Summer Fun 2010

Morning!  Just thought I'd share a few of my fave pics from this summer!  It really was a great one! :)  Grab a cuppa cuz there are quite a few here!  LOL

MMMMMMMMWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAA!

My DIVALICIOUS Alexa

Hunky Hubby and I

My brothers gorgeous Chocolate Lab and I having a friendly swim .. LOL

The Tops family getting ready for a Canoe trip

John taking a load off with his girls!

My dad enjoying a glass of vino!

My 3 AMAZING KIDS!

My pretty babygirl!

The CREATURE OF CORDOVA LAKE!  LMAO .. don't tell me I can't poke fun at myself!  LOL

The results of day 1!  OUCH!

Tops Family going for a ride!

My nephew Noah caught this off the dock .. we were all in awe!  He was so proud .. LOL!

My dad and my brother Mike with my dad's much wanted catch! 

My GORGEOUS niece Morgan with my Alexa fooling around with the web cam!

The girls at the Museum

This was only half of the cottage .. there was another building for more sleeping quarters!  I am in complete awe of how gorgeous this place is!

A Little mid day family dock fishing (ppssst .. I caught a fish too!)

Puppy played hard, and rested hard .. LOL

Even in the rain we had  fun!  Toy Story BINGO! :)

When did my babies grow up?  They look so big here!  SIGH

I HAVE TO SCRAP THIS PIC of Morgan!  GORGEOUS!

My DIVA DOG wasn't quite sure about all that sand!  LOL

My brother with his first catch

My HANDSOME teen Cody and I .. seriously, he's so not a kid anymore!

I don't know how many times we had to kick them off these chairs .. they'd of spent their entire vacay there if we'd of let them!  LOL

Back TO School!

Oh I have a feeling this is going to be one of my fave times of the year! BACK TO SCHOOL! LOL I must admit that after 2 whole months of my kids 24/7, I am ready for a much needed break (mind you I am heading back to school too ... so not much of a break.. but my day will be free to indulge in my own routine of household stuff, studies and gym ...lol) Regardless I think you get the idea that I am excited about it all! ;)

It's so great to see the girls excited about all of this. Alexa has assured me that she will take her baby sister Angelina under her wing and make sure that she is shown all the ins, and the tricks of full time school. Angelina is starting Grade 1 and Alexa is Grade 2! Where did the time go?

So I thought I would do a "Back to School" post, to get others in the creative mood .. that and I have found some amazing Back to School printables and/or project ideas, lunch ideas, and a whole wack of other goodies out there, and really wanted to share them! So off we go! :)

Bird Crafts has some FREE images on their blog to download! Here is a peek of a few of them!

Be sure to check out the rest of their blog and store for some other themed ideas and goodies! :)

Here are some sweet little note cards at The Frog Prince Paperie for the kids lunch boxes ... truth be told they can be used anywhere though!


Amazing collection to be downloaded here at Tweedle D Designs!


I plan on keeping track of the girls homework and reading this year, and this is a great craft for them to make so that there is a place to track all of it! LOL
THE COLOURFUL COVERED NOTEBOOK


With all the school activities, milk, pizza, hot dog money that exchanges hands, these are a great idea to have as an "everyday carry" in your kids school bag! I know I will certainly be making these this year!
CARRY ALL TINS


You can't go wrong with a HOMEWORK CHART which can also serve as a daily reading chart

ROLL UP PENCIL CASE


Awesome video tutorial from Angry Chicken, for reusable sandwich, snack bags!


One thing I found last year, was Alexa got really bored of her school lunches. So I had to try and find different things that I knew she'd eat in the small amount of time she had to eat! I did some internet searching for ideas and this is what I found!

SANDWICH ON A STICK


ANYTHING 100 Calorie!!!!!!!! Nuff said! LOL

KRAFT has an awesome article with some ideas here!

Companies Coming (some of my fave cookbooks come from them) has a series of kids cookbooks that have amazing school ideas!

Martha has a load of great ideas on her website, here are some that really stuck out to me!
HAM & APPLE WRAPS w CHEESE


ANTS ON A LOG


Well my friends that is all I have for now .. will share more if i find it! Hope you enjoyed this read! :)

MMWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAA!

DONE .. and not doing anymore!

Until the urge strikes ... but I am happy with my busy/kid designed blog!

Thanks for the suggestions friends .... thanks for the actual comment Katie ... I'll have some Rachey treats for ya soon! LOL WINK!

MMMMMMWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAA!

Reconstructing Blog

I am so not happy with anything I am doing here right now .. so if you see funky things going on .. it's likely cuz I have flubbed something up, or I am figuring it out! LMAO!

MMMMMWWWWWWAAAAAAA

Don't know about you - WILL YOU HELP?

... but the colour of my header hurts MY EYES! LOL I have been searching for a header that will someone match my new template, but have yet to find anything I may like! This is where will you help comes in! LOL

I have been purging and purging as of late, and have decided to put a lil RAK box together for the person who points me in the right direction and helps me get my header done! If I use what you have suggested then YOU WIN! THAT EASY!

Now the only problem is making sure that this gets out there .. aside from my immediate readers, who happen to be my friends that know I haven't been blogging recently! LOL

Let's see what happens! LOL

MMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAA!

Dear blog ...

Hi it's me .. I know you are still here waiting for my stories and funny's and crazy's .. but I just popped by to tell you that I am having an amazing summer so far and may not be able to visit you regularly! I do miss you and will be back full force after the summer!

LOVE YOU and MMMMWWAAAAAA

Rachel :)
XOOX

Scrap Industry .. SLOW DOWN ALREADY!

I am sure I am not alone here ... my wallet has had enough .. there is smoke off my personal maxed credit card (thank goodness hubby is smart to ensure that I have a low credit limit). I can't keep up .. and there is so much I want!

Does anyone else feel like this industry is crazy fast? I am just starting to enjoy the products from the Winter CHA .. and there are already pre-orders all over the net for the summer releases! Ya see truthfully .. if I was smart ... I'd wait for those releases to be placed on sale before I buy them .. it's not like I use em up right away! But I suffer from that "MUST HAVE NOW .. OR I WILL MISS OUT" mentality! I know I am not the only one!

I am going to make a personal pact right now ... and after chatting with my girl Heather this morning ... I think she is on to something! I am only allowed to scrap from my stash .. NOTHING NEW PURCHASED. My friend Katie is really good with this .. she gets product .. she uses it! So I am making a public declaration ... 20 LO's ... from stash .. before I am even allowed to look at anything new! I also have to do a serious inventory check .. and decide what to keep and what to sell/give away!

The old Rachel would of done 2 LO's, then broke her personal pact ... but this new Rachel, is very capable of doing this. Since this is a public announcement ... I am counting on my friends to kick me arse if I waver ..... or better yet THINK of wavering! LMAO

20 LO's is NOTHING .. not even a dent! So it's a small first step .. but a step regardless! :)

Anyways .. let me enable your credit cards .. seeing as I cannot/not allowed to enable my own and post some yummies that are coming way too soon! LOL

GRAPHIC 45 - Halloween in Wonderland


SASSAFRAS LASS - Indie Girl


ECHO PARK PAPER - Sweet Summertime


BASIC GREY - Oliver and Olivia


MAKING MEMORIES - Panorama


BO BUNNY - 4 New lines

Peacock Lane


Petal Pushers


Sun Kissed


Block Party


That's enough for now .. will post more tomorrow! :) Wish me luck! WINK! LOL

MMMMMMMMMMMMWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

LO - Share

HI YA!

It's been so long since I have posted any of my work that I have done lately. Part because I'm lazy, and part because my pics are shitty! LOL But here are a few that I haven't posted and I'll have more in the near future under different light circumstances!

So Heather, Nancy , Natasha (soon to be) and I have formed this little "challenge group". Ultimately it is to get those pages done .. and since we all scrap at the same LSS, we can pretty much gaurentee to see each other once a month. The banter that has been happening at those crops make me wanna PIMP! SERIOUSLY! LOL I have been really productive since we started this (not as productive as Heather..lol)and I am using some stash! So I have two months to do 14 challenges .... here are some that I have completed!

ABC Challenge - Letter "A" must have two different Alphas on your page
LO - SWEET GIGGLES


SKETCH CHALLENGE - Stuck Sketch 01 May

LO - LIL SWISS GIRL


SHABBY BINGO Challenge - Pick a line (Noel Mignon)

I picked the vertical "O"
LO - Susie Homemaker

I had a blast doing this LO ... I used the mint chocolate chip glimmer chalk that I won from Tattered Angels ... and HELLO - MELODY ROSS HOMESPUN CHIC .. Sigh .. HAPPY HAPPY! I also must admit.. this LO is going in my Book of Me. I am not Susie Homemaker ... but there is hope! BAHAHAHAHA!

I finished my mom's mini album using the LUSH brown album and the Romantique paper line by Graphic 45 .. and have to get mom to bring it over so I can snap some pics .. but that's another challenge complete! LOL

CHALLENGE - NEW MOON (Noel Mignon again)
This LO had to be about CHANGE (hello .. been there done that..lol), had to include the colours black, white and red. Had to have a flower (thanks for the handmade posy Katie), text or book paper (used a JB button), charm and finally bling.
LO - CHANGE (I didn't post the journalling that will be done on this page, it will be written in all the white space on this page. It is going to be very personal and something that I am not ready to share. Consider it therapy! LOL


I have a couple more LO's but can't seem to remember if they were challenge based ... BAHAHAHA ... let me ask my partner in crime .... OH HEATHER? LOL





So that is enough for now ... I will upload some pics of Mother's Day and odds and ends with the kids sometime later this week/weekend!

Life is good ... thanks for popping on by!

MMMMMMMMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

A Special post for a Special Gal - HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER

Don't worry girl .. no need to grab a tissue .... but I am not letting this day go by without a special shout out to ya! LOL

I am SO HAPPY you came into my life ... you were the biggest gulp of fresh air that I so needed and especially in that time in my life when I felt like I was suffocating! You are funny, sarcastic, brutally honest, shoot from the hip and so my kind of gal. I adore you, your hubby and your boys and I can't wait to see where this friendship takes us!

In the meantime ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

So today I wish you this ...


Even though you are likely feeling like this ....


But don't worry cuz .... I have the perfect solution ..


AND



YOU IN??? LMAO

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY GIRL ... MMMMWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAA

HAVE U SEEN THIS? Greyson Michael Chance

INSANE TALENT .. he sounds better than Lady GAGA! WOW

This is his You Tube video that took the world by storm! Sorry they are cut off a bit .. I don't know how to fix it! LOL



Here is his Ellen Interview




I am BLOWN AWAY! WOW

MMMMMMMWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!