A Wedding and a Baby

Last Thursday we took our trip to Illinois for Kalla and Chris's wedding! On Friday, Kalla, Sara, Mom, and I headed up to IKEA---love it!!!! We then had the rehersal that night and got to meet Chris's family--such a great group of people. Saturday started with wedding preperation and then the ceremony and then dinner for both families. The wedding was beautiful, I am so happy for both Kalla and Chris! I have another brother! Pictures below!

Also on Saturday, Don and Jill Dudley had their baby boy: Justice Shalom! On Wednesday night, Keith, Scott, Sarah, and I went to visit the Dudley family of three and he is so cute!!!!!

9 weeks along...

So I had been bugging Kalla to send me pics to see how much she is showing...and she finally sent them, so I am going to be making scrapbook pages to document baby Ronning's growth and to show everyone how cute Kalla is!

I am so excited to be able to keep track of the changes for Kalla/Chris and myself!

My brother and sister...

Zach now has a blog!
http://zway13.blogspot.com/
Sara has a blog too!
http://saragreen.blogspot.com/

To Highlight or Not To Highlight...

that is the question?

So my little bro wants to highlight his hair for Kalla's wedding and for just personal opinion, I am taking a poll.

Do you think it should be highlighted or left alone?

Leave a comment with your opinion.

Top Picture: non-highlighted hair

Bottom Picture: highlighted hair

AEzine Challenge 1.5.07

weekly challenge

This week your challenge is to create something, anything, that celebrates your chosen word for 2007. Maybe a layout. Maybe a blog posting or a journal entry or a simple post-it note that you put somewhere you can see it each day. Make sure to journal about why you chose your word and what it means for you - the more you let yourself explore the more benefit you will receive in the end.

So my word: express

I want to express my feelings, thoughts, and ideas more...I want others to feel those thoughts and ideas...I want to express who I am and what I am about...be ready for a lot of expressing!

Highlights of 2006

These are listed in no particular order!

• Took a vacation to Hilton Head Island, SC with Keith and Scott and Sarah Sulek
• Kalla moved to Houston for the summer...then to Illinois to live with Chris...she got engaged to Chris...her and Chris are expecting a baby!
• I will be an aunt and Keith an uncle
• Keith got to see where I came from...and he loved Plano, Illinois ;)
• My car broke down more times than I can remember...on the highway, in parking lots, at work, just outside work
• I spent most of my Sunday nights from summer on with two of the cutest boys ever...Mac and Te!
• God had a plan that I still don't understand when he let the kids go live with their grandpa
• We put our house up for sale

There are probably more things I am forgetting, but these were probably the most impactful!

Photoshop

So I am finally getting the hang of Photoshop...my proof...look at the the below layout I made about Kalla being pregnant and a mother to be and how that makes me feel!

I love you Kalla and am looking forward to seeing you (less than 4 weeks!)

Christmas Re-Caps

First off...I can't believe today is the last day of 2006...I will soon post on all the highlights of '06! Christmas was great...cool presents...some unexpected:

• Adobe Photoshops Elements 5.0 (I had wanted this for the last few months but wasn't expecting it for Christmas, thanks MeHun)
  
• Ali Edwards' book and calendar (my favorite scrapbooker!!!!!!)


• Lots of scrapbooking products: paper--I have way too much, but I love it; rubber stamps and inks; stickers--especially the ABC ones; and more!!!!!!!

I have been working with my Photoshop and am starting to get it--I am one of those people who just plays with it to figure it out! Below you will find two layouts I created with it!

It Broke!

My camera went kaput yesterday. So sad...I had taken it to work to take pictures of the last day of one of the kids, I took pics and it was working fine, I turned it off and later went to take more and the lens would not open and the camera screen was frozen on the opening picture. Nothing could be done, I tried to change batteries, I tried to pry the lens open....nothing, I got home and Keith tried...nothing. And to make matters worse...my pics from yesterday are on the memory card and because the camera is broken...I can't get them off!

Lucky for me my husband works at Best Buy...in the digital imaging area...and gets a great discount! So now we start saving and I get to shop! Keith agreed that since I take the majority of pics the new camera will be mine and I get to look for a midline camera, a slight upgrade from what we have now. So bad news...becomes good news!

Coming in August...

I will be an aunt, Keith an uncle, Sara an aunt, Zach an uncle, Mom and Dad grandparents, Mimi and Papa/Grandma and Grandpa great-grandparents, Grandma McLaughlin a great-great grandma!

It is true...Kalla and Chris are having a baby sometime in August...due date unknown until she goes to the doctor. Very excited to think that there will be a little baby in this family and excited to be an aunt. I am already thinking of all the things I want to buy and do with the baby!

Kalla and Chris congratulations on baby Ronning...Chris take care of Kalla and don't let her do too much...Kalla let Chris take care of you and spoil you!

Can't wait to see you in January!

Happy Birthday...

Happy 6th Birthday, K'Von!

I hope you had a great day with tons of special celebrating...just for you!

Moving on...

Tonight I did one of the toughest things I've had to do since knowing the kids were leaving...I unwrapped their Christmas gifts and sorted them by what can be given away now and what needs to be kept because I don't know what to do with it. One of things...a stuffed monkey that has the velcro arms and legs that was for KeAwn...I have hanging on my bed as a memory! It has been hard...it was hard to go over to my parents' house on Sunday and not have three screaming children running around.
And now my parents are fighting this...if not to get the kids back to at least fight the injustice that was done to our family. There are so many things about this situation that were done wrong to us and to the kids.

There isn't a minute that goes bye that I don't think about them...did they eat enough at dinner, since Grandpa didn't want to know preferences/dislikes; did they go to bed okay, again Grandpa doesn't know the ritual.

When does the pain and questioning stop---will it ever? I will for the rest of my life acknowledge that I have three siblings who were taken from me!

K'Von, K'Liyah, and KeAwn--I love you so much!

The world continues spinning

So life does go on...but it will never be the same. That part of me has been ripped out and I have no way to glue it back together. I miss them more than I could ever think...I said my good byes, but I admit they weren't ready for them and there was resistance which made it that much more difficult to walk away. Now the clean up phase begins...I some how try to piece my life back together to a resemblance of normality--still not sure what that is with me--and I live life. I live with joy, not that there won't be pain, but I live knowing that the good will always reveal.

The $1,000,000 question...why?

Why...after over two years can this be happening? How can love be ripped away like that and how can I be expected to survive? Why did I have to fall in love with them? Why, Why, Why? I want the $1,000,000 answer...why would He choose to take them away?

I got the call at work today...Sara said that the kids were going to live with their grandpa and they would be leaving tomorrow...yes, as in today is Thursday, December 7, 2006 and tomorrow is Friday, December 8, 2006 and the kids will no longer be part of our family. I have so many questions, I have so many things still to say.

I am at my mom and dad's right now...waiting until bedtime to say good-bye, but all they know is that they are spending the night at grandpa's tomorrow...but even that is not going over too well with any of them. There is not enough time tonight to say all the good-byes I NEED to say. Keith can;t be here to say good-bye or to hold me and tell me it's okay, Kalla isn't here to make the good-bye complete, I see Zach crumbling before my eyes...and I don't have the answers to make it ok. How can I comfort them, if I can't even tell my things to make it okay.

So now I say good-bye, even though the ones who need to hear it and understand think it is only until the next time I come to see them.

K'Von--you may have been wild, but you always had a soft side to cuddle with and I love you and will miss you more than I can ever say.

K'Liyah--you are such a girly girl, but was always a riot to be with...once you trusted someone you gave your love so greatly...I will truly miss you and the way you always asked me where Keith was.
KeAwn--you were spoiled, but you were the ham of the bunch...you would do most anything for a laugh!

Thanksgiving

There is nothing that I am more grateful for today than my family. They are the constants in my life...no matter what they are always there!

So Happy Thanksgiving!

I love you Keith, Mom & Dad, Kalla, Sara, Zach, K'Von, K'Liyah, and KeAwn!

Cars...love/hate

I love driving and I love my car...but only when it runs! In the past year (or a little less) I have been stranded multiple times because my belt or alternator has gone out in my car. I have been stranded on the highway (both 71 and 75), I have been stranded at work, I have been stranded on the road, and in parking lots...but never at home. I have cried over being stranded...but one thing always remains the same--it always work out. This summer and fall have been really bad with the car dying, but I have always had a car. My parents, who took Kalla's Saturn when it she moved to Houston/Plano have lent me the car multiple times this summer (though I had a few issues with that car too!) and when the Saturn wasn't available I used the Echo--thanks Sara for giving up your ride! And my dad has been great--he has changed my belt every time, put in a new alternator, and changed the battery--let's see he has become an expert and can do it no time now. All my dad asked for was a new set of tools for Christmas that would make this job even easier!
So the story goes...I love my car when it is running. When the belt is staying at a 14 on the volt meter and everything is going smooth...I hate my car when it decides to do it's own thing and I get stuck on the road or wherever...but through all this I have learned that family and friends are always there when I need them...so thanks: Dad, Keith, Mom, Scott, Sarah, Keith, Don, Sara, and Zach for always coming to the rescue when I need you!

AEzine Challenge 11.17.06

This week I want you to take a bit of time to check out your own style. What defines your style? Create a layout shows examples of your own style evolution - write about how you have grown as a life artist/scrapbooker since you first began. These sorts of stories are so important as a part of your own personal history. How cool for your family to see all the layouts you have created AND a layout that talks about how you see yourself evolving as a life artist/ scrapbooker.

Materials Used: Paper and Alphabet: Vintage Florals collection from www.shabbyprincess.com, Font: Rockwell Condensed (computer)

Jornaling reads: (upper right corner)
I look at these two pages side to by side and I see differences and similarities. Similar look in that the story-both through the pictures and words is the most important, differences-my art has evolved and changed. I cannot choose one style over another for they both tell stories about me and where I was in my creative side! Both pages represent...me!
(lower left corner)
Then: 4th of July 2003
Taken from the scrapbook of mine and Keith’s first year of dating...lots of rubber stamping with images colored in...a little ribbon
Now: Now and Forever
Cover of wedding album...uses lots of texture, multiple papers, chalking paper to change color, letting the picture tell the story without a bunch of words

AEzine Challenge 11.10.06

The challenge:Here's a little more direction: create a layout that uses at least three different stamps - one geometric, one text, and one organic (swirl, artsy, etc.). If you make a mistake, work with it or leave it. Chances are, no one will ever notice except you - everyone else will see it as a totally cool artsy use of stamps. Embrace that!

Vellum: American Crafts; Cardstock: Archivers; Inkpads: Stampabilities, Rubber Stampede; Glue: Elmers; Markers: Crayola; Stamps: Kolette Hall, Vap! Scrap

Journaling reads:What can I say...I hate having my pic taken! But this photo is perfect...it shows how Keith always smiles and I usually stick out my tongue.

My stamp collection is not very big, so I became created in using my stamps! The title is one stamp, three different colors. The flower on the journaling block, was actually a scrap paper saved! The circles stamped on the vellum next to the picture are the same circle stamp used on the journaling block, but they shifted and wiggled when stamped down-and I loved the result they created of a circle on a square! A fun challenge!

My passion for photos

I love pictures and I love scrapbooking them. I began scrapbooking my senior year in high school after my mom suggested I make one for my graduation party. What started as a one time project has grown into a huge passion! I have my own scrapbooking section in the house and I have a list of favorite stores and companies where I buy my supplies! I have also fallen in love with the work of other scrapbookers--my favorite being Ali Edwards http://aliedwards.typepad.com. I love the stories that can be told with scrapbooking for myself and for those I love. There have been pages I've created that I love and pages that I've created that I cringe at. But I have learned that this is part of the art. I can progress my growth through my creativity and can learn that I am not perfect--a huge undertaking for a perfectionist!
Ali Edwards recently started sending out a weekly email newsletter with scrapbook challenges and then encourages people to post their results online. I have begun creating pages for these challenges digitally, and while the paper versions are still my favorite, I have fallen in love with the digital design--so much so that I am looking into buying Adobe Photoshop!
Below I have posted my digital layouts, have fun looking!

Change in the family

My Kawwa is getting married. I cannot believe that my little sis is getting married. Sara is graduating high school. It just seems like everything in my family is in a time of change and at times it feels good and other times it is scary.
It's weird to think that when Kalla gets married, Sara will be the only "Green" girl left--although I still have not been able to escape the name and part of me still doesn't want to. A "Green" girl was who I was for 20 years and that can't change overnight and if it ever did change I would probably question things about myself.
As for Sara graduating, I went with her to the college visit day at Mount St. Joseph and it was hard to grasp that my baby sis is 18 years old and will soon be going out to make a name for herself. In the last few years I have seen her grow up sooooo much and she has such a great head on her shoulders. She has become one of my best friends, and rarely goes that I don't talk top her at every couple days!
So to Kalla and Sara, I love you and no matter what happens in our family and lives we will always be the best of friends!