I guess it's safe to post!

Since I am nearing the completion of my Memory Makers Masters 2009 entry, I guess it's safe to post last years entry now!! Last year was my first year entering and I really enjoyed the process even though you do get that little feeling of rejection when you are not chosen! But, I was happy with my entry and had fun doing it!!

It's funny to look back on last year and then look at what I've put together for this year! While my style is basically the same, it is also very different! I am MUCH happier with this years layouts!!

So, here is last years entry, with the exception of the "I Wish" layout, I don't have that on my computer anymore. That was my least favorite layout too!






Thanks for looking, have a great weekend!!

Lots of pictures!

The kids are at VBS, the hubby is at work, time for me to catch up on my blog!!!

So, we went to Knoebel's (an awesome family amusement park) over Father's Day weekend. We went with a good friend of mine, Andrea (her blog link is to the right), and her family. We had a wonderful time!!! Lots of giggles, food, drink! It's always so much fun camping with friends!!

Knoebel's is camping that we've never done before! We've always gone out in the wooded campsites before. Knoebel's is wooded, but it is also tight! The place is always packed! They don't give you much room for maneuvering, but luckily Chris can maneuver the camper and truck like a pro!! See, he had to back in between those two trees there. Yes, it is as tight as it looks!


The kids had such a great time!! Aren't they the cutest things ever??



I want to send a big thanks out to Mr. Ron!!! He went on any ride that the kids wanted to go on that required an adult!!! I love amusement parks but my motion sickness is so bad that I can't do anything with circles, except the Whip!! Roller coasters I can do, but not all those circular rides that Jack wanted to go on!! That kid has no fear!! Chris is not big into rides at all. So, thank you, Mr. Ron, for making my kids' dreams come true!!!


Last week was chilly here, only in the low 70's, making it not so great for the pool. Yes, mommy was secretly cheering!!!

We made the most of it and had a lot of fun strawberry picking and going to the Lehigh Valley Zoo!! Such beautiful weather for both!!

We picked 4.97 pounds of strawberries. We made strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie and just ate the rest plain!! YUM!!


This was our first time to Lehigh Valley Zoo! I didn't even know it existed until my scrapping buddies brought it up!! It is a nice quaint zoo, not very big at all! We're used to going to the Philly Zoo, so this was a big difference!! We loved it though! The kids, of course, enjoyed themselves! Our favorite was the river otter! He was so cute!!! My favorite animal has always been the zebra, so it was nice to see one there!!


Thanks for reading!! Hope everyone is having a great week!

New layouts

Finally, I'll share some layouts!! I haven't blogged about scrap stuff in a long time!!

I did these in the last 2 months or so for Scrapbook News & Review.






Thanks for reading!!! :)

Some fun news!!

We just returned from a wonderful fun packed weekend camping at Knoebel's!! I hope to go through my many pictures later and hopefully post within the next few days!

Our exciting news that I talked about in my last post is that I got a job!! When Macy was born, I was working full time as a critical care nurse in one of our local hospitals. She came along at just the right time, I needed some change! So, I backed my status down to per diem (or casual as some call it) and then just totally resigned. I have been a full stay at home mom for almost 5 1/2 years and now I need some change from this!!

I've been thinking about going back per diem for a good 6-9 months, moreso over the last 3. I was just so worried that being out of the clinical setting for over 5 years would make me very unattractive to hospitals. I was convinced that I'd have to work my way up from the bottom and get a job [gulp] in a nursing home. Nursing home work is not for me! I was an open heart nurse, that is my passion, I just cannot see myself in a nursing home!! A week and a half ago, I was looking online at the job opportunities at the hospital I worked at before becoming a SAHM. There was a per diem position posted for the progressive care unit, which was the first unit I worked in when I started there back in 1997. I got a little spur of the moment going on and I sent my resume! I got an email back from the nurse manager almost immediately and was called for an interview the next day - an interview was scheduled for last Wednesday. Talk about things going fast - phew!!

I pulled up in front of the HR office and my legs immediately went to Jello! What was I doing??? I thought about leaving! I slowly walked in, praying that I wouldn't fall over because I couldn't feel my legs!!! I talked with the nurse recruiter and things sounded great. I then went over to the hospital and met with the nurse manager. By this time, I was starting to get feeling back in my legs and glad I didn't leave!!

Everything went wonderful!! I met up with her in the lobby, we went up to the floor and she started showing me around. I walked onto the patient care area of the floor, looked to the right and saw a good friend that I used to work with. She asked me if I was interviewing, started walking over and said "hire her" to the manager!! I then continued to look to my left and saw 2 other RN's that I worked with, they immediately came over and hugged me!! What a great feeling!!!! I think that suddenly became my professional reference, since I only had character ones from not being in the workplace for so long!

We went into the managers office and talked, she told me how things work, which is pretty much the same as when I left, which is great!! They are not all the way to computerized documentation yet, so one less thing I'll have to learn, plus, the paperwork is the exact same!! Woohoo!!

I left her office feeling extremely good! I knew I had made the right decision! The following day, I came home to a message of a job offer! I accepted, my start date is July 7th!

It's all working out perfectly!! Chris only works 3 days a week at his full time flight nurse job but has kept up part time (2 days a week) with his nurse educator job, so he would get his full retirement benefits. As of July 1st, he will be vested there, so that will be his last day!

I will pick up two 8 hour shifts a week, so we will still be a 5 day work week family, it will just be split between us. I am so excited for this, he is excited for this!! He gets more at home time with the kids, I get more adult interaction time! Both of our schedules are very flexible so that will make more family time and more fun time for all 4 of us! Not to mention my job will be paying more, which is a huge plus! Of course, with the way gas prices and just everything in general is going up, I'm sure that will even out soon!

Chris also just took the base manager job, so that's a little promotion for him! Everything just fell perfectly into place! We couldn't be happier!!

I promise to post some layouts for my next post! I haven't been scrapping lately, but I do have several that I did for Scrapbook News and Review, that I can now share!!

An exciting week!!

We had quite the week in our house!!

Macy became very confident on her 2 wheeler.
She turned 6.
She became a Brownie Girl Scout.
She became a first grader!!

All of that within a few days of each other!! She's getting so big!!


Her birthday was on Tuesday but we did the family celebration on Monday because Chris worked all day Tuesday. We made homemade pizza (her and Jack's favorite!) and had a Cold Stone cookie dough cake for dessert! YUM!!

One of her presents was a ProvoCraft felt purse that I decorated for her and then filled full with Claire's goodies!

Wednesday night, she had her Brownie fly up ceremony complete with ice cream social afterwards!



Friday was her last day of kindergarten!! She is officially a first grader!! Her report card was great. Her teacher said she does work beyond expectations! (No pictures of that!). They had a different theme day this week; circus, fairy tale, and Wednesday all 4 kindergarten classes cooked out their lunch and had a picnic outside!

Macy's friend birthday party was today. She had 6 of her best friends come over and we had a tea party!! They all came dressed in either Princess dresses or pretty dresses!! They were so cute!! Everything went well!! We started off by decorating straw hats! We served pb&j, cucumber and cream cheese and ham and cheese finger sandwiches, homemade fruit salad, pretzels and "princess punch". The punch was quite a hit! For dessert we had mini chocolate eclairs and cream puffs!

(she's getting slightly annoyed at my picture taking!)



Here is a better picture of the hats. This is Steph, my friend Andrea's daughter! She was much more willing to pose for me!


Lastly, I must thank my dear, wonderful friend, Andrea, for helping me with the party!!! She was such a HUGE help to me!!! Love ya, girlfriend!! Please don't kill me for this picture!!! I think you look cute!


There's more big news that happened this week but I'll save that for another day! :)

I'll have some layouts to share too!

Thanks for reading!!