she's here!

and we LOVE her!!!! Desi is so perfect! She loves to run outside with the kids but will stop and calm down as soon you tell her to. She doesn't jump on people or furniture. She doesn't bark. She seems to be housetrained. She went in her crate right away and slept in it all night without a sound. She doesn't beg. She usually listens when called or told to sit. And she is really, really good with kids.She is just sooo sweet!

introducing

Destiny! Our new dog! We went to visit my parents yesterday and took a look at their Humane Society and we found this sweetie! We get to pick her up tomorrow! I am so excited, I had a hard time sleeping last night. She is medium sized. Not as big as we were expecting to get, but that's probably a good thing, she won't be hopping our fence! She is very very friendly, I really have no worries about her with the kids, although I know we will still need to be cautious especially in the beginning. We're not too fond of her name, but she's 3 or 4 yrs old so we probably won't change it. I think we'll call her Desi. I just can't wait to have a dog again! I'm a little nervous because I've never been 'in charge' of a dog before, but with an older dog there's not so much to worry about like with a puppy. I'm happy.
:)

no go

Well, we went to Ethan's new school on Wednesday night for a parent orientation type thing. It scared me! Only a few more months and he'll be going to junior kindergarten- he's only 3! It seems like a nice school, fairly small. The teacher seems nice and the principal seems very nice.
Yesterday, we found out we were approved by the Humane Society, so we went in to see Kodiak again. The visit went fairly well. It was the first time that we got to socialize with him outside of the cage. He was very scared and shy at first, it took about 15 mins to get him to the point where we could pet him without him getting jumpy. All seemed to go well, until the guy that was with us told us that Kodiak had charged at him twice recently, with his teeth bared. Well, with two kids that don't always listen when we say not to run at him, etc. we can't take that chance. And, because he didn't get overly interactive with us it's hard to tell what he really thought. So, we'll see what happens. I think we will look for another dog, but it may be after our vacation in July. I'm a bit sad, I was looking forward to having this dog, but the kids are more important and I'm sure that there is a dog that is more suited to our family.
Have a good weekend!

trouble

OH boy! The kids drove us nuts yesterday! Gavin slept in until 8:45, but somehow still managed to be alot of trouble before we went out. After breakfast, we went to visit my Mom and Aunt and Rain. That was fine. Perry was installing the new thermostat for our furnace. Then I bring them home and we go for a walk. That was fine. Then we come home... that was not so fine. We wanted to do a little yard work because we have alot to do!!! (I mean a lot!) They were just doing everything they shouldn't do. I planted some pots and cleared out some of the over grown perennials in the garden, Perry was ripping a board off the seat on our deck that was water logged. Anyways, they were just not listening to anything. When we came in Ethan was pretty good, but Gavin just won't ever sit still, so if Ethan isn't playing with him, then he's looking for trouble. They, for some reason, were very tired today (even though Gavin got almost 15hrs of sleep the night before).
In other news, we bought the first season of Prison Break and only have 2 episodes left. What a great show! Now we have to get the second season before the new one starts! And the Lost and AI finales are this week. We will have to tape both we have plans those nights!! :(
Happy Tuesday!

:)

I think that we are going to drop a pre-approval off at the OSPCA today. There is a gorgeous Husky there that I would love to bring home. I have been wanting a dog for so long. It's seems like as good a time as any, now that we have no pets. We'll see what happens.

some layouts

back to the list

Thursday May 18, 2007
1. Perry's Mom and Dad came over for a bout 4 hrs
2. I actually had enough supper defrosted to feed them, too
3. another short nap!
4. boys were really good
5. furnace is closer to being installed

Friday May 19, 2007
1. kids at babysitter
2. sun came out
3. when we took the cat in, the had a very nice private room for the procedure
4. Pip went very quickly, no movements or anything
5. I got some scrapbooking done

sad

we had to put our cat down today. i have a headache from crying. i stayed for the whole thing and it was very quick. i miss him.

gratefulness

Romans 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
On Tuesday, our Bible study was leading into a lesson on the fruit of the Spirit. We talked alot about not giving into the flesh, and the 'Christian Struggle' that Paul talks about in Romans 7. But he says, "Thanks be to God", and that thanks is for the Holy Spirit. Because as the above verse says we are not in the flesh IF the Spirit dwells in us. In Galatians 5:16 it says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." God always keeps his promises!

Here is my gratitude list for yesterday
Wednesday May 16, 2007
1. no allergies!
2. lindor chocolates
3. amazing episode of LOST
4. kids went to bed well
5. fun little day trip

We went out of town yesterday, we visited Perry's grandma and went to Costco. Well, the boys wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. We ended up saying no at the end of the day. One thing that we try to instill in our kids is that they are not going to get something everytime we go to a store or they are not always going to go to 'special' places like Chuck E Cheese everytime we see one. When I was growing up my parents didn't have a lot of extra money and I found I appreciated things more than kids do these days- it drives me nuts when kids get things and they don't even say thankyou let alone feel grateful! Don't get me wrong- our kids definitely get to do alot of fun things with us- going to the park, the beach, we take them on alot of little day trips. Anyways, it just makes me sooo proud when at 2 and 3 yrs old they can calmly accept 'no' (usually, lol). Most of the time they don't give us a problem when we have to leave somewhere fun, I can take the kids down the toy aisle, just to look. I can say 'no' to Chuck E Cheese. They know we'll go another time and there are lots of other fun things we can do.
Happy Thursday!!!

I am thankful for

Monday May 14, 2007
1. a small nap
2. pizza, so I didn't have to cook!
3. a dreary day turned into a sunny one
4. watching the Survivor finale with Perry
5. my allergies eased up by the end of the day

Tuesday May 15, 2007
1. bible study
2. chocolate pie
3. a gorgeous day- for the most part
4. a wonderful husband who always cleans up after supper
5. fans (it was hot today!!!)

The kids got their pool out yesterday, it was about 90 here! I worked in the garden and Perry cut the grass. I don't know if I'm ever get to the whole garden! It's taking forever. The gardens at this house could probably fill the whole backyard at our old house! It is really nice seeing all the flowers and discovering what they are.
Ethan has slept in until at lest 6am for the last 4 days! I can't believe it, it has been so nice!

hard working

Well, yesterday we all went to my mom's house for Mother's Day. By 'we all' I mean Perry, me and our kids, my grandma, my uncle and two aunts, my sister and my nephew, and one of my cousins, and of course my mom, dad and brother were there. Perry and I got there around 11am and started work on the front gardens. Perry and my mom fixed up a little garden in the front around the tree. I went to work on the garden that ran across the front of the house. It was filled with ivy and it was starting to grow out of the garden and up the house. I trimmed it all to contain it with in the garden and then decided I would just rip it all out! It took probably 8-9 bags to get rid of it all. We reshaped the garden and added some Impatiens. It looks sooo different. We did a bunch of other things. I finished working at 6:15, so I worked about 7 hrs, and during that time I managed to hurt my back again- I originally hurt when I fell skiing last year and it still comes back once in a while. But, I had a really good time, I love being around family and helping at the same time was a bonus. It was really a great day.
Perry got me a great mother's day gift! The surprise was ruined though when I found it Saturday morning. I checked the mail box in the morning and found an envelope in it. My sister in law works at a hotel spa and picked up a gift certificate for a Mother's Day Special (a manicure and pedicure with polish and paraffin, and 1/2 in the whirlpool). Perry told her to put it in the mailbox and he would get it in the morning before I got up. Well, he forgot, so I found it early. I love it though. I can't wait to go and relax a bit! He is so great, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband.
On the papersquares blog she is doing a Gratitude Project. It sounds like a lot of fun. Every day for a week she is posting 5 things that she is grateful for and they pertain specifically to that day. She's taking pictures each day, and making a mini album at the end of the week. It sounds good to me so I thought I'd give it a try.
Sunday May 13, 2007
1. my mom's family, they are so helpful
2. my mom
3. a warm day
4. beautiful flowers
5. Ethan slept until 7am- what a great Mother's Day gift- he probably hasn't done that in 9 months!!
Oh- and the furnace is still not installed, so the nights are a little chilly!

storybook gardens

We had a great time yesterday at Storybook Gardens. The kids just loved it! They had peacocks running around all over the place! The kids loved it when they put their feathers up. Man, those things are loud! There were dozens of chipmunks running around, too. One of the first animals we saw was a super cute porquipine. I have never seen one before and I was alot bigger than I expected. They had an owl, fox, lynx, hawks, farm animals, seals, a river otter and I think there were a few others. They have an amazing play area. It's set up to be a pirate ship and other 'pirate' things. The equipment is sweet! Such a great playground. Then there was the water area!! This was the kids favourite. Gavin didn't want to get wet. So he dodged all the sprinklers but had alot of fun anyway. Rain, my nephew, loved the big water guns and Ethan just ran all over. It was a great day, we will definitely have to go back with 'Daddy'.
Today we are getting a new furnace installed, hopefully that goes well.!!!
I probably won't be on here tomorrow, so Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

2

here's the 2peas blog challenge for today!

TWO Things About Me.
1. I am the oldest of three
2. I am ALWAYS behind doing laundry
Two Names I Go by:
1. Amberley
2. Mom
Two Things I am Wearing Right Now:
1. T-Shirt
2. Pajama pants
Two Things I Want (or have) in a Relationship:
1. a best friend
2. a good dad to our kids
Two of My Favorite Things to do:
1. shop
2. scrapbook (not necessarily in that order)

Two Things I Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. a dog
2. a hot tub
Two pets I have:
1. a cat- Pipsqueak
2. before that my last pets were- a dog Beau and 2 cats- Sebastian (siamese) and Bing (we had all 3 at the same time)
Two things I did last night:
1. Watched Survivor
2. ate hamburgers outside
Two things I ate today:
haven't eaten yet
Two people I just talked to last:
1. Ethan
2. Perry
Two Things I'm doing tomorrow:
1. gardening
2. ?
Two longest car rides:
1. Bobcaygeon (5 hrs)
2. Port Carling (5 hrs)I haven't driven very far!
Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Easter (I love to get together with my family)
Two favorite beverages:
1. milk
2. hot chocloate
Two favorite scrapbooking tools:
1. crop-a-dile
2. I don't think I have any other 'tools', but I'd love a die cutter
Two favorite scrappin companys:
1. My Mind's Eye
2. Basic Grey

I am taking the kids to meet my mom and sister and nephew today at Storybook Gardens. It's a fun park with a few animals all in a storeybook/nursery rhyme theme! It should be fun, it's supposed to be hot today.
The first two pics here were from yesterday. I took the kids for a walk. We went to a little field and Ethan was blowing bubbles and Gavin would chase them. Well, Gavin all of a sudden decided to run up to Ethan and dump the bottle of bubbles all over Ethan's shirt and sandal- hence the crying pic. He was sooo upset! Then on the way home, Ethan fell off his bike and skinned his knee a bit- poor guy!
Oh- and another quick little challenge from [url="http://www.queensonia2001.typepad.com/"]this blog[/url]
5 places I'd like to visit
1-Africa
2-London, England
3-Australia
4-British Columbia
5-Alaska
Have a good weekend!

new CK feature

CK has got a new online feature by Candace Stringham. It is all about improving your photography skills. I am really excited about this because I would love to do that, but I don't want to get in to all the technical stuff. I'm sure that Candace will be giving basic and easy to follow hints which are what I like! Here's the first one : "Leading lines are lines in a photograph used to move the viewer’s eye to the subject. Simply by changing your camera angles you can change the direction the lines in the photograph are leading. You could use things in the background like fences, streets, paths, buildings, etc. to create leading lines."
2 tips:
1- use slide mounts as brackets- just cut in half
2- to do faux zigzag stitching on a layout, grab a fine tip marker and a ruler. I mark dots along the ruler at even increments, then move the ruler over to the width that you want the stitch and mark dots the same distance apart- but make sure to slide the ruler a bit so that these dots are between the first ones and not directly beside. Then take your marker and connect the dots. It doesn't have to be perfect- most stitches aren't 100% perfect anyway!

mother's day

I made this cute mini album today for my mother in law. I've been doing a few digital layouts, I really liked this one. Love the title and the flowers- they are from 2peas and Shabby Princess. Have a nice day! It's gorgeous outside here!

i won!!

I won a Purple Cows 1040 trimmer!!! I have been hearing so many good things about it and I am sooo excited!
Not too much time to post. We had another good day with the kids yesterday. We went for a long walk. Went into the pet store for a bit- trying to persuade someone to get a dog. He thought the pug puppy was really cute ;) I told him Elsie has one- he gave me a funny look and said "Elsie? Who's that?" lol

a fun day

This first picture is of me holding my sister's kittens. There are five and they are sooo cute!!! They were so tiny.
We had a really fun day with the kids yesterday. When Perry got home from work around 10am, he went for a nap while I took the kids for a walk. Ethan rode his new bike. We went out later and got him a new helmet as I realised about half way through our walk that he should be wearing one. We stopped at a baseball field and the kids picked some dandelions. They were so cute running all over picking 'flowers'. Then the kids played in the yard for a bit, and we did a little photo shoot.
After Perry woke up, we went to Walmart to get a helmet and looked at some garbage cans because the racoons have been getting in our garbage almost every night! We've seen them a few times on the deck. Then we went to the mall with the kids to see Bob the Builder. The kids loved it. They had seen the show before but they were really young, so didn't remember it. It was so cute to see how happy they got when he came out on stage! Then we went to sing at a nursing home. We have been doing that once a month for about a year and a half. The kids love it! And so do the residents.
Oh- and happy Scrapbooking Day!

some faves

Here's a little hint of my TV preferences!
Perry and I watched Survivor last night and we were talking about how we really don't have any favourites this season. I kind of liked Michelle, but she's gone. Then we were talking about our all time favourites. Apart from the very first season, I didn't start watching until the middle of Amazon. We both really liked Matthew from that season, I believe he was the runner up. My very favourite was Ian from Season 10 (not sure where that one was). We both also really liked Ozzy last year.
My favourite TV show by far is Lost. My favourite character used to be Sayid, but he's not around too much anymore. My favourite story lines seem to centre around 'the 3'- Jack, Kate and Sawyer. I am a little annoyed at Jack lately. I really want to like Juliette, but I'm not sure about her. I think Sawyer is probably my fave right now.
The other two shows we like are American Idol (Blake by far!) and Criminal Minds (my fave is Reed).

I would love...

to go to Africa.

the 2peas challenge for today:

What is one country in the world you really would love to travel to?

I love all the gorgeous animals there and would absolutely LOVE to go on an African Safari. Maybe when our kids are gone out of the house...

Check out this cool site - http://www.africam.com/

rainy days are over

...I hope! Yesterday it poured buckets! Literally, tons and tons of rain. Ready for everyday to be warm now. I haven't had much time for scrapping and I probably won't find much for the rest of the week. Perry is off today- not sure what we're going to do. If it's nice we'll probably be outside.

2peas challenge:

How do you celebrate Mother's Day?

This year we are having a work day at my Mom and Dad's house. My aunts and uncle and my siblings will be prepping their backyard for summer. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun, too.

Happy Wednesday!

quick post