morning cuddles

...nothing beats having your kids come into your room first thing in the morning and sneek into your bed with you for some cuddles!!!
tyler woke up this morning before i even had time to go wake him and crawled into bed with me ( mike was already off to work and courtney slept at my mom's last night...)
he said he was ' too excited to sleep anymore mom.'
we are heading off today on a little family trip to the states for some waterpark fun and some shopping!! i am going with the kids, my mom and 16 year old niece airiel, and i talked my grandparents into coming along with us. unfortunately mike couldn't

get the time off work so he has to stay home in a peaceful and quiet house for 3 days...whatever will he do with all that quiet time?? heehee...
anyway, i had to take a couple pic's of my boy 'n i having some lazy morning cuddly pictures!
AND...while finding him something to watch on TV while i went into the shower, i came across this kids show that courtney just LOVED when she was about 3-5 years old...
BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE!!!!
it's still on tv! i loved that show myself...we still have a ton of the old VHS movies we bought for courtney stashed away!! soooo...even though i have a list of things to do and get
ready before we leave, i snuggled up with tyler and watched Bear entertain my son and make us giggle together!!!

be back in a few days.....
:O)

$117...YIKES!

i got my yummy order from tara's stampin up party a couple weeks ago...

i LOVE their stuff, too bad it's so dang expensive!

i am quite fond of the 'it's a date' stamp set...i've been eyeballing those for a while and was

happy to see that they were still in the catalogue!

(i used them on the little display card in the photo...)

thanks again tara for a fun night of crafting!!!

...well, i am off to stonewall to go see allison and drop off my mini wedding album for her store, and also to pick up some new stuff to play with for more demo's!!!

:O)

gull lake and scrapbooking...

well, we ( being courtney, tyler and i ) just came home from the cabin again late last night!

we went out saturday morning and took along my mom and my niece airiel along with us.

MAN, was it stinkin' hot out or what? with the humidity it was something like +42 mike told me later...thank goodness mike and my grandpa installed a new air conditioner at the cabin last weekend!!! ( or else my poor mom would have melted to mush! )

anyway, we enjoyed another bonfire in our 'yard' and courtney had her very first gull lake weiner roast!! YUM!

LOTS of swimming...

...my grandparents came out to the cabin on sunday afternoon for a night with us. i took this one yesterday morning when everyone was starting to wake up ( at 11am...heehee)

how totally SWEET is it? i love them to pieces!

...and once the kids knew they were awake we all encouraged them to go get 'papa' out of bed!!!

LOOK OUT BELOW!!!!

we had a very relaxing few days out there, had a big thunderstorm saturday night/morning ( 6am ) with huge hail and blowing rain...kinda freaky thinking about the tornado that hit our lake last summer....lots of great memories this weekend and lots of card playing too!

( my grandma is hooked on Crazy 8's too...i love it! )

and then we arrived back in the city around 9pm to this awesome looking sky at sunset...

just beautiful!

( thanks to thelma for reminding me to keep an eye on the sky...)

...AND LOOKY WHAT I GOT IN MY SHOP!!!!!

A 'ZUTTER' BIND-IT-ALL MACHINE!!!!

i borrowed allison's for a summer journal class i had in june, since mine didn't arrive in time for the class, and now i'm soooo excited that i have my very own to play with!!!

( yes, i'll share...)

i have only black and white coils in right now for sale, the machine is free to use with the purchase of coils!!!

and this is my demo mini album ( using the BIND-IT-ALL machine to create it )

i told you about that will be at allison's store

The Scrapyard in Stonewall.

it is featuring the new and BEAUTIFUL line by

Creative Imaginations Cream....( it's all fancy edged paper )

i LOVE the whole line and i am still trying to get my hands on my own supply for the shop...

but, for now, this little baby i made from scratch will be 'for looks' at The Scrapyard for a while...

i made the covers by just covering cardboard with Bazzill cardstock and cut the main pages at

6' x 6'. i printed the pictures off in a sepia tone so they would blend with the paper nicely.

HAVE A PEEK...LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!

{GIGGLE}

we're baaaccckkkk!

HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY MIKEY!!!

(only i get to call him that...)

:O)

well, we just came home tonight from our little romantic getaway celebration...

we went to misty lake lodge in gimli, mb for a few nights of some serious R & R!

we went here for our honeymoon and also our 1st ann. as well...we just love it there, and i think with every time we go again, i fall in love with that place a little bit more!

i LOVE walking in the pier and seeing all the boats and being surrounded with happy vacationers and other couples in love!

i must tell you, even if you just go there for a drive one day over the summer, the food at Misty Lake is AMAZING...and trust me, you won't leave hungry! the chef catered to us like royalty ( and the fact that they didn't have a whole lot of guests during the week probably helped with the 'special attention')

anyway, our anniversary dinner last night consisted of a bottle of house wine (which i endulged myself in to the max ) a started of bacon wrapped scallops ( mostly for mike )...

...and then a salad for kim and a bowl of 'mexican fiesta' soup for mike! this is mikes main course of a 'flat iron steak' smothered in sauteed mushrooms, steamed veggies in a cream sauce, seasoned roasted potatoes...

and my dinner was basically the same side dishes and the main course was chicken tarragon.

DANG. good food.

we also were on the glorious receiving end of a warm blueberry pie 'a la mode' for mike and strawberry new york style cheesecake for kim...sorry, must eat, no pic's...c'mon, it was cheesecake for goodness sake...it's practially another food group for me!!!

...and what would a little holiday for me be without a photo shoot??? let's just say while mike was 'napping off' his meals, i had some time to go beach walking alone and play with my new camera...

ENJOY...it's not quite like being there, but you can imagine!!!

( to my surprise...GEESE! this one's for tyler! )

MMMMmmmm...so relaxed!

Mike and i are planning on talking to our friends about going on a little snowmobiling adventure out there this winter...they have tons on hiking/skiing/snowmobile trails out there and mike is pumped about taking his new toy out with the kids for a fun weekend! our friends also have a sled so our kids will have a blast riding out there too! now we just have to get a trailer for our dakota sport truck and we'll be set...minus the snow...

( yuck, i can't believe i even uttered that "s" word in the prime of winnipeg summer...)
...happy to be home sweet home...

:O)

saturday fun

on saturday i had a chance to get a bit of scrapbooking done...

i was wanting to do a layout to feature this adorable line of

K-OLOGY papers and embellishments...

this line is called "hannah".

the 12 x 12 papers sell for .99 each,

and the 56 piece glittered and jeweled chipboard letters sell for 9.99,

and the 12pk stitched beaded brads are 4.99...

i also worked on a 6 x 6 album i made from scratch using the new 'bind-it-all' machine ( YES, i bought one available to use at my classes too ). the album is for a demo to use at the Scrapyard featuring the new Creative Imaginations victorian cream edged papers...i can't wait to show you but i have a few more pages left to complete....

(sorry to leave ya hanging....i tend to do that don't i??)

mike and i are leaving today to go to Gimli for 3 days...we're celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary there at the same place we went for our little ''honeymoon''...looking forward to a few days of quiet time and no lists to accomplish!

:O)

a bit about not much

not much new to say...

this is my friend tara and i ( she is a TOTALLY sweet friend and she frequents my 'comments' on my blog...hahahaha)

ahem, anyway, i went to her and her 'hubby's house wed. night with my MOM for a Stampin Up party and managed to spill out $117. (yikes)

~thanks again tara for a fun crafting night out with NO PLANNING for me to do~

:O)

...and this is for LIZ...

my bride and groom came tonight to pick up their wedding album and they loved all their pictures...(so did i, but i tend to be biased in this position!)

i got their permission to post some of their pictures on my blog...right now, until i reprint and enlarge some for my portfolio i only had an 8 x 12 of this shot.

here it is showing as a picture of a picture so it may not be great quality if you click on it to see it bigger. when i get more i will scan a few more in to show you! this is one of my favorites of the day!

i was supposed to be going to a fundraising social for one of mike's buddies tonight. this guy is VERY, VERY sick so his family is hosting a fundraiser for him as he's been at the hospital/home for a month with no $$$ coming in, with a wife and FOUR kids. but, since i'm still hacking up a lung (worse in the evening) i didn't think it would be good to be around this poor guy. (he's only making a small appearance). but mike had no problem going solo tonight as there will be a ton of his old buddies he hasn't seen in a while...sounds like trouble now that i'm thinking about it...

so, here i am. all alone. ( courtney at mom's for the night, tyler at ed's).

i am trying to get my basement organized and set up my shop for tomorrow's crop.

AND....get this....i am listening to a PRINCE cd i made about 4 years ago....HAHAHAHA...i'm actually enjoying listening to all his old hits...

"raspberry beret" is on now....GOOD TIMES, stereo is nice and LOUD...and i'm getting

NOTHING

accomplised sitting on this computer...

GOTTA GO...

( shake my thang....)

have a great weekend everyone!!!

:O)

on sale...

JUNE KIT HAS JUST BEEN REDUCED!!!

$23...(reg 29.99)

ONLY 3 LEFT...FIRST COME, FIRST GETS...SORRY!!

kits will be available starting again in september!

our little dog-sitting days ended last night after supper. tyler was teary eyed when they were driving off with her ( i think courtney was too but she tried to hide it by going to the bathroom )
anyway, until next time "Maggie Muffin" as i call her...
i was a little sad to see her go too....
:O)

Maggie is in the house!

...we are 'baby-sitting' our friends Bijon for a few days again and she is just the sweetest little pup!!

MAGGIE

is very well behaved (i think she listens better than the kids sometimes) and hardly makes a peep, you wouldn't even know we had a dog in our house right now!

we love her company and we're happy she's visiting us for a few days!

...i finally got my summer class newsletter emailed out for those of you on my contact list ...as promised, i put together a few crops and ONE class featuring this altered cloth 12 x 12 scrapbook album...check all the details out on your email!!
if you'd like to be added to my contact list please email your request to
thegriffs@mts.net


Before...
and After...

we had a good weekend with my little god-daughter Taylor's 7th birthday party on saturday...HOT day out that day! and then i had to close at work last night. i'm still sick with this head/chest cold too, actually i think it's bronchitis again. i seem to be pretty prone to getting it for some reason. oh well.

i am just trying to get a TON of stuff done and crossed off my 'to do' list today...

manic monday. that's today alright!!!

oh, for those of you who don't know already...

my favorite scrapbook supplier and artist Heidi Swapp just had her 5th, yes FIFTH baby on saturday too! A boy...and she named him what i wanted to name my Tyler, but NOOOOO, i couldn't name him that....(sorry, i still love the name...had it for courtney too if she had been a boy...) enough already kim...she named him Connor.

lucky boy with a great name....!

have a great monday everyone!!!

LIZ: i am waiting to hear from my bride and groom who's wedding i did a couple weeks ago for permission to post a couple of their pictures on my blog....i'd love to show a few of them off!!!

{GIGGLE}

:O)

week 4...

despite my lousy head cold i'm fighting with, the kids still had to be entertained yesterday...

another hot day, so i thought it might help me to be outside for a while and get some sun and some heat to help 'dry out' my cold...only to find this morning that my plan did NOT WORK!

~sniffle~

tyler collected his usual pail of rocks while we were at the cabin, so after pleading for the last 2 days to paint his rocks...i gave in and let him create his beautiful masterpieces!

...later in the afternoon, and being tuesday and also being the first day of 'week 4', we ventured off to the park to go check on tyler's geese! wow, have they grown since last week! some of the younger males have learned from their dad's examples and even tried to 'hiss' us away...too funny! kinda like a chicken picking a fight with a dog...WHATEVER little fuzzball!


( i never like being on the other side of the camera, but here was an opportunity to take a picture of myself and the kids!)



this guy.
ok, this gander was really fearless and quite curious of our visit. we found a group of 16 adult geese WAY on the farthest side of the park. no goslings around. it was either the goose version of "country charm adult only resorts" or a senior's development for geese on the lake. 'no goslings allowed'...!!!
anyway,
he was front and centre the whole time we were tossing out crumbs for them, and the others didn't really come to close to him. he was a hisser alright. probably the 'ring leader' of the flock as it seemed the others were intimidated by him. he swam right up to us and THEN he proceeded to crawl up onto the bank of the pond and FOLLOWED us along as we continued our exploring...looking for the families....

once we did find some young families, he had the NERVE to come up to tyler and actually grabbed the bread right out of his hand!!! courtney continued to feed the little guys around us while tyler kept hand feeding this guy so he wouldn't scare off the little ones. tyler was quite thrilled that the gander came several times to feed from his hand!! ( i wish i knew how to add video to my blog because i got a little video of this adventure as well...)

...enough about him...

we found our little family of 5 again...and they sure are getting big!

here's one of the curious little ones...it was kinda funny too because we saw this family when we arrived and were looking on the docks...they were on the other side of the lake from us, about 40 feet away, and they all just jumped into the lake and swam over to us! they got a good feeding on the lake and then we went for our walk and all these other adventures were happening...but, not to be left out, perhaps from picking up the familiar 'peeps' of the feeding golslings, they came running over to us from behind a bush and joined in again! this little one was running an olympic goose stance to get to us!

( kinda reminds me of the story 'the ugly duckling' right now....soon he will be beautiful!)

...imagine hearing the 'here comes the calvary' theme music and picture them running...

too funny!

...and this is them ( family of 5 ) on the lake at the docks when we first arrived...

WE LOVE GEESE!!!

:o)

...one more little note of excitement and interest from our visit with the geese today is while we were on the dock feeding them, keeping in mind that last week the docks were UNDER WATER from all the rain we had, the water was only about 2 inches down from the dock.

anyway,

while feeding the geese, this group of 4 CATFISH decided to bob up to the surface and snaffle some of the bread crumbs too! it was hilarious and unexpected to see these ugly faces pop up out of the water and pull a 'don't mind if i help myself' apperance...!

i got a couple pictures of them as they kept coming back, but i was interested in seeing what it would do...i held a larger piece of bread in my fingers and just kind of bobbed it along in the water and the darn things came up and were nibbling on it right out of my hand! i could feel their slimy catfish whiskers on my hand (YUCK ) but it was still pretty cool at the same time!

i am TOTALLY having fun with tyler's canada goose project (no kidding?) and i am so glad that i did it with him! he is learning a lot about them, and courtney is also involved now that school is out and she LOVES going to see them. i am learning so much too, but my favorite thing about this adventure of a lesson is spending this learning time with my kids and exposing them to a whole new world! they are excited about their findings, their exploring and all the knowledge they are learning. we have been enjoying these geese at this same park for over 4 weeks now, on a weekly photojournaling visit, and been seeing them grow and change and it's just a wonderful thing to share with my kids!

i am looking forward to the fall when we go to the Fort White Centre to wrap up our little project and to see all the full grown families there before they migrate south for the winter...that will be amazing for tyler to see in person and know that all the things he's been learning about happen through stages and the pictures he's seen in his library books, and video's we've watched happen

FOR REAL!!!

NOTE TO LIZ...just wait until you see what your little preschool student has created during this project!!!

NOTE TO SELF....man, this was a long post! thanks to those of you who kept reading til the end!!!

{GIGGLE}

:O)