Monday, September 15, 2008

Saying Good Bye To An Old Friend

Today we had to say good bye to a long time family Friend, Elmo.

Elmo was our Lowcountry Lab. Part black lab, part who knows what? Elmo was 11 years old and was just miserable for the past month. He was in pain all the time. He had a hard time getting up, climbing the stairs and holding his urine. I took him to the vets last month. The vet gave me some medicine to try and said everything we are noticing is just old age. We have been talking to the kids everyday that this day was soon going to come.

It is amazing this day did not come sooner. As a puppy he missed us terribly when we left for work each morning. We would come home to a sea of white foam (from the couch and love seat) all over the living room floor! He would get into the trash can and eat what he could find and spread the rest all over the condo. We joked as we left the house each, "Did you Elmo proof the condo?"

A few years ago, when I was attending evening classes, I prepared a 9 x 13 pan of chicken breasts and rice for Marc and the kids. The pan was hot from the oven and I did not want to put it right in the fridge from the hot oven. So I covered it with foil and pushed it to the back of the stove top. The family would be home in 15 minutes to eat.
When I returned from class, i asked Marc if they ate all the dinner. "Sure honey it was good. Sonya made us Pork chops."
"Pork Chops? Sonya?" I said. "But I made chicken and rice?"
Upon some investigation of the kitchen, i found that glass 9 x 13 pan licked clean and pushed under the microwave cart!

We often said if it would not have been for Contessa he would have been long gone.

We are comforted knowing he is in doggie heaven playing with Muddy.

Friday, September 12, 2008

It's A Girl!

Welcome to our family Hanna!


Hanna was born into our family today at 4:45 pm. She weighs 6.5lbs. She is very healthy and has a good set of lungs. Contessa was very excited to bring Hannah home to take care of this weekend.
For 3 hours straight, Hanna would cry, eat, burp and mess her diaper. Contessa was starting to become stressed.
When dinner was ready we took turns holding the baby while she quickly ate.
The baby would cry the whole time because we did not have the wrist band to let the baby know we were parents. It's all fun and games now, but Marc has declared he will Listen to that baby all night! Hanna is in our loving care until Sunday afternoon.
Finally by 8pm Hannah fell asleep in Contessa's lap. 30 minutes into her nap, Contessa emerged to get a bowl of ice cream before Hanna wakes.
I am so proud that Contessa has not given up on Hanna yet, but she is beginning to realize the hard work.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Back to School

Well the kiddos went back to school 2 weeks ago. Yeah! But so did I, ughh.. No, it really hasn't been that bad. I made some changes at the PreSchool that I am really excited about and I feel refreshed and that spark for teaching was reignited!
I am finally getting around to posting pictures from the 1st and 2nd day of school. (It was raining so much the first day) It was also kind of dark at 7am plus with the clouds my pictures sure are dark. (I need to invest in some photo editing software)

Winston started 4th grade this year.

Contessa is in 8th grade. What scares me is that next year she will be in High School. How can that be possible? Here is a layout I did using the picture from the second day of school.


My inspiration can from Becky Fleck's PageMap Book. (pg. 75) The flowers were fun and simple. I punched a circle and cut triangle in towards the center to make a flower. I layered it on top of a circle cut the same size. Next I placed a small circle punch in center of the flower. I crumpled and unfolded the paper and sanded each one. My sewing machine is in the shop so I had to rub on all my stitching.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Catching Some WAVES

I've never done a 6 x 12 layout before today. I absoluntely love using Becky Fleck's PageMaps. On her blog she has a contest using a sketch. Above is the layout I created following her sketch.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Look What I Got!!!

I received this little award from my Scrap Pal Jamie! She inspires me in so many ways. So Thank You for the LOVE.
Now I need to name 7 other Blogs I love.

1. My all time favorite Blog is Jamie's. I check everyday, I will admit sometimes several times a day. Check out Jamie's Blog.
2. From Jamie's blog I go to Roxann's Blog. A very funny gal I met at Savannah Scrapbooking.
3. From Roxann's Blog I travel to Amber's Blog. Another Savannah Scrapbooking Girl.
4. From Amber's Blog I check out Jen Gallagher's Blog. I met Jen while scrapbooking at Savannah Scrapbooking.
5. I love the clean and bright colors of A Bit East Blog.
6. I also like to check out Donna Downey's Blog.
7. And of course Elsie's Blog is always fun.