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We have had a few award ceremonies this week. Tuesday was Alex's day. He received the A/B honor roll award and the citizenship award. I am so proud of him. I know he worked extra hard all year to keep his grades up. He has matured so much this year and grown into a fine young man. Here is are a few photos of his day.

Alex

Alex and Mrs. Manguson

Lucas' 5th grade graduation was tonight. He received the Math Excellence award. This award came with a $500 cash awards to be used towards furthering his education. That means if he wants to go to the Mott Aquarium in Tampa we can tap into this money to help pay for it. Or if he wants to go to summer camp, we can use this money. I am so proud of him. Here are a few photos of his night.

Mrs. Whitt and Lucas

 Here are the two of them with their principal Mr. Mazoli.

Mr Mazoli, Lucas, and Alex

 So after the award ceremony we went home and they goofed around outside taking pictures. They are such funny kids.

Me and Lucas

Lucas, Connor, and Alex

Nicholas

Lucas

I think I'll keep them :)

Warms a mother's heart!! I thought I would share this photo of Alex vacuuming the living room at our house. Technically this is his chore and he should do it at least once a week. Most weeks I have to tell him, then he whines, procrastinates, and tries to get out of it. This week he stepped up, grabbed the vacuum and got to work. He is such a good boy. (most of the time :)

We took Lucas this weekend to get his ear pierced. A lot of people won't agree with my decision to allow him to get this done but I did it for several reasons.
1. He is a good kid who does amazing in school and shows extreme responsibility skills for someone his age.
2. It was something he wanted and I wanted it done right using sterilized materials. I have two older brothers who would go to their friends over the weekend, have a friend pierce their ear, come home and my Dad would make them take it out. That was my Dad's decision, he was entitled, they are his kids. That was 20 years ago, the world had ugly funks back then that could be caught on a dirty needle (or ear ring). Imagine all that on steroids and you have what kids face today.
3. It wasn't that big a deal to me. He wears it for a while, gets tired of it and takes it out. Or he never tires of it and wears it all his life. Who cares? You have to pick your battles and this was not a battle for us at all.
4. He asked for it almost two years ago when he was 10 years old. I said no, I told him I wouldn't say no forever but I wasn't going to get it done when he was so young. I told him to think about it and if he still wanted to do it in a couple of years we would talk. So this was not a spur of the moment decision.
5. I told him I had authority to make him take out any earring I thought was inappropriate or just looked stupid. He agreed.
So here are a few photos I snapped when he took him to have it done. Love that kid!

I hate buying groceries with a passion! Why? Oh I could come up with hundreds of reasons but I'll just tell you a few.
1.Having to maneuver around SLOW people. I just want to yell at them "MOVE PEOPLE" or ram my cart into theirs and pretend it didn't happen as I walk on by.
2.Unloading the groceries when I get home. Either I wait to buy groceries when the little people are with me (when I want to punish myself), so they can help bring them in or I buy them while they are in school and have to tote it all in by myself. I choose the lesser of two evils and buy them while they are in school.
3. Knowing at some point they (all my men) are going to want me to take this recently bought food and create a meal for them. I am not a bad cook. I make pretty good food. I just don't like to. Over the last few year I have come to dread cooking.
So before I head out to buy groceries, I thought I would take a moment  to share this little mini project I created yesterday. I used some of the new techniques I learned over the weekend while at the three day crop :) Sorry about the shine from the flash.

It has been soooooooo long since I blogged. We have been going, going, going with family, church, school, the house, a trip to Mexico. I have just now had a moment to breath. So while I was breathing I thought I would share a few things I created over the weekend. 

I was fortunate enough to go down to Bonita Springs this past weekend for a National Scrapbook Day three day crop hosted by Scrapbooks Etc. We stayed at the Trianon Hotel and it was "muy" awesome. Let me tell you, these ladies know how to throw a crop. The food was great, there were so many giveaways. I think at last count I had won 5 prizes. The tables weren't crowded and everyone was so nice. I really liked the goodie bags. None of that junk you wouldn't use, it was full of papers, 6x6 templates, adhesive, stamps, flowers and so much more. It was all in a Utility Bin from a company called Thirty-one.  I thought the bins were store property for us to use as garbage cans but I soon found out they were for us to take home.  Totally awesome! I had the most fun, there is going to be another three day crop in July and October and I plan to be at both :)

So to get on with it here are a few things I created. The first one is a alter-art project for my best friend to hang in her daughter's room. Followed by a few layouts I scrapped of my family :)

This is our Christmas Tree this year. Isn't it beautiful? We have always had a fake tree but this year we bought a real one. The boys love it and Alex says it smells so fresh. Personally I can't smell it but who am I to burst their bubble? LOL
We weren't going to put a tree up this year because we will be out of town but we decided the kids needed one. We didn't put one up last year because we were out of town. It sure has helped get us all in the holiday spirit. Luci even hung lights out on the porch, it looks so festive.

Been thinking about how I am going to decorate and I really like these rooms.

Highs and lows

Saturday had it's highs and lows.
High point: Mom came home and we shopped for Luci a Father's Day present. (because he is the best father:)
Low point: While shopping Luci called to let me know his grandmother had died. It is a time of sadness for his entire family.
High point: I cropped Saturday night. It was great to hang out and relax.
Low point: I can't seem to shake this anxiety I've been feeling about starting school on Monday. I guess the only thing to do is meet it head on. So tomorrow morning I will be at FGCU bright and early for my first class.

Here are a few photos of the hot air balloon I created Saturday.

 I had a chance to play with the glimmer mists and glazes today. I love the glazes. Here is a little canvas that I created. 

While up north I didn't really do much scrapping or creating. I worried a little about how my mojo would be once I got back, but it seems like I never left. Life continues on.

I can't believe that I haven't posted in almost 2 years. WOW!
Well we are back in Fort Myers and so much happier. I think we have learned our lesson. I can't see us leaving here again for a long time. I didn't realize just how much I would miss my mom. I have for the greater part of my life lived no more then 10 minutes from her. Family is so important.
While in north Florida I attended and graduated from Chipola College with my AA in psychology. I am now enrolled in Florida Gulf Coast University where I plan to pursue my BA and MA in psychology. I didn't realize how much I would love and enjoy attending school.
The boys are happier here. They have so many friends and family they can depend on to help them escape from their mom and dad. LOL
Luci is glad to be back as well. He found a job, he has a way of finding work when there should be none. You can never call him a slacker. Love him.
Life is getting back on track and we will be better then ever!

I Know, I Know ...

... I have been away for a while, busy getting the house set up, working a almost full time job, and getting registered for school for this fall. Yep you heard right, not only are the boys starting school this fall but so am I. EEKKK! So scary. I have no clue what I want to be when I grow up, so how do I know what classes to take, what major to pursue? Maybe I will become a lifetime student. LOL I will be back soon, I have made a few pages, I will photograph them soon and show you what I have been up to.

Tomorrow, well later today...

we will begin packing the truck to leave, once that is done we will be heading to my Mom's to spend the night and spend some more time together. Monday morning we will get up super early (grrr) and head out. The good thing is that we will be moving to central time zone, so we will be gaining an hour. We should make it there between 1pm and 2pm central time. I may be off the blog for a couple of weeks while we get settled in but never fear, I will be back. Wish us luck and send a prayer up for us.

More LOs

Here are a few more LOs. The 2nd one I lifted the idea, I can't even tell you where I saw it but I liked it so much that it stuck in my head.

We had a really nice weekend! Thinking back over the last few days it seems like we did so much in just a small amount of time but I don't ever remember feeling rushed or tired. Now when we got home I slept about 18 hours but all in all it was a great weekend. I have loads of photos to show but I will do that later. I wanted to post these LOs that I have done. Some of them were recently done and some are a little older.

Busy Weekend Coming!!

Today I am leaving to go to my Granddaddy's house in Plant City, it is just a stop along the way. I will be going to my Family Reunion on my Mom's side in Sopchoppy. It is a town so small that if you blink while going threw it, you'll miss everything. LOL I haven't been to a reunion in years and I am very excited. There are a few people going that I haven't seen since I was very young. Then on Sunday we are driving to my Dad's house (about 1 1/2 hours away) to see him and drop the kids off. WHAA WHOO!!!! Then it is back home to finish packing up the house for the move.
I will be sure to take loads of photos to scrap.
Here are a few from last weekend.
Mom and me.

Luci and his Mom.
All the little kids.
Luci and my Mom.

On The Move!

As most people know, I am not a big fan of SW Florida. I have never really been a beach person, give me a nice clean pool or water park and I am happy. I hate the congestion of the city and it seems every year it gets worse and worse. The economy is really bad right now, you are never safe, everyone has the risk of losing their job right now. I honestly think the only good thing about SW Florida (to me) is that my family and friends are here.
So that being said Luci and I have decided to move to North Florida. I know we went to North Carolina and we all know how that ended, um yeah we are back in SW FL. We have done our research on the county we will be living in, checked out the area and schools. Map Quested the scrapbook stores in the area. LOL It is small town life at it's best. We will be about 45 minutes west of Tallahassee, I don't know if you have ever been there or not but is is beautiful. When I was little we lived about 45 minutes south of Tallahassee and it was awesome. There are SEASONS!!! No snow, but there is a definite Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.
I want to get my kids away from all the violence & gang activity. I want them to go to schools that do not condone promiscuity and homosexuality. I don't want to worry about someone trying to sell them drugs or hurting them if they go outside to play. I know it is everywhere and you can't escape it but I can get them away from the city where is is so common.
Luci and I have already found jobs and my Dad (he is doing much better by the way) and Arlene (whose a teacher) will be keeping the kids while we work. As soon as we are stable and get settled I will cut back to part time and be home with the kids. We will be pulling out on July 6th.
I told my Mom and Step Dad today that we are for sure moving, they knew but we hadn't 100% confirmed it. They took fairly well. My Step Dad is really close with my boys and he is having a little bit of a hard time with it but it will bring them up more often to visit (my moms family lives about 1 hour from where we will be). Here are a few photos of the local area.