26 Years and counting

We celebrated our anniversary the other day. It was a busy day, taken up by all kinds of other celebrations. Michael turned 12, my friend's son had his birthday, another couple celebrated their anniversary.... wow! Since the kids didn't throw us a party (lol) I just took Phil to see a movie at night. He needed to get away! The movie wasn't very good (Drive), but it was fun to get away, just the two of us. We are planning on doing that on a weekly basis from now on.

Last Saturday we went to see some friends. They just built a house and it is just beautiful! Everything is well designed (by her) and I just love the kitchen. Dark cabinets, the stove is 42 inches, wood floor... what a dream. And here I am with a kitchen from 1926 with sticking drawers and peeling paint and linoleum that doesn't shine anymore. Oh well, gotta see what that roof is going to bring. Anyway, it was a great time, getting together with friends doesn't happen too often these days.

Oh yeah, my big news, I got a new car! No more minivan for this Mom! Last Friday we were at Marc and Joanne's and we decided to look at some cars so the guys would have something fun to do. We saw this cool looking car, turns out it's a Buick Enclave. Never heard of them before. It was just sitting there shining with the black (charcoal) finish and the silver trim all over the place. The tires actually looked like tires and the seating was so comfortable! We took it for a ride and I felt like I was sitting in a cockpit! Well, needless to say we went back a week later, it was still there. I traded my Sienna (with the broken side and leaking tires) and got myself a cool mobile! I am still loving it and the kids are over the moon happy. I never realized how uncomfortable the third row in the van was. They have headrests for little ones that for older kids sit right in the middle of your back. The stupidest thing... Can you believe I didn't take a photo yet? I will post one as soon as I do!

I did a few pages though

This last one I had started in July and then added the right side to it later. I need to go back to the beach photos....

As always you can find the pages in my gallery, link on the right. I would love if you would leave a comment, a little love always goes a long way :)

Well, paperwork is calling!

Sweet Sixteen and more....

I am hanging my head in shame, not having updated this blog in such a long time... another birthday has come and gone and the last one is right ahead..
Gabrielle turned 16, it's hard to believe. We had debated back and forth about what to do. First she wanted a party, then she didn't... we wound up going to Nyco's for dinner and it was great. She took Catie with her and we had a bunch of Sushi, which everybody loved, even Phil. That surprised him, he always thought he had an aversion to it.

The other thing she asked me for on her Birthday was a photo shoot downtown with Catie. I was more than happy to oblige. We had a great time!

I was playing with this new texture I got, I really liked the results. I want to try and smooth the surface of the paper, so that I will just have the light effect... love it!

This past Sunday I took Gabrielle for her first driving lesson with me. We went to the Church parking lot and I just had her driving around in circles and backing into the parking places. Then we drove to a small cemetery with steep hills and curves and she did fine. Wednesday she had an appointment for an MRI of her back (which was fine) and after that we drove to the Driver License Center. She took her test and got her permit. She was quite nervous about the questions, but she had studied the manual, so she made it! Now she can be dangerous on the road :)

Other than that everything is going it's normal way, we are busy again with school, both girls in High School now... Rachel kept saying how much she hated the school, now she is starting to like it. Same for her Math teacher, I promised her she would love him and now she does. That's Rachel for you...

I had a couple of photo shoots this past week. One 2 year old for his upcoming birthday. He was not happy at all, cried the whole time. We even tried taking pictures outside, thinking we could get him to have some fun, but he continued crying. We were only able to get a few pictures when she was able to get his mind off for a couple of minutes... we might just try again and see what we can get some other day.

Don't get me wrong, I love the photos, I just don't think it's what she had in mind :)

Then I did a senior shoot for a young man, that was a lot of fun too. They have such an awesome property, so many places to get great shots!!

I am really into these funky finishes, but I think most people just want plain shots, so we'll see what happens :)

Rain, rain and more rain, this town gets nothing but rain and cold, dreary weather anymore. Yuck! The south is looking more and more inviting to me. I used to think I loved all the seasons, including winter, but the older I get the more I hate winter. I just want it for a couple of days around Christmas and that is enough! :) We are seriously thinking about getting a place in the south to escape to occasionally for now and maybe move once the kids are all in college... this would be the time to do it with the prices being low... we'll see.

Oh yeah, we found out we have a leak in the roof, isn't that wonderful. My brand spanking new bathroom started leaking from the light fixture, it really freaked me out. The guy I had come to take a look at it refused to even tackle the job. The roof is a mess, wooden shingles need to be replaced, it sounds like a major undertaking. It just never ends! I guess I will forego the new kitchen and we will have to take care of the important things first. Home ownership.... sometimes it really stinks!

Other than that things are running as always. We still love Zumba, Gabrielle and I that is. Rachel is getting bored with it already, she would rather go to the Gym (if at least she did that...) oh well, saves me some money if she doesn't go :)

Okay, here are the pages I got done since we last spoke. Really not a whole lot again, it's been so busy around here with all the running

Okay folks, that is it! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday and first day of HS

Yup, my baby girl was 14 on the 26th. She didn't want a big party, she just wanted to take her friend to Red Lobster with us. Fine with me. We got a cake, took it with us and the staff put the candles on and brought plates. Perfect!

We took this shot behind the restaurant while we were waiting to be seated.

If you look closely, you can see another new thing. That's right, no more braces! They finally came off and we couldn't be happier. Now she can eat corn on the cob again LOL.

This morning was her first day of High School. We got all the school supplies we knew she would need (thanks to Gabrielle, the experience High Schooler), got her new shirts and pants, new shoes and backpack and she was ready to go

Note the Hello Kitty backpack, very mature :)

Well, hurricane Irene came and went. Fortunately we were inland enough not to be affected by it other than a sprinkle and some wind on Sunday. Other places weren't so lucky. All the in laws are good, thank goodness. I guess you pay a price to be living in a cool beachy place, but it is still very appealing to me. A house in a warm place, being able to escape on the weekends..... sounds awesome!

On Saturday the girls and I went to the Zoo. The guys didn't come, because Phil had promised a fellow Dr. to go to a mixed martial arts fight with him that night. It was actually nice, just the three of us. It turned out to be a nice, warm day, while here it was chilly all day :)

Well, all in all it was a fun week, at least we did something before school starts again. Gabrielle goes back tomorrow and Michael has until Wednesday. One a day....

A few pages...

I really need to keep working on the Myrtle Beach pages, I will never get caught up with anything :)

Well, that should do it for this post, see that wasn't that long between posts, right? :)

Endless vacation?

Not quite! Vacation only lasted a week, but somehow I didn't get back into the groove. Summer seems to just have flown by and now it's time for school again. I am so dreading getting into all that again, the homework, the long hours every day....but that's the way it has to be I guess. On the other hand I will have my mornings to myself again.
Vacation was nice, a week is really short though. We had a 3 bedroom suite this time around and that really made a nice difference. We also rented beach chairs and an umbrella, that was the best thing ever. No rushing in the morning to get a good spot, we always had out place waiting for us. But, I must say that Myrtle Beach is highly overrated in my opinion. At least South Myrtle.... way too crowded and the traffic in the evenings was horrendous. Other than that we had a pretty good time. Michael stayed in his room almost the whole time, he did not want to come to the beach, hormones! One evening we had planned to do a nice dinner and dress up and I took the girls to the beach for a photo shoot all dressed up. It was so fun and they had an audience on the balconies above :)

After that the weeks were just filled with piano, voice, karate, appointments etc...

I have become more active at Kodak too. Check out my latest post there. I have been posting my pages there for a while and I would love to get more people to become active on the site, so come on down!!!! :)

At the end of the month we spent the weekend with Phil's brother and his family. We had such a good time. We hadn't seen them in years and it was high time that the cousins all saw each other again. While we weren't looking, their girls had turned into young ladies! Here is a shot of all the cousins together

What a group! They put in the most amazing pool a few years back, the kids had a blast in it and with their new-found family!

Rachel finally got her braces off, she is so happy! It's a whole new chewing experience and she can have crunchy stuff again :) Her teeth look nice and straight now, it sure was worth it!

Phil's nurse fell and broke her arm and since she can't write, Rachel is working down there now, helping her out. They are really impressed with her professionalism and maturity. Not bad for a soon to be 14 year old. She also is going to have a job baby-sitting a newborn right after school for about 1 1/2 hours every day. She is quite nervous about that, but I think she'll be fine!

Okay, enough of an update to get started back, I don't want to bore everybody to tears! Here are the pages I have done since the last post

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, my Anna left the store. I was sooo upset about that piece of news. I love her and her stuff.. These are the last to 365 pages I have done, I am seriously behind now. Now without Anna's templates in the store, I kind of haven't been working on them, but I will finish the year. That's a promise :)

Okay, I have to get ready for the day. I just had to throw Rachel out of bed so she could get to the office on time. Today we need to get school supplies, come Monday, the old routine is going to start up again!

Have a wonderful day and hopefully I'll post again sooner than the last time :)