Another cool picture!!!

A few weeks ago we had a quick storm roll through....for as short as it was the kids were itching to get outside right away. When we went outside we had a double rainbow. It's not often we see one let alone two and I was glad I could get a good shot with my camera.

Long Time No See :)

I have been meaning to get on here for some time to share with you my crazy life!!

Since May I have gotten my full time position with FIS. I am a property preservation processor. Basically we are the people that help "preserve" homes that have been taken back by the bank. This past week I covered for my Billing Team Lead. It was interesting task but I really liked it. I realized how much more that I really know. I am happy that FIS has given me the opportunity to show them what I am capable of. Starting Monday I am back to my regular duties...I hope that I do not get bored.

This is from my Supervisor "Nice job this week. I was very impressed with the way you handled everything. I greatly appreciate all your efforts." So, I hope that I can move up to a team lead very soon!!!

The girls have been enjoying their summer and are very tan to show for it! It seems to be more fun for them because they have 4 cousins to play with instead of 1 like they are used to.

Here are five of the cousins: Kayden, Coy, Jocelyn, Madelyn and Grace. The one that is not pictured is Cayden (yes and they are brothers.....My future sister in law has a son named Cayden and my brother in law has a son named Kayden), Cayden is pictured below. I took this picture of the kids a few weekends ago and then I printed it as a black and white photos onto white tissue paper and created a 6x6 time for my mother in law. See below:

We have spent quite a bit of time in the pool this year which is great seeing that last summer we were in the midst of rebuilding the house, here is a pic of the girls in the pool:We were going to go camping over the 4th, but our tent never made it here on time. The tent we had must have been stolen when the other stuff was stolen back in October. So the girls got to ride in the Parade in a Limo and threw out candy with their cousins. Afterwards they got to see fireworks at the local fairgrounds. Here they are in the limo:
And while I am at it....a picture of the tent that came a few days too late:

Kayden had his 3rd Birthday on the 7th, here are a few photos from the festivities:

Also, in the last few weeks that I have been MIA we have been beautifying the yard. We have been trying to get our property back into shape since the fire and all the construction. We had a water back up in the yard so it has been dug up so that we could run all new drains. We also got some flowers planted and my litte pond that Matt made me finally has lilly pads growing in it!
Today I saw a poor tattered Monarch Butterfly. It was beatiful to see even if he had been through a battle. I got out my camera and played around with some of it's features. I got a few good pictures.

Oh, and Last week, my future sister in law went back to Michigan and was granted with the joint custody of her son Cayden and was able to bring him back to Ohio for the rest of the summer. Today him and Grace played firefighters...here he is:

Lastly, I did get some stamping done. I was in the DORK technique swap and I did a cracked glass card to swap out with everyone. I found a new set of Clear Stamps at Walmart and used them with these fun flowers I got from the SCS Wish RAK group. I also used the Paisley Paper from TAC that matched my flowers. Since I did not have UTEE to do the cracked glass I just used about 4 layers of EP to build up the layer before I let it cool for a while and then "cracked" the EP to look like cracked Glass.

Now I am off to work in the studio. I would like to get some updated photos online for all of you to see!

The Cookies are Sorted!
Madelyn sold about 168 boxes of cookies and I sorted them this morning. It wasn't to bad of a task and I was only stiffed on 3 boxes.

The job front is looking a little better as well. I should be starting a temp position on Monday. (I will know today or tomorrow for sure.) It is not with Progressive, but a company closer to home. The position is suppose to last until June, so that does give me time to find something permanent as well. Plus the checkbook may start loving me again :)

I haven't shown off my floors to everyone, but you can see in the top left hand corner my floors. I really love this type of flooring but I never would have thought it would have even been an option. Plus, when you hear the idea of seconds flooring you think I do not want somone else's floor. But it an aspect that is what I have. I have all the cut offs of over 20 different types of wood in 6 different sizes and stained oh naturale :) Well, its time to start getting the projects done that I have been wanting to get down before I went back to work....I better get started.

Edited to add another Matt Jr moment....
(an attempt to edit this post last night failed due to the weather)

She strikes again! After dinner, or while Matt and I were still eating, Grace came upstairs with my brother. We assumed that she would be playing the PS2 while he was up here. Well you know what Assuming gets you!

Matt and I cleared the table, I was getting ready to go to the studio to work, he was going to read for school by the fire. Next the we know, my brother brings Grace downstairs to show us what she was doing.

Please without further ado, Grace's interaction with a smelly marker (thank goodness it was Crayola washable).

Yes, that is her smelling the marker and if it smells goog up the nose, then it must make the pits smell good too.

Then I sit here and think, 7 yr olds really are not so bad, but I realized I have been doing a lot of posting on Grace and not Madelyn. Probably because even though Madelyn is more like me, it seems that Grace has all of my blunders where things just happen to her all the time.

Madelyn is doing very well is school, she has completed the entire 1st grade reading program and it work on writing a story at school so they can have a book made. Pretty cool. I am in the process of writing a letter to her to be put in her book as a surprise. I will probably get this done this week since I should be working on Monday. Here are some pictures of Madelyn from her Valentine's Day Party. One is of her and her sister (yes that is a full mouth of cupcake) and her friend Teagan.

Just as I was about to publish, out of the corner of my eye I saw a gush of snow blow past my window. The trees do look very pretty, but I am ready to have some warmer weather. We can get our yard fixed up from the past year of wear and tear from the contractors. We will get our roof replaced. The deck needs some powerwashing....there are still char stains on it. We are going to be pulling up parts of the deck to do some water proofing in the basement. We are also installing the electric dog fence and possible have our pig roast this summer.

I love to throw parties, I love to have people over. I am very much more apprecitive of my friends since my last year I have needed many of them frequently. I even want to throw an Anniversary Dinner for Matt and I in March for our 5 year, at the place we had our wedding reception. I really want to pull that off. But, it would interesting to see it turn out bigger than the first time. Anyway, I need to stop daydreaming and get to work. I will leave you with some pictures of my backyard. I grew up in Hambden/Chardon, the heart of the snowbelt, now I live in Burton and I'd say its about the same.