Shelby mourns the fate of poor little Pluto- taken off the list

 

Kyle checks out Apollo 11's space- He would never survive in a capsule that small

weekend finish

 

 

We took the girls swimming and you can see my view. Gotta love a recliner in the shade.

And then one last picture of all 4 kids on the steps. I always forget to take shots like this so I am glad I remembered this time, here is Shelby, Katie, Allyson and Kyle

Reagan Update

I received this update this morning...

"Dear Family and Friends,
I know I haven't updated everyone in a while. Reagan is now 3 weeks and 3 days old. He has had a pretty tough time. He came down with an infection which really set him back. His oxygen requirement was at some pretty scary levels. His little body has to grow now more than ever. You see he has what the doctors call chronic lung disease, his little lungs are really damaged. So the next couple of weeks will be critical as were the last couple of days. I am with him each day. He looks so precious. He needs as many prayers you can give....the only thing that will get him on his road to recovery is if his lungs start to work. He has been on the oscilllater ventilator for some time. Pray for his little lungs."

I ask you to continue to pray for my nephew, Thank you

SDV- Camp Hill 2007

This past weekend was my annual Camp Hill SDV weekend and I was so glad it was finally here. For those who don't remember from last year's post on it, this is when I get together with a group of friends and go to a scrapbooking getaway and indulge in scrapbooking, laughter, shopping, chocolate, tea, and hopefully get some of my pictures set into albums. I managed to do most of that this weekend. What I did not do is take a lot of pictures. Here are the highlights- Caravan ride with Anat and Kari to Camp Hill with shopping stops along the way- read "spent a lot of money", Dinner at Dorado's with A & K and Tamsen and Babs- yum for the seafood nachos and lobster mac and cheese, Joy at seeing old scrapping friends as we set up our spaces on Wednesday night, Seeing Nancy and how good she looks- you go girl!!, discovering I was not only with all my friends but that I was right next to the NJ Scrapping YaYa angels, finding out my bed was a sleep number bed- I'm a 65, how about you?, Getting an appointment with Rachael for a massage and for reflexology, BB8 with Barbara on Thursday night- yes I know it is totally trash TV... so sue me!, My 2.99 coffee mug from Starbucks, the great meals at the hotel- oh wait that must have been a sleep number induced dream- but then again I do not go to SDVs for the food, Getting a gift done for my newest nephew RJ (Be strong little one), Getting to know Kari- what a great person, thanks for introducing her to us Anat, Thank you for praying with me Kari, Jeweled accents to frame pictures, Martha Stewart's Decoupage- you rock Martha!, Conversations with SDV friends, Parenting camaraderie and commiseration, scrappers in need, Raising over $2000 for the Susan B Koman foundation- Let's find a cure, laughing, laughing and laughing some more, meeting Tamsen's friends and neighbors and getting to try their Cricut, finding Funks Family Restaurant on the way home for true Fried chicken, Potato filling, apple fritters and coleslaw, and then for dessert at home the best lemon meringue pie I have had in many years..not quite the Ester's and Dietrich's experience of last year but definitely more tasty. I just can't believe I have to wait a whole year to do it again!!!


who is that masked scrapper....only the shadow knows

A view of Babs through the table...scrapbookers have a lot of STUFF

Not shown is Anat- sorry the picture came out horrible and Kari...where was she when my camera came out??? Oh I think she was with Rachael in Nirvana

It is always a lovefest when I see Barbara..she is just one of those people that you love to be around. This time I got to sit diagonally from her- the closest ever. It is fun to exchange mutual fan club looks at each other as we cropped. Or more I should say as she cropped and I sat around talking. I was not very productive this time around. I worked on a couple of Ali Edwards album kits and I made a small accordian book in a box for little RJ. Anyway, Barbara I love you and your NJ Yaya angels, I love the friendship you all seem to share and am envious of the parties you throw. You are the most creative group of friends I know and I am so lucky to have met you all through the SDVs.


Barbara and I played dueling Nikons

Cheek to Cheek
Thank Goodness my nostrils are clear

Toe to Toe
I am so glad I had my pedicure done

Regan

For those who have been checking for an update on little Regan, word is that he is doing well. He continues to fight each day to make improvements. MaryLou and Michael ask that we continue to pray for him. Thanks for your support

On My Porch

I love sitting on the front porch in the late afternoon, as the sun sinks lower in the sky, and watching all the activity at my bird feeder. It is wild to see how many birds come. Now I am not getting any amazing birds, nothing that would make the Audubon Society take notice but that is OK with me..I am not into celebrities anyway. I am not sure why this one bird wouldn't go onto the feeder or onto the ground below the feeder but she ust sat on a branch while her partner would fly to the feeder, get a seed and bring it back to her and feed her. It was such a loving act. We should all have someone to take care of us so well.

Regan

Today my sister in law gave birth to my newest nephew, Regan. He was born close to 3 months early and weighs only 1.4 pounds. Please keep Regan and MaryLou in your prayers that they will be home soon.

Welcome to the world little Regan, We love you!!

My bathroom

My NJ Scrapper friends wanted to see what my powder room looks like. When Jay and were redoing our home I wanted to have fn with the little powder room in the house. Because we have a farm house that was built in the 1830s I thought it would be fun to make my own little barn. I had two wonderful artists- my friend Kathy and her friend Marge come and create an entire mural in the bathroom. The entire room is painted so well that often people come out of it saying they had to touch the walls to believe that they were not stone and barnwood. I asked them to add a lot of little surprises so that each time you use that room there is something new for you to see.

details

Because of my fondness for roosters I thought it would be fun to have a chicken coop in the "barn" here are some of the girls and a friendly mouse

I wanted to have a heart with our initials carved into it

The room that this bathroom comes off of has a wall paper border of farm scenes. I had the Marge and Kathy paint part of the scene from that paper so that it looks like you are seeing it from a window in the barn

Details

Here are some details of animals on the walls

My Dad

With having celebrated Fathers' Day this week, a scrapbooking group list I particapate with asked us to share pictures of our dad. This is the photo I shared as it is a favorite picture of mine. Here is the story behind the shot....

I was traveling in Peru with my father and sister Lois. Our group was in the Amazon Rain Forest of Peru and were visiting a small village on the river. This woman Maria came out to greet our boat , bringing her 2 pets with her. One was a parrot and the other, a three toed tree sloth. We were all invited to hold each of the animals, the sloth being the most popular. Holding him was like getting a hug from a live teddy bear. As the sloth was being passed around my father came up to me and asked me to get a photograph of him when he got his hug. "Of Course," I replied. Then someone went to pass him the sloth and he said, "Not with him!" And then my dad proceded to grab Maria and hug her, laughing harder than I have ever seen him laugh. When I see this picture it reminds me of a moment when my dad showed us another side of himself I had not seen before, his silly joking side. Of all the amazing things I saw on that trip This was truly my favorite moment.

Happy Fathers' Day Dad, I love you.


PS..Thanks go to Shelby for figuring out how to use our scanner so that I could post this picture.Thank God for smart kids.

Inside and out

Here you can see the mud room. Jay is planning on making me a bench for the area but until then I just put a big old chair to fill the space.

This is the view of our house from the base of the front lawn. Jay has landscaped it beautifully and I just love pulling up to our finished house.

The bathroom

Jay hates the color of this bathroom but hey, its my room and I love the bright color. I used subway and hexagon tiles and old style fixtures. And of course a little artwork finishes it up. No mirror but I have my priorities straight..photos yes...mirror- that will come.

more room

The first couple of pictures I posted were of the main croopping space- my tables and paper storage. Here is another storage area and my photo gallery...I love having a place to hang some of the hundreds of pictures I take.

My cropping room

I have been remiss in posting photos of my "play" room. Last year I posted a lot of photos of the building scene but forgot to show the finished space. SO..here is my dream room. There is plenty of space to hold all my stuff and lots of room to grow. I am still working on getting everything organized but here you go...

Neighborhood drama

This past weekend I was sitting on my porch reading when I smelled a barbeque going. "Boy, where was my invite?" I wondered. Then the fire chief goes flying past my house. And then there goes the cop car. "Hummmm.... maybe that wasn't a barbeque?" Next come 2 fire engines. Gee, where is Kyle when you need him? With all his radios, I always know what is going on but no, today he was at school. I ran in and told Jay and Shelby about the trucks and they ran down the block. I, of course, ran and got my camera first. Thankfully it was only a neighbor's shed that was up in flames...nothing major was lost. But a bit of excitement was had by the whole neighborhood.

Mothers' Day

I had the best Mothers' Day this year. After church my whole family came with me to the NY Botanical Gardens (along with 8 million or so other people) to walk around and spend time together. I also warned them I was bringing my camera and tripod and that they would just have to suck it up..it was my day. Here is a family shot, maybe this year's Christmas photo. The other picture is a shot I took while zooming in my lens..fun stuff

Arlington National Cemetery

Ok..I think I have this figured out,when Picasa changed formats I started having problems posting my blog. I spend time writing and then go to post and it all disappears. But I think it will work if I stop trying to add so many photos in one entry so here goes...down to 2....


A couple of weeks ago I drove down to Virginia with my dad and oldest sister to visit T and her girls. They are entirely too adorable. The main reason we headed down there was that on Monday of last week my dad's friend, John, was being buried at arlington National Cemetery. John had been a prisioner of war during WWII and was able to have a gravesite in DC. I had never beed to a true miitary funeral before and was so moved by the whole tradition. Now I have never been much for burials and all but this was such a moving final acknowledgement of a man who sacrificed much for our country. These photos are from an earlier burial that we saw while waiting to meet up with John's family and I cried through the whole service..I was so moved. I am so proud to see how w!!ell our military takes care of their own. God Bless America!!