They WON!!!

I am thrilled that Queen of Angels football team won AND the Colts! Both games were very close and exciting to the end!

Collin's team has a lot of heart, but the schools that they play against are very large schools. Our team has about 35 kids and then teams that we play against have 75+ players! Needless to say they were thrilled with their first victory! Everyone on the team did a fantastic job! I am hoping that the weather cooperates next Thursday or Saturday and I can take some pictures to post! On Saturday the field was so bad that even the fans came away from the game muddy! The boys loved it though!

And on to the Colts...well, I don't believe that they played their best, but a win is a win! I have a feeling that this is going to be a long year!!!

In the scrapping front, I have just posted the Week 3 Challenge over at Paper Popsicles. Melissa also has lots of new goodies over there. Check them out here!

Here are a couple of layouts for challenges over at Paper Popsicles...go check out the challenges! The first layout is of Collin WAY back when...I was digging through some old photos and came across these. Brings back memories of our old house and the swing set in the back yard. Collin loved that swing set! The second layout is of Collin's Spring school picture last year.

Hope everyone has a great week!

School, Schedules, Anniversaries, Football, and Mini Vacation...

It has been a busy last couple of weeks for our family. Collin has been in school for about 3 weeks and he loves it. It is all about being in middle school, having a locker, changing classes, and having 1-2 hours of homework you know! Okay so he is not so fired up about the homework! Patrick and I decided for the first time this year to ban TV and video games Mondays-Thursdays so Collin would be able to focus on his school work. With 2 hours of football practice a night and the homework, he doesn't really have time for them anyways! He has adjusted well to the new demands of middle school!

I decided when school started that our family had been eating out way too much lately, so I did something I have never done...made a schedule for dinners. I don't really know why I have never done this, and I am wishing I had done it a long time ago! I can't believe how it has helped with my grocery shopping, nightly dinners, and not wasting fresh foods! I let each of the boys pick a night so they are in the mix as well. Can you believe that Patrick picked tuna casserole for his first dish...yuck-o! We used to eat this ALOT when we first got married and I have not made it for years! Both of the boys loved it so I will probably be making it again.....maybe??!??

Patrick and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary this past weekend also. I feel very honored that I have such a great husband! We have seen many different ups and downs in a short time, but that makes me confident that we will be together for the long haul! He is a great father and a wonderful husband...AND he does laundry! Now you can't beat that!

Collin's football is in full gear with their first two games this past week. He is doing so well and actually being very aggressive. It is funny when you think about it because all throughout their young childhood we are telling them to "be nice", "don't hit", "be friends with everyone"; and now from the sidelines of the field you hear moms and dads yelling "hit 'em", "knock them down", "come on, crunch someone!!!". Just something I noticed! Oh yeah, you can bet that Patrick and I are right in the midst of them all yelling out our comments as well! Too funny!

We were excited to go on a mini vacation over Labor Day weekend to Ohio. We went to this awesome zoo that you drive through and then you can feed the animals...it was AMAZING!!! The name of the zoo is African Safari Wildlife Park, check them out! I will admit that I was very nervous when a thousand pound bison was putting his head in our car because he "wanted more food!", but it was an adventure that I don't think I will forget soon! We also went to the Seneca Caverns as Collin loves rock and caves. Let me tell you this is what they call a "natural cave" and it was definitely all natural. The last cave we went in had man-made steps, hand rails, nice paths to follow....not this one! Had I known this little "natural" fact I probably would not have worn flip flops!!! There were several times that you had to twist your body while going down very steep natural steps that were not very wide! We also spent most of our time in the cave bent over at the waist because you could not stand up at all! I was a nervous wreck, Collin LOVED it! Go figure! It was a short trip, but we had a blast!

Here are some pictures from our vacation. YES, those huge animals are THAT close!!! But it was awesome!

I hope everyone has a great week! Go Colts!!!

Twas the night before school....

And all through the house....WAS QUIET!!! So we normally start to go to bed a little earlier about a week before school starts, but I guess that I am not fully accepting that school is starting so we didn't do that this year! I can't believe that I will be the mother of a Middle School Student!!! Collin is so excited about school starting! Why, you ask.....because they get lockers this year of corse!!! Love my son and his sense of organization as he was all into getting things to organize his locker. Poor guy though, the locker is very small...but we did manage to get a few things! I would love to take a picture tomorrow, but I am afraid to even ask!

So football is also in full swing for both of the boys! Collin is the center for his 5th-6th grade team. This is a new position for him and he is doing a great job! I can't wait for the first game! Patrick has also started his flag football season. I enjoy going to watch him play....keeps him young I think!

So I haven't been doing a whole lot of scrapping lately. Sam and I have put together some great challenges (I even did my first sketch!!!) so you should go check out Paper Popsicles!!! Paper Popsicles also has lots of new products from CHA so go...go now!!!

Hope you and your student(s) have a great week!!!

Summer Update...

Well, it seems like summer is just flying by! The Levy's have been busy so here is a quick update:

• Collin just finished up playing on the 11 year old All-Star team. While his team lacked good coaches (at times they lacked a coach all together), he did really well and we are so proud of him! In his last game he had a spectacular hit which resulted in a home run! He was so pumped! Now he has a couple of weeks off until football pre-season training will start.
• Work is still wonderful! I am switching jobs as of last week so that now I am only doing Quality Assurance for the entire state. I really enjoy my work and the sense of helping that it provides me.
• Patrick is staying busy with work...summer is there busy season with everyone wanting to fix up their houses with new fences and garages. They have hired a couple of workers to help them so that has helped with his schedule. It is funny to hear him "talk like a boss", but I think he does a fantastic job! Hey, if you need any fence/garage door work done...call us!
• We spent the 4th of July up on top of the parking garage at IPFW. We had a spectacular view of the fireworks and even were able to feel them! For the cost of $5 it was well worth it! Collin brought a friend and they had a blast......only one problem...silly mom forgot her camera!
• We spent last night at the 3 Rivers Festival Junk Food Alley. It is here that you can spend lots of $$$$ and consume lots of calories! But you just have to have at least one elephant ear a season...right?

So last but not least here are two layouts that I have recently created. The first one is for my challenge at Paper Popsicle for next week. Check them out!

The second layout is for a challenge that was at Paper Popsicle called "Layout Tag". It was lots of fun and they are starting up a second challenge...go now....check it out!

And the last bit of exciting news is that there is only 4 days left until I get to leave for CHA!!!! Samantha and I are meeting some of our other favorite gals from Paper Popsicles and I just can't wait!!!! I will make sure that I bring the camera to get some great pics and post them here!!!

I hope you have a great week!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Well, it has been a quiet day around here as everyone has been a bit on the lazy side! Collin and I served Patrick breakfast on the couch this morning which he loved!!! Collin made his dad a great card incorporating the Steelers, ESPN, and his love for his dad...it really is quite neat and hand-made so that is even better! I just put dinner in the oven, my "Cathy-Enchiladas" (named after the friend who gave me the recipe) and the boys just left to play a little baseball at the park before dinner. So all is quiet here for the moment!

Baseball season is almost half over and Collin is loving every minute of it! I keep wanting to take pictures, but the last time I brought my camera to the ball diamond he did not have a good game at all....so I have left it at home and he is doing incredibly!!! He is definitely on a hitting streak with a couple of doubles, two triples, and one GRAND SLAM!!!! I get so nervous when he gets up to bat...yes, I am one of "those" moms!!! He has also decided NOT to get a hair cut until after ball season is over....and we just found out that he made the All-Stars team so that may be a while. I tried to convince him that we could trim around the ears, but then dad stepped in and said that even a trim would count as a cut! I should post a picture of him soon. Now his hair is not long by any one's standards but his as he normally has a buzz cut. I told him that I have several girlfriends that have daughters we could borrow barrettes from if needed...he didn't find the humor in that!!!

If you are up for a challenge, check out the Sketch Challenge over at Paper Popsicles!!! This is one of the forums that Samantha and I are leading over there and we are having lots of fun with it!!! Since it is the beginning of summer and time is scarce now, we decided to do a card sketch...everyone has time to make a card! We both love Card Positioning Systems Blog and this is where this card sketch came from. Check the out here http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ .

Here is my take on the sketch...what fun!!!

So pop over to Paper Popsicles....and by the way, Melissa is having a great sale over there also! You can't beat her prices!!!

I hope eveyone has a great week!!!

It only takes one day...

It only takes one day at my job for one to realize how lucky they are!!! I love my job and I love the satisfaction of knowing that I have helped children come from a horrible time in their life to a loving and caring environment of a new foster family. The job definitely comes with its ups and downs and is incredibly frustrating and yet rewarding all at the same time; and all in one day!!!

At our agency we just got a 1 week old baby for placement in a pre-adoptive home...sounds incredible right?? Well, she is an incredible baby, who needs alot of prayers! She was born with only about 1/2 of her brain and she is struggling with the basics of life itself. We did find an incredible couple who are going to adopt this miracle baby knowing that her life expectancy is only about 1 year. But they along with everyone that I work with know that the power of prayer and love can work miracles and that is what we are holding on to. So if you are the praying type, please offer up some prayers for this little miracle baby girl. I would also ask that you pray for her biological mother as I can't imagine how much strength she must have had to have to give her child to someone who she felt could care for her better than she.

I don't want to be a downer, but rather I want us all to cherish the everyday and realize that it is the simple things that are so important in life! So think of a "every day simple thing" to be thankful for....let me know what you thought of!

Take care and know that I love you all!!!!

Wowsers!!! What a GREAT show!!!

Today Collin, Nana, Papa, and I were lucky enough to go see the show Walking with the Dinosaurs and let me tell you it was quite a show!!! I was amazed at what they did!!!! It was great to spend the afternoon with my parents and son and the show was simply amazing!!! After the show we went to one of my new favorite restaurants...Granite City. Fabulous food there and you must try it if you have not already!!!

There are lots of contest going on at my favorite scrappy website Paper Popsicles...check them out! Here are some recent layouts from the June kit....love the Basic Grey line!!!

BOO!!! Did I Scare YOU???

Well, I thought you may be a little scared since it has been over 3 months since I have updated the old blog! Thanks to some gentle encouragement from some beloved friends (ummmm, you know who you are....love ya!) here is the latest in the Levy home (yeah have to do bullet points as to not bore anyone from reading it all....there is a quiz at the end!)

• School is almost over and I can't believe that I will soon be the mother of a middle school student!!! That is such a crazy thought! Collin has done very well this year and has enjoyed school! I am always thankful that he likes to go (don't get me wrong, he loves vacation days as well!"). He got to try lots of new things this year like football, the trumpet, readings during mass, being a conflict manager during recess, Science Fair, and lots more! We are VERY proud of him!!!
• I have finished my first class on my journey back to school to get my Masters in Social Work. My final grade was a B, yes I wish it was an A!!! Towards the end of the semester, work got crazy and I have been working long hours so unfortunately school was what had to be put on the back burner. I am hoping to enroll again in the Fall....we will see where I am at with my work!
• Speaking of work, it is crazy! I love my job, but the hours have been insane lately! We got a new BIG boss as I like to call her so things have been changing alot lately! Change is good, but sometimes hard during the process of change! I have been traveling to Merriville and Indianapolis EVERY week so that is a lot of time on the road!
• What makes driving so much a little better???? A NEW CAR of corse!!! Well, I have had my share of car problems lately so I finally just threw in the towel and got a new car. It is a Ford Fusion and I LOVE it! We got a great deal on it so even the payments are not too bad!!! The car came with Sirus Satilite Radio and can you say LOVE IT!!! Makes those drives a little easier!!!
• Baseball season is in full swing (ha, I am so funny!). Collin did not make it into the upper league, but I personally think it was for the best. He gets to play every inning of every game and he even is pitching! Can you say "give mom a heart attack!!!" I get so nervous when he is pitching, but he loves it! He does quite well and it is so much fun to watch!!!
• This is my last month on the Design Team for Paper Popsicles. I love that place so much and sure wish I could spend more time chatting it up with the gals over there! I will be staying on Melissa's "Team" as a .....hmmmmm, I don't exactly know what my title is, but I am staying on doing monthly challenges and more. Check them out!!!! Guarenteed you will love the place!!

Well, I will leave you with some recent layouts/creations. I am working on some more so dare I say check back soon? Thanks for the love and support!

Okay....Don't fall over because I have blogged now again in the same month...

I told myself that I was going to try to get better and look, I am! It may be a short post, but it is a post!

We had a packed weekend with Regional Science Fair, Major League Baseball tryouts, and cousins coming over for a visit. It was a great weekend!!!

I am so proud of Collin!!! He was an alternate for the Regional Science Fair for his school and he was actually able to go to the fair because one of the other kids could not. Out of about 40 projects for the 5th grade, his came in 3rd!!! I was shocked and amazed! Of corse I am partial to his, but it was great to see him on stage accepting his award. His project did the best from his whole school! Now THAT is impressive!

Here is a picture of a paint can that I altered using products from Paper Popsicles...I am using it for Collin's Easter Basket...shhhhh don't tell him!!!!

Hope you have had a wonderful St. Patty's day and that you will have a blessed Easter!!!

So What is New With YOU?

Well, it seems like time has passed by again and the old blog has been ignored! Yet again life has flown by and now it is March already! Things here are just rolling along with a few speed bumps put in to make life interesting!

This weekend Collin and I will be at IPFW at the Regional Science Fair. The child was thrilled that his Science Fair project was chosen!!! I am so proud of how he is able to do speeches and give presentations at such a young age. I know that when I was his age, I was terrified of speaking in front of others. He, on the other hand, loves to do church readings and presentations in front of his class or even the whole school!

His class is also studying the United States and they have to be able to locate them on the map. I am pretty sure that this is one of those skills that when you don't use it...you loose it a little bit! I found a fun website (click here) for him to practice. Check it out! See if you are smarter than a 3rd grader...that is what is says on the site!

School is going well for me...I forgot that the word college basically means READING!!! I am having a little bit of a problem fitting time in for all of the reading that is required! I will be happy to see the snow go away. It seems like every Tuesday (when I have class at night) we have a major snow/ice/sleet storm pass us by! IPFW is on Spring Break this week although it doesn't seem to Spring"ish" to me! I will say that it is better so I am not complaining!!!

I also have been busy with some wonderful projects over at Paper Popsicles!!!! I tell everyone that I know that she has the best kits for the best prices around! I am in charge of doing a monthly challenge with the monthly kits so you should stop over and check them out! Here are the layout/cards that I did for March's Challenge where I focused on titles...

I must also tell you that I was fortunate enough to get some of my incredibly talented friend, Andrea's, paperline from her newest release and it is AWESOME!!!! Here are a couple of projects with her paper and rub-ons!! Check out where you can get some of your own here!

I may be a little partial, but I think Andrea's lines are awesome! Thanks again Andrea!!!

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and prayers for our family with regards to the house fire that my brother-in-law and his family went through a little over a week ago. It is hard to imagine that in one days time how your life can change! We went from planning to go to dinner with them at Cebellos that night to them having a house fire and now not being able to "go home" for 2 or more months. We are so grateful that no one was hurt and that their house was not a total loss. There are lots of pieces to pick up, and I am so thankful that we have family and friends around to help!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter....I can't even believe that I just typed that!!! It is the second week of March....but I truly hope that your Easter is filled with many blessings!

Well, it has been over a MONTH...

It has been a loooooong time since I have last updated the old blog...guess that means I have been busy.....right? It has been crazy around our house with lots of things going on. I will try to update you all a little:

• Collin is done with basketball for the season. It was a great season and I really enjoyed watching their team grow both in their basketball skills and their team spirit! Their team went from not scoring a single point in their first game to becoming quite competitive and winning 6 games. It was great to watch them play and to cheer them on with all of the other parents!!! I do miss the games, but not the hectic schedules!!!


• We had a suprise birthday party for Collin at Laser X and boy was it a suprise!!!! I gave all of the invitations directly to the parents of the boys that we invited and they all did a wonderful job keeping the suprise from Collin. When he came into the building he was speechless!!! And for all of you that know Collin....that takes some doing to get him speechless! He came up to me after his first game of Laser Tag and told me, "mom, I have to keep pinching myself to make sure this is not all a dream!!!" So sweet and it was a great party! I am still having a hard time believeing that my "baby" is 11!!!!


• I have started my class at IPFW....AND I have my first test next Tuesday! It has definately kept me busy although I am enjoying it. Collin has been very "helpful" with suggestions on how I can stay organized and study for my test. Very cute!


• Our office has moved and that has come with lots of new and interesting problems...most of which have been solved. We were without computers/phones/faxes for over 4 weeks which made everyday tasks very difficult! I do love our new office, although I don't really like the location...you see I was spoiled with having our old office 5 minutes from my house!


• On the scrapbooking front, not much is happening. I have been in a creative slump for a while, but getting to host a new monthly challenge over at Paper Popsicles has helped me out of it! Check it out! I will be doing a new challenge each month to get those creative juices flowing in all of us!

So that is the short side of the story of the last two months. I am going to leave you with some pictures from our lastest snow storm. Patrick and Collin decided to build forts and then throw snow balls at each other! FUN! But yeah I stood and took the pictures....someone had to do that job! LOL!

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun winter season! Hey, did that groundhog see his shadow today??

Tis the season for changes....RIGHT?

Hello all!!!! Seems like changes are all around me right now! We have known for months (since July) that our office would need to move out of our current location by the end of December. So our corporate office did what any paper pusher in another state would do....they waited until the middle of December to have us move. I guess a little snow, sleet, ice, and rain is good for a move....RIGHT???? Anyway, I have my office all unpacked and everything put away. I feel very blessed that I still have my own office. It is much smaller, but still I don't have to have a roommate which most of the other gals do.

About 3-4 months ago I got it in my head that it was time to trade our van in for a car. With my new job, I travel quite a bit and we don't really need the van and all of the space (just seemed to get dirty constantly!!!). So I asked my FIL (who loves to car shop) to be on the look out for a car that I could do an even exchange for our van. We waited patiently until we found what we thought would be a good trade. So I go to sign the papers.....then we pull out to get some gas and then the new to us car does not start. So they think it is the battery....no biggie. So my dear FIL takes the car to get a new battery and two front tires. It just went down hill from there. I won't go into all of the details, but we have put ALOT of money into the car and I have yet to drive it ONCE! So my loving husband realizes that I am getting stressed and says to me, "just take my car for the day so you don't have to worry." So I take his car and I am almost to work when I smell a horrible rubber smell.....so I barely make it to my new office and YUP...the tire is VERY flat! So I call for road side assistance (love this feature of our insurance!!) and the guy comes to change it to the spare and.....yes, you guessed it the spare is flat! So I barely make it over to the repair shop and to make this looooooong story shorter, it was not a normal flat tire, no the springs, shocks, and struts are all bad and that is what caused the flat tire! FUN!!!!! So right now we have one car back and fixed and hopefully will have the second car back on Monday. Remind me of this little story the next time I want to trade cars will ya??

So another new thing is that I have decided to go back to school! Yup, I am grabbing my pencils, pens, and paper and hitting the books. Although I have a feeling that students don't use pens and pencils anymore....rather it is laptops and printers! I have decided to go and get my Masters in Social Work. I am starting out by taking some pre-requisite classes for a while and then I will jump into the Master's program. I am excited, but nervous! Been a long time since I have gone to school!!!!

I think that is enough for one post! Sorry no layouts to share...no time to scrap with all of this craziness going on!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week before the Holidays!!!!

We had a GREAT LONG WEEKEND HERE...

What a wonderful long weekend! We only had to work a 1/2 day on Wednesday and then had Thursday-Sunday off from work!!!! Not too long ago I worked retail, and I would have been working my little tail off this past weekend!!! So, I think that makes me relish the long weekend even more! Not that we did anything super exciting, we just spent time together and that was perfect!

We did catch a movie over the weekend...we saw the new Bee Movie. It was very cute and a great movie for the whole family. It managed to keep Collin's and our interest! Of course movie popcorn and milk duds always help!!

We had a wonderful time with my parents on Thanksgiving and let me tell you the food was spectacular!!! Definitely good food and wonderful conversation! Collin was lucky enough to get to go home with Nana and Papa. They had big plans that included: setting up the new train for Christmas, attending to the horses/barn cats and dogs, and visiting the animal shelter that my mom volunteers at. Needless to say there was not a dull moment in their visit and Collin loves going out there!!!

My dad gave me an extra hard drive that he did not need anymore and on the drive were hundreds of photos!!! I was so excited to get home and start pouring over them! I think I have already used up a cartridge of ink printing pictures out! Love the older pictures of myself and family and I can't wait to scrap them! It will be nice to use feminine colors, flowers, and some bling in my layouts!!!!! In fact I did a layout over the weekend....see below! Yes, this is me at age 3!!!! Love that look!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week....have you started your Holiday shopping yet???

The week before Thanksgiving...

I can't believe that next Thursday is Thanksgiving! Time has been flying by at warp speed! Don't worry, I do realize that I say something similar to this on every post! I know that I need to just accept that time flies!

This week brought some very sad news of the passing of someone that I admired as a strong, caring, family oriented, and very friendly woman. With her passing, I am reminded of my friends and how very important they are to me! I am truly blessed in my life to have friends that I can call on in times of need and in times of joy! So here is a huge "thank you" to all of my friends from the bottom of my heart! I love you all and am so proud that I can call you my friend!!!!

We are not busy at our house getting ready for Thanksgiving as we celebrate this holiday with my family. We all get dressed up and go out to a fancy dinner where we are wined and dined for hours and have great conversation. I absolutely love it!!!! After we are done, we usually stop over the in-laws house to say a quick "hello", and then off to watch some football and relax together as a family of three. It has taken our family a while to figure out what 'fits' for this holiday between the two families, but since we have been doing this for the last couple of years, I simply LOVE it!

I was very fortunate this week/weekend to get some scrappin' done! I completed two layouts for the Design Team that I am on over at Paper Popsicle . You should go over there and check it out! If you scroll down on the home page, you will see two of my layouts!!!! Very exciting! I also did a few layouts for the album I am doing for my mom and all of her animals. I am happy to report that I am almost done with the album!!! Only a few more pages to complete...which I hope to do today while watching the Colts play! When I finish it, I will post it!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week and I also hope that you know how truly THANKFUL I am for each of you in my life!

Here are the two layouts that I finished....sorry the scan makes the colors look so weird! Maybe Santa will bring me a 12 x 12 scanner for Christmas??!!??

Seems like we are busy....

but not really much going on! Does that even make sense? I can't believe that in less than two weeks we will be having Thanksgiving!!! I must admit that this is my favorite holiday! I love to get together with family and then well, the food is always a plus as well! I feel so fortunate that my family is close by and that we can be together!

This past Friday we had a surprise party for my brother-in-law as he just got back from Iraq. I am so glad that he came back safe and sound and I thank everyone who is over there serving our country AND their families! They are making a huge sacrifice for our freedom and our country!

So the first nine weeks of school has ended and Collin did very well! He made the High Honor Roll and received an award for his Christian Outlook. We are very proud of him!!!! I feel lucky that he really enjoys school! He has also decided to play basketball for the school team. The first week he had conditioning in which they basically run for two hours! I thought he would die and want to quit, but he said it was hard, but necessary....what a kid! I was tired just watching them!!!!

Collin had fun on Halloween. This was the first year that we let him be something scary and he got to go Trick or' Treating with two of his buddies! I have tried to steer him away from the scary/gory costumes, but this year we let him make his own decisions....man was it hard! Without even talking about it, he and his friends basically looked the same! Made me laugh! Guess for these pictures I will have to find some gory paper to use to scrapbook them!

Well, that is about all for now! I hope everyone has a great week...and have fun getting ready for Thanksgiving!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures of Collin on Halloween.....warning they may scare you..LOL!

A Pumpkin Carver, I am NOT!!!

I have never carved a pumpkin before and I never thought that it would be as hard as it was!!! I went out and bought the book of patterns because I was going to have a cute little cat and Collin wanted to do a ghost. Yes, in the books there were different levels, but let's face it, these were level 1's so I was positive that I could do it!!! I even scoffed when Collin picked up the electronic saw blade for carving thinking "No way I am paying $8 for that thing...I can do it with a steak knife!!!"....WRONG!!!! That is why they sell those silly little tools...cause you need them!!!

So after about an hour and I only had the tail cut for my cat, I abandoned that thought! Poor Collin, I didn't even let him attempt his ghost....he went straight for the traditional triangular eyes/nose and the tooth crazy mouth. I soon followed right after him!

Luckily for us though we were with great friends! Brandie, Bob, Morgan, Collin and I had a great time laughing and gagging over pumpkin guts!!! Brandie made us a wonderful fall meal of pork chops, mash potatoes, green bean casserole, and stuffing....can you say YUMMY!

We did manage to roast the seeds which turned out pretty good as well! Here are some pictures of our adventures! Can't wait to scrapbook them!!!

Can you actually get a sunburn in late October???

Okay so I am feeling like a bad mom/wife right now!!! Who would have thought that our family would have sunburns at this time of year. Yes, right now....almost the end of October and I am sitting here with a red face that is burning! Today we were at a flag football tournament for a friend's child...I packed coats, blankets, chairs, water...but NOT SUN SCREEN!!!! The sun was shinning so brightly and not a cloud in the sky that the Levy family is now sporting sun burns!

Once again the week/weekend has gone so fast. Collin had his last football game...I know that I will miss not getting to see him play every week. The good news is that basketball practice starts in exactly one week!!!!

I leave you with a layout that I did this weekend with products from Paper Popsicle that you can view here. These are pictures I took of Collin in TN. He is trying to blow the golf ball into the hole....it actually worked!

Thanks and I hope you have a great week!

I can't believe that it is October!!!

Where does the time go??? Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating that school was out for the summer! NOW....the first 9 weeks of school is almost over, football season for Collin has come and almost gone, Halloween is around the corner, people are talking about plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations have been in the stores for weeks, and now you see/hear all around you a constant countdown with the number of days until Christmas!!! Where has the time gone?

Update with Collin and the contacts...he is still doing a wonderful job putting them in/taking them out. He gets frustrated sometimes in the morning, but after a gentle reminder to slow down, he does ok. He is lucky as he has the daily disposable kind so no cleaning!!!!

I enjoyed a weekend cyber crop at Paper Popsicle this weekend! They had tons of challenges, classes, and prizes! It was great to see everyone over there! Did I mention all of the great deals Melissa had in the store? We are talking Queen & Company brads for $1.50 a package, paper for $.39/sheet, rub-ons for $1.75....Awesome deals...I spent some of my paycheck there!!! I actually taught my first cyber class which was AWESOME!!! I was a little nervous as it has been a while since I have taught, and I have never taught a cyber class! It went great though!!!! Below is a picture of the class I taught on altering notebooks....try it, it is fun and makes great gifts!!!

I actually did a sketch challenge over there also. That is the second layout posted below. It was fun to try a sketch....I have been dying to use that clock and this sketch was perfect for it!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend...now who knows the secret to slow the hands of time down????

A funny afternoon!

Okay so it is Saturday evening and I just have to write the happenings of this afternoon down somewhere....so I figure that this is the best place for now! Collin had an eye doctors appointment after his football game so off we went to the mall for some lunch and then to the eye doctors. Patrick was actually able to go with us as he did not have to work today (a minor miracle in itself!) so it was the 3 of us.

We waited our turn and this was no ordinary eye doctor appointment....Collin was going to see about getting contacts. Not really because HE wanted them, but because the football coach would not let him wear his glasses. His MOTHER was forced to wear the sports goggles (not attractive at all!!!) so I was hoping to spare him from this! The eye doctor warned me that he MAY not be able to do contacts because of his age...."no problem" I thought, but let's at least try! So we go in the first room and the Dr. tell Collin, "put your head on the chin rest and look directly into the lens"....so my obedient son does just that. The next thing you hear is the noise of the tiny poof of air that they shoot into your eye and Collin about falls out of his chair because he is so taken aback from it. He clanks his head into the machine, holds his eye like he has been shot with a bullet, and screams, "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR????". I am almost rolling on the ground laughing...see he has never had the pressure test done before (found out today that those start when kids reach double digits!) so he had no idea what he was setting himself up for! He looks over at me and snarls, "DID YOU KNOW THEY WERE GOING TO DO THAT?" I calmed down a bit and said, "yes, honey". The Dr. was laughing at this point too, and then had nerve enough to say, "ok Collin ready for the next eye"....uh yeah Collin was not falling for this trick twice! It took a lot of convincing to get him to put his chin on the chin rest again!

So we finish the pressure test and then are escorted to the next room. The Dr. asks Collin to read from the eye chart across the room. He tells him a specific line to read. So Collin starts and.....um I am looking at the same chart and the child has not gotten ONE letter/number right. I nervously tell him to slow down and take his time. Mind you this is him reading the chart WITH his current glasses on. He keeps going.....still missing them. I am thinking I am the worst mom in America....my child is blind and I didn't even notice!!!! Finally the Dr. says to him, "ok, how about the last line".....this is the biggest line, you know only one letter...E. Collin says "I don't see a line with one letter"......"WHAT??"....I am freaking out here, but trying to stay calm!!! "Oh, says the Dr, your chair is not up high enough for you to see the whole chart". ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I was about to have congestive heart failure at my inadequacies of parenting and the chair was not high enough up?????

So then we continue on....Collin is going through the whole thing, "which one looks better 1 or 2, A or B, 3 or 4" and things are starting to sail along. So we are almost done and he is checking a couple of last things having him read the eye chart again. Collin is reading along with the right eye and the Dr. says that he got them all right. Then the Dr. switches over to the left eye and Collin stops after like two letters. Oh no I think here we go again. The doctor encourages him to keep going that he is not done with the line yet and Collin says, "oh I know I am not done, I really can't see the next letter so I am trying to remember what I said for the other eye so I get them all right again." The Dr. and I both just laughed! My son!!!! Too funny!

So next we go to the actual putting in/taking out of the contacts...yeeegads I was nervous! But to my amazement Collin did wonderfully! He stayed calm and got the contacts in/out relatively easily! The lady helping us (after we were done) says, "wow, I have never had success with a child under 14, you did great!". Thank God she said that afterwards!!!!

So anyway, Collin, who did not really want the contacts LOVES them! He says it is like a whole new world....that he can see soooo good. Little mom knew that was because the contacts were clean and not dirty like his glasses!!! So he says at the end that he thinks he may want to wear them for more than just sports.

So this whole time Patrick is sitting in the waiting room as the exam rooms are very small. We come out after 3 hours and he looks at me like, "what the h#$$ just happened"...I just grinned and said that it was an adventure!

Sorry this is so long, hope you got a chuckle about our little adventure!

ABBA, The Carpenters, and Cruise Control...

What do these three things have in common??? ME! I have spent over 8 hours in the last two days traveling back and forth to Indianapolis!!!! I am doing some training for my new job and the training is in INDY! Love the city, but love it more when I am there to rest, relax, shop, or go to a Colts game (love those Colts!!!), not to sit in a cubicle and train!

So some of my good friends over at Paper Popsicle (have you seen the latest kits over there???) gave me some suggestions on what to do during those long drives! I took up the one suggestion and got out some old CD's that I love to sing (yeah but the boys in my life don't like to hear me sing them) and just belted out the tunes all of the way home! Yes, I got some weird looks and the van did shake from me beating out the tunes on the steering wheel, but in the blink of an eye, I was home!!! Loved it! Next time I am going to bring some more of my oldies, but goodies to belt out to the driving world! So if you are on 69 and you see a crazy woman in a blue van singing...yes, that is me! Give me a wave, I will wave back....and don't worry my windows are up so you can't hear me!

Hope you are all having a great week! Here's to not driving to Indy....at least until next week!