Monarch Mountain...

So while we were in Colorado, Robert got a chance to snowboard with Laura on Monarch Mountain....and this is what happened.

Christmas Video of the kids

Here is a video of the kids opening gift Christmas morning from Santa. Enjoy!

To watch in high quality double click the video. Another window will open to you tube and click the "watch in high quality" on the bottom right hand of the video.

Happy Holidays

Just wanting to wish everyone a great holiday.

We made it safely back to Chicago. It took Robert forever to get the car unstuck of the parking lot that we kept the car at while we were in Colorado. Then when we get home the gate door won't open...we had to carry the kids over the gate to get them in the door. It was quite funny to see me scale the gate. But we made it.


I am trying to get the house somewhat clean. It looks like a tornado ran through the house while we were gone.

:)sesil

Sammie's Last Day of Ballet 12.6.08

Enjoy the video...Sorry for the poor quality. But you get the idea. She loves ballet.

Halloween Pictures

Some pictures of our Halloween adventure. :)Sesil

Week Review...

what did we do this week?

Kids went to school all week. I felt lazy all week.
Yesterday the kids and I went to the park.
And we are chillin' out today.

So nothing new.

the neighborhood did get a new park. It finally opened last week. So that is the only thing really going on.
So check you out next week.
:)

What a Monday...

Okay... So today has been crazy already and it isn't even noon. As normal the kids get up eat breakfast before heading out to pre-school. Everyone is dressed and ready to go.
I on the other hand, just not quite ready to start the day. I get my stuff together...coffee, purse and grab a bottle of milk for Caroline.

Drop off the kids at school, then I head to the grocery store with sweet C. Everything going good...grab my stuff head out to the check out...Okay...my budget is X amount. Tell the cashier..hey, let me know when I get close to X. So we are down to our last 4 items. I can get one more thing. Okay..let's pick that. So right on the money X. I get .25 back for my change. Whooo hooo stayed within my budget just had to leave the 3 things at the store. Didn't need them any way. Get out to the car, put Caroline in the car and load up the groceries. Jump in the van and head home.

Get home unload Caroline out of the van and grab my purse. I look down at my keys...OH NO... the house keys are off my key ring. (My key ring has the two sides and you can detach one side.) Dang it!! I let Caroline play with the set that had the house keys on them. So I start looking in the van...no luck...I think to myself...she probably threw them out of the van when I was closing the door. Heard some keys but thought it was the lady getting out of her car in the parking lot. Dang....have to go back to the store.
There were only a couple of cashiers and a security guard there. I as the security guard and the cashier I went to..no luck...as I am walking past one of the other cashiers she said...I have a set of keys. I explain what is on the key ring to the T. She goes...is this it? Thank goodness.....Someone turned them in. Phew....I have house keys. I kept thinking...I really don't want to have to drive out to Naperville to get house keys from Robert. (I left my cell phone at the house so I wouldn't have been able to call anyone with a spare key.) But I didn't have to do that.

Finally got home. I put Caroline to bed, unloaded the car put up the groceries and now I am glad I didn't have to drive out to get into the house. So just making lunch for me and Caroline then we will pick up the kids from pre-school at 3:00.

So I am off to take a nap while I can. Hope your Monday is going better than mine. (It could have been a ton worst.) See ya soon. :)SESIL

This week...

Wow.. okay... So, had a busy week and I am super tired.
1. Kids started school this week.
2. Good friend Jay came to Chicago and we were able to get together on Tuesday night.
3. Robert's birthday was on Thursday.
4. Thursday at school we celebrated Sammie's birthday with her classmates.
5. Sammie started Ballet classes today.
6. I am starting to feel under the weather.
7. I am working at the scrapbook store for the scrap pink event tonight.
8. Got all the clothes organized out of Caroline's room.
9. Made an attempt to clean the house but now it is a wreak again.
10. I am just tired!
With that said...I am going to take a nap.
Okay.. I know I have to post pictures so visit soon and I will try and post them.

Mom & Dad: Hope you are still doing good in the Philippines! Miss ya a ton.

First day of Pre-school (Sammie and Drew)

So today was Sammie and Drew's first day of pre-school with the Chicago Park District. It is such a great program, I am excited for the two of them and I know when they go to real school they will be ready socially and academically. I did take a couple of pictures of them before heading out to school. Sammie asked if I could take them to school in Daddy's car. So luckily Robert didn't have to be at work until later. So we got the kids off to school on time.

Today was parent orientation. I was really impressed with Ms. Shepard, the director of that particular Park District, and her staff with what they have to offer. They defiantly go above and beyond any other Park Districts here in Chicago. If some of you don't know the motto of Chicago Park District is "come out and play" so this is the city's way of having recreational activities at your local Park District. But over time Ms. Shepard has connected with her community and is really out there to help us as parent prepare the kids for real life and "big school". This year she was showing us the curriculum she has planned for the kids. They will be taught Math, Science, basic Spanish, African Drumming, phonics in preparation for reading and start with the writing. We will be getting progress reports on everything. (okay...remember this is for 2-4 year old and this is way above and beyond what any other park district in the city is doing) I am just really impressed with the attentiveness (Is that a word?) to the kids and the genuine concern about learning and starting off the kids with a solid foundation. I love it....it goes together with my teachings goals for the kids. So hand and hand we will be working together to build a solid foundation for our kids education. (phhhew...I just kept going there...okay you get it. I like it.)

Originally, the kids were going from 9-12 M-F with the option of extending it to 3. We decided to go with the extended time because, Sammie never takes a nap and Drew is down to one, he will take one there and Sweet C will be home with me taking her two naps while the other two are at school. It works out better for all of us. The kids are excited to be back to school. I will post the pictures when Robert gets back from work.

Today, our buddy Jay from Texas will be hanging out with us for a couple of hours. Just catching up...I am so excited. So Robert will pick Jay up at the hotel then they will be coming home. So..my point...Robert has the camera for work and the pictures I took for the kids first day of school is on the camera....which means I won't get the pictures until late tonight and with Jay visiting I won't be able to download them right away. IN addition ,I also post the Tuesday tips on scrapbooking for my work's blog here http://www.thebreezebloggers.blogspot.com/
so by the time I post my Tuesday Tip for work I will try and post the pictures for this post.
Sorry....our life is just so crazy.

Okay...quick rundown. This Thursday is Robert's birthday. But instead of celebrating Robert's birthday will be at the pre-school celebrating Sammie's birthday. since her birthday was the 11th and school did not start until today. So we decided to bring the party to her school. It makes it easier on us and makes Sammie feel like a princess for the day. This weekend at my work we are doing something called Scrap Pink it is a three day crop (where people get together to work on their scrapbooks and have the store at their disposal while they are working on their projects, great fun and very social) Friday, Saturday and Sunday together with the Susan B.Colman foundation we will be hosting this crop at our store. I will be working this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the store. There are other scrapbook stores across the nation that are doing the same thing in their local area...so if you are a scrapbooker go to your local scrapbook store and attend this crop. Partial of the crop fee will be given to the Susan B. Coleman foundation for breast cancer. So with that all out. I will do my best to post pictures and updates this week.

Mom and Dad.. Love you and hope you are having fun in the Philippines in preparations for retirement. Can not wait till you get back and show us pictures.

Okay..enough blabbing. Talk to yall soon. :)SESIL

Sammie's special day with Tia

Phyllis aka Tia took Sammie to get a manicure and pedicure for her birthday. They spent the whole day together just being girls. Sammie is a total girly girl. Unfortunately I am not so that is where Tia comes in. Tia is always dressed so nice and Sammie loves being with Tia.

Side note: I was getting dressed ready to attend George Sr.'s wake with the kids and Sammie tells me "Mommy why do you have Tia's shoes on?" I was wearing high heel shoes like Tia would wear. So I got finished getting dressed, doing my hair and got everyone in the car....I went back up to the house to set the alarm and lock the door Andrew says "Look Sammie there is Tia." It was me dressed up and I think it was his way of telling me that I looked nice.

Okay...so you see this is why we need Tia in our lives so she can show Sammie and Caroline to be a true lady. I just wear t-shirts and jeans because the kids get me dirty in 20 seconds. One day I will be able to wear nice clothes again...but until then Tia will have to be their role model.

Here are some pictures of Sammie on her special day with Tia.
Enjoy. :)sesil

Thank you Tia - I had a great time - Sammie.

In loving memory of George Sr.

This week has been an emotional week for us. George, one of our close friends, father passed away this week. George Sr. was like family to us. We love you and you will be missed dearly.

Just a couple of great times I remember....

• George Sr. was a big ELVIS fan.
• I will always remember our talk about how it takes a strong woman to deal with a difficult men. (AMEN to that.)
• George Sr. and Trevor hanging out and just enjoying spending time together.
• George Sr. being so proud of his children's accomplishments.
• Our long talks when everyone else was too busy to notice us outside.

We love you! The crazy Cratin Family.

My bucket heads....

So Andrew and Caroline have been playing together more often. I just wanted to share what they like to do together. As you see.. they are my bucket heads. :)Sesil

Where does the time go?

Okay... the summer has just passed by. Of course we have been crazy busy here at the Cratin household.

Robert's showroom is now up and running in Naperville. They have a beautiful showroom in a great location. We were there during the labor day weekend with a tent barbque'n for the neighbors and potential customers. The kids loved hanging out at the showroom with the empty room riding their bikes and playing with the balloons. We even had a chance to stop by at George and Amy's to spend labor day with them. Had a great time. We even go to squeeze in more pool time while in Minooka. Here is a layout that I did the last time we were in Minooka with George and Amy.







August we went to Blue Harbor Resorts to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary with the kids. Here is my favorite shot of the weekend. We did the self timer on this.

We have been crazy around here. The kids play together all the time. Just waiting for pre-school to start again. They don't go back until Sept.22. Then it will just be me and Caroline in the morning and I can get some stuff done during the day. Have a great day. :)SESIL

Water Time Fun

Here is a quick video of the kids playing in the water.

Digital Layout.

Here is a digital layout I did for sammie's first day of ballet.

June is almost gone...where did it go....

Okay... I will try and play catch up here. Wow... where do I start? I will start with the most recent and work back.

Sammie and Drew are going to summer camp and they are gone 9-3 Monday- Friday. They go to field trips every Monday and Tuesdays. I love that they are doing activities during the summer and keeping them busy. Caroline and I stay at home so the little one can get her beauty sleep. Let's see how much I can get done around the house.

Sammie will have her first ballet class today. I will take pictures and post them later.

Drew and Sammie talked to their Uncle Jubert on his birthday to wish him a happy birthday. Yea!!! Jubert is back from the war. He has only been home for two weeks. But Drew calls Uncle Jubert "Jub..jub" And Sammie keeps telling me "mom, uncle Jubert is your brother like Drew is my brother." Love the way she is getting it.

Caroline is walking/running. She has to keep up with her brother and sister. The kids generally get along great. I will have to video them and post soon.

We just go over being sick. We all got hit with the stomach flu a couple of weeks ago....it was not a fun time for us. I think we were sick for a week and a half. Just one right after the other. But we are doing great now.

Robert's store will be closing on July 15th. But they are opening a store in the western suburbs by labor day. He will be commuting to the other stores in the meantime. We will see how things go before we make any plans to move.

Oh... my first digital layout. Here it is.


here is my second digital layout.



I will post more pictures when I get back from picking up the kids. :)SESIL

Happy Birthday Drew!

Happy birthday Drew!!
Can you belive Drew is 2? Happy Birthday Fox!

Just playing outside...

Today was a great day to be outside....that is exactly what we did. So in ready to go outside Drew is standing at the top of the stairs ready to go. Sunglasses and all.




Caroline learned how to walk 3 days prior to her first birthday. So today she was having a ball outside with her walker. She doesn't need a walker...she will walk on the walker.




Sammie loves to play hop-scotch (not sure about the spelling) Here she is making her own hop-scotch for herself. By the way...she has been trying to write her name. You can make out most of the letters...but at least she can do it. :)Sesil

Have a great day. :)SESIL

the birthday song...

Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Caroline. Can you belive she is one year old?

She started walking three days before her birthday. WHOOO HOOO. Thanks for watching.

Look who is one today!

Happy Birthday Little Caroline.

happy birthday to Sesil

Okay.. So my birthday on Sunday the 20th. Mom and Dad sent a web cam so we can talk over the web with the kids and they could see the kids grow up being so far away.

So here is our first video blog to you....Enjoy!


I will post some new pictures of the kids soon...Probably next week some time. :)SESIL

Princess Sammie...

Pictures of Sammie before she went to school today. They had a costume party at school today. Love the dress Lola!!! I will post more pictures of the kids from their costume party soon.

Pictures from this weekend...

Some pictures from this weekend. I will post more pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt tonight. Just trying to get some pictures on the blog. Enjoy. Now off to figure out what I am going to do with the kids while we are on spring break from Pre-school. So that only means......more pictures to come. Enjoy! :)Sesil

Phyllis (aka "tia") and Sammie

The baskets for the kids....The easter bunny came and knocked on the door and droped them off.

Caroline and her expression when she got her basket.

Drew discovering his loot in his basket.

Sammie being the good big sister and about to deliver Caroline's basket to her.

Happy Easter!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. We are heading over to Phyllis' parents house in Indiana and celebrate Easter with her and her family. They are like our second family.

So in preparation for Easter we dyed eggs on Good Friday with the kids and here are some pictures of the process.

The Eggs

The Dye for the eggs

Caroline, Sammie and Drew making a mess.

Drew totally enjoying the process.

Sammie concentrating on completing the process just perfectly.

Here is a video of the kids dying the eggs. Get ready to laugh

Pictures to see

Kelly Purkey came over to the house on Sunday to take some pictures of me and the kids. I have not been able to see all of them yet but here are two posted on her blog. Just click on the link and it will take you to the exact post.

http://kellypurkey.typepad.com/its_me_kp/2008/03/show-tell.html

Thank you Kelly!

I met Kelly while working at Windy City Scrapbooking. Kelly moved to Utah to work with a Scrapbooking Vendor as a designer but now she is back in Chicago. Kelly has many accomplishments in the scrapbooking world. She is a designer for many vendors and occasionally writes articles for Creating Keepsakes Magazine. So to have her take pictures of the kids is an honor for me. I never get pictures of me and the kids so I am totally excited. As you can see she is amazing.

Okay... that is all for now. I have a busy week at work this week. In Chicago Creating Keepsakes Magazine is hosting a Convention for scrapbookers 366 attendees this year. And the store will be open late till midnight from Wed to Sat. So I am working 5 - midnight every night that we are open to help out. So I will be beat by Sunday.
I am just excited to see who comes to the store to visit while the convention is in town. I know my favorite scrapbook celebrity is coming to the store tonight Ali Edwards. So okay.... enough about me and my world of scrapbooking. Enjoy! :)

Caroline and her teeth...

Here is a video of Caroline and her two teeth. It took forever for her teeth to come in. Now they are sprouting like weeds. Poor thing is constantly teething. So here is my little "snaggle tooth" daughter.

Enjoy.

Sammie is feeling better.

Just a quick update with Sam. She is doing much better. She is feeling a million times better and she is even playing with Andrew much more than before. They are both having a blast.

By the way did you get a chance to the the lunar eclipse on Wed night. I did...it was amazing to watch the moon turn a nice orange glow. Tried to take pictures but it looks like a small orange dot in a black sky. So that is all.

:)Sesil

My Creative Outlet...

week 1 background
Originally uploaded by cr8n00

So I am taking an online class on different techniques on backgrounds. This is more of a mixed media type of project. I thought this would be a great way to incorporate my scrapbooking with my painting. So I will keep posting the progress of the painting. Just wanted to let you see.

Hey Mom...See I am getting back into the painting. Hope you are having fun in the Phillippines. Hi Cousins, Aunts, Uncles and other family friends on the other side of the ocean. :)Sesil

Sammie

Poor Sammie has a major ear infection. Did not even know it. Her hair is always covering that side of her face, she never complained that her ear was hurting or anything. We thought she had a supper runny nose while she was sleeping. Did not know it was discarge out of her ear. Super GROSS.

We got her medication for everything last night. After on dosage in her ear she says "Look Mommy, the puffy went away in my ear." Poor thing.

We are on the road to a health Sammie! Just wanted you to know. :)SESIL

Caroline can say "hi"

Could not resist. Here is Caroline saying "hi"
Have a great day. ;)Sesil

Long update...

Sorry I have not been able to post in a while, there has been a ton going on here at the Cratin household. First of all we have been all sick at one point or another. So the kids have been at home with me most of the month. Here are some of the activities that we have been doing this month.

We are back to the window painting. Here is a video of the beginning process then the pictures of the final product.


The final product

We also stamped some valentine's cards and sammie even made some for her classmates.

Okay.. then Caroline is walking with her walker. Here are some pictures.




The kids flying pasted Caroline


Okay... That is all for now. I am tired, and still sick. Sammie has a dr. apt tonight at 7:15 to let us know if she has the flu or not. She has had a high fever for the past two days. they think it is the flu. Here we go again. :)Sesil

Sledding...

Here are some videos of the kids sledding the day after we get back from Texas. Enjoying the snow!!!





hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I will be updating the blog look soon as I figure out how to do it. :)Sesil

Texas Overview

We made it home! Wow… What a great trip to Texas. But we are glad to be home. There are so many things that we did while we were in Texas I will recap some highlights here.


Christmas was great. Unfortunately, everyone was sick. We decided to just have not to have the annual party at the house because of the kids and because we were all sick. Besides all the sickly people in the house we still were able to celebrate together as a family and had a great Christmas dinner.










*The kids got haircuts while we were down there. I was so proud of Sammie because she 1.)Let Lynn (the hair dresser) cut her hair 2.)Blow-dry her hair 3.) Took a picture with Lynn and gave her a hug because she liked her hair cut.
Andrew was great too. He sat in my lap while Lynn cut his hair.








The kids absolutely loved playing in the back yard. It was such great weather. (They were able to run without jackets and I didn’t have to worry about them freezing to death.) Here are some pictures of them playing outside.