bad blogger...

i know i've been a bad blogger this week...

the biggest part of this reason is because i have NO CAMERA to play with right now!!

my new digital ( that i've only had since june ) is in the shop with a dud flash..it just stopped working on me and i'm so bummed out about it. i use that camera pretty much every single day! you forget the total convenience ( especially if you're a blogger ) of taking pictures and seconds later you can post them on your blog.

what a bummer.

so...i am hopeful to have it back and ready for action within a week or so...bear with me on the no photo posts this coming week! ( whhhaaaaa....)

( this is also the reason why i was unable to post any photos of projects for the last 2 classes, sorry! )

UPDATE ON GRANDPA:

he's doing okay...still just very slow. i think that this is just the way he's going to be from now on. he's often dizzy and light-headed ( mostly from all his medications and trying to find some balance with them for him) so someone always needs to be by his side when he's up and walking with his walker, no more falls please!! he's had a couple minor 'slides' off the couch and side of the bed while at mom's, nothing major thankfully. he just misjudges where he's about to place his rump and slides off...so we need to watch him almost every move he makes.

even though he's feeling more himself and witty as always, it's still so very sad to watch his deterioration like this. it's heartbreaking really.

i love him soooo much and wish i could make him better and of course, live forever!

homecare has made some arrangements for him to go to a 'day hosptial' to interact with other senior's who need handi-transportation to get out...grandma will be going with him of course. there they will have games, singing, music, crafts and all sorts of other fun activities for them to take part in. it's once a week for about 4 hours. ALSO, grandma and grandpa have twice now gone to our own church for their senior's activities!!! everyone was so happy to see him out and about!

TODAY'S big adventure was they wanted to go to their own house for the afternoon, just to be there where it's familiar for them and spend some time there. Of course, grandma has been wanting to get him there for a LONG time now to stay there, but that is just not possible yet. But, with homecare's approval, they are as i write, having an afternoon in there own home!!

mike will be going to pick them up after supper to go back to moms!

other happenings this week were not as adventurous as grandma and grandpa, but school is going just great for the kids! courtney just finished her first week as a PATROL!! i have pictures to show you once i get my camera back...

tyler had a fun 'shape of the week' week, and i made/brought treats for all the kids everyday in the shape of that particilar day! they loved it!

...and i think tyler has his first girlfriend...LEXI...

she's a cutey, but no marriage plans yet!

LOL!!!!

monday will bring us back to Manta for courtney, and wednesday back to swimming lessons for tyler...dance is in full swing with workshops and extra lessons and preparing for her first fall competition on october 13...yikes, already?

i better get going as i have a scrapbooking class to teach tonight...

i still have 6 september kits still available and check back for posts featuring the OCTOBER KIT very soon!

( pic's as soon as my camera comes home...)

I think my camera needs a name???

Hmmmmm.....maybe a little game/contest coming on that one...stay tuned!!

:O)

time to catch up...

...these are courtney's close highland dance friends...

Kelsey, Kailey and Alex.

they, along with 4 school friends, came to our house on saturday to keep my promise to courtney to have a ''friends'' birthday party since everyone was away last month on holidays...

so....courtney's 9th birthday has finally come to an end!!!

ONE LUCKY LITTLE GIRL I TELL YA! she got so many fun and awesome birthday gifts that will all be well used and are already well loved!

thank you girls for coming to celebrate with courtney!!

...on friday night i WENT TO a hall crop to get out and play for a change...i did this fun little layout for tyler's scrapbook album and 3 more pages in courtney's 8x8 farm album from last sept...whew...still sooooo much to do!
i am almost finished a couple projects that i've been trying to get completed, one of them is the project i am teaching this friday night...so hopefully i will have some more pic's to post soon!!
and today while the camera was out...so were the kids' silly faces wanting to pose...after looking at this one of courtney, i guess she shouldn't have eaten green guacamole chips first!!!
{GIGGLE}



...yep, that's our little meatballs...

st. vital park

"WHAT'S UP ....DUCK?"

...teehee...

courtney had a birthday party to go to this afternoon and while she was there, tyler and i went to go buy some bread to take with us for our visit after the party. we went to st. vital park to see all the canada geese in the duck pond!!! WOW...there was hundreds of them...and it was a VERY noisy duck pond today!

i am hoping to get lots of great shots at different parks before they all migrate for the winter, and also to wrap up tyler's canada goose project i have been working on with him since june!!!

i cannot tell you how much i have enjoyed sharing this with my kids...

here's some of my fav's of our fun afternoon with the geese!!!

...a few brave ones came to handfeed from us...

..this duck was too pretty not to photograph...

..before we left ( almost 2 1/2 hours later, the sun was starting to set and i was watching for some cool 'shadow' shots...

GOT ONE!!

...the lone goose and his shadow...or her??

feeling creative today

CHECK IT OUT...

NEW GOODIES ARRIVED TODAY!

(man i love seeing that delivery man on my doorstep!)

lots of new Love, Elsie stuff, paper and embellishments, some new papers and rubons from Tinkering Ink, new Heidi Swapp mini masks and MORE!!!

and a made a layout today with some new basic grey papers ( 'infusion' ) and another mini album coming along using this new line as well...these will be on display in the Scrapyard in Stonewall soon for design team work...

i love this photo of courtney taken at my little god-daughter's birthday party this summer and the basic grey paper was perfect to showcase it!!!

long distance 'family member'...

something you may not know about me and my family is...

we have a LONG DISTANCE 'FAMILY MEMBER' that lives in

Uganda, Africa!!!

today is a great day to introduce you to EDITA because i just ( literally, just opened ) received her annual progress report! We have been sponsoring her through World Vision since April 2003 and I LOVE having a sponsor child in our family from across the world!

she is 12 years old now ( she was 8 when we started ) and just soooo beautiful!

courtney and tyler make her pictures and letters to include in with mine when i write to her, it's just so exciting to be a part of world vision and know that our family is trying to make a difference...at least in one little girls life! she goes to school and sunday school and her health is now in good condition. i love getting letters from her, seeing how her penmanship is developing, touching the sandy-dirty back of her writing papers and trying to imagine her sitting ( probably on a little mat on the ground ) and writing and drawing her gift to send my family...

:O)

having her as a sponsor child has made me appreciate my own children in a much different aspect. i am grateful daily for their health, their abundant blessings of food, clothing, the ability to go to school, and all that lies ahead of them in their dreams...edita certainly keeps a thankful perspective in our family!! she recently wrote me that she wants to be a PILOT when she grows up so she can go anywhere she want to!!!

with Thanksgiving holiday approaching, i thought i'd start counting my blessings early!!!!

mission: ACCOMPLISHED!

...so today was tyler's 1st full morning and official '1st day of kindergarten'!!!

he was soooo excited to go and make some new friends and check out his classroom...no anxiety, no nervousness, and NO TEARS ( from me either! )....just pure excitement.
his little picture he came home with said at his first day of kindergarten, "tyler was happy"...

here's courtney walking tyler to the 'kindergarten line-up wall'...so cute!
















..tyler's cute lil' cubbie...

man, looking at this photo i see he needs a hair cut in a bad way!!!






...yesterday i had to take GRANDPA to see his Parkinson's doctor way out by the Deer Lodge Centre...i told him everything that happened while we were in the states and the update since we got him out of the hospital and now living at mom's...he wanted to take his blood pressure and i had to help the doctor to get grandpa up on the examining table to lie down. when the doctor 'shifted' grandpa around, grandpa let out this loud yelp of pain and begged the doctor to get him back up...i had to help the doctor again to roll grandpa onto his side as he needed to take his blood pressure lying down and then standing up...so, choking back tears inside seeing grandpa in that much pain, i helped to roll him over and then stand him up...his blood pressure was very low when we stood him up, hence the extra dizziness and light headedness.. so , we now need to go see his family doctor for probably another medication adjustment.
other than the visit yesterday, grandpa has been doing pretty good. still really sleepy all the time, but in good spirits and wanting to get up and out to do a little more walking. all good progress, but that yelp i heard and saw yesterday at the doctor's reminded me of just how fragile he really is. when we got him standing up, grandpa was kind of leaning on me ( like a HUG :O) ) and i imagined how this frail elderly man once used to be a strong energetic man and used to throw me up in the air while making silly faces at me as a baby...and held my hands in his when i was learning how to walk...stuff like that. and there i was holding HIM up so he wouldn't fall, and holding his hands to keep his balance.
kind of a reality check that i don't want to 'check' with, ya know?
anyway, that's the update on grandpa for now...all kinds of living arrangements are floating around, but nothing in the making yet...grandma and grandpa will just have to 'stay put' for a while longer yet!!!

and i will leave you with this....


yes, this is COURTNEY with her brand new CABBAGE PATCH KID BABY!!!
she's had my old CPK's around the house since she was little, and never really bothered with them...
but lately, she's been 'quietly' playing with them. mostly just changing their clothes 'n stuff, but still...
she has rarely EVER played with dolls, and barbie dolls but now i see her with these little baby dolls and it's kinda cute! it reminds me too that since our house is always sooooo 'busy' and 'crazy' with things to do and gotta go here..and with all her expectations and commitments to her highland dancing and her swimming, and all her other responsibilities, that she is only NINE years old and still just a little girl!!
I LOVE THAT, thanks for the reminder Courtney!!
{ GIGGLE }
so, i bought this new CPK baby for the kids to share, as tyler is also fond of babies, but i think courtney has decided it to be hers..Welcome to our family, JAYDA AINSLEY!!!!


WHAT'S YOUR CABBAGE PATCH'S NAME??? ( C'MON, I KNOW YOU HAVE ONE!!! )

mission:KINDERGARTEN

today was tyler's kindergarten orientation and introduction to his new classroom and teacher! (note how 'bunny' managed to come along today too...!! )
Mrs. Thompson is awesome and tyler can't wait to get going every day to kindergarten!
we met with the teacher for 30 mins. and she showed him all the different stations in the classroom, and his little 'cubbie' for his backpack and jacket and shoes...too cute!
she had a few different activities for him to do around the room, and his exploring also tempted him into making a few puzzles and doing some independent number sorting with some little frogs!
i think his awesome preparation from preschool has blown the kindergarten teacher out of the water a wee bit...( heeheehee...i'm a proud mom, what can i say? )



..his teacher asked him to try 'tracing over his name' to see if he can try spelling out the letters in his name. he looked at her, just like in this photo, and said "i can print my own name you know. why do i have to trace it like i'm a little kid?"

AAAGGGHHHH!!! i almost peed myself from laughing! his printing is in the red marker!

...sorting number frogs...smart cookie!

Tyler's first 'official' full morning of kindergarten will be on tuesday, sept. 11.

...i'll be sure to bring my kleenex!!!

courtney's exciting news after school yesterday was..."mom i want to be a patrol at school. pllllleeeeaaaaasssseee can i do it? i need a lunch for school tomorrow because i have my first meeting and then i have some training to do...."

i guess my answer MUST be YES!

:O)

school is cool...

i have a feeling that this is going to be a GREAT school year for courtney!!!

she was sooooo excited last night at bedtime...making sure that her new "pirates" clock was set properly, laying out her 'first day of grade four' clothes and anticipating her classmates! she was really excited that she was going to have "Mr. D" as her teacher this year too ( her first male teacher )...he's very down to earth and involved with the kids...i am very glad she is in his classroom!!! so, when i picked her up at luchtime and asked her how her morning went in school, her enthusiastic reply was "COOL"...."mr.d has a huge aquarium with big fish in it...we released 7 of his monarch butterflies before lunch and he has a COUCH in his classroom..."

by the end of the day...she was still very excited! i asked him if i could take his photo with courteny for her scrapbook...he actually chuckled and said "sure....i've seen you around with your camera before..."

HA!

i guess my request was no surprise to him!! anyway, after everyone left and we got our photos, he invited courtney, tyler and i to come to the library with him to watch him feed and tag his last four monarch butterflies before they are released...!! of course we accepted his invitation! i took pictures, but i used my SLR camera for the other school shots, so i will scan them in soon to show you...( and i know that miss KELSEY will enjoy seeing them!! )

sooooo, a very good day!!!

AND....

after school we went to mom's for a visit and see how grandpa was doing today...he's coming along just great! i think that getting out of the hospital has been very theraputic for him! he's much happier and content. he's been getting out of bed sometimes ALL BY HIMSELF and he got his very own brand new walker delivered today too! he'll be leaving skidmarks soon with his new wheels....heeheehee!

home care comes to the house every morning around 8:30am to help him out of bed, if he isn't already, and to get him walking a bit. they come to bathe him every few days, that is if grandma hasn't done it herself already...Scottish Pride, Aye.....it runs in me family!! so, things are definately looking better. long term goals and plans are still 'wishy-washy' and too early to predict his progress, but we are still looking into a possiblitly of getting them both into a senior's apartment together with a 24 hour nursing staff, just in case. time will tell all.....

"back to it"

...well, now that september is here, not only is scrapbooking getting back into action, but so is the rest of our family!! ( i'm sure just like you )

tonight courtney had her first "pre-lesson" lesson for her Highland dancing at lynn's...she did pretty good considering we had most the summer off from it...( gulp ) Lynn taught her some new fancy steps for a few of her dances and courtney LOVES to learn new things!!!

...and tomorrow our little girl starts GRADE FOUR!!!! ( yikes )

where oh where has the time gone? we spent yesterday morning opening packages and labeling all her new school supplies to get ready...i think everything is pretty much in 'check' and we'll be off for those 'first day of school' pictures in the morning!!!

( tyler starts kindergarten on friday, but he only goes for a half hour private orientation with the teacher and then next week is staggered entrance...my BABY! )

i hope courtney sleeps good tonight with sweet dreams of what's to come for her in her new classroom!!!

SEPTEMBER KIT NOW AVAILABLE!!!

not only is it 'back to school' once again...it's also

'back to scrappin' for us mom's out there too!!!

you'll find lots of inspiration with this well loved color combo of pinks and browns to get your imagination going!!

SEPTEMBER'S KIT will bring you:

5 x Bohemia 'Blossom' patterned double sided papers by My Mind's Eye

4 x Bazzill textured cardstock papers

1 x Bazzill 'pinked' edge paper in black

1 x Die Cuts with a View Rub ons "Flourish" in black

1 x Making Memories Boho Chic metal frame and accessory in brown

1 x 7 Gypsies 5x7 Board Ring Book (with 3 rings)

1 x Heidi Swapp 16pc pink circle jewels

1 x Heidi Swapp pink foto folder

1 x 7 Gypsies "Time" cardstock stickers

4 x Heidi Swapp Lg. silk flowers ( 2 white, 2 pink )

1 pkg Heidi Swapp XL photo corners ( 4/pkg)

4 x Bazzill Chips ( 1.75" )

3 x We Are Memory Keepers stitched suede flower patch flowers

3 x antique brown metal photo turns / 3 antique brown mini brads

3 yards of co-ordinating ribbons (oops, sorry, ribbons not shown in photo! but you WILL get them!!!)

...WOW...

kits sell at $29 each

GET 'EM WHILE YOU CAN!!!

:O)