Happy Birthday to my old stomping grounds...Scrap4Life! I was fortunate enough to be on the design team for this fabulous site and they are having a BIRTHDAY CROP! So many awesome challenges, can't wait to get to work! Go check it out, there will be some killer prizes too!

Ok, thanks for the help with the pics for the card...now to help me with the actual card! It's nothing fancy, but I like the "simple" look for my xmas cards...

Which one do you like best?

Two posts in ONE week?!?!? GASP!!! ;)

I frequent the June 2008 mommies board at Baby Center and lots of moms have been posting belly pics...well, I'm being brave...I'll blame it on my drugs, I have a migraine and am not thinking straight!

So here I am (in all of my lovely post-full-work-day glory...jammie pants and all...with the shirt I wore to school..how ghetto! LOL) This is at 13 weeks 3 days, thank GOD this is my third kid, I feel like I look GINORMOUS! Just wait! LOL



And the kids at school dont know yet, at least I haven't TOLD them...just waiting to see who has balls big enough to ask me..lmao

Don't need to mention it's been FOREVER again! (not that many people read up on me...lol) Had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend here, Vince was home, got almost ALL of my Christmas shopping done, the house is decorated, AND I got some pics of the kids to potentially use for the Christmas cards...but I NEED HELP! I don't know which ones I like...here are a few of my favorites, I'm thinking of MAYBE a collage of 3, one of each of the kids alone and then one of them together...I don't know, I'm not good at deciding these kinds of things! LOL

At any rate...here ya go!
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Ok, so my DT gig at Busy Bee is beyond awesome...I love all of the other girls on the team (talk about UBER TALENTED) and Heather, the owner, runs quite possibly one of the COOLEST sites on the net...super sweet, awesome customer service, and GENEROUS....wanna know how generous she is????

First of all, she offers this super sweet deal called "Busy Bee Bucks" Everytime you chat, you earn bucks that you can turn around and spend in her store!!! HELLO?!?!?!?! How friggin cool is that? Earn shopping $$ just for talking???? And NOW, there is a new contest going on and you have to get your hineys RIGHT HERE and check it out! Ok, so a CUTTLEBUG just for chatting??? Do I need to mention again how rockin' awesome Heather is??? I THINK NOT!

So all ya need to do is register, introduce yourselves (tell 'em I sent ya) and then jump in all of the fun we have on the boards, easy enough, right!!!!!! Can't wait to see you all over at Busy Bee !!!!!!!

Well, here we are on day 2 of being 30...not so bad so far! LOL In one week Vince will be gone, hard to believe he has to leave again! Thankfully he has weekends to come home and will get all of the same vacation/liberty time that he would have gotten by being stationed down here. It's just going to be hard during the week especially now....
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SURPRISE! Montgomery baby #3 is on the way!!!!!!!!!!!! We're so excited and although the timing isn't great with Vince leaving, I'll figure it out....right???????????????

UGH...notice how most of my posts lately start off "BAD BLOGGER"?!?!?! LOL Part of the problem is I can't sign in to create new posts when I'm at school (darn web blockers..BAD TEACHER! LOL) and by the time I get home, I forget about it...until I get to school again, can't log in--- the vicious cycle continues!

Anyhoo....LOTS going on here! Some major life changes coming up for our family...one I can't spill quite yet but the other is a HUGE career move for Vince! A lot of you know he flies the Cobra attack helicopter, WELL the Marine Corps has come out with a "new and improved" version of his helo....SO he has been chosen as one of the west coast guys who will be trained on this latest version of the Cobra! Awesome, right? He'll be a part of a historical change for the Corps and he'll have SO much fun doing it...awesome, right??? WELL, he has to go TAD (temporary assigned duty) to a base 3 hours north of here. Meaning he'll be gone Monday-Friday and HOPEFULLY will make it home every weekend...not so awesome, right??? :) I haven't been a "geographically single mom" in quite a while and was looking forward to 2-3 years of not having to do it at ALL. BUT he's very excited about this and it's a wonderful opportunity so my potential hang-ups about it would be a stupid reason for him to say no!

I look at it this way, I'll get lots of scrap-therapy in during the week while he's gone! That's IF I can manage to stay sane juggling a full time job, house, and 2 kids! Calgon take me away.................

HORRIBLE BLOGGER! I have now been yelled at by THREE friends to update...so thanks to Nancy, Janice, and Lucy I am now updated! :) And special thanks to other bloggy/scrappy friend Pat for helping me figure out how to put active links within a post! :)

Ok, so school has officially started and I miss my summer vacation! I love my kids though, I have a really good group this year (so far, anyway!) Sam is LOVING first grade and is getting pretty darn good at reading, she's growing up too fast! Alex turned 3 last week and I'm so sad that I have no baby left :( He's all "guy" now (we get yelled at if we call him a big boy...he says he's a "guy")And SUPER fun...got to FINALLY meet my super crazy talented friend Nancy from the Netherlands!!! She and her adorable boyfriend Pascal are doing a whirlwind vacation along the west coast and I got to hang out with her and Janice for a few hours last weekend, she is a DOLL and I wish both she and Janice lived next door! :)

So there ya go...hopefully it won't be 3 weeks before I update again, if that's the case girls..come after me!

HUGE DORK......yep, that's me....rushing to get Sam to soccer practice the other night, carrying Alex to go across the street totally FELL off the curb, twisted my ankle (effectively spraining it) and scraped up my knee BIG time....yep, huge dork. I was limping like a moron, bleeding everywhere, and as it turns out we were at the wrong damn field so she missed practice anyway! LOL I can finally walk normally again but my knee is still scraped up and hurts like crazy...yep, huge dork...did I mention that yet????

FINALLY home! I LOVE going back to Minnesota to visit but sometimes it's more exhausting than relaxing...always so much that we want to do, so many people we want to see, it doesn't always work out but we had a blast! Now it's back to the regular routine before school starts....BOO! Sam starts soccer tonight and she's so excited, and I've gotten roped into being a team manager so I'm officially a "soccer mom"! Looking forward to MAYBE relaxing a bit now that we're home!!!

So since I can't manage to get PUBBED I'm going to try to get UNPUBBED! :) I am getting on a plane in 3 hours yet I just HAD to squeeze in some non-existent extra time to crank this baby out! :) (Shhhhhhh.....it's a DT one too.....)

My sweet girl on her birthday...for some challenges over at Scrap4Life (scrap a birthday and use stickers..I used SEVENTEEN stickers! I didn't even know I had that many! LOL)

I'm feeling super energetic right now and I hope that means I'll be able to tackle a lot of the stuff that's on my to do list! We leave for 3 weeks on Wednesday so that means the house needs to be clean, laundry needs to be done, suitcases need to be packed, and my August DT assignments need to be done before we go.......so I have lots to do, hopefully I can actually be productive today! :)

Last night was one of those nights I felt like quite possibly the SHITTIEST mother ever.....Sam had a meltdown last night at about 11:00.....I tried SO hard to stay calm and maintain SOME patience but she just kept freaking out, kicking, screaming, crying...it was a doozy! I HAD to walk away, I couldn't calm her down, couldn't rationalize with her, and coddling and comforting was the LAST thing I wanted to do...my patience had totally gone away and I had to walk out before I did something regrettable. Then of course "Daddy the hero" walked in, laid down with her and she INSTANTLY calmed down...I felt like shit and about 2 inches tall. I HATE moments like that, when I feel like a crappy mom, doing things I swore I'd never do.....ugh.......

HOLY CRAYOLA! I figured out how to do something on my blog that wasn't stamped on my forehead, written in a "Blogging for Dummies" guide or written out step by step by someone smarter than me!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! Looky here! --------->

So very very very proud of myself.....now if I can just figure out how to do active links/hyperlinks within a post I'll be THRILLED!

Ok, so I was tagged about a month ago by my friend Lucy (yet another reason to check my stinkin' blog more often!) :) The topic was "Summer Resolutions" so here goes:

1. Spend WAY more time with the kids!!

2. Read more!

3. Call my grandparents regularly

4. Get together with my college girlfriends for more than 2 hours while I'm home this summer!

5. Put my HUGE stack of layouts into page protectors (and albums if I'm feeling really ambitious!)

Ok, I'd tag more people but have no idea how...I've tried doing the active links but I suck at this..lol

Vince is gone again...BOOOOOOO.....he'll be home on Friday but it still sucks, no matter how long he's gone! But at the same time it's nice for us to have a little break, gives us a little perspective and appreciation for each other! :) I do manage to get a lot done while he's gone though, Sam and I spent 2 hours mucking out her room on Sunday afternoon....3 trash bags and 3 give-away bags later, it looks SO good in there, we'll see how long it lasts! Got the yard cleaned up, the house picked up, and of course some scrapping done! This is the latest page for Busy Bee, the challenge was to use 7 or more pictures and I managed to get it done, although I'm not loving it too much...the girls I work with are SO awesome, it's kind of intimidating at times! Hopefully I rank right up there with the rest of 'em!

On Friday, May 4th, there was a horrible accident right near my school...we heard the sirens during 5th period, we commented on how many we heard, wondering what was going on...little did we know how horrible it would be. The Coble family was coming home from their son Kyle's Mother's Day tea at his preschool, they were hit from behind by a semi truck...all 3 of their children were killed in the accident. I cannot imagine the unspeakable pain their parents must be feeling, you should SEE the community...on EVERY SINGLE tree, sign, lamppost there are 3 ribbons; 2 pink and 1 blue...for Emma (age 4), Katie (age 2) and Kyle (had just turned 5 the day before the accident). It breaks my heart to think of that family and their pain and suffering, that Lori and Chris Coble will never hug their babies again, never wrap another birthday present, never coach another little league game...I consider myself a person of great faith, but tragedies like this make me question Him and the things that happen in this world. Why THEM? Why this family? Why 3 babies who had so much life left? Hug your babies tighter for a mother and father who can't anymore...

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1681224.php

Should I be irritated????? Vince didn't tell his parents that my grandpa died so they have no idea he and I are going home this weekend...when I asked him why he didn't say anything, his response was "I thought it'd be a nice Mother's Day surprise" Are you freaking kidding me??????? We're going home for my grandpa's FUNERAL and to spend time with MY family...he couldn't even be bothered to tell his parents, "Anne's grandpa died last week" My parents would be the FIRST people I would go to if something like this happened in Vince's family, they would most likely attend the funeral, send condolences to his parents, etc...I guess yet another glaring difference between our families....UGH......

Long overdue but happy birthday my sweet baby girl....I love you!

YIKES! I hate it when I don't update here...not that many people read it ;) But it's nice to update for ME every now and then. I used to journal a lot but this is kind of taking the place of the traditional "pen & paper" style journaling I used to do!

Let's see...what's going on here....still no word on a new job, I put in for a transfer so we'll see where that goes. Medieval Faire was hectic, chaotic, frustrating at times, but the kids had a blast and I am happy about that...even happier that it is DONE! It's like planning a wedding for 450 inept 12 year olds...lol Went off with quite a few hitches, but oh well, we got through it!

After several months with cancer, my grandpa passed away on Monday. I was so exhausted from the weekend in San Francisco with my kids, then Medieval Faire right away on Monday...I was so looking forward to a relaxing night at home (read: GOING TO BED EARLY) I talked to my mom and dad who were enjoying a few days in Vegas, dad mentioned that grandpa had been taken to hospice care on Sunday afternoon...then a few minutes later my uncle called my dad's other line...I immediately knew it couldn't be good as it was 11:30 pm in MN when he called...not normal...so I literally sat on my bed with my cell phone in my lap knowing it was only a matter of time before I got another phone call...sure enough my mom called 15 minutes later. He had 86 good years, but I am beating myself up over not having called. I kept coming up with lame ass reasons why it wasn't a good time, and I'd "call tomorrow"......so I never got to say goodbye and tell him I love him. I know I shouldn't be kicking my own ass over that, but I think part of me always will; regardless of the fact that he KNOWS how much I love him. I'm sad for my grandma, I'm sad for my dad, I'm sad for my kids....he was an awesome man and saying that I will miss him is a pathetic understatement. I did this layout a few months ago of my grandparents when they were first married, I think I'm going to frame it and give it to my grandma...

After a great deal of discussion with Vince, I am going to start reworking my resume to look around for a new job...

I LOVE my school, LOVE my kids and other teachers, but the time away from home and the drive are killing me! I spend close to 3 hours of my day in the car...WAAAAAAAAAY too much time! So I'm going to fix my resume up and see what happens! Hopefully things will work out the way they are supposed to! :)

HOLY MOLY it's been forever!!!!!!!!!!! Just goes to show I don't have as much to bitch about when Vince is home :) If I do, I just bitch to him.....unless it's ABOUT him....then I call my sister!

Things are going well here, busy as always....the BIG news is, we have officially decided we are DONE having kids. We'd been going back and forth on it for a while now, but tonight Vince flat out told me he has no desire to have a 3rd child. I was expecting it and we had both been leaning in that direction, but I was suprised at how disappointed I was to hear it verbalized with such finality. I don't think I'm mentally prepared to be done having babies, but this is one thing that we can't compromise on...we can go back and forth about the color we want for our countertops, or what kind of pizza to order ;) but we can't "kind of" have a baby...it's either yes or no and it looks like we're done....