Monday, November 24, 2008

"There's a Monster in my Closet!"

Not really, it's just Brennan as the lead in his 6th grade musical! Oh my gosh! It was such a fun show! Brennan did awesome and he got such a great response from the audience. I loved watching him!

And he made everyone cry with this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeL2phZnLQc

photos to come!

Vicki

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Our friends the Hoffman's have an awesome Halloween party every year. It is so fun! It takes them the entire month of October to decorate their yard, house and garage for the party. The garage is decorated like a dungeon and it is so cool! Every square inch of the house is covered in some sort of scary decor. My favorite part this year were the dead vines on the stair railings. It looked so awesome!

Bill and I went as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan. I had a blast making the costumes! I also brought Autumnal White Sangria and Frankencheese.

Thanks Hoffmans for the amazing evening!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Happy Fall!


What a beautiful day in Minnesota today! Bill and I got up this morning and went for a walk. We came home and ate breakfast before most of the kids were even up. He left to go do some campaigning for our friend ArMand Nelson (running for city council) and I started cleaning. The kids and I got the entire upstairs cleaned. Now I am going to take a shower, paint my nails and go to the Champlin Park Football game this afternoon. I hope to have a bonfire this evening and cap off a perfect Saturday in Minnesota!

Have a great day!

Vicki

Monday, October 13, 2008

Extreme Home Makeover - The Dinner Club Edition

So, it was our turn to host our first dinner club for the Champlin "Not-So-Gourmet" Dinner Club on September 27th. Not wanting to be embarassed by my house, I decided this would be a good time to paint the whole upstairs, put tile in the entry way and pretty much redo the whole house! Well, we didn't get everything on the list done, but we did get some much needed painting done and I was pleased with the results. I got a little carried away with the tablescape and the house though. Dinner was about one hour late! I had lists for everything but I didn't have a timeline for the food preparation! Lesson learned! Everyone said they were fine drinking white sangria, eating appetizers and chatting while Bill and I did the cooking. When we sat down for the main course I was able to take a breath. We had such a wonderful time and I have a much heightened appreciation of the work that goes into hosting Dinner Club! I think I'll start preparing for my next turn now!

Northern Stars Ball

We had such a fun time this weekend at the Northern Stars Ball. It is a benefit for the Anoka-Hennepin school district. Many of the funds go to the talent development programs at our kid's schools, and we have been blessed to have all three of our children participate in those programs.

Once again our group kept the party alive by dancing until the band was done. Everyone was out there on the dance floor shaking their booties! :)
This is my favorite photo of the entire night! Eric and Gina
Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton graced us with their presence! LOL! Yvette and Pam were so funny doing this bit.
Bill and John got in on the action with the band!
The color of the evening obviously was black!
And Pam just got carried away!






Thursday, October 9, 2008

Busy, busy, busy!!!

I know I am going to miss this someday! I am talking about the busyness of my life. This fall has been particularly crazy.

My first baby turned 14 yesterday!!! Unbelieveable! Erin never fails to remind me that she will be driving in just one year! YIKES! Karen tells me it's a good thing...
She is doing awesome in school. Straight A's at midterm!!! She's enjoying the social aspect more than she ever has, but is keeping a great balance between listening in class and still keeping the lines of communication open with her friends. We had a low key family dinner last night with seafood and potato soup and cupcakes for dessert to celebrate.

In addition to school starting, Brennan has football four nights a week and some Saturdays. I love it, but it is very time consuming. Plus, this multi-talented kid tried out for the 6th grade musical and got one of the leads! They will be doing "There's a Monster in My Closet" November 21st and 22nd. He has play practice every Monday through Thursday after school until 5pm. I am so proud of him, he has been getting up at 5:30am to do homework so he can stay caught up. All of this and he came home with a straight A midterm report card!

Kendall is keeping up with the mix of mom working more and her siblings being driven all over town and back. She is doing awesome in school, loves her teacher and is enjoying her talent development classes with Mrs. Steffel. Erin and Brennan both were in pullouts with Mrs. Steffel so we were thrilled that Kendall could round out the TD classes for the Harvey family!

Hope your day is going great!!!
Vicki

Monday, October 6, 2008

Breast Cancer Awareness Month



I did this layout for the Melissa Frances Blog. Melissa is a breast cancer survivor. The whole DT did layouts using the "Thankful" line. This line supports breast cancer research.


I am incredibly thankful for this group of friends that I have. We've laughed and cried together. They are truly amazing women!!!


Thanks!


Vicki


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Ode to Lelynn

My great uncle Lelynn, who was just two months from being 99 years old, passed away last week. He was such an incredible man. He was very intelligent, kind, and humble. I loved going to visit him and just listening. He could remember any part of his life with great detail. He would tell stories of he and my grandma when they were small children. Those were my favorite stories. I especially like the one about he and grandma pretending to have a circus in their backyard. They used earthworms for a snake show in the circus! My grandma loved snakes her whole life so it was no surprise that a snake show was on the top of her priority list for the circus. Lelynn was also a WWII vet. He was a medic. He won the bronze star for bravery in rescuing his fellow soldiers. When asked to tell the story of how he got the bronze star he would just reply, "Oh, I don't even know." He never wanted to brag.


When I was a little girl we would go to visit him and he would get out his puppet, Pepper. He would write letters to me with all of the words going around in a spiral or he would write them from Pepper.


As I got older I learned to appreciate his love of geneology. He has traced our family's history back to the 1600's! I could sit for hours and listen to him tell about our family's roots. I think part of my love for scrapbooking must have come from this trait of his. I want to continue to tell the stories of my family's history.


I will miss him greatly.These images are from his 98th birthday party last year. We all went down to Red Wing and surprised him. I saw him one more time after this - it was after the fall that would take his life. He had fallen and broken his hip and shoulder. He was in the nursing home and had developed pneumonia and pulmonary emboli. He was having a very difficult time breathing and it was hard for him to talk. I want to remember him like he was at this birthday party. He told me before I left the party that he would like to have birthdays more often if they were like this one. That warmed my heart.
This is how I will always think of Lelynn. Sitting in his chair and captivating the entire crowd with his incredible stories. Never forgetting a detail.
God Bless You Uncle Lelynn.

This one's for you Karen!!! ;)

Wow! Bad blogger!!! It was a crazy summer. Lots of shifts at the hospital, softball games, soccer games, football practice, swimming (lots of swimming - I got a little tan, first time in my life!) and running kids here and there. We didn't even go any where this summer. We usually make at least a trip to Iowa, but I never packed a suitcase once. We spent a bunch of time with the Hoffmans - it was awesome! I didn't even scrap that much. But kids are back in school and I am hoping life gets into more of a routine.
So, here are my monthly assignments for Melissa Frances. It felt great to sit down at my desk and just scrapbook!



Friday, June 13, 2008

A Reason to Celebrate!

The entire Melissa Frances design team wanted to make Melissa's last day of cancer treatment special so we all did a little project for her. Congratulations Melissa!!!

They are posted on the Melissa Frances blog:



Be sure to go check out all of the girls work. There are some amazing projects on there!

Here is mine:

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Pictures from the last day

All of the moms! I should have cropped this one!
Kendall and Mr. Eerdmans


Brennan and Mr. Rose and Ms. Heilman

Do you think she's ever had her photo taken before???
Vicki


















I've Been Here!



This was so fun to do! I didn't realize that I've been so many places! I need to visit the rest of the states some time.

Vicki

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Last Day of School - Finally!

That two full weeks of Christmas break sure got us at the end of the year this year! My kids last day of school was today! These last couple of weeks were so long. They were so ready to be done!
It was a great day today. I drove the kids in today because Brennan's egg launch was first thing this morning. His eggstronaught didn't fair very well. It flew really far, but ended up scrambled. He was a little disappointed since he had worked hard on his conceptual model and tested everything out beforehand.
Next was Kendall's graduation ceremony in Mr. E's class. I was worried about waterworks during this one after Brennan's third grade graduation. But I did great today. I got a little teary as Mr. E was giving the kids his speech about stopping by next year and staying friends. I feel so blessed and grateful that Kendall was able to even have him as a teacher at all that I feel very much at peace and very happy. It all feels complete now - all three of my kids had the most influential man I know as a teacher. He has certainly made a profound impact on our family's life.
After that it was on to Brennan's graduation party. The last day of elementary school! Again I thought I would cry, but did great! He had such a great year, that I can feel nothing but gratitude. All of my mom friends were there with me - Cindy S., Cindy D., Anne, and Joye. Kim and Bruce were the dad reps. We've all been together since second grade. What a great group of people. Bill was in Chicago for business, he was so dissappointed to have to miss it. I took lots of photos though. I'll post some tomorrow. As the kids got their diplomas they each were able to give a short speech. Brennan's was wonderful. Very mature. Most of the kids thanked the teachers and said that fifth grade was their best year. Some others were weird and cryptic but most were positive.
I thanked Mr. Carlson on the way out. He is the principal and is an incredible leader. We have been so thrilled with this school. I am so glad we have a few more years before we are done there. Both Cindy's are done! I said they should come back and share their extraordinary party planning skills with us next year!
I am ready for summer. It's time for some relaxed unstructured time off.
We just picked up Bill from the airport and I am ready to fall into bed!
thanks!
Vicki

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Productive weekend!

So, for Memorial Day weekend we stayed at home. We had two lists - fun stuff and projects. For every fun thing we did we had to balance that out with a project. I think the weekend went swimmingly well!

The boys fished all day on Saturday and then we cleaned the garage! First time I've had a car in my garage in 2 1/2 YEARS! I cannot even express how excited I am!






We also got Bill's shed (a.k.a. "The Man Cave") cleaned out and organized. I didn't know there was so much room in there!

The other highlight of the weekend was Miss K learning how to ride her bike! She did great!


I am so proud of her!

The Girls!

Here is one of the photos from Joye's birthday! We had a great time!


Thursday, May 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Joye!

So, my friend Joye's birthday party was tonight. We had such a great time. We ate at the cutest little cafe and wine bar in Osseo - Lilly's. The decor was Italian - orange and brown walls, eclectic dark wood furniture, huge empty ornate frames on the walls, paintings of fruit, cast iron wall hangings, stone tile, and green glass light fixtures. It was beautiful!

We drank Shiraz and ate frou-frou salads and pizzas. And we laughed!

After dinner we went back to Joye's house to have sparkle cake. Joye's seven year old daughter Ella made it and it was delicious. More wine and laughter followed. We went from silly to serious several times during the evening.

Great times with great friends!

Here is the card that all of us signed for her. It was my first hybrid project! Very fun!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Digital Scrapbooking!?!?

I never thought I would ever enter the realm of digital scrapbooking. But, I tried it just to do a calendar for my father-in-law last year and I really loved it! It's much less messy than paper and paste and I love all of the free kits that people so generously share.

I could never go totally digital. I love touching all of my supplies and I love texture on my layouts. Hybrid scrapping, however, is very much in my realm of possibility. I did this invitation for a friend's birthday. It was so fun!

They're Growing!

I cannot believe how big our guinea pigs are getting! I think they have doubled in size since we got them. The kids are loving them and so is dad! He is so funny! He puts up a good front about not wanting them, but he secretly loves them. He holds them and talks to them all the time! They are cute!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Scrapping!!!


It feels awesome to be scrapping again! I did this layout for Melissa Frances. This is my daughter and her two cousins who are great friends. The paper is from the "Thankful" line which is so pretty!

Thanks!

Vicki

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! Hope all of your wishes came true.
We spent the day at my Grandma's house. I am so grateful to still have my grandparents at the age of 41. It was a gorgeous day here in Minnesota. A little cool, but the sun was out and it was glorious.
Vicki

Friday, May 9, 2008

Melissa Frances Giveaway!!!

Melissa Frances is giving away a HUGE assortment of awesome products! All you have to do is go to the Melissa Frances blog
http://melissafrances.typepad.com/my_weblog/
and leave a comment!

Go do it now! She has such incredible stuff!

Vicki

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Clearly I am a bad blogger!

I need to remember to come back here and actually put in an entry!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. My sister and I had a garage sale last week and anyone that has had one knows how much work that is. We ended up getting rained out so all of that work was for naught! We left everything set up and are thinking about opening the doors again on Thursday.

We also attended our first dinner club with our friends. We were so excited to be invited!!! These people have been getting together for a few years and it always sounded like so much fun! Now that we've experienced our first one I know why they get together! It was a blast! I've never laughed so hard and so much! What a great time. The theme was a honky-tonk murder mystery. Everyone was in character all night and we had the most amazing time. I was Henna Boufant the local hairdresser and Bill was Virgil Roswell, an oil worker who had been caputured by aliens over 30 times! LOL! Here we are in all our glory! And yes, that is my real hair! My mom put it up in the bouffant. She teased it straight up and they sprayed it with almost a whole can of hairspray! Doesn't Bill look handsome in those safety goggles??? :)


On the morning of dinner club I decided to go out for the title of Mother of the Year. My friend Barb from high school had purchased a guinea pig for her daughter a few months ago. Little did they know when they bought her that she was going to be a mommy guinea pig. Barb was looking for a home for the now three week old baby guineas and my Erin sweet talked me into letting her have one. Well, we ended up coming home with TWO! We think they are two boys!
I couldn't let the one little guy to be lonely, right?

Well, the kids have been having a ball with them and Bill secretly loves them too. You could say he was a bit reluctant about the whole thing, but has warmed up tremendously! They are so dang cute! I have warned Erin though, if I have to clean the cage they will be either set free to live with their brothers the squirrels or a "free guinea pig" sign with mysteriously appear in our yard.

We couldn't think of names for a long time, but we have finally settled on some. So, without further ado, here are:


Elwood Einstein Harvey and Jake Edison Harvey!

Elwood is the one with the crazy hair, he has cowlicks all over his body. It's the funniest thing! Hence the middle name of Einstein. Jake is the one with the more typical guinea pig look. His hair is coarser than Elwood's and he has one black foot. Since Elwood's middle name was a scientist Jake's middle name had to be after one as well - Edison. And of course, Jake and Elwood are after the Blue's Brothers. We are looking for black sunglasses and ties for them now. ;)

Until next time!

Monday, April 14, 2008

So Excited!!!


Today it's official! I am now a member of the Melissa Frances Design Team! I am so excited! I was on the team before Karen and I bought Mustard Moon and I have missed it ever since. I absolutely love all of the Melissa Frances products. The papers are just so "me"! Almost every time I scrapbooked in the last couple of years, I found myself reaching for my Melissa Frances stash of product. I can't wait to start creating projects for the DT again.
Thanks Melissa and Carolyn!!!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Jig is Up!














If you hum the theme song to Mission Impossible while you view these photos you'll get the entire effect!

So, this last weekend my crazy family and I decided we would place pink, plastic flamingoes in our friends yards. Not for any particular reason, just because they were in the dollar section at my favorite store - Target! We had the whole covert mission thing going on - everyone in black, except Kendall of course! She was going to wear all pink and be the "back-up" flamingo. ????

By the time we got to about the third house, Kendall developed a conscious and stated,
"I am ashamed to be a part of this!" LOL!!!




No one knew it was us or suspected us after the first night. After the second night we were just about caught by the Baumgartners coming home from their evening out. Then the phone calls and emails started. The Nelsons were offering to help out with the overpopulation problem:



The Hoffmans took the flamingo in as one of their own!


The Baumgartners had their flamingo in spy training to catch us!!!

The Carlsons sent Cliff Clavin facts about flamingoes and started an evil plan of their own to get us back. YIKES!

It was really fun and we laughed so much!

We'll see what the pay back ends up being!