This Post Touched my Heart...

I am an avid reader of celebrity scrapbooker blogs, including but not limited to Ali Edwards, Teresa Collins, Margie Romney-Aslett, Heidi Swapp, etc. Well, this post below I took from my scrapbook Idol's blog Stacy Julian...

no shoes on April 16th

So, I've been wanting to blog about TOMS Shoes for a while now. Lauren (our nanny) introduced me to them. I LOVE companies with a story and TOMS has got a great story. For each pair of shoes you purchase, a pair of shoes is provided to a child in a need.
So here's the deal, lets go barefoot tomorrow. I'm not wearing shoes wherever I go. Clark's not wearing shoes to school. If you visit TOMS website you can print flyers to give to someone when they ask you, "Where are your shoes?"
Lauren has applied for an internship with TOMS. She has met the initial application requirements and has now been asked her to create awareness for this campaign. That .. is something we can help her with, right? If you choose to purchase a pair of TOMS, please use the following promo code so that Lauren gets credit:
odwsfsA67GSK0MW
(hint: since this thing is 15 characters long, I would copy & paste) And just so you know, the promo does not save you any money, it just gives Lauren credit for the purchase.
You can also grab a banner for your blog on the TOMS site. Here's the story ...
Our Story
In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.
Since our beginning, TOMS has given over 140,000* pairs of shoes to children in need through the One for One model. Because of your support, TOMS plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world in 2009.
Our ongoing community events and Shoe Drop Tours allow TOMS supporters and enthusiasts to be part of our One for One movement. Join us.

How cool is that? I think I see a pair of new shoes in a child's future...

Pet Peeves

OK, a while ago my BFF Megan posted some pet peeve kind of stuff. Well one of mine, as well as hers, is bad drivers. In particular BAD parkers. Here are some I've recorded around town and now I am blogging about them for all to see their transgression. I will not fuzz out the license plates, cause in my opinion they are guilty and therefore fair game...

I found the first one parked at the On Rice restaurant at Barkley village. Wow, could you maybe try to take up one more spot?

Number two was caught on camera right outside Treasury, where I work. I hate to tattle, but it's the Dollar store guy. LOL

The next one was someone who had trouble find the space between the two lines at the downtown YMCA. Parking is already at a premium there, so I say, if it's too big for you...get a bike.

And last but not least for this edition of the "Worst Parkers of Bellingham" I saw this gem at Target yesterday. No wonder mothers with children, (infants in car seats especially!) have to park in Outer Mongolia, with these morons tkaing up two spaces for a little Dodge Neon. ARGH! I can't believe it.

Now I hope none of these vehicles belong to your Aunt Myrtle or Aunt Zelda (Julie!). Cause if they do please tell her that I would be more than happy to provide free parking lessons to her....

LOL What are some of your pet peeves? Come on, I know you wanna rant about 'em...

I think I'm in love...

I was a little bummed today that my DVR cut off the only performance I had stayed up to watch American Idol for. Adam, he's my man, if he can't win it no one can....

I know cheesy, but man, that guy is good. Gives me goosebumps everytime. So I headed to the internet in search of the video of his performance and here he is in all his glory.

Enjoy! (Sorry I tried to upload the video, but for some reason it won't play!) :(

Ever Had an Oatmeal Sundae?

Me neither. But apparently it's a hit with the younger crowd. My daughter is normally not a picky eater but oatmeal is not really her thing. So the other week, (the Monday we got snowed in a week ago, actually!) I decided to give this a try. I had read on some ladies blog about trying to add sprinkles to food and just being creative and calling it fancy names. So I thought let's see if it works...

Well, I can report SUCCESS! Not only did Miss Grace eat her whole bowl of oatmeal and fresh fruit, but she also asked for the same thing for dinner, and breakfast the next morning. ;)

Here is the secret to my success. I used the following ingredients:

Then we put one of the waffle bowls into a glass bowl, stirred up the instant fruit oatmeal (we used Strawberries & Cream to go with the fresh strawberries.). Sliced up some fresh berries and added them to the bottom of the waffle bowl, added the oatmeal, garnished it with a whole berry and for our finishing piece de resistance we sprinkled it with Valentines day Sprinkles. (Thank You Michaels, probably the best fifty cents I have spent lately, grabbing these puppies after they put their Valentines stuff on SALE at 75% off.)

Anyway, here is the end result, and let me tell you, I had one impressed Toddler. She couldn't get over the fact that the whole thing was for her, and her alone...

She polished it off in a few bites and then showed me how full her tummy was. Well I was one happy Momma that morning, I've been racking my brain for ways to keep her from eating "Lucky Charms" every day. And I can't cook Snowman Pancakes every other morning either...so here is a go to breakfast we'll be serving more often at our house. As a matter of fact it seems to be a crowd pleaser with the banana cream oatmeal and fresh banana slices. Yeah for Quaker Oatmeal and Fresh Fruit. Mom's everywhere rejoice...

Another of these tag things...

I know that I should probably finish the old post about my cruise and the Vegas trip my hubby surprised me with for Valentines, but I just don't have the time or motivation right now. And this is a post I can slap up here and finish, check off my list (I know that you can relate Julie!), and call it done.

So here it goes:

It looks like the “4th photo” tag is making the rounds again, go to the 4th folder in your photos, and post the 4th photo from that folder.
This is what I came up with:I picture of my husband's late wedding ring. Funny how that works. We had it especially made for him by a local jewelry store here in Bellingham called G.B. Heron. They do wonderful work and we loved what we ended up with. We've since misplaced it twice and found it again once, so that means, in real life math terms it's still missing. Not sure when or where this second time happened, but to the day we have no idea where it ended up. What a shame for a one of a kind item. I think I am more upset over his ring than I would be if I lost mine...weird how that goes...

So now I need to tag 4 people. I’m hitting up Julie, Lisa, Megan and Alissa. Have fun, ladies! Can't wait to see some cool photos...

Guess I'm just not a good Blogger...

I know that I should have posted photos of my cruise (January) and my Las Vegas surprise trip, but you know how it is....life gets in the way. I hope to get a few posts in this week so stay tuned, you never know, Hell may just yet freeze over. LOL

Here are some pages I've created recently:

This one is a quickie I did in less than 1/2 hour the other night... Really, it's all scraps and some old photos I had already printed but not used and some letter stickers, (really, really, really old letter sticker; let's just say I'm surprised that they are still sticking to the page! LOL).

This cutie patootie is a Treasury sample I put together from the new Cosmo Cricket "Snorkle" line. Love the colors of this paper line.

I also did a little cleaning and re-arranging in my scrapbook studio. You couldn't tell from looking in the door, but I feel a lot better knowing it's done. I have a new box started for when I happen to come across anything for the fall garage sale at Treasury. I didn't do the Spring one this year as I didn't really have enough to warrant getting a table or even half of one. So in the fall watch for my stuff...

Off to convince Miss Grace that it is indeed her bedtime. Dad and her are watching Planet Earth on TV. Wish me luck!

I know, I know, I know...

it's been forever since I've updated this blasted blog, but this was too funny to pass up and it made for a quick post so here it is!
Enjoy! It made me smile.

Snowed In, (well for Bellingham Standards anyway!)

I was at work on Monday and Tuesday and we've been getting the forecast that we'll get a bit of snow. Not sure what they meant by that, but now I know.

I am glad that I drove across town to the grocery store on Monday and Tuesday after work, (making me late to pick up Grace at Daycare on Tuesday!). I picked up the essentials and a movie to get us through the "snow storm" that was for told.

Well today it's Friday and I haven't left the house since Tuesday, except for a stroll out our backyard to make snow angels with Grace. I am getting cabin fever and have a ton of things to do before our big family Christmas. I have not bought a thing for Christmas dinner and am still sending out more X-mas cards as I type. Bob, our wonderful mailman, has been an angel, taking my envelopes and packages without complaints. I need to get him something nice for X-mas, do you think he'd like a massage? Our mailbox has been knocked off it's post by the snowplow, and since they are still plowing like mad we've deemed it futile to put it back up anytime soon.

Anyway, so my hubby is in a crabby mood cause there is sooooo much to do and so little time. Employees that are unprepared for the weather, customers that are whiny and don't want to pay, computers that work too slow, phones that don't work at all or drop calls, 50,000 voice mails to check, bills to pay, gifts to buy, etc, etc, etc. I'm sure you have your own story...

I'm off to finish wrapping presents (given that the big brown UPS truck can make it here today as promise!), writing the last of my Christmas cards and planning our dinner. I'm sure there's more on the list, but for now that seems daunting enough...

All right, all right...

I know it's been forever. Believe me, I've had every intention of blogging more, but life just kind of got in the way. I even took several random photos just to post on the blog but I just didn't get around to it.

Anyway, I guess I'll just post them now...here we go.

In the past month we've made some snowman pancakes, gone for fast food at Burger King and crowned Queen Grace, washed Ben's Truck, finished out Grace's Soccer season, had Oma & Opa down for a quick visit and much, much more.

We spent Thanksgiving in Winthrop with the In-laws. We had boys going to shoot at the gunrange, cousins playing guns with legos, Mom's relaxing wiht a good book or playing a computer game, spirited games of cards; Grandpas, Uncles and Nephews competing in a heated game of Ping Pong, and much more. I played around with my camera settings and caught this cool shot of Adam. Doesn't it look like the invisible man playing? I love this shot.

The rest of the photos taken at Thanksgiving were mainly for the Gratitude Album I put together from last year's Treasury kit. I tried to get everyone to fill out their "what are you grateful for" page. With mixed results.

For dinner this year we decided to try something different and we headed out to Sun Mountain Lodge. In theory it was a great idea, no cooking, no dishes, no leftovers to store away, and so on. But then we got to thinking and I think Thanksgiving is still best at home. It would have been fabulous to have leftover stuffing, cranberry sauce and such. Although, my dear Mother-In-Law did bake a turkey breast for sandwiches, bless her heart and slaved away baking some awesome pumpkin pies. Since it was Adam's 16th birthday on the 17th and he always asks for his favorite, we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate Pumpkin Pie. It was a lot of fun. Now it's back to reality and looming Christmas deadlines....

Look what I did today!

As my parents are over for a quick weekend visit we spent some time at home. During the Seahawks - Dolphins Football game I set up me little craft table in the living room. But today, unlike my usual scrapbook stuff, I pulled out and dusted off my long neglected sewing machine. There was a time, long, long ago, before I scrapbooked, when this little baby got a workout every week. Believe it or not, I used to sew anything and everything from boxer shorts, to sundresses, overalls and Halloween costumes. But since I got addicted to scrapbooking it's been a long time since I've used my machine for something other than sewing on a layout.

So a while ago I took Grace to Jo-Ann's fabric store and she helped me pick out some fun fabric, thread and color coordinated buttons. It was funny, since we happened to run into Elizabeth with her two boys, Jackson & Thomas, who were shopping for Halloween costume fixin's.

Well to make a long story short, I spent a couple of hours with my sewing machine and after fiddling with the settings and the bobbin housing falling apart in mid seam, I created this:

What do you think? Do I still "got it"?

Belated Update on our Pumpkin Patch Visit...

OK, here it goes. I am a BAD blogger, I am a BAD blogger, I am a BAD blogger. I promise to punish myself more later, (wait I have about 6 loads of laundry waiting for me, that should be sufficient punishment, don't you think?)

After our unsuccessful attempt to visit Stoney Ridge last time we finally got our turn. Thinking that crowds should be significantly less on a weekday versus a Saturday we headed there on Friday morning. What a surprise when we pulled up only to fight our way through at least a half a dozen school buses, some Mom's groups and other organized people that were at the Patch on a weekday. What were they thinking?

The weather was perfect, not too sunny, not too bright, just right for taking pictures.

Grace had a fun time petting and feeding the animals. Even though it was pretty crowded she had one of the kids working the pens take out a bunny to let her pet it. Unfortunately Daddy was a little slow on the trigger so we didn't get a picture of that.

Evidently the talk we had before heading out took root. Because at every junction where there was a photo op Grace would willingly stand and pose for us. Whether it was by a display of baby pumpkins, out in the pumpkin patch, at a silly cutout where you put your face through, the pumpkin tree, truck or the bicycle, she was ready willing and able. So we have quite a few photos that turned out nice this year. What a change from trying to escape and flee the scene when she was smaller.

When we hit the patch she headed straight for the field of tiny pumpkins that the farm had prepped for the school kids visits. No messing around with the vines and having to tromp through he muddy field. Miss Grace knew exactly which pumpkin she wanted and headed straight for it...this one was it!

We even took time to stop in for some cider donuts, an apple pull-apart, apple cider, coffee, chocolate milk, Apple & Pumpkin Pie with Ice-cream and whipped cream. YUMMY!

I think we may have to check them out at Christmas time for a tree. Their flyer advertises a live nativity scene including "Moses" the camel. Would they need a permit to keep a camel, I wonder?

Weekend Report

Well, where do I start?

Last weekend we ended up down at the river trying to catch some fish. MArtin's friend Jim came over with his son Kirby and a friend. We all trekked down the path to the Nooksack hoping for some dinner. Unfortunatly the only one who caught anything was me, on the first cast no doubt. It was feisty and after having instructions shouted at me on how to pull it in, then put it back into the water so it wouldn't die, not to hold the rod but the line, etc. I sweetly asked my husband to take a photo. So he did, and a good thing too, since the darn fish thrashed so hard it snapped the line and took the lucky lure with it into the river. So that's all we have, a photo, no fish for dinner....

I spent the weekend at an overnight crop with some girls from the store. It was a blast. I got way more done than I thought and even won the grand prize to boot. Well, technically my Survivor tribe won the contest and then Cheryl, the organizer, drew my name for the grand prize. Thanks girls you rock.

Then today I finally managed to finagle husband and step-son into a family outing to the pumpkin patch. Except when we got there the sign said CLOSED! What's up with that? We weren't the only ones that had to turn around and head back home...strange!

So instead we spent the day going out to the Rusty Wagon for breakfast, napping, mowing some lawn, washing trucks, scrapping and watching lots and lots of football.

Grace's First Ever Soccer Practice

After numerous requests from Oma and others I am finally putting up some pictures of my new superstar. She loves it sooooo much, her first question in the morning, (after "Can you fix me something to eat?") is "when is my next game?"

Grace is now an official member of the Jaguars, the YMCA's 3 & 4 year old soccer team. All the players received a cool (if somewhat large) blue T-shirt which they all wear with pride. Their coach is Christa and she is the coolest...as you can tell by the adoring looks the kids give her. They learned how to dribble, which in 3/4 year old language is "kicking the ball using baby steps", how to stop the ball using your foot (Gracie is still working on this one, I personally think she may be destined to be the goalie. LOL), and how to play Red Light/Green Light using this new technique.
My wonderful boss Elizabeth just happens to have her two boys enrolled in the same program. So her youngest, Thomas, is part of Grace's team. I think there is some budding romance going on... Grace has officially been adopted into Thomas' circle of friends and she is thrilled to tell anyone who will listen that she is playing soccer with her friends Jackson and Thomas. Most strangers just give her weird looks, but family and friends are quickly informed of who these two budding soccer stars are.

Next Saturday's practice is going to be Picture Day. I think I am more excited than Grace.

Birthday Update...

I finally had some time to download these photos so I can publish this post I've had saved for over a week, and then my computer crashed. Wouldn't you know it...so here we try for the third time.

Just wanted to post some photos and give a big shout out to my darling In-laws who sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. It was delivered by a sweet elderly couple who pulled into our driveway the night before my birthday and were arguing about whether or not they were in the right place. It was really cute. The flowers are soooo pretty, with a little sprinkle of glitter on them and a sweet butterfly tucked into the center. I am sure the pictures don't do it justice.

Lisa at work was soooo sweet to get me some Halloween decorations. Must've been all the whining I did about not knowing where my stuff was still siting in boxes somewhere. Thanks Lisa. When I came home after work my hubby had gotten me more flowers and put them in various places around the house. Beautiful pink roses and gorgeous gladiolas, even a little vase for Grace. Then he had arranged this whole little display of cards, flowers, gifts and food. What more could a girl want?

The sushi was divine and he won't tell me where he got it. It was waaay cheap, so if you know of any good, inexpensive places in town please fill me in. I could eat sushi every day the rest of my life.

Crisis Averted - Blanket Found!

This could've been the headline in our family newsletter after this past week and a half. Grace had misplaced her yellow blanket and it was a major disaster at our house. She asks for this blankie everytime she is tired, not feeling 100% or just needing a little comfort. So when all of a sudden we were unable to locate this precious blanket anywhere she was devastated. Martin & I really did look all over the house and were not able to find it. We even checked in various cupboards, footstools and cabinets, to no avail. Sometimes Miss Grace likes to hide things in these unlikely places, but not her blankie.

It turned out to be in the dirty laundry pile, waaaaay down on the bottom. Guess I was a little behind with the was that week. **insert guilty grin here**

But all is well again in the LaVergne household, the blanket has been located and family peace has been re-established.

BTW - If anyone comes across a yellow satin trimmed blanket (I found this one at Target!) please feel free to purchase it. We are apparently in dire need of a back up blankie. Thanks in advance...

Visit to the Navy!

That's what Grace says when we ask her about our recent trip to Chicago. On September 4th we packed up the family and headed east to attend my step-son Ben's graduation from Basic Training. I had never been in that area before so I asked for my friend Jeanne's advice before booking hotel rooms and such. We ended up staying at a Residence Inn by Marriott in an industrial part of town, which was nice and quiet, yet close to the Naval base where we picked Ben up every day.
We arrived late on the Thursday night and picked up our rental vehicle, (which by the way was a full size van due to the fact that Ben's uncle Matt & his son Oscar, and Ben's mom Pam joined us on this trip!) shortly after midnight. Martin, thinking ahead, had packed our GPS unit to help us navigate around the Chicago area. Well, it took almost two hours to drive to the hotel and let me tell you, the neighborhoods we drove through were pretty scary. We kept trying to figure out what these blue lights were that we saw mounted high up on streetlight poles. Adam thought they were for the cops to catch people running red lights. Well, let me tell you from the looks of these neighborhoods that was the least of their worries. I think they were some sort of security feature, cause we were in "THE HOOD" man.
After catching just a few hours of shut eye it was up and at 'em bright and early in order to get seats at the ceremony. You see the Navy only guaranteed us 4 seats per family (kids under 12 didn't count!) but everyone else was first come, first served. After sitting in traffic for over an hour and then being herded out of our vehicles to be briefed over a loudspeaker system on how not to behave on base, our van was searched, our ID's scrutinized and then we were on our way. The ceremony itself was pretty impressive. There were over 1000 Graduates and a few of these flunked out during the actual graduation ceremony. Imagine spending over two grueling months training and working your heinie off and then passing out just minutes from reaching your goal. These guys (and gals) literally collapsed in front of thousands of people and now have to start all over. What a bummer! I managed to catch some photos of Ben's Division which was the last to march into the hall. None of us could spot him, so I tried to sweep the whole division and did manage to catch one good one of him. It was a good thing I did cause Ben ended up standing right underneath the bleacher balcony we were sitting in, and we couldn't even see him the rest of the time!
After the ceremony was over we headed out and spent the day driving around with Ben. We visited the Bass Pro Shop, which is the coolest store I've been to in a long time. It's an outdoor hunting/fishing/camping/anything else you may need in life kind of deal. They have a full size pond/aquarium inside, an archery range, a shooting gallery, etc. Their clothing selection is amazing and the whole thing just puts REI to shame. Sorry! We then had some nourishment and headed out to the shore. Who'd have thought that there was sandy beach, warm water and beautiful waves on the shores of Lake Michigan? We found a gorgeous beach and just hung out for a bit. Ben had to be back on base each evening for 7:30 PM, so there was no time for late night outings.
Saturday we spent half the day in Chicago, while some of us visited Millennium Park, the Navy Pier and other tourist spots around the windy city. I really wish we would've had more time to look around and especially to take some more pictures. It seems like we hit the jackpot with the weather. Ben said it had been raining most of the week before we came and apparently started raining again the day we left. So that worked out great. Ben had duty that day at 4 PM so we had to have him back by around 3 PM, which gave us the evening off.
On Sunday Martin got up real early to drive Matt & Oscar to the O'Hare airport, as they had booked different flights and were leaving early that morning. Afterward he picked up Ben and we decided to try out sightseeing. We voted between the Botanical Gardens and the historical town of Antioch, and lookie here, the town (which just happened to have a scrapbook store recommended by my friend Jeanne!) won. So after traversing what seemed like maliciously planned construction, (we hit the freeway and were detoured for miles without an available exit ramp) we turned around in Wisconsin and headed back towards our goal. I'm sure we exceeded the 50 mile radius that Ben was supposed to stay within, but we won't tell if you won't.
Antioch was a surprise. The town was quaint to the point of being boring. Some shops were closed and the boys were not impressed. We headed to a local lake/park where we blew off some energy by goofing around on the swings. Poor Ben, all he could do was watch and push Grace "higher, higher!", since he was in full dress uniform and could not get it dirty. Then we headed into town to choose a restaurant for lunch. I had Martin drop me at "Hannah's" the infamous scrapbook store and told them I would meet up with them. Well, let me tell you, it's one of those "been there, done that" experiences. The store was great, large, more of a home decor and more store with a big scrapbook selection. However the gals working there were a bit slow on the uptake. It took me almost 1/2 hour to get some stupid ribbon cut, cause there was no yardstick/ruler/measuring tape, nor any scissors in their fabric/sewing department. Kind of strange if you ask me? Anyway, I met up with the group at an Italian joint which was nothing to write home about. How can you screw up lasagna? Well, their cook sure managed. It was all in all one of the most disappointing stops on the trip.
We made another quick trip to Starbucks (we found a nice one in Lake Forest, a really cute suburb) and bought Ben some "real" coffee. Apparently the Navy serves Folgers and he got spoiled at home. Martin popped into the Navy Exchange store and stocked up on the real thing, Navy branded workout gear. 100 percent polyester, no wonder they sweat up a storm. Go Recruits!
On a more serious note, we saw a lot of people come up to Ben and his classmates, to shake their hands and congratulate them on their choice. Many expressed gratitude and thanked them for their service. So remember that these fine young men and women serve for the whole country and they should be included in our prayers every day.