One lucky girl

What are you doing March 2010??

We would love to have some friends and family join us on our first family cruise!!

WOO HOO!! We just booked our Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Freedom for six days over spring break in 2010! So flippin' excited I could burst! If only you could hear my squeals and see the happy dance that we are all having!;)

We are leaving from fort Lauderdale,Fl. on March 21st and we will go to Key West, Grand Cayman Islands, Ocho Rios, Jamaica!

 

any takers? it will be soo much fun!It's a small deposit now and then the balance is due in 2010. I looked last fall for spring break this year and it was through the roof..thousands per person for that time. right now we got an ocean view room for us at less than $500 each and the kids we about $300... for the entire trip. I just think about the food my boys put away! i will be coming out in the good.lol!

you can see more here.. hint, hint!

just had to share the exciting news.. even more diet motivation, right?!

monday weigh in week four

17 sweet little pounds;)

something about Sunday nights

they always have me wishing for one more day.. to get things done or relax, just more time.

Shane was gone all weekend and we were really busy. Friday we went to get all of Jacob's required gear for hononegah PE and then groceries. Friday night Jacob had his hoops tournament.  We went early so they could shoot and that allowed me 45 minutes to exercise. He played several games and it was actually pretty exciting.. they ended up winning the whole thing in the last minute when Jacob made the shot to put them up one from a tied game.

It was still so warm Friday night at 10pm when we left there.  Bummer we had rain the rest of the weekend;(

Saturday morning we were up early and headed to Stephen Mack for the Forensics competition for all the area schools. Jackson did great! I am so glad we decided to participate and I was so proud of him. The minute we entered the building and he saw the long lines of people he said he had butterflies. He seemed really old to me today up there giving his speech.. I always see him as my baby. He got second place;) and he was really happy about that.

We came home and went to work cleaning the house and laundry. I went to get fruit and veggies and tan and came home to more laundry/cleaning.  Saturday night I worked on kitting my classes for today. Took Jacob to Hononegah Saturday night for the dance they host for all incoming freshman from the 4 feeder schools.

almost impossible to get any pictures of him anymore so we'll all see lots of his back side!lol! wondering how people scrapbook their teenage boys?

He asked to walk to Sams after the dance with lots of friends. I let him go but i was thinking I'd lost my mind as soon as I said yes! I picked him up at 10:30pm and there he was in huge circle of teenagers.. lots of boys and even more girls. crazy. looking for the pause button and wondering how I'm going to make it through these next four years.

We went home and watched Adventures in babysitting.. one of our favorites to watch together as we all know all the lines;)

Early day today too - prepping classes and more. They all went well and it was good to have a few new faces.  So glad to have classes done for the month but now i only have this week to get all my new stuff made and update the website and then make a newsletter. Really excited about some of the new product and classes. 

Shane came home this afternoon. Glad to have him home.  there are a few things I enjoy about having him gone like control of the remote and going to sleep with the tv off when I'm ready for bed and I woke up this morning with the bedroom door open and our bathroom door open.. for whatever reason I sleep better this way and wake up happier. He isn't one to share the remote and he likes to sleep in a cave with the tv on when I hear him snoring and if i try to pry the remote from him to turn it off, forget about it.. it's like an alarm goes off and he puts a death grip on it, saying 'I'm watching that'!Urgh.  I did miss hanging out together going to the kids stuff and dinners together.. just my partner. plus i hate bedtime when he's away.

Looking forward to a few favorite shows on tonight and just being with my family.  This is a painting I had done of the boys when they were little..

so glad to be a mom to these beautiful boys;)

monday weigh in -week 3

I really need to get better at blogging. I  don't want these to be my only posts;)

Our week has been crazy.. working hard to get in a routine of exercising and tanning right after school. Then by 4 ish feeling like I still can get things done. most of our evenings are back to running with baseball in full swing for both boys.  Jackson finished up his basketball league this last Friday. Jacob will be done now this weekend. Saturday and Sunday Jacob had his first tournament. They did well. Jacob was crushing the ball and pitched great!

Saturday night was moonlight bowl for Shane's softball league. lots of fun! so glad you and Troy came out, Candi! Even though I couldn't have a single drink.. damn willpower;(

Sunday I worked on finishing the washington school projects. Really excited about this and hoping the samples will draw families.

We are making several projects in stations with parent/child both creating.

We will make these s'mores treat bags

this little gift bag/purse.. perfect to hold a little gift or GC;) with a matching card

and my favorite is this little passport book with five fun things to do this summer. I ordered these colorful envelopes that open at the end which is perfect for allowing them to slip pictures and journal about the days. a mini scrapbook of summer. I used my new cricut cartridges for the accents ..love the life's a beach one!

 

I have also been really busy making Maggie's graduation invites.. all 125 of them.  so glad those are done and so excited my sister will have a high school diploma in a few weeks!

I have new product streaming in for classes and product kits too..love all the new goodies.here's a peek

 
 

 

 

I have been selling several things this week in Etsy too and got those out. I am now trying to kit for this weekends classes.  teaching all three this Sunday if anyone wants to join us:) I switched the girl book to this sunday for a friend and now have a several more taking it too.

Tonight was another 8th grade graduation meeting and more laundry, etc. Today was a weak day for me. I wanted to eat everything in the damn pantry. I swear it is serious willpower to open it and see Easter candy staring at me and then shut the pantry. especially when my favorite little cadbury eggs are in there.  That was the old me.. grabbing a little handful of this or that. snacking alot. I have to remember my goals everyday and remind  myself why i'm doing this but it is a daily struggle. Today is three weeks on Nutrisystem and i weigh 15 less pounds than when I started. I can feel it in my clothes and I really want this.  Shane is half way to his goal already. I can see it on him too. He is a constant support.. telling me I'm sexy and skinny and making me feel like I've lost 100 pounds.;)

He even brought me roses and a mushy card this week. man, that sure helps;)

We just ordered month #2 of food. we know what we like and that should make this month alot easier. We also need to really start looking for real food that we will be able to incorporate into our lives when we stop ordering this food to keep the weight off.

Jacob has a game tomorrow night and Jackson has practice.  This weekend hoops, Jackson is competing for Forensics at SMMS on saturday and they also practice. Jacob has his first Hononegah dance this Saturday night.. just for incoming Freshman from the 4 feeder schools. {insert DEEP breaths}  I teach most of Sunday and Shane will be out of town all weekend;( 

The garage sale is the next weekend and then Mother's day already. crazy to think but we only have less than 30 days til summer break! Can not wait!

a few things I want to remember about this week:

* Jacob saying 'I'm so ZIGGY' ..his new favorite saying..for some reason he looks at me like I'm crazy when he now hears me say it in my coolest, hip- mom voice?!

*The sunny weather making me feel so good everyday

*shane and I making dinners together  and finding time to talk together and eat as a family

*Jackson playing the WII baseball and shouting to me in the other room.. "mom, you just hit a home run!"

*talking to my grandma on the phone and thinking I hope i can always remember her voice because it changes my whole day..in a good way;)

*walking with my BFF and feeling like no time had passed

so grateful for all this and more=one lucky girl

hope to jump on here again sometime this week..have a good one;)

Monday weigh in: week 2

so today marks two weeks on nutrisystem and we both have lost 12 pounds;)

I am finding what foods suit me and that will make my next order easier.. the trial and error will be over. I eat alot of the same things and change up my fruits and veggies.  I am drinking water and crystal lite and flavored life water that is zero calories.  I think it is getting easier but I still struggle with wanting 'good food'.  None of this is anything to look forward to and I often looked forward to a good meal.. eating out or just a nice dinner at home and I'm really missing our Sunday morning breakfast tradition.  Or just saying lets grab this or enjoying a date night that includes dinner out or the movies because i sure don't have the will power to resist popcorn and soda!

Right now I am taking in around 1200 calories if I eat all I'm supposed to on the plan. I actually eat less or I burned a dinner last week and just had salad or on the weekend I realize it's 3pm and I haven't eaten anything. That sort of thing.  I am also working off several hundred calories on my Y visits.  Once i reach goal, I will be able to add more calories to 'maintain' and that will give me more freedom to eat out on occasion, etc.  Can't wait to put my hand in a bag of doritos .. even if it's the snack size ;)

This was breakfast one day..

It is cereal that could be cupped in my hand.. it's a few bites and you're done. I also add 15 grapes or a banana but this gives you an idea of portions. I was abusing them because I used to eat cereal in a much bigger bowl and 2% milk, etc. This green bowl is small and you can see how much it fills it. BIG changes around here but I am feeling motivated and thank goodness for Shane.. he is my strength and push on my frequent weak days {he's only had one weak day where he wanted to get Culvers}

Thank you for all the emails of support.. this is a daily challenge and I really appreciate all the love;)

only 28 more pounds to go...

p.s. thank you to everyone who made it out to pizza ranch tonight to support the beeba! I stayed back for all the reasons above and look forward to this too, maybe in August?lol! {sigh}

not so traditional

this was the first Easter where we didn't get together with family to celebrate. We were invited to my father in laws' extended gathering but it was brunch and it's always a feast. To be honest, Shane and i just didn't think we were up for the challenge of going to something like this yet when we would not be able to eat.  So we stayed back.

We of course did the annual hunt. I love the tradition. The boys always wake up to one egg sitting out for each of them.  Inside is a clue that leads them to the next egg{and clue} they search the house with clever clues from 'the bunny" who is  hard working + creative , staying up way too late since these boys are so flippin' old now that they don't crash til the wee hours on stay home days! Just want to give credit where it's due and not acknowledged. lol!

Jackson's basket ended up in the shower

and Jacob's was down on the poker table;)

They were very excited for the goodies.  They both got sandals and goggles and my big secret.. Magic waters season passes!!:) too excited about this! looking so forward to summer.  They also had a few other fun things and of course CANDY.

We have given our little nieces baskets forever and so Rachael came by with her clan and brought big baskets for the boys and picked up the baskets for her five kiddos. My Gabby was so excited:) no candy in there but goldfish crackers seemed to please. We shipped baskets to our nephews in Virginia..

My inlaws also came out for a visit later in the afternoon with Easter surprises.

We spent a good part of the day doing spring cleaning. Kind of a bummer to do it today but we are running out of free days to get this done. Jacob is in a baseball tournament all next weekend and Shane is out of town the next weekend and then the next weekend ..May 2 is the annual garage sale {church hills grove in Rockford- NW side} at my inlaws so we had to purge today!

We started out by hauling everything out of the garage and giving the garage a huge cleaning. It feels so good! Shane then decided to set up our new deck gazebo:) I was thrilled that he did it. We spend alot of time out there in the summer months and we thought this would be a great addition to our deck.. keeping mosquitos out when wanted and the beautiful light is going to be great for playing cards out there in the evenings. 

Stacie was a great to buy it with her 30% coupon for me. It was already 60% off and then that extra savings made it a steal! Thanks friend;)

This is what it looks like..

I also tried to get a few pictures of it on our deck but it's hard to see it all.. much better in person.

I would like to get a big outdoor mat to lay out there too. Anyone seen these at a good price or style?

this of course said easy assembly but it was a long job. Shane's response"did you ever see anything that said hard assembly?" He did so much today and was really feeling bad-coming down with a bad cold.

Then we tackled the basement back room. It was a disaster. It looks great now and we hauled all our sale stuff up to one part of the garage so it can be transported to my inlaws soon. WHEW!

Long day but sooo productive.

We did all the regular Sunday night routine to get back in the groove for a full week ahead. Last week was so nice with only three days but back to several weeks of full work weeks.

I was asked by Jacque to whip up some invites for the little girl turning 13 and I think she was happy. I think this was my fastest work;)

I am working on my Washington school projects too and hope to have those done this week.  My ad went out finally to our subdivision in the Woodlands newsletter.. so excited to see it in print. Hope it draws some business:)

I am off to watch the unit with my hubby. Check back tomorrow for a weight loss update!

sunshine

man, I am quickly realizing how multiple days of sunshine just make you feel good! I had Thursday and Friday off and both days were beautiful. Today looks like another sun -shiny day and I am loving it!

I had my car looked an on Thursday.. we dropped it Wednesday night and of course I bring it in because randomly it doesn't want to start. They call Thursday to say that the battery, starter, all that checked out okay BUT I needed all new brake pads and that only set us back $500. The dealer is highway robbery according to my husband;) I agree. URgh. Hate car repair.

It did force we to be home all day Thursday and I cleaned, did all the laundry, made a few scrap things, and enjoyed the great day with my kids.

Yesterday Shane worked from home which I love. The 2nd tivo Hd unit that I ordered for him for his bday for upstairs was waiting to be set up so he got that all done and I am lovin' it. If you don't have Tivo.. you need it! 

I have had several sales in my etsy shop this week too. I would list something and it would sell right away, list  another.. sold! too fun.

I have to share a funny story. Jackson came in from playing outside on Thursday- he had been hanging out with neighbors playing kick the can. I was busy when he came in trying to do three things at once and didn't give him my full attention. He said they were going to play air soft war. Okay.  hmm.. sure didn't know it involved any kind of gun?! urgh. I am anti-gun of any kind except maybe water.  So later that day Shane and I went to pick up my car. Jacob stayed home and Jackson stayed over at the neighbors. Jackson calls me while we are driving to 'check in'. Then he goes on to say he got hit but he's okay.  Hit with what? I ask. oh, a bee-bee gun! of course he says this like it's no big deal.  WHAT bee-bee gun? 'Mom, I told you we were having an air soft war!"  I of course get really angry with him on the phone because I know he relayed it that way so I would not say no. little stinker!  Shane is driving and hears it all and is cracking up. He doesn't share my worry over all that and I think enjoyed Jackson's creative angle at trying to go play that worked out for him if only for a day! Gotta love it!

Last night we stopped in to catch a few songs from my sister in laws band.. they were playing in roscoe at a little coffee spot. My sister can sing and it's always so fun and this was the first where it wasn't at a bar so the kids could come.

We had to leave because the boys had Fridat night hoops. My sister and Kevin came in to see them and they were really excited with that. 

They got a kick out of watching these more agressive games too.

They came back to the house for a little while too which was nice.  Thanks for coming;)

I have been on facebook for a week now but still learning my way around. not letting in consume me. I also let Jacob open an account.. big steps for me as I'm always really guarded with all that. My brother will be so proud of me. He is the one who convinced me to let them get email accounts and the one who had been trying to tell me to let him on my space which I decided against but Jacob's pretty happy with this for awhile anyway;)

Baseball practice is canceled today for both boys for the holiday. I am headed out to tan and maybe exercise.  We need to run to the mall for a few things today and then head to my mom's for my brother's birthday dinner. Happy birthday Ben!

Looking forward to a great family day;)

Enjoy the sunshine! more tomorrow..

monday weigh in

So very excited you guys! This week as been hell.. I have really struggled but i have to say that the scale is getting me motivated.  are you ready for this ... eight pounds!!! YEA! So crazy happy. I didn't think it would drop so fast but it is alot less food than i was eating and I'm exercising so watch out.. I only hope to keep it droppin'.  

I am finding fruits and veggies to add to my bars, etc.  We also bought skim milk, fat free cottage cheese,  and tons of waters - I'm loving the zero calorie life water in pomegranate and I am noticing that all the water I'm drinking each day is filling me up.   Shane doesn't eat fruit really but he can have canned fruit that is in water not syrup so I bought that. I love fruit and bought grapes, grapefruit, strawberries, kiwi, bananas, oranges, apples, raspberries.. you get the idea.

Here's what we now buy at the store..

I also found that the garlic pickles i love are only 5 calories..  crunchy food helps so I eat those with dinner and raw carrots with lunch.   I love food.. good food and I miss it but c'mon, 8..really? Shane has lost alot too but I didn't ask if i could share his updates here so I won't this week and then maybe I can in the future.  So proud of us.  Thanks for all the support;)

did you hear that??

surely you can't miss it.. it's my stomach making crazy loud rumblings! so I'm five days in and let me just share that it is WAY harder than I prepared for. The food is okay. some of it I can't even eat. I told my co-workers that is how you lose all the weight.. you can't eat the crap they send you and the pounds melt away.  I had heard the food was good so disappointed but they let you exchange and I sure am sending 25 cheese tortellini back in exchange for bars.. they are what I find I like best. I also add a serving of fruit to my morning bar and two servings of veggies to the lunch bar. We have two veggies with dinner and then a dessert choice, which usually happen to be a bar - they have lots of options to choose from but I found these taste the best. One night this week I even skipped on dessert. I wanted to save it and as the night passed I realized I just forgot to eat it. 

A few things I'm noticing.. I was eating way too much and I was eating often. I find myself doing things at home like on the computer or watching Y&R or even playing cards with the family and realize it often was accompanied by a snack. How strange it feels to not have my hand in a bag of chips or eating something sweet with every meal.  I am also having huge cravings for cereal. I would eat cereal sometimes  but for whatever reason that seems to be the thing I wish I could eat.  Also I have strong hunger pains and noises going on.  I would usually eat long before that would ever set in except maybe a busy weekend day when I would be running and remember to eat at dinner or that sort of thing.

I knew it was going to be life changing and i knew it would be hard but I can honestly say it is that hard and more. So glad i have Shane doing it too and glad I let you in on the journey because it has made me accountable and it makes it that much more important to stay with it.. for the good, the bad, and the ugly. and there is some ugly. I make the kids eat afternoon snacks in the other room and some things I can't even prepare for them because i feel really tempted. Hope that will ease up soon.

I hopped on the scale on day three and was pleasantly surprised although they say only to weigh in once a week.  Hope it stays this way til Monday:)  I plan to start a Y routine too which should help it along I hope.  Jacob loaded the nano with music and I bought an arm band- ready to go:) I also bought a wii workout and hope that will be good.

Joined facebook today.. finally.  Hope to find you if you're on there!

Have a great weekend and eat some delicious 'real'  food for me:)

remember me?

I wouldn't blame you if you forgot about this blog.  Each day that passed and I didn't blog made me feel like i had that much more to write, etc and I just kept pushing it off and then spring break rolls around and I just decided to break from the blog too. so.. I'm back and I sure will try to do the quick recap of life around here these last couple weeks since it's almost 1am.  I will save this post as Sunday night though since that seems to be my routine.

I turned 32 last week. It was a really hard birthday for me. Why is that? some seem to hit you-bam! your old, your kids are too old, and life is passing too quickly! It seems that everyone that loves me knows I've been in a bad place and they are helping with the 'new me'! I received an ipod nano from my family.. to use while at the Y for my workouts, a MAC GC from my stepmom and siblings for lots of new makeup, a spa GC from Candi for a pedi, you get the idea.  :)  The true sign of the new me to come would be right here in my pantry..

yep.. Nutrisystem is here and we officially start tomorrow. I am nervous. Will the food be good? will I be starving throughout the day? Will I stay with it?  I sure hope so. I really want this and I think Shane and I will motivate the other.  My plan is to post each Monday with my weight loss update.. my goal is 40 pounds.. I would like to reach 20 pounds by my brother's wedding! I have a cute little dress I bought last year at Macy's that I would love to fit into. We'll see. I want to take a before picture tomorrow to save for what i hope will be powerful months from now.

Last weekend we had a bridal shower for Maggie here. I spent lots of last week getting the house ready and little things. Friday night I kicked off spring break running last minute errands and cleaning. It really went well though and I'm so glad we could do this for them.  Stacey, Lindsey, and I were hosting. We had a champagne brunch at 11am on saturday. We had lots of yummy food and Jackson helped me with the fruit kabobs. My sister made the menu and handled all that with stacey. I  wrapped silverware and added fun butterfly ribbon and I tied up little notecards we gave as favors. found the cutest wooden butterflies as accents for them at Pier 1. 

 

 We had about 20 guests and they received lots of great things.  This is when it gets so exciting.. I remember all the new goodies when we got married...Christmas x's 100! lol!

Her mom gave her a mix master and since she had it shipped to Denver, Maggie opened a little version:)

My favorite of all came from Stacey's mom, Andrew's Grandma. She has collected an ornament for each year of andrew's life. She has saved them and dated each as a memories throughout his childhood.  Maggie was given the box to open and I thought that was a priceless gift.

I hope to do this tradition with my grandchildren. I have ornaments for each year for the boys but I can't imagine parting with some.:)

Can't wait for June and the wedding! We made our reservations and we are looking so forward to the special day;)

This break started out promising for what you know had a huge to-do list.  Saturday as soon as the shower clean up was over we headed to my moms for our birthday celebration. BR ice cream cake.. yum!

 We came home from that and I had to spend several hours Saturday night kitting for my scrapbooking classes for the next day.  I was up early Sunday and met candi at panera for a little birthday breakfast. she gave me the spa Gc and a beautiful card;)  Then I hurried home to teach.  

 After my class, we headed out to my inlaws and celebrated our birthdays over there. Shane's birthday was yesterday so we usually do both.  We took our three nieces home with us sunday night to sleepover since it was break for them too.  We had a fun house-filled night;)

Shane had to work monday but we spent the morning hanging out. Gabby and i read Brown Bear about 100 times and I gave her a bubble bath.. she was begging to get in there all day! I put here hair in the cutest little pigtails and then she walked around asking everyone.."do you like my hair? so pretty? love her.  We took them home in the afternoon and then went to the Y to exercise and then to the store to get stuff for dinner. By Monday night I was feeling pretty wiped.  Can't imagine why?lol;)

I packed my scrap stuff by midnight and then was up early to get going for our archivers trip. I was feeling dizzy and questioning if I should go but of course it was something I was really looking forward to so I didn't want to back out plus Candi took the day off for it. I was running al little behind but we got there on time and stayed til 7pm or so.  Shane worked from home with the kids.  Thanks Stacie for the new traveling journal. I love it. Manda & Erin let me know when you want to give it another go.. I won't count on my siblibgs since my sister still has it from last fall and hasn't sent it on.:(  I got lots created for my product kit.. March and also lots of samples for the new Kit for april. I will post those tomorrow on the creative blog.  Here's a few peeks though.  The little books will be in my etsy shop this week. 

 

We had a great time even though my cough got worse throughout the day. We went to sonic for lunch.. quite the fun experience. and we stopped at home goods for this little cupcake stand that we saw on Teresa's blog. Can you believe they had it? Score!

 now the only problem is you have to picture nutisystem on it instead of beautiful cupcakes for the next while but i will have to pull this out for scrap nights. I  hope someone is nearby to pull Jacque up off the floor right now since i'm certain she is shocked at the glitz of this baby and yet I love it! ;) {I usually make fun of things so over the top}

By wednesday i was real sick but determined not to spend a big part of my day in immediate care which is never immediate. so I didn't go but by Wednesday night i couldn't breathe well, I sounded like a child with croup. And i couldn't swallow. Thursday morning when shane got up he asked what i was doing.. 'going to the Dr.' {insert groans} I was there 1/2 hour before they opened -7:30 and was seen before 9am.  I had strep, broncitias{sp?} , an upper resp. infection, and an ear infection.  Sick!  I left there and got my script filled and while i waited I grabbed  80 lawn bags and drinks. When I got home there was a house full of boys ready to work. We had scheduled Thursday as our yard project day and  the boys asked friends to help. I wish i had a picture to show all that we did but picture 75 lawn bags completely filling my whole garage right now and that will help.  There was 8 of us and we worked hard and got all the leaves from the yard.. most of which were in our far property line but we got them all up. I was so tired but  felt glad to tough through and get it done. We ordered pizza for them for lunch and once we were done, I wanted to crash especially after my shower but trying to be the good mom that promised a reward earlier on.. I followed through and dropped Jacob and his three friends at Forest hills lanes to bowl. {shane picked them up when he got off work} then I drove to the movies and took Jackson and his two friends to a show. They went to one and I went to another.  My first time seeing a movie alone. felt strange at first but I was so out of it I couldn't care much. I saw he's just not that into you.. pretty cute. I was out 5 minutes before the boys- perfect. dropped them off and home and collapsed on my couch for the night. I don't think I got back up til Friday! 

Tried to get things done with my last vacation day.. our food arrived by then so I sorted it all and cleaned out the pantry making room for all of it! We went to the grocery store for household stuff and food for the boys for the coming weeks. did alittle cleaning and then Candi came over to try to get me set up on facebook. I wanted to check it out first and she said i could look at her account. I then decided I would do it. I've been worried since everyone seems addicted to it and i have no time to be addicted to that.. look how hard it is just with the blog? c'mon.  It appears facebook has three pages of Sarah doyle's and doeasn't want another because I waited all weekend and still don't have a confirmation email that i have to get before getting an account?! crazy.  She left so I could run to the Y.. both the boys had games. Jackson plays in a 4-6th grade league. They won two games and almost beat a sixth grade team to win their 3rd game of the night.  Jacob's three games start at 8:45 so its a late night there. They also won and then we grabbed some dinner and were in bed by midnight. 

Saturday was Shane's birthday. The kids and i got up early and put up streamers and set out his presents. Jacob picked out some longhorns baseball gear for him. I order him a tivo for our bedroom and Jackson gave him shamwow! cracks me up.. he is a walking info -mercial. He  was so excited to give it to him and of course Shane was very excited being the great Dad he is. He tells Jackson ' go get a water bottle and dump it on the carpet, let's try these babies out!" Really? yep! Jackson sure did and they actually work pretty well.

We played spades together and hung out most of the day. shane took a nap in the afternoon which allowed me time to prep the basement and food for the surprise party later that night. He had no clue. We got ready for dinner later and took the boys to my moms. We met his bff and his girlfriend at Marias for a great dinner! We then decided to head to our place for drinks and he was happy to find friends here.. ready for poker and a good time:) Happy birthday babe! hope it was a good one:)

cleaned up last night and was asleep by 3.

Today I taught two classes.  did all the laundry, we played spades again.. our new family game, made dinner, homework, bills,  celebrity apprentice, and the unit, and now the blog.   Whew! i could really use a vacation day! ha!

back to work though.  A very busy week.. the boys are in baseball full swing with practice every night for Jacob and three times a week for the little man. jackson has his spring musical at hononegah Tuesday night.  Shane has his first softball tournament this weekend. I hope to update the other blog, my etsy shop, my website, and send out a newsletter this week.  and do lots of exercise as well as anything else to keep busy.

I haven't been taking lots of photos lately. hope to fall back in love with my camera with my new class.  She posted this photo of the binders she is sending us for the photography class. almost 500 pages of course material.. can't wait. 

 That damn 365 project really burns you out form your camera.

Have a great monday!