We have had a lot of dogs in the neighborhood lately, reported as missing, or found, especially since the fireworks on July 4th. Poor little guys were likely scared and tried to find somewhere to hide. That led to a posting for our county, which somehow led me to the Shih Tzu Lhasa Apso Rescue foundation in Texas. Oh. My. I don't need to say anymore, except that the application is in, I've contacted people to be my references and sent them the questionnaire, and the vet is sending over our current records for review. This will say the rest for us: our first choice:Hopper Cartwright

our second choice:Hans Burke

How beautiful are these little babies? I think Valentino would be in heaven to have a playmate! Maybe I shouldn't have shown the kids yet, as they are very excited. Seems when my hubby is away on an extended trip, this kind of thing tends to happen... :)

We were invited to Christy's Hawaiian 'Get Leied' birthday party this past weekend (she is the wife of my husband's colleague.) We enjoy hanging out with them, they throw such fun parties, it's a house full of Canadians from the office, and we hear familiar words and "accents" that make us feel at home. They just moved into a new neighborhood, and they have a huge field beside their house. (As we were leaving, there was a huge COW not 10 feet from their front door! And 29 or so of his closest friends just wandering around near him! Behind a fence, but still, that was bizarre as we don't live in the country!)

I needed a cute little gift bag or something to give Christy her gift, and I'd been procrastinating about what to do, as I wanted a matching card too. I remembered a single page of punch-out mini bags I got from my friend Lisa just this past week, so I pulled that out and it was perfect! It came with a little matching tag, so no card was needed. Dressed it up with a bit of ribbon and some fabric roses, and ta-dah! All done :)

When I heard that we would be going to the party, I found a site on Amazon of a lady that makes and sells wooden earrings (Christy cannot wear anything with a metal post.) LOVED these earrings, 100% wood, and dark, like I've seen her wear before. And the best part, the maker of them lives in Texas, so I received them in just days. Christy really liked them, and said she will enjoy wearing them.

While we were inside, talking and laughing, and nibbling on the tons of food, and of course drinking just a tiny bit (champagne & pineapple juice punch, with strawberries and pineapple chunks added!), the kids were all playing upstairs. And there were a lot of kids, mostly boys. Nicholas & Benjamin were having a great time with Ryder & Dani and all the others. While we were laughing and talking, the kids somehow just managed to sneak into the back yard and get going on the slip and slide. Nicholas did ask me if he could play on it, which I had to say no to, as we didn't bring any change in clothes. Not five minutes later, a parent came in and said, "You know your boys are sliding and are all wet. Didn't you say no?" Yes, yes I did. But really, how could they resist? All the other kids were playing and having fun, and honestly, water isn't going to hurt anyone. The only problem was that once they were done playing, we had to leave right away, as they were truly soaked.

So, we stayed for a good time, not a long time :) We came, got leied, ate, drank, laughed and had fun. Wish Ed had been able to be home so he could come with us too. I know he had been looking forward to it, and some former coworkers that have moved on to another company were there, he would have enjoyed catching up with them. Oh, well, next time.

I love reading before bed. Often, especially if I'm getting close to the end of a good book, I'll keep reading until either I finish it, or my eyes are rolling, I'm reading the same paragraph over and over and not comprehending, or my hands let go as I nod off and the book smacks me. You know that's a good story huh? LOL!!! One thing I have to say that makes me sad is when you have a great story that you are reading, and you can't wait to get to the end, but at the same time, you don't want it to be over. When I find a book like that, it's a must buy, in paperback or hardcover, and it must become part of my library. I love my kindle fire, and I enjoy reading on it, but if it's a keeper, it becomes a tangible part of our home.

This is my latest that I've finished. I stayed up late Friday night to finish it. It didn't end how I wanted, but it was bittersweet, and I love all my Nicholas Sparks books. If heaven forbid, my house were to burn down, we would grab our kids, pets, external drive of photos, our important documents, some scrapbooks, and my favorite novels.

I had to post these, not only because I love them and want to share them, I have to remember that this is on my MUST have list when Archiver's stocks them. This is the new Serenity line by Bo Bunny. Love all things BB, but this one is the first in a while that screams out my name. SO beautiful - I'm thinking I may finally scrapbook my wedding photos! (I've held out, thinking I don't have the skill to do them justice; it's only been 13 years LOL!)

It's been a while since I posted, busy (crazy busy) with our new swim team, but the season is over now, with the exception of a couple of board meetings and our end of year party - yaay! The kids love anything to do with the water, and we've been enjoying our neighborhood pool and our friends' pools often.

We've celebrated Canada Day and July 4th the American way - fireworks and barbecuing. The kids love playing outside with Daddy while he is cooking. It's certainly getting hot out - we have hit 100F more than once already, so we are very near our summer 'hibernation' that we do each year. Other than the pool, we'll likely stow away inside until September LOL!!

So, I think I've made up for being awol for the last little while... One big post to catch up on things. Hopefully I can get a little more scrappy time in, but I've got one last set of pics from my last time out scrapping with Nicole and Zulema -

I love this card design, it's quick and easy to make, and it's the perfect way to make a gift card 'stand out'. Thanks to the splitcoaststampers.com site for always having such great inspiration. My son has a birthday party to go to today, so of course I waited until yesterday to buy a gift card and make a card. Love how this turned out - the kid is 8... I'm thinking he'll like it :)

Photo Book

I've never been one to do digital photography much, but I owed it to Benjamin to get a baby book done for him. It's no where near enough detail, so I will still be able to scrapbook my favorite moments, and I have done many of them already, but to have this for us to look through together, he will love it! You never know... I may have to do Nicholas' first year this way too!

It's been a busy day for us today. We were expecting thunderstorms all day, but the didn't arrive until this evening. It's still booming and flashing outside. I have a feeling two little boys will be camping out in the puppy tent in our bedroom tonight.

Wet morning grass always brings out the slugs; Nicholas loves looking at them, and he protects them, he won't let the other kids step on them, and he loves to watch them and talk to them, because 'they are a part of nature.' Sweet!

We got Nicholas off to school, then we drove Daddy to work. Had a very spontaneous / weird coincidence - I was just asking Benjamin if we should go visit Misty and Miss Jane today, and my phone rang - Miss Jane herself, asking us if we could hang out today. Weird, huh?! That's what I love about her - we are so on the same wavelength! So, we drove Daddy off to work, and went to the used book store to meet Jane. Found some books, quick stop at Starbucks, then to her house. Her puppy dog is soooo huge! (Have to get my other camera to upload pics of her, omg! She's adorable!) We visited and talked a mile a minute, then went to Kublai Khan, my favorite Mongolian restaurant for lunch - my belated birthday lunch! Thanks girl! It's always awesome there! As it wasn't time to go into Houston to get Ed yet, we sacrificed and went to Archiver's where we did just a little bit of shopping. Founds some fantastic summer sun and fun stuff, will make a great mini album! Went into Houston, and picked up Ed, made it home just in time to get little man from the school bus. Couple minutes at home, some quick Swim Team business stuff, then off to practice we went. The kids are doing such an amazing job. I'm sure Nicholas will be swimming independently next week, he's doing so well, and Benjamin isn't far behind him, he will too! Quick stop at the drug store, then McDonald's for cheater supper. Had planned on watching some tv shows but we got sidetracked by the weather warnings and tornado warnings. Made some coffee and went outside, watching the dark skies and the clouds. Realized then that I have until Monday to finish my photo book online, so I had to get to it. Luckily almost all the pics were in, so I'm just going back and adding the journaling, and some pretty embellishments, then my Sunday night, I'll be ready to order. It's of Benjamin's first year, and it's so adorable! Think I'll have to do one for Nicholas bug too! Anyway, it got way later than I'd expected, and I'll be the boys are still up watching tv with Daddy... think it's time to go do some tuck ins!