My Princess...

A quick post with a new layout... Anna shopping at the "Princess Faire" at Disneyland. She is just too darn cute! TFL and have a great day!

Alltop... Holy Cow, I'm in There!!!

I seriously don't have any idea how my little blog has ended up as one of the top blogs for Scrapbooking on Alltop, but there I am!!! A few days ago, I noticed one of my visitors had come from Alltop and since I wasn't familiar with the site, I figured I would check them out. Pretty cool place... here is the link... Alltop - Scrapbooking. And yes, I get to proudly display this banner... Chris wanted me to post the one that says, "Alltop... Confirmation that I kick ass!" I figured I needed to be a bit more professional... Whoever out there that is responsible for my being included on this list... THANK YOU!!! This is totally cool!!! Have a GREAT day!!!

Ever After Bus Tour and AUSSIES!

WOOOOO HOOOOO! One of our "Aussie daughters" has come back for a visit! Our 2006 exchange student, Stephanie, is here for a 2-week visit, and her mom, Toni, was here several days last week. It was so much fun getting to know Toni while she was here! I had forgotten that Steph is a scrapper... and her mom is TOTALLY into scrapping! I felt like I had met my long lost sister when we were at the Wild Animal Park and I made a comment about something the girls were doing... Toni turned around and said, "That would be a great title for a layout!" Here is a picture of Toni and Steph feeding the Lorakeets... and Anna... watching, but staying away from, the Lorakeets...

Saturday, Steph and I went on a 10-hour bus tour of scrapbook stores in Southern California! What a BLAST! We travelled on a FAB bus with about 30 other ladies... played games... won prizes... created fun Make and Takes at each of the 3 stores we visitied... had a wonderful lunch and lots of snacks... oh yeah, and we SHOPPED! I bought stuff to make some fun Christmas gifts and Steph bought things to add to her travel journal. Ever After does a bus tour twice a year, so I will surely plan to be on the next one!!!

Back to work on my new Scrap Studio!!! The desk is now in and complete... the under desk shelving is in... all that is left is the wall shelves and moving in! I can hardly wait to get to work... and to get everything ready to open my Etsy shop next week... more info coming on that soon... Make it a GREAT day!

Double Trouble...

Thanks Ann and Kathie for sending me this cool blog award! As I understand it, here are the blog tag rules...

1. If you've been tagged, you can put the logo on your blog.

2. Link the person from whom you received the award.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links to those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

So... here goes... in no particular order...

1. Eileen Mailloux - A special and long time friend (yeah, she knows dirt!) and my favorite cheerleader!!!

2. Becky Chabot - Yeah, she's been featured on HGTV and has designed her own set of stamps (you must check them out... they are BEAUTIFUL!)

3. Laura Miller - One of the 3 Amigos and a rocking Tally Scrapper sister

4. Lynn Wagner - Her blog is pure entertainment... talented and fun... you'll get sucked in!

5. Noel Culbertson - Her work ROCKS... and her photos... OHHHHH PERFECTION!

6. Sara Carns - One of the best writers I know and one of my rocking inner circle!

7. Pam Cash - The other 3 Amigo with a life as busy as mine!

Make it a "Wooooo Hooooo" kinda day!!!

Sharing MMM layout #2...

I thought it was about time to share another one of my MMM entry layouts with you! :-) I am LOVING the "Pop Star" line by Rusty Pickle and have used it on several layouts lately. I just love all the possibilities the paper gives me!! The journaling on the layout says, "Mommy says I'm a pretty good girl most of the time... little does Mommy know, I'm not as Innocent as I look!"

The Mackie/Locher Academy for Exceptional Girls (and a boy)

Welcome to the first day of preschool for Anna, Catalina, and Robbie! Anna and Cat are 1 year away from starting Kindergarten and since neither of us wanted to put the girls in public preschool, we decided to home school the girls this year... and Robbie will be coming along for the ride. No, I don't have ANY clue what I am doing, but Penny (thank goodness) has her teaching degree and taught elementary school, so she is our resident expert! This idea actually started when I read that my friend, Noel Culbertson, took her daughter on weekly "dates" or field trips, once a week for the last year before she started Kindergarten. We took Noel's idea and ran with it.

Penny and I have been having WAY TOO MUCH FUN planning and discussing our little "Academy." Here is a little bit about our school. We start every class with the Pledge of Allegiance (yes, UNDER GOD is in OUR Pledge) and a prayer. YES, there will be prayer in our school, crosses on the wall and we will be having CHRISTMAS and EASTER parties (not the generic and PC "Winter Holiday" and "Spring Brunch" parties). [NOTE TO PENNY - We need to get a copy of the "Ten Commandments" for the wall so our kids know what they mean before they get to public school]. The kids will be wearing uniforms (we bought them yesterday... our school colors are now red, white and blue (accent color, black) and our mascot is an eagle... mainly because it was the brand of the clothes we bought and it was already embroidered on the clothes...) I have been "hired" to be the school photographer and to create the yearbook (I get paid in kisses and smiles!) The kids will be dressing for Halloween AND they will exchange Valentines with the other kids in the class. We will have a Christmas play (for the grandparents), we will be going on field trips 1-2 times per month and our kids will be able to eat peanut butter sandwiches during lunch. We will not be starting Sex Ed in preschool (it is bad enough it starts in Kindergarten), but we will be learning about parts of the body (like our first song, "Where is Thumbkin" and next week's song, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes... knees and toes..."). We will be able to dispense medicine to our students and there is NO WAY that our kids will go through medical procedures without our permission! The kids will have recess and PE, circle time, and have already learned to raise their hands and take turns asking questions. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. We are very excited (I'm very nervous) about using this last year to prepare the girls for school... on our terms... with love and laughter. Here's to a great year for the girls... to get them ready to be part of the high school graduating class of 2021!!!

Oh, and yes... the name of our school was inspired by that old TV show... "2 Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place..." Hope you enjoy these pics of our first day... our "Old Mother Hubbard" cut, lace and color shoe project, feet during circle time, and our exceptional students!

New Tools on my Blog...

Ohhhh... new toys! Look over at the right of the page and you will see two new tools over there. If you would like to be listed as a "Follower of my blog," click on the Follower Gadget and your picture will be added to the currently oh, so empty and sad looking area for my Friends. The second new tool is the Subscribe Gadget. If you want to know when I update my blog, just subscribe and you will know when anything is happening here in the Land of W. H. Back to painting and moving and constructing! I can't get any scrapping done until the new scrap studio is done, so I'm working hard!!!

OGHS... WE WON!!!

Chris' first Varsity football game... he was a starter on the Offensive team... tight end... AND HE WAS AWESOME... ohhhh, and safe (thank GOD!!!) There was one play in particular where it was a 4th down... they had to make the play or the ball would go to the other team... he caught the pass... the other team tried to take him down and he almost went down, but he kept running and got the first down... Jeff and I were jumping up and down in the stands, hugging each other... cheering and saying, "THAT WAS CHRIS... THAT WAS OUR SON!!!" Yes... we are TOTAL Goofy Goobers when it comes to our kids and Chris did a great job last night. Of course, so did the rest of the team...winning their first game of the season... matching their winning streak from all of last year (yes, they were 1-8 last year...) But this is a whole new year and we can HARDLY WAIT to see what they boys can do this year! These are pics of the boys and cheerleaders right after the win, singing the OGHS Fight Song to the crowd, and a pic of Chris after the game...just before he grabbed me for a big, sweaty, smelly hug... and I loved it!!! :-) GO PATRIOTS!!!

My Bug...

Just wanted to share a quick layout that I created with the "Pop Star" line and new rub ons by Rusty Pickle... oh, and these cute, cute, cute pics of my little bug. Thanks for visiting and have a GREAT day!

Scrapbook Expo... WHEW!

What a weekend! For the past several days I have been working for Rusty Pickle at the San Diego Scrapbook Expo. Hard work, long hours, honest pay... and a TON of fun! I was working with two of my Rusty Pickle team mates, Libby and Casey... it was GREAT to catch up with you guys!!! Here are a few pictures of the weekend from starting to set up the booth (with just the grids up), to a cute photo of Miss Libby, to the thumbs up (clean up is done and we are going home!) Hope you enjoy your Labor Day and have a GREAT week!