Happy Halloween!

From Lily!

Well today is the day when all kids love to dress up and get hoards and hoards of candy. Can't get any better then this! haha

So what is the Boyd Brood doing for Halloween?

I'm handing out candy at our house and Greg will walk the kids around the neighborhood banging on doors. It's raining here right now so I hope the weather gets better for their sake.

Halloween is Seth's favorite celebration.

This is the first year that we've allowed the kids to be a little more spooky.

He has the most scariest costume...a ghoul with blood dripping around his face! Can I say YUCK!

Tess and Lily are gonna be a cute lil' witches.

Leia is Payton Manning#18! Go COLTS!

Beren decided not to dress up this year...but I did buy some masks for him in case he changes his mind.

We'll get photos tonight and post as soon as I can.

But in the meantime everyone have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Where does the time go?

I tried several days ago to update this blog and dang if I didn't get to finish the update and lost all the photos I uploaded. Oh well, I tried. I just wanted to let everyone who checks in often that I'm just super busy and that I will get back in here soon and update with all the latest news.

Right now Greg and I are in a struggle with the school system here. We have a Child that has an IEP (Individual Education Plan) for Learning Disabilities...he was recently evaluated and found to be ineligible for the program. We disagree with the schools decision and are trying with all our might to understand how this school works and learn how we can help get the best possible results for our child. So with this said I haven't had as much time to dedicate to my blog. Keep checking in as I will try soon to get up some new photos and tell more about FUN things in our lives! Thanks for peeking in!

Well it's Fall here and the most busiest time of the year.

Trees in our backyard are now turning yellow and the leaves are falling to the ground. Yeah! I love Fall but not all the running around we do!

Yes, for the Boyd Family, the beginning of school is OUR most busiest time of the year.

With the start of school comes all the activities. And the biggest one right now is football. Both boys are playing this year. Seth having practice 2 days a week and games on Saturdays. Beren has practice 4 days a week and games on Monday or Tuesday. They both are doing very well and actually enjoy it.

Seth on Game Day!"Tough Guy" look!

Beren in gold getting dragged around by his opponent.

Leia is cheering now. WOW! She's often said that cheering just wasn't her thing. But now that we are in a new town, new school and making new friends that's all changed. She totally surprised me one day after school when she showed up in this uniform. Originally she said she was gonna check into cheering and the next thing I know she's ready to go. Frankly, I like it. I think she looks great and she says that cheering is funnier than dance.

Leia looking snazzy in her cheerleading outfit!

Beren and Leia also have had their very first experience with Marching Band. During half time at Tomah High School Football game the Middle School Band went on the field with the High School Marching Band. I wasn't able to go because we had very unusual weather that night. (freezing 29 degrees...burrr) So I stayed home with Lily and Greg was in charge of taking pictures. Well they're not the greatest but you can get an idea of what's going on. Leia and Beren said it was fun but they were just too cold! They have a couple more parades to do with Marching Band and then they are done for the year and back to indoor concerts.

Leia in front playing Trumpet.

Beren in the line up...with his big Tuba!

Tess loves school and soon will join another girl scout group here. She wants to play soccer but I was told that soccer is better in the spring...not the fall. Thanks goodness cause I don't think we could add another thing to our plate! So Tess goes with us to football games and hangs out with new friends.

Tess with a new friend at a school picnic.

Now little Miss Lily just hangs out with mom all day. She's now able to eat with a fork and can say a few cute works like Zippa (our cat), What's that, ByeBye, Okay, and my all time favorite...shut up! No not really...not sure if that's what she's really saying but it sure sounds like it. She is full of energy and has so many expressions now. I'm so proud of all my older children they are so loving and helpful with her...she is one lucky loved baby!

Love this smile on her face. This was the day the temperature dropped. Lily and I went for a morning walk and her little nose is red from the cold.
Big girl eating with a fork! On her plate chicken, mac and cheese and tropical fruit mix! Healthy eater!

Now for Greg...he's just received a "Time Off" award at work. He's done such a great job that he was put in to receive this award...he was to get 20 hours off and in the end was awarded 40 hours off from work. So we are taking some of this time to go to back to Iowa to see our old friends and our oldest daughter, who I miss terribly! So watch out for us Solon gang! Oct 5th! Yeah! We can't wait to see everyone again!

Dog pile...after this load Greg will need those 40 hours off! ha ha

As for me I've joined in on an Explores Bible Study group. Which has been lots of fun...especially meeting new friends. I also joined the PTO group at Tess' school and looking forward to helping out when I can. Already I'm in charge of the free book program and Staff Appreciation Week. So finally I'm getting involved and getting to make new friends.

One thing I must share with you all is my recent purchase of a Bushel of green boiling peanuts! Yep, that's right I ordered peanuts online and had them delivered to my house...just so we can eat peanuts and watch football...they go hand and hand at our house.

It's hard to take the southerner out of this southern girl!

2- 20 lbs of green boiling peanuts from Hardy Farm in Georgia.

One last picture...kids were in the backyard playing and I got this great shot of them!

Love it!

So this kinda wraps up what we've been doing. Hopefully I want go this long with out an update!

Thanks for looking and remember I love your comments!

Jozzie Blog Challenge: #12 My lastest purchase

**Just a quick note: I belong to an awesome Scrapbooking website called Scrapbook Chalet. And each month one of it's members (Jozzie) gives us challenges to post on our blogs. So in the future you will see me posting to these challenges. So get ready for some very unusal posts from me as I try to meet these challenges. Cool thing is you'll learn a lot more about me and my family. Hope you enjoy!

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Last Thursday Leia, Lily and I all had dentist appointments. I can't believe how long we ended up staying there.

The dentist and his staff were very nice and I can't believe how thorough our new dentist is. He taught me some new ways to take better care of mine and the kids teeth.

However, I was shocked that they wanted to see a baby as young as Lily. With all my other children I took them in for their first dental appointment when they were 3 years old. I asked why they wanted to see her so early and they told me, that they have found the earlier children start coming to the dentist office the easier the transition is for them. The dentist took time to brush her teeth and even used floss in her mouth. This dentist doesn't even charge for these visits...it's less then 15 mins long and it's just to get her use to having her teeth looked at. So that went well.

But what did take along time was the new computer and software system the dentist and he saff were using. They had NEVER had computers in their office before. Leia, Lily, and I were there for 3 1/2 hours! I thought I would go crazy! Lily wasn't very cooperative either. It was her nap time and boy did she let us know it.

So after being there for 2 hours and when it was Leia's time to beseen I decide to take a walk with Lily. I stumbled upon the cutiest children store ever. The prices for the clothing was way more then I wanted to pay but I did see this hat and just had to have it for Lily. I think lil' girls look so cute in hats like this. Here she is sporting my newest purchase for her! Isn't she adorable in that hat?


A lady from around these parts crochet this little hats and sells them to the local children store called "Little Stars." Lily's my Lil' Starlet!


But you know how hats go with little ones...they don't stay on for very long. There she goes trying to take it off!


Even thought this hat was more $$ then I would normally pay ...it was well worth every penny. It kept her occupied while we waited yet another hour for the dentist to finish up with Leia.

The things Mom's will do for a little peace and quiet!

Check out my Slide Show!

Our house is becoming a home!

Well, I forgot to mention what has been taking up so much of our time...Greg and I have been doing lots and lots of furniture shopping. I thought we'd just about kill each other trying to decide on what style of furniture to buy. Finally, we made serious compromises! Isn't that the way it always is? ha ha

We got new furniture for our den, kitchen, dining room, and Leia's bedroom. Here's some photos:


Finally after 24 years of marriage I have a Dining Room Hutch! Yep Hee! Can't see the new table and chairs in this photo...but this is were we made the compromise...he wanted these huge side chairs and I wanted rod iron...so we got both and I got to pick the table...he got to pick the hutch. And believe it or not it all looks really good together!




Leia has a new bed, mattress, dresser, night stand, desk and bedding set...PINK and LIME GREEN...sounds YUMMY! She's been after us for weeks now to paint...one of these days we'll get to it!


Here's our new High table and chairs that's in the kitchen. I love the top of this table...it has a marble lazy susan in it.

See it here...Lazy Susan...so like who came up with that name anyway?

Here's the den: Entertainment center and big screen TV!

Roll Top Computer desk...to keep Lily out of!

My scrapbooking room! Greg found these wonderful black book cases to hold all my many many scrapbooking papers!

Other side of the room...gonna be my Office for Premier Jewelry!

So finally our house is coming together...all but the paint...need to paint the dining room, living room, den and kitchen...but what color? There's just too many choices! UGH!

Wow! It's time to catch up!

So what has the Boyd Brood been doing all summer? Not much really...it's been totally boring lately. The kids and I went to the Tomah pool alot. That is until all the rain came and the air turned a little cooler. This gal has to have 80 degree weather or warmer to get in that cold butt water!

Greg's mom and dad came for a visit. They stayed with the kids while Greg and I went to Dallas for the trip that I won for Premier Designs Jewelry. It was fun but long! We got up each morning at 6am and didn't get back to our room until 11pm! Needless to say we were dead dawg tired when we came home!

Greg's dad, also known as Poppi, bought the kids this cool pocket motorcycle. And looks who's having the most fun on it!

Looks like a big gorilla ridin' on that thing! ha ha

He's such the HOT ROD...isn't he? haha

Both boy's had their birthday while Mamaw and Poppi were here. Seth is now 11 and Beren 13! Beren's showing off his strength! They're so cute!

Tess just been hanging around... thinks she's a monkey! Wish I had that kind of energy!

Leia's been working on her culinary skills...she made both the boy's B'day cakes...it was totally yummy!

Lily's learned to conquer the slide in our backyard and the one at the Pool...it's a Polar Bear slide and I've deemed her Queen of it...wish I had a picture to share but don't.

and me...well all I seem to do is laundry and clean up the house! So much fun don't ya think? Mom's have all the fun!

Withdrawals from a withdraw!

Say what? Does this even make sense? Sure it does.

Withdrawal is a reaction to the lost of something that is addictive.

Withdraw is to retreat or retire from a postition.

So see a person can have withdrawals from a withdraw. And this woman is!

Wondering what my addiction is. Wonder what type of reactions I'm having.

Have you ever been part of something that you looked forwarded to? Or maybe something that you marked on your calendar, counted down the days until it arrived. Looked forward to with great anticipation?

Well... I know I have...you see tonight there's a group of women in Iowa that's gonna have the times of their lives...laughing, giggling, drinking, eatin' some good yummy food, telling silly jokes, and tossing lil' black dotted white cubes...called dice!

Yes, my girlfriends in Iowa

are meeting for their

monthly night of

BUNCO and I'm missing it!

See I had to withdraw from my 16 month position in this wild wonderful group to move to Wisconsin. I was an active, fun, vivacious member who enjoyed herself immensely. It was something I looked forward to each and every month and DANG IT! I'm gonna miss it terribly to the point of having negative reactions like an addict .... withdrawals!

Here I am huddled up in a corner like a badly beaten animal...scrambling around for her dice, her drink, her food, and most importantly her friends. Yes, Babes you must feel sorry from me and rescue me from my doom! ha ha

Just kiddin'!

Know that I'm thinking of ya'll ...wishing I was there having the time of my life laughing, and giggling with ya! Good Luck to the Babe with them Most Bunco's, the one with the Most Wins, the one with the best Roll Off, the one with last Lady Bug Bunco, and last but never least the biggest loser...cause even she is a winner...at least she was there!

Is the Grass Greener?

We'll as most of us know the old saying... "the grass isn't always greener on the other side." But, I can honestly say we have some mighty green grass here in Wisconsin. Contrast that with the blue sky, it really does stand out.

Speaking of Green...we have a big project ahead of us...Painting those ugly green garage doors! If you were to see our house from a far...all you would see is Garage Doors...there's 3 of them and they stand out like a sore thumb. White is the color of choice for me...a color that will deflect, not make them more noticible..can't wait to eliminate this problem.

Now on to the most special part of this photo... it's not in the house but in the yard... do you see it? It's on the left side...Lil' Lily playing! Can you see her? She's just a speck in the scheme of things. She loves being outside! And her most favorite place is in the back yard...on the

GOLF COURSE!

Yes, we live on Hiawatha's #3 putting Green and Lily loves running pass our yard line onto the green. As you can see from the photo here there are Golfer's riding around in their carts...but they don't seem to mind...they just keep on playing. And don't worry she's safe, big sis' Tess is there to protect.

The scenery is really pretty here. So you see the "grass REALLY is greener on the other side"... when you live on a Golf Course!

Much greener then the grass in my yard! ha ha

Welcome to my Blog!

Well it's been months since I've been active in an online community... I miss it. Since the closing of the Scrapbook Jungle and a 6 month wait to move to Wisconsin with no hubby around, I didn't have much time for anything else. UGH! I could barely keeping my head above water and can honestly say that I swallowed alot of unwanted water along the way. At times I thought I was drowning. Thank goodness being a "single parent" time is over!

I look forward to getting back to my online communities, finding out what's been happening in the lives of my friends and family, plus finding time to scrap and share my pages again.

Here' a photo of our new home! This photo was taken in March when we closed on the house. You should see the yard now...it's beautiful and loaded with all kinds of trees and flowers. Gotta get busy updating my photos!