I have a love/hate relationship....

with Target. Oh, how I love that store. Oh, how I hate how much I spend there.

The 2 older kids had strep two weeks ago. And now I have strep throat, so I've been feeling blah since Sunday (I found out it was strep today), probably the reason I haven't been blogging or on the computer much at all. Just not feeling up to it. I am hoping this terrible sore throat goes away soon (the penicillin should help...) Hmmm, who's next?? Maddie or Mike, I am guessing.

sure signs spring isn't here just yet...

The weather was much worse up toward the Dells area. It started with rain, which turned to ice/sleet/hail, then to snow. Just as we were leaving, of course. I guess I should start watching the news or something!!! Salters/plows hadn't hit the roads early enough. Up that way they were expecting 5-8" of the white stuff. Here's the ice/snow storm we were stuck in while driving home from the Dells...



Traffic backed up for miles and miles...




Cars in ditches and pileups all over the place...


Glad we made it home in one piece. It was an exhausting little trip. I think Mother Nature might be bi-polar.

sure signs of spring....

playing ball

climbing trees & short sleeves


lots of mud & puddles!

the muddy "stream" running in the ditch in front of our house

and we're off!

to the Dells, that is. We are leaving first thing in the morning. The kids, myself, my sister, Dad, and Stepmom went last February. Mike was working on the house full force back then, so he stayed home. It's nice the 5 of us are going--last year was Maddie's first trip there, so I'm sure he'll be amused at how much fun she has. We are going with 18 other people. Yep, you read that right. I know it sounds downright insane, really. But we (along with a handful of Mike's friends from college and their kids) rented 2 three bedroom condos at the Wilderness. We've never stayed there before, but I've heard it's great. It should be fun, but rather interesting with so many adults and young kids (our kids are the "old" kids in the bunch). And those who know me well I think know that I do not tolerate groups of young children particularly well (I'm talking several kids under the age of 5 or so). I know that sounds awful, but more so it's that I just get incredibly stressed and crazy worried, more than I normally already am. Anyhow, at first we were going to go the whole weekend, but 1-we are trying to save $$$, and 2-thought it would be best to do the one in case the sleeping/room arrangements are just too crazy with so many people. It is just for one night, which I'm sure will be plenty. It's not like we can use the outdoor waterpark area now!!

It's been a beautiful past two days here. Lots of time outside. A little glad that the weather is supposed to get colder and rainy, I won't feel so guilty about being indoors the rest of the weekend!!

Here are a couple cards I made yesterday. The first one is a wedding card (we have a wedding in April and one in May). The second one is a congrats on your pregnancy card (our friends from Chicago are expecting)

Sunday surprise

Woke up this morning and was told to take a look in the bonus room above the garage (about 1/3 of that room or so is going to be my scrap space eventually). Here is what I found:

Yay for flooring!! Mike kind of surprised me and said he wanted to buy flooring for it yesterday. I didn't really think he'd do the floor right away. The bonus room is about 700 sq ft. My space is about 14x16 or so. So the rest of the room will be carpeted playroom--future "game" room with fussball, air hockey, our big screen TV, and couches/chairs, etc. We are considering getting carpet tiles in different colors, but need some examples for ideas first. I can actually use the room now. Except that it's currently 44 degrees in there. But I can turn the furnace on for that room if I want. It obviously still needs baseboard & trim around the windows, and I'll paint it eventually. But how exciting!! I am eager to host a big crop up there!!!! But we might need an elevator to get all our crap upstairs : )

I went to our store's crop yesterday, and it was so much fun!! Everything looked awesome & everyone seemed to have a great time (except for the lack of heat now and then, but that wasn't our fault!!) Good job on the wonderful work you did, gals!! I had alot of fun and it was nice to hang out with everyone again. Anyhow, I did get some stuff done, too. I worked on my class pages--which I am really super excited about! And these few...you can click on them to see them bigger.

"our family according to Maddie--age 2"

and way back when, about a year and a half ago, I did this page (without photos) for a "Power pages" class. I FINALLY stuck pictures & title on it. It's simple, but I like it. I have about 60 more pages awaiting photos....

Cal and Kaycey, 2002..not completely done yet, but you get the idea.