Fair Time!!

Today was the day to enter the contests. I brought in 4 scrapbook layouts.

The first was Mixed Media (so like thread, wires, etc) It got first :)


Next was Christmas/Holiday.... it got first :)

Next was purchased products (uses die cuts, ribbons, things you buy) It got first AND best of show!!! I was very excited!!!!

(the 4th one I entered got 4th, I don't think it had enough "memorabilia"... just two paper butterflies from Agatha's wedding, next year I will have to include a baby blanket or something.)

I was very excited about my first fair entry!! The girls and I (maybe even Ryan) are planning to hit up the fair later this week! This is a big one! They have elephant rides and tigers and monkeys and all the usual farm animals. The girls will be in heaven! Have a good week everyone!

VBS

As I posted earlier... Hallie just finished Vacation Bible School this week. She really had a great time! (and thought she was pretty hot stuff 'cause she got to go to school EVERY day!!-- I'll show her this blog entry in High School when she dreads going to school!!) To celebrate their fun week they performed two songs during church service this Sunday and had a lunch and ice cream social. **Proud mommy moment: all the teachers and "Mr. Science" stopped by our table to tell us what a big helper she was and how much they enjoyed her** Ya know, you send your kids off and HOPE they are being good, but it is reassuring to hear it! :)

Here's a video... we didn't have the best seats, but she loved these songs. (I had to laugh when her friend Laurel isn't doing the "right" thing at the end of the song!! hehehe) and of course, you will hear Reese cheering for "ya-ya"!

Reporting from sick bay...

This is one sicky household! We all have terrible colds, and this time Ryan and I have it the worst! We managed to get to church this morning for Hallie to sing and an ice cream social-- I'll post more on that later.

I wanted to post about my happy e-mail I got today. I won the Rusty Pickle blog challenge for the month! (it was that 4th of July frame I posted earlier this month) Yipee!!

While I am tooting my own horn :)
I got honorable mention on the Reminisce contest I posted earlier. (The Minnie Mouse layout and the layout with Hallie and Bentley)

Off to bed!

Happy Birthday Kim!!

In honor of Kim's birthday here is a little video for her!! Have a happy day, Kim!!!

Jr Bix 2008

Last night was the annual Jr Bix race. It is a 70 yard race for ages 1-5. Reese suprised us... she ran about 5 steps and then got scared with all of the people and was carried the rest of the way. We thought she'd be quite the track star... since she is always racing Hallie around the house. Hallie did great. She was very serious about the race! Everyone wins at the Bix and both were REALLY proud of their medals! After the race they have a family block party with food and fun (with a huge run through water sprinkler).

Here is Hallie's video...

Excuses, Excuses... but.....

I know I slacked on my blog this week, BUT... This week has been FULL of "adventure"!! This time with a little twist! Here's how it started:
Sunday we had another open house. While Ryan was runnin' the show my mom and I took the girls on the water taxi for a ride on the Mississippi. We got off at the Davenport stop for a little bit. Reese was cracking us up playing "follow the sister"!! It was a fun afternoon activity.

Monday... we were awaken at 6am by tornado sirens. Ryan and I got the girls and headed back to the crawl space. As we were making our way down the power went out. Ya know, you think it will come right back, but it didn't!!! It stayed out! Little did we know outside of our house was a HUGE storm with 95 mph winds! Luckily we don't have any large trees, so our only damage was the flag getting ripped off the side of the house (screws and all!)

So, Monday we tried to stay out of the house. First, Hallie had Vacation Bible School. Then we all met for lunch and a little play time at Chuck E Cheese.

As we headed home at 4ish I was SURE the power would be back on.... nope! Hallie had her preschool orientation, so she is all ready to go now!! {and getting very excited!}

Tuesday came... Mom flew back out of the mess to California. (the airport was running off generators) Reese and I took Hallie to VBS and headed back home to throw out all of the food left in the fridge and freezer. After picking up Hallie we headed to play at Becky and Levi's all day! GUESS WHAT?!?!? At about 7:30pm our neighbors called to tell us the power was back on and running!!! YIPEE!!!!!

That brings us to Wednesday... most of the city still was without power. {Guess no Jimmy John's today!!-- the picture below is from their parking lot!} Ryan came home in time for me to go take a class from Lance, owner of Rusty Pickle at Scrapaganza. Fun time as always!

Then Ryan and the girls met us at the ball park for Hallie's T-ball pictures. They were so excited to see the Raccoon come out to join in with them!

Thursday (gosh, see how busy the week was?!?!?)
This was house cleaning day!! We got groceries, did all the laundry from the week, and got the house back in pre-storm order! So that was that!! Now I will keep up through our fun filled weekend!!

CHA Chicago Highlights...

I only have a few minutes to blog, so I wanted to share with you the highlights of the Craft & Hobby Association Show in Chicago this weekend!! (First, I forgot my memory card for my camera at home... so thank you Penny for the pictures!)

1- Hanging with Heidi (and Tim, and Ali, and Elmo)

*I might have a little something for you, Jodi! {wink} I told her what a BIG fan you were!!*

2- Checking out all the Fun NEW products!!

*Glitz has great new papers, new roller doodles, and some awesome rub-ons!! I am excited for it all!!!!! OH, and new clear stickers with bling built right in!!
*ChatterBox released beautiful, elegant papers and amazing embellishment packs! We ordered red, green and of course... pink!

*Oh Miss Heidi!! I LOVE the new Winter papers!!!! The embellishments are so neat! I love the clear accents! {There are two other lines, but this is my fav}

*Teresa Collins, sweet as can be, has really cute Halloween and Christmas lines out! (and a recipe line that is too cute) Her lines are PERFECT for my mini book obsession! {look for a class soon!}

3- Cheesecake with friends (please note: Photos taken after a LONG day!!)

This was the Scrapaganza crew: Beth, Kelly, Me, Penny, and Ashleigh

4- Meeting NEW friends

We met Bree and Camille from Canada... they are so sweet! We had a fun night!

5- WINNING the Little Yellow Bicycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it??? I am so excited to get mine shipped to me! Can't wait to post pics from our family bike rides!! YIPEEEEEE!! (yes, it has daisies on it!!)

There were so many other great times, seeing Kim and Lynn in action at the Pickle booth, Glitzin' with the Glitz Girls, meeting up with Teresa Collins, laughing with Becky Novacek, the Two Peas reception, TONS of Make and Takes (sometimes racing to m&t), and all the fun new products we are so excited to get in the store!!! I will be posting more pictures later... and I am getting more pictures from Ashleigh on Monday or Tuesday!!

Kiddie Tractor Pull Champion in the house....

After our exciting morning I took the girls to the Rock Island County Fair. Hallie wanted to enter the Kiddie Tractor Pull contest... so of course Reese did, too! Reese did a great job {besides the fact she couldn't reach the pedals!!} She got a participation ribbon and was very excited! Next up... Hallie and the 4 year olds. After the third round of adding weights she was the only one to make it a "full pull". {She was concentrating hard!!} So Hallie was awarded the blue ribbon and TROPHY!! Yipee Hallie!! The lady running it brought over another trophy she said was last years if Reese wanted it! These two girls didn't sit their trophies down the whole day! Both of them have gotten them back out to celebrate today!!

While we were at the fair we checked out all of the animals... the baby barn was their favorite. Hallie even found "Wilbur" in the pig barn! We had a great time! Sure wish Grandpa and Grandma Bolles had their farm... these girls would be in heaven!

Our day didn't stop there...

Hallie had her first night of T-Ball! She is on the A's. It should be a fun season! They rec department has teamed up with the River Bandits {a team like the I-Cubs} so they get to have their pictures taken on the "big" field. They also have a special night that the kids and their families are invited to a game and they get to warm-up with the team and stand on the field for the National Anthem. But aside from all that fun... it is soooo fun (and funny) to see these kids with the giant batting helmets on! :) I am sure I will be posting lots more once her games start!

Our night ended with a MUCH NEEDED bubble bath!

Three of a kind!!

Just wanted to let you all know we are having.... a third GIRL!!! :) The baby looked healthy and everything looked great! My due date is now November 20th. {scootched back a few days} That's all for now...

Reminisce Signature Lines...

Here are two layouts I made with the new Reminisce Signature lines (click to enlarge them):

"Tuckered Out"

This layout I sewed the picutre to the page, made little flowers with button centers, and pop dotted the sayings.

"A friend like no other"

This was the first layout I did about Bentley. This layout has a lot of distressing and inking. Kim introduced me to Glimmer Mist for my Grunge Board. The pictures and stickers say it all... so I didn't need to journal much... but did just along the bottom of the page.

Scrapaganza will be getting these lines in very soon! They just placed the order.