Happy ??? Birthday to me . . .

HA!!! Thank goodness it is almost midnight and my birthday is just about over. This one hasn't been very good at all. I should have done what I was originally planning, which was taking the kids out for a fun day. I opted to stay at home though and am now regretting it.

Part of what made it so awful is that my husband scheduled a major medical procedure for today without even telling me about it. This is something I thought that we would discuss together when the time came and I have been totally in the dark about it. Not only am I hurt that he has kept me in the dark about this, but I am also very angry.

I didn't even get a present to open today. The kids and Lynn gave me flowers and bought a cake. I was so wound up today over his secret that going out for supper didn't even sound good. The kids wanted to take me out though, so we went to Perkins.

Hopefully next year's will be better ~ I guess it can't get much worse.

Amy

3 Days of Cropping . . . .

And this is what I have to show for it!! LOL! :)

I spent last weekend at a 3 day crop in Albion, Nebraska. I had a good time talking, laughing, and getting little sleep, but don't have much at all to show for it.

The 3 classes that I taught and the booth kept me busy, so this was all I got done. These pictures are from 2002, but I love the way this layout turned out. I am glad I waited to scrap them.

I had a great time though and can't wait to do it again next year!

Amy

Making Life a Little Easier . . .

Ok, so it doesn't look so pretty in my *needs to be defrosted* freezer, but there are 27 meals in there ready to go!!! I am so excited. October and November have been pretty busy around here. I hosted one crop in October and am teaching/vending at 2 in November. Add in our trips to Lincoln twice a week and life is busy. It seems like 5 o'clock always rolls around and the kids are saying they are hungry and I have no idea what we are going to have for supper.

I spent Sat., Nov. 1st making all of these. The kids were a big help and even better -- now that we have started eating them, they say that everyone has been good. They did think last nights was too spicy though. Samuel said tonight that we need to make notes about which were good and which weren't so we can do this again. He's a thinker!! LOL! We used recipes from www.savingdinner.com.

I learned a few things from this venture. If at all possible, don't shop and cook on the same day! By the time I got everything bought and home, it was late afternoon. We worked on these until about 10 and had the majority of them done. Also, prep work is important. If I had it to do again, I would shop on Friday and cook on Saturday. I would also do the prep work Friday night, so I would be ready to roll on Saturday.

I have always wanted to do this and I think it would be fun to do with a friend. However, I could never find anyone that was able to get together or had similar tastes. My mom said she would come help me tries this a couple of years ago, but she was just too busy to come help.

I finally just decided that it was time to give it a whirl and see how it went. It really wasn't as bad as I had thought. The kids were a bigger help than I thought they would be. Next time around should be even better, now that I have them trained. :) LOL! There favorite job was to suck the air out of the bag with the handy dandy new tool from ziploc.

It has been very nice just pulling out a meal and KNOWING what is for supper at 5 pm!!

YUM, YUM!

Amy

More October fun & a Belated Happy Halloween!

The kids had Wild Hair night at AWANA.  These were our hair creations.    They received the titles of most colorful.  They had quite the do's.  I hope they got coloring their hair out of their system and won't need to do that again!

Happy Belated Halloween from the Wicked Witch and The Hulk!!!! These were our little spooks. We went to the Family Fun Fest for an evening of games and candy. It was a fun night and it wasn't too crowded.



They really raked in the loot. Now, it they would just stop hiding it from me, I would have a pretty good supply of candy!!




We have been enjoying the fun of Fall! It's hard to believe that the Christmas season will soon be upon us. It seems like I missed a good chunk of fall with being gone.



Amy

AACK!!!! Where has October gone?????

Oh my!!  I can't believe it is already November and I haven't updated my blog at all.  I have thought about it many times, but just haven't had the time to sit down and type.  I was looking through some pictures tonight to post on here and can see why the month has flown by.  

I'll have to post pictures of our trip later.  There are too many great pictures to go through them tonight (I took over 1,300!!!)  It was truly the trip of a lifetime.  I really enjoyed it and would love to go back again if I ever get the chance.  I would have loved to have spent more time in London and in Pompeii.  Next time though, I'll leave Lynn at home!!   LOL!  I may be looking for a friend to take to NZ with me on the next one.  He isn't excited at all about the plane ride.

We got home on the 13th and Samuel's birthday was on the 18th.  I can't believe that "my baby" is 10 already!!  Where have the years gone?  It is hard to believe that he started out at 5 pounds 10 oz.  It won't be too much longer before he will be as tall as me!!  

We wanted to spend some time with the kids, so we went to Omaha to celebrate his birthday at Coco Keys (an indoor waterpark).  It was a lot of fun.  Samuel wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory for supper -- yummy!  I wish we had one closer to us.  

Amy