This is you 3 years ago:

This is you today:

Happy Birthday, Imac!

Today I had to go to Toys R Us to get a last minute birthday gift for one of GA's friends. While we were there, she started looking at all the back to school supplies, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc... She fell in love with an adorable Hello Kitty backpack. It ended up being a pretty good deal because if you bought a backpack you got to choose a lunch box for free, and I had a 20% of coupon - so the backpack and lunch box total was only $11! Can't beat that.

School begins in about 4.5 weeks! Now on to complete the rest of the required supply list and uniforms.

I wasn't a huge granola fan until we started making our own. It is great by itself or sprinkled on yogurt. I made a half-batch today and have been munching on it this evening. Here's how to make it:

Full Batch Vanilla Almond Granola

1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

8 cups of old fashioned oats (not the quick kind)

2 cups sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Spray 2 cookie sheets with Pam and set aside.
Combine brown sugar and water in a 4-cup microwave proof glass measuring cup or bowl. Place in microwave on high for 5 minutes and cook until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from microwave, add vanilla extract and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, nuts, and brown sugar syrup mixture. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Spread the granola onto cookie sheets and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden and crunchy.
When the mixture comes out of the oven, it is still very pliable. You may choose to add in 1 cup of dried fruit as a finishing touch at this time. When granola has cooled completely, store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

I had my 6 month check up with the Neurologist today. I was diagnosed with Vertigo, migraines and vertebrobasilar migraine last year after having several dizzy spells where I could not function for 2-4 days. I have been able to control most of my symptoms and migraines with medication. I use a combination of Fioricet and Meclazine to control my episodes. So far, so good.

I had a whopper of a migraine yesterday and my Fioricet wasn't doing the trick. I asked the Dr. about it and he said that now I can take 1-2 of the Fioricet pills and then continue taking 1 every 4-6 hours or until my headache goes away. This is great news as sometimes I take one pill and it does nothing for the pain.

I go back in January unless I have any new issues pop up. Sounds good to me. I am thankful that I have finally found some "relief" for my migraines - I have suffered with migraine pain for most of my life. I remember getting them when I was 12 or 13 years old and they have progressively gotten worse and more frequent through the years. The dizzy spells started right after I had Imac (about 3 years ago) and that's when I got to my breaking point to do something about it. Ahh, the joy of drugs. I'm probably killing my liver, but at least my head won't hurt!

Yes - I was doing Jello shots at 11am (give or take)! Not much scrapping got done after that :)

Every other week (give or take) I treat myself to a medium iced latte with skim milk, splenda and caramel (no whipped cream) at Dunkin Donuts. We live less than a mile from a DD and it's hard sometimes to not just stop there every few days. When you buy a medium or large Latte, they punch a card for you. Buy 5 drinks and you get one free. I had 4 punches on my current card and would get my 5th punch today and my next one would be free! Woohoo! Well I pull up to the window and the guy punches my card full. Then he completely punches another card full! How awesome is that? 2 full punch cards = 2 free lattes! Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Happy Father's day to the man I married, the father of my children, my best friend and love of my life. You are the best!

Here is how we celebrated Father's Day:

1. Breakfast with daddy at McDonald's

2. cards and gifts 

3. A trip to the range for some alone time

4. A nap

5. family get-together/cookout and some wii to round out the day. Thanks to my brother Tracy and his wife Adriane for the yummy food and fun!

After about a month of not doing any scrapbooking, I finally got motivated to create. I bought a new shelving/storage system and got a little more organized in my tiny space. Getting organized really helped me with my motivation because I had to see and touch all of my supplies as I was moving them around. Lucky me!

Here are a few layouts I've completed:

this is of GA and was over a year and a half ago!

same day as above, but for Imac.

a layout for R's bday almost 2 years ago.

layout from this spring when GA had her Hawaiian punch stand

From Easter 2008 - egg hunt at church.

Thanks for looking!

Just finished up the second week of summer break, but who's counting?! The first week of summer break was a bust - I was sick, R was sick and home from work for a couple of days and we generally just stayed home all week. Fun times!

We did stay home a few days this week, but we also went to the park one day, a free arts & crafts class at a local family center and made a super cute frame for Father's day, the kids also had free play time and a snack - can't beat that. GA also had a friend come over for a playdate. In the span of about 4 hours they played bibbidi-bobbidi boutique (basically dress up and make up), littlest pet shop, tag, hide and go seek, played on the lanai with the sand-box and rode bikes, had a snack, watched a 20 minute Hello Kitty show, had a tea party, played with the Dora house, had lunch, played doctor, played with the guinea pig, listened to the mp3 player, and generally had a great time playing with just about every toy in the house! There were a few cute moments that I caught on camera:

Also this week we painted our fingernails. GA painted Imac's and Imac painted GA's and then they both painted mine:

The week ended with a date night for R and I. We had a great dinner at Acropolis in Ybor - the wait staff dances around to Greek music and then yells "Opa" and throws hundreds of napkins all over the place. Totally fun and great food. Then we headed over to Channelside to see the latest Indiana Jones movie. Let's just say we won't be adding this to our collection. It wasn't the worst 2 hours of my life, but close. At least we had a great dinner and had a long overdue date.

Next week is Vacation Bible School - wahoo!

The time has come. GA has graduated pre-K and in about 80 days will be a Kindergarten kid. I can hardly believe it! She had her end of the year celebration last night and did a great job singing on stage with her classmates. Only a few tears were shed (mostly by R) - no, not really. I don't think GA quite grasps the concept of "no more school" - she keeps asking things like "after the end of the year celebration we go back to school, right?" Kids.

So, to reflect on this school year here are a few pictures:

This was the first day of school in August 2007

This was the last day of school in May 2008. My how she has grown!

And, we can't forget little miss Imac who also had her last day of school on Thursday:

First day of 2-days a week preschool

Last day of school. Look at all that hair!