been awhile...

well its been awhile since i last posted any updates. been SOO busy wrapping up the school year, finishing the slide show for abby's graduation (5-21), making teacher gifts, going on very little sleep (ella has been very restless lately)...its just been crazy here.

i am very excited for this upcoming long weekend...maybe we can catch up around here. been taking lots of pics, got a new lens & computer for mothers day...so now i get to start the arduous task of transferring ALL of my files! yuck! and the new computer is windows vista...very different than windows XP...so that will keep me busy well into june:)

the girls are as busy as ever. ella is talking up a storm...seems to learn a new word daily. my favorite is "bobby" for abby. it sounds so cute when she says it. and now abby has a new nickname (she always wanted one since we call ella (ella bean)

finally planning an exciting trip to a remote tropical location....guam...woohoo! just as soon as matt changes jobs, we are OUTTA here! so psyched!!! i want to spend everyday on the beach with the girls and then come back to the hotel and all of us crash for long afternoon naps and then back to the beach again. and this may not sound exciting to many of you, but since i am missing my american stores, it will be nice to be near some again. they don't have a target:(, but they have a kmart and a mall with a macy's...so we will probably need to buy extra luggage while we're there.

well, gonna make this one short. will share some more pics soon!
love, k

out of the mouth of babes...

the other day we went to visit my friend tava and her older son is a year younger than abby. they were out in the playroom playing kitchen. abby would hold up a piece of plastic food and ask gunnar what it was and he would tell her...tomato, apple, etc. well she holds up a plastic croissant and asks him what it is and without missing a beat he says "moon bread". so thats the "official" new word of the week.

this morning we are driving onto post and matt's cell phone kept ringing. each time he got off the phone, abby would ask him who he was on the phone with. since she met his 1st SGT awhile back, she often assumes he's on the phone with him. well when matt told her he wasn't talking to the 1st SGT she asked if he was talking to the 2nd SGT... now if you're not military, you probably don't know that there is no such thing as a 2nd SGT.

kids...gotta love them!

i'm on top of the world!!

woohoo! got a WONDERFUL email this morning from the staff at Creative Express saying that one of my entries for the monthly scrapbook contest won 1st PLACE!! can you actually believe that!??!! i was TOTALLY psyched!! so other than bragging rights, i won a $75 gift certificate for their store!! that place rocks!! anyways, just wanted to share my good news. the layout pictured is the one that won. enjoy...

all hail the republic of whichitstan!!

abby surprised me awhile back by one day reciting the pledge of allegiance and singing my country tis of thee. i had no idea she was even learning these, she never practiced them around me. but lo and behold, she knows them and sings them with vigor.

as you might expect with a 4 year old, she doesn't recite them exactly verbatim, she makes up some words too. so i was listening to her the other day and as she was reciting the pledge she says, " and to the republic of whichitstan," i just cracked up!! all hail the republic of whichitstan!!!

switching subjects completely, i got the chance to take pics of my friends new little one. he's so cute and little...you just forget how quick they grow. enjoy!

eggs and dorks!

ella wins "dork of the week" award with her crazy fashion sense. she cracks me up!

abby had a blast dying easter eggs, but wasn't too fond of eating them:) after they dried we put tatoos all over them.

nothing else exciting here, enjoy the pics.

oh, sweet sleep!

i am finally starting to recover from ella's lack of sleep lately. except for last night, she has been very kind to us the last few nights. keep it up girly!!

well the weather is gorgeous and the cherry blossoms are raining petals everywhere...it must be SPRING! woohoo! we are finishing up abby's spring break (thank goodness) and i am happy to report everyone has managed to survive the week. my dear friend tava had her baby finally this past monday. they are all doing well and adjusting to life with a new little one around. it must be raining babies! ALMOST makes me want another one...but then i remember i am still in the middle of all the sleepless nights...so i will love and cherish everyone else's babies.

ella has developed an addiction this week MO-MO (elmo) she is seriously obsessesed! this is usually the 1st word when she wakes up and she wants to watch it after her bath at night too. she even has a little MO-MO dance she does when you ask her if she wants to watch elmo. still have to train abby to not say this word all the time as ella thinks it always means we get to watch the furry monster.

and another 1st this week, ella pooped in the potty for the 1st time! i'm not getting too hopeful as she's still not too sure about the toliet thing, but its a start and its a lot sooner than abby showed interest! yippee!

got my 10 year college graduation invite in the mail this week...makes me feel very old!

no scrapbooking this week...trying to catch up on lost sleep. i have several projects in the works at this time too, so i'm gonna have to balance them all. i agreed to put together a slide show for abby's preschool graduation and i've been putting it off i must admit, but i think i better start on it soon! i also have a nursing recertification i need to complete a couple tests for...but that requires an AWAKE mind...and i definitely haven't had one of those lately.

well i'm off to chip away at the enormous pile of laundry that is waiting for me. have a good one! will post some pics next time!

something new

here is another layout i completed this weekend. i am really trying to get as many done as possible...but sometimes life doesn't allow time for me to "play"...so when i get to, i love sharing it. matt made it home safely and early...thank goodness!! ella has slept thru every night since he has been home...geesh!

i was trying to be ahead of the game this weekend by doing my grocery shopping on saturday since it was raining, so i could take the girls to the park today (it wasn't supposed to rain)...and it didn't, but the yellow dust level was over 1200. basically this means that the air quality is SO poor that you should stay indoors and even minimize indoor activity. yeah, right...with 2 little ones!! of course by dinner time, the level had come down quite a bit...doesn't it always happen that way?? hopefully it will stay low all week so we can burn some excess energy.

well nothing else new to report! enjoy...