Giggles and Grins

Totally Stole These!

2009-11-13T17:55:00.000-05:00

I miss these two SO much...and love them even more!

Happy Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T20:35:00.001-05:00

IMG_7476, originally uploaded by erxmo1.

Birthday Celebration: 10:00 p.m.?

2009-11-07T17:57:00.002-05:00

Yep, it's number 37.

(It's a group effort....someone thought it would be a good photo op. ......I'm a dork!)

A sweet card from grandma...

make a wish!

(Never too old to have fun!)

A Beautiful Week

2009-11-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

This has been such an amazing week.

The leaves are absolutely beautiful, the air is crisp.

The long sleeves and sweaters are out and oh so comfy.

Rex started his new job Monday morning, and has had such a great time getting to know his role, workplace and the people he works with.

Tonight we celebrated his birthday, just the two of us, laughing, joking, and answering birthday calls from friends and family.

(Birthday photos to come soon.)

We are so thankful for all of our blessings this week, but especially thankful for each other.

Life is good.

Mmmm.......Sunday

2009-11-01T20:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated Halloween by making White Chicken Chili, Hot Cider and a Pumpkin Torte so today I started my day with really yummmy leftovers. That looks like a really large piece I know, but if you've ever had a piece of this pumpkin torte, you know it's just the right size!

After a lazy morning enjoying the extra hour from Daylight Savings, it was off to Target for a birthday card and some Halloween bargain shopping. Besides finding three pair of cute socks, I found some gifts to put away for Christmas.

Then we headed to Flint to celebrate Aunt Pat's birthday. Rex got this REALLY fun shirt from Pat for his birthday (which we will be celebrating on Friday :).

Then it was time for the cake. Even though it looks like Rex and Pat are mad at each other, they are actually singing Happy Birthday to one another.

When the Big Bad Wolf showed up to the party, it was about time to leave. Besides, Rex needs to rest up for his NEW JOB that starts tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T19:56:00.003-05:00

Check out the AWESOME costume that Rex and Josie made me! Rex made the suit and Jo made the cool horned hood. What do you think? I loved being MAX for the day, and the kids seemed to like it too. This costume is going to get a lot of use over the next few years!

Oh, and check out my wild thing!

"Please don't go. I could eat you up I love you so!"

2009-10-24T08:14:00.005-04:00

That's probably my favorite line from the whole movie. (Warning: I'm probably going to WAY overuse that line, especially around young children.) Have you seen it yet? What did you think? I've heard a lot of different opinions regarding this movie and read just as many reviews, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Where the Wild Things Are. Sure it's about a little boy who lashes out, but what child doesn't? I know I had Max moments as a child. When you really look at him and think about the way a child's mind works, and the way children internalize things, I think they made the movie perfectly. Should you go see it? My vote is yes. I think every adult should go see it and watch the movie through the eyes of Max. Should your little ones go see it? That's your call. The film is filled with moments of "inappropriate behavior", but judging by the little one (4 years old or so) sitting in front of me, who broke out in fits of laughter every time the Wild Things laughed (making every adult in the place laugh too), It's probably worth the trip. I know I loved it!

Victory for MSU!

2009-10-20T18:43:00.006-04:00

A couple of months ago I got an e-mail from my college roommate D. She and her husband were planning on coming to Michigan and wanted to know if we'd like to get together. YEAH! Of course we did! The last time we saw these two was on our wedding day more than six years ago and it WAS kind of a busy day. :) So, last weekend we headed to state for Homecoming. It was the first time we had been on campus for a game in about ten years (wow!).

Long story short, we ended up crashing in the extra bed in their hotel room both nights and had an amazing time laughing, eating good food, and just hanging out to catch up with one another. It was as if no time had passed at all (except for the whole being-grown-up-now thing).

Here are a couple of peeks at our weekend together:

"On the banks of the Red Cedar..."

Such a pretty campus.

"MSU we love thy shadows..."

"Victory for MSU!"

A little not-so late night Meijer run.

(There were a LOT of late night runs in college)

D and her husband Randy

You know these two cuties right?

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel

Can you believe that I'd never been to Cracker Barrel before?

Apple Harvest pancakes....MMMMMMM!

On the way home we cruised a couple of neighborhoods reminiscing about our old stomping grounds. This was the apartment I shared with D the year after we graduated from State.

And this is where I did my student teaching so many years ago!

Stay tuned for more fun at MSU's Midnight Madness.

(You know State Basketball has to have its own post!)

Little-Man is 3!

2009-10-20T18:35:00.005-04:00

On Sunday we celebrated Little-Man's 3rd birthday with friends. It was so great to see the boys, and boy how they've grown! (We hadn't seen them since before school let out!) My Con-Man is reading like a maniac now and Little-Man is absolutely adorable, yet so much older looking! It was so much fun just relaxing and enjoying the company of good friends. We really miss you guys!

Look closely...

the dinosaur and transformers car were a hit!

Con-Man with his new Diary of a Wimpy Kid Journal

(I have one too!)

Rawwrrrr...

Make a wish!

Sometimes the clean-up is the most fun!

Happy Birthday Little-Man!

(Don't worry, I gave his ADORABLE hat back.)

Yeahs!

2009-10-19T19:56:00.004-04:00

As you know, I am a little bit addicted to all things crafty. In fact, over the last few months I have not only found some crafty talents that I didn't even know I had, but I've also found some inspiring new blogs. One of those blogs belongs to the amazing Janel. You might remember that I purchased two really great paintings (an octopus and a polaroid) from Janel this summer and they have been hanging proudly in my scrapbooking room ever since. In addition to the fact that Janel is wonderfully talented, she has also contacted me and left comments on this blog that were SO sweet, I feel like I could actually call her a friend. This leads me to today. After leaving a comment on her blog the other day (she's one of my daily reads-the link is just below on the right-Run with Scissors), she entered me in a give-away she was having for the most beautiful Elsie painting. Today when I got home I checked her blog to see who the lucky duck was and IT WAS ME! Can you believe it? ME! Could it be more perfect? Art, Elsie, teaching and Janel all in one fell swoop! I'm SO excited!

Check out her video blog post announcing the good news!

AND....

Rex is going in to do paperwork tomorrow ...so...

it actually looks like he might have the job!

Today is a good day!

Along the Way

2009-10-12T18:07:00.005-04:00

A couple of weekends ago we were lucky enough to head to the Windy City to participate in the wedding of two great friends. Rex's honor was to be a groomsman and stand beside some of his best buddies in the world, while my honor was to record the whole wedding on film. Although I was nervous, I walked away with some great photos and wonderful memories of the day.

I have been working on editing the photos over the last week or so and along the way I discovered some interesting photos of myself "on the job". So I thougt I would share.

This is a self-portrait taken while spending the morning with the bride.

( Notice I do not yet look like a drowned rat.)

Here I am in action. In fact, I'm not sure either one of my feet is on the ground!

(Notice the POURING rain!)

The Shot

And here I am in my 3 inch heals on the top of a slippery four foot wall.

Right after taking this shot you could hear me yell, "Wrong groom! Wrong groom!"

(The groom in this wedding is the one standing next to me in MY wedding pictures! That's when someone should have yelled, "Wrong groom!")

Thanks to the groom's sister Jen I have this shot of myself (which I LOVE),

taking this shot of the beautiful Mr. and Mrs.

What a great day!

(More to come soon!)

Look What I Found This Weekend

2009-09-28T07:42:00.002-04:00

This is My Plan for the Weekend!

2009-09-24T20:18:00.001-04:00

Don't keep calm and carry on., originally uploaded by moleitau.

We headed up north to spend a wonderful weekend with family...

2009-09-23T19:04:00.005-04:00

and get in as many cuddles as possible...

but on the way back this happened...

after putting $350 into it the day before...

and four days later, it's still not fixed!

It's been that kind of week!

This is going to be a great week!

2009-09-13T20:52:00.004-04:00

This class starts tomorrow,

and this one starts on Tuesday!

Bring on the projects ladies, I'm ready!

Did you know I was this crafty?

2009-09-13T19:46:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately the first week of school brought a couple of very sad events. So in order to keep my mind off the sad stuff, I turned to some more crafty projects.

First off, I worked on practicing my new crochet skills by beginning a cute snake...

I worked some more on my Chicago scrapbook...

I started to construct my 2010 planner from the RVA kit...

and I embroidered the cover of the planner.

Arts, Beats and Eats Fun

2009-09-07T12:51:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we met up with Chris (the oh-so-young birthday boy) and the lovely Amy to take in some live music. Both artists that we saw had great voices! We had a great time taking, laughing, teasing one another, taking goofy photos and just plain hanging out. It was sad to leave them (we kept saying we were going, and then couldn't walk away) but we will see them again in a couple of weeks when we get to see Chris' new band play.

Arts, Beats and Eats

I LOVE this photo of Amy, isn't she beautiful?

My Boys

Just another reflection photo. You know how much I like taking these!

This one's super cool!

Rex took this photo of the four of us (including himself), by looking at the reflection of the camera lens in my sunglasses! That makes it at least a double refection right?

We spent the last of our tickets on some yummy "British Style Fish & Chips."

As we walked away, I noticed that they were frying pickles...yum!

Then when I was fixing the photo, I noticed the Twinkie boxes in the left corner.

I've always wondered what fried Twinkies taste like, darn!

Enjoying the view of downtown.

Then when we got home, I used You Tube to teach myself how to crochet! It turns out that when they suggest you use worsted yarn, they weren't kidding. It's really hard to learn on fuzzier yarn. Hopefully that means next time it will be much easier. :P

Have a great Labor Day!

Happy Birthday Rockstar!

2009-09-06T10:02:00.003-04:00

Dear Rockstar (AKA Jerk),

We just wanted to let you know that although we aren't able to see you everyday like we used to, we think about you all the time and love you and miss you more every day. Have a rockin' birthday, we'll catch up with you later!

Love,

The Neighbors

(There we are in the front row cheering you on!)

(Now we miss you even more!)

Just Believe

2009-09-01T19:46:00.004-04:00

After getting home from my first official day back to school, I sat down and watched this movie. Wow! I LOVE Peter Pan but I was surprised at how truly great this movie was. I cried my way through the last hour or so. If you want to experience a little bit of magic, rent this movie. It's worth it!

Bye Bye Summer!

2009-08-31T18:01:00.010-04:00

In addition to the events I already posted about, here are a few other things that happened in August:

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.

Rex usually gets me one flower for each year we have been married, but since we were spending the day with my grandparents, he was unable to get me flowers on our anniversary. Instead he got me twice as many the next day. :)

I made him a couple of pieces of art for the living room with words celebrating the last 15 years of inside jokes.

We also spent a day checking out the Edsel Ford House

and playhouse.

My what long legs you have!

We spent quite a bit of time reading at the pool.

I headed back to this...

and in four hours turned it into this.

I sent an Alice in Wonderland themed care package to my sister for her birthday.

(Sorry it's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to turn it.)

I picked up a few new school supplies.

and some new crafty stuff for the RVA online class that starts in just 15 days!!

I learned lots of interesting things reading these books,

reorganized some scrappy stuff,

and found some new goodies.

After our trip to Chicago I had these collage prints made,

(turns out that if you want smaller prints, these 12 x 18 prints are the way to go)

and I started on our Chicago album.

But most of all, I missed that sweet little nephew of mine who I'm sure is getting more adorable by the minute and growing way too fast!

Friday Favorites

2009-08-28T11:06:00.009-04:00

I am SO excited to be taking the Autumn Online class from Red Velvet Art! The fact that it starts in the middle of September is getting me through the reality that I have only four more days before I will officially be back at school. (Meetings this upcoming week, the kids start after labor day. ) Anyway, I'm super excited to be heading out to the craft stores today to find the supplies I need for the online class.

(It's like Christmas in August!)

Today's favorites can all be found here at the Red Velvet Art website. I hope these inspire you and make your rainy day (at least here in MI) just a little bit brighter.

(The lovely Miss Elsie)

I love this fun vinyl mustache. Think of all the possibilities!

A cute fall friend,

and hand decorated onsies.

The one on the bottom right is named Jenny Lou. Someone bought it up before I could get my order placed. I was really looking forward to buying her, Jenny Lou is awfully close to Jenny Lynn. :)

I LOVE these bracelets, especially the XOXO.

This planner is a must have. You know how I am about organization.

(You get to embroider the divider page for each month!)

Journals are candy for my brain. These are on my wishlist.

I love this original painting by Elsie. I want it to say "Rex" under the dinosaur.

(I know it's not a T-Rex, I just thought that since the painting is about loving dinosaurs it would be fun to have it customized.)

One Last Trip Before School Starts

2009-08-23T12:01:00.017-04:00

Last week we were lucky enough to visit two amazing friends in Chicago. We spent the days roaming around, enjoying the sights, and the nights eating amazing food, laughing and enjoying the company of this cute couple.

We started our trip by hopping on a train to Chicago (my first time, unfortunately it wasn't really my favorite mode of transportation)

Six hours later (and very hungry and tired) we arrived in Chicago.

On our first day we got on the subway and went down to Michigan Ave. and proceeded to walk to Navy Pier (this trip was full of LONG walks), we spent time walking the pier, taking lots of photos and getting lunch and then took the water taxi back to Michigan Ave. where we headed down the Magnificent Mile.

After shopping around (I purchased some new journals and a 2010 planner) we stopped to get a dark chocolate sundae treat at Ghirardelli. (The funny part was that there was a Hershey's store right across the street.)

Boy was it GOOD!

On the second day we headed downtown on the subway and walked to the Field Museum (good thing to do when it is raining). We spent hours wandering around and around, amazed at the quality of the exhibits. I spent an hour or so just wandering around taking photos that I can use for my social studies classes this year.

We even got to see Sue and found some cool T-Rex souvenirs to take home.

By the time we were done rushing through the final exhibits for the day, it was beautiful outside so we walked down to Millennium Park.

We found "the bean" there and took LOTS of photos.

(Reflection photos are kind of my thing.)

Note to Self: next time bring a rag to clear off some of the smudges

left behind by the many crowds who also love the photo op.

(We're the State fans in the green!)

Oh, and BuBba loved the photo op too!

Next was a fabulous Italian dinner...

and a pretty impromptu visit HERE...

where the boys got matching tattoos to remember the special bond that they share, and Bets got some work done on her tattoo....but I couldn't find the right version of my tattoo. :( So a couple of hours later, we all left with new tattoos, except me of course. I REALLY wanted my tattoo, but I was not going to get one that wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I'm still kind of bummed about it.

On our last day in Chicago we headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo where I once again took way too many photos. (Here are just a couple.)

On the way back we stopped at a hot dog joint for a good lunch

and Rex ordered tacos (?)!

Check out these tacos...they have processed cheese slices on them...what?

I had my first Chicago Dog!

It was a GREAT way to spend the last few days before heading back into my classroom to get the rest of my paperwork and set-up done. Thanks Jer and Bets for inviting us! We love you so much and can't wait until we see you next time... for your WEDDING!

Friday Finds

2009-08-13T21:26:00.007-04:00

Tea Wallets as seen here

This amazing embroidered note by the beautiful katie.cupcake

This cute print by badbird

These vinyl disney characters found here

(I'm really taken with all kind of artists and their blind box vinyl toys lately.)

This absolutely *adorable* apron

and these original prints by carambatack

Eye candy is SOOOO yummy!

Oh What a Beautiful Morning...

2009-08-13T19:57:00.003-04:00

...oh what a beautiful day....

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today and spent some extra time poolside. We will be heading in to school tomorrow (Rex helps me move the big furniture around) for the first time before taking one last vacation break. We are finally in count down to school range. :)

The summer....it does go incredibly fast!

Tuesday Night's "Crop"

2009-08-13T11:19:00.006-04:00

The other night I headed to my favorite scrapbooking store (Live, Laugh, Love and Scrap-teachers crop for free this month!) and went to work on this album. I was able to complete it (including cutting the album itself) in about 3 hours and I am super excited about how it turned out.

Simple, yet cute (and finished!)