Take a deep breath. . .

Because I think the holidays are officially over!

At least until Valentine's Day :) But shhhh, that
isn't until February 14th. . . .right??

22 DAYS AWAY.
Okay, so you don't have time to take
a deep breath! LOL

Sorry, had to tease. I can't believe
how quickly time passes for me these
days. Especially now that my babies aren't
babies anymore. . . .

This calendar page was made using
a picture from my youngest's 3rd
birthday dinner:

Medieval Times Rocks.

And this page was taken last summer
at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:

a.k.a. Heaven on Earth

Seriously, if you have never been?
Put it on your bucket list.

And then my big girl is
featured on her birthday month:

She is turning ten this year.
I won't be speaking of it again, because
it is a point of stress in my life!

Double digits???

Digital Scrapbooking!

I've never shared an MDS (My Digital Studio)
page on my blog before??

How can that be?

I made an entire calendar last year for family
Christmas gifts, which they loved.

Or so they tell me! LOL

It is a software program that lets you turn
your favorite photos into something
FABULOUS.

Then you get to make whatever you want
from it! Like what? Calendar pages, drop in pages
for your scrapbooks, journals, the list goes
on and on! Plus you get hostess benefits on both the
Product *and* the professional printing! Hubba Wha?

I could talk your ear off for a while, but instead
I will say Pretty Please just ask if you have
any questions about this versatile and fun product!

I have decided to share my pages from last
year with you, but first this page from this year. . .

We had so much fun this year with our
Nightmare Before Christmas theme!

Our favorite Halloween Movie EVER.
Okay, that and the Wizard of Oz.

Technically not a Halloween movie,
but that is always when we watch it!

Check out my babies:


Shock and Zero!
Can you even STAND IT!

And what's more? I actually made the
costumes (for the kids) this year, which I never do.

It was fun!
And speaking of fun. . . I will share with you:




It snowed half a foot two days
before Halloween! Crazy!



My baby (okay, she's three-sniff) was splashing
in the wet puddles everywhere. . .

This one was taken by the photographer who
was at my Hubby's company party.

We won the couple's costume contest!


And finally, a messy favorite of mine :)


Hope I didn't bore you! We love
Halloween around here.

Can't wait for next year :)

We miss you, Daddy.

I wanted to share with you-I have been a bit preoccupied lately. . .Some of you may already know this, but I am guessing most of you do not.

My husband left April 30th, for Iraq. He is not enlisted, but is working with an Army unit to catch bad guys. I am not going to go into alot of detail-I know that this isn’t primarily a personal blog. He is going to be gone for 1 year, with two brief visits (hopefully at home) during that time. If you think of it, maybe you can say a prayer for his safe return?

I wanted you to understand when I refer to him as being gone, or talk about missing him occasionally.

Like right now.

Besides, it is Father’s Day! I have to talk about Daddy :) And look at our babies, too, while I am oversharing! Aren’t they the sweetest ever!

Avery just turned one! Doesn’t it seem like I just had her yesterday?!?!

Okay, so maybe a little earlier than yesterday. . .but still!

Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddies out there. . .For those who know someone who has a Daddy overseas, give them a hug today.

a few months in review. . .

I have been on hiatus-so to quickly catch you up. . .Here is my latest favorite picture of my girls.

My oldest lost her two front teeth! She is stinkin' cute, hey?

What a ham :) She was pretty excited to be toothless!

My youngest is 8 months already!!! Holy cats that went by fast!

If you look closely, you can see her first little baby tooth in there :) We have been teasing her big sister, telling her the tooth fairy gave her teeth to Avery! Fun times.

I have been stamping and have lots to share-I need to get a different setup for pictures, as my baby girl sleeps in the room I used to take all my pictures in. . .a bit of a problem! I will work around it, so I can show y'all what I have been up to. In the meantime. . .a bit of a background change!

my family

I took some pictures of my kids today. The little ones change so fast!

Avery shows us her pretty smile all the time these days :)
She is five months this week! Where does the time go???

Regan is such a daddy's girl. . .of course Dad wouldn't have it any other way!

I love this one :)

One would never know that she was asking me (after prompting from her dad):

"Mom, do you like horse apples? Eeeeeewwwww!"

We were at an apple orchard at the time.

"Mom, some dogs really like dog apples, hua."

Thank you my darling husband. . .

Um, disgusting! Let's talk about something else. . .

Like how cute my baby is in the Baby Bijorn tucked into my sweatshirt. . .taking a snooze.

Sweet baby girl!

awwww. . . .a little mingler!

Here is a picture of Avery and I at the Mini Mingle I hosted last weekend. . .it was a LOT of fun! Hope you can make it to the next one, if you weren't able to attend this time :)

Thanks to Miss Boo on SCS for the picture!

awwww

How cool that they give you a picture cd now! I love that I can share this picture with you :)

My sweet little lady.

They had a poetry reading on Friday, where each child in her school would recite their poem (from memory) on stage with a microphone in front of students and parents. Let me tell you-I did NOT think she was going to do this! But there she was, a little unsure, holding her teacher's hand (thank you, Kristi :) reciting "The puppy ran off with my slippers" by Jack Prelutsky.

You did it, Regan! I am so proud of you!

My baby girl rolled over today :)

Avery-4 months

Okay, so is this not the cutest bundle of pink babyness!

So that isn't a word. . .But isn't she???

Also. . .she rolled over today :) about 20 times once she realized she could do it.

But wait. . .if you lean over her and say "BOO". . .

Or if you call her name. . .

or if she is staring at a big black lens of a camera :)

BAM: Her eyes are like dinner plates. Okay, so 98 percent of the time her eyes are open as wide as she can get them :) I think she is afraid she is going to miss something.

Again with the cuteness!

Seriously--my first child looked almost exactly the same. She has since grown into the hugeness of her eyes. . . I am going to have to get out the old discs so I can do a side-by-side comparison.

Regan has a mini-me :)

Guess What??

I am going to flood my blog with posts today. . . but don't worry-it is only because this is my first day back to blogging since the baby was born :) But I *have* to tell you my big news!

I am going to St George, Utah!!!

Why, you might ask? Because I won an award called Rising Star!

*insert me passing out, and then picking myself back up off the floor*

Here are some of the goodies Stampin' Up! has been sending me to make me feel like a rock star:

Check out that bag! Pink leather baby :)

There is a leather travel wallet, with some super cute luggage tags (that look kinda washed out with the lighting-sorry!), my itinerary for the all expenses paid trip, and a pin for my apron. . .

Love it!

The bag is embossed! It is so gorgeous!

They are also going to send me a Tiffany necklace??? I have *never* had anything from Tiffany before! Someone slap me, because this can not be really happening!

In case you were wondering what Rising Star is, I looked it up in my demo manual. . .

It is awarded to the top 15 first year demonstrators in the United States(I believe three win in Canada) for a balanced approach to their business. There is a point system, which I won't bore you with. . . but how awesome that I am going to Utah! Especially since I didn't get to go to Convention this year. If you don't remember why, refer to the post below this one! ;)

I am so excited!

My upline and good friend called me from Convention to tell me the news. . . I still have the voicemail on my phone. I can't bear to delete it :) I was just sitting there listening to the message, and tears were streaming down my face (okay, I just had a kid so I can't handle excitement without crying :).

My husband looked at me like I was crazy, "Are you crying?!?!?"

He so doesn't get it :)

Or at least didn't until I told him I was 13th in the country and got a free trip amongst other fabulous prizes! I should have told him to equate it to winning on The Price is Right. . .

Don't tell him I told you, but he loves that show.

Speaking of fabulous things. . . my upline also brought me all kindsa fabulous presents from convention as a congratulations gift! Here is the project tote:

I have been using that baby since I got it. . .it is the perfect size! The pattern on the inside is from our Maine Blueberry Designer Series Paper. . .so gorgeous!

And here is the Bella Rose Apron:

How Lovely! She also brought me the Statement of the Heart Stamp, that has the 20 year charm on it. Thank you again, Jen! You are the best!

Anyhoo. . .I am all done talking about me. I just wanted to share some of my excitement with you! (as you can see, I have been yelling thru this entire post ;) I leave a week from Wednesday, and plan on sharing my trip with you if you are interested. . .I will post the details here.

My Daughters

For those of you who have been faithfully reading my blog for a while now, please excuse my lack of recent posts, and the interruption of regularly scheduled programming. . .

And thanks for stopping by!

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of my family :)

Avery Lea arrived on May 28th, 2008 at 0755 hrs.

Weighing in at a healthy 8.1 lbs and measuring 20.5 in. long, she is the picture of blotchy new baby health. As my husband always says, new babies look like gremlins. . .

But what a cute little gremlin she is!

Big sister can not get enough of holding the baby. She would hold her all day if she could.

She does a lot of this yawning. And sleeping.

Too bad it is only for about 2 hours at a time. . .

Here she shows off her "Spinner Scowl". My husband's contribution to her genetics.

All in all, things are going really well. The only real snafu was when I realized my child was constantly hungry because I wasn't "producing" to the required amount. . .*yikes*

So, now she gets a little milk from me, and a little from a can, and she is happy as she can be!

The unfortunate side effect of babies dropping a full pound in the first week is that she is now making up for lost time and eating constantly. But hey--what new mom actually gets to sleep, right? Thank heavens for my husband who has been right there up with me all night.

He is the best :)

Don't tell him I said that, it'll be our secret. . .

Btw, I am going to wait a bit longer until things settle down. . .then my blog posts should be fairly regular again. . . If you are not currently a subscriber (and you actually made it to the end of this post--hey thanks :) you may want to consider plugging in your email (look to the left sidebar).

That way you will be notified when projects are posted--which the next post will be.

Promise!

Gotta give props to the IBC

There are so many fantastic samples in the catalog!

I think people can really identify with the simplicity of the designs, and want to create them for themselves. Which is what happened here. . .I was approached by a neighbor/customer that lives down the street a bit, who asked me if I could have a class for her and some friends. They wanted to make this mat for a picture frame.

"Of course!"

It really couldn't be more simple to put together. . .and *everyone* who sees it at my house, as well as at workshops (and I take it to every one), has really liked it. Demos-If you don't have something like this in your samples, I highly recommend it. For everyone else. . .my family loves this! It would make a wonderful gift. You could personalize it for babies, or newlyweds, etc. . .

This amazing photo was taken by Sara Anthony, who maybe once a year comes up to my neck of the woods. . .thank goodness. She is amazing! According to her website, she is based out of the Atlanta, GA area. Check her out!

The paper behind the photo is So Saffron Designer Series paper, the set: Think happy thoughts. You can get the colors right out of the IBC (I believe this sample was in last year's catalog), but they are pomegranate and brocade blue. The ribbon is Sherbet Ribbon Originals. . . also a little saffron brad on there. Super easy

I don't know if you can see it. . .but there are little fingerprint smudges on there :)

This happens to be one of my daughter's most prized possessions. When I have to leave for an overnight stay, it finds itself on the table next to her bed. . .I love that!

We had this taken right before we had our hair chopped off:

Myself-18 inches, my Daughter-12 inches

Donated, of course. Why else would you shear yourself like that! If you have never done this, please consider it! You may have heard of Locks of Love, but Wigs for Kids doesn't charge the kids *anything* for their wig. . .so pick them!!!

My daughter was fine at the time, and she understood what we were doing and why. . .

Unfortunately she now lives in fear that I will make her do it again.

Apparently braids are a big deal, and not being able to have them for a while was traumatic. I want to say this was taken 1.5 years ago, so our hair has grown out quite a bit. I think my blog photo is shortly after it was cut. So, above my shoulders. . .and for her. . .at her chin :) Big change!

I have already reassured her. . .we will wait until it is longer so we don't have to go *quite* so short next time! However. . .we *will* be doing it again. (this was her first time, my second)

I have a year or two to talk her into it :)


Have a great weekend!

Easter Festivities

I do so enjoy a good bout of Easter Egg Decorating :)

We always have to boil up a few extra so Mom can play, too. Dad did one, but then he was over it. How can you resist all the little cups of dye???

I have to leave them in for a while to get them nice and dark. . .

Which can be difficult, when accompanied by a five year old.

She did at one point have to explain to her dad. . . "This is my egg, and I can do it however I want." Oooookay! Maybe that is why dad backed off!

Don't mess with my kid's eggs, man. She will put you in your place ;)

What mom has perfected? The art of "distraction".

Quick, give her some stickers and a dry egg. . . . Then the others can sit in the dye for five minutes while she plasters stickers over every square centimeter of the one she has. It works.

She went thru that whole sheet of stickers. On three eggs.

But, Mom's eggs were nice and brightly colored--Everybody wins! Except Dad is now in watching March Madness. . . Okay, so he win's too. . .because that is probably what he wanted to do in the first place :)

Hope you had a great Easter Sunday!

Daddy's Girl with the Fab Fingernails

My daughter went to the "princess ball" last weekend. . .

It was entirely fun to dress her up! We don't usually do "fancy" so it was a fun time for mom.

But wait. . . what is that on that *adorable* child's fingernails???

Could it be???

Why yes it is! Stampin' Up! rub-ons!

And there is Dad. . .all spiffed up for the occasion :)

awwww. . .

Then one "after the party" shot. . .

Little girls are hard on Up-Do's :) Thanks so much, Nikki, for doing her hair all fancified! She looked GOJUS! (yes. . .I love JanTink, too. Don't we all??? :)

btw. . .I used the rubon little bitty flower strips from the bulk buy package. . .they were the only ones on my sheets that were small enough. I haven't got them *all* tho'. . . yet :)

Awww. . .my Sweetie

a.k.a:

Stinker
Tootie McFloofer (don't ask. . .)
Pumpkin Pie


Here she is, working diligently on her valentines to give out to friends at school

Who knew she was such a wizard with a gel pen??? Not I. Nor do I know how she ended up a leftie. . .Not a leftie in the bunch as far as I know.

Here are the finished pencil cases:


We used this way cute sample/template designed by Laurie Schmidlin. Thanks, Laurie!


The part I *really* wish I had a picture of, is the white gel ink on the end of her nose and all over her hands when she was finished! I was too quick with the wipes--I will have to come up with another gel pen project soon.

We made these cards with her classmates:


Just decoupage with watered down elmers glue and tissue paper. . .we will be stamping the sentiment today in class. (Thanks for all your help yesterday, Katrine!)

There was some serious paper curling going on as they were drying, hence the staple "kisses" in the corners.

These are gift buckets for her teachers, the principal and the secretary:


Everything not SU! on these buckets was purchased at Wal-Mart.


And then last night. . .she says "What about Mrs. Johnston, Mom?"

And I say, "Mrs. Johnston is the fifth/sixth grade teacher honey. . .the kids in her class will get her something nice."


Oh, who am I kidding? I wouldn't want to discourage generosity, right??

I made these for the other teachers in her school. Just so Regan would have something to give them. . .nothing too involved. . . on occasion I can restrain myself. Rare occasions :)

Can I just make a card now?