I am still doing a lot of regular 12 x 12 scrapbook pages.  I recently started working on some Smash style pages. I am a little late to this trend, but loving it.  Here are some of my latest pages:

Sam started school this week. He is growing up so fast. It is hard to believe he is in 5th grade. He seems happy with his teachers and classes this year. One of the big events for the 5th graders will be a trip to Washington D.C.  I have already made the deposit, and plan to be going as a chaperone for the trip. I think I am almost as excited about the trip as he is.

We also added a new furry member to our family at the end of July. His name is Smokey and he is a gray tabby kitten, who was between 8 and 9 weeks old when he came to live with us. He is an inside kitty for now, but I hope to slowly introduce him to our other cats, so that he can become an outside cat. I had forgotten how much energy kittens have. I am beginning to wonder whether Smokey's name should have been "Destructo" instead.

 Last night Todd was out of town, so Sam and I decided to meet my sister at the movies. We saw "Ice Age - Continental Drift." The movie was very funny. It felt good to laugh after some stressful events earlier in the week. The most upsetting thing that happened was a disagreement with some extended family members. While I am hopeful that we will get everything resolved soon, I am still very disappointed.

 Around 6:30 this morning I got up and walked around the yard. I love the time in the morning just as the sun is beginning to rise. Everything was still wet from the storms we had the day before. I moved two large tree limbs that had fallen, and watered the plants on the front porch. Times like this remind me of how grateful I am to be living here. At this moment, Sam is playing on his laptop, and Smokey is running back and forth across the room. Life is good.

Has it been a year already?

Well, again, it is apparent that I am not much of a blogger. Update of things that have occurred in the last year:

1) I changed jobs on August 1, 2011. After four years at the same firm, I decided that it was time to move on, and I found a great job with one of the best bosses that I have had in years. My practice now focuses on banking, debtor-creditor law, and real estate. I have to travel a bit more, and my office is a little farther from my home. However, it was a very good move for me both financially and professionally.

2) We refinanced our home in March of 2011, and used the equity to purchase a second home that we lease to someone else. The second home is near ours, and at one time, belonged to Todd's brother. So far, this has turned out to be a good investment, although we have been temporarily set back on some of our goals for completing some projects in and around our own house.

3) Our family members are all doing great. It is hard to believe that it has been two years since my dad's open heart surgery. That was such a scary time. All our parents and siblings seem to be doing well and I am so thankful and blessed to have them all.

4) My son is ten now and growing like a weed. He is going through so many changes, and my heart goes out to him as he struggles with all of the challenges of school, friends, and the usual growing pain of being a "tween."

And that is about it. Spring is here again, and my yard is calling to me. There is lots of work to do. Also, I am looking at the 365 project again. I keep thinking that I should be doing more to record these everyday moments that are slipping by so quickly.

We will be going to the movies today . . . off to see "John Carter" with my comic book loving hubby and son. :) Last night we watched the DVD "Immortals." The best and only good thing about that was Henry Cavell.

I need to catch up on some work for the office today, since tomorrow I will be leaving early for Vicksburg. Work is hectic, but that is a good thing, considering the alternative. Until next time . . .

Spring is almost here!

The daffodils and trees are blooming here, and the temperatures are in the 70's. I love the spring! I have started walking again for exercise, so I am hopeful that I will finally be able to shed some of these stubborn pounds that have been with me for a few years now.

I took a six week break from my scrapbook pages, and I am just getting back into that now. Hopefully, I will have something to share soon. Life is hectic, but good. We are just hanging in here, taking things day by day.

Summer is almost over!

Where did the time fly? Sam starts back to school one week from tomorrow, and we will have to get back into the routine of early mornings and homework . . . groan! We have had a fabulous summer this year. We went on a Disney vacation in June. We had a laid back July 4th, swimming at Aunt Kay's earlier in the day, and shooting fireworks here at home that night. Then, two of my favorite people in the world, Rhonda and Carol, came to visit me HERE in Jackson on July 24. It was the perfect day.

This summer Sam finally learned to swim well enough that I don't worry quite so much. I guess I'll always worry just a little. :) Also, he has gotten to be quite the speed demon on his bike. I love watching him ride up and down our long driveway.

We will be taking one more small weekend trip to New Orleans soon. Can't wait, since it is my FAVORITE city, and I love every minute there. I think we may go to the zoo, and stock up on some back-to-school clothes for Sam.

Until next time . . .

Hello again!

So much has happened in the last three months, I don't know where to start. The holidays were very busy, but we enjoyed getting together with everyone at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We took Sam to his first college football game in December, when USM played in the New Orleans Bowl. Also, Todd and I went back to New Orleans for New Year's Eve. Even though both trips were just for one night each, we had lots of fun.

During the month of January, it seemed like I celebrated my birthday all month. On Januay 9, Todd purchased me a King Cake for my birthday, which was wonderful. He and Sam gave me a spa gift certificate too, which I was finally able to use on January 30. We also went to see Avatar on January 10, which was amazing! On January 11, I received flowers at work from the office and a plant from my best friend Rhonda. My sis took me to lunch that day too, so I really felt pampered all day. The following weekend I went to my mom's house and spent the night, where there was more birthday cake, cash and goodies! Then Sam and I drove to Abbeville to see Todd, where we all went out to dinner together.

Now its February, and we are getting ready for Sam's birthday. It will be at gatti-town this year. Sam is really looking forward to it, and I hope he has lots of fun. I was hoping some of his cousins might come, but it looks like they will be busy with other stuff. Still, he is supposed to have a friend to spend the night, and on Saturday, he will get to open his biggest gift, which is a trampoline. I can hardly believe my little boy will be 8 years old!

Halloween and more

Yesterday was Halloween, and I had so much fun! Sam and I went to the local church carnival, where he played with some friends from school. I mostly walked around and hung out with one of the other mothers there. Afterwards, I went by another church to pick up some BBQ dinners that my boss had purchased for all the employees as part of a fundraiser. Unfortunately, I was 10 minutes early. The people there were adamant that they would NOT be giving those dinners out before 5:00 p.m. on the dot or later. After an awkward 5 minutes of standing around, I decided I would just give up and go home. I hope someone enjoyed those dinners . . . Back home we needed to put Sam's costume back in order, since during the carnival, various things (boot covers, gloves, belt buckle) had all been given to me while Sam played. We stopped by Pere' and Mammaw's house first, before walking over to the subdivision across the street for more trick or treating. Sam and I were both extremely tired by the time we arrived back home around 7 p.m. I did get lots of cute photos though, and I can't wait to create a page or two about our fun day.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Update

Oh, I am a terrible blogger. Recently, Facebook has seemed to take over most of my time online, followed closely by Scrapbook.com

I entered a journaling challenge earlier this month, and decided to create a page that expressed my feelings about a situation I left behind a couple of years ago. I thought it would be therapeutic. Instead, it just brought back all the anger. I was so upset, I could not even create any scrapbook pages for almost three weeks. Finally, I deleted the page from my gallery at Scrapbook.com. That actually made me feel better! Since then, I have at least been able to work on a few digital pages. My goal this weekend is to work on some pages that have some recent Easter photos.

Speaking of which, we had a great time visiting with our family members during the Easter weekend. Sam had a blast playing with his cousins. If all goes well, I hope to post some photos here later this weekend. Until then, take care and thanks for stopping by here. :)

Crop Connection

For the past couple of days I have been attending Crop Connection in Pearl, MS. I had thought my MIL would be going with me, but she cancelled at the last moment. So, I haven't really had anyone to talk to, and it hasn't been as much fun as last year was. However, Saturday, I am signed up for two classes in the afternoon, which should make the day go by much faster. I went for 5 hours on Thursday night, and only managed to finish one page. I went for 4 hours yesterday, and finished two pages, so I haven't been as productive as I would like. All total, I completed one page for my Disney album, one for my Christmas album, and one for my 2008 album. I tried to work on Valentine cards for friends, but did not have the things with me to finish those (sigh). Anyway, I hope Saturday goes much better.

I still have a lingering cough from that really bad chest cold, but I am feeling much better. Earlier this week, I had an accident at work when a shelf and some books fell on my foot. I am still limping a little from that. Otherwise, things are good here.

I have been busy getting ready for Sam's upcoming birthday party. I ordered the cake for his party on Friday, as well as cupcakes for him to take to school. All the invitations were sent out for that this week as well. So, now I just need to get the party bags ready, and have the balloons blown up on the day of the party. We will be having the party at a Sports Academy this year, so I hope it will be fun.

That is about all that is going on here. I'll probably come back after Sam's party and give another update then. Bye for now!

Just checking in . . .

Well, I am finally feeling better, after battling a horrible cold for the past week. As my 46th birthday approaches, I find myself focused more on eating healthy and exercising. Shanna treated me to lunch on Friday at the Marriott downtown. I talked Shanna into walking back out to the truck with me, so we could have a photo together. Luckily, I realized that this was the last day to renew my driver's license without a late fee, so I went by and took care of that today as well. Also, I finished my second page for Project 365. The photos on my second page are not anything special, but I really like the idea of capturing "everyday" moments. It should make an interesting album at the end of the year.

Check out Paper Crafts by Rach

She is giving away lots of goodies on her blog!!

Project 365

Creating Keepsakes magazine had an article recently about creating an album by taking a photo a day. The idea was to create a two page layout for every week with journaling. Of course, there are pre-assembled kits for sale, but I decided to create my own pages, so that I could have a little more flexibility in the design. I also know that there have been several blogs and threads featuring the "photo a day" concept. However, this was the first time I had seen the idea of these types of photos being intended for a specific album. This is my first page. Digital credits are as follows: Digital Couture quick page; Veronica Ponce "Cottage Bluff" journaling mats; Gina Cabrera Stitched Word labels

Christmas, reunions, and more . . .

I went to my aunt's Christmas party on Saturday and visited with some of my cousins that I have not seen in several years. It was a nice visit. I wish now I had kept up with everyone a little better. One of my cousins is only a year younger than I am, but his health is not very good. He lost his house during Katrina, and only recently moved back to New Orleans. I wanted to sit and visit the way we used to, and really catch up. I think now that maybe I waited too long. He did sit with me for a short while, but when I had to get up to check on my son, he left, and I did not see him again before I had to leave to come home. Still, it was good to see everybody, and Sam enjoyed meeting some cousins for the first time. Maybe we will go back next year. Right now I am feeling a little wistful, and just a little sad. Trying to shake that though, so I can prepare for the marathon of visits with my hubby's family on Christmas day. Then, we'll have a quick trip to my mom's house for brunch on Dec 27. The week after that I will go with Todd to New Orleans for New Year's Eve. It will just be a one night trip, but I am really looking forward to it. It's hard to believe that 2008 is almost over . . .

The Field Trip

I helped chaperone a field trip for my ds' class on Tuesday. Remember when field trips were to the planetarium, the Coca Cola plant, the ice cream plant, or the zoo? This trip, and the only one allowed this year due to budget cuts, was to a nearby town that had not one but three rooms of animatronic figures all decked in various Christmas scenes. There was a creepiness to it I cannot even begin to explain. It was raining, so to add to the fun, the children were encouraged to ride the little train around the town square and also ride the carousel. Everyone was SOAKED! Of course, my son loved the moving figures, riding around in the rain, and just being out of class for the day. So, I guess as long as he had fun that is all that matters. Still, I wonder what happened to the idea that kids should LEARN something during these trips?

Starting over . . .

I decided to delete all my old posts and start over. I will try to post an update here at least once per month. Hopefully, this will help keep family and friends updated on the news about the Courtney family.