Living my life one layout at a time...

Introducing.....

2011-08-12T14:12:00.000-04:00

Carter Matthew Chrupcala
Born on July 19th, 2011 at 12:50 AM
7 lbs. 13 ozs.
20 inches long
And we all adore him.......

Stephanie - Brownies

2011-07-25T17:04:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of 3rd grade Steph decided that she wanted to join Girl Scouts. Luckily there was already a Brownie troop formed at her school with some of her classmates and the troop leader let her join. They did some fun stuff throughout the year like attending the cookie rally, taking a field trip to the Planetarium, marching in the Halloween parade, selling cookies at Redners, having an Investiture ceremony, and Bridging to Juniors for her 4th grade year. Here are some pics.....

Weaver's Orchard - cherry/blueberry picking June 25, 2011

2011-07-17T19:32:00.000-04:00

Trip #2 to Weaver's Orchard was to pick sweet cherries, blueberries, and raspberries. Unfortunately the raspberries weren't quite ripe and pretty picked through so we skipped them and just filled our baskets with the other yummy fruits which were plentiful......

I'm being induced at 6:30 AM tomorrow morning, so fingers crossed that the next post you see is all about our beautiful new baby boy!!!

Weaver's Orchard strawberry picking - June 4th, 2011

2011-07-13T19:10:00.000-04:00

One of the things that I love to do with the kids every summer is hit up our local orchard and do some "pick your own" fruits. There's nothing quite like fresh fruit off the vine! One of my favorite places to go is Weaver's Orchard, and so far this year we've gone twice. Trip #1 was to pick strawberries.....

Ocean City, NJ - May 2011

2011-07-11T21:05:00.000-04:00

Ron and I decided that we needed to fit in as much fun stuff as we could before the baby's arrival in late July so that the girls wouldn't feel like the summer of 2011 was a complete disaster. One of the first things we did as soon as the weather got nice enough was to take a day trip to Ocean City, NJ to go to the beach....which the girls absolutely love. It was the end of May and I was highly pregnant and highly uncomfortable at the time, so I was worried about it being too hot for me.....but that worry wasn't necessary. It was absolutely the most perfect weather day to be at the beach. Not too hot, not too cold. The sun was out and the sky was blue and it was perfect. We played in the water and the sand for 4 or 5 hours then got changed and hit the boardwalk for some dinner. Afterwards we spent a few hours letting the girls go on rides before we headed home. It was a wonderful day.

Bubba's visit - April 2011

2011-07-07T21:37:00.000-04:00

Bubba flew out from Seattle for a visit in April 2011, and although there's still snow on the ground in the park pictures it was actually one of the first mild days we had after a VERY long and VERY cold winter. We got to spend some quality time with him doing some fun stuff before he had to leave again. We can't wait till his next visit! We love you Bubba!

Jen's 6th birthday - January 2011

2011-07-05T20:48:00.000-04:00

Just a couple of pictures of my sweet little Jenny from her 6th birthday party in January. Jen decided that she wanted an ice cream social at the house for her and a bunch of friends....with all the fixings. There was 3 different kinds of ice cream, hot fudge, caramel, nuts, oreos, whipped cream, gummie bears, M&M's, bananas, and of course cherries for the top. The kids all got to make their own bowl of ice cream which was pretty funny to watch (some were very reserved about the toppings while others went hog wild!) We played games, had a pinata, ate cupcakes, and opened presents.....and celebrated this beautiful girl turning 6.

Love you Jenny!!!!

Christmas - 2010

2011-07-03T21:52:00.000-04:00

Some random shots from Christmas 2010 - - us picking out our Christmas tree, the girls decorating the tree all by themselves, and Christmas morning opening gifts. The last picture is photographic proof that we go overboard with the gifts every year (just in case one of them ever doubts the piles and piles of stuff they end up with, despite my efforts to cut back each year to a more manageable amount.)

One special memory from Christmas 2010 - - our final gift to the girls that day was the news that I was pregnant. They both got very excited! At that point the baby was the size of a kumquat, so I got one at the grocery store and wrapped it up for Ron to open. :)

Family fun at the park - November 2010

2011-06-29T19:54:00.000-04:00

It was one of those really chilly yet sunny and beautiful days in November when we decided that some fresh air would do us all some good. We headed to "purple park" (the name that the girls gave to the park at the middle school where we live) and I remember I was very COLD. I also happened to be pregnant at the time! Just a few shots to remember that fun day.........

Halloween and carving pumpkins - 2010

2011-06-28T20:33:00.000-04:00

Some shots from Halloween and pumpkin carving. Jen was a dragon and Steph was Dracula. I love that they don't do the typical "girly" costumes that all their friends do (princess anyone???)

This is the face of a kid who has had one too many pictures taken of her cuteness.....

Corn maze and pumpkin picking - October 2010

2011-06-24T18:13:00.000-04:00

Just some pics from last year's day at the farm......picking pumpkins, playing in the hay, and riding the zip line.

I really, really love fall.

Stephanie's 9th Birthday

2011-06-18T10:13:00.000-04:00

Pics from Stephanie's 9th birthday.

All she wanted all year long was a Nintendo DS. Ron decided to trick her and wrap up an empty box of Mini Wheats (with the DS hidden inside). We thought she would get really upset that all she got was cereal as a present, but when she opened it she said she was OK with it. We told her to open it up and look inside and once she saw the DS we could see the relief wash over her face. It was hysterical!

Happy (belated) birthday sweet girl.....we love you so much more than you will ever know!

Ocean City, NJ - September 2010

2011-06-17T10:14:00.000-04:00

Before the baby comes and all hell breaks loose I'm gonna try to catch up on posting a bunch of pictures/events that never made it up on the blog from last year and earlier this year.

These pics are from last September when we took a day trip to Ocean City, NJ. We wanted to spend one last fun day at the beach and on the boardwalk before the kids started back to school. The girls really love going to the beach and we always have a great time playing in the sand, jumping the waves, eating shore food, and riding on the rides on the boardwalk at the end of the day.

Jellystone - 2010

2011-06-15T09:29:00.000-04:00

I was looking through my draft posts folder and found this post from last year that I never hit "publish" on.

Oopsie-daisies.

They're from 2010 when we took our 3rd trip to Jellystone Park in Quarryville, PA for our last camping trip of the year. Uncle Chris and Steve came with us on this trip and I remember it being a blast! Here are some pics:

Ron (on the left) nearly flying completely out of the water slide:

Ron nearly flying completely out of the water slide AGAIN:

4 plus 1 = 5

2011-06-08T08:56:00.000-04:00

Our little family of 4 is about to expand to 5.

In about 7 weeks we are expecting a bouncing baby boy!

The girls are excited to meet their new baby brother, and Ron and I are excited to finally experience having a son.

Robin Hill

2010-10-23T21:43:00.000-04:00

Pictures from our camping trip to Robin Hill July 4th weekend.

There were some people camping a few spots down from us who had a dog that was bigger than Jen. He was a gentle giant but he was enormous!!!

Uncle Chris and Jen riding the tandem.

Swimming.

Of course we played bingo. Both Chris and I won some cash that night!

Ron and Chris joined a horseshoe tournament. It was hot and they lost. The end.

We did a little fishing and once again...Jen was the only person to catch a fish. And she caught 2. That kid has a knack for it and it made the Big Boys try real hard to catch one too. But they didn't. Muahahahaa!

All in all a pretty great weekend of fun at the campground!

Remembering Summer

2010-10-15T15:31:00.000-04:00

I guess Summer is officially in the books what with the dreary rainy days we've been having (along with the 50 degree weather. What happened to FALL people?)

Boo!!!! Hiss!!!!

Of course I'm totally behind on posting all of our fun Summer activities here on the old bloggy. Some things I'll just skip but other things (like our camping trips) I HAVE to get posted.

Man. Sometimes being lazy really does suck.

So lets say goodbye to Summer while we take a quick look back at one of our most favorite activities of the warmer months...swimming and the slip n slide.

:)

Blueberry picking

2010-10-03T13:49:00.001-04:00

Earlier this summer the girls and I (and one of Steph's friends Courtney) headed to Weaver's Orchard to do some blueberry and raspberry picking. I think its very important to buy fresh food from local farms as well as teach the girls about eating healthy and picking your own food. Nothing tastes better than ripe fruit directly from the vine! Jenny agreed with that statement - - she ate more than she put in the buckets. I thought she was going to get sick!

While we were there we also had some ice cream, shopped in the produce market, played on the playground, and fed the animals.

It was another great summer day!

:)

Mini golfing

2010-10-01T09:08:00.001-04:00

I took the girls mini golfing at our local golf course one day during the summer when the boredom seemed to be getting the best of them. It was a bright, sunny, and very HOT day....so hot that we were the only people on the course the entire time we were there.

The course is a really nice one, you can tell that they care about it and do the upkeep required to keep it looking nice....so I don't have very many complaints.

Except for one.

Would it be too much to ask for a little tiny bit of shade here and there for us more.....*ahem*......"fair skinned folks"? I mean it when I say there was not one spot of shade to be found in that entire place and by the end of it we were all dripping with sweat.

But we had fun regardless.

The following series of pictures is really funny. Jen putts the ball and makes it into the hole, but what she doesn't know is that the hole is a pipe which leads to the bottom section.

She walks over to the hole to get her ball and realizes its not there.

She panics.

Notice the blue ball on the bottom layer all the way to the left. She obviously hasn't noticed it yet.

She starts to cry. She thinks she has lost her ball forever. The ball is still sitting there just a few feet away.

Steph finally finds it and explains it to Jen, who is "traumatized" at this point.

"Traumatized" for all of 5 seconds until she's back to her happy self again. This kid is ALWAYS in such a good mood. Happy, smiling, laughing, telling jokes...

Good times!

Blogs

2010-09-24T21:45:00.001-04:00

Some of you may know that I have 2 blogs.

This one here that I neglect just slightly which is supposed to be more of a blog for family and friends (and myself) to keep up with what goes on in our day-to-day lives and to share pictures of the kids. I also used to post the scrapbooking layouts that I made on here. Emphasis on used to.

Then I started another blog last year called funsize creations (that I neglected WAY MORE than this one) which was supposed to be about all things crafty. Problem is that I just kept posting everything here because, well....I'm lazy.

There. I said it.

But I have seen the error of my ways and I have decided to stick with the plan.

From now on this blog will be pictures and posts all about my family and my kids while funsize creations will house pictures and content related to my crafty endeavors including all of my sewing items, scrapbooking, art journaling, as well as any updating we do to the house (I have TONS of that kind of stuff to share from the last few months. We've been BUSY!).

So basically what I'm saying is that if you read this blog I would love it if you would hop over to my other one and become a follower, or add me to your reader, or your favorites, or your bookmarks, or whatever you do to keep up with your blogs.

I promise not to neglect it as bad as before.

:)

Seattle (part 2)

2010-09-21T10:40:00.001-04:00

Here are the last of my pics from our Seattle trip. These include our day trips to Baimbridge Island, Pike Place Market, and Alki Beach...as well as a few shots to remind me just how yummy-delicious-yet-gross-at-the-same-time the tacos are at Jack in the Box.

Enjoy!

Ferry to Baimbridge:

Pike Place Market:

Tacos. Yum.

Alki Beach:

Seattle (part 1)

2010-09-14T14:02:00.001-04:00

The second leg of our "girls only" trip across the country this summer was from Las Vegas to Seattle, where we spent 5 days visiting Bubba and Tina.

The obvious difference between the two places: the weather.

When we left Vegas it was over 110 degrees and when we landed in Seattle it was BARELY 70 degrees. That's a 40 degree change in just over 2 hours. And it felt soooo nice. My favorite weather is low to mid 70's where you can wear jeans and a t-shirt with flip flops and be comfortable, and that's what it was for our entire visit so I loved it.

This was my first time visiting Seattle and I fell in love with it while I was there. I enjoyed how close everything is - the city, the beach, the suburbs, and the mountains are all 20 minutes from where my brother lives.

We did a whole bunch of "tourist-y" things during our visit:

* We ate dinner at BJ's and had something called a pizookie - which is straight from heaven. It's a chocolate chip cookie in a pizza pan, warmed up, then topped with vanilla ice cream. So dang good.

* We went to the Pacific Science Center for a few hours, walked around the butterfly exhibit (which was really cool), then saw an Imax movie called "The Living Sea" while we were there.

* We walked to the Space Needle and the kids rode a few carnival rides and ate snow cones.

* We headed to Pier 54 to take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island where we walked around the shops and had ice cream.

* We ate more Jack in the Box. *heart*

* We sat by the fire pit in Bubba's backyard and talked.

* We went to Pike Place Market and saw the very first Starbucks, shopped for souvenirs, and enjoyed all the sights.

* We went to Alki beach, walked in the sand and collected driftwood and shells. The girls and Bubba dug big holes in the sand and Jenny made friends with the locals like she always does.

Here are some of the pics (I have lots of pictures to share from this trip so I'm splitting it into 2 posts).

At the Pacific Science Center:

At the butterfly exhibit (which Jen didn't really like so much).

Jenny showing her support of Da Bears:

The Space Needle:

Bubba and Steph:

Part 2 coming up.....

Las Vegas/Seattle

2010-09-08T10:54:00.011-04:00

The girls and I had a wonderful summer together. Really truly wonderful.

It was the first time ever that I wasn't working full time and was able to stay home with my children for the summer, and we really made the best of it. One of the most wonderful things that we got to do was take a girls only trip to Las Vegas to visit my mom (aka Grannie) followed by a trip to Seattle to visit my brother (Uncle Bubba) and his fiance Christina (Tina). Poor Ronnie had to work so he couldn't come (but he was missed big time. Especially on the loooong plane rides. So was Daisy.)

That trip was perhaps a once in a lifetime experience for us and I loved having the chance to build those kinds of lasting memories with my two sweet little girls. I know we will never forget it.

During the Vegas portion of our trip we got to do all kinds of fun stuff with Grannie:

* We went to the local park real early one morning (6:45 AM) to try and beat the heat (which was around 110 the entire time). We were the only ones there (clearly the only people crazy enough to be up and at the park at 6:45 AM) and stayed for about an hour before it got too hot to be outside. The kids played in the water park for a little while and it only took them about 20 minutes to completely dry off. It was THAT hot. But it's a dry heat you know (that's what everyone who lives there tells themselves to make it seem like it really isn't that bad. But it is.)

*We ate at El Pollo Loco which was yummy but not as yummy as I remember it from growing up in Southern California.

*We went to Shirley's house (a good friend of my mom's) to go swimming one day. Shirley has the.best.pool.EVAH!!! The girls had such a good time, didn't want to leave, wanted to go BACK the next day, and still talk about swimming in that awesome pool!

*We went to Excalibur one evening and the girls saw a 3D Spongebob show, then we went to New York, New York to walk around and have a yummy Mexican dinner.

*We got dressed up and went to Mandalay Bay one evening to see The Lion King (which was A-mazing.) It was the first time the girls had ever been to see anything like that and they just sat in awe the entire time. So did I.

*Before the Lion King we went to the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef aquarium and checked out all the cool fish and animals. They had a really neat display of jellyfish that was just stunning, I could have sat and watched them swim for hours.

*We ate at Jack in the Box which was every bit as yummy as I remember it from growing up in Southern California.

On the airplane on the way to Las Vegas:

At the park:

Doing the tree pose with Grannie:

Swimming at Shirley's house:

All dressed up to go see The Lion King at Mandalay Bay:

Checking out the Excalibur and New York, New York hotels:

Next up: Seattle.

Fresh cut flowers......

2010-09-08T10:53:00.001-04:00

I love having fresh cut flowers in the house. These are from earlier in the summer and I already miss them.....

First day of school!

2010-08-31T11:54:00.006-04:00

I interrupt the never ending Disney novel to bring you this very important post:

As of 8:20 this morning I now have a third grader (how???) and my little teeny tiny baby is in KINDERGARTEN!!! Woe is me.

Not only is she in school now, but she lost her very first tooth 2 days ago. It changed her baby face into a big kid face in the blink of an eye.

That's too many changes in such a short period of time for this mommy.

:(

Check out the missing tooth!!!

Disney - part 8 (going home & Photopass pictures)

2010-08-28T13:40:00.008-04:00

On our last day at Disney World we were all ready to go home. Our bodies just couldn't take the heat and crazy amounts of walking anymore. We woke up (stiff), got dressed (slowly), then went to breakfast (by now we were choking it down). We still hadn't packed our bags so afterwards we headed back to the room to get started. After check-out at the lobby we had to wait 2 hours for our Magical Express bus to pick us up from the resort and take us to the airport. The girls colored and watched cartoons while we waited. We grabbed one last quick bite to eat at the resort to use up the last of our food credits then headed to the airport for another 2 hours before our flights took off.

Our trip was nothing short of wonderful. Both of the kids were so well behaved and we didn't have any crazy meltdowns while we were there. They were the perfect age to go! They really had so much fun and now have lots of new memories and experiences (which they talked about for weeks and weeks afterwards). It might have been a once in a lifetime opportunity for us so I'm glad that we were able to go as a family.

The weather was less than desirable but I guess that's what you can expect from Florida. You have no control of it so all you can do is make the best of it....which I think we did.

As I mentioned before we did the Photopass offer for this trip (where Disney photographers are stationed throughout the parks and will take your picture for you -using their own cameras - then they put all of the pictures they take on a CD and send it to you in the mail a few weeks after your trip is over). Below are some of the pictures that we got by doing this. Its nice that we have a few pictures of all of us so I'm glad we did it, although the quality of the Photopass pictures isn't quite what I thought it would be.

Thanks for following along. The end.

:)

Disney - part 7 (Blizzard Beach)

2010-08-16T18:26:00.010-04:00

By the 7th day at Disney we needed another refreshing day away from the heat, so we headed to the Blizzard Beach waterpark to spend the day swimming. Unfortunately we were only there for about 2 hours before the rain, thunder, and lightening forced them to close the park so we ate a quick lunch then headed back to the resort. Everyone showered, did a little coloring, watched a bit of TV, and rested for a few minutes before we took the bus to Downtown Disney to eat dinner, do some shopping, spend all of our leftover snack credits, and have some fun playing games for a few hours at Disney Quest.

While we were at dinner Steph started to not feel well and went to the bathroom to throw up. When she came back to the table she laid on my lap, took a quick nap, and woke up feeling better. I think the heat and all the walking finally got to her.

We walked over to this huge candy store and spent the last of our 17 snack credits from the meal plan on special treats to take home. Then we walked the Downtown Disney strip going into a bunch of stores and checking out the huge Lego sculptures. Along the way there was a stage and a guy who was playing kids music and getting all the kids in the audience to stand up and dance along. Jen was all for it and got right up in the front row to do the chicken dance, the Cha-Cha slide, and head, shoulders, knees and toes. It was soooo cute!

After that we went to Disney Quest where we spent a few hours playing games and riding the virtual rides. At about 9:30 PM Jen got tired and wanted to head back to the room so Grannie and I split up from Ron and Steph and headed back. We decided to take the water taxi back to the room instead of the bus, which took about 35 - 40 minutes and was a really relaxing ride. We got jammies on and headed to bed. Ron and Steph got back at about 11:30 PM and they had taken the water taxi back too.

Since I didn't take my camera to the water parks, the Blizzard Beach pics below are all from Disney Photopass photographers.

And these are some shots we took later that day:

Disney - part 6 (Hollywood Studios)

2010-08-16T18:23:00.011-04:00

On our 6th day in Disney we slept in a little bit. We had to, our bodies wouldn't let us get up. When we finally worked the kinks out and got up we headed to breakfast in the resort (which by now was getting a little nasty because it all tasted the same and we had eaten it for 6 days in a row).

We decided that we would head to Hollywood Studios for the day today. I know I sound like a broken record but the heat was killer today. It was almost too much to handle, especially because we were so tired at this point and our energy was low. We decided it was a good idea to just knock out all of the rides that we had a Give a Day Fastpass for and leave. Some of the things we did were Muppets Vision 3D, Star Tours (twice), Toy Story Mania (twice), and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

After lunch we split up. Grannie took the girls back to the resort (and Steph had to tell her the way back) while Ron and I went on 2 more rides that the girls couldn't go on: Rock N Roller Coaster (which was terrible and I will never go on again - it gave me the worst headache of my life) and the Tower of Terror (which is seriously one of the best rides at Disney). On our way out of the park it started to rain and it felt so good to get a little wet and cool off! We then headed back to the resort and met up with the kids for some rest. After a quick nap we all went to Downtown Disney. We had dinner at the Earl of Sandwich (YUM!) then did a little shopping.

We then split up again - Grannie took the girls to Lego Land then back to the room while Ron and I went to the House of Blues for a few drinks and to listen to a live musician for a little while. At about 8:30PM Ron and I headed to La Nouba (Cirque Du Soleil) which we had tickets for. The show was about an hour and 40 minutes long and was awesome from start to finish! We didn't want it to end!! There was a juggler, trapeze, tightrope walkers, and all kinds of amazing talent. When it was over we went back to the room to kiss the girls goodnite and for some much needed sleep.

Of course, a few pictures:

Part 7 is up next.....

Disney - part 5 (Magic Kingdom)

2010-08-16T17:22:00.013-04:00

We had a reservation at 8:20 AM at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom for breakfast with Pooh and Friends this morning, so we had to wake up early (6:30 AM - ugh!) The girls really enjoyed meeting their favorite characters. And the adults? Well.....we really enjoyed the humongous all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Oh my word the food was yummy and there was just so much of it that we couldn't resist.

After breakfast we spent the day in the park going on some of the best rides that Disney has to offer. We went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (again), Peter Pan's Flight, Splash Mountain, Tom Sawyer's Island, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and Stitches Great Escape (among many others). We also saw Mickey's PhilharMagic which was a really cute 3D show that everyone enjoyed.

I know you're shocked when I say this - but the weather on this particular day was extra brutal. Like 107 degrees brutal. By about noon we all felt like we could possibly be melting.

We stayed till about 2PM when we just couldn't take it anymore then we headed to the room to cool off and take a nap. After dinner and a dip in the pool we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks show and walk through the shops on Main Street. We went on the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor (which was hilarious. There was a part where the monster was talking to a lady in the audience who was wearing a tube top. He called her "The Woman in the Tube" and asked her where she kept her toothpaste. It was really funny. Guess you had to be there).

We did some shopping then headed to a great spot to watch some of the light parade and the fireworks show. We were a bit far from the parade and couldn't see it that well but we were in a PERFECT spot to see the fireworks (and Tinkerbell flew directly over our heads out of the castle). When it was over we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Swiss Family Tree House again. On our way out of the park the second light parade was going on so we found a great spot right on Main Street to watch it. We were right next to the characters and Jen was in 5 year old heaven. She was screaming so loudly at all of the characters as they went by, jumping up and down with a huge grin on her face. She saw Dopey, Grumpy, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Snow White, Tinkerbell, and Alice in Wonderland. A little Disney magic happened when the Prince was riding by on a float.....he caught Jen's eye and saw her waving at him so he walked close to her, held out the glass slipper, and pretended to ask her to try it on. She was amazed!

We finally made it back to the room really late and everyone literally crashed into bed from exhaustion. Here are a few more of the pics I took from that day.

Jen (hot and sweaty) and Grannie on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad:

Meeting some of our favorite characters:

Stephanie on the bus ride back to our room. She was literally PASSED OUT and my mom couldn't wake her up. When she finally woke up she was so mad at us cause she just wanted to sleep!

Part 6 coming soon.....

Disney - part 4 (Typhoon Lagoon)

2010-08-16T12:55:00.009-04:00

Day 4 was our Typhoon Lagoon day. We were so tired of being hot that we decided to spend the day cooling off at the water park, and it was the perfect solution.

While we were there we went on water slides, saw some characters, and spent a bunch of time in the huge wave pool. Everyone (including Grannie!) really enjoyed floating in the lazy river, and we did it for quite a long time.

We planned on leaving the park around 3PM. At about 2:30 there was some thunder and lightening close by so they closed the park and asked everyone to leave. We went back to our room and everyone took a nap (except for Ronnie).

At about 5:30 we all woke up, got dressed, ate dinner, and headed back to Epcot to try and do Kim Possible, watch the fireworks, and walk through the different countries. By the time we got there Kim Possible was closed, it was brutally hot (surprise, surprise), and extremely crowded. Jennifer asked to go on Spaceship Earth again so I took her (to get out of the heat for a few minutes - thank you GOD for air conditioning) while everyone else walked through a few more countries. After the fireworks show we were all so hot and miserable that we went back to the room for some much needed rest.

I didn't take my camera to the water parks so the pics below are all from Disney Photopass (where photographers around the park take your picture for you).

Part 5 coming soon...

Disney - part 3 (Epcot)

2010-08-16T12:08:00.007-04:00

On our third day we slept in a little bit (we were all sooooo tired and could have easily slept till noon), and after breakfast at the resort we decided to head to Epcot. The weather was.............

wait for it.............

HOT.

About 105 degrees.

Almost unbearable.

Luckily Epcot has alot of indoor rides so we started out at Soarin' and used our Give a Day fastpasses to ride it twice. Afterwards we went on Living with the Land, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, and Test Track (which we all LOVED). At about 6PM we just couldn't take the walking and heat any longer so we headed back to the resort to relax and swim in the pool. The kids (and a few :ahem: adults) enjoyed the water slide at the pool and it felt really good to be refreshed. After a quick dinner we headed back to the room to watch a movie and have a special treat (huge lollipops for the kids).

Here are some pics from that day.

Disney World 2010 - part 2 (Animal Kingdom)

2010-07-13T17:56:00.011-04:00

On our second day we decided to go to Animal Kingdom and spend the entire day there. We got up, had breakfast at the resort then hopped on the bus. Of course, it was HOT (about 100 degrees) so we lathered up with sunscreen. I'm happy to report that despite the fact that the sun was trying its darnedest to burn our pasty white skin, no one got even the slightest sunburn the entire trip!

SPF 60 really does the trick.

:)

When we walked into the park Ron and I realized we were ill prepared. I brought hats for the girls but we didn't have any for us...so we stopped at the first outpost we saw and got some snazzy looking safari hats. We wore them all day every day and they help tremendously to keep us cool and not sunburned.

The first thing we did to cool down was go on Kali River Rapids. We all got soaked and it felt sooooo good to be wet (so good that we went on it twice that day). Then we watched the show "It's Tough to be a Bug" which was really cute and air conditioned!! We hit up some of the best rides like Expedition Everest (a roller coaster that goes backwards for part of the ride. Ron, Steph and I rode it and Steph HATED it), Dinosaur (Ron, Steph and I and Steph LOVED it so we rode it twice), and Kilimanjaro Safari where we saw giraffes, elephants, alligators, hippos, and more.

One of the best things was that we had special fastpasses for all the rides during our trip so we never had to wait in lines longer than a few minutes. We got the fastpasses by participating in the Give a Day, Get a Day program (we donated 4 handmade blankets to Project Linus). It was a great way to teach the girls about volunteering and the fastpasses were wonderful!!

At about 8 PM we left exhausted and headed back to the resort for dinner. When we got back to the room I had a surprise waiting for me from Grannie. It was a "celebration" in the room complete with balloons, a medal, a certificate, a huge Mickey, 5 wine glasses and sparkling cider.....all for my college graduation!

Here are the pics.....

The girls (and Grannie) in their Minnie Mouse ears:

The Tree of Life which is seriously one of the coolest things EVER:

To get an idea how big this thing is check out Ronnie (in his cool safari hat) at the bottom right of the pic below. He's a tall guy at 6'4" and he looks itty bitty next to the tree.

Jennifer meeting Stitch. A cool thing happened while she was getting his autograph - one of the flowers from his lei fell off onto the ground and he noticed that she was wearing some silly bands, so he offered to trade her his flower for a silly band. It was sooo cute!

Giving him the "thumbs up"!

Here they are trading!

Steph meeting Stitch (who became her favorite character - she even came home with a big Stitch stuffed animal!)

This is one of the things we did to *try* and keep cool. Grannie bought one of these battery powered water fans and we would mist ourselves constantly with it until we were soaked. We would fill it with ice and within minutes the ice would be melted and the water would be warm!!!

Expedition Everest:

Meeting Goofy and Pluto:

Some pics from the safari:

My graduation "celebration"! Thanks mom!!!!

Day 3 coming soon.....

:)

Disney World 2010 - part 1

2010-07-12T18:19:00.009-04:00

We took a BIG family vacation this year and headed to Disney World in Florida for 8 days from June 12th - 19th. This was every one's first time visiting Disney World (although I've been to Disneyland in California countless times due to growing up about 30 minutes away from it and let me just be the first to say - - not the same. So vastly different I can't even describe it.)

This trip was also Steph and Jen's first time riding on an airplane, as well as the very first time in 14 years of marriage that Ron and I have flown together.

Geesh. Guess we don't get out much.

Grannie (aka my mom) also joined us from Las Vegas and we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside (which is one of the moderate resorts on Disney property).

Let me start by saying that I planned this trip for MONTHS. I did tons of research and read all kinds of blogs and forums and books and talked to dozens of people about it. I even called Disney numerous times with questions. None of this prepared me at all for the trip and I'll tell you why.

First of all we chose June as the month to go because we got free dining (can I get a WOOT-WOOT!!!) and because the average high temps that time of year are supposed to be around 90, which isn't too bad for Florida standards. We didn't want to go in July or August because we didn't want the extreme temps to damper the trip.

Notice I said the temps are SUPPOSED to be around 90.

Well....we didn't even see 90 during our trip (unless you count the fact that it was already 90 degrees outside by 8 AM each morning). GAH!

The heat index most days we were there was well in the 100's and a few of the days it got as high as 107.

Take a moment and re-read that last sentence. Yep. I said it. 107!!!! Who the h.e.double-hockeysticks wants to walk around riding rides all day when it's 107 out??!!!

And that's just what we did. And it was great fun, and something that I will always remember and that my kids are still talking about every single day (but oh.my.hell, did it have to be so hot!!!???)

The second reason I wasn't prepared is because it's an exhausting trip. Ignore the fact that we were walking around in scorching heat and we wondered if the soles of our shoes were melting directly onto the pavement all day. Nope, it's the constant MOVING and GOING and WALKING and STANDING and EXCITEMENT and PEOPLE and LINES and.....you get the picture. No amount of reading about that kind of exhaustion can prepare you for the feeling of not wanting to take one.more.step despite the fact that your at least 10,000 steps away from the hotel room and your husband is carrying a sleeping kid and can't carry YOU at this particular moment. *sigh*

All of that aside it was a wonderful vacation full of hundreds of memories that I will have for a lifetime and that I'm sure my kids will tell their kids about. Of course I took 1200 pics during our visit (plus about 150 from the photopass people) so I'll share a bunch here with you broken out in a few different posts.

Our first day:

At the airport watching the planes take off and land before our flight.

All of us on the plane just before takeoff. Each side of the aisle has three seats so we all couldn't sit together. On the flight out I sat with Jen and Ron sat with Steph, then on the flight back we switched. Both girls did TERRIFIC during the flights with the only problem being Steph's ears bothered her during landing on the way there (not so much on the way home though).

When we got to the hotel we checked in (and the girls caught some Disney cartoons in the lobby while they waited). Then we walked around the resort looking for our room and taking a few pics. It was a gorgeous place! Right away we saw lizards, tiny baby frogs, squirrels, and numerous different birds.

We found our room, dropped off our bags (and had a special Mickey waiting for us on one of the beds) then headed straight to Magic Kingdom.

Jennifer standing at the beginning of Main Street unaware of what is just beyond that corner....

These next few pictures are the exact reason we took this trip. This is Jennifer's face the moment she saw the castle at the end of Main Street.

Priceless.

And this is what she saw:

Afterwards we ate dinner and rode a few rides (It's a Small World, The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) then watched some of the light parade. We were headed up to the top of the Swiss Family Robinson tree house when the fireworks started and we noticed that we were the only ones there. At the top we found a clearing with the most PERFECT VIEW of the fireworks and the castle, so we stayed up there to watch it. I didn't have a tripod so this was the best picture I got.

The highlight of the evening was when we saw Tinkerbell fly from the top of the castle. Jennifer's reaction was something I will never forget, it was an excitement I have never seen from her or anyone else for that matter. She was screaming at the TOP of her lungs and jumping up and down as fast as her little feet would take her. She couldn't believe what she saw and was giddy with happiness for the rest of the night.

After that we headed towards Main Street to leave but it was PACKED, so instead we hopped into the ice cream shoppe and grabbed some root beer floats and sat and enjoyed them till the crowds diminished enough to get around. We headed back to the resort after 11 PM to finally meet up with Grannie (who's flight arrived about 3 or 4hours after ours did).

Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon.

:)

Welcome to the old blogitty-blog

2010-07-08T22:44:00.005-04:00

If your here from Scrapbook News and Review Magazine's newsletter then I send you a very warm WELCOME.

If your one of my 5 regular visitors, thanks for keeping me in business.

:)

I've been so lucky to be a staffer at SNR for the past few years and lately I've been learning a lot about mixed media and "goop" (as we like to call it) by being a regular contributor on the SNR forums. There are such great conversations going on over there about all kinds of things "art" related like scrapbooking, card making, digi, and altered art. The best thing about SNR is that everyone is so open and friendly and even my silliest questions get answered by people who really want to see all of us succeed in making things that make us happy.

So...what are you waiting for? Do you like to paint? Have you ever wondered what gesso is? Or how you even SAY gesso???? What about watercolors? Or how to make your own mists? All of that and more is waiting for you in the forums. Don't just read it behind the scenes, interact with us so that we can all learn together.

Now onto the cool stuff. Below is my very first ATC....ever. I did it after reading some extremely inspiring threads in the altered art/mixed media forums. I went out and bought some of the "goop" that everyone was talking about and just started playing with it. It's pretty basic. Be gentle...it really was my very first one.

Here are the steps I used to make it:

1. Painted ATC with acrylic paint watered down slightly to give it that "washed" look. Let dry.

2. Stamped the dandelions using UTEE but didn't like the effect so I stamped over them using gesso (pronounced jesso in case you were wondering. LOL) Let dry.

3. Added extra course pumice gel to the bottom to simulate dirt/sand. Let dry.

4. Inked edges a tad. Added word stickers. Done.

So...as a "goop" newbie I learned a few very big lessons on this tiny ATC.

First, I used a regular ATC card (made from regular cardstock) which was a bad choice. I clearly used wet stuff like paint, gesso, and gel so I should have used an ATC made of watercolor paper (because as soon as I put the goop on the card warped and I had to let it sit under a book to straighten out for a few hours). Lesson learned.

Second, I purchased extra course pumice gel which is cool stuff but not what I expected. I should have purchased regular pumice gel since the little sandy bits are much smaller and finer than the one I used on the card (if you look you can see that the bits are larger and more spread out which would look cool on a canvas or larger piece but might be slightly too big for my tiny ATC). Another lesson learned.

Third, and more importantly, my UTEE skills are not quite stellar yet. I learned that using UTEE on a tiny stamp with tiny details isn't as productive as using it on a stamp which has more surface area. I'll try again soon with a larger stamp because I refuse to let the goop win.

Thanks for stopping by!

:)

Princess

2010-06-09T11:06:00.002-04:00

This morning I had a conversation with Jen that went like this:

Me: You look like a princess in your Disney jammies.

Jen: I'm not a princess.

Me: Yes you are, you're MY princess.

Jen: No I'm not. Princesses don't have pants and socks, they only have dresses.

Touche Jen.

:)

Updates on "life"

2010-05-31T14:24:00.003-04:00

Boy has life taken some strange/cool/fabulous twists and turns for our little family lately. Seems like there's never a dull moment around here, and it just keeps getting better. Here's a little round-up of the craziness:

1. As I mentioned a few posts ago I finally finished school and will be graduating in June. Finally. The free time that this has now given me, as well as the weight of it off my shoulders, can't be described. I'm loving every minute of it and look forward to doing all of the things that I have put off for the past 7 years due to time constraints. YAY!

2. Our Walt Disney World trip is just 10 days away. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. None of us has ever been and we are all soooo excited for it. My mom will be joining us on this 8 day adventure and I'm sure I'll have lots and lots of pictures to share when we get back.

3. About 5 weeks ago Ron and I decided to get our basement finished. We hired a contractor to do it and for the past few weeks have had people in and out of the house on a daily basis doing construction (and making a HUGE mess everywhere. UGH.) It is now about 95% finished and looks great. The kids love their new toy room and I have a new craft room to play in too. Of course I took before and after shots so look for a post about that soon.

4. I've worked in the Pharmaceutical industry for the past 11 years and have been at my current company (Wyeth) for over 6 years. A year and 5 months ago we were bought by a much bigger company (Pfizer) who started doing waves of layoffs right away. About 20,000 people to be precise. I was told long ago that I wouldn't be retained at the new company but was never given a layoff date. For the past 17 months I've gone to work wondering if today would be the day I would be let go. Well.....last Wednesday was finally the day. I was told that my last day would be July 2nd and that I didn't have to come into the office anymore. I can't begin to explain the feeling that I had as I was walking out of the building that day. Joy. Happiness. Big sigh of relief. The end of a trying year and the beginning of a new life for me. I'm now a stay-at-home-mom, something I never thought I would ever get to be. I've been given the gift of spending the summer with my 2 beautiful children instead of sending them to summer camp and wishing I was with them. I feel less stress now than I think I have ever felt in my entire life. Finances will be tight, but we'll make it work. THANK YOU PFIZER!

5. The girls and I have a really exciting trip planned in late July/early August (unfortunately Ron couldn't get off from work so he can't go with us). First we're flying to Las Vegas to visit my mom for a few days, then my mom is flying with us to Seattle to visit my brother for a few days! It promises to be a trip full of memories for the girls and I. My mom has a few surprises up her sleeve for our time in Vegas (word has it that we'll be seeing the Lion King musical at the Mandalay Bay casino while we're there....shhhhh....the girls don't know about it!) My brother also has some fun things planned for us, I really can't wait to go!!!

So, there's a round-up of all the new and exciting things going on at the Chrupcala house. What's new with you?

A picnic with Jennifer

2010-05-31T10:47:00.004-04:00

Last week Jen and I were home together and it was a beautiful day outside. Ron was asleep, Steph was at school, and out of the blue Jen says, "Let's go have a picnic!"

We have a little park in our neighborhood which is just around the corner from our house... and one of the things that I've always wanted to do was to pack a lunch and go have a spur of the moment picnic. Work and school and life have always gotten in the way but not on that particular day. I said GREAT IDEA JEN!

We made sandwiches, grabbed some fruit and drinks, packed a large blanket, and headed out for our long-time-coming, spur of the moment picnic.

We found a little shady spot and ate and chatted (and gave smooches). Conversations with this little 5 year old are ALWAYS interesting and fun, and spending an afternoon picnicking with her is pure bliss. I'm so lucky to be her mommy.

:)

Strawberries

2010-05-31T10:19:00.004-04:00

Our little garden is full of wonderful things this year:

Sweet corn
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Green beans
Zucchini
Spinach
Celery
Cucumbers
Pumpkins

It's always interesting to see what will bear fruit year after year and what won't. Some years are better than others. For example, I've always had enormous luck with tomatoes year after year, typically getting much more than I could ever eat or even give away, but last year I didn't get one single edible tomato from my bushes. It was pitiful. But I have a feeling this year will be better!

Also, for the past two years we've had a strawberry patch in our garden and have been patiently waiting for it to give us some fruit. I'd heard that they can take up to 3 years to give a harvest so we sat back and watched and waited.

It finally paid off this year! We've already picked tons of sweet delicious strawberries. It's such a great feeling to be able to grow your own healthy food and to not have to buy it at the store. I also love that my kids are learning a little bit about healthy eating and gardening.

Here's the harvest from a few days ago, which Jen helped me pick (and eat)....

Runaway

2010-05-06T20:09:00.006-04:00

The other day Ron and I were in our room folding laundry while the girls were playing in Jennifer's bedroom. Their voices started to get louder and the whiny monster came out, sure signs that they were starting to fight.

Eventually I intervened and yelled from my room, "STOP FIGHTING or I'm going to have to separate you two!"

All was quiet.

NICE. It worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fast forward about 10 minutes and Ron found this note lying on the floor outside of our door:

I couldn't help but laugh as soon as I read it, and then I got curious and wondered where she "ran away" to.

I imagined her holed up in the playhouse in the backyard, or the shed, or even in the basement......

But alas, Ron found her playing with Jen again (and not fighting) in her room.

Clearly she doesn't get the runaway concept yet.

I'm just happy that she said she would miss me. I assume that sentence will be missing from future runaway reports.

:)

We have some visitors.....

2010-05-05T17:58:00.004-04:00

I love Spring.

The flowers are blooming, the garden is growing, the grass gets green again, and we start getting visitors.

The first visitor we got a few weeks ago was a huge groundhog who made himself at home under our shed. Which is right next to my garden. Which I JUST KNOW he was eye-balling. So he had to go.

Ron borrowed a trap from one of his friends and after a few days and a few carrots and lettuce leaves he was caught. Ron relocated him to the woods by his work where he will hopefully live a long and happy life far far away from my garden!

Then a few weeks ago the girls noticed something in the tree out back. Do you see it?

Let me get a little closer. Do you see it now?

It's a robin's nest and there were 3 little blue eggs inside. See?

And today, here's what I found inside...

Then, last weekend when I was planting my garden I noticed a little bird kept flying out of my strawberry patch. He was so tiny and he would go back in and fly back out when I got too close. So I went in for a closer look. Here's what I found today:

Can you believe it? They're killing me with their cuteness. All fuzzy and tiny and opening their mouths for some food. The girls are so excited about our little visitors and I am too, as long as they clean up after themselves and help out with the dishes every once and awhile.

:)

Somebody pinch me.....

2010-04-21T10:12:00.002-04:00

I really can't believe it.

It's real but it doesn't FEEL real.

I took my very last final yesterday and passed, which means school is now officially over!!!!!!

*whew*

Big sigh of relief.

What a long and cough*torturous*cough road it has been. 7 years. And now it's over. I can officially say that I have a Business Management degree, and as of today no one can say "liar liar pants on fire!"

I've had to put a ton of things on hold in my life in order to make room for school and I really REALLY look forward to getting back to doing the things that I enjoy. Spending time with my extremely great kids and husband, spending more time with friends, gardening, reading, crafting, sewing, scrapbooking, photography, and most of all....RELAXING! Or maybe just sitting and staring at a wall and loving the fact that I have nothing to do but stare at a wall.

*happy*

In degree related news I found out that my Commencement will be the week that the fam and I will be visiting Disney World in June.

Oops. Bad planning I guess.

I was looking forward to walking and getting my diploma but to be honest, I'm looking forward to Disney even more. I'm happy to just be done and I'll be grateful to get my diploma in the mail instead of focusing on the fact that I won't be around to walk during graduation.

Maybe I'll even do a mock graduation for myself in Disney to celebrate!!!

OK, enough rambling from me. I gotta go. Somewhere there's a wall that I need to be staring at.

:)

Update: Biter and Water

2010-03-29T20:18:00.002-04:00

Just FYI for anyone following the adventures of Jennifer's imaginary friends: Biter and Water.

We've received very few details of what her friends are like and where they came from. So far we know that they are both boys, that Biter is the bad one cause he bites all the time and that Water is made of....you guessed it....water.

We also know that they are really tiny and that she is the only one who can see them.

Oh, and they have also been known to distract her from eating her dinner....along with any noises, shiny objects, and remembering that she has to breathe. That kid really knows how to stretch out eating a hot dog for over an hour!!!

So tonight, just a few moments ago, I was putting Jen to bed. We did our usual routine of rocking for a few minutes on the egde of the bed (which by the way is getting harder and harder the bigger she gets. I'm only 5 feet tall and she's already more than half my size!) Note to self: Jen needs to start rocking ME soon.

Anyways, I laid her down on her pillow and she tells me to wait a second because she has something that she has to say to Biter.

So I sit there and wait while she whispers something to him.

She then informs me that she's done.

I say to her, "Did you tell Biter everything?"

And she says, "Yes."

Then she wispers in the tiniest little voice, "The monster world is made of candy. A magical tornado takes them to their world and they sleep in their beds under covers of candy. It's called Special Magical Monster Land."

Just thought I would pass these new developments along.....

:)

Jellystone - 2009

2010-03-05T13:19:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I was going through the old blog archives and realized that I never did a post about our last camping trip of 2009, which was to Jellystone Park in August. Then a few days ago a good friend and I were talking about Jellystone (Hi Lisa V!!!!) and once again I remembered that I'm a big time slacker and that I needed to get a post together QUICK.

Like ninja.

Soooo........lets all just pretend it's not March of 2010 and that I didn't wait 7 months to get this post up. OK?

Moving on.

Jellystone has got to be one of best (and maybe most fun) camping spots for young children, and my children both LOVE it there! There's so much to do to keep busy (if that's what you're into) and if not, well, there's always the water park to just lounge around in! This trip was filled with bouncing on the in-ground pillow, riding on the pedal cars, swimming, ice cream socials, crafts, arcades, mining for rocks, and a whole bunch of other things I'm sure I'm forgetting (sine I'm doing this post 7months late). Stephanie even won a medal for being first place in a hoola-hooping contest!!

Here's the photographic proof that we were there!

The suckiest February on record......

2010-03-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

It's March 2010 and before I forget I want to capture for future generations just how sucky this past February was.

We live in Pennsylvania so we're used to snow, cold, and winter.... but despite all that February 2010 will forever be known as the month/year that Mother Nature put the smack down. This winter she let loose on the East Coast in a BIG way.

In the shortest month of the year Philadelphia got over 51 inches of snow. Over 4 feet.

For all you sissy la la West Coaster's - - that's a-lotta snow.

We had 3 huge storms slam us pretty much back-to-back-to-back. And speaking of backs.....ours are still trying to recover from the plowing and shoveling that had to occur. Not that I did much of it myself....I'm pretty much speaking for my poor husband on that subject.

I didn't take too many pictures because I was holed up inside the house pretty much the entire time praying that we wouldn't loose power (thankfully we didn't, but many did). I was also so sick of the white stuff towards the end that I didn't take even one picture of the snow from the third storm (however I'm sure you can pretty much use your imagination and picture yet ANOTHER 6 inches on top if what I did get a picture of).

These pictures were taken a few days after the first storm. The snow had already packed down quite a bit at this point.

These next pictures were taken after the second storm added a few feet on top of the couple of feet that were already on the ground.

Lovely.

There was so much snow that the kids dug out numerous tunnels in the front yard to play in, and in one shot you can see that Stephanie (8 years old) is standing on top of a rather large mound that puts her almost to the top of our first story.

Thankfully spring should be on it's way very soon and hopefully we won't have a winter like that for a very VERY long time.

Jennifer at 5

2010-02-25T09:00:00.005-05:00

The reality is starting to sink in.

My baby is growing up.

I can't stop it either: tomorrow evening I have an appointment to register her for Kindergarten!!!!

~sigh~

Here are just some of the things that I want to remember about you, my little one, at 5 years old:

- How you make up songs all day long about everything, but mostly about how you love me and how sweet I am and how I'm the best mommy in the world.

- How looooong it takes you to eat dinner every night.

- How you still want me to rock you for 5 minutes on the edge of your bed every night before bedtime.

- How you are still obsessed with your Pooh Bear silky cuddles (blankets) and have to have them all in bed with you every night.

- How you say your sorry's so good and are very sincere when doing it.

- How you can't talk with an "inside voice"......everything is at a near yell.

- How you and your big sister have made a deal: if she tickles you then you get to pull her hair.

- How you looooove clementines and would eat 5 a day if I would let you.

- How you know the rule: if you ask for special treats then you don't get one, and you have found a loophole around it. Instead of ASKING for a special you will just point at one or start talking about how much you love specials and hope that I will realize that you want one and give you one.

- How cute you are when you say "super" with everything. For example, you are always "super-super tired" or "super-super hungry" or "super-super sorry".

- Your lisp and how your little tongue pops out of your mouth everytime you make an "s" sound.

- How sometimes you only have a few minutes of concentration then need to move onto something else.

- How you are obsessed with making orange juice and fruit salad and ask me almost every day if we can make some at home.

- How you are not a quitter. You will keep trying to do something until you do it and rarely ask for help or get frustrated.

- How you will get out of bed early on the weekends and climb into your sister's bed and cuddle with her before starting your day.

- How you put your pants on backwards the other day and didn't notice for a few hours.

- How much you love when I put a braid in your hair at the top instead of a hair tie.

- How great you have always brushed your teeth. And how you manage to get the toothpaste everywhere in the process.

- How brave you are when getting shots except for the last time when you had to get three at one visit. Three was just too much.

- How much you love to wear cotton dresses in the summer.

- How you picked out a pair of silver flats for Church and you and Daddy call them your Cha-Cha shoes.

- How mad you get when I won't kiss you after you let the dog lick you on the lips.

- How brave you are at trying new things. You would go on the scariest rollercoaster if you weren't too small.

- How you torment the dog (Daisy) and how she lets you.

- How much you LOVE cuddles.

- How you came home from school the other day and said in the most proud voice ever: Mommy, today at lunch I ate a whole half of one of my broccoli's!!!

- How you and your sister bicker and argue one second then love each other the next.

- How you have to give multiple kisses and hugs to me and daddy every time we are leaving the house, and then when you're done you always say: Now I want LAST kiss and hug.

- How you will hold a conversation with a complete stranger and have shown very little evidence of shyness.

- How you randomly come up to me numerous times a day and just say "your sweet", then walk away.

- How hard it is for you to listen. We have to tell you at least 4 times to do something because you get distracted in the middle and end up doing something else.

- How you still can't unbuckle your carseat buckles.

- How you would prefer to stay in your jammies all day.

- How you memorized the Our Father prayer by listening to Stephanie practice it a few times in the car for CCD class.

- How much you love Spongebob.

- How much you hate mashed potatoes.

- How adorable your giggle is.

- How you tell me all the time: I can't STAND how much I love you!!!!

- How much of an awesome sharer you are. I've never seen a 5 year old so willing to give half of her candy or cookies or "specials" to anyone who asks.

An old e-mail.......

2010-02-25T08:51:00.002-05:00

I was going through some old e-mails the other day and found one between my brother and I from 2007. Jennifer was 2 1/2 at the time and Bubba and I were going back and forth on this e-mail recalling numerous small (yet hilarious) conversations that we had recently had with Jen. It brought back memories and made me laugh, so I wanted to copy it and share it here:

On 8/1/07, Andrea Chrupcala wrote:

Mommy: Jen...today is splash day at school!
Jen: I want to wear my swimming boot.
Mommy: It's swimming SUIT Jen.
Jen: Swimming soup?
Mommy: Your so cute and I will eat your face now.

>>> "Alex Baldini" 8/1/2007 9:12:29 AM wrote:

Bubba: What color is that?
Jen: Blue.
Bubba: No thats green.
Jen: Gween
Bubba: What color is that?
Jen: Blue
Bubba: No thats red.
Jen: Rwed
Bubba: What color is that?
Jen: Blue
Bubba: Good job Jen, you're cute, let me eat your belly.

On 8/1/07, Andrea Chrupcala wrote:

Jen said to Bubba: Bubba....Daisy is outside farking. NO FARKING DAISY!!!!

>>> "Alex Baldini" 7/31/2007 4:22 PM wrote:

Jen said to Bubba: I sorry Bubba, I twied, I twied.

On 7/31/07, Andrea Chrupcala wrote:

Jen said to Bubba: Bubba.......give me the sauce.

The end of an era...

2010-02-22T15:08:00.002-05:00

It's finally here.

After nearly 7 years of working hard and hoping that the day would eventually come I am finally able to say that I only have ONE CLASS LEFT until I get my degree.

I can't believe I just typed that.

The class starts in 2 weeks and I will be finished on April 24th.

Then I'm done.

I can't believe I just typed that either.

All this goodness is happening in the middle of the extreme stress and uncertainty that's currently going on at work, what with the buyout of my company (Wyeth) by a much larger company (Pfizer) and all the massive layoffs and the not knowing for over a full year if I have a job or not.

Good times, good times!

I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and focusing on the obvious plus of the situation which clearly is the fact that I will never have to buy another textbook for myself, I will never have to spend my evenings and weekends doing research or writing ridiculous papers, and I will never again have to say to my kids' "Sorry. Not tonight....Mommy has homework to do."

It feels great to be so close to such a large accomplishment in my life. I'm proud of myself and I am so grateful for my family for all the help they offered and for putting up with the "time suck" for so long.

Its almost over.

We made it.

Thank the Lord!!!!!!

Tis' the season.....

2009-12-27T11:08:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house and here's hoping that you did too.

This face pretty much sums up all of it for me:

Note: Just after I took this shot I asked Jen what the gift was that she unwrapped which made her so excited and she said, "I don't know what it is."

Ahhhhhh.....to be 4 years old and easily excitable again.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Pumpkin carving - 2009

2009-12-11T21:26:00.008-05:00

Yep. I'm a little late on this one. So without further ado.....

This year the girls enjoyed carving the pumpkins that we had picked at the patch and Steph did most of the poking and carving on her own pumpkin. Jen was what I would call "less than impressed" by the entire process and didn't like scooping out the goo one bit. She did it for about 6 minutes then looked at me and said, "I'm done."

And that was that.

Here are a few pics of the fun.....

Oh she looks happy here alright, but don't let the cuteness fool you. This was the first scoop of the goo and a split second before she realized that it was nasty.

See....here she is showing me her perfectly clean hand alongside her gooey other hand. This was a split second before she walked out on us to watch a movie instead. Good times folks, good times.

As you can see the goo didn't bother Steph one bit.

Daisy got in on the action. I think she liked the goo. Or maybe it was the face. Yep....I think it was definitely the face.

After some carving and a tiny bit of gagging from goo disgust, they painted a few of the smaller pumpkins. This was an activity that Jen could sink her teeth into so she decided to grace us with her presence again.

12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

Hello to everyone who is stopping by for Scrapbook News and Review Magazine's 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop!

I'd like to welcome you to my silly little blog. Take a look around but don't be distracted by the cuteness that lurks on these pages. My suggestion is to try not to look directly into the eyes of the little one we call Jen....

*smile*

Today I have two seperate holiday projects that I would like to share with you. The first are some cute christmas tree ornaments that I handmade for our tree this year using a bunch of ribbon scraps and some canvas (and I just know that all you scrappers and cardmakers out there don't have ANY ribbon in your stash....right???)

hee hee.

So what I did was:

- I cut two pieces of canvas in a triangle using my pinking shears
- Sewed different lengths of ribbon right onto the front of one piece
- Added about 10 inches of ribbon to the top to use as the hanger
- Sewed the two pieces together leaving a small gap to add stuffing
- Once stuffed to my liking I sewed the gap closed, and there you have it!

These are so quick and easy and they can be added right to the tree, can be used as an adorable door hanger, or can also be used to top a special gift.

The second project was done using my handy dandy and always trusty Cricut! I used the Tags, Bags, and Boxes cartridge to cut out the 2" circle tags from kraft paper, then I used the Doodletype cartridge to cut out the snowflakes on white cardstock. I found many different snowflake shapes on a bunch of different cartridges so you can look through and pick out your favorite. After everything was cut all I needed to do was glue the snowflake to the front of the tag, stamp the back To: and From:, and add a red string for the tie. These gift tags are a fun way to add handmade to the holidays and will be on all the gifts I give this year!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out my Etsy shop funsize creations for other fun handmade goods for the holidays, and for even more eye candy stop by my sewing blog and take a look around.

Happy holidays everyone!!

Please Touch Museum

2009-11-30T16:30:00.005-05:00

This past Summer I decided to cut my full time hours to part time (4 days a week) for the months of June, July, and August in order to spend more time with my family doing the things in life that matter. Because of that I was lucky enough to be able to go with Stephanie on a couple of the field trips that she attended with her Summer Camp. One of the places we went was the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. We had been there before when Steph was about 3 years old but that was before they moved to a nice new (and MUCH BIGGER) location, so this was a first for both of us. We had a great time playing together and can't wait to go back with Jennifer.

Just a few shots of our day....

You guessed it.....

2009-11-30T16:16:00.004-05:00

Even more layouts.

:)

More layouts.....

2009-11-30T16:03:00.006-05:00

Say what???

2009-11-25T15:47:00.002-05:00

Jennifer came up to me yesterday and told me this:

"Johnny place cup 8 picked apples and made applesauce. Can we make our own applesauce too?"

I said..."Who?"

She said "Johnny place cup 8."

I was stumped. I had no idea what she was saying. I asked her to say it again.

She said it reallllllllly slow this time.

"Johnny. Place. Cup. 8. Mommy".

That's when I figured it out.

She was saying Jon and Kate plus 8.

Oh the money I would give to be inside of Jen's little world for just for 15 or 20 minutes......

Fruit salad

2009-11-16T20:07:00.004-05:00

Jen's been a bit obsessed with fruit salad lately.

She doesn't watch the Wiggles so I have no idea where it came from.

She's asked me dozens of times over the last few weeks if we can make fruit salad (usually when we have no fruit in the house).

I was just putting her to bed and doing our nightly ritual of rocking her for a few minutes when she whispers in my ear:

"Mommy. We have apples and bananas in the kitchen. Can we make fruit salad for dinner tomorrow night with only fruit....not with salad or anything GROSS like that?"

:)

She makes me smile.

Layouts

2009-11-12T21:36:00.004-05:00

I realize that I haven't posted any new layouts since.....*GASP*.....January!!!!

Dang I'm slippin'.

Prepare yourself. I'm gonna have to do a few catch up posts with nearly a full year of layouts. At least my subject matter's are cute. Of course, all of these layouts appeared in different issues of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine throughout the year, but you already knew that, didn't you?

:)

Enjoy.

Crystal Cave

2009-11-12T20:35:00.008-05:00

In August we took a day trip to Crystal Cave in Kutztown, PA where you can take a walking tour of the beautiful caves and see all the stalagmites and stalactites that have been forming there for millions of years. It was an extremely hot summer day but since the cave stays a cool 54 degrees all year round lightweight jackets were worn while we were on the 45 minute tour. Afterwards we enjoyed some hand-dipped ice cream (yum), played a round of mini golf, and went on a little hike around the grounds before we headed home.

Of course...what's a post without the pics???

Amazed at how tall the trees were.....

Robin Hill

2009-11-09T21:50:00.010-05:00

I'm still sooooo behind on posting summer pics. I have a bunch from July and August that I want to get posted soon, so I guess I better get crackin!

Here goes....

We went on another camping trip in July of this year to a campsite in PA named Robin Hill. This one was extra special because Grannie (aka my mom) flew out from Las Vegas and went with us.

Sounds like such a simple statement, doesn't it?

"Grannie went camping with us."

Well....before I go any further I wish to mention a few key facts that members outside of my immediate family may not know. Key facts that are imperative to understanding why this is a seriously BIG deal and why I expect that "Grannie going camping with us" was a once-in-a-lifetime occurance never to be seen again:

1.) When I was a kid camping was what we DID. We camped and rode motorcycles and then camped some more. And JUST when we thought we would go on some exotic vacation in the tropics or something....we wouldn't. We would just go camping.

2.) She SAYS she went once or twice with us but I swear it never happened. If it did she barricaded herself in a vehicle or a tent somewhere with curlers in her hair wishing SOMEONE would hurry up and invent a cordless curling iron already!!!!! I don't remember it. And if I don't remember it, well....it never happened.

3.) Grannie doesn't DO camping.

4.) Grannie had her very first smore EVER on this camping trip with us, which I say is FURTHER evidence that she never went camping before. I mean seriously....why would you even go to all the trouble of camping if you weren't at least gonna eat a smore????

OK...so now that we've established that we forced Grannie to suffer through a terrible 3 days of camping remember that we have a nice cushy camper with all the comforts of home and that she had a really good time. Or at least she said she did. She even did all sorts of camping related things like fishing, riding bikes, and sitting by the fire.

Here are a whole bunch of pics to enjoy!!!

The girls did some rolling in the grass (and so did Ron and Grannie....I passed.)

Steph and Jen both caught their very first fish on this trip!!!

We told Jen that she could start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. She tried and tried. No luck.

Thanks for looking!

Holy Cuteness Batman!

2009-10-31T22:18:00.005-04:00

Oh my gosh.

I couldn't STAND it.

Jen in a butterfly costume nearly sent me over the edge.

Nothing but her little chubby face and cheeks poking out.....it was a recipe for disaster.

I couldn't stop myself.

I wanted to EAT HER FACE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here.....take a look and tell me you wouldn't have done the same darn thing.

Then there was Steph in her last minute costume change.

For weeks all she wanted to be a karate girl and wear her karate uniform (they have both been going to karate classes for about 6 weeks now). Just 2 nights ago she informed me that being in her karate uniform "wasn't cool" and that she wanted to be something scary.

A mummy was her scary costume of choice but I had to make the executive decision that there wasn't enough time for that.

Her second choice was a vampire.

A cape, some fake teeth, and a bit of fake blood were all that was needed to make her happy.

Oh....and just for future posterity sake: it RAINED on us this Halloween. I'm pretty sure it was the first time that's happened in the almost 11 years I've been living in PA. Ron and the girls came back after just an hour of trick-or-treating.

Soaked.

And Steph was balling and telling me this was "the worst Halloween EVER".

Oh well. At least her costume was cool.

We can't forget about Jen!

2009-10-18T21:58:00.005-04:00

After seeing her big sister zipping around on her new bike without training wheels (see previous post for WAY more pictures than necessary on that subject) Jen decided that she needed to try this whole bike "thing" out for herself. We went out and got her a new big girl bike and let her have at it. All I have to say on this subject is:

1. No bloody incidents. Thank GOD for that.

and

2. Dang if this kid isn't the cutest thing E-V-E-R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

Still behind on Summer pics.....

2009-10-18T21:16:00.005-04:00

Let's do some more catching up!

Without a doubt one of the biggest accomplishments of summer 2009 was when Stephanie finally decided that she wanted to take the training wheels off of her bike. We had been asking her since last year if she wanted to try, but she was content with the security of always having the wheels there - JUST IN CASE. We didn't want to push her and we figured that at some point she would want to give it a try. I think I know the EXACT moment it happened too.

We were camping with friends of ours in May and their daughter Macy (who is slightly younger than Stephanie) and their son Jack (who is YEARS younger than Stephanie) were zipping around the campground like crazy on their bikes. Sans training wheels. Poor Steph had a hard time keeping up, they were literally lapping her around the loop. On the way home she commented that she wanted a bigger bike and that she was ready to do away with the training wheels, so that very day we went out and got her one.

We quickly realized that for learning purposes the smaller bike was better, so that's what she learned on. Here are a few pics from the first real day of trying.

That's Steph's Uncle Chris helping her out (one of Ron's brothers). Daddy was a bit too....shall we say...impatient (and would just let go expecting her to ride off into the sunset, then be stunned when she would crash into the bushes or a trash can), and mommy needed to take pictures (DUH!) so Uncle Chris kindly offered his services.

This next shot is a terrible blurry picture, but I love it. It shows her excitement after the first time she was able to pedal herself straight for a few seconds with control over where she was going. She was thrilled and so proud of herself.

Let me just stop right there with the cuteness and be real. This was not AT ALL fun. She was very frustrated that she couldn't just hop on the bike and ride like her friend Macy. We had to do lots of practicing for 10 minutes, then break time for an hour to cool off. Then practicing for 10 more minutes, then tears because she would scrape her leg or her hand, then break time for another 30 minutes. The good news was that she was always excited to get right back on the bike. Thank goodness. As for me, I was a nervous wreck. Each time she would panic and be headed for doom I would tense up like crazy and forget to breathe. I'm sure I was traumatized. Poor Jen....she may never get to try this. I don't think I can take it a second time around......

Let me also say that we did not come away without a few really nasty bloody "incidents". Her legs were so badly scraped up from her knees down to her feet because she refused, or kept forgetting, to use her breaks. She would put her feet down to stop and the pedals would scrape into her. Poor thing looked diseased for a week. At one point she literally bounced off the pavement, and at another point she ran into the corner of the camper WITH HER FACE. Yep. Bounced off of it like rubber and had a nasty gash on her bottom lip that was "this close" to requiring a doctor's visit.

These last few shots are from the next day (before the face-meets-the-camper episode).

After a day or two of more "incidents" she finally got her confidence and was off and running. Now, she's a pro and rides her big bike. We're so proud of her, GO STEPH GO!!!!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

2009-10-11T11:31:00.004-04:00

My sweet little "babyhead" (her nickname since she was tiny) is turning 8 years old today.

8 YEARS OLD!!!! Where did the time go!?

She is growing up into such a beautiful person, so sweet and loving and really the best big sister a little girl could ever have. We are all so lucky to have her in our lives and I feel blessed every day that I get to call her my daughter. These past 8 years have been nothing but wonderful and I'm excited to see what the next 8 years will bring.

We love you Steph, happy birthday!

A big announcement

2009-10-02T20:31:00.001-04:00

I just posted a big announcement on my sewing blog funsize creations.

Click on the link to go check it out.....

:)

A flashback.....

2009-09-30T19:18:00.002-04:00

Steph and Jen have those toothbrushes that sing a song. The point of it is that they are supposed to brush the entire time the song is playing (I believe it's either 2 or 3 minutes) to ensure a nice long brush time.

This morning Steph came in to me and said that she was upset because Jennifer was playing the song on Steph's toothbrush while she brushed her teeth instead of the song on her own toothbrush.

It gave me a flashback.

A few months ago Jen was supposed to be brushing her teeth and she was being WAY TOO quiet. I snuck over towards the bathroom and peeked inside and saw her cleaning the counter and nozzle with Stephanie's toothbrush. As soon as I said "What are you doing?" she jumped out of her skin, threw the brush down, and said "nothing". I can only imagine how many times she had done that before and what else she decided needed a good scrubbing courtesy of Steph's brush. *shudder*

Clearly I didn't tell Steph what I saw (in order to save my ears from the inevitable whining), I just replaced her toothbrush.

Flash forward to this morning when she was complaining about Jen listening to the song on her toothbrush. I couldn't help it. I blurted out, "Well....at least she's
not cleaning the counter with it."

To which Steph replied, "Yeah. That would be GROSS."

Yep Steph, I concur.

:)

Ocean City, NJ - post #2

2009-09-22T17:59:00.001-04:00

On the second day of our Ocean City trip we woke up in the hotel room with every intention of having another wonderful beach day, but Mother Nature had different plans. It was raining buckets. And it did so nearly all.day.long. Instead of heading home and letting the weather ruin our trip we decided to spend the day at Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey.

It was our first time there and we had a great time. The girls really enjoyed touching the sharks, the sea anemones, and the starfish. My favorite part of the entire day came during the 3D Spongebob Squarepants show. You don't know this before the show starts but they have sprayers in the backs of all the seats which spray a mist of water from them. There's a part in the show where a sailor takes a BIG drink and spits it out towards the camera. At that exact moment a mist of water hits you right in the face. Steph, who was sitting next to me, yells out "He just SPIT on me!" She's wiping the water off with this disgusted look on her face and I am trying my hardest not to laugh at her. It took 3 or 4 sprays from that thing for her to realize that we were all getting wet and that it was coming from the back of the seat and not from the movie!

A few shots from the day.....

Thanks for looking!!!

Ocean City, NJ - post #1

2009-09-20T16:16:00.006-04:00

I still have so.many.posts to do in order to catch up on all the fun things we did this past summer. That's what I get for being a slacker-blogger. I vow to catch up. It may mean beach pictures in December.....but at least I'll be caught up!

Speaking of beach pictures....our trip to Ocean City, New Jersey this year was one of our favorites. On our first day there we hit the beach and had fantastic sunny/warm weather. We played in the water, played in the sand, had a great time checking out the food and shops on the boardwalk, and rounded out the evening with a few hours of carnival rides for the kids. It really was a great day.

Here are the pics from the beach, I'll post the aquarium pics in post #2.

First day of second grade!

2009-09-13T09:33:00.007-04:00

Last week (or maybe it was 2 weeks ago....I can't remember anymore) Stephanie started second grade. I almost can't believe it, kind of like it's one big joke. Everyone always SAYS that time flies and that once your kids get into school it goes warp speed....but I never thought it would go THIS fast.

It seems like just a few weeks ago when I took her to kindergarten orientation and she was so nervous that she hid behind the door and didn't even want to go into the room. Then I swear it was only a few days ago when she switched schools for first grade (because they built a fancy-schmacy new one and re-zoned everything) and she was nervous because she didn't know who her teacher was or what friends she would have in her class.

Fast forward to the first day of second grade and she knew who her teacher was (a Mr. this year instead of a Mrs.), she knew who some of her friends were, and her only worry was getting lost in the halls and not being able to find her classroom. She picked her own outfit, picked how she wanted her hair cut a week before, and knew the entire bus routine like it was nobody's business.

WHO IS THIS GROWN UP KID AND WHAT HAS SHE DONE WITH MY LITTLE BABYHEAD!!!?????

*sigh*

So instead of freaking out and trying to invent something to permanently stunt her growth I did what any self respecting mom-who-loves-photography-and-scrapbooking would do. I took over 500 pictures of my (gulp) big kid walking to the bus stop.

Here are just a few.

I'm gonna go cry now.

Hello!!??????

2009-09-08T19:44:00.002-04:00

Anyone out there?

Comments in blogland have been super hard to come by lately.

Maybe everyone is busy with summer activities, or maybe everyone is busy with back to school stuff.....

or *shudder*....

maybe no one reads my blog anymore.

:(

I think it's just you and me, mom.

July 4th, 2009

2009-09-05T09:29:00.006-04:00

Yep....just slightly behind on posting these pictures. Don't judge. It's not like it's September or anything!

Actually, I thought I posted these and when I looked back I realized I didn't. So, here they are in all their glory.

We went to Ron's parent's house for a BBQ on the 4th and it was a fun day of eating, swimming and looking at Jen's cutie face. Steph finally got the nerve up to jump off the diving board after watching Jen do it over, and over, and over......

After the party we went to Memorial Park in Pottstown to catch some fireworks. We parked on the side of the road and got some blankets out and laid in the bed of the pick-up truck to see the show. It was really cool!

Some shots of my dare devil Jenny jumping right at her Uncle Chris with no fear. She's crazy and I love it!

Check out that form!!!

Then it was Steph's turn. First she went off the side of the pool, then she finally got brave and went off the diving board. YAY Stephanie!!

Jen "helping" daddy play a game of horseshoes.

That's all for now. We're surprising the kids and taking them to Hershey Park today.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Oak Creek - 2009

2009-08-25T21:02:00.001-04:00

This year in late June, Uncle Bubba and Tina visited us all the way from Seattle and we were lucky enough to get to go camping with them. We went to a local campground called Oak Creek for three days which was nice but Oops...didn't have sewer hook-up.

Bummer.

It also had some pretty big hills which were tough for the kids with bikes, but luckily the spot we had was in the lower section which had a nice, flat, paved surface. Steph had just learned to ride without training wheels so this trip was great practice for her and she spent a majority of her time riding around the loops with other kids. Jen just sat around being cute. That's what she does best. Of course Bubba got to eat some serious face while he was here and Tina got lots of lovin' time too. We really enjoyed camping with them and only wished they lived closer so we could do it more often.

Here's the pics (and lots of em')!

Bubba and Jenny on the tandem bike (her first time and she doesn't QUITE fit...maybe next year!)

Bubba did his traditional scavenger hunt. He had the clues hidden all over the campground....some the girls even needed to go on a bike ride to find. The first clue was 2 socks on a rock.....

Can you see them?? The socks on the rock? We have no idea who's they were...they were just sitting on that rock!

At the end the girls got the prize....a dollar each.

A friendly ladder ball competition...

Walking Daisy dog...

Tina and Jenny riding scooter....

Bubba getting smoochies....

Bubba eating FACE!

Steph riding so good without training wheels!

Cutest puppy...

On a hike...

Playing Spongebob Legos...

We miss you Bubba!!!!!!!!!!!!

Otter Lake - 2009

2009-08-23T10:48:00.006-04:00

One of our favorite places to camp is Otter Lake in the Poconos. It's a beautiful resort campground with so much for the kids to do.....indoor pool, tennis, hiking, bike riding, fishing in the lake, paddle boats, playgrounds, ect. We camped there for 5 days last year and went back for another 5 days this year....I'm pretty sure we will go back again and again (and again). It's so beautiful and peaceful.

Here are some pics from this year's trip. Enjoy!

what's summer without a great big waterslide????

2009-08-15T11:46:00.000-04:00

The girls got this monster of a water slide for Christmas and have been on it a few times this summer (despite all the rain and strange weather we've had so far). They really enjoy it and have a ton of fun but it's a BEAST to get up and take down....so it's not an every weekend sort of thing.

Ron made a "rule" that he will only put it up if the girls will use it the entire weekend. No putting it up for just a few hours of fun. And since we have only had a few weekends of good weather coupled with us being home to enjoy it...it hasn't gotten nearly as much use as they would like. But when it's up.....it's great. Ron even went down it (but I wasn't there to witness it and/or get a picture of it for the old blog!!! Darn.)

Oh...and I couldn't resist posting this. It's one of my favorite pictures of Jen ever. This is SOOC (straight out of camera) which means no post processing in Photoshop or anything. What a doll!

P.S. Don't forget to check out my sewing blog funsize creations (and add it to your favorites, RSS feed, Google Reader, etc.). I MAY be doing some fun giveaways in the near future. I'm just saying.

:)

My garden 2009

2009-08-03T16:22:00.005-04:00

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago when my garden was in an awesome state of growing and thriving. Since then the massive amounts of rain that we've gotten has wreaked havoc on my lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatos (killing one plant and growing the other so tall that it fell over - - metal tomato cage and all!)

We've harvested plenty of green beans this year (Steph loves to eat them straight off the vine with a little Ranch dressing), a few cucumbers, carrots, and onions....but so far that's it.

Oh, and we won't need to go to a pumpkin patch this year...we have at least 30 pumpkins on the vine, some of which are already huge. Anyone need some pumpkins????

Oh my.

2009-08-03T14:46:00.006-04:00

My. My. My.

I knew it had been awhile since I posted but I didn't know it had been nearly a month!

My bad.

I'm sure you are all having the same problem I'm having. It's called summer, and now that it's here all I want to do is get outside with the fam and have fun (and not be attached at the hip to my computer all day and all night long)!

Plus I've been sewing alot which is the real reason I've been a bad blogger.

With that being said I know I have quite a few family members who would like an update and I have lots of catching up to do. Summer has been in full swing here at the Chrupcala house.

I'll start with a kitchen update:

The last I reported we were getting new countertops. Well I'm happy to say that they are now in and they are wonderful. I'm so glad that we decided to do them, they turned out better than expected. We also got a few new appliances (changing from white to black) and Ron and I put up a backsplash. It took us weeks....but it's finally done!

The kitchen looks completely different than before! We still have alot left to do (finishing touches on the paint from tearing out the old backsplash, new tile floors, a new light fixture, and a new black fridge....but the kitchen budget is blown so those will all have to wait until next year.)

Here are some before, during, and afters of the process.

:)

This is the kitchen before (with the oh-so-lovely blue countertops and all!) The only new item in this pic is the black dishwasher, which we had replaced about a week earlier.

This pic is during demo when the countertops were off and the old backsplash had been removed.

New countertops! Pre backsplash....

This is during the installation of the backsplash.

These two are of the finished backsplash but before we did the grout (you can still see the spacers in between the tile). This shows the new stove, microwave and toaster. However, I just realized that I don't have a pic of the finished backsplash after the grout so I will have to take one and put it up soon.

So there you have it, the transformation so far but with a whole lotta work to go.

There's always next year.

:)

Oh....and don't forget to hop on over to funsize creations (my sewing blog) and check out my awesome sewing skills (and leave me a little love in the comments section).

My new blog!

2009-06-04T20:38:00.001-04:00

For any of you interested I have started a new blog called FunSize Creations to document all the sewing I have been doing lately. Stop by and say HI!!!!

:)

Sewing on the brain.....

2009-05-24T16:06:00.004-04:00

All I have been wanting to do lately is sew.

Eat, sleep and sew. In that order. These are the times when having a full time job really stinks.

Being a sewing newbie it takes awhile to get up and running with all of the necessary knowledge and tools.....and fabric stash. After about 8 tries I got the whole "putting in a zipper" thing down pat. All I have to say is thank god for the Internet and online sewing tutorials. Without them the zipper hurdle would have done me in and I would have had to avoid them like the plague for ever and ever.

A few ladies at work had me do custom bag orders which are so fun (one for her daughter for taking her stuff to dance class, one for her mom for Mother's day with a matching zippered pouch, and I am working on one for her daughter's bridal shower.)

I'm also planning on doing a few really cute teacher gifts for the end of the school year at some point this week, and I bought the CUTEST apple print fabric to do the job! How nice will that be to give them a handmade gift instead of some cheesy store bought item!

Anyways, here are a few of the things that I have sewn recently (and I plan on doing a whole bunch more)! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.....

Reversible headbands for Steph and Jen:

A bag and matching zippered pouch as part of my niece Karyssa'a communion gift:

Matching skirts for the girls:

And then I took this t-shirt and pile of fabric:

And I made THIS dress for Jennifer!!!!

The last one was a COMPLETE learning process and one that I will try again soon. It turned out OK, but there are a few things that I need to do differently next time.

Off to sew.......

:)

I have LOTS to post about....

2009-05-22T14:28:00.003-04:00

I promise.

I just need to find the time to do it.

This time of year always gets busy, but that is no excuse for my lazy blogging.

My mom (otherwise known as Granny)and Uncle Bubba (otherwise known as my brother) read this blog and I'm sure they would appreciate some pics of two cute little girls.

I'll get on it soon.

I promise.

Just as soon as I can stop sewing every waking minute I am home!!!

(Why didn't someone warn me just how addicting this would become!!!??????)

Easter 2009

2009-05-07T21:44:00.000-04:00

Not much to say about Easter.

We did all the normal things:

* dyed eggs
* hunted for eggs
* the Easter bunny brought baskets of yummy and some new Spring clothes
* ate lots of chocolate

Here is pictorial proof of all of the above:

Backyard projects

2009-05-05T18:25:00.000-04:00

For anyone who owns a home you know what I mean when I say that the work is never done. There is always something to do. Always.

Ron and I have already been working hard in the backyard this year on a few projects that have really needed to be done.

First and foremost, Ron built a beautiful new enclosed garden for me (complete with working gate to keep little munchkins out. Ahem. Steph and Jen.) Oh....and hopefully it will keep the bunnies out, too. I'll keep you posted. A few weeks ago I planted the lettuce, onions, and I transplanted the strawberries from my previous patch of dirt. This weekend (after the last fear of frost) I will have all the veggies planted. Fresh veggies = YUM.

Secondly, in order to build a bit more privacy into the backyard experience we have started to add privacy bushes along the perimeter. We started with a small area on the side yard where we added 5 more forsythia bushes to the 3 that we had planted a few years ago. These will spread out and provide a nice hedge in a few years, as well as a gorgeous yellow color in the spring.

Here is the before:

Here is the after:

Then comes the big project. We ordered 28 Thuja Green Giants (which were delivered a week ago and are now sitting on the back deck). We are planning to plant them 5 feet apart along the entire length of our back and side fence. These plants grow 3-5 feet a year and in a few years we will have almost complete privacy (which is a far cry from what we have now).

Gotta love yard work.

New countertops are like heaven on Earth

2009-05-02T17:29:00.003-04:00

Let me start this conversation by explaining to you that Ron and I built our house nearly 11 years ago. We were just babies at the time and had never owned a home in our lives, much less built one from the ground up. We were slightly overwhelmed to say the least, and had no prior knowledge of anything to pull from when faced with certain decisions like flooring, shutters and yes, even counter tops.

All that sounds like one big excuse and that is exactly what it was meant to be. An excuse for the horrible decision that we ultimately made.

See.......the problem is that 11 years ago we picked blue counter tops for the kitchen.

Yep, you heard me right. Blue.

Go ahead and let the little chuckle out that you are trying real hard to hold back. Just let it out. I do.

So if you think back 11 years ago you will remember that the "in" thing at the time was a very cheesy country look. My friend Jeanne recalls that time in history as being dotted with the blue colored ducks that everyone seemed to have on display. I tend to remember the horrid stenciling that everyone did all through the house (hearts and tons of leaves ring a bell????)

Well.....I was a bit of a victim of that cheesy country look. I allowed it to insert itself into my first home. I have been successful at removing most of the evidence of this tragedy over the years, but unfortunately it is quite difficult to hide the ugly kitchen floor that matches the terrible blue counters.

Since Ron and I have decided that moving is just not in our cards for at least the next 5-10 years, we decided to do a little upgrading in the house.

The decision to replace the counter tops was the day that I have been waiting for each and every second for the past 10.5 years. And that day is this Monday. I will go to work with blue counter tops and I will come home with gorgeous neutral colored granite.

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!