Spent the afternoon swimming in Grandma's pool. All of the cousins were at ballgames so it was just Sydney, Shaun and Mommy in the pool. Grandma sat in her lawn chair and watched us. On the drive home, the kids were so tired that they fell asleep. The pool does that to you!

I had a funny Sydney story from last weekend and I don't think it got posted. Shaun had quite a little attitude thing going on and at one point I told him to lose the attitude. Well, later in the day, I was driving with both Sydney and Shaun in the van. Sydney was trying to have a pleasant conversation with Shaun and he turned his back on her. Sydney looks at him and says, "Lose the attitude Shaun."

Moving right along. Last night we went to Indianola to watch the hot air balloons. When Shaun saw his first one going over head he said, "That balloon pop!" It took awhile before he was convinced that the balloons weren't going to pop.

We had a great spot to watch. We parked at the Indianola middle school and the balloons flew directly over our heads. And I didn't take my camera. Then, when it was over, we went out of town the back way so that we could continue watching the balloons and we were able to watch two of them land in fields near the car.

The picture above was taken in June. Sydney was trying on the Speedo goggles. She looks a little bit like an alien if you ask me. The papers are from Melissa Rose's freebie "Antonym Collection V1" at oscraps.com The font is Joyful Juliana.

It has been almost two years since the pics above were taken. Which means that it has been almost two years since we traveled to China to bring home Sydney. I need to do the math several times in my head when I say that because it seems to me that it has been more than two years! How could we have lived a life before Sydney...I'd say impossible! And now, after three months with Shaun, I try to imagine a life with only one child...and again it is impossible. How blessed we are! (Even when I can hear shouts of "Mine, mine" and "I had it first" coming from the basement!)

Everything used in the layout comes from Tina Williams Creative Team kit. The letters for the Great Wall of China use the font "Impact" and a picture I took of the Great Wall as filler.

This was also a layout that I did for the ADSR (Amazing Digital Scrapping Race). We needed to do a layout based on 3 Wishes, or Once Upon a Time. I love this layout...it's probably my favorite that I've ever done. It's our story...and it's such a wonderful story! You can see the credits by clicking on this link. http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=152873&cat=all&ppuser=4621

I'm participating in a digital scrapbooking challenge. I've paired up with a digital friend from the China Digital Scrapbooking group and we've entered what is called the Amazing Digital Scrapping Race. For this layout I needed to do a page on goals...so this is my attempt! As I approach the big 5-0 in October, my goals are the same things that I yell at the kids at the end of ballgames. So this is my interpretation of my goal! Credits can be found here http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=153512&cat=all&ppuser=4621

Sydney was home today with a high fever. I had vendor demos for a project I'm on so Sydney stayed home with Daddy.
Right now, Daddy and Shaun have gone to the office so Sydney and I are in bed watching Happy Feet. And, of course, I'm playing on the 'puter!

I've got a funny Sydney story that I haven't been posted yet. One night last week, Sydney and I were sitting at the kitchen table visiting. Sydney looked at me and in a totally serious voice said, "You happy Linda?" I have no idea where that came from...but it cracked me up! I answered that I am very happy. I have a couple of new scrapbook pages but I'm having trouble posting pictures tonight so they will need to wait.

The doorbell rang in the middle of my last post and cut it short. Zeb and Grandma had been out driving and stopped to visit. Zeb got his permit last week and he's always happy to find someone who will drive with him. So far he has managed to get his dad, mom, grandma, uncle and aunt to drive with him! He's a very persuasive boy!

We went to watch Zeb play baseball yesterday and got some pretty good pics. Then, last night when Zeb came to visit, Syd and Shaun were in the sandbox. Zeb joined the fun and so now I've got some good pics of Syd and Shaun being buried in the sandbox. Watch for scrapbook pages!

The one that I just posted is an extraction of Sydney doing the splits. And that is why Miss Syd is in gymnastics...she's always doing stuff like this! I was really just practicing doing extractions (which is like using scissors to cut out a picture) and this one took on a life of its own. The paper, frame and bubbles are from the Liquid kit at ztampf.com. The mermaid, fish, grass, etc all come from Kay Miller's kit, The Blue Lagoon. The fonts are Swing Set BB and Elegance.

Here's a picture of Syd. I'm going to do another layout with some of these pics. They were taken today before we went to Zeb's ballgame. Sydney is normally not much of a girly girl. But today, she definitely had some style to her look! I put her hair in a pony and tucked the long bangs (that are at an awkward length because we are trying to grow them out) into a bling bling bobby pin.

The papers are from Tina Williams Faith kit and the frame is from Jen Patrick's Light Brites Sampler.

So here I am----behind again! Gymnastics went very well. Sydney was saying that she wasn't going but Shaun was READY! When the door opened to the gym, he almost knocked people over getting there. And then I said, "Shaun, what about your sister?" He stopped, turned around and came back to take Sydney's hand in his and led her to the door. It was a moment that makes a Mommy's heart proud!

Once in the gym with Shaun, Sydney's competitive juices started to flow and both kids were jumping and tumbling. It was so much fun to watch. Brian and I sat and kept saying did you see that? I thought that after watching so many kids (Hannah, Zeb, Sarah, Abby) do so many things that I might not get so excited but I was wrong! I still think that the kids I love do it (whatever "it" is) best.

Then we went to Kearney for a long weekend and saw our last Miss Basketball tournament. I'll miss Kearney in the summer! Hannah's leg really is hurting her so she didn't play much. But what a treat we had as she hung out with us. She ate with us and went to the mall with us and sat with us to watch ballgames. I LOVE watching Hannah play basketball, but I LOVE SO MUCH MORE when I can spend time with her.

Last night we celebrated Zeb's birthday. He turned 14 over the weekend. Everyone was there. Angie and I were in the pool with all of the kids. Another incredible treat. All seven Noel grandkids were in the pool at once...laughing and screaming and driving Grandma and Papa's neighbors crazy I'm sure!

The two layouts here are new. I used the freebie Ice Fire kit from Melissa Rose along with one of her frames for the butterfly layout.

The other layout is from the Great Platte River Road Monument at Kearney. This is the first time that the kids have been to a museum.

I'm so excited! I have a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Kearney! We will be there in time to watch Hannah's team play on Friday afternoon. This is my last year in Kearney...I'll probably get a little choked up over that.

Ok, here is my funny Sydney story! Last night as we got ready for bed, Sydney wanted to look at my fingernails. She then told me that I needed to paint my finger nails so they would be pretty. She then added that I needed to paint my toe nails also and that they needed a beach ball on them. (I think that is Michelle P's fault because her toes had red polish and fireworks on them last week and Sydney saw them.)

Well, I don't want Sydney going through life feeling that she has an old, fat, decrepit mom so I ran out and had a pedicure tonight. The first in my long life. My nails have red polish with two white hearts.

Tomorrow night is gymnastics. Sydney has attended two weeks and has yet to do anything. But tomorrow night, Shaun joins her in the gym. He is soooo excited! I'll let you know how it goes!

I've posted two layouts. The one with Brian and Sydney uses a free kit called Icefire from Melissa Rose and the Scripture is from her Word Art. She can be found at oscraps.com

The one with just Sydney is using a free kit from Weeds and Wildflowers called Seeds.

Shaun is definitely my goof ball! He is such a ham! One of the first phrases he learned was "Take a picture of me!" So this page is dedicated to my goof ball boy!

I used Blog Template 11 from Misty Cato as well as her "Beautiful You" kit re-colored for pages and elements!

This was such a hard page for me to scrap. Shaun and Sydney were going to the zoo with daycare on July 5th. We were told that we need to put them in red shirts to make them easier to keep track of. No problem for Sydney. I can't tell you how many red shirts she has but I can tell you that there isn't a color that they could have named that we would have caused a problem. Sydney has plenty of clothes. As a matter of fact, one of her cousins suggested that she needs a closet just for swimsuits. That isn't quite true...she only has five.

But Shaun is a boy and hasn't been here as long and he's older and he just doesn't have as many clothes. (He does have two pair of swim trunks however.)

So, Daddy went to Target and came home with three red shirts. When Shaun came home that night, Daddy told him to go to his room and look at what was on his bed. Shaun came running out and was so excited. He kept repeating over and over "All mine...all mine." I've never seen a child as excited over a gift. Let alone a gift of three red t-shirts from Target.

And that makes it a hard page to scrap. Because I'm grateful that there will be a day when Shaun isn't so excited about three red shirts because he is used to "things". But it breaks a Mommy's heart to know that her little boy had such a shortage of "things". I pray for all the children of the world tonight who don't have "things" including food and a bed and the love of a parent!

Another weekend gone! We spent lots of time in the pool today. I actually got a few pictures because Angie, Sarah, Abby and Beka were all in the pool with us. So Angie took Shaun and Sarah took Sydney and I got out and grabbed the camera. I'm sure some scrapped photos will show up soon.

In the meantime, I couldn't help but scrap this one of Sydney from the 4th of July. Yes, I know that her bangs are in her eyes...we are trying to grow them out and I'm always on the verge of giving up. But, then we would have gone through this torment for nothing! So, I continue to hang in there.

The page above uses pages from Jessica Alger -- Hero papers.

Since Hannah is playing basketball in Oregon and I'm in Iowa, I'm feeling a little bit out of sorts! I skipped Sioux Falls since she was injured and not playing. I've skipped Oregon because the thought of dragging 2 children under age 5 on an airplane to Oregon to sit in gyms and watch basketball was rather frightening. And, although I've got my vacation time scheduled for Friday and Brian has taken the weekend off, I still can't find a hotel room in Kearney! I'd be willing to pay big bucks too!

So, in honor of the little girl who has now grown up enough to be away from her family for a very long time, I did this page.

All products are from Tracy Robinson's Lucky Dip grab bag. Paper - Tracy Ann Peekaboo GlitterLOVE - Tracy Ann Flower TitlesNotepaper - Tracy Ann Folded NotesFont - Mia's scribblings

We are half way through 2007. Time is going way too fast and I can't keep up. My intentions are to post daily...but as you can see, I'm doing good to post twice a week. Oh well, something is better than nothing.

We celebrated the 4th of July. That's never been a really good holiday for me...lots of different reasons. One year my dog got ran over, one year I was at a debate camp all alone in the dorms at KU (before cell phones so I couldn't even talk to anyone), one year I was so sick, one year we were driving through Indianapolis returning home from a disastrous ending to 12 and Under AAU basketball... I could go on!

But this year was wonderful. I had two children waving their American flags and picking up candy thrown in the parade. They were assisted by their cousins who love them. Everyone was together except Hannah (who is traveling for basketball). We watched the parade, we went to the park, we played in the pool and we had a picnic! It was truly a wonderful day.

The page above shows Sarah with Shaun and Sydney. Sarah could have ridden on a float with her softball teammates. Instead she chose to watch the parade with her cousins from China! It is no wonder that I love this girl!

The scrapbook page uses papers from the Hero megakit and the Liberty kit. Amy W. did the Liberty papers, J Alger Hero papers, template is Stars and Stripes from scrapleaps.com and elements from M. Colbert and Brandi West.

Sydney's new thing is walking around the house and pushing her Mommy or Daddy from behind and saying "Pain in the butt"! Quite interesting visual and I'm going to try to keep from getting any pictures of this!

Shaun loves to go to Papa and Grandma's to the pool. He starts in talking about his swimming suit the moment we get in the car. And he loves hugs and kisses at bedtime. The other night I gave him a kiss when I tucked him into bed and I turned to leave.

"Hug and kiss" he exclaimed. I said, "I did just kiss you." But then I realized that I hadn't sang "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too?" I didn't know it but he loves that part. So, when I sang it to him he threw his arms around my neck and really hugged! And he kissed me without wiping it off! Nine weeks he has been with us...doesn't seem possible!

Pictures above are from Easter (Hannah and Sydney) and Memorial Day (Sydney and the moon). I'll post credits tonight.