sad news this morning.

we had a phone call from mike's mom this morning to let us know that

mike's sweet little Gramma passed away earlier this morning.

she had been in the hospital for about 4 days for a supposed common procedure which in turn

led to further complications and caused her to arrest several times.

her frail little body began to shut itself down over the last couple of days and today

we all pray for her loving, kind spirit that she is at peace.

we love you and will miss you Gramma Griffin.

xoxo

upcoming classes!

what a B-E-A-Utiful day out there today!

hope you've been enjoying our winnipeg summer at the end of september!

here is a list of my upcoming October classes and events.

if you would like to be added to my newsletter email list where you will receive more

detailed info regarding the classes and crops please drop me a line at

thegriffs@mts.net

and i'd be happy to fill you in and have you join us sometime!

FRIDAY - OCTOBER 2

6pm - midnite

Class Fee $25

we will be making this adorable "carefree summer days" chipboard album...inspired and templates based on HEIDI SWAPP'S House of 3 project.

you will be tracing out these templates onto raw chipboard sheets...

...then cutting out your chipboard album pages...

...you will then get to select 8 12x12 patterned papers and 3 12x12 cardstocks of your choice

to create your basic chipboard album...

...class fee also includes binder rings, use of paints, inks, rubber stamps, ribbon and a few embellishments!! You will need to bring your own basics ( paper trimmer, adhesives, glue stick, your own scrappin' embellishment stash to add to your album, and of course PHOTOS! )

as always, home classes also include a half time snack, coffee and tea.

please feel free to bring your own pop/ water bottles.

also happening in OCTOBER:

friday oct. 2 - 'carefree summer days' chipboard album ( 6pm - midnite ) $25

monday oct. 5 - SKETCHES class ( 630 - 930pm ) $20

friday oct. 9 - The Scrappin Studio HALL CROP - 6pm - midnite $10

friday oct. 16 - HALL CROP with Lora Leigh Zurstegge 630pm - midnite - $12

monday Oct. 19 - SKETCHES class (630 - 930pm ) $20

friday oct. 30 - HALLOWEEN PARTY & CROP- The Scrappin Studio

6pm - midnite $10 ( costume optional! )

...thanks for stopping by...

HAVE A NICE DAY!!!

this weekend, we were...

MAGGIE-SITTING!!!

we all love our visits from Maggie when her family is away for a few days!

here's a few promised blog photos for the fam!

~ she's soooo cute!! ~

( see...your dog CAN run and play!!! )

:O)

...no wonder she crashes when she leaves our house!!

hahahaha...

thanks for the visit with her Malinowski's...hope you had a great weekend!!!

:O)

...well, tomorrow is back to Tae Kwon Do for tyler! he usually goes wednesday nights, but this week it's his meet the teacher bbq, so we're starting tomorrow instead!

looks like after this, our family is completely back into our routine of school, my classes and all our activities!

is your family all back to normal yet???

:O)

happiness...

...is PRETTY IN PINK!!!

it was on t.v a couple nights ago and i sooooo

loved watching a flick from my good ol' high school days!!

This movie has a special place with me...and it was sooooo fun to watch it again after all these years! you must check it out yourself sometime.

( molly ringwald, john cryer, andrew mcarthy )

mmmmm...so good!

SO...

today is miss kelsey's birthday ( courtney's good friend from dance ) and the girls were all

back into the swing of saturday workshops today and were lucky to be

treated with some birthday cake from kelsey's mom at the end of the lesson!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY...and thanks for the cake for the girls Susan!!

...it was great seeing all the girls again and amazing to see how much they've GROWN over the last two months!!

:O)

...and last night i was playing with paper, glue and scissors...

i made my spin off of one of elsie's recipe box sketches!

FUN...FUN!!!!

looking forward to a quiet night in with the family...maybe a pizza and movie night?

...and how is your weekend so far??

:O)

"what i like the best..."

"about middle school is...

I GET MY OWN LOCKER!!!"

yep.

those were courtney's words about first day of school and here's your proof from yesterdays's

'meet the teacher bbq'!!!

...ask Miss Rachel ( courtney's BFF ) the same question, and you will get the same reply!

HAVE LOTS OF FUN WITH YOUR NEW LOCKERS GIRLS!!!

...and here's just a couple pics from the sketches class i had on monday night...

you should come and try them sometime!

{ giggle }

...AND SOME FUN NEWS TO SHARE...
my sweet friend Tara has FINALLY started her own blog...
you can go have a looksie and visit often
( don't forget to leave her a comment...us bloggers LOOOOVE comments!!
at www.tleclaire.blogspot.com

happy weekend everyone!
it's gonna be a great one...
what are your plans????
:O)

quick inspriation!!

well hello.

i had a lovely visit yesterday with my mom at Donalda's house in lorette...thank you again for such a welcoming and fun day!!!

here's the layouts i made yesterday...

...sorry...i trimmed the photos and then i couldn't find the file they were in, so in my rush today, you're getting the unedited version!! hahaha!!

hope everyone enjoyed the great weather over the weekend...

happy monday!!

:O)

and the winner is....

DANA GORDON!!!

( you can thank tyler for drawing your comment this morning!! )

thank you everyone again for all your blog visits, comments and kind words!!!

...now, onto planning a scrap day tomorrow with my mom and donalda in Lorette!!! YAY for playtime!!

:O)

IT'S HERE...

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT TODAY IS MY

300TH POST???

yep.

300 times i've sat at my computer,

uploaded photos

and shared our family and business adventures

with the world!

AND...

as promised to you, i have a fun little give-away in celebration of this

fun, fun occasion!!

i LOVE my blog for many reasons:

it's definitely threraputic,

it's an awesome way to keep connected with our world wide family and friends,

and it lets me share exciting business updates with my

scrapbooking world!!

Here's some pic's of my give-away today...

all you have to do to enter to win is leave me a comment at the end of this post, i'll print them off and the kids will draw a lucky name of the winner!

you have until MIDNIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT ( tomorrow night, winnipeg time ) to enter.

one comment entry per person for you smart people already thinking ahead...

teehee.

:O)

FUN!!!!!!!

FUN!!!!

okay...

and on another scrapbooking note...

for those of you who are registered for tomorrow nights hall crop

( which is now a full house again...THANK YOU! )

don't forget that it's

SEPTEMBER CLEAN SWEEP!!!

bring any unwanted or gently used items for the TRADING POST table...clean up that stash that you KNOW you're not going to use and is piling up...leave something and take something...

it's all for fun and it's all free...

and one last thing for today...

last night tyler and i FINALLY had our very first piano lessons!

it was awesome...he did great...and i'm gonna love this new musical adventure...

( plus mike is tired of hearing me play Bella's Lullaby all the time - self taught this summer through internet piano tutorials )

hahaha!!!

( I went from that to playing "merrily we row along" last night....too funny! )

BUT...i was READING music notes at last!

...here's my boy...

( note Bunny on the far right of the bench!!! )

.. for those of you who know tyler well, KNOW that Bunny goes everywhere he goes...

even to first piano lessons...

dang, i love that kid.

...well, good luck to you all...

don't forget to leave a comment to enter the give-away today!!!!

:O)

#299...

...one more post to go til 300!!!!

well, i survived "back to school" this morning.

tyler - grade 2

courtney - grade 6...junior high!

they were excited to go, especially courtney, and i had butterflies in my tummy!
but, all went well and now my house is too quiet and i'm bored!!
( i miss them already...i'm such a sap! )


...courtney and BFF rachel at JUNIOR HIGH....how did this happen already??
:O)

...have great days "back to...." everyone!!!

#298...2 more to go...

until my 300th post AND giveaway!!!

stay tuned this week...

just a quick recap for the fall / winter 2009 hall crop dates for

The Scrappin Studio...

Friday, Sept. 11....

Friday, Oct. 9....

Friday, Oct. 30...HALLOWEEN PARTY AND CROP!!!

Friday, Nov. 20...

Friday, Dec. 11...

please email for more information on hall crops and classes at

thegriffs@mts.net

hope you join us soon for a fun evening of scrappin' and friendship!!

...family stuff...

we just came home late last night from 3 days in the U.S.

we left friday with the malinowski family to Thief River Falls to stay a night at the Waterpark hotel....the kids had a TOTAL blast there!!

( as usual )

...poor unsuspecting carson about to get doused by his sister...

...and the good ol' lazy river ride...gotta love it!

...we did a TON of shopping, back to school clothes, runners, a BBW stop for me, picked up a few little scrapbooking treats for myself, courtney bought herself her GUITAR she's been asking for for months now....we gave her some B-day $$ to help her along...AND...it's PINK...that's my girl!

we indulged ourselves ( at my request ) at Paradiso's on friday night for dinner...YUMMY!!

and yesterday for 'lupper' at the malinowski's request, we ate at Space Aliens...

different, fun for kids, and great food!!

PLUS...we had an alien encounter right outside Area 51 in the restaurant.....

LOL!!!

...yep...

a great way to finish off our summer holidays before school starts again on wednesday.

~ sigh ~

best wishes to all our family and friends who are returning back to school this week AND to all of us parents as we all start up our usual routine schedules with the kids' activities...

HERE WE GO AGAIN.......

:o)

random things about our last three days at the lake...

1) had my first ever TIRE BLOW-OUT on the hiway to the cabin tuesday...NOT fun.

thank God for Mike, ya know? my hero.

he left work to come and change the tire...what a guy!

:O)

( and yes, of course I took a picture of it....did you forget who I am??-wink )

2) the kids and I FINALLY exposed my mom to TWILIGHT for

tuesday night's cabin movie!!!

( she's totally Team Jacob...she's not my mother anymore....BAHAHAA!! )

we love edward in the griffin home...

3) endulged the kids in their favorite summer food EVER last night with supper...

4) got some really cute shots of this friendly, fearless little guy...

5) my boy was "minnow fishing" all afternoon today...he was also playing with them in his bare hands in the pail afterwards too...

( yes linda, he sanitized!!! hahahaha!!! )

"the minnow hotel"

...yep, a great couple days with awesome weather and even better company!!

now, off to the states for more adventures tomorrow!!

...don't forget to keep checking for my 300th POST GIVEAWAY coming soon!!!!

:O)