Great Evening

We had a very fun evening at our friend's house. Angie and Jason provided the location and along with two and half other couples (Jess was flying solo) we had a nice dinner of lasagna and a great evening of cards. Hard to find a group of people who know how to play Euchre when you are this far West. But we have found a few and now we are hoping to play monthly. The kids even had a great time. There were a total of EIGHT kids in one house. Surprisingly enough, there were no major incidents. Actually there was hardly any fighting amongst all of them. The only time parents had to intervene was when there seemed to be a few sitting on one of the other boy's head. Not sure who thought it was a good idea, just hope it was not our little Brandon. I am pretty sure it was not, since the other boy was one of his good friends from school.

The evening started at 4:00 and the kids all lasted until 9:00. We probably could have stayed longer, but Brian is currently packing for a very early departure in the morning. Oops! Hope he can sleep on the plane.

early mornings

After what seemed like a long week, we started Friday off at 3:00 by the beginning of a series of phone calls. It would not be too bad if Brian could reach over and answer the phone quickly. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Brian's work phone only gets reception in a few spots in the house, one being in the kitchen by the back door. Therefore, his phone is on the loudest setting and I usually have to wake him quickly so he can get it fast enough. If he doesn't, there is usually another call five minutes later and/or the loud alert of a voicemail. This morning, however, just when we were about to fall asleep again, the phone rings at 3:16. Just lovely. I think we made it til about 4:30-5:00ish before it rang again, but after being up since 4:00 the previous day, it did not matter, my sleep was not satisfying. I, of course, fell back asleep til Brian's alarm went off at 6:30 and then his phone ringing just as he was heading to the shower. I am sure at some point Logan heard the ringing and decided it was alright for him to come down. Thankfully, he laid peacefully til about 7:25. He gets excited when Brian resets the alarm for him to hear the 'music'. However, I was so not in the mood to hear it at 7:30. At this point, Logan was more than happy to hop out of bed. Having said all of this. It is 9:22pm and I am heading to bed because Brian's phone has not stopped ringing since 7:00 this evening and I am pretty sure it will be ringing well into the night. Ugh...

Early morning swim means exhaustion by the time boys are in bed. Enjoyed dinner with friends after swim lessons.

Tried a new class

Today a friend and I went to try Zumba. Wow, what a workout. A third friend of ours is an instructor so we headed out to try her class. It was great. I definitely think it will be a good cross-training workout.

Tomorrow I am headed back to the swimming pool and still need to find time to do my 30 minute run. That is amid all the things I have to do throughout the day. Still trying to get everything organized in my scrap booking folders, hopefully that will be soon. Brian has another trip next week, which usually means that I will have a few evenings on the computer to get motivated. So be sure to check back next week, I am sure to have some pages ready for your viewing pleasure.

I guess I should not miss two days in a row. No reason for missing except I headed to bed early after waking up for a morning swim yesterday. More later.

Another busy weekend has ended. Boys had Sunday School, a birthday party and Boy Scouts today. I somehow managed to squeeze 6 miles in there, but in two shifts.

Have lots of pictures to post, will have to wait til tomorrow. The boys are well on their way to riding a two-wheeler. Just a few things to work on.

New Creation

I have been playing with Adobe Photoshop again and this time I decided to check out how easy it would be to make a card. Well, I absolutely love it. It was so much fun to use the paper and with the books from Close to my Heart the designs are so easy to follow. In a short amount of time this is what I was able to create.

I now just need to get all my stuff sorted out in my crazy craft room and I might be able to recreate these kinds of cards with the actual stuff from Close to my Heart.

Continuing On...

I don't really have to much more to add, just wanted to make up for the missed entry. Both boys are sitting in a mess of legos in the middle of the floor waiting for me to finish so we can do some reading before starting the Wii. Hope everyone has a nice evening. Ours seems pretty short when we don't get home from swimming til almost 7:00.

Oops, missed a day...

I do have a really good excuse. Actually it is probably not, but here it is anyways. I was very congested and sneezing up a storm, that I decided to take a shower as soon as I got the boys to bed. After the shower, I felt a bit better, but knew it would not last. Therefore, I headed to bed. I really was on my way to sleep, but the Olympics got my attention. Not for too long, because I conked out soon after I turned them on. Was smart though, I pressed the record button beforehand. I got a chance to watch Shaun White do his Halfpipe Victory lap and Lindsay Vonn raise her gold to the National Anthem. Just love the Olympics.

Another Day Off

The boys did not have school today for a Teacher Workday. They like to tack those on to the end of three day weekends. Parents just love that. It was a pretty quiet day, the boys were happy to remain in their pjs until lunch. We sorted and built legos and then headed to the Commissary for a long overdue grocery trip. The boys were very good and of course were rewarded by chocolate milk and reese's peanut butter cup.

We bought new goggles for swim lessons and they were much happier in the water although they are still getting used to the actual goggles. They also got new suits yesterday, I have pictures of the boys swimming, forgot to take one before they got wet. I will try to remember Thursday before they dive in. Their swimming is definitely improving. They can't wait to show off their skills. Hopefully we will have a nice warm place to live this summer so they can swim all the time.

Had a crazy evening at chess. Boys r sound asleep and i am heading to bed after a very early morning.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. It was a nice day here. Jessica and the boys came over for a dinner of Heart Shape Pizza and a homemade Cookie Cake. The boys have been couped up all week long it was nice for them to get a chance to run around. After an exhausting evening of chasing each other around the house and playing the wii, Logan was quick to fall asleep and Brandon really needed to sleep, but fought it until he couldn't last any longer.

Here is our yummy Cake:

Probably did not help to give the boys more sugar to fuel their energy. But they all enjoyed it.

Yes, today is Saturday

What does that mean? Well, for starters it meant another crazy day for the Guise Family. In addition to our normal morning activities, we had a birthday party and a retirement ceremony/party to attend. It was the first birthday party that Brandon attended without his brother along. It was hard for Logan to be left out. Could not quite understand why he couldn't go too. I am sure it won't be long before he is invited to some one's party and Brandon will not be allowed to go. Until then, it will take some explaining to do.

Later this evening, we attended a retirement ceremony for someone from Brian's office. It was very nice and very emotional. As a Navy wife for almost 12 years, it makes you realize that this is definitely one tough job. It will definitely be a bitter sweet day when Brian hangs his uniform up for good. We will be happy to have him 'home' for good, but we will be saying goodbye to so many good friends and traditions that I have grown to appreciate over the years.

Beginning of Valentine's Weekend

Both of the boys were filled with sugar at their parties and were very exciting to read all their cards from their friends when they got home. I did take pictures of them, I will put them together soon. Probably not this weekend, because we have tons of things to do, but maybe next week.




I was also nicely surprised with flowers from all my boys. I am always happy when Brian surprises me with flowers. It just brightens the whole kitchen. Here is a photo for all to share:

Hope everyone has a nice weekend planned to share with their loved ones.

Another messed up day...

I did make it to Yoga this morning, but that was the extent of my workout for the day. I will hopefully get my 30 minute run in tomorrow. Both boys have Valentine's Day parties, so it should be a day full of pictures.

I will hopefully have some good pages to post soon.

Logan update

After a crazy evening last night, I did not find much time to update everyone on Logan's status. He woke up Monday night around 2:30 complaining of an earache. I had him sleep on a heating pad, but he was fidgeting for about two hours. Which means neither of us got back to sleep until 4:30. When he woke up, he said he was feeling better, so off he went to school. I should have known that was a bad idea, but I figured he would have called if it was bad again. Nope. When I picked him up from school, he looked horrible. His ear was hurting again and his head was too, plus he felt very warm.

We came home for about five minutes and then decided to head to the doctor's office. Sure enough he had a fever and an ear infection. Still in tears because of the pain, we headed to Rite Aid to fill his prescription and get some Tylenol. Five seconds after getting a Tylenol into his mouth, he decides to throw up. I did manage to get a back to him in time, but wouldn't you know it? It had a hole in it and still soaked his pants. What luck? We had just a few minutes to get Brandon to swim lessons, (needless to say Logan was not swimming). We made it in time and it was just warm enough for Logan to fall asleep. Talk about not feeling well, especially if you can fall asleep in a pool area with all that noise.

When we got home we tried some crackers to get some Tylenol into him and once again no such luck. At this point, our only hope was that he could sleep it off. He did fall asleep on the couch while we played on the wii. The poor boy never even asked for a turn. Knowing he just needed a day of rest, we kept him home from school and he enjoyed the quiet morning all to himself. I think enjoyed it a bit too much especially since he didn't have to share the TV with anyone. By midday, he had a full appetite and has been mostly back to normal since then. He will hopefully be heading back to school tomorrow.

Tonight will be a very short message, I have little sick boy laying on the couch. He has an ear infection that kept him up last night. I will update tomorrow.

Another Monday

I was hoping to have another scrapbook page done this evening, but Brian was able to get out of work early this evening so we ran home between Aikido and Chess to pick him up. Why was this preventing me from scrapbooking? Because he took over the computer while we were at Chess. Oh well, I am currently studying a book on Chess moves myself. It is something that I will be teaching the boys eventually, but we are still working on the basic moves with them. They are doing better each week, but they still like to just go after any piece they want. Still need to understand the concept of trying to focus on the King. I am sure it will come at some point.

Not sure if I will get a chance to scrapbook in the next few days, but I will post some new pages as soon as I get them done. Hope everyone has had a good start to their week.

Busy Weekend

Brian spent most of the Superbowl game on the computer, so I guess I am able to squeeze a few minutes in now. Since I didn't really have much time to report yesterday, here is a quick run down: Boys made a race car display at Home Depot, next we headed to Aikido (might be having a belt test soon), then we rushed over to their soccer game. By the time all of those things are done, it is an hour past lunchtime. We made it before the boys got too cranky from being hungry. We had about two hours before we had to leave again. We were planning on getting started on Valentine's Day Cards, but (sorry don't mean to gloat) we had almost 60 degree weather. We could not sit inside when the sun was actually shining. The boys decided to scoot up and down the hill and then they managed to get us to walk them over to their friends house around the corner and they played in the street until we had to leave. We then had a Mom's Club Potluck to attend. Which all kids were thoroughly entertained by a bunch of balloons in a gymnasium. Talk about cheap entertainment. It was great.

Here are photos of the Home Depot Craft:


Today we had Sunday School this morning and then nothing but relaxation. The boys had their pj bottoms on before we even got through lunch. We worked on some cards a bit more and then I was off to run my 5 miles. The boys decided they wanted to stall my run, so they were running themselves. Well, almost running... at least until Brandon became upclose and personal with the moving belt.

After consoling Brandon and getting some ice for his cheek, I was ready for my run. It was exhausting, but I finished while watching the first half of the Super Bowl. Good thing I was in my room already, the boys refused to let me watch the game out in the Family Room. I was finally allowed to watch it at Halftime.

I have lost my computer to Brian, so i can't send a big message. I will fill u all in on our various activities from Saturday tomorrow.

A New Scrapbook Page

I could not just do a page of Brandon and leave Logan out. So today, I worked on a page of Logan. I am really excited about this one. It was from Logan's Boy Scout Troop, when they performed a Flag Ceremony for Veteran's Day. I hope you like it. Brian is due home any moment, so I am not sure I will be able to do any pages this weekend. He usually takes over the computer, not to mention our weekends are a bit crazy.

Successful Day?

I am going to say No. I started my morning with lots of things I wanted to get done. I believe I accomplished...oh maybe one of them. I wanted to go swimming, didn't make it. I wanted to get to the grocery store, nope didn't get there during day, although I managed to pick up a few items after the boys' swim lessons. Problem with that? Yeah, it was dinnertime and we left with donuts, Cheetos and ice cream cones. Probably not the best time to have shopped. I wanted to get the kitchen cleaned, not even close on that one. Had every intention of taking pictures of the boys at swim lessons, totally forget the camera at home. Wanted to at least start the laundry, I am lucky I got the boys' clothes downstairs in the hall. I am guessing that tomorrow will be an extremely long day getting the house ready for Brian's arrival. The one thing I did accomplish today was my 30 minute run. Although, remember those donuts? Yep, ate one shortly afterwards. Oops! Guess I will try again tomorrow. I have not had a Green Smoothie since Saturday. I really am looking forward to Brian's return, at least he will insist on the Smoothies and I won't feel that I am wasting food if I make one for myself. Hopefully next week, I will get some pictures of the boys in the pool.

Finally finished a page...

I probably should have been doing something more productive today, but I was convinced that I could actually complete a scrapbook page. I am not sure this will actually remain unchanged, but I think it looks cute so far. I hope you like it too.

Today was pretty uneventful other than that. For my workout update, be sure to check out my sister's website at http://www.halforbust.blogspot.com/, there is no point in repeating myself twice.

Here is the new page:

Here's a start

This is the first page I am starting to work on. I am not sure how it is going to turn out, but I wanted to show the beginning stage. I came across a folder that had pictures of both of the boys on their birthdays a few years ago. This is Brandon's 2ND birthday and I can believe how little he looks. I won't even go into the look of innocence, we all know how mischievous this little boy has become over the last three years. I am hoping to have another update on this page tomorrow. With Brian being gone, the boys take over my bed and I spend most of the evening watching TV and trying to figure out this digital programming. I look forward to making some really cute pages to share with all of you.

scrapbooking

Who likes to scrapbook? I am trying to get myself back into the swing of things. I used to have plenty of time and lots of energy to scrapbook, but that was before I had children. Of course that meant I was limited to scraping the cats. Well, now that the boys are in school, sports and lots of other activities that have given me tons of things to scrap... The problem is now I totally don't have near enough time and hardly can keep my thoughts straight on paper.

Well, I am hoping all this is about to change, I have spent the last week or so trying to learn more about digital scrap booking. I am not sure if I will like it, but I think the convenience of it all just being on my laptop might just be the thing that gets me caught up with my albums. I will still continue to scrap actual pages, since the boys' school albums have been started that way. So if I can work on other things on the computer, things might actually get completed in a timely manner.

I will hopefully be able to start posting some pages here, so be sure to stay tuned.