Catch Up!

OK I have been made aware of my delinquency in posting to my blog. I have been busy getting ready for the holidays and enjoying a weekend away scrapbooking with the person who tells me I am behind . . . so this one is for you Megan - Luv Ya!

Happy Birthday Gramma Betty - a Great 77 years

Saturday was my mother-in-law's 77th birthday! She is suffering with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and is no longer able to swallow at all and is only able to communicate in writing. We are all facing the fact that she is failing and this may well be her last birthday. In honor of her big day, we got all of the family possible together for her day. There were in total - 3 sons, 2 daughters-in-law, 7 grandkids, 8 great grandchildren and 10 friends! It was a fun day and she looked so happy to have them all there.

Here's to Gramma Betty - wishing you comfort and peace as you struggle through each day. Know that we love you so much and are so lucky to have you in our lives.

Megan made a fabulous scrapbook page for Gramma about the things she learned from her. i cannot say things better about Gramma so I will just include this picture . . .

The Happy Couple

The reception on Saturday was amazing. They did a great job and are clearly very happy!

Mr. & Mrs. Janson Paro - April 1, 2009

It was a lovely ceremony and they are clearly very happy! Congrats!

Snakes!

OK, to those of you who know me - you know I really dislike snakes. Unfortunately my children do not share that fear so I have had to become better about looking at them behind glass and that sort of thing. Anyway, for the days prior to Creative Escape I had been rushing around getting kids ready for school and getting my stuff together to go to Phoenix. My mind was a mess and in the following story you will see that my dreams followed that mess . . .

I had never been to Phoenix except to change planes so I only had preconceived notions of what to expect. Several things had crossed my mind - heat, snakes, bug, heat . . . but I hadn't reallly talked about them at all. Well, the night before we went to the airport I was spending the night at Megan's and boy did my dreams go crazy. I dreamt that we got to Phoenix and there where snakes everywhere around the resort Sheraton Wild Horse Pass. They were slithering everywhere, hanging out of trees , crawling in our rooms - literally EVERYWHERE. In the dream, Megan found this to be very funny. I needed rescued badly and Megan was clearly not going to do it so finally someone came to rescue me - of all people it was Ande (lovely Jane's daughter) who came to my aid and rid the place of all the snakes and was ever so caring about me and my fears. I have no idea how Ande got into the picture but in the dream I was ever so glad that she had.

I did share this dream with Megan on the plane in hopes that she would be more sympathetic in real life if a snake did cross our path. She thought the dream was a riot and convinced me that I needed to share it here. Once we got checked into our hotel we wandered outside to check things out and first thing outside the door I see something flash in front of my feet while Megan declares "Oh, look Michelle, a lizard!" I thought I was going to have to go put on dry clothes but I did fine. Lizards don't really bother me if they are small like this little 6 inch long guy. We did survive the days in Arizona with NO SNAKES!!!

Thanks Ande for saving me nonetheless.

I'm Back!

Not only am I back to blogging - but I just got back from Creative Escape in Phoenix, AZ. Needless to say, I am tired and have lots to catch up on not only here on the blog but at home in general. Chase is at school this morning and Kenzie is playing quietly so I thought I would at least post a quick note that I am alive and that I plan to resume the My Freedom posting tomorrow and finish it out then start on another plan for regular blogging. However, I cannot start with anything other than pictures and news from Creative Escape. For those of you who do not know about Creative Escape (this was the 3rd annual - but my first), it is a scrapbooking event put on by Heidi Swapp and Mr. Bazzill (by the way, Bazzill is not his name, he is truly Mr. Smith, but named the company Bazzill after his mother whose maiden name was Bazzill). They bring in 8 teachers and you make 8 fabulous projects over the course of two LONG days. Hoepfully you will get the feel from the pictures. This year's teachers also put on a trunk show where we got to meet and chat with them and see some of their favorite projects - what and inspiration.

Tim Holtz - taught a great class with an awesome frame and it holds a piece of wearable art

Laura Stamas - taught a class on an album called "Look Inside My Heart - All About Me" using the new Lickety Slip Scrapbook from Bazzill

Kolette Hall (with me) - she has family in Manson, WA & has shopped at Memories By The Lake in Chelan where I work part time

Mr. Bazzill is on the right - he and another attendees husband were being funny modeling the aprons we all got (Mr. Bazzill is a happily married man - FYI)

Janet Hopkins - taught a wonderful Memory Binder book class

Jenny Bowlin - taught a Hodge Podge mini book class in light blue & orange - LOVE it!

Jason & Kolette Hall (and baby on the way) - taught the Good Book class and Jason was our fabulous key note speaker (more about that on a later post)

Kelly Goree - works for Basic Grey & taught a class with 4 12 X 12 layouts, very fun

Here she is - Heidi Swapp - not only did she put on Creative Escape but she taught a class that was amazing and came from China to do it - she also gave us a guided trip to our room upon arrival as her room was just down the hall!

Megan and I had a great time and are now home to the regular grind. I will leave you today with the mantra of Jason and Kolette Hall "Find the Good & Be Grateful"!

Pictures

OK, I know I am behind but wanted to post a quick update on the schedule at the Rogge household in the next few weeks. Also wanted to post pictures we had taken prior to the broken ankle in Minnesota.

Tomorrow is Mackenzie's 4th birthday. She has preschool and gets to take treats for her friends. She goes to the ENT in the afternoon to get her tubes out and to the orthopedic surgeon after that to get her cast off. She is very excited about all of that!!

Thursday is her dress rehearsal for her dance recital next week and is the Memorial Day parade here in Chelan which we will watch as Daddy is driving his T-bird in it.

Friday is date night for Chase with Mommy and Daddy. We will pick him up from school at noon and head to Yakima for the Carrie Underwood concert. He loves to listen to her and calls her "My Girl". We will go out to dinner and then spend the night before coming home on Saturday. Kenzie will stay with Rachael while we take him for some special one on one time.

Saturday will bring some friends to town to visit for the day. Then just he usual for the busy Memorial Day weekend in Chelan (this translates to us staying at home as much as possible).

Tuesday Kenzie has a birthday party to attend and herfinal rehearsal for the recital. Wednesday evening is the recital at 6 pm in which she will dance to "I Wish I Was Magic" (cute song available on iTunes) and be a moonbean in her pretty blue dress. Thursday night will be her graduation from preschool (another big event).

Another weekend to try to recover before the busy week of Chase's final week of preschool and his graduation as he starts kindergarten in the fall. After his last day of school, we will take off to Myrtle Creek and the Oregon coast to camp with Mamma and Papa and then up to Mt Vernon for our niece's graduation from Western Washington University and then home on the 16th.

Megan, Alura and I head to Tri-Cities for a scrapbook weekend on the 18th and get home on the 21st. After that we plan to stay home for a while.

Hope all is well for everyone at this busy time of the year!

Girls Weekend

OK, now to explain the Smilebox I posted this morning. Megan, Jill, Heather and I went to Seattle on Friday to see Mamma Mia at the Paramount Theater. Fabulous show!!! Enroute, we stopped at my sister's in Bothell so I got to hug and kiss on the nieces (much to my mother's dismay :)). We also went to Lasting Memories (scrapbook store) in Lynnwood and hit Alderwood Mall for a few minutes too. I was glad that they needed to hit the mall as I realized while at the mall that I had left my slacks for the show laying on the ironing board at home where I started to (but never finished) ironing them to pack that morning. So, I got a new pair of slacks as I only had jeans to go with my blouse.

From there, we fought the traffic to get to Seattle and follow the AWFUL Mapquest directions to the Edgewater Hotel. It is such a beautiful hotel once you get to it. We then did a quick change in order to make to for dinner reservations at The Melting Pot - a wonderful fondue restaurant in Seattle. We stuffed ourselves to death but loved every bite of it!!

Then off to the Paramount for the Mamma Mia show. We all loved it and I would go again tomorrow. My family is already sick of the soundtrack that I bought :) but Kenzie sings them with me while we cook.

We hit the North Bend Factory Stores on the way home and got everyone delivered I got home about 6:45 Saturday night.

A great Girls Weekend Out!!

Busy month

Boy am I behind! I was inspired by a couple of other bloggers to get back on track after my scrapbooking weekend.

Megan and I spent Wed - Sat of last week in Richland, WA at a wonderful scrapbooking retreat. Jane did some amazing cooking with only an electric roaster and a crock pot. She is a whiz and I have about three new recipes out of the deal that any visitors to my home will be plagued with in the coming months. Hawaiian Haystacks for one is a great thing for big groups of guests! I made them last night and the kids devoured them! It is also nice to find things the kids like. Another one of the great recipes is Taco Soup but I will save that for cooler weather - although with our new heat pump in and Dave controlling the thermostat (any visitors to our home know what that means), some of us are wearing sweatshirts and fuzzy socks (me right now for one). The third is a great cake that is very easy but yummy. Bake a chocolate cake per directions in a 9 X 13 pan. When it comes out of the oven, poke holes in it with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour a jar of caramel ice cream topping over the cake. Frost with cool whip and top with a crunched up Heath Bar. YUMMY!!! (of course, low in calories too :) )

After returning from the retreat, Dave and the kids and I left Sunday afternoon for Seattle. Dave had an Indium Blood Study done at Swedish Hospital to see if we can find the reason for the extreme pain in his right knee. Mackenzie got car sick on the way over, so at the end of a 3 hour drive (actually more like 4 with stops and traffic), she was in her third change of clothes and I was in my second. We got to see Stephanie and Liza and their families for dinner on Sunday which was nice as we don't see them as much since we aren't over there very often.

On Monday, while Dave was at medical appointments, the kids and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo. It was a great day to go as the sun was out and it had rained all day on Sunday so the animals were all out. The kids got to feed a giraffe - they were thrilled. We saw the zoo's baby tiger. They saw the tribute to Hunsa the baby elephant that died a few weeks ago there at the zoo. They seemed to perseverate on that part of the trip though, I don't know why. Chase got a stuffed Rhino which he is thrilled with. Kenzie picked out a stuffed elephant (very soft I might add), got to the van with it and wanted "my old one" that Mamma & Papa had gotten for her in March. That was the last time she touched the new one. The old one gets LOTS of love. Thankfully, Aunt Lisa is checking out one she saw at a gift shop to see if it is the same so that we have a spare in hiding because if something happens to "the old one" we will all lose a lot of sleep till she learns to live without it.

We got to play in the pool at the hotel on monday evening - the kids love the water and were very tired after a busy day!

On Tuesday, while Dave went to the last of his medical appts, the kids and I spent a few hours with Aunt Lisa and Cousin Sarah. They had fun playing in the backyard, especially with the bubble mower. If only the bubble mower really worked to cut the grass. Uncle Mitchell has been working LONG hours on the new 787 at work so he hasn't gotten around to mowing. The night before we were there he put in the air conditioner which will make Aunt Lisa happy as she endures summer while pregnant. I have included with this post a picture of the three kids together. We don't get them together very often so it is fun to get a photo moment when we do - clearly they are not too thrilled with the picture stuff. Who would believe that there is 15 1/2 months between them - Chase is 4 years 4 months, Sarah is 3 years 2 months and Kenzie is 3 years 1 month.

We got home yesterday about mid-day so are still catching up on laundry and things. My mother is thrilled that I am learning (re-learning) to do laundry and have no major carpel tunnel injuries from folding - ha ha!!

More tomorrow - hopefully!