Who? What? Where?....Wen!

YIKES!

2008-06-13T13:52:00.003-04:00

So I hinted a couple of days ago a little something about Lyme's disease. Well...The Gooch has got it, or at least he's being treated for it. We went camping in Upper New York State on Victoria day weekend, and when we got home on Monday night we noticed a red bite on the Gooch's tummy, but I thought it was a mosquito bite and dediced to wait to see what would happen. Fast forward three days later and his little "innocent" bite is now the shape of a bull's eye or target about an inch in diameter. Internet here I come! Now, normally I'm not one to believe everything that's on the Net, but I kinda knew what I was looking for, and the Net seemed to prove to me that our little Goochie has somehow gotten bitten by a deer tick and now appeared to have the typical bull's eye rash associated with it. I called my pediatrician, and in we went to see her. We were put in isolation...not that Lyme's disease is contagious, but ya never know---after all I was diagnosing my son based on some pictures I had seen on some skin/rash website. Our pediatrician was a little leery to say that it was indeed Lyme's disease cause The Gooch didn't have the flu like symptoms to go with my story...hmmm, I wasn't convinced, but I thought I'd give it one more day.

Woke up in the morning and found THIS in my little guy's tummy:

Yup, I was SURE it was Lyme's, so back we went to the pediatrician's...and back we went into isolation...

She still wasn't convinced, but wanted a second opinion from a dermatologist. Sure. No Problem. NOT! There was not one dematologist on the West Island who cold see my guy until OCTOBER!!!! Say what? THIS IS AN EMERGENCY PEOPLE! But I digress...

We ended up in the emergency department of the Montreal Children's Hospital (great place by the way---and it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I work there!) I had worked the night before, so keep in mind that I was a little giddy and WAAAYYYYY overtired from a 12 hour shift, but everyone was awesome and very understanding, and after three and a half hours of seeing every specialty under the sun, voila! he'll be treated for Lyme's disease. No duh. So we started a three week course of Amoxil. The Gooch was a trooper and he took his meds VOLUNTARILY, God love him!

And then, six days later, THIS happened...

I have to admit, that even though I'm a nurse and suspected an allergic reaction to the Amoxil, I was still FREAKED OUT! So, off to the pediatrician's office again, but this time with a different rash, still the same isolation room (they really gotta change up the books in that room cause we must have read them a dozen times each...)

So, we changed the antibiotic to Ceftin and headed back down to New York and some more camping with the ticks (but we had some DEET with us this time!) We tried to give The Gooch the new med and he vomited EVERYWHERE! Add this to the fact that our poor little trooper now has big time diarrhea from the Amoxil... We never did get a dose of that med into him, and the poor guy vomited a couple more times after that as well.

Oh, and his rash got WORSE before it got better:

Well, we came home on Sunday night, very tired, and on Monday we changed his med once again, and this time it seems to be working (except that we have to bribe The Gooch with M&M's with every dose...smalll price to pay I'd say)

And THAT'S what's been going on with me!

Bad blogger!...bad,bad blogger!

2008-06-05T07:45:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I've been kinda neglecting my blog, and it's not like there hasn't been anything happening to blog about... For example, did you know that Lyme disease has nothing to do with citrus fruit of ANY type? Stay tuned...

Grieving is hard...especially long distance...

2008-04-29T13:10:00.004-04:00

I found out yesterday that my Uncle Art, who has been suffering with heart disease for several years, has passed away peacefully in hospital in BC. It 's incredibly difficult to hear that a great man has now moved on to better things, but I am even more saddened by the fact that I can't be there to celebrate his life with my aunt and cousins... I wish them the best and send big hugs and kisses. My family have had a very emotional past couple of months, and the only thing that brings me comfort is that the ones we love and now mourn are in a better place, a place without pain or suffering.

God bless...

Happy Birthday...

2008-04-06T11:33:00.001-04:00

In loving memory, Happy Birthday...

Some more challenge stuff

2008-04-03T11:28:00.002-04:00

I think this contest may be coming to a close, and I've already got enough points to participate, but I decided to do two more LOs for it anyway...

March On-Line Crop

2008-03-25T16:20:00.002-04:00

I participated in the Scraptivity online crop, and managed to get six layouts done, despite having to run around for easter egg hunts and suppers (by the way, thanks for all of that...it made a lot less work for me!) Here's what I completed this long weekend...
A quick thanks to scrapmomof2 for the lift!

And also the ribbon challenge for week 10 (a little late, but c'est la vie...) It was my attempt to get a "nice" photo of my two hooligans for easter...didn't really work out as well as I had hoped!

ABCDEFG I've been tagged by Tanya B!

2008-03-20T20:40:00.006-04:00

Alrighty, I was tagged by Tanya in some form of alphabet answer format, so here goes...

A- Attached or single: Very happily attached

B- Best Friend: Is it cheesy to say Steve?

C- Cake or Pie: Cake (especially if it's chocolate...or cheesecake...or spice cake...or angel food cake...alright, pretty much ANY cake...oh, and pie, but only apple...or pecan...or chocolate cream...or any Rockaberry pie...)

D- Day of Choice: Saturday

E- Essential Item in your purse: purse? I still carry a diaper bag for crying out loud, so I guess my essential item would be diapers and wipes (technically that's two items, but you can't have one without the other! Well, I guess you could but it would be MESSY!)

F-Favorite type of music: really love the Beatles, but will listen to anything, except heavy metal and country

G- Gummy Bears or Worms: gummy bears...do you know that if you lick the back of a gummy bear it will stick to a car window? I'll now take the time to apologize to anyone in Kingston who may have woken up to find their car windows and rearview mirrors decorated with tiny rainbow coloured gummy bears...

H- Hometown: Pierrefonds

I- Indulgence(s): red wine, chocolate and pedicures (well, not at the same time, but man, that would be one awesome esthetician!)

J- January or July: July

K- Kids: 2

L - Last movie: last movie I saw in the theater was Enchanted with Ella, otherwise I saw some rather thrilling Baby Einstein movies this week (real suspenseful stuff, had me on the edge of my seat the whole 30 minutes!)

M- Marriage Date: October 12, 2002

N- Number of Siblings: 1 younger sister

O- Oranges or Apples: apples

P- Phobias or Fears: SPIDERS and VERMIN like mice and rats!

Q- Quote(s): "If you build it, they will come"...okay, that's not really a quote I live by, but I was stumped and it's the first thing that came to mind...

R- Reason To Smile: my family

S- Season: Autumn

T- Tag: nope, not gonna do it!

U- Unknown Fact About Me: My parents almost named me Heidi...Yodelei-hee-hoo!

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: CARNIVORE!

W- Worst Habit: I bite the inside of my cheeks and lips...

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasound

Y- Your Favorite Food: pizza

Z- Zodiac: Pisces

Well, there ya have it, a few more tidbits about me from A to Z!

A little bit O'Irish

2008-03-17T15:36:00.002-04:00

Well, Happy St-Patrick's day to all you Irish out there...and all those who are pretending to be Irish today!

I think I've said this before...

2008-03-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

I really, really dislike snow...

Scraps Away and other stuff...

2008-02-29T10:50:00.003-05:00

I had to use up some scraps for this one (25 of them to be exact) and it was FUN! I'd definitely do it again cause Lord knows I got tons of scraps (some of us keep 'em ya know!---and they can come in handy, isn't that right Tania?)

I also got a chance to scrap Ella and her cous' goofing around with some poker chips on New Year's Eve at the cottage...(this one is just scraps too!)

And a page of my Ella with her beautiful blues eyes while we were tubing in December...(for this one the paper is new! Go figure!)

Who doesn't love a sock monkey?

2008-02-24T17:46:00.002-05:00

I had so much fun completing this page, and am very proud of the cute little monkey I painted! Someone should come up with a sock monkey paper...hmmm, if only I knew of someone who creates scrapbooking papers...

Supersize Me!

2008-02-22T18:35:00.002-05:00

I submitted this LO for an oversized picture challenge on the Scrapmode site...

Kiss kiss!

2008-02-15T16:32:00.003-05:00

I know it's a day late, but Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Here's a page from this month's edition of Scrapbook Extra

And while I'm at it, here are a couple more...

Tag...I'm it!

2008-02-14T13:41:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I've been tagged several times, but have never answered because I am WAAAAYYY lazy. But, I guess at some point I'l have to play, so here goes:

6 things you don't know about me:

1. I have never done recreational drugs. I've never even smoked a cigarette for crying out loud! It's not that I'm a goody-two-shoes, it's just that I never felt the need to experiment in that way. I've had Valium though, and that was FUN! I did however lose half of that day somewhere...

2. Pizza is by far my favourite food. Thin crust, pan, all-dressed, veg, pep and cheese--whatever, doesn't matter, I'll eat it!

3. In another life, I would like to be chef with my own tv show...

4. I want to adopt a retired Greyhound. We almost did this before Ella was born, then chickened out. I think it has to do with the fact that I'd gave to walk the dog, even in -30 weather----nope, not gonna happen!

5. I want to hire a housekeeper...she doesn't have to come all that often, just once every two weeks would be helpful!

6. I'm going to marry Orlando Bloom. It's okay, Steve knows about it...

Now I'm supposed to tag 6 others, but I don't have that many friends......sigh......

doodly-doodly-doo!

2008-02-06T16:07:00.000-05:00

I had some fun creating this page for a "No Bazzill" challenge...got out my pens and started to doodly-doo on some Scrapmode paper, and Voila! A page about how The Gooch is really slow at starting to say Mama (the scan is really crooked, but I didn't have the energy to do it again!) BTW, he says Mama now, and I've been told that boys are slower than girls to start talking, so I feel a little better!

The good, the bad, and the "oh so much fun!"

2008-02-04T07:58:00.001-05:00

I just had the oddest weekend... Work was something awful, we had way too many patients, not enough nurses, and the kids were really quite sick requiring ALOT of one on one nursing time which we didn't we have time to spare. I ended up leaving work an hour late on Sunday, and after a twelve hour shift, let me tell ya that leaving an hour late is the LAST THING you want to be doing! Add the cra**y snow and freezing rain to the mix and VOILA! no parking downtown near the hospital so I had to pay $15 a day to park so that I could WORK! ARGH!

So that was obviously "The Bad".

The "good" was that we had some great friends come and visit from Boston, and we hadn't seen them in a while so it was great to be able to catch up, even if I did get there and hour later than I was supposed too!

The "oh so fun" part was a great group of gals (you know who you are) who got together in cyberspace and had a fun time creating together and challenging each other. I had a BLAST, so thanks ladies, from the bottom of my rather exhausted heart!

I think I'll take today to recoup a little, spend time with my OWN kids who are both healthy (thank GOD!) and maybe finish up a few scrappy things from the weekend that I didn't get a chance to accomplish!

Have a great week....and HAPPY MONDAY

CS rejects

2008-01-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of pages I had submitted a while ago for Canadian Scrapbooker which didn't get chosen (boo hoo...)

All of the circles and dots on this one are hand drawn with my uniball...

Three pages in three days?!!!

2008-01-25T17:20:00.000-05:00

I have been busy these past three days, working on some challenges for a forum on the web...All three were done rather quickly too, about half and hour per page (I LOVE THAT!)Here's what I got so far:

I have to admit that I'm particularly pleased with the "take care" page. And now I'm really looking forward to the new challenges that will be posted...I think I'm addicted! "Hi, my name is Wendy and I'm a scrap-a-holic..." LOL!

Couple of pages...

2008-01-14T17:40:00.001-05:00

I did these at the cottage...

Go Habs Go!

2008-01-09T11:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the generosity of an old friend of Steve's, we went to the Habs game last night, and it was AMAZING! We had tickets right behind the visitor's penalty box (and I mean RIGHT behind....I coulda poked Havlat in the eye if I wanted to!) It was pretty amazing too to have the Habs win in overtime...what an exciting and fast paced game! Here are some pics...

Since it was an orginal 6 matchup, they had a little ceremony beforehand, got to see Ken Dryden, Vinnie Damphousse, Yvon Cournoyer, Phil Esposito, Lafleur and Richard!

and I got to see Pierre Mcguire too (it actually looks like he's looking at my camera, but he's really just looking at the TSN HD camera behind me...)

My favorite player lately (Tomas Plekanec...I just love saying his name)

And Koivu, a player I continue to love, with Brisebois, a player I continue to loathe!

And Havlat in the penalty box!

Tolwatch Cottage

2008-01-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of pics of the lovely cottage my dad rented for the holidays...it was beautiful and everyone (all 15 of us!) had a great time!

A belated Happy New Year!

2008-01-05T12:16:00.000-05:00

We've been fortunate enough to have been at a cottage in the Laurentians (Ivry-Sur-Le-Lac) since the 29th of December and have just gotten back yesterday afternoon! We had an AMAZING time, although a little crazy and hectic at times with all 5 kids there, my SIL and BIL, my sis, my parents, Steve's parents, the dog and a bird.... We all survived the week cooped up together, and had a lot of fun at the same time! So, thanks dad for the week!

My goddaughter celebrated her 7th birthday while we were there, and we went tubing at Mont-Avila---SO MUCH FUN!!!! We had a beautiful day for it and the kids were exhausted by the time we got home! (btw, so were the adults...I think we all had naps!)

I managed to get three layouts of The Gooch done (I am WAAAYYY behind
on his albums)and will likely post my fave of them as soon as I get the chance (and the will to scan it!)

New Year's Eve was fun too, all the kids stayed up, and even The Gooch got up for the occasion (he had been teething and had a cold, so he was pretty miserable, but he still managed to smile and be rather good-spirited despite it all).

We had a couple of days where it was FREEZING so no one went outside really, but on the second day of minus 20 degrees, we packed them up and went to an indoor play-area at Mont-Blanc and let them burn off some of their energy! We played ALOT of games with the kids, and the girls did a lot of coloring and running around screeching. We only had one accident where Ella slipped on the hard-wood floors and busted her upper lip (there was ALOT of blood, but she was fine! She's a really tough cookie!)

The guys watched a ton of football and hockey, and we all ate way too much (especially cheese---everyone had felt the need to pack at least two types of cheese) and drank probably a bit too much too, so intensive treadmill and yoga are in my near future!

Hopefully, as soon as I get my act together (and since I have to work tonight) I'll post some pics of the week.

I hope you all had happy holidays spent with family and love ones...and I wish you all a happy and health new year!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-20T12:48:00.000-05:00

Christmas kit...

2007-12-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

I wasn't a huge fan of all the pages I produced this month for my DT, but here they are nonetheless...

Letter to Santa

2007-12-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

I took a Scrapmode challenge to do a layout featuring a letter to Santa...

My second little angel

2007-12-06T21:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a super-quickie of a page that I put together lickety-split!

Fuzzy photos

2007-12-05T22:27:00.000-05:00

I just posted a challenge on the Scrapbook Quebec site to make a layout using "botched" photos, or photos you woulnd't normally scrap...here's what I got...
The paper and buttons are both Scrapmode!

I really, really, really dislike snow.

2007-12-04T16:14:00.000-05:00

'nuf said

My Diva inspired layout...

2007-11-29T15:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I never submitted it cause I was too lazy to scan it, but here is a layout inspired from a "My Sketch World" sketch...I really like how it turned out, and I gotta say that I LOVED the Hambly rub-ons!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

It's the day after Halloween, and Ella is finally coming down from a sugar high...thank goodness! The Gooch is still too young for candy, but that didn't stop him from trying to mooch stuff from his big sister or his cousins...

Halloween morning started ok, Ella was dressed as a witch (sorry, correction, a "scary, scary witch"--her words) and we were on our way to the preschool Halloween party. On the way, Ella mentions that she fine to be a "scary, scary witch" for this morning, but as for trick-or-treating, she has now decided she wants to be a dinosaur. SAY WHAT? Since when? She's been set on this "scary, scary witch" idea for almost two months. Great, where in heaven's name am I gonna find a dinosaur costume on Halloween? Ella pipes in here "Don't worry mama, Auntie Tami has a dinosaur costume". Quick call to Auntie Tami and PHEW! we're good.

The Gooch, cooperative as ever, never complained once about his costume!

So here's Ella before the school party (obviously not so impressed with her costume choice)

And here she is ready to trick or treat...

The Gooch as my "little stinker" (how CUTE is HE?)

And the gang ready to go out and get high on sugar...

Back in the swing of things....

2007-10-22T14:24:00.000-04:00

Alrighty then, so I am FINALLY back to being me--no injuries, no illness, just plain me! We got back from Cuba last Sunday and I'm only now back to myself. We had a GREAT time in Cuba--great weather, great friends, BUT we decided to take a little trip off the resort to an old coffee plantation (among other things, including snorkeling in a freshwater cave--VERY creepy!) Obviously we weren't thinking clearly (probably too much rum) because we decided to eat lunch there. Yup, BIIIIGGG mistake. The four of us got what I like to call "Castro's Revenge" and were sick like dogs for almost a WEEK! Thank goodness it was one day before coming home and not at the beginning of the week cause that would have sucked big time! Anyhoo, spent the last day and a half of the trip mostly in the bathroom, then had a 3:15 am flight home from Varadero, arrived at my mom's around 8am to see the kids. Fast forward about two hours, and the Gooch is on my lap, when suddenly, he sticks his finger in my eye. Now, normally, this would have just hurt a little bit and I would have been fine, HOWEVER, I had just finished saying to my mom that the Gooch's finger nails needed to be trimmed, so the seemingly innocent poke in the eye turned into a SCRATCHED CORNEA! Yup, had a pirate patch and everything! My eye is better now, after 5 days of gooey antibiotics and the patch, then two days of "incognito" sunglasses.

All in all, a great, relaxing vacation, wouldn't ya say? Can't wait till the next one...

Ta Da!

2007-10-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm finishing some last minute packing, but I still found the time to squeeze in a few pages on a Friday night (almost 6 to be exact, but since 3 are for my DT for November, and one is a double page that I still can't figure out how to scan and glue together as a 12x24 LO), I'll only post two layouts for now....made with the *NEW* Scrapmode papers!

Loved working with the "Rockstar" line:

And also liked using the "Passion" line, but for something cutesie for Ella-Boo:

Anyway, I'm off for a week of beach and mojitos, and sun and mojitos, and music and mojitos, and snorkeling, and did I mention...MOJITOS! Adios mi amigos! Hasta luego!

Some of Ella's work...

2007-10-05T15:13:00.001-04:00

So, I let Ella take charge of the camera for a bit (her new favourite thing to do), and here are the results... I have to say that at first I was really only impressed with the first shot, but decided to scrap all three cause they remind me that although life isn't perfect, it sure can be fun and filled with love!

Breast Cancer awareness month

2007-10-03T19:21:00.000-04:00

As a challenge on SQ, I did a page all in pink to salute breast cancer awareness and survival (well, except for the tiny touches of black in the writing and title).

My grams had breast cancer, my great-aunt had breast cancer, my aunt had a lumpectomy and my mom has had a lumpectomy, so let me tell ya, I check my boobs ALOT! As should every woman! So, as soon as you're done reading this, go feel yourself up!

Some new stuff

2007-09-30T12:47:00.000-04:00

I had a pretty productive night on Friday, created three (and a half) pages in 4 hours while chatting and enjoying some pizza with other scrappers...

Here's what I got:

This is from a pagemaps sketch (it was a challenge at the crop) and I love my little goochie in this (although the hubbie thinks he looks more like an old russian cleaning lady than a bad a** biker boy---oh well, he's allowed to think that, he's half russian after all!)

This was a quick page inspired by The JoCool...love what she does with over-sized photos and HAD to try it. Gotta say I love the result! Thanks Jo!

And this is my Ella Bella taking a running leap off the diving board into the lake at Camp Wa-Thi-Ane. I loved her fearlessness!

peek-a-boo

2007-09-23T20:41:00.000-04:00

A quick little page of the gooch trying to get to the camera...

Some random stuff...

2007-09-17T10:34:00.000-04:00

I had a pretty busy weekend, starting on Friday by being the "duty mom" at Ella's preschool. I honestly don't know how preschool and daycare workers do this all day, 5 days a week. I was there for three and a half hours and was EXHAUSTED!!!! So once again, I tip my hat to all those out there who are given the responsibility of caring for and educating the very young...

Afterwards, Ella wanted to follow in her cousins' footsteps and get a haircut so that she could donate her hair to Locks of Love (www.locksoflove.org) As it turns out, her hair didn't meet the minimum requirement for her to have it donated to make a wig, however, we'll be sending it anyway and the organazation will sell it to offset some of their costs, which is fine by me. Kudos to them and what they do for kids as well.

So here is Ella before the cut (what's up with the pose?)

And the after shot (please excuse the goofiness to her face, she LOVES to do this whenever I try to take a pic of her). For Ella, the best part of the whole experience was the lollipop--go figure!

Then we shipped off the kids to my sisters for the night--yup, the WHOLE night (hip hip HOORAY!) while the hubby and I had a night with two other grown-ups. We met downtown for supper then went to a movie. I haven't seen a movie in the theater for almost two years I think... We went and saw "Across the Universe" and if anyone is a Beatles fan, you're gonna love it. I was into it right from the opening scene. You can check it the trailer from YouTube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ6d3m-GFyw

Unfortunately, I had to work both Saturday and Sunday, so that sucked, and when I got home on Sunday, I discovered that The Gooch was likely starting a cold. Well, he woke up this morning and it's croup...poor baby. So the Gooch is miserable, and there's nothing I can do for him *sniff* Hopefully he gets better in the next couple of days and we won't need a trip to the pediatrician's office.

I'm also hoping to find some time to scrap this week. I've got all kinds of ideas in my head and no time lately to let it all come pouring out...

HEY! Check this out!

2007-09-16T11:59:00.000-04:00

Check out the Fall 2007 Inspiration Challenges on the Canadian Scrapbooker site...
(yay me!) Next step, the ACTUAL magazine...I hope....

just because...

2007-09-07T10:31:00.001-04:00

A little pic of the Gooch, just because! He makes me so incredibly happy, and I ain't "lion"...get it? lion? lying? I know, really bad, I can hear the groans, but I laughed...

The first day...

2007-09-06T12:30:00.000-04:00

So preshool has restarted (insert a giant HOORAY!!! here) and mom and Ella are equally excited! She's been asking for a while now when school starts up again, so it was great to finally be able to tell her that "YES, today is THE DAY!" She had already chosen her own outfit: a skirt, which is really out of character for her, but, "just go with it" has been my motto lately, and I'm stickin' to it! She actually matched, which was nice, and she put on a jacket as well, which I think made her look six instead of three, so I had a little moment of sadness realizing that my baby girl is growing up...

She was a little surprised (and maybe a little disappointed?) that the teacher she had last year had moved on to other things, and that she would have a new teacher. But, knowing Ella, she'll just go with the flow and be fine by, oh, tomorrow.

Here's a couple of pics.

She was off and RUNNING as soon as she had her back pack on...

But I did make her turn around at one point and let me take a pic (I AM a scrapbooker after all!)... This is where I think she looks considerably older that she is :( *sniff*

A year already? How did that happen?

2007-08-27T11:00:00.000-04:00

We celebrated The Gooch's first birthday this weekend...I'm still in denial that he's already a year old. I feel like I just brought him home from the hospital last week! We ended up having a beautiful day, with lots of sun and may be a touch too much heat (and humidity!) but for late August, it was a welcome change from rain and cold. We also had the Gooch's baptism that morning, so he had a pretty eventful day. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end of the day (the last few stragglers left around 8:30 pm---that's family for ya!) Of course I had made too much food, but because some of the guests stayed, we put it out again for supper and the majority of it got eaten---yay! Here are a few pics from the cake part, which is always the best part for a first birthday party. And I have to say that altough The Gooch has never had anything sweet before, he didn't really dig in to his cake very much. He mostly played with the icing...

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

2007-08-22T08:44:00.000-04:00

We decided to take a trip to Granby Zoo last Friday (my last hurrah before I started back at work!) and we had such a GREAT time! The kids were awesome the whole day (we had my two rugrats as well as my two nieces, along with my mom, my sis, my mother and father in laws as well...Steve was home, very sick poor guy...) At the end of a rather long day, I asked Ella what her favourite part was---was it the gorillas (they were my fave) or the elephants, or the birds that landed on our heads, or the snake she petted, or the blue-tongued skink she petted, or the shark that I petted? Was it the baby giraffe? or the monkeys acting silly? Nope. It was the plastic tiger teeter-totter at the park....hmmm, 50 bucks well spent I see... Oh well, had fun taking pics of all of it, and here are four of my favourites.

The gorillas...I could have watched this big guy all day...

The elepahnts were amazing too...

and then there were the rhinos, but they just slept...

We managed to get some pics of the kids too (amidst all the craziness of the three cousins running amok), but I think I'll be scrapping some of them at a later date!

Some stuff I've been workin' on...

2007-08-03T10:36:00.000-04:00

So I had an oppportunity recently to let my creative juices flow...and for free! Had a great time, and a lot of laughs (definitely looking forward to the next time!) Here's three of six that I managed to complete...

Thanks to Melanie for the great title---I LOVE this page!

Scrapped The Gooch with his cockeyed smile...

And had a chance to catch his goofball side as well...I used the date stamp from Purple Onion Designs (they have great stuff, and very affordable---and they have a sale going on! And no, I'm not being paid to say that...however...lol! Check 'em out at purpleoniondesigns.com)

Doo doo doo, da da da

2007-07-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen (well, mostly ladies I suppose)...Sting! What an awesome time we had at The Police concert last night, my ears are still ringing! They did a great set and although we were behind the stage and mostly looking at Sting's tiny little tush, we had a great time!

Congrats!

2007-07-24T23:43:00.001-04:00

Friends of mine just got engaged and asked me to take some pics for them...here are some of my faves...

It's a matter of organization...

2007-07-24T23:35:00.000-04:00

I guess everything DOES have it's place...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? UPDATE

2007-07-16T12:15:00.001-04:00

So, I did a little research, and it turns out that although the jurassic-looking bug that was on our patio door was very scary to look at, she was harmless, and sadly probably didn't live much longer than that night. She was a female Dobsonfly (or fishfly). They're native to north america, mostly in the states I think, and spend the majority of their life cycle (like 2 or 3 YEARS!) underwater in the larval stage eating minnows and tadpoles, then they come to shore to pupate. Once they emerge, they mate and the female lays eggs, then they die. That's probably why she was pretty slow to move and didn't fly away. Apparently the're pretty rare to see, so maybe we should have caught her, but there was NO WAY I was touching that beast! Well, that has been your science and nature lesson for the week...

Anyone Know a Good Orthodontist?

2007-07-11T09:05:00.001-04:00

NO, BUT HAVE YOU SEEN THAT SNAGGLETOOTH? It's unreal how The Gooch's teeth are coming in all haphazard and in no particular order...

2007-07-10T08:12:00.000-04:00

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? This *little* guy was on our patio door this past weekend, and it seriously gave me the heebie jeebies. I'm not exagerating when I tell you it was (get out your rulers here...) almost 5 INCHES LONG!!!! You can click on it to get a better look if you feel the need...

Needless to say, Steve and Ella were infatutated with it. It never flew away, or even attempted to crawl away, it just sat there. Steve thinks it was because he was too tired from eating someones's pet! By morning, it was gone (hallelujah!). I'll try to find out what it is and then post the results at a later time...

A little sumthin' "old school" from Scrapmode

2007-07-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

Here's a little sumthin I put together last night for the July Scrapmode ad challenge...the paper is waaaaayy old (like from their first line I think) but I liked it and hung on to it...finally found the chance to use it! The word "watermelon" is kinda hard to see in the scan, but is much easier to see in the original...

We go through watermelon here like nobody's business...It's sweet, it's refreshing, it's drippy, and it stains clothes, but we'll sit and eat a quarter of a melon at one meal, then have some more as a snack later! Even The Gooch likes the stuff! But NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, can put away the stuff like Ella...I'm amazed she's never gotten sick from eating too much!

Freestyle Quebec Challenge

2007-07-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to admit that I wasn't sure I could pull off this challenge, but I LOVE the result. It was so much fun to slap together a quirky little layout in 15 minutes where anything goes! And I loved the 6X12 format as well...so thanks to the great gals at Freestyle Quebec for the challenge, and their great inspiration!

Happy Canada Day...one day later!

2007-07-02T09:16:00.001-04:00

Well, we made it back from our Nation's Capital in one piece, and relatively unscathed (except for The Gooch who got a few bumps and scratches along the way, but still kept on truckin'!) We never attempted Parliament Hill with the two kids (nope, no deathwish THIS weekend thank you very much), but we did see the RCMP Sunset Ride, which was AMAZING, and VERY kid friendly (way to go Canada!) Ella got to sit in a fighter jet, a tank (which took us forever to get her OUT of) and an army utility vehicle. She even had her pic taken by an RCMP photog, so we'll see if anything comes from that... And since we had a Mountie on the inside (Thanks Uncle Bowflex and Auntie RCMP!) Ella was able to meet a horse up close and personal. Man, are those beasts HUGE, and very drooly. And wouldn't ya know it, while we were standing there, the horse decided it was time to um, well, poop. "Poop" really doesn't do it justice though...Ella was fascinated by the whole thing however and asked a MILLION questions. By the end of explaining why the horse just pooped right in the middle of the street, and yes, it did look like hay, and yes, horses do pee as well, our answers were more along the line of "just because" and "I don't know why"...

Both kids got to try on the official uniform as well, so out came my camera lickety-split...I was dreaming up layouts as the camera was clicking away! Very cute, so once again, thanks to our "auntie RCMP".

So, Happy Canada Day everyone...even though it's one day late.

Masters of the mallow

2007-06-26T13:10:00.000-04:00

We spent the past weekend camping (well, glamour camping is more like

it as we were in a trailer with plumbing, but with two kids it was still a challenge) and the highlight for Ella was toasting marshmallows! I'm not sure how many we let her eat, but let's just say there was a MAJOR sugar high afterwards, so we made her run around the campsite several times to burn some of it off! She was a little picky though, there could absolutely be NO PART that was even slightly singed...it had to be golden brown all over, or she didn't want it! I wasn't allowed to toast them for her as I had a knack for getting mine to catch on fire, but Steve, well, he was the Master of the Mallow (I feel a scrapbooking page coming on... LOL). Funnily enough, she was NOT a fan of s'mores. She liked all the components of the s'more (I mean, chocolate, graham cookies, and ooey gooey marshmallow, what's not to like?) but she didn't like it all together...she's an odd child...

Griffin was a champ the whole weekend...he just kept on smilin'! And caught some ZZZZZ's wherever he could....

We had a good time walking around the campground as well checking out all the campground kitsch, so I'll have to post some of those pics at a later time, maybe create a LO of all the goodies people think are decoration.

Check out these girls....and guy!

2007-06-25T20:51:00.000-04:00

So they made the announcements for the new members (four of 'em) of the Pencil Lines design team, and they are AWESOME, so check 'em out! www.pencillines.com Also, their guest designer for this week is a guy...so let's hear it for the men who scrap! Great new inspiration for all scrappers!

sniffle, sniffle

2007-06-22T08:19:00.000-04:00

So today is the day that Pencil Lines is going to release the name of their new DT member, and since I haven't heard anything from them yet, I'm guessing it ain't me! Oh well, on to bigger and better things I guess! Anyhoo, here's the LO I submitted based on their sketch...

Buzz it is...

2007-06-21T16:11:00.000-04:00

So, a couple of weeks ago, my daughter, (with some help from her aunt) filled in a ballot to name a giant stuffed bear at Le Panier in Pointe-Claire Village. I get a phone call yesterday that she had won, and the bear's new name would be Buzz...not bad for a three year old! She won a Webkinz bear and some homemade fudge, and let me tell you, you would have thought they had given her a million dollars! (personally, I would have taken cash, but the fudge was really tasty!)

ow!

2007-06-21T08:22:00.000-04:00

I had a yoga class last night, and because my instructor Lu is going to be away for two weeks, she told us, in her very cute Brazillian accent, that she was going to work us so that we would remember her for two weeks! She wasn't kidding... I can barely lift my arms above me head, and going down the stairs makes my legs shake...

Pencil Lines challenge

2007-06-18T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here's my take on last week's sketch on the Pencil Lines site (http://www.pencillines.com/) , I've submitted it so we'll see how I do, but considering I won the fave LO for May, I doubt I'll be in the running for this week, but it was worth the try, and fun too! And I LOVE the result!

Fave Father's day pic!

2007-06-17T22:22:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite shot of the day...the kids are actually standing still, so it doesn't even bother me that they're not looking at the camera!

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T21:58:00.000-04:00

All in all, not a bad day! Beautiful weather (well, if you ignore the thunder shower this morning). Took my daughter to her first yoga class, only to discover that's she's still too young to follow that much direction....oh well, we'll try again in a year....

My car got hit in the parking lot at Loblaws by some old guy coming out of the wheelchair parking spot. He backed right into the rear passenger side door...claims he didn't see me in his rearview mirror....the insurance info he gave me was expired since 2004...not too much damage, so that ol' Civic is till kickin!

Okay, I have to admit that so far, the day's not actually sounding that great, but it got better...

Spent the rest of the afternoon outside with the hubby and the kids, smoking ribs and chicken (and cigars!) Had both sets of parents come by and ate waaaaayyy too much and had a little too much Sangria as well (hey, maybe that's why I think the day wasn't so bad...lol!)

So...this is new....

2007-06-17T11:15:00.000-04:00

Alright, alright, I've caved and started a blog....not too sure what I've gotten myself into just yet, but we'll see how it goes. I'd like to use this spot mostly for my scrapbooking layouts, but I'm sure other stuff will pop up here too now and again!