Allergies

Ashley has had asthma for quite a while now, but it's getting worse, rather than better. This week she went to a specialist to see if she has allergies that may be contributing to it. She found out that she is allergic to 8 different types of grasses! Poor girl!

Photo Hunters Theme: Hands

Aren't those the cutest little hands you have ever seen?

Delson always liked his hands touching, even when he

was drinking his bottle.

I'm the winner!

I'm happy to announce that I am the winner! I've now been married to Dan for over 7 1/2 years. He was married to Lorie for 7 1/2 years and he was married to Audra for about 4, so I'm the winner! Thank you...Thank you very much...

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

Make a Smilebox greeting Ashley's 13th birthday was March 16th. We called her that night, but I

decided to send her a smilebox of us singing to her.

Summer days ahead...

As you can see from the ticker on the right, my first goal is to lose 33 pounds. I really want to reach this goal by the end of the school year, so I can really enjoy the summer. I haven't weighed myself the past few days, but I've been doing much better with my eating. I'm going to weigh myself in the morning to see if I've lost anything yet. I also got on the treadmill for 20 minutes this morning. I really want to get this part of my life under control!

March Madness Dollar Days

The Scholastic Warehouse in Saco had an awesome sale this weekend, so my friend Jenn (from school) and I went down last night after school. It was so fun. We talked and laughed the whole way down and back. She likes books as much as I do, so we both had a great time looking through the books. We got great deals, too. Nothin was over 3 dollars. I spent a little over 50 dollars and came home with literally hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. I brought home some things for Megan and Nathan, plus books for school, one for Dan and one for a gift. I got 4 computer games (2 Clifford, 2 I Spy and Mission: Think), plus hardcover books that were reguarly 18 dollars, a stuffed Franklin and a RoboBug for Nathan, card tricks and a fashion book for Megan. I was totally in heaven. I gave Megan and Nathan their stuff as soon as a I got home, and they were both really excited. Megan learned a couple card tricks right away, which she demonstrated for us, and Nathan and I put his RoboBug together right away.

Photo Hunters Theme: Yellow

Does this look like fun, or what? Yellow makes me think of sun and summer. This picture is of Nathan in the summer of 2005!

Leprechaun trap

We saw this Leprechaun trap in Family Fun magazine so Nathan and I decided to make one. He had so much fun making it, tracing, cutting, glueing, taping, etc. We also built the latter from twigs we found outside. We're hoping to catch a leprechaun so he'll have to give us his gold!

Yesterday I took Nathan over to my cousin Darcy's house so she could cut his hair. I love how she cuts her boys' hair, and my hairdresser doesn't get it short enough so I asked her to cut Nathan's. It turned out great. I love it, and so does Dan. In his opinion, the shorter the better.

Anybody reading?

Just curious. Is anyone reading this blog?

Radio

Dan and I just watched this movie tonight. It was awesome! I loved it, especially the fact that it's based on a true story. It has a wonderful message. I definitely recommend it.

Poor little Molly

Molly, my mom's little dog, was bitten by another dog on Thursday night and had to be rushed to the emergency vet's where both her eyes were removed. I feel so bad for her! She was staying with someone while Mom & Dad went to Texas for a steel guitar convention. This family she was staying with has 5 dogs and one of them bit her. It is such a sad situation. Mom tried to get an earlier flight back, but wasn't able to. They aren't coming home until Monday. I'm sure she is having a super hard time waiting for Monday. Nathan and I went to see Molly yesterday and today for a little while. One of the receptionists took this picture of her today. She was already doing better today than she was yesterday. Hopefully she'll adjust soon. She's such a sweet little thing.

A Nathan funny

I had a really stressful day at work, but rather than focus on that I'm going to write about something Nathan said yesterday morning. It just cracked me up. We were talking about his blanket and how he doesn't have to have it with him all the time like he used to. He replied, "I still have a strong attachment to my blankie." A strong attachment? It just cracked me up that he uses phrases like that. He definitely has really good language skills and vocabulary.

A few scrapbook pages I've done recently

This weekend

Last night Nathan and I met Dan at the Gray exit and we went to pick up Megan, then to Portland to the Children's Museum. The first Friday of every month is free admission, so that gave us something fun and free to do (other than gas and money for supper). We found this cute little restaurant near the museum that had great Mexican food. Megan loved the decor, which was very colorful, 70's type decorations. They had hula hoops hanging from the ceiling and colorful pillows on wooden benches, along with lots of colorful fabric hanging on the walls. Then we headed over to the museum, which was very crowded, but fun. The kids had a great time checking everything out. Nathan's favorite part was an automotive area. You can pretend to put gas in the car, fix the engine, drive and change the tires. He loved it. Megan liked the fire engine/station, where you could slide down the pole.

This morning we headed over to church for the quarterly Primary activity. The theme was "Our Eternal Family" so we did several activities around that. The kids learned about our pre-earth life with a little book they made with Sister Andreadakis. Then they created family chains with paper links with Darcy. They played a game and then we decorated gingerbread cookies (I was in charge of that part) to represent their family members. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun, and we had 12 kids show up, so we were happy about that.

Now we're just hanging out at home. Megan and Nathan are watching a Scooby-Doo movie and I'm just catching up on my blogs. I'm thinking of doing some more digital pages with those new digikits I got for my birthday.

Snow days!

I just love snow days! Nathan and I have been hanging out all day, and it's just been so nice and relaxing.

• We've played Lucky Ducks
• cars (not so much fun for me)
• Thomas DVD Bingo.
• I also helped him finish his preschool workbook that he's had for months. We've worked on it once in a while and he just finished it today. He seemed pretty proud of himself. I don't think he's going to have any trouble learning at school.
• I worked on my menu, which I've been needing to do. I do so much better at cooking when I have a menu planned out.
• I went down to Mom's and put my new digikits on a CD. I'm so excited to use them!

37 New Experiences

I turned 37 years old on Feb. 21st and I decided that I’m going to try 37 new things this year. It could be new food, books, movies, somthing out of character for me or an accomplishment, etc. Each time I do something new I’ll add it to this post:

1. Try Calamari (I tried it on my birthday at the Olive Garden and I loved it!)
2. Turned my old blog into a book
3. Solved a Rubik's Cube (with a little help from a website:)
4. Played a Nintendo DS (I played Megan's...so addicting...Mario Brothers...love it)
5. Went to the theatres to see Monsters vs. Aliens with Nathan
6. Went to the Scholastic Warehouse in Saco....So Awesome!
7. My child got sick (really sick!) at the dentist's office (that was a first, hopefully a last)
8. I had a pedicure!
9. Tried pistachio ice cream (it was okay)
10. Registered my child for kindergarten
11. Donated clothes to a lady who collects them for foster children
12. Went to the drive-in to see Up and Night at the Museum with Dan, Megan & Nathan
13. Got my Highly Qualified Teacher certificate
14. Vacationed in the Catskill Mountains
15. Learned how to play Bocce
16. Went to Zoom Flume waterpark in New York
17. Went to a Firefighting museum in New York
18. I drove there myself... in a different state...with a GPS.
19. Went on a train ride in the Catskill Mountains
20. Learned how to play 63 (a card game my mom played growing up)
21. Hosted game night with Aunt Diane, Kathy and my mom
22. Did respite care
23. Applied for a masters' degree program at NEC
24. Spent a weekend in Providence, Rhode Island
25. Went to a Literacy For All conference
26. Ate at an Irish pub (but I didn't drink any alcohol)!
27. Learned to play Tens, Kems and Bullcrap (card games) from JJ
28. Got a Cricut for Christmas!
29. Saw The Blind Side with Dan (super inspiring)!
30. Saw The Princess and the Frog with Nathan
31. Got massaging slippers from Megan! Aaaaahhhhh!
32. Added a few new recipes to my collection (almond frosting, Weenie Beanie Delight, etc.)
33. Made a scrapbook for Gram Record from all her grandchildren
34. Joined Facebook
35. Saw Twilight Saga: New Moon
36. Became the full-time mother of a 16 year old
37. Tried Shoo Fly Pie (it was really good!)

Bri & Bernie's wedding

On Saturday we went to the wedding of my cousin Brianna (actually, she's a second cousin, to be precise). It was such a beautiful wedding! Their vows to each other were so touching. I usually don't get teary eyed at weddings except for ones in the temple, but this one was awesome. Part of it, I think, is just knowing what a miracle it was that they even met and knowing that they are so meant to be together. Here's a picture of the happy couple!

Why Scrapmom5?

You may be wondering why I named my blog Scrapmom5. Well, being a mom and scrapbooking are two of my favorite things, and the 5 is for the number of children we have, counting our foster child. Even though we don't have Delson anymore I left his picture up on the header because I just couldn't stand to take it off. When we get a new one I'll put his/her picture over his. That's what I did with Isaiah's picture, too. I left it on until we had Delson, and even then I waited a while!

Hi Everybody!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my new blog! I've had a blog with wordpress for about a year and a half now (scrapmom5.wordpress.com), but I decided to give blogger a try. I'll be putting lots of stuff on here in the next couple weeks, so check back often!