Quick Update:

Look below for a new post....Titled: MY 6 Pack

I started a post several days ago and never go around to updating it...

so it stayed in draft form. That is until now... I finally got around to posting the images with it today. So scroll down and read about Greg's Father's Day.

Also, I've been working on a new post...already spent 2 hours on it. It's all about last weekend up to today and darn if I'm not having trouble with the images. So I'll get it posted as soon as I can. Sorry about that...gonna have to start all over again! UGH!

Me sitting at my computer 12 midnight...pulling my hair for the last 2 hours!

I give up...it's time for bed! Nighty, Nite!

Good Day all!

I have a new video from Seth...

This video has been in the works for weeks now. For some reason I had a really hard time loading this one to the internet...it was too long and had to cut it down...plus Seth wanted me to add all the titles to each Star Wars figure he showed...that just took to much space (time) on my Youtube spot. So here is the Raw version of Seth and all his many Lego figurines! Enjoy!

P.S. I gonna post again later...about Britton during the Floods in Iowa and our busy weekend last week.

Iowa City Flood

Told you I would post Photos of the flood that was near Britton's Apartment in Iowa City.


She lives a block away from this road. Thank goodness her apartment is up a steep hill. So she was not affected by it. Her boyfriend Matt...Britton said by the time the flood had reached it's crest it was about to Matt's waist!


These are photos near the University. Greg use to work across the street from here!


Normal water level is about 10 feet below the bottom of the bridge. So this is extemely high!

My heart goes out to all the people that suffered a loss. I called many of my friends there and all told me that they weren't effected by the flood...only hard to travel around.

Got "My 6 Pack"...how 'bout you?

Oh man...I can't believe I forgot to post this! I saved it as a draft and forgot to go back to finish writing it.

Oh well better late than never...

First, let me say "Happy Father's Day" to all you Dads out there. Greg said he had the best Father's Day ever...I finally bought him something that he really, really wanted...can't tell you how many times he said it over and over again..."I really want a picture of the kids running blown up really big so I can hang it on the wall above the computer desk"...so that's what he got. Remember this photo?




Now here it is in a poster size...framed and ready to be hung in his office at work...titled;

"My 6 Pack"

I think he likes it! ha ha

I couldn't help myself...thought of this title after I bought the poster and as I was looking at all my youngin's running like a "Pack of Wolves" I realized that I have a "Pack of kids" and 6 of them to boot...thus a "6 Pack!" ha ha Perfect title for a RETIRED RANGER... I think he's still looking for his 6 pack! haha Shhhh...don't tell him I said that! LOVE YA HONEY!

Short Video of our vacation in Wisconsin Dells

I took more photos with my camera then I did with the FLIP. But here is a short video of Lily, Seth, and Leia by the pool.

5 minutes with Tess.

This will prove to be the most valuable 5 minutes in your life! Enjoy!
P.S. I don't know why this video is as blurry as it is...it's even worse on Youtube,

Sorry!

Weather Update:

Here's a new Video from yesterday. We had alot of severe weather and afterwards we had the most beautiful skies...rainbows and sunsets.

This a another video from Viddler...should be clearer and in a larger format. Enjoy!

Which is better?

Okay, I just found a new Video site called Viddler...similiar to Youtube. It's suppose to be better then Youtube because you get more time and a clearer picture...Youtube has a 10 min limit on each video and the picture is blurry. So let's put this to a test. I put the same video side by side. You can play both videos at the same time just remember to turn off the sound...click on the sound button on the menu bar of each video and drag it to the bottom level to lower the volume.

I can see a big difference...can you? Tell me which one you like better by leaving a comment.

I'm using a video you've seen before titled THE FLIP... cause it's short and quick to watch.

Vidder video:


Youtube video:

Lil' home decor!

This lil' corner in my sunroom reminds me of Italy. I miss the romantic atmophere over there. The table cloth I bought while shopping downtown in Vicenzia, Itlay. The wrought iron table and chairs I found at Hobby Lobby...of course we got them on sale half price! The Capiz Shell lamp was handed down from Mamaw. She said she gave it to me cause I was one of the few people that would take the time to untangle it. Patiences does pay off! ha ha I love seeing it all lit up at night.

I found these colorful silk flowers at Wal-mart. Cheapo...but I love how bright they are. We all need a punch of color in our lives.

Here's to a Romantic Cheery Day!

Changed my looks...

So what do you think about the new design of my Blog?

I like that it has a wider format, it's has a clean and neat sidebar too.

Hope I didn't throw you off too much. The same info is here just a different
color and layout.

Never know what's gonna happen next around here! ~giggling~

Thanks for understanding! ~sweet winks~

Tess was in a Play last weekend...check it out!

Just a quick update: I moved my scrapbook pages to the bottom of the blog. I haven't added anything new to my pages in a long time so it's kinda old news...but if you enjoy looking at them they are still here just relocated to the bottom of this page now.

I'm also going to put a link to a specific video in each new post. Hopefully it will work. But if you ever want to see all my video's just click on the link in the sidebar on the right titled "Video Updates" it's here that you can see all my videos on Youtube. If you're having problems viewing the Youtube page you can always go to http://www.youtube.com/user/mommamikki save this page in your favorites...then you will always have a direct link to my videos.
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Now moving on to the main topic of the day. Tess in the play Mary Poppin's . She has the roles as Mrs. Banks. Tess likes to describe Mrs. Banks as the unconcerned mother of Jane and Michael Banks. Great description! huh?

Tess did a great job acting. She wasn't nervous at all and spoke her lines very well during the whole performance. She didn't make any mistakes...sh-woof!

As you veiw the video below take note of the backdrops. All of them were painted by the students in her class with the help of some parents. I love how Tess' teacher allowed the kids to take an active part in all aspects of the play...everything from setting up, staging, singing and preforming! She is an AWESOME teacher! (I would name her but we need to keep it confidential here)

Leia and I put together her outfit at the last minute. We needed to find clothing that fit the time period. It has been years since I've seen the movie Mary Poppins'...so I had to go on the Internet to check out Mrs. Banks clothing.
See her here: Mrs. Banks
I think we did a pretty good job getting her costume together. Love the hat and boots that Tess is wearing...I found them at Goodwill and the rest of her clothing is from Big sis Leia's, clothes closet!

Tess' teacher was so sweet and asked "how many times has Tess watched the movie?" I said I don't think she has ever seen it. Well come to find out the whole class watched the movie 1 time so they could get a good understanding of it...then they tried out for roles. Tess' teacher said that she (Tess) fits the role of Mrs. Banks perfectly...has her mannerisms and all. Too funny cause Tess is very motherly and mature in her speech...but the girl had only seen the movie once in her life. Then on Mother's Day of all days, THE MOVIE CHANNEL featured Mary Poppins all day long! How cool was that? Tess was thrilled to see it again on TV. We had fun watching it together...good thing cause I forgotten what most of it was about.

Now a little about the video. This is only part 1 of the play. Also, I only included highlights of the play...mainly the songs and scenes Tess was in. I also blurred most of the scenes too because I really don't know how other parents feel about their kids faces being on the Internet. Just wanted to let you know why it looks the way it does.

I'm so impressed with all the performers...remember these kids are around 9 or 10 years old. The gal that plays Mary Poppins has an awesome singing voice and so do the boys.

I thanked Tess teacher for introducing the kids to acting at such a young age...I sure hope this will inspire Tess to continue in this ART...she's pretty comfortable performing and is pretty darn good at it too! Enjoy!

It's Garden time!

Yeah! I finally got some things planted in my small garden.

Several kinds of tomatoes; Grape, Sweet 100, Early Girl, and Roma.
I sure hope they survive...last year the aphids came before I knew it and killed several of them. This year I'm keeping a very watchful eye. I'm also afraid that we might get some frost too. Living this far north has it's disavantages!

Also have some eggplant, bell pepper, cucumbers, herbs, and lettuce...my all time favorite is Arugula! It's a peppery lettuce...had lots of it when we lived in Italy! I could buy it in the grocery stores over there but here... I have to grow it if i want it! Love, love it in my salads!

This garden plot was here when we moved in. I don't have the heart to ask Greg to till me a new one...a larger one. So I work with what's already here. I put red bark in the middle for a walking path so I can weed. It's kinda like Square Foot Gardening...only I get lots of weeds in this plot! UGH!

Here's to Gardner's around the world! Good Luck!

The Lazy Day's of Summer...

It's finally Summer! Well...almost! It's still a little chilly here in Wisconsin but with the sun shining so brightly it's getting warmer and warmer each day. We still have 40 degree temps at night and the days are in the low 70's. I can't wait for Summer to really arrive!

I happened to look outside and found these 2 basking in the sun. Tess knows how to enjoy the season at hand.
















Do you remember days like this? I do! I remember laying on the cold green grass outside looking up at the clouds above..."see that cloud? It looks like an elephant...oh there that one, it's a turtle...and that ones looks like a bird!" And my all time favorite thing about summer...GRASS BLOWING...where your hands became the instrument by putting a blade of grass between your 2 thumbs and blowing really hard to make a whistling sound...always tickled my lips...I can feel it now...those were the days!

Here's to Warm Summer Days!


Here Tess and Lily are enjoying the outdoors
The Girls are so sweet together!















Look who else decided to join in the fun...Zippa!
She's such a lovey dovey girl!

Another new video

I hope all of you will check in frequently to see my NEW video. Today it is Lily getting ready for bed. She is talking so good now. In this video she says the word DANCE, HUG, OUCHIE, and Night Nite and probably alot more that I don't understanding yet. She's such a sweet baby and growing up way too fast.

Tonight I will be making a new video of Tess. She is in The Mary Poppin's play at her School. She's playing the part of Mrs. Banks, Jane and Michael's mother. Her teacher, Miss Olson, says that Tess is perfect for the role and asked if she has been watching the movie cause she has her (Mrs. Banks) mannerisms down pat. Tess has only seen the movie once with her class as the Teacher showed it to them months ago as a preview before she assigned them roles. I can't wait to see the Play and as soon as I can get the video posted on YouTube I will email you all to see the play too. Sure hope I can get good seating.

Oh please leave a comment. This way I know you all are getting my email updates. Thanks!

Look who's in the lead!!!

It's Lily! What a great shot! Shows the contrast of how much older her brothers and sisters are then her. Go Lily Go!

On May 12th Britton and her Boyfriend Matt came up for a 4 day visit. It was a great time getting to know Matt...he is perfect for Britton. He knows how to keep her in check! Can't you see the mischievousness in her eyes? Love it!

Britton is doing well...working hard and hopes to move to Portland, OR this summer with Matt.

We had such a good time with them...his a great guy!

On May 13th Mamaw and Poppi came up from Kentucky to see Britton. We all had a wonderful time together even tho it was short. So glad they got to see her.

Another awesome photo. Everyone is lined up by age. Beren is taller then Leia and Britton...can you believe that? His only 13! Leia and Britton look like they are the same height...Leia might be taller tho! Lily was too busy to stand so Poppi had to hold her. Perfect to have her on the end! Tess gave Mamaw a bouquet of dandelion's! ha ha They look good in the photo. Greg hates dandelion's...they mess up his lawn! I can't believe the difference in height between Seth and Beren too. Seth is average for his height and Beren is way above normal for his...Hope Seth's has a growth spirt soon!

Now for the best photos Yet!

Britton takes on Beren!

Funny story behind this...for years Britton would say that she couldn't wait for Beren to get bigger cause when he does"I'm gonna kick his butt." Well that time finally came and look who's turns up on top! hee hee Guess he showed her!

That'll learn her!

What a Hoot! as you can see we had a fabulous weekend! Britton is a fun girl to be around...she keeps us in stitches!

It's so FLIPPIN' Cool!

Guess what I just bought? A Flip! Have you heard of it? Well if not it is one of the coolest lil' gadgets on the market today. (click the link above) It's a very small video camera. So small I can carry it in my pants pocket. It also has a underwater case too! I can't wait to video tape the kids in the pools this summer! I bought it with the hopes of posting Video updates of the kiddos for our extended family to view. I know many of you haven't seen my kids in years so with my new FLIP and YouTube you'll be able to watch them grow before your very eyes. How cool is that?

My first video is of Leia and her banged up body. OUCH! Her whole class went on a 26 mile bike ride on the Sparta Bike Trails for Fitness week and poor Leia girl wipes out when the petal of her bike came off...she was in the standing position to get more speed and BAM the petal slipped off and so did her foot...totally wiped out. She took it well...a little sore now but healing is coming along.

Sorry about the verticle shot...I'm still learning how to use the camcorder and didn't realize that I had to hold it in the horizonal position. Oh well...I'll get better at it...promise. Well off to edit some more vidoes for ya...enjoy!

Leia with all her boo-boos! OUCH!

Can you name this tree?

I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote in my blog. I've been as busy as that bee in my header... above!

Just this month we had both Lily and Britton's Birthdays. Seth went on a Trip to Eagle Bluff. And Greg went to Altanta for a week of work. I've been working on PTO projects and reorganizing my photos the PHOTOFREEDOM way. Organizing my photos probably will take me months if not years to do! One day I will have it all together...maybe when I'm with the LORD!

I love Spring...so glad the weather is warming up. But today we have very gray skies and snow flurries! Can you believe it?

Yesterday weather was warmer with big fat thick clouds. It reminded all of us of Florida skies. Raining one minute and sun shining the next.

I took several beautiful photos of Plants and Trees blooming in my yard yesterday. We didn't plant this tree...so I have no idea what kinda it is...can you name it?

Flower bloom on the tree.

Below are some other things that are growing in our yard too.

Lily had fun splashing in the rain water...she has a very messy PIZZA face too! Doesn't look like she's having fun here but she did! See next photo!

It was her first time playing in the rain! She kept calling it SNOW! She's never seen rain but has seen lots and lots of snow! It was warm yesterday but today freezing cold and very very windy...just a miserable day!

So how's the weather in your neck of the woods?

It's A Beautiful Day!

And it's Mr. Roger's 80th Birthday! Loved watching him when I was a kid. So today I will honor Mr. Roger's by wearing a sweater...even if it is purple! ha ha

Actually, I wear a sweater most days. I have, "living in cold Wisconsin" to thank for that. And being that my scraproom is in my basement I have to wear a sweater to keep warm so I can enjoy my hobby. I love my newly updated scraproom...wish I could spend all day down here but the fact is I have a few sickies home today. So I took time to make it a "Beautiful Day" (as Mr. Roger's would say) for my kiddos by letting them sleep in, watch movies, cooking warm soothing hot meals and drinks to cure what ails them. And for those that have sore throats...some wonderful yummy Bunny Tracks icecream! Can't beat that on the first day of Spring!

Well speaking of Icecream...or cold stuff...we have more snow coming tonight! Expecting 5 to 8 inches! No... no... no...not again...Enough is Enough! All I want from the Easter Bunny is warm, sunny days from here on out! Sadly, I hear more snow is expected on Sunday too...boo hoo! How does one egg hunt in the snow?

Well here's hoping that all my sickies are well by tomorrow...on Good Friday! PLEASE GOD! One wore out Mommy! Gosh... (looking at my photo above) I'm not looking to well either but nonetheless...I'm happy!

Here's hoping all of you have a great Easter Weekend! Many, many blessings your way!

All I can say is WOW!

I've been wanting new shelves in my scraproom for sometime now. It was driving me nuts to have everything sitting around my feet! When we lived in Iowa I had shelves on 2 walls and it held alot...so much that all I had to do was look up...open up one of the many plastic drawers that lined them and viola… there it was...product in hand ready to scrap.
But since we moved in this house all my products and plastic container are on the floor all around my work tables...yes tables...the kind you get a Walmart...plastic buffet tables. They're nice for large tops but horrible to work on. The plastic had too much bounce to hammer eyelets on pages and would melt if I held my heating tool too close...and lets not talk about all the paint it’s covered with.
I could never get a good feel for scrapping in this room. I changed it around so many times I lost count. I only took one photo of my area…wished I had taken more so you can see how bad it really was. This is the only one I have…

Old Style...looks organized but there is tons of plastic containers on the floor around the tables! Couldn't find anothing fast. The tables were wobbly too! SO Furstrating!

So last week after Greg came home from a 5 week business trip...we went out to find some much needed shelves to hang in my room. Instead of us finding shelves...we found an awesome deal at Office Depot. We bought this 8 piece work station for less then $300! At a Whooping 80% savings!

Then he found some wood bookcases at Walmart for $30 each...Greg bought 5 tall ones and one short. And shelves to hang on the wall. Then after we got everything home...put the furniture together...built the bookcases...hung the shelves...Greg went out and bought me a really nice brown leather office chair...it sooo comfortable! Feels so good when you have a broken tail bone!

Total cost for my new room...about $600! Can't beat that!

So here are photos of my new scraproom! Enjoy and eat your hearts out! hee hee

I can't believe how much room I have in here now! I was afraid the desk would take up too much of the floor area. But we have enough across from the main desk that we plan on buying a nice sitting chair for Greg to enjoy...I want to get a massage one for him...he deserves it!

Wall Shelves holds 3 boxes of scrapping trinkets, black paper racks from Hobby Lobby (bought these a few months ago), Scrap rack on Laterial file cabinet!

Main desk area... across the way on the hooks is one of my Purse Alert purses ready to sell on ETSY and where the mauve chair is...that's where we want to put a chair for Greg...lots of room there... enough area there for a loveseat! hee hee

View under my desk. More storage area. Love that I can just reach down and grab things and love that it's all hidden away from view.

Now all my plastic containers have high place to go! Yep hee!

See layout on magnet board to the left? Got that at Office Depot too. Close up photo below.

Metal magnet board...similar to FRED...I think FRED is better. Gonna have to order me one. This one is only 11.5 x 11.5...not big enough to hold a 12x12 page.

Bookcase on the other side of room...love my little TV up high too!

Holds all my albums, mags, photo boxes and fabrics for my purses.

Tall glass jars have flowers and small ones have scrap peices of ribbon in them. Might get the super short ones to hold buttons...love all the colors around me!

Wooden boxes have my clear stamps in them.

And below I made the DIY Clip it up hanger!

I used a metal tension rod rather then the hook screws with dowel rod like the other lady used on her blog.

Huge paper clips cut and bend to make hangers and attached to mini clothes pins to clip things up.

Close up of my DIY Clip it up! Still have lots of room to hang more...

just gotta make more hangers.

Laterial file cabinet holds all my paper scraps in file folders. Top drawer has wooden stamps in plastic boxes from Stampin' Up.

Sewing area where I make my purses. Still need to organize this area!

Greg... the "LOVE of my life" that made it all happen! Thank you honey! You're the man!

I so love my new scraproom and so love you for all your hard work and dedication you showed to making me happy!

Now this is one heck of a scraproom! Isn't it?

If you have any questions please post them in the comment area and I will try to answers them for ya! Thanks for looking!

Finally... BRITTON!

I know alot of you have been wondering about Britton. She calls often and emails me on occassions. And I always ask for some photos of her... finally she sent some. I love, love photo #3...pretty with a lil' sexiness added! hee hee! Here she is...

I miss the old girl! She is happy...working in the Resturant buisness...has a lovely boyfriend, I haven't meet yet but heard lots of great things about him from her. Any man sending flowers to her at work is great in my book! hee hee Love this girl!