Babypalooza!!!

Hello everyone...and welcome to Babypalooza!!! I hope that you've enjoyed to stops along the way so far. You should have been directed here from Kat's blog.

If you've gotten lost along the way and want to start over, you can begin at Britt's blog.

My family has been hit hard with baby fever...in just the past 6 months, I have welcomed 4 new nieces in to my life. There is Zoey, Amelia, Penny and Reiko...I feel so very blessed and cannot wait to meet my south of the border girls!! In fact, everyone around here has gotten a bit of baby fever, what with Britt's little bundle of joy coming soon...and just look at this beautiful new baby kit that she has whipped up for all of us to play with!! Isn't it just amazing?!


Now, I was lucky enough to be able to play with it ahead of time and I know that most of you are here for the freebies...so without further ado...here is the quickpage that I've made for you all.

*** ETA. This download is no longer available...look for this and the rest of the blog train goodies at Britt-ish Designs ***

For those of you who weren't able to download this because of a lack of bandwidth, and if you left a comment about it...please email me at bcnatty22@hotmail.com!!

Make sure you let all your friends know about this blog hop...these freebies will only be available until Thursday February 17th.

The next stop on your hop is Krista's blog.

Enjoy the rest of the ride!!

A New Year...Another New Beginning

Well...2011 hasn't exactly started off like I expected it to. Rich, my BF of 9 months decided to end it on New Years...so I'm hoping that this year can only get better. No, it's not his fault...so don't start hating him right away...well, he did end it, but he just wasn't feeling it anymore. And no matter how much I want to, I just can't change how someone feels...so it's for the best, I guess...even if it does feel like my heart has broken in to a thousand pieces again.

So here I am again, brokenhearted at the start of a new year...and, again, I will make the commitment to myself...to find what truly makes me happy, to find what makes me tick...to find me. So here's to a year of self discovery...

So, besides that...the rest of my holidays was awesome...it always is when I get to spend time with my whole family. As always, it was chaotic, with everyone around, but it was fun:)
The kiddos had their Christmas concert...they were all so cute. Erika and I were lucky enough to get seats front and center and unfortunately, I don't have a proper video camera yet, so my iPhone just had to do.

Logan was a little shy, I don't know why because she sings and sings and sings at home...and if I do say so myself, she is pretty good.



And Tanner...well, let's just say that he LOVES the camera!!! Such a little ham:) He, of course is front and center...and did he ever put on a show. It didn't quite catch it all, but at the end of his performance he did a couple bows and thank yous.



And Payton was just as sweet as can be...she was sick with tonsillitis the whole week before the concert, and at first she wasn't going to go...but she cried and cried...and in the end, she got her way. She was so happy that she was able to go, and fortunately, she was able to make it through the entire show.



Then the whole family came up for the Christmas holiday. It was the first time that I've seen Darren and Auria since they left for their Asia trip, almost 8 months ago. And I finally got a picture of the 5 of us...which I will totally have to scrapbook, and then give to Darren, so he doesn't feel like the "Forgotten Brother" anymore ;)

We also got to spend some time with Grandma, which is always a delight:)

And I think that Kong Kong loved having all his grandkids and great grandkids there with him.

We had our traditional "Frank" Christmas breakfast of crepes, eggs benedict and deli meats and cheeses. We had a traditional Christmas dinner...with some crab legs thrown in and we also had our Mongolian Hot Pot...so much good food!! Hopefully it didn't all go to my thighs;)

The kiddos all got along surprisingly well...I barely heard any fighting between the 5 of them...which was a treat for Tanya and I.

The kiddos all got their favorite presents...and then a lot more!! Seriously, the amount of gifts under the tree is getting a little ridiculous...but the kids love it, and so do I!!

The siblings all get together and do a Secret Santa, which seriously cuts down on the cost for us...and it's always fun to find out what you get. This year I had Erika, and I decided to do a little theme for her. We were all in to the movie and book "Eat, Pray, Love" so I went off of that and got her a cookbook, a little jade Buddha statue and and little book of zen sayings and some lacy underwear...along with the movie. And Tanya was my Secret Santa...I ended up getting a pretty sweet sweater and a GC to Shutterfly...now I have NO excuses to not put a book together!! AND we all got some hand knitted Christmas socks from Mom :)


So, although, it ended up pretty crappy for me...I can't really complain...because I was able to spend the holidays surrounded by people who love and support me. And the way I figure it...it can only get better.

So here's to 2011...may it be filled with love and happiness for everyone!!

SM 3rd Birthday Blog Train

Hey Everyone!!

First let me say Happy Birthday SM!! I have had the wonderful priviledge of being a part of the SM CT for a while...and I love it, I consider it part of my digital family.

I hope everyone has been enjoying all the wonderful freebies that the CT and designers have created for you all!!

You should have found your way here from Amy's Blog. If for some reason, you get lost along the way, or found your way here without following the train, you can start over at ScrapMatter's Blog.

Your next stop should be Trixie Scraps' Blog.

I have a few memorable birthdays that I want to share with you all. When I was growing up, my Grandma always made these amazing birthday cakes. I mean, these are ones that you would pay good money for at a bakery...but my favorites were always her Black Forest Cakes. I would look forward to my birthday every year just for her cakes. I have been priviledged enough to have been taught by my Grandma how to bake her special Black Forest Cakes, and it was my honour this year with my younger sister, Erika, to surprise her on her birthday (the first one that I have been here for in 15 years) with her own Black Forest Cake.

My family has a birthday season...it runs from the middle of April through the end of May. During that time we have 9 birthdays in just 5 weeks. I have totally missed out on our birthday season during the 15 years that I was living in the States, but now that I'm back home in Canada...this year I was in heaven. It gets a little hectic, planning that many birthdays, but I loved it. I made a LO of all the birthdays we celebrated this year...

The other birthday that I want to share with you is my last birthday, which I celebrated in May. This is the first one in 15 years that I have been able to celebrate with my immediate family, it really meant a lot to me to have everyone that loved me and that has helped me through some really tough personal times there with me this year. And just knowing that this is the first one of a lot to come makes it even better!! I love my family so much, and I'm so glad that I am home with them again!

So now on to what you have all been waiting for...my freebie!! I hope you enjoy these cluster frames that I have made for you all. Just click on the preview to download!!

***ETA: This download is no longer available. Please check out ScrapMatters for the add on to the Cupcakes & Candles kit for all the blog train freebies!!***

Enjoy the rest of the train, and have a wonderful time during this amazing week at ScrapMatters!!

Just wanted to quickly pop in here and mention a couple things that are going on at ScrapMatters.

First of all...I'm hosting a Speed Scrap...so if speed is your vice, check out the ad below.

And for playing along...you will get this fabulous Participation Prize!! Isn't is awesome?!

Also...ScrapMatters is turning 3 next week!!!!! So you have to make sure that you check it out...we will be having games, chats, speed scraps and sales all week long!! Make sure you're there for some fabulous fun and prizes!!

I Miss(ed) June...

This title has 2 meanings to me. First of all, June (the month) just seemed to fly by...and I will get to everything that me and the kiddos went through a bit later.

First I need to get to the next major tragedy that happened in our lives. My Mama (my mom's mother) passed away this June very quickly after a brief battle with cancer. On a side note, her name is also June...hence the second meaning to my blog title.

We found out just after Mother's Day that she had brain cancer, after going in to get more diagnostic testing, we found that she also had Stage 4 (the last stage) lung cancer. So my mom, Mama and Kong Kong (my mom's father) quickly flew down to Vancouver for almost 4 weeks to undergo radiation treatment. While they were down in Vancouver, the did some bone scans and found that she also had bone cancer in her back and hips.They flew home on a Tuesday afternoon, and early Thursday morning, just after I had helped her reposition in bed to be more comfortable, she stopped breathing and passed away. I performed CPR on her for 5 minutes before the paramedics came and worked on her for another 20 minutes. Just when they were going to call it in, they found a very tenous heart beat...but she didn't last the ride to the hospital.
I just happened so quickly...but in a way, I'm glad that it did. Although I am SO grateful that my kiddos and I were able to spend these last few months with her...she was not the Mama that I once knew. She has always been this fiesty, on the move woman...and these past months were so hard to watch as she deteriorated so quickly. I'm so glad that I was there for her in her last days and moments to help her be more comfortable, I just wish that I could have done more.

June Sek Kiam Tseng January 26, 1926- June 17, 2010
You will be dearly missed.

Everyone, except Darren and Auria (who are in China) came home for her services. We all had a great time reminiscing about Mama, we had amazing food and despite the sad occasion, we had a lot of laughs. I think that we, as a family, became stronger and closer that weekend.

As for the rest of June, the Pumpkin and Monkey finished their school year. And despite only being there for half the school year, Pumpkin won the Principle's Award for the Best All Around Grade 3 Student...isn't that awesome?!

She also participated in the Track & Field day at Massey Place Stadium (man, did being there for a track & field event ever bring back some memories for me!). Monkey was very proud of his big sister and how awesome she did.

The kiddos also finished off their soccer games for the summer, much to Sweet Pea's excitement (she enjoyed soccer about as much as she enjoyed it last year). But, unfortunately, they have 3-4 more games when they return for school.

So, I think that I'm ready to let everyone in on what's been happening in my life. I told you all earlier that my husband of almost 10 years decided that he needed time apart from us, and that I decided to move back to Canada because of it. I spent at least 2 months depressed...I wasn't able to do anything other than get the kids to school and pick them up. It was sometime around mid-March that I realized that I didn't want to wait around for him anymore, and that he wasn't the person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I thought about it long and hard, and I realized that there was no way that I could trust or love him wholeheartedly again, how was I ever going to trust that he wouldn't just up and walk away from us again when things got tough. And I decided to move forward, not on...I just needed to start living again. So it was tough, but I got out playing basketball again, and started going out with my sisters and hanging out with my friends. And I realized that life up in good ole Prince George was just as awesome as it always was...I just needed to change my mindset.

So I told Mike in April that I wanted a divorce. It hasn't happened yet, but at least it's been put out there...unfortunately, Mike has realized that he made a terrible mistake and is trying to fight for us. But it's way too little, way too late.

I have since met someone new and amazing and perfect for me. He makes me smile, helps me put things in perspective, worries about my well-being and how everything affects my family and most importantly makes my heart happy. From the beginning things between us have just been so natural and easy. Now don't get me wrong...things aren't perfect, and we are still figuring a lot of stuff out...but I can't wait to figure things out together, and I'm excited to have him in my life. So, to all my readers out there...here is the new man in my life...meet Rich.
So that's about it for June...I'll be back soon to update everyone on what's been going on in July with our family.

The Party Never Ends at SM!!

In case you guys didn't get enough of ScrapMatters this past iNSD...get ready for more excitement, challenges, prizes, chats and fun!!

It Just Keeps Getting Better

Because of continued issues with the ScrapMatter's site (it must be because their designers are SO AWESOME!!) they have decided to extend their iNSD sale through Thursday May 6th!! Take advantage of these awesome prices because after Thursday, they go back:(
Have a great week and Happy Scrapping!!