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Happy Birthday to me!

Please enjoy 34% off all my designs at the lilypad! Even my collab with Amy Martin is marked down! All retiring items are marked off 75% and will be removed from the store Friday morning!

This week has been exhausting.

And for no reason! I think I'm just feeling "off". I'm slowly getting used to school routines and earlier bedtimes. I had lots to blog about, but didn't have the energy to put together an entry. I'm getting so lazy!

Last Thursday evening we had a visitor to our house. This sweet little black kitten was stuck in the window well of our house. We went out and rescued him and brought him into the house. He was such a sweetie! Every time we put him down on the floor to explore he would go over to someone and jump into their lap, curl up and start to purr. If it wasn't for the allergies and the fact that Cameron and I are so excited to put new carpet in our newly cat less basement, I think we would have kept him. In fact in a moment of weakness we told the animal control lady to put our name on the list to adopt him. But after more consideration we decided against it. I'll admit the timing was unusual. We had just lost Chloe the week before. Even Cameron wondered if someone was trying to tell us something! Here's a layout about it:

The kids have a four day weekend starting today. I had to watch all the kids for a while today, made for a busy morning. Will was in a tired cranky mood which made it fun. We are going to the state fair tomorrow with my brothers family. Both Scott and I were reminiscing about going to the fair every year where grandpa lived. I remember the animals and the paddle fish they would pull out of the Missouri river and place in this big holding tank. I haven't been to the fair in probably 10 years, so this will be fun (I hope!). My family isn't big on the rides, but I still think we can make a day of it.

We got a new van yesterday!! My old minivan was in rotten shape. I couldn't even get out of the driveway! It wouldn't want to go in gear...so I'd rev it up until it went backwards, then rev it up until it went forwards...repeat several times until I felt comfortable enough to go out into the semi-busy street. In fact the last three times I tried to reverse out of the driveway it sounded like I ran over a bicycle! It was awful! So we got a Honda Odyssey. It's a few years old and the drop down DVD player doesn't work, but oh well...I can get out of the driveway!! Yippee!!

I had new releases in the store last week, and didn't even post about it. So sorry!!! Two new paper packs...fun stuff!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Today was the first.

Day of school that is! And the first day since I've had school age kids that it has rained on the first day of school. We all got SOAKED running across the street! So there were no traditional first day of school photos taken outside the front door. No photos of them waiting in line on the playground. Bummer! Everyone had a good first day except for Kirby who had a run in with another fourth grade teacher at lunch. Kirby is not a trouble maker and was in tears telling me about it. Poor thing! What teacher takes away recess for talking during lunch on the FIRST day of school? I hope he has a better day tomorrow!

Kyra had an eye Dr. appt after school. We're going to try contacts for the first time. She has astigmatism so she needs her contacts custom made and they still might not work, but we have an amazing eye dr. who really works with us to make sure everything is perfect before we spend a dime! So nice!

Then we went to the middle school for her PST. It's basically a get to know the teachers, curriculum, etc. It's great for the parents to have faces for all those names! Kyra's Social Studies teacher was my teacher for chorus and director of our small singing/dancing group 20 years ago. She hasn't aged at all really and she remembered my name! I was SHOCKED!

Well, I had better start scrapping so I have some pretty things for you to look at. Scrapping...ahhh, I remember the days when I scrapped a page a day! LOL!

Off to bed! These first few days back into a routine are exhausting for everyone...including mom!

Today I was sorta productive.

The morning started out completely lazy. I slept in, check the computer, made some orange rolls, read the paper, checked the computer again...really boring mundane things. The Cameron and the boys decided to head out of town for a baseball card show. I knew I should take advantage and do some serious cleaning and maybe some shopping with Kyra.

I got the kitchen cleaned (still have to mop the floor and clean out a cupboard), the bathroom cleaned and dejunked the entire linen closet. Kyra cleaned the living room for me and then watched "Don't tell Mom the Babysitters Dead". Cameron called at 4:30 to say that his sister was having her b-day party at 6pm and if we'd be ready. Kyra and I made a quick stop at Kmart for school junk and then met them at the inlaws for pizza and 2 different kinds of pies for dessert.

So, not too exciting really. I have a big list of stuff to get done tomorrow. School starts Monday!!!

I want to point you in the direction of some good digi-shopping! Catscrap is having their one year anniversary celebration and sale. Everything is 25% off and they have a HUGE kit free with $15 purchase. Go check out all the new goodies!

Well, today felt weird.

It was my last day with all 6 kids and as much as I have looked forward to school starting, I don't like change and I'm kinda sad. My one niece is changing schools and will take a bus and will no longer be at my house every morning before school. Scott quit his full time job to work at his photography studio and he will probably drop Hannah off at school before dropping Will off at my house. So, I may not see her much either. My mornings will be so quiet and BORING.

Time for new schedules, new routines, and new beginnings. I'm going to use it as a start to getting in shape again. Yes, I said again. Have I ever really accomplished getting in shape? Maybe once in my entire life. But if you don't have goals you'll never achieve anything, right?

Even my digi-world felt weird today. The winds of change are blowing. I can feel it. I'm considering some changes of my own. I want to increase my business and be as successful as I can. That means thinking ahead, creating new opportunities, and expanding my exposure. It always surprises me what works in this business and what doesn't. You just never know!

I want to scrap. I want to get back to my roots. I want to make meaningful layouts, not just beautiful layouts. It's so easy to get caught in the intoxicating world of "glamour" scrapping. I love creating visually stunning pages, but in doing so I forget to focus on the real reason I scrap...to tell our stories.

So, let's talk about Starbucks. Why is it so successful? Why do I love it so? It's so expensive and the calories are doing me no favors. So, why do I keep going back? Talk about great marketing and a great product!!

So, want to see my bright products I talked about last night?

There is a really cute story that goes with these products:

My 9 year old son was creating a picture on the computer. I overheard him tell his brother he had made it "dark in the glow". Assuming he got it mixed up I said "you mean glow in the dark". He said "no...I mean dark in the glow". I looked over and just giggled at the site of a dark grey bunny in the middle of a neon yellow green room. His bunny really was "dark in the glow"!

I really love these painted tapes. And the best part is you can get them free with $8 purchase.

Any plans for the weekend? I need to get this house and my kids ready for school to start on Monday!

Wow...today was even busier than yesterday!


I spent three hours this morning with Kirby in the allergist office. He had a bunch of skin tests done. 32 small skin tests and 2 needle (under the skin) tests. He is very allergic to dust mites. To tell you the truth, I was surprised it was as reactive as it was. We've always been concerned with the food and pet allergies and here under our noses was the biggest culprit of all! His milk allergy still showed up and his dog and cat allergies (the ones they did under the skin) reacted really badly.


After that we went home to make the kids lunch (I still have 6 to feed until Monday and then it's down to 1!!) and spent the next three hours watching kids. After my brother picked up the kids, Kirby said "Mom, can we go do the blood test now". This is a huge shock!! For the past 3 years he has avoided the blood draw like it was the torture chamber! He had a very bad experience when he was two and I don't think he ever recovered from it. So, we headed off for an afternoon of running errands. First the blood draw....he did SOOOOOO well! I'm so proud of him, that was a big hurdle he crossed and next time I don't think he'll be as afraid. Then we had to drop some school forms off at the allergists (yes, I should have brought them in the morning, oops). Then I went to the eye dr. to have them fix my glasses that Will destroyed. Finally we went to the mall to get Kirby a webkin for being so brave.


I had two and a half hours to think about supper before Kyra had to be at school so I ordered pizza. Why not? While Kyra was at school, the boys and I picked up last minute school supplies at Shopko and Kmart. And now the day is basically over! I feel like I haven't sat down at all today!


I'm going to put up my new stuff in the store later tonight. Wanna see? Both the paper and the elements will be on sale 20% off Friday and Saturday.

And if I get them finished I also have something else in wild and crazy colors!

What a day! These last few days before school starts are feeling anything but like a vacation. Today I took Kyra and Kirby to the orthodontist. Kirby has to have 4 baby teeth pulled to make room for his permanent teeth to come in. He has an allergist appt. in the morning for allergy skin testing. He thinks going through two different kinds of torture in such a short period of time should be rewarded with at least a new toy. We have webkin fever here in the Wolff household, but he's eyeing an E-Pet?? They are twice as much, but Kirby thinks the online games look more fun than webkins.

We also had the open house at the school for the boys. Kyler has the same second grade teacher that Kyra and Kirby had, we like him so I'm excited for that. We met Kirby's fourth grade teacher for the first time and my first impression is that she is a good teacher. Fingers crossed!

Kyra is in 8th grade this year, her final year in middle school. She was picked to be a WEB leader which means she helps welcome the incoming sixth graders. I swear we were just heading off to her sixth grade orientation!! Where does the time go? Wow.

In scrapbook news, I have a new paper set and element pack coming out Friday. Very boy, and very grungy. Great colors, I can't wait to show you! I also finished up a fun element pack tonight. Something I've been thinking about for awhile and I have no idea if they will be considered a cool element or not, but I like them!!

Lastly before I go to bed, Thank you all for the kind comments about Chloe. It feels so lonely downstairs now. She used to be Kyra's alarm clock...I could just open her bedroom door, and Chloe would take care of the rest! This morning I went to wake her up and really expected Chloe to be meowing waiting to get in. I guess she'll have to use a real alarm clock now. :(

I'm so sad.

Our 13 year old cat had to be put to sleep tonight. She'd been having trouble jumping on things for the past few days and just today I thought maybe she hadn't been up the stairs to get her food and water for a while. She'd also lost some weight in the last month. Well, she started struggling to breathe this afternoon and I knew it wasn't good. I thought I could be brave and take her to the vet myself, but I just couldn't. I finally asked Cameron if he would do it since he had less of an emotional connection. I'm so glad he was here to do that!! Kyra went with to hold her in the car, but she didn't want to go in. I'm really sad, but I'm glad that she didn't have to struggle and be in pain or scared.

Here's a layout I did last year of her. She was a beautiful cat.

Today is the launch of the Lilypad blog! There will be challenges, new product announcements, and important Pad news. Be sure and stop by and see the first challenge! It's a fun one and there's prizes to win. http://www.the-lilypad.com/blog/

We have over 20 new products in the Froggy Finds section of the store where everything is under $2! These products all coordinate and are fantastic!

http://www.the-lilypad.com/store/home.php?cat=22

Here are my three new products. Some paper and glitter, can't get much better than that right?

I hope you've enjoyed all the pretty Lilypad colors. I know they make me smile!! Have a great Monday!