So, after a few months, I'm back again

I really did think that as you get older, your life starts to calm down, at least a little bit. Nope, that is not the case in my life. It's crazier than ever. Still enjoying the art of scrapbooking although sometimes drama amongst us scrappers is more than I would like to see. But, it's good, really. I just took two awesome classes with Karen Russell- www.karenrussell.typepad.com and she was awesome. One class was all on photography and the other was called "Snapshots of Life" which is a 5x7 mini album with a frame as the cover and an easel as the back. Love it.
Jack is still living in limbo as he doesn't know if he is staying with Janney or not. Just annoys me to no end that they have him interviewing for his management position- his replacement! I don't know how he does it, honestly.
Abby, Luke and James are all doing great. The older two are excited about Halloween. Abby is going to be a horse, Luke a little golfer and James is the Incredible Hulk! Not sure what my own younger three are doing yet but they usually wait till that night to decide and recycle old costumes!
Jennine is happy being a SAHM and now Liz looks forward to when it's her turn to do the same. Meggie is doing well as a new resource room teacher and still dating Eric-aka Booty! She was just asked to be in Jackie Dunn's wedding and is psyched.
I'm going to be attaching a few pictures from our October trip to Florida and then recent fall pics, too.

It's been awhile

Michael in action at lacrosse camp



Been a bit "under the weather" with mono and strep throat. Feeling a bit better so thought I would at least share a few pictures taken at the shore these past few weeks.
Life is good and am totally enjoying THREE grandchildren this summer on the beach. I am so very blessed.

Here I am, at the beach now

Seashore Days!

God has blessed me with a wonderful family. And, a home at the shore. Sea Isle City, NJ, to be exact. I have been coming to this small beach town for over 40 yrs. Amazing how time flies when you are having fun. For 13 yrs, Jack and I have owned our own home here and have spent every summer on "Happy Lane" which we fondly call our street- 77th St. All of our children except Michael, who is just turning 13 next Monday, have worked here during the summer. It's a wonderful life. I also get to share our "treasure" with our friends and family!

Here are a few pictures taken this summer so far.

Abby, Luke and James enjoying play time together at the Happy House!



A John Deere on the beach.... the beach is getting all cleaned up.




Abby on the beach and above her, Luke pretending to be a "baby" in James' carseat!

A Day on the Farm

The Sanner Farm Got Milk Girls
























We all had a blast visiting Denise and Kenny Sanner on their farm. Denise invited the girls from the mlpa board for a barbeque at her farm so those of us who haven't experienced farm life could do so with our families. Jack, Anthony, Michael, Jennine, Matt, Abby, Luke and myself decided to go.
It was so much fun to see this beautiful farm land, visit with the girls and their families, see the cows, watch them being milked and going on a hay ride. Jennine swears we planned this so we all could do farm layouts for our scrapbooks! (now what was my child thinking about??)
The only said part was that I left my camera behind in beautiful Kutztown. Luckily, Patti S. retrieved it and I will pick it up at mlpa on thurs. Here are a few pics that others have shared.

Tagged

Tagged!!
I was tagged by the wonderful Rollie!!

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random fact about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of the blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment.

**I worked for the Phila. 76ers for 4 yrs. and enjoyed every second of it. Met all the players and their families. I love basketball**

I could eat only appetizers as my meal.

**I was born and raised in West Phila. Was there till I was 19. However, was sent out to Chester County for high school and college- Villa Maria Academy and Immaculata.

** I started working in a hospital when I was 14 yrs old. I worked at Graduated Hospital, Delaware county Memorial Hos. St. Christopher's hosp., Lankenau Hospital and Metropolitan Hosp., Springfield.

**I did my 12 months dietetic internship at Penn State, main campus and it was the best year of my life as a single person.

**I enjoy buying things for others and seeing the joy on their faces when they get them. It makes me so very happy. I never want anything in return. I got it by seeing happiness on the person's face.

**I have been vacationing in Sea Isle City, NJ since I was 9 yrs old. It started out with my parents, two brothers and eventually my baby sister. My father died at the shore which was his favorite place on earth. My mother almost died at the shore but we took her home before she left this world. Then all my siblings would rent a huge house for two weeks together. For the past 12 yrs., Jack and I have owned our own home and we love having our family and friends come visit us. We call our home at the shore the "Happy House" on Happy Lane.

With that, I tag:
1. Steph Wilson
2. Andi
3. Sarah
4. Dina
5. Rosie
6. Shira
7. Kelley S.

Michael's day

Tomorrow is Michael's last day of school. The end of 6th grade for him. Today was an Awards assembly. Michael was honored by receiving the Mercy Award for his class. This award is given to a child who shows respect, goes out of his/her way to be kind and helpful to others and is just a good all round student. We are all very proud of him. Way to go, Mike!! Love, Mom
PS- my "baby" is getting so grown up. Soon he will be a teenager. Yikes, three in the house at one time.

Memorial Day in Pictures

James and Luke
Luke and Ashley

Meeting an internet friend

On May 18th, I got to meet Carole D., from LasVegas. I "met" Carole on a club scrap scrapbooking board a few years ago. Long story but we ended up sprouting off to another smaller yahoo board and found that we had lots in common. We call each other "twins" although I am almost old enough to be her mom. I eventually signed up as a CTMH consultant under Carole two years ago but it just didn't work out for me.
In April, Carole told us that she was coming to Phila. for a long weekend in May. Diane, who I met a few years ago, offered to pick Carole up at the airport and be her chauffeur for the weekend. The girls stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and had a glorious time. Barb T. who lives in NJ and is a good friend of mine, is also on the board. It so happened that May 18th was also Jack's birthday. So, Jack and I met Carole, Diane and Barb at the hotel and then we had dinner at the Pyramid Club. A fantastic time was had by all and we left with hopes of doing it again sometime real soon when we had more time to visit. Here is a layout I did with the pictures of our night.

Adding a few layouts that I recently worked on

This is a layout I did of Abby at Linvilla Orchards in the fall of 2006. I used Tres Jolie from In My Mind's Eye. I also used a few Daisy D rub-ons.













also added a two page layout using the new Hambly overlays as well as some Daisy D rub-ons, Bazill and Basic Grey.
Here is another one I did using BG as well as bazzill and some other random embellishments.

We have another graduate

Yesterday, May 20th was Meggie's graduation day from Cabrini College. Meg graduated with honors with a degree in special ed, elementary ed. Graduation started at 10AM under a tent on the grounds of Cabrini. This campus is just gorgeous and it was a beautiful day although still quite cool in the morning, especially under the tent. Attending was me, Jack, Ashley, Anthony and Michael- Jen didn't come due to the little ones and Liz had a bridal shower for Christa. Plus, one two cars were allowed on campus for each graduate. In the other car was Jenny Carroll, Christina, Angeline, and Eric, Meg's new boyfriend. All went very well and then we came home and had hoagies, etc. Eventually Jennine, Matt, Abby and Luke joined us at home and we toasted the new graduate with champagne. Liz, Jimmy and baby James met us at Primavera Pizza Kitchen restaurant at 5PM plus Steph D. Food was delicious and a great time had by all.

Well, I was wrong

Thought I would not have any time to play- meaning scrapbook- today as baby James is here. But he has been super good and Ashley was off from school today and has been a big help with him.
On one of my scrapbooking boards- Artattack- one of the girls gave us a challenge to use up our stash of stickers by scrapping a sticker only layout- embellishments were allowed. Can I tell you how much fun it was just to slap on stickers? It was weird not using any pictures so it felt a bit more like arts and crafts but I used only "stuff" from my stash. Plus I even used a new acrylic stamp that I purchased at mlpa this past Tuesday. Now, that is amazing for me. I never use my supplies this quickly. It's a fun layout- no wow at all, just play time for me.

Sweet baby James

Is here for the day! Won't be posting much as far as blogging today. Cooler day here in Phila. area.
Getting excited about a visit from a scrapping buddy, Carole, who is coming in from Las Vegas tomorrow!
Maria

I had a great night

And, I'm having a wonderful day today as well. Went to my all time favorite LSS, memory lane, pa. in Quakertown, Pa. yesterday afternoon. Did a bit of scrapping and then went to dinner with Rollie and met Denise and Darlene at the restaurant. Tried a new martini- Bison Grass Vodka with olives. One nasty drink I tell ya. It taste true to it's name, like drinking alcholic grass. Even the olives didn't help- which are the biggest reasons I drink martinis-I'm an old fashion girl- still drink gin martinis. So, waitress was kind enough to take it back and decided on a pomegrante martini, thanks to the reminder of this great drink from friend and scrapping buddy, Heidi. Heaven, just heaven! After a lovely dinner, went back to the store and took Colleen's eternal calendar book. We did the first 6 months and will complete the book in the couple of weeks. This will help me to keep track of birthdays/anniversaries and has pockets to keep cards in the book as well. Class ran a bit late- say, an hour and a half- and then I was cordially invited to stay overnight at the Stilling's home. Rollie and I got to enjoy American Idol- tivo style- can I tell you I so need one of these things- and part of All My Children before I went to bed. Now, for those of you who don't know me, I was a bit of a nervous wreck. One, I'm a little afraid of dogs- Rollie has two nice sized ones- and I do not sleep well at home let alone at someone else's house! Plus it was a bit warm and I feared an anxiety attack would come up me while trying to get some sleep. People, I slept like a baby! LOVING me that fresh country air.
In the morning, we saw Josh off on his school bus, had coffee and played around with Rollie's awesome photo printer and fixed my portable Epson printer. Rollie, thank you so much for printing out a large sized picture of my family from Mother's day! It's da bomb! Taking it to be framed today! Then Rollie helped me with my blog site here. Can you see my new title with picture? Plus, she added a picture of Jack and I in our formal wear from Jack's firm's black tie from a few weeks ago. Then it was off to have breakfast in the most cutest country store in Trumbauersville- Spors! Can they please move to Havertown?? I had a yummy "kitchen sink" omelet with delicious hash browns and WW toast. It was so big I took the leftovers home for lunch. I also took home a couple containers of their homemade soups. I look forward to going back there. Of course, I was so enjoying the country scenery that I went down Trumbauersville Rd. for almost 5 miles before I realized that I went the wrong way!! LOL But, it was worth the detour. Put me in a fabulous frame of mind! Rollie, girl, nails and all, thank you for being such a great friend and listen to me babble away about my family, etc. Love ya!
Now, do I go out and enjoy the sunshine or go scrap and complete some of the things I started yesterday?? Decisions,decisions. Maybe a bit of both.
Have a good one, everybody!

The entire gang went out to brunch yesterday for Mother's Day at the Pyramid Club on top of the Mellon Bank Building at 17th and Market in Phila. Also joining us were Pat and Jim McDermott- Liz's in-laws, Carolyn and Ed Reitter- Jennine's in-laws-as well as Matt's sister, Dolores, her husband, John and their one yr. old daughter, Amy. Here are a few pictures from our fantastic time together.

Been awhile! Sorry!

Well, my birthday and Mother's Day has been here and gone. Everyone is well but for some reason, I just forget to come here to blog. Guess since I am not the bestest of author's, I don't like writing my thoughts that much. Life is good. My family is all healthy and am enjoying scrapping the kids' pictures as they continue to grow and enjoy life.
I did a Mother's day layout of my mom and, while it made me miss her all the more, I enjoyed doing it very much. Here is it.

Here is baby #3 in his bath towel

I sure hope this comes through so that you are able to view it. I wanted to try and edit my post with the other two grandchildren in their bath towels but I couldn't figure out how to edit a published post. So, here goes. This is James in his towel.
Well, it is very small but it's there. Sorry I can't get it bigger.
Life is pretty good. Today I got to spend more time with my youngest grandson, James, and my daughter, Liz. We even took a nice walk around my neighborhood. What a beautiful day. Unfortunately, Liz goes back to work next week and is a bit upset about it all.
This Sunday I get to spend the day with all six of my children and the 3 babies... and, of course, Jack. We will be having a family barbeque. We are making plans to go out to a brunch on Mother's Day and then on May 20th, we will all be going out together for Meggie's college graduation which is that morning.
I hope to start sharing some of my scrapbook layouts soon. It is my favorite thing to do next to being with my family.
Did anyone watch American Idol tonight?? It was a great show. Very emotional.
It's time to say good night for now. Will be back soon.
Maria

And, then there were THREE

At 6:25PM, on February 5, 2007, I became a grandmother for the third time. James Finnegan McDermott weighed in at 8lbs.,13oz. Mommy, Liz, had to have a C-section because he was too big for a regular delivery. He looks a lot like his mom did as a baby. Cousins, Abby and Luke, are excited to have him join our family. These pictures were taken on March 25th. Baby James is now 10 weeks old and weighs in at 12 lbs, 9 oz. He was baptized on April 14th. Can't wait to share more pictures. I love being a grandmother- Mimi- can you tell???

Yep, I am back again

For some reason, I cannot sign into my favorite scrapbook board so I continue here.
Guess by now you realize that I love scrapping and everything about it. I look for ideas for layouts in everything. Recently I thought I would like to do a layout based around the Target commercial. To see this commercial, go to: http://www.splendad.com/ads/show/409-Target-Less

Target - Less commercial

Summary: Athletic activities mixed with merchandise with the theme of more for less.

Song in the commercial: A Little Bit More
More song info below

Video:

Notes:
fearless
breathless
effortless
marvelous(less)
fabulous(less)
boundless

Music

A Little Bit More by Jamie Lidell

Buy it from iTunes

So, now that I have found it on the internet and put it on my blog, I definitely need to scrap it. Hopefully, will post my outcome soon.

Sharing a picture

This picture came out a bit small. Oh, well. Let me tell you who they are. This is two of my siblings, brother, Mike, and, sister, Tina. It is of my DH, Jack, my 6 children, two son-in-laws and my two grandchildren, Abby and Luke- taken prior to baby James' birth. It is Mike and his wife and their three daughters. It is sister, Tina's DH and 5 of their 6 children. My brother, Joe, and his second wife and daughter were unable to be there but it is his two sons, Joe and Andy, and Andy's wife and baby daughter, my great niece, Anna. It was suppose to be a Baccile(my maiden name) family portrait but unfortunately everyone could not be there. So, here's hoping that we get everyone together soon.

So, what did I do, today?

First off, made sure ALL the kids had school. Two had a two hour delay and two were off yesterday due to the bad weather. Thought I did a good job of getting everyone off and suddenly get a call from Ashley. She gets to her half way point to school and finds out that they had to close due to no electricity!! UGH!
Liz called around 9:30AM and asked me to go with her for baby James' hip ultra sound. We decided to go get some dig. pics printed out at Target first- of the christening, etc.- then head out for a quick lunch- pick up finished pictures, dropped Ashley back home and then to the hospital for the test. His appt. was at 2:30PM but we got there early to feed him before his test. They took him back right on time and, luckily, the pediatric radiologist was there and told Liz the results immediately. He is PERFECT, as we all guessed!! The pediatrician was concerned about hip dysplagia due to his traumatic birth. This can lead to hip displacement and eventual surgery if not taken care of. The doctor thought she heard a "hip click" but all is well. Thank God. BTW, he cooed and smiled through the entire test. Doctor couldn't believe it.
Got home just in time to pick up Michael at the bus stop. Then Meggie had to get a renal ultra sound. (medical day at the Hughes') Meg has had a number of kidney infections and will have to see a urologist. No results from that test yet.
Jack is home late tonight due to yet another dinner meeting. After dinner- homemade chicken noodle soup- I did more preparing- purging and pricing- for the memory lane yard sale. I have more scrapping supplies than hmmm, Payless has shoes?? I don't mind having it all and buying it all. I just need to use it all!!! LOL As I was in my crop room, I realized that I was missing American Idol. So, I sit here typing as I watch. When the heck is Sanjaya going to get voted off of this show?? Singers were ok. It was country night.
So, I am two for two so far as far as posting every day but don't expect it to continue.
Have a good one, everybody and say a prayer for all those at Virginia Tech. Univ.

It's Tuesday,7AM

And I am still blogging. This is a first for me. It was not fun getting the children out the door this AM. Anthony waits till the very last moment to get himself dressed and almost misses the bus every morning. Ashley freaks that she can't find her study notes and she is having a math test and needs those notes or she will flunk the test. Why wasn't she studying them all night long? And, Michael, who when asked numerous times if he was ready and said "yes", is still in bed!!Meggie stayed at a friend's home and will be storming in at any time, trying to find everything that she needs.
Jack is in NYC overnight. Me, I am either going to be seeing baby James today or continue to purge and rid myself of all these scrapping supplies that I will never get to use. I now have a huge pile that needs to be numbered and priced,
Also need to upload some pics of our new grandson so I can share him with you all..
Sure hope that the world news has some good things to say today.
Keep the Faith, everyone.
Maria

My first pictures on my new blog

This is my older two grandchildren, Abby and Luke at bathtime last week. Abby was 3 in Jan. and Luke is 19 months old. Joining them is sweet baby James Finnegan who is 10 weeks old today. Will post some pics of him tomorrow.
Hope you like babies as I love posting pictures of mine.
Have a good night.
Maria