I'm Illin'

UGH. That's exactly how I feel. I got this lovely cold yesterday morning & felt like hell by last night. Sleep? What's that? So I'm a little fuzzy, forgive the poor pregnant lady with the sniffles.

It's been a crazy busy 2 weeks. My brother was home from Iraq & my sister made it home from Hawaii so we were all here enjoying some family time. It's usually a whirlwind of activity when my brother is home anyway but with my sister relocated to Hawaii we had a houseful. And I loved it. There is nothing like having them both home & being able to spend time with my brother is always the best. Hated to see him go back to that hell hole but the good thing is we're at the halfway point. 6 more months & hopefully he'll be home. The kids always have a blast when he's here. He is really a great uncle, always willing to take them outside to play or take them to grab a bite to eat. And Vinnie absolutely worships him.

So they both went to their respective areas on Wednesday morning. My brother back to Iraq, my sister back to Hawaii. And while my house is by no means quiet, it is definitely a different vibe here since they left. Of course, I'm worried about my brother going back to Iraq considering it's getting bad there again. Bad or good, it doesn't ease my mind with him being in a region where a majority of the people hate Americans. And having my sister here gave us time to spend some time together & talk about things we've never discussed before. And it made me realize how much I value having my family around me. We're a small one so it makes a difference.

OK So, Nancie, Corinne & I went on our lovely retreat to Aptos with Scrappin' By the Sea. Amazing. It was so much fun & I am looking forward to going again later this year. Wanna check it out? Go to ScrappingByTheSea.COM. Tiffany is the owner & she was a sweetheart. The accomodations were comfortable, we had a couple of classes & there were drawings through the entire weekend. And the food was amazing. Just a great little getaway.

Here's us the first night there. Everyone attending was super nice & very talented. And I even managed to get a bunch of pages done so that made it even better. Lord knows with the thousands of pictures I have, every little dent in it helps.

I also got to have a mini-shoot with those adorable Gilmore kids. I seem to forget that my children aren't the only adorable ones in the world. DJ is such a little charmer & that sweet Gracie has such an amazing, outgoing personality. How precious is this?

So stinkin' cute. I am still getting used to this fancy schmancy camera but I love it. The results I've gotten are fantastic & I am sooooo loving it.

OK, gonna go try to lay down & pray for this cold to go away. Have a great week & I swear, I will try to post more!