And... our last "first day of school"

Luke finally got his shot at school! He only went for one day this week and only with 1/3 of his class so..... there are still 2/3 of his class he has not met. He will meet them on Tuesday! (Note: first day of school was actually Thursday not today)

Brooke also thought she was going to school today....

She was okay with leaving Luke at school and going with Mommy to do the grocery shopping - just the 2 of us - which included not 1 but 2 trips from the far side of the store to the other for a potty break!! She is a big girl now!!

Saw this today and really like it!

Men try to fix problems with duct tape. God did it with nails.
-Anonymous

Another First Day!

So, today was Brandy's first day in a new school with a new school and no classmates she knows... I am so proud of her... she walked right in - met her new teacher (who seems to be very nice) - picked a desk and unpacked her supplies. She didn't want me to stay so we left and she said she had a good day and she thinks she will like her teacher :) Happy Day!!

Not the best picture with the light in the background... she looks so grown up.... 3rd grade going on 30.... they should make a movie like that!! Tomorrow I will post Luke on his first day!! He will get to ride the bus every afternoon from his school to Brandy's school where I will pick them up on my way home from work - my first day is next Tues.... maybe I will post a picture of me leaving for work too!

It Has Started!

I can't believe the day is finally here when Jason starts High School!! I have a Freshman (Jason) and a Senior (Nikki) this year! And, I have one excited to start school here and one who is not...

They both made it through their first day without too much trouble.... although Jason did manage to go to one wrong class..... after which he went to the right classroom to tell the teacher and she just laughed! I actually met that teacher when at the elementary school for Brandy's reading test - she is very nice!

So, by the end of this week I will have Brandy in 3rd grade and Luke in 1st. Brandy will start tomorrow so I am sure I will post another 1st day picture!! and Luke has only one day this week and that is Thursday! Which, as it turns out is my morning to play tennis so I will only have Brooke and she has a friends house to go to!! I will not be posting pictures of me playing tennis as it has been about 25 years since I played last and it may not be pretty :)

The first week has gone well....

At least from my perspective!! Nikoline arrived here at 9:45pm a week ago - August 14th - at the local airport. Her luggage did not :( So, our first introduction to the area was a shopping trip on Friday to the big city to buy clothes. Finally on Sunday afternoon the bags arrived - minus her I-Pod speakers. It is a mystery where they ended up - they were at the top of her large case. But, the cheese made it! and the cheese slicer (which I learned was invented in Norway) - very nice silver slicer with viking ships in the handle!!

So far we have really enjoyed having Nikki here with us... the pictures she showed me of Norway are just beautiful and I would LOVE to go there some day!!

After one week of being here in the small town without any friends and she is more than ready to start school!! We went to orientation tonite and Nikki was already invited to a birthday party by one of the girls on the Volleyball Team. Looks like she is off to a great start here!! The kids all seemed really friendly at the High School. Jason seems to be making friends also... his friend CJ is in 5 out of 6 of his classes... glad I am not his / their teachers!!

I also got a job this week - it is a long story, but, I will be working for a Civil Engineer doing the drafting!! I will have to learn new software but it is similar to the AutoCAD I have used so hopefully my tired wornout brain will grasp it all quickly!! Brooke gets to go to work with me too. So, one random phone call and I am working again and no longer a SAHM - not sure how I feel about that yet, but, God provided and I won't turn my back on it!! He just needs to give me the ability to do the job now!!

Brooke saw the camera come out tonite and had her pose immediately!!

My Swap for Sunday

I won't be able to attend the team meeting in Loveland on Sunday but my card swap will!! I used the Serene Spring (first time since I got it!!) and all the new In Colors and one of the new Designer Papers. The butterfly I did an extra of and set it up with a dimensional. It looks much cuter in person!!





Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Red Riding Hood, Very Vanilla
Stamps: Serene Spring
Ink: Basic Black Classic Pad, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Red Riding Hood, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Blender Pen
Embellishments: Old Olive Twill Ribbon, Silver HodgePodge, Scallop Punch, Dimensionals

It was fun to get everything out and play!! Hope to have more time soon for more!!

The things you don't see in the big city

Well, I got to go to a crop at church last night and work on some more of my 6x6 family scrapbook. I actually got about 5-6 pages done. I will try and post them tomorrow if I have time. We are picking Nikoline up at the airport at 9:32pm. She starts her journey here at about 1:40am on Thursday so she will have a very long day with 4 plane changes. I believe she will be going from Oslo to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Denver and then Denver to here.... Wow! That is one long day....

So I was working on getting my supplies together to go to the crop last night on Sunday and I heard a strange noise outside... I got up and looked out the front window and saw something you sould never see in the big city....

I took the picture too late to see the horse out in front pulling the carriage/buggy that was also pulling a trailer. There are Amish south of here and we see them in town occasionally. The kids love it!!

I will try and get some of the pages from last night scanned and uploaded tomorrow!

August 14th

This is the day (really night) that Nikoline will be here!! I am so excited!! It is a good thing she will be here for 10 mos. There is so much to show her of this little piece of the USA we like to call Colorado!!

We will have to go clothes shopping for school and will probably make a run up north to the outlet malls and stay at my Sister-in-laws.....

We are all so excited!! And, did I mention we are sooooo excited?!? Whoohoo!

I have to post this picture. This was taken by Kandid Creations in last November and she is awesome!! If you want to contact her to have pictures done let me know - KC is not in business anymore but the gal that took the pictures lives in our old neighborhood and still does pictures!! She is incredible.

We are Getting EXciteD!!

I got my first e-mail from our exchange student, Nikoline, who is coming from Norway! This is what I get for not answering the phone when I don't recognize a #.... she has been trying to call us for a couple days and we didn't answer :(

So, now I have to wait and see if she calls back 'cause we still don't know when she will actually be here!

We know it will be soon 'cause school starts in 3 weeks from tomorrow!! I will have 3 kids in High School this year and 2 in elementary!! I still get 1 home with me :)

I will post more later and update all the new news from Stampin' Up!! Convention was over yesterday and there is a lot of new stuff to show and tell!!