Our Family

This picture of our family was taken at Megan and Gregg's wedding in November. Megan is Tim's younger sister. The wedding was absolutely lovely!!! The boys all looked so handsome!!!

Thanks to all the amazing people in my life!

A while ago, I had the opportunity to share a few hours with some amazing women in my life! These women are all unique in their friendships with me. They each have a special place in my heart!!!!! Each and every one of these women bring something to my life to complete the circle of me.!!!!!!!!!!! I am grateful to each and every part of these amazing women!!!!!!!!!

Now, that being said.... There are many amazing and wonderful women in my life! I cherish every person that comes to be parts of my circle of life!!!!!

Thank you to all the amazing and wonderful people in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are all a true treasure!

Love to all that makes the world go round!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My birthday

So here it is on the eve of my 42nd birthday. I'm thankful for all of my family. Tim is wonderful!!! My boys Peter and Benjamin are fabulous!!! All my parents and siblings and nieces and nephews are awesome! My extended family are awesome! My friends are the best!

What can I say, I am truly blessed!!!!!

Happy Anniversary Tim!

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!!! Today, we have been married for 16 wonderful years!!! My life is complete with you in it!!! You, along with Peter and Benjamin, make my world go round and round!

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to School!

Big changes around here! Peter started middle school (6th grade) today and Benjamin started 2nd grade today. Both boys came home and said they had good days! Gotta love that!

I finally ordered the ScrapRack. I've been coveting Katie's for a long time and I finally ordered one. I told Tim it was for our anniversary and my birthday. So since half of it is for our anniversary, he says that a quarter of it is his. No problem, but I'd like a quarter of his help in organizing it. No wait, I don't want that because his answer is to get rid of it all and just buy what you need for each page. What???????? He obviously isn't a scrapper.... But I love him!!!!!

I am up to my eyeballs in centerpieces. Tomorrow I am making 48 centerpieces for the Kookin for Kids (St Vincent's Home) auction that is on Sunday. I am very happy to report that my friend Katie has graciously agreed to help me. Thank Goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She will be here with me tomorrow and may not like me very much after that. Just kidding!!! Seriously, thank goodness she is helping me. Otherwise, I may have quit! What was I thinking?

Ok, so that is my life in a nutshell right now. I know you know that there is always more. But that is it for today!

Have a wonderful day! Hugs to all!!!

Peter was Rockin'

I am so proud of Peter!!!! He did an amazing performance!!!!!!!!! He drummed and sang to two songs. They were "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi and "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks and Van Halen.

Remember this darling face... Someday he will be a famous Peter Gunn!

from our garden

We just picked these from our garden! Woohoo!!!!! The boys are really excited that finally stuff is growing. We lots more cucumbers growing. Lots of green tomatoes, but nothing red. Our corn stalks are bare. Peter is sad that we don't have corn already. The green peppers are doing just ok. The zucchini has the two that we just picked and the yellow squash has just the one so far. The orange mint is growing wild. I need to figure out how to transplant that a little farther over. It is crowding the tomatoes.

Ok, so I'm really not a gardener. But not bad for our first attempt.

Hugs to you all! Monica

Benjamin's bday

I know, I'm a little behind in blogging.... Benjamin turned 8 on May 31. We celebrated his birthday at Spencer's Grill. It was an awesome party!!!! Caroline and Lauren and Melanie are fantastic and really helped make Benjamin's bday special. We love that place and go there almost every Sunday after Mass.

Anyway, Lauren made Benjamin 8 pancakes with candles on top. Benjamin was so excited! I love this picture. It shows just how many bites make up 8 pancakes. So Fun!!!

Basement work has started

Woohoo! So it has only taken 2 months. It seems like forever!!!!!!!!! The water came on May 5 and today they have finally started the drywall taping. I so wish this could have been planned better. But the water didn't see it that way!

I can't wait to get things back to where they belong. Unfortunately, it will probably be another two weeks before things are back in order, but at least the process has finally started!

Hugs!

water everywhere

Tim woke me up this morning at 6:15 am to a major water problem. There was a pipe that broke under the kitchen sink and the kitchen floor was flooded and it leaked through the cabinet and the floor into the basement. The basement took the brunt of the mess. But the dining floor (hardwood) took water as well. The nice guys at Woodard say the hardwood floor and kitchen will be just fine.

The basement is a mess. Luckily Tim hadn't left for work, he was on his way out the door. So we have spent the day bringing everything from the basement to the garage. We have lost some things, but we are fortunate to be able to dry out most. At least it wasn't sewer water.....

The carpet and the pads have just been hauled away by Woodard. Thank goodness they are doing that work. The bags of carpet and pad were dripping wet as they put them on the truck. What a mess! We wanted to clean out and redo our basement this summer, but not this way. Ugh!

Please say a small prayer for me. Things come in three and this is #2 in two days. On Sunday we came home to fine our mailbox was completely taken out of the ground. After we called the police to report it, we found it about an hour later in our neighbors back yard. No, they didn't take it. In fact, he helped Tim put up the new one. Kind of strange. I guess it was someone that didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday night. Hopefully we won't get a third bad thing.

I hope you all are having a great day! I just want to go back to bed and pray that this was a bad dream!

Hugs to all!

I got to meet Stacy!

I am over the top excited that I got to meet Stacy Julian tonight! She is amazing and so delightful! I also got to spend some time with Becky, Barb, her mom, and a new friend, Monica from Ohio. Then I got to spend some time with Kathy and Linda and get and give lots of hugs and smiles! I wish I could have spent the weekend at Scrap St Louis with all of them. Oh well! The weekend is just too busy! Maybe next year.....

Hugs to all! I'll post pics in a few days!

My Peter - the Drummer

As promised, here is a picture of my drummer! Peter did fantastic at the show! He drummed and sang to 5 songs with his band. We are so proud of him!

Have a wonderful day! Hugs, Monica

Yep, I've been tagged! I've been tagged by Kathy. How fun!

This is a Self Portrait Tag

Here are the rules:

* take a photo of yourself....NO primping or preparing.....just snap a photo NOW!

* load onto your blog....

* tag 3 people to play.....can't wait to see what great photos you girls take!!

So my pic was taken with my phone. It is really hard to take a picture of yourself. My first several attemps were very blurry. I am sitting in my very full scraproom! This is my messiest and most happy place in my house! It is 3pm and I'm getting the boys in a half hour.

I'm tagging.....

Pamela Nichols from Digitreats. She has awesome digital kits! Her kids are just adorable!

Stacey Julian from Altogether Too Happy. I just love her blog and her insights to the world we live in! She is one fascinating lady!

Monica from Random Inspirations. She is also a great digital designer. Plus we have the same wonderful name and live in the same city! How cool is that?!!

Ok, ladies, I read your blogs daily. So I want to see your pics.

Have a wonderful day!!! Hugs, Monica

Oops, I completely forgot to post this picture. Here is Kathy Northup, Monica Gunn (me), Author - Joanna Campbell Slan, and Julia Vaughn. The three of us won the trivia contest about Joanna's book - Paper, Scissors Death. This is a great book!!! Kathy, Julia and I actually got 35 out of 35 answers RIGHT!!! Woohoo!!!!! This was a very fun crop at For Keeps Sake. Didn't get much cropping done. But we had a great time!!! I even talked to a radio person that was interviewing Joanna.

Two lost teeth! Peter lost tooth #9 and Benjamin lost his first. Actually Benjamin had his pulled because the new one was already there. We loved having the tooth fairy visit us twice!

What is your word?

What's Your Word?
What's Your Word?-->
Your Word is "Love"
You see life as possibility to form deep connections with a few people.Relationships are the center of your world, and you always take time to bond with those you love.You are caring and giving. You enjoy helping those you love.And when it comes to romantic love, you feel passionately ... even in a very long term relationship.

So check this out! It is a blogthing quiz. It is only 5 questions. How about that... my word is love.

http://blogthings.com/whatsyourwordquiz/

Go do the quiz and tell me your word! What a fun and random thing to do!

hugs,
Monica

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This digital card was made using the Just for You Digi Scraps 'Heart Attack' kit and Valentine word art from April the Scrapoholic.

I just love how it turned out!!! I don't normally change the color of the photo to black and white, but I do love how it works with this card.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Weekend!

Hugs, Monica

Paper Scissors Death

WOW! Have you read this book yet? It is called Paper Scissors Death and it is written by Joanna Campbell Slan.

Let me just tell you that it is very well written! It keeps you interested with scrapbooking stuff and several twists. I am a person that loves to read, I just don't read novels very often. I'm more of a magazine person, because that way I can get through all the pages with lots of interruptions.

But, this book is so good, that I read it while making dinner one night (among other times). So, I'm sure I read it too fast the first time, so I'm reading it again! Love it!!! I have found a few things that I read too fast, but mostly not. GOOD BOOK!!!

Go get it!