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Happy Birthday Mommy. Hope it was a good day for you:) Love you!

Back from Sturgis!

We are finally back from Sturgis. We had such a blast there but wished Nana and Papa could of stayed abit longer than they did! Thank you again Wes and Donna for letting us stay with you. We sincerly appreciate it! It was nice to be able to spend some time visiting! Thanks again!
We had a great time! On Thursday we biked down to Stugis in the 100 degree heat and just hung out doing what you do in Stugis (well...not really cuz we are a bit milder than most). Obiviously lot of motorcycles....

One of the highlights of our trip was watching ULTIMATE FIGHTING. I was pretty shocked by my reaction and how much I love watching the fights. Expecially between the girls which was just nuts.

We met alot of new friends (edited for your viewing pleaure)...

On Friday we went through Custard Park and Keystone which was just gorgeous...

We went to the casinos down in Deadwood (never did go to the one that Kevin Costner owns). I won about $125.00 and then we played on that the rest of the night. We must of won more because we came back with 100.00! We sat down and played Black Jack with a bunch of really drunk guys who were very funny. Very fun night.

On Saturday we went back down to Sturgis and just once again hung out. Then we went back to Wes and Donna and got to catch up with Steve's cousins, Paula and her husband Mark and their kids Shelby and Levi and had dinner with them all. It was nice seeing them again. Last time in 2005, we stayed with them. It's nice to be able to catch up with family.

Here is my favorite picture of Steve on the entire trip.

Finally...leaving for Sturgis

Here I am.....with biker headgear (*disclaimer....a head scarf from Target) ready to leave for Sturgis. We were going to leave at 4:00am and then I got Steve talked going at 2:00 am and NOW he has bowed down to the queen (me) and agreed to leave at 12:00 after he sleeps for 2 hours. Me on the other hand was drinking just a tad too much coffee all day and now I am totally wired and hyper. Hence me taking pictures of me in my biker headgear.

Also, thanks Mommy for watching Maddie on Wed, Thurs & Friday and Auntie Kimmy on Sat & Sunday! I sooo appreciate it! We need this little vacation badly!

Riddle...

What do you get when you take a 42 year old man-boy, throw in some bloody marys and beer, and sprinkle a little boredom in?

THIS...





THAT, my friends, is floating in our pond.

Class Reunion layout

Just a layout I did with "the girls" from my 20 year high school reunion. We honestly all look the same. Just smaller hair.
Well, Madison and I are soon off to go over to my mom's house. We are leaving for Sturgis on Thursday morning at 4 am (eeks) and I decided to go stay over at my mom's house with the baby so Wed night when I leave her there it's just not like I dropped her off and am leaving her. It's going to be hard to be away from her for 4-5 nights. But I am soooo looking forward to going to Sturgis. Steve is managing to ride the Harley with his heematoba surroga leg (or what ever it's called). I can't wait to be a biker babe for a short week. I can't wait for all the photos I will be taking. Fun, Fun. Last time we went there were plenty of interesting people and things to take photos of.
See you all when I get back!

hahahaaha.....this picture was taken at our (mine and Kim's) class reunion. We dressed our husbands the same (unknowingly). This is the ultimate funny brother in law photo ever in our family. Of course only Kim and I think it's funny. No one else really gets it as much as we do! I laugh everytime I see it. hee hee.

Ty&Maddie

Just love doing layouts of Tyler and Maddie. Not sure when Ty will go back to College...either this week or next week, so I am trying to get as many photos with the two of them as possible. They are soooo cute together.

We went to the Uptown Art Fair today. Pretty Cool stuff. Ty's never seen Todd's woodstuff and thought it was pretty cool. Madison referred to Uncle Todd as "that guy". Pretty funny. Anyways, saw some cool artsy fartsy stuff and now I am all inspired and want to CREATE. We also sat and watched some guys tap and dance and do some cool drumming on buckets and Ty is all inspired to dance and perform. Steve is still looking for his own niche', hee hee. Gotta go!

20 Year Class Reunion

Well, had my class reunion tonight. I wanted to look through the photos so I downloaded them and decided to also blog! It was pretty much fun all around to go to the reunion and see everyone. Fun to watch the same people who still act the same and then to get into conversations with others that I didn't know all that well or lost touch with. Here is a photo of our entire class....

It was nice to actually see my whole group of friends....here's a photo of us...

It was fun but to tell you the truth, 20 years really isn't long enough yet for me to miss high school. I think the best thing though for the entire night was when other's asked me "how things were going" I got to say back to them, "life is really good for me right now". I am lucky to have a wonderful husband and beautiful daughter and a great stepson. I guess that made me feel good to be able to say that to them and it be the truth.

Here are the rest of the reunion photos!