The Wright Track

A Rock Star

2011-12-29T21:00:00.002-06:00

My kids love NickJr. Most days it's on at some point. There's a kids band on there and they show their videos during commercials. The one that they are playing REPEATEDLY these days is, "Just Like a Rock Star."

My kids love it. They know most of the words and they jump around and dance every time it comes on. Innocent enough right? I'm constantly striving to be aware of what my kids are absorbing and learning, from the things around them and from what they watch on TV.
So I got to thinking.
What are they learning if we learn to want to be just like a rock star by today's society's definition?
A few things that immediately come to mind:
Rich and famous.
Entrenched in worldly things.
Entrenched in material things and priorities.
Selfish.
self absorbed.
possibly a substance abuser... and the list goes on and on..
I'm not saying this is the message of the song. The message of the song seems to be about having fun and working together with your friends. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with having fun in of itself. I want my kids to have fun. But I don't want them to be just like a rock star if we're talking about a rock star in this day and age.

So I took a bit of liberty and defined it in a different way.
What does it mean to be a rock star?
Jesus is THE rock of my salvation. His banner over me is love.
And upon this ROCK, the church was built. He is our solid foundation. When we stand with him, we can not fall.

Lets be honest. Our lives here on earth do not even amount to a grain of sand when it comes to the grand scheme of eternity. This earth is not our home. Our citizenship is elsewhere. (Phil 3:20) And I pray that I teach my children that. It's so easy to get caught up in our every day lives and forget this. It happens to me all the time.
Call me a religious extremest or fanatic. Maybe you think I'm over analyzing it. And maybe that's true. But it really doesn't matter. What matters is that my children learn to love and please their Heavenly Father.
I'm not a perfect person or parent. I'll be the first to admit that. It's very rare that when I pillow my head at night that I'm not asking for forgiveness for getting so frustrated, for not being patient, for not being as kind as I should or for yelling. I'm not proud of any of that.
But I'm thankful God loved us enough to provide a reconciliation through His Son's blood.

We've just celebrated Christmas. A very large part of the population focuses on our Savior in a manger at this time of year. I'm thankful for that. But I also hope and pray that we focus on our Savior on the cross, every. single. day. of our lives.
Knowledge of him is power. Living for and shining for him makes someone a Rock star.
So do I want my kids to be just like a Rock star?
You bet.
It's one of my daily prayers.

It's a Wonderful Life

2011-12-01T10:36:00.003-06:00

I thing called life has kept me away from here. I have soooo much I want to update on, so if anybody knows how to add a few hours to a day, let me know...
This is serving as a self reminder to do a trip report because we went to Disney World!

Happy December!

A Personal Assessment

2011-10-27T15:37:00.004-05:00

At the end of 2010 I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2011. Since we are approaching the last 2 months of the year I thought I would pull that post up and see where I stand. Before I even look at it I feel like it's not gonna be good. That's the thing about writing down your goals. You kind of have to stare your failures in the face. :)

So here goes:

•Getting all of our paperwork organized.
This is done for the most part. I say for the most part because since I accomplished this, (probably 4 or 5 months ago) I have put all the incoming paper work in the same place. So that means I have about 5 months of paperwork to file. I need to be in a place where I file it in the right place as soon as it comes in the house!

•Getting all of my scrapbook pages in books. I now have 3 years worth of scrapped pages that need to go in albums. If I had to make a guess, that equals about 250-300(maybe more) pages.
Wow. Not done. So now I have all that I've scrapped for 2011 to add to the pile. I did just recently purchase some albums, but I'm still going to need to buy quite a few page protectors and quite a few more books. I need to buy a couple every time Hobby Lobby runs them 50% off.

•getting the clutter and stuff under control around here. This is probably the biggest one because it involves every room and closet in the entire house.
Major FAIL. This is probably the #1 thing that I wish I had a handle on. I am very seriously considering hiring someone to come in and help me with it. I hate that my house is so cluttered and full of junk. Got to get aggressive in getting rid of stuff. It's just stuff after all and 90% of it adds no value to our lives.

•get the garage cleaned out enough so that I can put up a few shelving units for stockpiling.
Not done either. (Are you sensing a pattern here..?) However this is not really a priority. I'd much rather get my home where I want it, in regards to the clutter than deal with this right now.

•Daily Bible reading.
I've done better with this than in years past, but still not reading daily and there just isn't any excuse for it. I make time to read facebook everyday. And that's quite a slap in the face, as it should be.

•start exercising and lose some weight.
Done, although I don't exercise on any kind of schedule or even routinely. But it did happen.

•get on a better daily schedule.
Not really much to say about this on other than it's still a work in progress.

So there it is. My unaccomplished goals of 2011. But you know what I did do? I nurtured, cared for, and taught 3 little one. And although that's just one sentence, it's a full time job with lots of overtime. And I'm certainly proud of that one. :)

The Past Month..

2011-09-13T09:21:00.014-05:00

So I need to catch up around here!
In the last month, the boy turned ONE.
These are the cupcakes I made for his celebration. I saw this idea online at pinterest, and it was perfect for Jonathan.
He liked them a lot. He demolished a whole cupcake.What's going on with him at one:
He's pulling up and cruising the furniture, but not standing on his own or walking just yet.
He has 5 teeth, 3 up top, 2 on the bottom. And a 6th one peeking through up top.
Sleeps from 8 til about 6am.
Says mama and dada and uh-oh. Nods yes and no and waves bye bye.
Smiles very easily.
Weighs in at 23 pounds and wears 18 month clothes.

In the last month..
I also completed my last month with Scrapbook Sussies. After 6 years of business she's decided to close up shop. Here's what I did with the September kit.

It's still available for purchase AND she has a huge inventory sale going on right now. I loved her kits and enjoyed working with her for the last 3 years! Thanks Lara for all you did with the club and putting great product together! I'm sure gonna miss my monthly Sussie fix!

And on the school front..
We've been a little lax the past couple weeks. We're still making our biweekly trip to the library and we're full speed ahead on our Memory verse work. But that's been about it. Just lots of book reading and memory work. Hoping to get back on track with a bit more of a scheduled day with that.

And finally I'll leave you with my latest project. My BFF brought some bottlecap pendants to our last girls craft night and I really wanted to do a bunch of these for our upcoming vacation to Disney World. I even watched some YouTube videos and figured out how to make the wire wrapped jewel/pearl dangle charms.

The girls are loving them and of course want one with every character they can think of. I'm personally loving the Alabama ones! Roll Tide!

Bragging on my Kids a Bit

2011-08-11T13:58:00.003-05:00

My kids are rock stars. Really. The past two weeks they have amazed me with what all they have retained in their little brains. In the past 10 days they have memorized 4 Bible verses. I thought we'd be doing good with 1 a week, but they are showing me they are capable of so much more.

I had to get them on video saying some of the verses. Abigail may be a little hard to understand. She first quotes Acts 8:35 "Then Phillip opened his mouth, beginning at this scripture and told him the good news about Jesus".
She gets the reference wrong, so I then have her quote her reference (Proverbs 6:6) which is "Go to the ant, O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." Then she re-quotes Acts 8:35. Hopefully you can understand her knowing what she's saying beforehand. :)

After the lesson we had this past Sunday at church services, I decided this one that Natalie says would be this week's verse. *Warning* You are about to get a glimpse of the wreck that is my living room 95% of the time.

And an added bonus to all this is that I'm memorizing these right along with them!

So After almost a Week....

2011-08-04T15:22:00.007-05:00

We are finishing up our first week of school @ home and the girls are really loving it.
We've read lots of books.

We've made paper ants....and painted apples...

We've sung a lot of songs and mastered our memory verse:, "Go to the ants, O sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise" Proverbs 6:6
When asking Natalie just what this means, her paraphrase is.. "Look at the ants if you're feeling lazy and do what you're supposed to do without being told!"
I know I'm her momma, but I'm very proud of her! She has tried especially hard to do the few things she's supposed to do without being reminded. We've added a new chore of wiping off the table after meals and she LOVES doing it.
In fact both girls have done so well with the memory verse that we went ahead and started another one on Thursday.
They both LOVE the hands on stuff so much, we are going to be doing lots of crafts.
It's going to be a busy year!
Tomorrow we will wrap up our week by doing a bit of a review and making a trip to the library. It's time to get all the books we need for next week!

Let the Learning Begin!

2011-08-01T14:42:00.006-05:00

So today was a very big first for us...

Natalie misses the cutoff to start Kindergarten this year by about 5 weeks. For about a year now I have had the idea of homeschooling floating around in my brain. When I first started thinking about it, I really didn't think it was a reality for us. It's a bit overwhelming when you think about what all it involves. Plus, she loves her 1 day a week preschool SO MUCH that I wondered if I could make it as fun. As time went on and I gave it more and more thought, this is the conclusion I came to:

We'll give it a go!

She is SO ready. And really, with our situation it works out perfectly to try it out this year and see how it goes. If it goes well, we'll continue. But if it doesn't seem to be a good fit for us, then she'll start public school right on time, NEXT fall.

So, I plan to document as much as I can here throughout the year. I'm doing this for my benefit, as my blog is as good a place as any for me to reference. So for the half a dozen people that still read here, this is what you're in for. :)

She knew we were starting today, and she was very anxious to get started. So much so that she helped me do dishes, laundry, and gather trash so we could hurry and get the chores out of the way before we began.

We started out the morning doing our calendar and the weather. Then we jumped right into the letter A, and learned quite a bit about ants. Her favorite bit of info that she learned is that their noses are inside their feelers. Both girls followed a trail of ants(paper ones!) and put together our memory verse and found out what we could learn from the ants.

We read Those Amazing Ants and then practiced writing the letter A.

I am using a combination of stuff for our curriculum.

For our main lessons we are using ABC, I Believe.
I'm also using this really cool Berenstain Bears Curriculum.

And thanks to a dear friend I have the 4/5 Sonlight Curriculum that I will be incorporating in.

And while I do want to have a structure and a bit of a schedule on paper. I'm not being really rigid with it. We'll go with the flow, and a lot of what I do will be based on what she wants to do. She loves doing crafty stuff and she loves to color, cut, and glue. In fact she knew I had planned for us to make an ant this week and while I've been typing this, she's wanting to know when we're making it!
If you'd like to see any of the other resources I'm making good use of, I have them all HERE on my Homeschool Pinterest board. You just click the images on Pinterest and it will take you to the website.

So before we got started this morning...

The girls had a helper. For now, our main instruction time begins when he goes down for his morning nap!

Then after our main lesson the girls wanted to color. On our homemade "clothes line" from left to right we have:
* our ant trail they put together with our memory verse (Proverbs 6:6) and our ant motto, "Do your work/chores without being told to do it."
*What's the weather today
*Our letter A which will get decorated later in the week
* A craft from Bible class
* Her Letter A writing practice worksheet.

A plan to use this "line" to display as much as I can of what we are working on for the week. An interactive bulletin board so to speak.
Oh and sidenote..notice that from the 1st to 2nd picture Abigail went from her regular clothes to her princess attire. Ha!

Both girls love to color and I got lots of preschool workbooks for Abigail because she wants to be included in School too!
We'll wrap up this afternoon with a sight word lesson, but Day 1 went really well!

SO MUCH more than Cookies.

2011-07-17T21:30:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week while driving home from the grocery store, a local church sign caught my attention. It simply said this,
"Come to church. We have cookies."

Is this really what it takes to get people in the door?
Can you just imagine Jesus walking up to Peter and Andrew with a box of Krispie Kremes, and saying "follow me. I have donuts."
Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?
Maybe that was the point. Maybe it's said tongue in cheek. Then again I'm not so sure as this same church also advertised "our worship band will rock your face off. We'll help you to your car."
You laugh. But I'm not kidding.

I admit I thought a lot about this over the next few days, because of all the things that God's family has to offer, why would cookies be enough to get someone through the doors?
So what DO we have?
If we're in Christ we have redemption.
If we're in Christ we have no condemnation.
If we're in Christ we're set free from sin.
We have Peace.
We have Joy.
We have Love.
We have Goodness and Mercy.

"do you not know, that all of us that were baptized INTO Christ, were baptized into his death? We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may walk in newness of life." Romans 6

We have a new life.
We have Eternal Life!

So come to church. We have SO Much MORE than cookies.

Make it Monday

2011-06-27T15:57:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post today to share the layout I did for Memorable Seasons, Last Scrapper Standing. Our challenge was to use a non scrappy item and to create an embellishment cluster.

My non scrappy item is the clear star on the right side of the pictures. I made this out of a plastic chinese takeout container lid.Hope your week is off to a great start!

@ Ten Months..

2011-06-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

You are such a happy baby! Seriously, unless you are hungry or tired, you are always always full of grins. You laugh so easily and strangers love you because you are always smiling like crazy at them.

You are an army crawler right now. You move fast with those arms dragging the rest of your body behind you and pushing with you feet.

You go to bed at 8:00 and typically wake up between 5:30 and 6:00. Anytime you want to start sleeping about another hour I'm all for it! :)

At your 9 month check up you weighed exactly 20 lbs. My best guess is that you are still right at that, but maybe even 21 or 22. You've started wearing 12 month clothes, but I can already tell you're going to move on up to 18 month clothing before long!

I haven't given you any jar baby food in several weeks. Most of the time you eat yogurt and rice cereal, apple sauce and rice cereal, or whatever we are eating mashed up. I've started giving you mini Nilla Wafers to snack on and you much prefer those over cheerios.

Your first tooth showed up a few weeks ago. You now have another one coming in,both on the bottom.
Happy 10 Months Baby Boy!

And So You're Three

2011-06-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

You were a Friday the 13th baby. But it was as far from unlucky as you can get. The timing was just right even though you weren't supposed to be born for another week. That head full of dark hair was a sharp contrast to your born bald older sister.

*Your Birth Day

*One Year Old

*Two Years Old

And now sweet girl, you are 3! You are my girlie girl. You love to sit with me while I put on my makeup and pretend you are putting on makeup too. Your favorite color is pink, with purple a close 2nd. You love to dress up as pretty much any Disney princess and then you must be called by that princesses name. (Obviously :0) Currently Rapunzel and Ariel are your favorites, but Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora are just as good, it just depends on the day. For the most part you won't wear any pajamas unless they have princesses on them.

You are so very close to being potty trained. I just have to remember to ask you to try to go all day long. If I forget to remind you, we almost always have an accident. I was hoping to have this nipped in the bud by your birthday, but it's ok, you're doing good.

You are a bit of a drama queen. :) If you can't find your waffle blanket or your sippy cup you tend to have a meltdown. Little fusses with your sister over toys cause these meltdowns too. Soooo emotional. Sorry babe, you get that from your momma. :)

You love to be silly. You love knock knock jokes, especially telling them with/to daddy.
You love to sing. You love to color.

You love your big sister. You copy a LOT of what she does. You say a LOT of what she says. When I ask simple questions about lunch or drinks, etc., a lot of times you wait to see what she's going to do before you answer. Or you change your request to match hers.

You are a joy to our lives and we love you SOOOO Much! Happy Birthday Abigail!!

Scrapbook Sussies June 2011

2011-06-02T10:42:00.003-05:00

How in the world is it already Summer? It seems like just a few weeks ago we were playing in our record breaking 10" of snow! But boy has summer come charging in.. with been dealing with upper 90 degree temps the past few days and the heat index is in the 100's for the rest of this week!

So, on to my Sussie pages. Here's what I did this month! These feature pictures from Easter weekend and Mother's Day.

And as usual there's so much in these kits I have plenty left over for more pages. Check out the full kit HERE.>>>Scrapbook Sussies.
Have a great rest of the week!

We Have This Saying...

2011-05-10T08:46:00.005-05:00

We have this saying at our church congregation that the kids learn at a very young age. It begins with a question:

What is God's ideal for marriage?
And the kids answer with:
One man for one woman for life.

Which leads me to this morning's conversation with my 4yo.She was looking at a picture of her Nana (John's mom who passed away from cancer in 2005), and the questions began.
Where did this picture come from? Did Papa take this picture? Was Papa married to Nana?

And this is where it got interesting. I explained to her that yes, Papa and Nana were married. And they had 3 kids. Daddy, Uncle A, and Uncle S. After just a split seconds thought, she asks, "So boys can be married to 2 girls?.. cause Papa is married to MeMe now."

And this is where "that saying" she knows so well came in handy and made what could have been a difficult conversation with a 4yo, much easier.

Well Nat, what is God's ideal for marriage?

"One man, for one woman for life."

Right, and since Nana's life here on earth is over, that means what?
"ohhhh, so he could marry MeMe"

Yes, and aren't we glad he did! (Cause we sure love our MeMe) :)

I really didn't expect to have these kind of conversations already, but as I stumble through this most important job as a parent I'm reminded of a couple of things.

We must intentionally teach. A lot of times we don't deal with the difficult things until they arise. So we end up doing reactive parenting rather than proactive parenting. But if we teach them Biblical principles early on, it makes things much easier when harder questions or situations arise. It's true, kids learn some things by accident just based on the situation or happenstance. But it is my prayer that I take every opportunity to instill the things of God into my children.

And speaking of opportunity..
Teach your children of God diligently. When you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you go to bed, and when you rise up. (Duet.6:7)
which seems to translate into ALL THE TIME. It's a tall order. And I don't claim to get it right all the time (or even half the time for that matter!) but it is my duty as a mother. My number one priority to my children.

Their souls depend on it.

Scrapbook Sussies April 2011 Reveal

2011-04-17T15:02:00.003-05:00

Happy Sunday everyone!
Today I have my April Pages for Scrapbook Sussies. As usual SO MUCH stuff in this kit. Check it out HERE.
And here's what I did.

The pages I did with this kit came together so easily! Love that the two sides of the kit allowed me to do both boy and girl pages. Lara is so good at putting supplies together.
Hope your week is off to a good start!

These Pics Leave Me Speechless (Almost)

2011-04-02T14:02:00.003-05:00

So sweet.

So not a morning person.

Such an entertainer.

I. Love. My. Kids.
I just can't hardly even look at them without my heart melting.
Every single time.

They frustrate me.
They make me want to pull my hair out.
They humble me.
They teach me.
They help me grow.
They make me smile.
They make me laugh.
They remind me of the Greatest Love of All. (John 3:16)

I. love. My kids.
Happy Saturday!

The Oldest. (at only 4)

2011-03-31T06:11:00.006-05:00

Lately Natalie asks a lot of questions. And by a lot I mean 5,345,679.
She's so very curious and wants to know, well: Everything.
So herein lies my struggle.
I try to answer everything she asks( within reason and to the best of my knowledge), but this means that lately she thinks she knows it all. Which also means we've had discussions about attitude, tone, talking kindly, etc. These may seem like mature words for a 4 yr old, but she's not shy about asking what a word means until she completely understands your explanation.
So how do I find balance between answering her questions and keeping her humble?

I've often ended her string of questions with "I don't know." "we can find out later" and even, "nobody but God knows Everything". (which is usually followed by why? lol)
I'm struggling with how much info is too much and trying to train/teach her not to be a little miss smarty pants.
It's hard.
The kid is so smart.
She listens so well.

Overheard in the van:
(on the way to Mothers morning out - ironic much?)
Nat- Mommy , there's a big truck beside us. Let's pass it.
*Brief pause as truck is passing us.*
Nat- (excitedly) pass it pass it
Mommy- we can't pass it sweetheart.
Nat - why not?
Mommy- because he's going faster than us.
Nat - well go faster and pass it.
Mommy- we can't pass him Natalie.
Nat- why not?
Mommy- because mommy has to follow the speed limit.
Nat- well why isn't he following the speed limit?
Mommy- I don't know baby, that's something we'd have to ask him.
*Pause*
Nat- how are we Gonna do that?
Mommy - How are we gonna do what? (thinking the convo was over)
Nat- how are we gonna ask him why he's not following the speed limit?
Mommy - (stifling a chuckle) We can't baby. We can't.
Nat- but mommy you just said we would have to ask him, so how we gonna do that while we're driving?
Mommy- We're not. Were not gonna be able to ask him. Sometimes we just don't know why people do stuff.

And if I have this conversation wrong or left out any part of it; if I read it to her- she'll be sure to let me know.

Lord, give me patience. But I need it right now. :)

For the Grands

2011-03-30T12:17:00.001-05:00

The Jump-meister:

At 7 Months

2011-03-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

Seriously? 7 Months already? *sigh* My little man will be a teenager before I know it! :)

At 7 Months he is:

*Finally eating cereal and baby food like a champ. It took him a bit to warm up to cereal and baby food. He just wasn't all about it the first few weeks we started giving him some. But now he loves it, unless it's green. In which case, I mix it with some fruit and sneak it past him.
He eats Apple sauce mixed with rice cereal in the mornings, and either a fruit or veggie mixed with cereal in the evenings.

*Not sleeping through the night consistently yet. I *try* to get him in the bed by 8:30. Sometimes it's closer to 9:00. Typically he sleeps about 7 hours. Sometimes 9. Sometimes he's up every 2-3 hours until morning. Like I said, not consistent yet but we're getting there.

*Is so close to sitting up on his own. Just this week I put him in the boppy and he sat up by himself for a few minutes.
*Is in total awe of his sisters. He watches EVERYTHING they do. And if he's not where he can see them, but can hear them, he'll nearly breaks his neck trying to see/find them.

*Will not nap unless you hold him. Occasionally he'll nap in his car seat if we're out and about. And, just this week he's fallen asleep in his swing a couple of times. But as a general rule, he wants to be held for his naps and he wakes up pretty much instantly if you try to put him down.

*I always thought John was the only boy who would steal my heart. But I was wrong. :)
Love you sweet boy!

Scrapbook Sussies March Reveal

2011-03-17T06:34:00.003-05:00

The March kit is available for purchase over on the Scrapbook Sussie site!
As usual, I really enjoyed working with what was in this one. The kits are also now a $40 value for $29.95.
Here's what I did!

Natalie had her first haircut this past fall. I put it off for so long because I was afraid we'd cut off her natural curl! She did so well and her hair looked so much better (= Less stringy!) afterward.
I cut the stars out of one of the My Little Shoebox papers using my SLICE die cut machine.

Abigail had her first hair cut the same day as Natalie. Talk about a little doll. I loved her bangs! And I was so proud of her because, of the two of them, she was the one I was afraid I might have to hold in my lap while she cried about getting the cut. But, she did great! It certainly helped that Natalie went first and she saw it was no big deal.

The pictures on this one make me laugh because they acted like he was SO heavy. I guess when you're 4 and 2, 8lbs is a lot. :) Used my SLICE again for the heart.

And this one was for the AD challenge over on the Sussie Blog. You can see how a Disney advertisement made it's way onto a scrapbook page HERE on this post.
More of the SLICE with the stars and #4. (Can you tell I like that machine a little?)
I also broke out my acrylic stamps on this one. I used an Autumn Leaves alphabet. My stamps are collecting dust, so it was good to put them to use!

There you have it! Make sure you check out the other designers work in our Gallery!

It's March!

2011-03-10T22:28:00.003-06:00

I don't like going a whole month between posts. Will try to not let that happen this month.
Recent pics of the kids:

Helping me make a cake for Daddy and Uncle Alan's Birthday:

Enjoying a beautiful day outside!

Scrapbook Sussies February Reveal

2011-02-09T23:34:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've had a scrappy post!
Here are my pages for the February Sussies Kit.

It is available HERE!

5 Months 2 Weeks Old

2011-02-01T17:31:00.003-06:00

Just because I think he's too cute, and I know the grandparents would like to see these.
I took some of all 3 kids but the girls weren't as cooperative. :)
And just because I think their resemblance is uncanny.. here's Natalie @ 6 months:

Crazy huh?

A Little Bit About the Qponz.

2011-01-26T21:11:00.007-06:00

I've only posted a couple of times about the couponing that I do. But I've got a couple of friends who are trying to get started, so I thought I'd share my trips this week.
I think I said this before, but it took me several months to get a feel for what I was doing, to become familiar with coupon wording and policies and feel like the time I was investing was going to be worth it.
One of the biggest things for me was that I stopped clipping all those inserts! When I first started I bought a binder, clipped everything and filed them all in baseball card sleeves. But when Jonathan was born, I fell weeks behind in clipping and then had a light-bulb moment so this is what I do.
A crate with hanging file folders.
I simply write the date on the insert and file them by month, newest in front, oldest in back. There are SO many blogs and websites that do all the matchups for you. So for example when I'm planning my trip and iheartpublix tells me the yogurt coupon is in Jan 2nds SmartSource, I pull that insert and clip that coupon. This has saved me tons of time. Do I occasionally miss a deal i hadn't planned for because I see something in the store and don't have all my coupons with me? Maybe. But if it's that good, I'll make a note of it and pull my coupons later to go back. And that very rarely happens anyway.

So, on to the savings.My first stop was at Publix:
Gorton's Butterfly Shimp
Gorton's Fish Fillets
(2) Marie Callender Meals
(2 boxes) Jimmy Dean Delight Specialty Breakfast Biscuits
(4 cans) Chunky Campbells Soup
A1 Sauce
Kraft BBQ Sauce
(2) Nabisco Fig Newtons
(2 bags) Totinos Pizza Rolls
1 Bag of Baby Potatoes
5lb Sugar
1 Dozen Eggs

If I had of walked into Publix on any random day and bought these items it would have cost me $68 plus tax. I have to say that seems a bit ridiculous looking at what I bought, but that's Publix regular retail price. But because I paired their weekly sale with coupons I paid $19.12 plus tax for everything in this picture. And I discovered the cashier missed a .50 coupon after the fact, so my total should have been $18.62
Now, the majority of this stuff is not stuff we would typically buy. For example: Those Jimmy Dean specialty biscuits are $5.87 for a box of four.
Way too rich for my blood.
But sale plus coupon, I paid 44 cents. That's 11 cents a biscuit! And the Marie Calender meals are $2.69, but sale plus coupon and I paid 35 cents each.
So for me, that's one of the really fun things about couponing. You get to try and become familiar with all sorts of different products for literally pennies!
And one other thing to note: for this particular trip I used all printable coupons. So sometimes you don't even need that Sunday paper.

Now on to Kroger. I looked ahead at their ad, and saw that I was going to want to stock up on an item or two. So I ordered extra coupons. I don't do this a lot, but in this case it makes more sense to pay a clipping service 80 cents for 10 of the same coupon than to buy 10 papers which would cost $15! I was planning to stock up on Hunts tomato sauce which is 16cents a can with coupon this week. As luck would have it my Kroger was already out, so I'll have to make a trip back there when their truck comes in. So pretend there are 24 cans of Hunts tomato sauce in this picture which will add $3.84 to my total.
So here's what I got:

(2) 24 pack Deer Park Water
(2) Sister Schubert Yeast Rolls
(6) Hunts Stewed Tomatoes
(2) Del Monte Veggies
(4) Hormel Chili
(4) Rotel
(4) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
(2) Kraft Cheese Singles
1 Box Kellogg's Cinnabon Cereal
(4) Balance Energy Bars

My total was $64 before sale and coupons. Again this seems crazy to me but I'm going by Kroger's regular retail prices. They have a Mega sale going on right now, so if you mix and match qualifying items in increments of 10, you automatically get $5 off. I had 30 items, so $15 came right off the top before I even gave my coupons. My total expense was $16.17
So..both trips were $132 worth and I paid $35.29. And you thought store brands were cheaper.. :)

I planned both of these trips by using the match ups on:
Iheartpublix.com
Iheartkroger.com
The links to the printable coupons and info on what coupons to clip that I used are right there on their websites. I also use southernsavers.com quite frequently too. I will usually check out her Publix and Kroger posts just to make sure I know of all the available coupons. Occasionally one might be listed at one site and not the other.

It does take a bit of time to plan your trip but these days I spend a lot of time on the couch sustaining the life of my youngest (also known as nursing).
So while I'm doing that I read those blogs along with a lot of others.
I've even typed up this post while feeding him! Maybe more than you wanted to know, but my point being I have to utilize my time as best I can!

I haven't even hit the drug stores this week, which is where I get personal care and health and beauty items for pretty much just tax. If you're interested in seeing that, leave me a comment and I'll do a similar post at the end of the week.
You'll also notice there wasn't anything like milk, bread, or meat. For this week I didn't need those things. I have them on hand. Typically for those type of staple items I end up paying regular price. So some weeks are better than others.
I do have a couple of other posts here on the blog about couponing. If you want to read those you can click on the label at the very bottom of this post that says "Couponing" and it will bring up those posts.
Questions? Just ask. I'm all about helping anybody save money.

January Blizzard

2011-01-11T14:52:00.003-06:00

8"-10" of snow?? Almost unheard of for us. This kind of fun? I'll take any day of the week!

Favorites of 2010

2011-01-06T13:23:00.010-06:00

What follows are some of my favorite pictures from 2010. I did this last year, and I said then, like I'm going to say now. With the quantity of pics I take, it is SO hard to just pick one a month. So for some months I did pick more than one, as hard as I tried to just narrow it down I couldn't!
So here goes:

January:

It goes without saying that this was the biggest surprise of our lives. January 10th 2010 will go down as one of my most memorable days. I remember pretty much every second of it. I had been praying about whether or not to try for a third child. There was a bit of risk and we weren't sure what to do. Having had to have fertility meds to get pregnant with both the girls, this was just simply an answer to prayer. If you're so inclined you can read more about that day HERE.

I also have to include this one for January. Natalie wrote her name all by herself for the first time at 3 yrs 3 months old.

February:
I had a bit of a mini shoot with the girls right before Valentine's Day trying to get some good pictures to give John. This one I love. Abby in a headlock and all. :)
March:
We had several bouts of snow in March. That's just the way it happens in Alabama. Love this one of the girls and gotta include our "leaf" man.

This is also a favorite of mine from John's birthday celebration. John HATES being in pictures, so it's a bonus when he embraces it. :)

April:
Another one of the dear hubby, entertaining the girls one spring day.

May:

So here's the story behind this one. I had signed the kids up for free bowling. Several of the bowling alleys offered free bowling every day of the summer! Couldn't beat that! And our G-paw loves to bowl, so we took him with us. This was in May and it was the only trip we made the entire year!

June:
June was busy for us. G-Paw retired, we went on a last minute trip to Gulf Shores and Abigail turned two. Lots of picture taking this month. But here are two from Abby's birthday.
The girl watches her mama:)

July:
I have quite a few from July but this one stands out to me.
August:
Another month with lots of pictures since this is the month we welcomed Jonathan into our lives. The kids didn't get to see him until he came home from the hospital since he had to be in NICU. This was their first time holding him.
September:

Pa-Pa with his two youngest grandkids.

October:
Our first family photo.

November:
My cousin has 3 kids of her own all right about the same age as mine. We tried more than once to get some group pictures for the great grandparents. Lets just say it was an adventure. :)

December:
Another one of those months with an abundance of photos. In fact I still have some from our white Christmas to share here. But anyway.. this one takes the cake from Christmas morning.

Something to note after doing this post and looking back at last years. I need to take more photos of the Grands and the extended family. I get lots and lots of pictures of the kids, but when they are grown and older I would imagine they'd like to have more pictures of their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. So as 2011 begins, add that to my list of things to accomplish this year!

Looking back and Looking forward

2010-12-30T15:56:00.011-06:00

Christmas was pretty much off the charts for us this year. We woke up to a blanket of snow and by the end of the day had between 3"-4". That's pretty much unheard of around here. More about that later...

Looking Back:
This time of year is somewhat bittersweet for us. It was the 6th Christmas without John's mom. I always especially think of her this time of year because she loved Christmas so much. So in honor of her memory I'm reposting this layout I did a couple of years ago.
The journaling is written to the kids and reads:
I'm pretty sure Christmas was your Nana's favorite holiday. She absolutely loved putting up her Christmas tree. I can specifically remember at least one year that she had it up before Halloween. She sure knew how to decorate a tree and she would put so many lights on it that it's a wonder she didn't cause a neighborhood black out. She loved to just sit and look at her tree in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I'm not really sure why she liked doing that so much other than it was just so beautiful.
I wish I could ask her.
I wish I could ask her what she was thinking about all those times I remember seeing her sitting there taking the tree in.
I miss your nana Wright.
I get so very sad when I think about how much she would have loved you and spoiled you rotten had she had the chance to know you. I wish you had the chance to decorate a tree with her. She would have loved that so much. I hope your daddy and I remember to talk about her, and tell you stories about her, so that you will know her through us.
It's hard sometimes.
Especially for your daddy.
But we want you to know how special she was and that she would have loved you with all her heart.

Looking Forward:
We are just hours before a new year. I have big plans for this year. In fact I'm pretty sure I'm being a bit over ambitious with what all I want to accomplish. Nevertheless, this seemed like a great place to get it "on paper".

Some of my larger goals:
•Getting all of our paperwork organized.
For years, every time we need insurance info, birth certificates, car titles, etc. etc. we end up spending HOURS trying to find it. There are currently 3 different places we have paperwork stashed and it's not at all organized.
A lot of it needs to be thrown away. ( I really don't think we need cell phone bills from 1999. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift.)

•getting all of my scrapbook pages in books. I now have 3 years worth of scrapped pages that need to go in albums. If I had to make a guess, that equals about 250-300(maybe more) pages.

•getting the clutter and stuff under control around here. This is probably the biggest one because it involves every room and closet in the entire house. Massive purging and organization needs to take place. And I need some kind of game plan to keep from being overwhelmed and to stay on track. This is a HUGE one for me, and to be honest I don't fully know how to tackle it.

•get the garage cleaned out enough so that I can put up a few shelving units for stockpiling. Since I began couponing at the beginning of 2010, I've discovered how much money we can save and how much stuff we can get for free. The one problem I've had is storage and/or pantry space. To completely take advantage of coupon savings, you really need to buy enough for 3-5 months when things hit rock bottom prices. So I need a few shelving units and some place to put them.

Those items are "stuff" related. Here are my other top goals.

•Daily Bible reading. This is something I've GOT to get better at. It's not easy to admit that I haven't done well with this lately. Our church congregation is reading the Bible through this year together in chronological order. I'm excited about this because John got me a chronological Bible a while back AND I have an iPod app with audio to go with it. I have no excuse to not do this!
I'm also hoping to incorporate our nightly story time with the kids before bed. No reason why they can't be a part of this too. Some days will be easier than others depending on what chapters we're reading for the day, but we'll make it work.

•start exercising and lose some weight. Isn't this 99% of the populations goal at the start of a new year? :)
I started Couch to 5k this morning.

•get on a better daily schedule. Plan tasks and errands for certain days of the week to include going to the grocery store and making my weekly coupon deal runs on the same day every week rather than just whenever I get it together. This also includes a more consistent routine for the kids.

I have more, but looking at this list makes me tired.
Happy Holidays everyone!

I hope 2011 is a great year for you!

Around Here..

2010-12-22T16:28:00.005-06:00

We've been .....

Making Charlie Brown Christmas necklaces..

Playing "Angry Birds" on the iTouch..

Eating Cereal...

Taking lots of pictures in front of the tree..

And just generally being cute...

Hope you're enjoying these last few days before Christmas. We are!!

Let's Be Real

2010-12-16T11:00:00.001-06:00

I have a bit of a weakness when it comes to taking pictures of my kids. I want them to be perfect. Or maybe not so much perfect, as I want them to look cute. And that's all fine and dandy (they ARE great at looking cute), but it doesn't show the whole picture. And if I'm using pictures and this blog to document our life, then we need a few more "real" pictures around.

I have been known to get the kids dressed out of their pj's and brush their hair, just simply because I wanted to take pictures of whatever it is we are doing around the house. Let's face it. If we aren't going anywhere for the day, 99.99% of the time nobody makes it out of pajamas. Less laundry. Right? So yesterday morning, when the girls were doing their usual, I thought about how I needed some pics of "the standard", and I grabbed my camera.

Both the girls love dressing up. But Abigail, does this thing where she doesn't put the dress over her head. She just sticks her arms through the arm holes and the dress drapes down the front.
Case in point:

How about that pink camouflage t-shirt? And she was watching Cinderella. Touche.

And Natalie. She has discovered the world of PBS and Nick Jr. on the computer. She loves playing the games on there. It's kind of a catch 22 because I don't want her to spend hours upon hours on the computer, but yet all those games are quite educational. I have a feeling she's going to be reading sooner than later. She already knows how to open up the browser, type "p" "b" "s" in the address window and pick the correct url from the dropdown list that comes up.
And it doesn't get any more "real" than this, with the crazy hair, and the completely cluttered desk.

And now that these pics are on the world wide web, I'm sure they will thank me later. Like 10 or so years from now. Kind of puts a whole new spin on breaking out the baby pics for boyfriends.

And just because I can't leave the boy out: Talking to daddy before bedtime.
I TOLD you my kids are great at being cute. ;)

Dixie Pieces December Reveal

2010-12-15T20:22:00.005-06:00

So much for posting every day this month. There just aren't enough hours in the day when caring for 3 little ones!
I'm still playing catch up with my blog postings, so tonight I have the Dixie Pieces December kit reveal. This was a fun kit because it wasn't your traditional Christmas kit. Some scrappers have a hard time scrapbooking the themed events. If that's the case, this is the perfect kit for you.
I kinda felt like Sherry and Brenna (the owners) looked into my kids closets and custom made this kit based on their wardrobe. And that's happened more than once with the DP kits.
Here are my pages:

And a card.

Check it out here>>Dixie Pieces.

Joe the Elf

2010-12-08T11:39:00.005-06:00

We have a visitor in our house this Christmas Season. About a week before Thanksgiving, the girls got a book in the mail from Santa. The book is the story of the Elf who will come stay at our house for the weeks before Christmas and report back to Santa every night. Each day, he's sitting in a new spot. First thing in the morning, the girls are up and looking for *Joe*.

So far he's been on the mantel, in stockings, on top of the fridge, just to name a few. And what's even more fun is that once the girls go to bed, before he makes his trip to the North Pole for the night, he has a little fun around the house. He takes self portraits AND posts them on my Facebook!

He colored a page for the girls:

He watched their favorite movie:

He's played with their toys:

We just never know what that elf is going to get into!

Sussies Reveal November and Dec. 2010

2010-12-07T14:23:00.006-06:00

I am so behind with the blog. And I know I'm going to regret not keeping it up to date, so I'm gonna make every effort to post quite a bit more this month. First up I need to get up to date with my Scrapbook posts.
I never posted my pages from Scrapbook Sussies November. So even though we are in full swing Christmas mode. Here are the pages from the fun fall Nov. Kit.

So now on to December. I LOVE this time of year, and had so much fun with the December Christmas themed kit. I pulled out some of the pictures from last year for these pages. These pics are from the photo shoot with the girls for our 2009 Christmas card.

I still have one more page and a countdown to Christmas project that I made, but I haven't gotten pics of them yet. More Christmas stuff to come! Make sure you head over to the Sussies website and check out these kits.

Dixie Pieces November Reveal

2010-11-07T15:04:00.004-06:00

Sometimes it amazes me when I look at the last time I posted. Where did the last 2 weeks go??
I can't believe it's already November!

Today I've got my November pages from Dixie Pieces to share with you. Here is the November kit!And here's what I did with it!

There are some great specials going on over there right now.
Any new subscribers will receive a free goodie bag valued at $20. These bags include alphabets, chipboard, papers, ribbon, and other embellishments. So be sure to go check it out!

2 Months Old

2010-10-22T12:28:00.003-05:00

Jonathan turned 2 months old on Monday. Here is it Friday and I still haven't taken his monthly pic with Mickey. (We have a Mickey Mouse doll that I plan to take his pic with each month to easily see how he's grown.)
But I do have these that I took yesterday.

At his 2 month check up on Tuesday, he weighed in at 10lbs 5oz and 23 inches long.
A few other things to note:
*Is still sleeping quite a bit. His awake periods are usually anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour and then he's spent.
*Loves to be held. Especially if he's tired. He would much rather go to sleep in my arms. There have been quite a few times I've just had to listen to him scream while I tend to the girls, get a shower, cook supper, etc.
*Is eating about every 2 hours through the day. At night he's usually awake twice to eat. Typically he has a good four hour stretch of sleep, and then wants to eat again after a couple of hours.
*Is still sleeping in our room in the glider. Since he's up a couple times through the night this has been easiest, but I'm hoping to get him in his crib soon. Both Natalie and Abigail were in their own room after the first couple weeks. I think since I know he is my last baby, it's making it a little harder to move him out.
* Is wearing 0-3 month clothing and size 1 diapers. He had several really cute newborn size outfits that he never even got to wear!

We are loving him so!!

Family

2010-10-14T21:42:00.001-05:00

Scrapbook Sussies October 2010 Reveal

2010-10-12T19:23:00.003-05:00

I've got the rest of my October Sussie Layouts for you today.
I actually had some Easter pictures that went great with the Echo Park side of the kit.
Natalie really wanted 'The Princess and the Frog' for Easter and she was so very excited when she saw the DVD in her basket. I'm so glad I caught her facial expression when she saw it.

And these two are with the WRMemory Keepers, Halloween side.

As always there is so much packed in these kits that I've got tons of product left over. Hoping to get a couple more pages done with this one before I pack it away!

Happy Happy Birthday

2010-10-06T10:52:00.004-05:00

Today this girl:
turns four years old! It still seems like just yesterday we were bringing home this tiny little bundle.
John was off yesterday and working today so, yesterday we took her to her restaurant of choice (McD's) for her birthday lunch. We'll be celebrating this weekend with a train ride (that she doesn't know about yet!) and then a family party on Sunday.
She is obsessed with all things Toy Story right now and she especially loves Jessie the cowgirl. We got her a Jessie costume for Halloween, but she has wore it just about every day since we came home with it. Of course she has it on today:
And I had do make a layout documenting a few things about her right now. Made with the October Sussies kit: (I'll have more Oct Sussie Layouts a bit later)

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Dixie Pieces October Reveal

2010-10-05T09:48:00.005-05:00

It's that time again! The new kit is up for sale over at Dixie Pieces.
Here's what I did with the kit:

I had these pictures of Abigail from last fall that I still hadn't scrapped yet. When I pulled them out I was just amazed at how much she has changed in 12 months! How come as parents, we never get used to that?:)
I used my Making Memories Slice to cut those scallop hearts.

And here's the second page I've done with Jonathan. I LOVE that I can scrap girl and BOY pages now! I thought the banner trend that's so popular right now went great with a Roll Tide page!

Isn't she just soo cute with those pigtails? Used my Slice again to cut out that 2.

There's a fun roll of red tape in this kit. I used it to make those red starburst flowers. I laid the flower out on a white piece of cardstock and then just cut it out. There are also some stamps in this kit. The "Make a Wish" is one of them. Stamped it on some brown cardstock and cut it out.

Another item in this kit is this cute little accordian album. I cut it apart to make this mini cards. The album is big enough that once you cut it apart, you could make four of these little cards.
Head on over to Dixie Pieces gallery to see what the rest of the team did!
Don't forget we also have a fun contest going on over there through the end of the month. You can join in anytime.

Random Pic to Share

2010-09-30T22:21:00.002-05:00

I am going through some pictures tonight from this time last year. Need to place an order for some scrappy assignments for this month. I can not believe how much the girls have changed in 12 months time! Anyway..
just a quick post to share one of the gems I came across....

I hope she got some new pjs shortly after this...

Progression of the Kiddo Group Pic

2010-09-29T22:20:00.004-05:00

If you have kids, especially more than one, and you ever try to take posed pictures of them, you know it's not usually an easy task. I snapped a handful today and while they're not perfect (perfect being defined as everyone looking at the camera with smiles on their faces..which face it..probably won't happen all too often anymore ), they sure make me smile.

If Jonathan could say "help me". I'm thinking he would. It's just written all over his face.

*Oh wait* *Don't take the pic yet* *Somebody's got an itchy nose!*

Again with the "help me". Sorry little buddy. With these 2 as big sisters. It will be the story of your life.. hehe

Hair pulling 101 - Lessons in defense mechanisms for little brothers.

Look! Everybody's looking at the camera! No wait.. Jonathan's going to sleep.

"No, I'm awake Mom" But just barely!

I love these kids so much. The past couple weeks I've heard, "You've got your hands full." from a lot of people. And yes, it's true. But so is my heart. :)

Kiddo Pics

2010-09-23T22:15:00.003-05:00

The Big Sis:

The Middle Sis:

And the Little Bro @ 1Month Old:

I really didn't mean to let two weeks go by before blogging again. I hope to get a little more consistent with blog posts. But for now here are some recent pics of the kiddos, especially for the grandparents. :)

Jonathan's First Page plus Dixie Pieces Contest!

2010-09-10T14:52:00.002-05:00

This page sat on my desk for almost 2 weeks. I started it and then just didn't get a chance to finish it until this morning. Of course I had a little motivation called a "deadline" for Scrap Whispers.
The challenge going up today on the SW blog is all about the color blue. I've taken a few weeks off from the challenges but this was the perfect one to get back in the swing of things!

I used leftovers from my Dixie Pieces kits. I pulled just about everything I could find that was blue out of the kits and used it to make this page.
An speaking of Dixie Pieces, we are getting ready for a huge Anniversary celebration!

There will be a new challenge issued every Saturday starting on September 18th. You will have till the following Friday night to complete the challenge, post it in the gallery and link it to the forum thread. The challenges will be based on genres of music and will be fun, fun, fun! There will be no one voted off and everyone will be eligible to win prizes!

Prizes -- oh, fabulous prizes! We have some fabulous prizes for you! Let me give you a partial list of our sponsors: Maya Road, Jillibean Soup, Reminisce, Imaginisce, PK Glitz, Piggy Tales, Teresa Collins, and Scrappin Sports!

Grand Prize will be valued at over $300!
Random Prize will be valued at over $150!
Inspiration Prize will be a kit of choice from the store valued at $28!

So if you'd like to play along, make sure to head over to the forum and sign up!

Scrapbook Sussies September 2010 Reveal

2010-09-08T13:26:00.003-05:00

I'm so glad that Lara at Scrapbook Sussies was able to get our September kits to the team early, as I was able to get these done for this month before Jonathan arrived.
The September kit is so colorful and fun. It's great for beach pics (3 out of 4 of mine are beach!) but it's also great for other stuff too!

For this first one I altered the black glitter thickers that came in the kit. I peeled the top layer of the chipboard thickers off and painted them yellow. I then added some stickles to give them back their glitter look.
We can't seem to go anywhere without at least one person asking us if the girls are twins, so this layout talks about that.

And then for the beach pages. I had pics from our trip with my parents and brother from August of 2009 AND pics from our trip this past June. So I used some from each trip.

You can check out the gallery HERE to see the other girls' work with this kit. AND if you haven't become a fan of Sussies on Facebook, be sure to do that HERE!

The Story

2010-09-03T15:34:00.005-05:00

It's been 2 weeks and 1 day since Jonathan joined our family and it's already hard to imagine life before him.

He arrived 4 weeks early on Wednesday the 18th, with some minor breathing issues and had to be admitted to NICU. They give them a 4 hour transition period before deciding whether they need to be admitted to NICU or can go to the well baby nursery. After this amount of time had passed they decided he needed to be admitted because his respiration count was too high. (Normal is 30-60 per minute, and he was jumping around from 90-120)
Later that afternoon they took him out of the oxygen dome and he was on regular room air. Not much changed over the next couple of days. He continued to have a high respiration count but was able to stay on room air. I didn't get to hold him until the day after he was born. John snapped this picture the first time I finally got to hold him.

I was released on Saturday and the NICU Drs. were anticipating that he would need to stay just a few more days. We knew he was borderline jaundice which could possibly set us back a day or two. On Sunday morning his billirubin level was high enough that he had to go on the photo-therapy light. After being on the light about 24 hours it came down enough that we were able to bring him home on Monday afternoon. Here he is coming in the door and Abigail's first time to see him other than in pictures.
So the past week and a half we've just been getting used to the new normal around here. Actually I guess we're still a few weeks away from being back to some sort of normal. Our house is a total wreck, and while this does bother me I'm trying to be ok with it. I know I'm still recovering from the C-section and up half the night feeding and it'll all still be here for when I do get around to it! Besides I'm enjoying sitting around holding and hanging out with all 3 of my kiddos too much. (Even if the older two have decided to fight like cats and dogs lately and totally test their new boundaries.)

He's Here!

2010-08-21T14:35:00.004-05:00

Just a quick post to share a few pictures.
Jonathan Logan arrived Wednesday the 18th at 7:51am
Weighing 6lbs 13 oz ; 19 inches long

We are home but he is still in NICU. He's ding good and should be able to come home in just a couple of days. I'll write more about his birth story later, but just wanted to post a quick update.

Scrap Whispers Blog Hop - Back to School Backpack Album

2010-08-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop.

You should be arriving from Kelly's blog. If you're joining us from here make sure you start at the beginning so you can get the tutorial directions and you don't miss any of the fun creations and ideas for this cute backpack album.

This time around we are making this cute little mini album that would be great for back to school pictures. Or even a little album for your kids to keep their friends pictures in, they'll be taking those school pictures soon!
Here is mine:

Thanks for stopping by! You can head on over to Helen's blog to see hers as well as the rest of the SW team's.

Msc Update - Baby and Other Kiddos

2010-08-11T15:51:00.006-05:00

Two posts in one day!! It's a record! Make sure you scroll down below this post to see my Sussie Layouts!!
******************************************
I haven't done much but share scrappy stuff on here lately and I figure I'm due a different kind of post. This has been a very quick and busy summer as we get ready for Jonathan to join us in just 7 short days.

I have not done well taking pics this time around, but here's one I snapped in the mirror last week at 34 weeks.

Currently I am:
Not sleeping the best. Just generally being uncomfortable, heartburn and leg cramps. Some nights are better than others, and I am grateful for the rest I am getting. I seem to get better sleep when I take an afternoon nap!

Feeling like the baby is about to fall out! Hopefully that's not TMI but he is sitting so low..
see what I mean? And yes I was just opening presents, not checking to make sure he hadn't fallen out on the floor! :)

Feeling a little anxious about the C-section being 4 weeks before he is due. I know that's not THAT early, but saying lots of prayers the everything will go smoothly and hoping he doesn't have to spend any time in ICU. But also knowing that even if he does this is the best decision to avoid any complications with my previous history of uterine window. Thankful that I haven't had any more pain that caused me some concern a month or so ago, and thankful for a doctor that is fully confident that all will go well.

Really looking forward to holding him in my arms and trying to remember to savor every moment because I KNOW those first few weeks will go oh so fast even as hectic and hard as they may be.

Feeling more organized than I've been in a long time. A little more on top of the housework (but never the less a long way to where I want to be!), making lots of to-do lists and getting lots of things crossed off! Planning a bit of pre-school curriculum for the girls to supplement their 1 day a week at Mother's Morning Out, and reminding myself to cut myself some slack because a newborn is about to be in this house, and a lot of this kind of stuff will have to be on the back-burner for a bit!

And speaking of the girls and Mother's Morning Out.. today was their first day of preschool. They will be going one day a week for 4 hours. They were both just a little bit excited!

So that sums up a bit in our world today! Hope everyone is having a good week!

Scrapbook Sussies August Reveal

2010-08-11T15:34:00.006-05:00

It's already the 11th of the month, which means I have another scrap post for you with my Sussie Layouts.

I used my Making Memories SLICE to cut those stars, and some pink cardstock from my stash to make them stand out a bit.

For "Beach Beauty" everything is from the kit except the brown felt thickers.

There was this really fun "sun" piece of patterned paper on the WRMemories side of the kit, which made for a quick and easy page. Add a couple of embellishments and all done!

For this last page I doubled up with a challenge going on at Scrap Whispers. We are getting ready to start a new round, so if you'd like to play along head over to the Scrap Whispers blog for more details. There are a few more days to sign up and all you do is lift one page during the round.

The weekly challenge we have over there this week is to scrap a pet page. This cute little puppy belongs to my brother-in-law and Natalie really enjoyed playing with her.

So there you have it! You can see more work with the August kit in the Sussies Gallery!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - August 2010

2010-08-03T09:32:00.003-05:00

This month's kit is now available over at Dixie Pieces! Here is what I created:

No, I haven't had the baby and already done a layout about it! :) These are some pictures from when Abigail was born that I hadn't scrapped yet. I'm very excited about holding another little bitty one in TWO weeks! I punched circles out of one of the patterned papers, cut them in half and used them to make the scalloped border.

I've had these pictures of Natalie sitting in my stash to be scrapped for a while. I need to go back into my picture files and figure out when they were taken so I can add the date to this page. I think she had just turned two.

When you head on over to Dixie Pieces to look at the other gals designs, be sure to check out the challenges this month. They are all about photography tips, tricks and techniques and I hope you will play along with us! The random winner this month will get a $15 gift certificate to the store!

Some Etsy Finds

2010-07-20T15:39:00.007-05:00

If you're not familiar with etsy.com let me just say that it is a great site for ordering all things handmade. It's a great site for small business owners specializing in different crafts to sell their things and set up a shop via online commerce.

So I made a couple of fun purchases today that I thought I'd share.
First I bought this cute little hat from THIS SHOP.

Can you tell I'm really looking forward to taking newborn pictures of our upcoming arrival?

My other purchase actually hasn't gone through yet.. I'm waiting on verification that the seller can customize it the way I have in mind. For Mother's Day I really wanted a hand stamped necklace with the kid's names on it. But at that time, we hadn't picked a name for baby boy yet. We now have a name, so I'm placing the order for this:

Ok.. so this isn't the one I'm ordering, mine will be a little different and obviously have 3 tiers with Natalie, Abigail, and Jonathan. I just thought it was cool that I found this one with my girls names on it, so I'm using it as a sample. :) The one I'm ordering will most likely be coming from THIS SHOP.

So if you've never been to etsy, it's a really fun place to shop. It's like the biggest craft show you've ever been to!!

Scrapbook Sussies July Reveal

2010-07-12T09:16:00.003-05:00

I've got my Sussies July Reveal for you today! I know I say this quite often, but there is really so much stuff in these kits. If you're looking for a kit with a great variety and a good value, this is it. I have tons of stuff left after doing these layouts.

So here's what I did:

The journaling on this one says: This is one of those times I get a subtle reminder that you watch everything I do. Of course you're oh so cute, but I also take note that I am your ultimate example. I pray everyday that I'm the kind of mother I should be.

We've also had a bit of a redesign on the Sussies blog. There are some fun things being planned over there. We have a new blog manager and you'll be seeing more frequent posts from the team. Be sure to check that out!

Say Cheese!

2010-07-07T15:57:00.002-05:00

Just thought you needed to see my sweet girls smiling faces!
Happy Wednesday!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - July 2010

2010-07-02T09:08:00.005-05:00

I am so behind with my blogging! I've only done one update on this pregnancy and I've only got 8 weeks left, Abigail turned two, and in scrappy news I had a layout with pictures of Natalie published in a magazine. I hope to do some posts over the next week going into a little more detail about some of those things, but for now on to the task at hand!

It's a new month and a new kit over at Dixie Pieces!
Hand sewn; Vintage; Beautiful patterns and designs; all of these things describe the new July kit "Antique Homemade" from Dixie Pieces. This kit is filled with beautiful vintage patterns and sewing designs from well known manufacturers like Cosmo Cricket, Pink Paislee, and October Afternoon. Along with this kit you will receive a wide assortment of coordinating embellishments to make your crafting experience truly homemade.

Here are my creations:

This first one is about my grandparents who have been married for 65 years! They are truly an inspiration and you should be able to click on the layout to make it a bit larger if you'd like to read the journaling.

Make sure you head over to the Gallery and see what the rest of the team did!

Scrapbook Sussies June Reveal

2010-06-24T20:26:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure how this month has just totally gotten away, but it has! I realized I never shared my pages for Sussies June kit! So without further ado, here they are:

The first and last pages are using some older pictures I had in my stack that I hadn't scrapped yet. I find for the most part I tend to scrap the most current stuff, or at least pics within the last year. I really liked doing these older ones from a few years back. I may have to go back through my picture files and see what I didn't scrap the first time around!

2010-06-15T10:30:00.000-05:00

Hello!! It's the 15th of the month which means it's time for another Scrap Whispers Blog Hop. Thanks to Kelly for sending you this way. If you did not start at the beginning, you may want to head back to the Scrap Whispers Blog so you don't miss anything.

Helen has shown you a great tutorial on how to make your own patterned paper, and once again I am behind and haven't had a chance to do this. :(
So for now, I am going to share with you my layout for this week's challenge. This week the challenge is to create a layout about a party or celebration and use some kind of ephemera.

Here is the layout I created.This is about the "party" we had we Mickey Mouse and friends! It's been a long time since I've done a double pager, but I had so many good pictures, that's what worked best this time around.

Thanks for stopping by! You can head on over to Helen's blog to see hers as well as the rest of the SW team's.

Snapshots from the Gulf 2010

2010-06-09T12:48:00.010-05:00

I planned a VERY last minute trip to Gulf Shores. When John got his schedule for June and he had 6 days in a row off, I knew this would be our only chance to take some kind of vacation before the baby gets here. So.. I found us a pretty decent deal on a condo and off we went.

Our first full day there was perfect. Sunny and hot! We spent the majority of the day out on the beach.

A

It took Abigail a bit to warm up to the sand, but once she did, she had no problem being covered in it from head to foot. She wasn't crazy about the water though. At one point we went down to the water to fill up some buckets for sand castles. On our way back up the beach, she stepped in some seaweed, and had what I thought was some dog poo on her foot. I took her back down to the water to rinse it off, but it would NOT come off. She was pitching a fit about being in the water and I was completely baffled as to why I couldn't get it off. Even trying to rub it with my hand and using a handful of sand I just couldn't get it all off. When we got back to our spot I used a towel to wipe her foot off. It then dawned on me that she had to of stepped in a tar ball. But we didn't see any more signs of them. Until the next morning... and the beach (where the tide came in) was COVERED in them.
We didn't let that ruin our fun. We still set up on the beach and let the kids play in the sand.

My brother-in-law and sis-in-law came down with us for the weekend. I think one of the best parts was some of the great food we had. I've always enjoyed the seafood down there, but this time seemed extra good! Maybe because I'm pregnant, I don't know. :)

(Waiting in the condo for Uncle Alan and Aunt Kelli to arrive before going out to eat at LuLu's.)

(My nephew Wyatt, with his pretty blue eyes!)

(Posing for a pic while enjoying a cracker at LuLu's.)

(Some fun with Daddy's sunglasses)

(Every time we drove by the souvenir shop, Natalie wanted to go inside and see the purple Octopus)

(The last good fit of the trip, largely due to lack of naps!)

(Dolphin ride at the souvenir shop.)

(Family shot on the condo balcony.)

We had a great time, despite the oil coming ashore. Can't wait to go back!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - June 2010

2010-06-02T08:21:00.005-05:00

Time for another kit reveal over at Dixie Pieces.

Floral and Feminine is what describes the new June Precious Pastels kit from Dixie Pieces kit. This kit arrives just in time to scrapbook all of your Mother's Day photos; spring garden luncheons; days out with the girls; or possibly some of your "not so feminine" photos. Whatever you decide, you definitely will want to add this kit to your scrapbooking collection.
Here's what I created this month.

Head on over to the gallery to see what the rest of the team did!

Scrap Whispers Challenge #64

2010-05-21T16:32:00.003-05:00

This week's challenge over at Scrap Whispers is to use a favorite movie as inspiration.
One of my all time favorites is Back to the Future. I used the song The Power of Love (Huey Lewis and the News) from the Movie as my title.
If you scrap, come play along. There's a great prize up for grabs this month!
If you take a peek at the Sussie Blog today, you'll see this LO over there too. I used LOTS of leftover Sussie supplies for this one.
Have a great weekend everyone!

White Balance, Low Light, and a Gray Card

2010-05-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

*A small tutorial on White Balance*
If you're here for the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop, scroll down or click HERE.

If you have a camera that you can control the settings on, one of the main things you want to have right is your white balance. There are other things too, but for the sake of this post, we're just talking white balance. Most cameras have several auto options for this, but since I learned how to set a custom white balance, I try to do that as often as I can.
Having a correct white balance (WB) ensures that you won't have unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are white in your photo, as well as getting a "true" rendition of all other colors too. The "color temperature" of a light source, will greatly affect color casts. It's much easier to get a proper white balance in natural light, and when taking pictures indoors with low light situations, you can very often end up with a very orange/yellow color cast.
Here's what I mean:

Before I set a custom white balance, I snapped this picture of my daughter.
To set a custom WB, your camera's manual will tell you exactly what to do. It usually involves taking a picture of something white, finding the custom WB setting on your camera and setting it to the picture of the white object. I recently purchased a gray card. So I snap a quick picture of it in whatever light situation I'm in and then set my WB to that picture.
So after I set my WB, this is how it looked:
Notice how the yellow cast is gone? I really do love this new gray card because my house gets practically NO natural light inside. We have very few windows AND are completely covered up in trees. I am not a fan of using a flash at all, so being able to set a custom WB (along with a few other settings that need to be right), I can take pictures under bad lighting conditions and get results I am happy with.
After my new gray card came in the mail, I played around with my camera a bit. These are all straight out of the camera (no editing) and NO flash. It really helps to have kiddos who don't mind the camera in their face all the time :). I actually had to tell her to quite posing and just let me take pictures.

Often times when people first start trying to learn how to shoot in manual mode, setting the white balance gets lost in the mix and often ignored. So find something white and set a custom white balance. :)

Scrap Whispers Blog Hop

2010-05-15T11:00:00.000-05:00

Hello!! Thanks for joining me on the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop. Thanks to Kelly for sending you this way. If you did not start at the beginning, you may want to head back to the Scrap Whispers Blog so you don't miss anything.

I have several friends with upcoming new arrivals so I chose to make a baby themed waterfall card. Here's how mine turned out.

Thanks for stopping by! You can head on over to Helen's blog to see hers as well as the rest of the SW team's.

Scrapbook Sussies May Reveal

2010-05-14T07:41:00.007-05:00

*Edited to add one more page.. scroll to bottom of this post for Scrap Whispers Challenge*
This month's Sussies kit features Pebbles and K&Co. I'm sure I've said this before, but one of the things I love about these kits is that they have 2 themes, or two color schemes. So it's like getting two kits in one!

So here's what I did this month.

Just a few days before we found out the gender of the baby, we had a challenge over at Scrap Whispers to do a page related to the future. This was the perfect chance to journal about our upcoming arrival.

Be sure to check out the gallery and see what the other girls did with this kit!

*Edit*
I whipped up one more page using the May Sussies kit for the Challenge that went up just a bit ago at Scrap Whispers. Come play along.. there's a nice huge Bo Bunny prize for this month's winner.

One of Those Days

2010-05-13T13:46:00.006-05:00

Today has not been a very good day so far for me. Not because of anything that's happening ( I have PLENTY to be thankful for.) but just one of those days I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I've been in a bad mood pretty much since my feet hit the floor. My patience has run thin with the kids, my house is a complete disaster, and I'm tired.

Natalie had a picnic today at her school, and if I'm being completely honest, I just didn't want to go. But I packed up a lunch, dressed the girls in their cute new dresses, and went anyway. I even said a prayer on the way there asking for help with my attitude. I wanted to snap out of it.
But when we got home, I wasn't much better. I started a load of clothes and put both kids down for a nap. Natalie doesn't normally take one, so I actually hear her playing in her room, but a little quiet time was needed. Especially for me.

So I decided to sit here and download the pictures I took of the girls before we left for the picnic.
And this is what I found.

Seriously? How can I possibly be in a bad mood when I have these two? Honestly? Does it get any better than this? I love those girls more than words can ever describe. And I have NO REASON to have a bad day. So what if the house is a mess. THIS is what matters.

Thank you Lord for answering that earlier prayer.

It's a.........

2010-05-10T14:33:00.008-05:00

So we went to the doctor today... no need to keep you in suspense!

It's a ............

And a couple more pics...

(Lovin' Abigail's face in that one ^^.)
These two were right after we left the doctor's office, in the parking garage. Trying to get the girls to hold up the letters.

There is absolutely no doubt that it's a boy. We got quite a view.. not the least bit shy at all. :)
I have to admit it's a little strange, and feels kind of weird. John and I both were expecting it to be another girl. That's just what we're used to , I guess. But now that we know, we're excited. Especially since this is our last baby. Now to pick out a name!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - May 2010

2010-05-05T23:49:00.003-05:00

I have lots of pages to share over the next few days! Starting with the May kit reveal for Dixie Pieces. Another great Monthly kit is available at Dixie Pieces.
May's kit is called Vintage Summer, and it worked perfectly for some Summer Beach pictures I haven't scrapped yet.
Here is everything I created:

And then here are a couple of cards:

Make sure you check out the DT Gallery to see what all the other gals did!

Today is National Scrapbook Day!

2010-05-01T17:02:00.004-05:00

I meant to get this post up earlier, but I was behind in some of my assignments for today, so I've been busy scrapping!
There is lots going on in the cyber world this weekend. I've been involved in two online crops!

Scrap Whispers is hosting a May Day crop, and you have until tomorrow night to participate. Lots of challenges on the forum.. you can go HERE!

Dixie Pieces is also having a crop today and you actually have until May 10th to upload your layouts if you're interested in that.. check out the forum HERE!

So I've been busy, busy.. and have lots to show you since it is the first of the month and I've got kit reveals.. but I'm saving that for a little later..
here's what's on my desk right now:

Used the May kit from Dixie Pieces for this one and it's for a challenge over at Scrap Whispers. Hope you're having a good National Scrapbook Day!!

Dixie Pieces and National Scrapbook Day

2010-04-25T12:22:00.001-05:00

I'm gonna be home having a virtual party this Saturday for National Scrapbook Day. There are lots of things going on in the internet scrappy world, and you'll see quite a bit about it this week here on the blog. Looking for somewhere to hang out> Come join us at Dixie Pieces.
Here are the details.

National Scrapbook Day is all about spending the day doing what we love and everyone enjoys this wonderful hobby just a little bit different, right? Well, this year our crop is all about you - and we want to celebrate what makes scrapbooking special to you! We will have 12 challenges issued every hour from 7am to 7pm PST along with lots of fun & games to keep the day interesting! But, guess what? Our wonderful Design Team won't be issuing the challenges, YOU WILL! That's right --- this is YOUR DAY and we want to help you celebrate it YOUR WAY! For those of you that want to give this a try --- you will receive 5 entries into the Grand Prize Drawing for coming up with a challenge!

All you need to do is come up with a layout, card or altered item challenge that would get everyone's creativity flowing! Along with your challenge, you should post a sample design (this does not have to be newly created). We need 12 challenges:

There are still some spots available so pop over to this thread if you want to post a challenge and which time slot you would like. If you have any questions, or would like to run your idea by me (Kim Holmes) first -- feel free to contact me at theholmescrew@comcast.net

For those of you that don't want to issue a challenge --- don't worry! It's not required and there will be tons of great opportunities throughout the day to earn entries into the Prize Drawing!

And what would a crop be without a terrific prize? Well, you know that we are going to have one! Sherry & Brenna are busy right now getting all the prize details together so we will make that big announcement as soon as it is finalized. ETA: The grand prize includes the June DixiePieces kit, a stylish handbag we found at CHA Anaheim, and a kit of Cosmo Cricket goodies with a total value of $100+. Guess what else? There will be "BLUE LIGHT SPECIALS" throughout the day with fabulous deals on the Dixie Pieces Monthly kits and more! Mark your calendars and plan to join us for a day of doing what we love, SCRAPBOOKING!

The Fine Print:
-Entries into the prize drawing will be given for:
- challenge creation & sample - 5 entries
- game participation - entries to be determined
- challenge participation - 2 entries per challenge completed
- Blue Light Special purchases - 5 entries
-Designs must be newly created for the crop and challenges may not be combined
-Deadline for challenges will be 11:59pm, Monday May 10th. Creations must be uploaded to the general gallery and linked back to challenge thread to qualify.
-Winner will be determined by random selection from all entries and announced no later than Friday, May 14th
Hope you'll join us!

Happy Friday

2010-04-23T00:08:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday Y'all! Have a great weekend!

Publix Trip 4/21

2010-04-21T11:11:00.006-05:00

Let me just preface this post by saying that today's Publix trip was, for the most part, an indulgence trip. Everything you see here is stuff we don't normally buy or even need (with the exception of the lone pack of pork chops and the paper towels... oh and the girls will eat the yogurt for breakfast or snacks. That's healthy right?) My sweet tooth will be happy, even the Rice Krispies are to make Rice Krispie Treats!
But here's how it breaks down:

(2) Windex Multi Purpose Cleaner -3.39(2) = 6.78
(2) Scrubbling Bubbles Bathroom Power Spray - 7.99(2) = 15.98
Publix Paper Towels = 2.39
(3) Betty Crocker Cookie Mix - 2.67(3) = 8.01
(2) Rice Krispies - 3.99(2) = 7.98
(2) Toaster Struddles - 2.39(2) = 4.78
(2) Edwards Frozen Desserts - 2.79(2) =5.58
(2) YoPlus Yogurt 4pk -2.50(2) = 5.00
Donuts = 2.19
Pork Chops = 3.59
Grand Total = 62.28 plus tax
Most of this stuff was on sale, so after this weeks sale and my coupons I paid: 13.44 plus tax!
I know publix gets reimbursed by the manufacturers for all my coupons, but I still kinda felt like I hap ripped off the place!
*Edited to add: The Windex and Scrubbing Bubbles qualify for a mail in rebate, bringing my total down to $8.44!

Scrap Whispers

2010-04-17T12:10:00.003-05:00

After a short break, Scrap Whispers is getting ready to start a new round. In addition to that, the weekly challenges are back. Our re-launch is next Friday the 23rd, but in the meantime we've got a just for fun challenge up for you.

This weeks challenge is all about using glitter on a page.

I used some pictures from our trip to the beach last summer. Abigail did not like the sand!

Head over to the blog to see the other layouts and play along. And also be sure to check back next Friday

Couponing

2010-04-08T15:00:00.002-05:00

A couple of months ago a friend of mine offered a class on couponing basics. She seemed to always be getting things for cheap or free and I wanted to see what it was all about. So long story short. I've jumped in with both feet.

So here's how I've done this week.

CVS trip:
(3) 12 pack Soft Drinks = $11.00
(1) 12 Roll Charmin = $4.99
(1) Contact Solution/Cleaner = $8.99
(1) Colgate Toothpaste = $2.29
(1) Pack of Gum = .99

Total = $29.44
I paid ZERO plus I MADE 40 cents.

Publix Trip:
I didn't think to take a pic of my stuff from there. A lot of it was refrigerated items and I put everything away as soon as I walked in the door.
Here's what I got (18 items):
2lbs Ground Chuck; 1lb Chicken Cutlets; 1 gallon Milk; Lucky Charms; 2 cans of Mixed nuts; 8 pack Gatorade; 2 boxes of Princess and the Frog Band-aids; FOUR Bags Birds Eye Meal in a Bag; Pam Cooking Spray; Coffeemate; 1pk Craisins; 1pk Goldfish Crackers
Retail price before Savings and Coupons: $66.67 including tax
I paid: $31.96 including tax

Rite Aid quick trip:
(1) Gillette Razor = $8.99
(1) Package of Pampers = $9.99
(1) Crest Toothpaste = $2.29
Total = $22.17
I paid $9.17
Rite Aid has a rebate program which qualify for $7.50 on these products.
making my total out of pocket once I get that Rebate check, $1.67.
I'd be happy with that if all I bought was the diapers! :)

I looked through the Publix ad again and found more coupons I could use, so I went back there for a quick 2nd trip.

Publix Quick Trip:

(1)Gallon of Milk = $2.69
(2) Scrubbing Bubbles Power Sprayer Cleaners = $15.98
(1) Soft Scrub Kitchen Cleaner = $2.50
(2) 2 Liter 7up = $1.79 on sale
(3) Pk Goldfish Crackers = $3.00 on sale
(3) Boxes Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes = $3.00 on sale
(1) Green Giant Boxed Frozen Veggie = $1.00 on sale

Total w/tax= $32.36
I paid = $2.18

A few things I've learned.
-You have to be willing to invest a fair amount of time. Especially in the beginning as you get organized and learn what you're doing.
-You have to be willing to go multiple places. I have a CVS, a Rite Aid, and a Publix all right next to each other, 2 minutes from my house. So as long as I plan it right, it hasn't been a big deal.
-You can't expect results right away. Although I've has a really good week, I started this at the end of January and have wondered several times if I was really going to be able to make it work for my family. I'm still not where I want to be. But I can see that if I stick to it, I'll get there.
-Once you get fairly familiar with what you're doing, just expect and know that you'll know more about different stores' coupon policy's then the people that work there.
-I've read a lot of horror stories online about people having problems with managers and cashiers when presenting their coupons. But don't let this bother you. In my case, I haven't run into any of that at all. In fact everyone has been very friendly.

So there you go. My first REALLY good week of coupon success.
A Grand total of $150.64 worth of groceries for $35.41
Bring on next week! :)

Scrapbook Sussies - April Reveal

2010-04-07T09:03:00.004-05:00

When all the new stuff started coming out this Feb/Mar from Winter CHA, one of my favorite lines that I spotted was American Crafts "Dear Lizzy". So when my April kit for Sussies showed up I was a happy scrapper. :)

Here are my pages for this month featuring the Dear Lizzy paper line and a new line by My Mind's Eye.

Be sure to visit the Sussie Gallery and see what the other girls did with the kit.
Hope you're having a good week!

Happy Easter Sunday!

2010-04-04T10:21:00.006-05:00

Today is not the norm for us, and our Easter plans for the most part have been postponed. Both girls are sick now. Abigail's much better, but she gave her cold to Natalie and they both are coughing and have lots of congestion. So.. we stayed in from church today, and John is working, so we're having Easter dinner with my parents and grandparents later on this week.

The Easter bunny did come last night.. I hid the baskets because I knew Natalie would be up before me, so we went on a search for them when all 3 of us got up.
Aside from the candy, here is their loot.

(Side Note: I haven't blogged about the couponing that I've started doing, which is a whole 'nother blog post. And while most of what I've been clipping and saving on, are groceries and personal care items, I did manage to score a deal here. I got both Zhu Zhu pets for about $1, and got both Toy Story 1 AND 2 on DVD for $3.50 ea.!!)

Natalie's face when she saw The Princess and The Frog in her basket..

Sisterly love..

Abigail getting excited over some Jelly beans..

Abigail liked the hamster, but not so much when it was running toward her..

So.. we are watching movies today and playing with our new pet hamsters. I'm so glad they are the kind that don't have to be fed.. or cleaned up after.. :)
Happy Sunday everyone!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - April 2010

2010-04-02T11:16:00.007-05:00

This months kit over at Dixie Pieces was right up my alley. Just a few days before I saw our color scheme and what was in the kit, I had taken the girls to the park for a little photo shoot. Then when I saw the kit I just couldn't believe how perfect it was for the pictures I had just taken. So these first two Layouts are from our first spring photo shoot of the year.

(Supplies: Dixie Pieces April kit; Making Memories Slice Machine (heart and "Soars"); and Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch)

For this one I used the Glimmer Mist in the kit and sprayed the white cardstock. I cut some flowers out of one of the patterned papers in the kit and used them as a mask.
(Additional Supplies: Fiskars Threading water Border Punch; Back Zig Pen)

I struggled a bit with the placement of these photos. I like using one bigger picture with 2 wallet sized. I do it a lot. But usually they are portrait orientation, and these are landscape. I actually ended up placing all the patterned paper pieces first, and then the pictures fell into their home. I love those big sunglasses on Natalie. They're so big, that if you look close enough you'll see my reflection in them taking the pic! ha!
(Additional Supplies: Small plate for tracing and cutting the circle :)

And then here are the 2 cards I made:

The full kit:

You can check out more about HERE. We have a great Design Team at Dixie Pieces with a wide variety of styles. You can check out what all they did with the kit HERE.
We've also got a whole new month of challenges. So if you one of my scrapping blog readers, come join us on the forums!

So Pitiful

2010-03-31T18:59:00.004-05:00

Abigail has not been feeling well the fast few days, but today was by far the worst. I called and made her a doctor's appt this morning and it was hard waiting for the appt time to roll around because she's cried a good deal of the day and just wants to be held.
It's times like these when you realize how insignificant the laundry is, or the dirty floors. So much of the day today I've sat and held my "not feeling well at all" daughter.
The doctor's visit revealed that her cold has turned into an ear infection. So now that we have meds, she'll hopefully be better quickly. This afternoon around 4oclock she crawled into my lap and fell asleep. She slept for a good hour or so. I got up to go fix something for dinner and she followed me into the kitchen. A few minutes later, this is what I saw.
I sure hope she's feeling better tomorrow. It's hard to see your kids sick, even when it's something minor.

Scrappy Post

2010-03-30T22:54:00.002-05:00

I'm due a scrap post and even though the 1st is just a couple of days away (and I'll have a couple of kit reveals), I do have a layout I haven't shared yet.
I actually did this layout back in January. It was for the latest round of Scrap Whispers. Now that the round is complete and we had our big reveal a week or so ago, I can share the layout.

I love this page. I think it may be my favorite page I've done all year. But I also must say that I am so glad Spring is here and we are getting some beautiful weather. I much prefer capris and flip flops, to turtlenecks and coats!

I said I'd be back with pics!

2010-03-26T17:53:00.008-05:00

Two posts in one day! That doesn't happen often!
So since I decided we'd go to the Disney show at the last minute, I splurged and got the best seats they had left. And they were great. The girls were completely captivated.
Before we left:I had my fixed lens on my camera which doesn't allow me zoom out. Since we were in close quarters I couldn't really take pics of us in our seats, but I did manage to get these two..
In awe of the show:

And then here are a few shots from our terrific seats!

And then after all the fun:
Have a great weekend everyone!

Fun Friday!

2010-03-26T12:33:00.003-05:00

I don't know how time goes by so fast! I really didn't mean for a whole week to pass without blogging. This is gonna be short and sweet and I'll *try* to post again with more pics.

I decided at the last minute to take the girls to the Disney LIVE show this afternoon. Once I purchased the tickets, I went ahead and told the kids. Natalie ran around the house screaming for almost a full 5 minutes. The money I spent was almost worth just that reaction. Abigail just keeps saying "I see Mickey Mouse?" After they ate lunch I told Abigail that it was nap time. It's almost an hour earlier than her usual time, but I need to go ahead and get her down, so she'd have at least a bit of a nap before time to go to the show. At first she protested, but when I told her that as soon as she got up from nap we were going to see Mickey Mouse, she literally ran to her room.

So.. we're headed to that in just a couple hours.
In the mean time here's a series of pics from last Saturday. We went to a cousin's birthday party at a place in town that has all kinds of huge inflatables.

Think she was having fun?
Until Later..

Fun in the Sun

2010-03-18T18:26:00.009-05:00

What's that in the sky? It's actually the sun!
This afternoon turned out to be a pretty one, so instead of naps, we opted to play outside.

We live on a dead end circle at the top of a hill, so it's great for letting the kids ride around on the paved cul-de-sac. When we first went out.. instead of waiting for me to get the tricycle down to the road, Natalie decided to barrel down the driveway. She wiped out pretty much immediately and skinned up her face.

She was more worried about her hand. I was more worried about her forehead. But she recovered quickly and they had a blast.

I had this brilliant idea that I would put together the slide that she got for her birthday (yes, last Oct, and it is still in the box in the garage). I figured how hard could it be? Well for this 14 week preggo, getting over a chest cold woman, it was too much. Daddy will have to help us with that this weekend.

After playing with sticks, leaves, rocks and various other things found in the yard...

we decided to come in. (notice how she has her injured hand cradled against her.. there wasn't even anything wrong with it, but one little small piece of scraped skin) Oh.. I did a load of the girls laundry after we got in and got cleaned up. I have a nice pile of squeaky clean rocks if anybody needs them.
Wonder where those came from...

Scrapbook Sussies - March

2010-03-15T15:25:00.004-05:00

I've let way to much time pass without blogging! I can't believe we're halfway through the month!
Here's what I did with the Sussies March Kit:

This last one was a lot of fun, and it serves several scrappy purposes. A couple of weeks ago, the challenge over at Scrap Whispers was to use the phrase "the long and short of it" in your title. I didn't know what I was gonna do, and then I had an idea to document a conversation with Natalie. I also found a great tutorial on making origami flowers that I used for a challenge over at DP. I'll post more about that later, in a separate post.

I've struggled the last 4-6 weeks when it comes to scrapping just because the 1st trimester seems to zap my creativity. But I'm about 14 weeks now and beginning to feel a lot better (if I can just shake this awful chest cold I have), so I plan to post more instead of once every couple of weeks!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - March

2010-03-02T07:19:00.004-06:00

The March kit is now up for sale over at Dixie Pieces! Head over here to check it out!

Here is what I came up with, using this fun, colorful, kit!

You can click on any of the layouts for a larger view if you can't read the journaling and would like to.
The is lots of inspiration in the gallery this month. We had TWO guest designers, plus even Sherry (the kit club owner) made some great stuff with this one. You can check all of that out here.

Random Post

2010-02-18T16:24:00.003-06:00

I really can't think of anything to write about at this moment. So I'll simply post a couple pictures of the girls I took yesterday:

I love these kiddos so much it hurts!
I don't know how my heart can handle a 3rd. But I'm sure looking forward to it.

Scrappy Monday

2010-02-08T15:41:00.006-06:00

I have a bit of catching up to do, in sharing some of my latest pages. You've already seen one of my February Sussie pages HERE. But I haven't posted the rest of them yet! So here are the other pages I created with the February Kit.

This 3rd one also doubled as my page for Scrap Whispers this week. The challenge this week is "Novel Concept". Create a layout using your favorite childrens book. One of my all time favorites is the book I'll Love You Forever" By Robert Munsch. As many times as I've read that book to one or both of the girls, I don't think I've yet made it all the way through without welling up with tears. Such a sweet book.

We also just wrapped up a fun weekend online crop over at Dixie Pieces. My layout challenge was to use a border punch, and this was my example using the Feb. Dixie Pieces kit.

You actually have until the 18th of this month to get your projects uploaded into the DP Gallery, so even if you missed out this weekend, you can still participate. Just head on over to the forums to see all the great challenges.
Happy Monday!

Pregnancy Update

2010-02-08T14:56:00.002-06:00

Disclaimer: The following post is for my own personal documentation. I don't want to come across like I'm complaining because I KNOW I could be feeling a lot worse, and we are more than thrilled to be pregnant. I just want to keep up with some of the details of this pregnancy and this seems the best place. So if you don't want to hear me ramble for a bit about symptoms, etc, you might want to skip this post!

So at this point I am about 9 weeks. I remember the tiredness and exhaustion that comes with the 1st trimester, but it seems to be much worse this time around. I just have no energy and stay tired pretty much all day. Now there are breaks, where I have a burst of energy and feel ok, but overall I am just zapped.
The nausea this time around is constant. I haven't actually thrown up, but I feel like I'm going to all day long. A lot of times I wish I would just puke, so I would at least temporarily lose the nausea. It's a lot worse when I'm hungry and there's a bit of irony there because I'm hungry most of the day but yet not much of anything sounds good. I end up forcing down food, followed by a few dry heaves, but still nothing comes up. (I told you, you might want to skip it..)
The most appealing things to me right now are fruit (very cold or fruit popsicles) and Yoplait smoothies. As of today, the Dr. called me in some Zofran (nausea medication) and I can already tell that it's helping. (Yea!)

One other side effect, which is a little odd, is that I have a bit of an aversion to scrapbooking. A lot of times, just simply thinking about it makes me feel sick. The same thing happened when I was pregnant with Abby. And if you're reading this, and familiar with my blog at all, you know this is a problem for me because it's such a big hobby of mine. I spend most of my evenings, after the kids go to bed, at my scrap table.
Now I do have Design Team obligations to meet, so I am pushing through it, but I am really looking forward to this odd side effect to pass. If it does the same as when I was pregnant with Abby, it was pass when I enter the 2nd trimester.

That's pretty much it as far as how I've been feeling. Natalie is so very excited about this baby. She's even "reminded" me about taking my "medicine" for the baby (my prenatal vitamin!).
And even today, she's offered me some of her goldfish crackers to "help my stomach feel better".
Abigail is just going with the flow. She's not quite old enough to understand what's going on. We do need to start thinking about transitioning her to a toddler bed. I want to have any issues with that worked out and her sleeping in one for several months before the baby gets here. The girls will also be sharing a room before too long. Lots to do in the next 6-7 months!

Conversations with a 3YO.

2010-02-04T08:35:00.003-06:00

At Bedtime:
Natalie: Mommy, I want to sing the song about the 12 sons.
Me: You mean the one about the 12 tribes of Israel?
Nat: Yes!
(So we sing song..which is simply listing all 12 names, set to music)
Me: Do you remember who their Daddy was?
Nat: Jacob!
Me: Very good, and who was the son that he gave the coat of many colors to?
Nat: Joseph! (brief pause) And mommy, his brothers threw him in that thing.
Me: Yes, they threw him in a pit because they were jealous.
Nat: But that wasn't very nice..
Me: No, it wasn't. They ended up selling him as a slave. But it was ok, because God was watching over him.
Nat: What's that word mommy? What does slave mean? Is that like the thing that Santa rides in??

All Things Dixie Pieces

2010-02-01T08:19:00.006-06:00

This was my first month designing with the Dixie Pieces kit. And it's such a fun and colorful one!
So without further ado, here are my pages and a card.

Journaling on this first one says: Taking a family photo is usually always an adventure. I'm glad my brother kept clicking in between posed shots. It tells a more complete story. Like how John just really wanted to show off Abby's baby belly!

(My cute nephew Wyatt features in the page above.)

I also just purchased the Slice die cutting machine with some Christmas Money, and I put it to use cutting the title and some flowers for "Outtakes" and I also used it to cut those big letters in "RICE KRISPY"The kit is on sale HERE. And you can see what the other gals did with it, HERE.

In other Dixie Pieces news, we have the 3rd annual Beat the Winter Blues Crop coming up this weekend. Feb 5th-7th. The crop will get underway on Friday, February 5th in the morning. Challenges and games will be posted all weekend. Can't scrap that weekend? No worries! The deadline for posting your creations is not until February 18th! That's right, you will have almost 2 weeks to qualify for the Grand Prize Drawing! Prize? Yep, you heard me right! The Grand Prize is a brand new March Kit and a goodie bag of fun stuff that Brenna & Sherry(the owners) picked up at CHA!
Put next weekend on your calendars and come on over and join us for some fun! The Design Team also used the Feb. kit for the challenge examples, so you'll see even more stuff created with the kit.

Whispers Challenge and a Peek.

2010-01-31T09:00:00.000-06:00

This week's challenge over at Scrap Whispers. Is simply "Flower Power". Use those flowers. Big ones, little ones, whatever you have. I used the February kit at Scrap Sussies for this layout, which goes on sale tomorrow (the 1st).
Here is my Layout:
This is the most journaling I've ever done on a page. And here's what it says:
*Jan 10th, 2010
It was a Sunday, and it was John's weekend to work. The girls and I had been to church and then out to lunch with my parents and my brother. I had been feeling just not quite right and even had some nausea in the mornings and evenings for the past few days. I really thought it was just in my head though, because afterall, getting pregnant didn't come easy to John and I. It had taken medical help and fertility medication to get pregnant with both of the girls. A 3rd child wasn't out of the question, but we had just assumed when we made that decision, we'd have to go down the same route. And we hadn't planned on that route any time soon.

I had a test on hand and figured, why not? So I took it, and pretty much instantly the first window showed a blue line. I immediately thought, "wait. isn't the first window the RESULT window?" I hadn't even given the test enough time to complete as I was frantically flipping through the leaflet to confirm my thought. And yes. The first window WAS the result window. By this time enough time had passed that BOTH windows had that bright blue line. I can not even explain the range of emotions I went through at that point. Just to say that I was shocked and surprised is SUCH an understatement. As I stood there my heart beginning to race and hyperventilating, so much was running through my head. I was pregnant. I was actually PREGNANT. And I really needed to calm down before I passed out! Then I realized that I had to wait 5 hours before John got home. I couldn't call him at work with this kind of news. When John did get home I couldn't help thinking how he had no idea at all what was coming. I hadn't even told him I'd been feeling bad the past few days. I told him I had gotten him a present and I couldn't return it. Then I asked him to try not freak out when he saw how expensive it was. And then I showed him the stick. He was silent for what seemed like forever, but was probably only 5 or 6 seconds. The he began to repeat "you're joking", over and over again. All I could say was, "Look at the stick John. Does it LOOK like I'm joking?!" And then I left him alone for a bit so he could process the news. Now granted this took up completely by surprise and wasn't in the plan. At least not now. But one thing I do know is that sometimes, and often most of the time, our plans are not God's plans. And that's completely ok. In fact, it's more than ok. It's wonderful. It's awesome. We could not be more happy, and we're really looking forward to welcoming this new baby into our lives later on this year.

So yes. most of my readers probably already knew about this, but if not, this serves as my official announcement! :) We are expecting a new bundle at the end of August.

Have a great week everyone!

@ 19 Months

2010-01-21T15:40:00.003-06:00

I want to start doing more "status" posts on what's going on with the kids. I found myself trying to scrap some pictures from last summer and not being able to really journal much because I couldn't remember exactly what was going on with them at the time. I looked back on my blog to see if I could take something from here, but there just wasn't much.

So here we go:
Abigail @ 19 months.
*A great nick name for her right now would be Miss Vocabulary. She is talking up a storm. I actually tried writing down everything she was saying in a day and after just a few hours I quit. But here's what I captured on January 14th:
Where's Daddy, Where's Nah-ee (natalie), My plate, my spoon, Scuse' me, I burp, Can I?, Where's the pincess (princess), I want Stawby (strawberry) cake, more, I take Nah-ees (to me, about giving Natalie her sippy cup), I pooped, change the diaper, put pants on, put sock on, (I then asked her where the other sock was), I dunno, Nah-ee take it?, sit daddy's chair, uphere, nakin (napkin), where's baby, what?, wha happen mommy, brush, wash hands, I cold, where banket (blanket)..

at this point I quit writing them down but there are so many more.. she started this at about 17 or 18 months.

*Has quite a temper. When she doesn't get her way, she gets really upset and cries and throws things. We are attempting to nip this one in the bud quickly. Throwing things is just not acceptable.

*Looks out for her big Sister. Not matter what we give her, usually with food or drink, she always makes sure she gets one for Natalie too.. whether it be a cracker, a cookie, or cup of milk

* Loves to dance in her diaper. The last week or so when we go to put pajamas on, we have to take a few minutes for her to get this out of her system. I have this one on video, which will be priceless material for future boyfriends.

*LOVES baby dolls. She got so many for Christmas and plays with them all the time. There's a baby doll that "lives" in her bible class room and she goes straight for it as soon as she gets to class. As far as I know it sits with her the entire class time and then we put it back to bed when class is over.

*Has just now developed an affection for her pop (pacifier). She's usually always taken one at bedtime and nap time, but now she likes to have it more.. I don't look forward to breaking her of this, but we need to do it soon. I hope to just do it on the sly.. like she's not gonna notice.. (yeah right!)

*Is such an affectionate kid. She loves giving us "sqeeze" (squeeze) hugs, and loves giving kisses. Sometimes this affection is just reserved for mommy, daddy and sister, but not always.

Overall she can be a force to be reckoned with, but is also such a sweet sweet girl.
We love you Abigail! Attitude and all!

Scrap Whispers Challenge

2010-01-18T17:03:00.003-06:00

The challenge over at Scrap Whispers this week is to use the watermelon as inspiration. I used the colors of the water melon for my page.

I've been using a .01 fine point pen to journal lately which is making the journaling hard to read on the computer.
Journaling: Your sweet little smile steals my heart, but you also have so many other faces with personality. You raise the one eyebrow at me and I wonder what I'm in for when you get older, but for now it's just cute.

Hope you week is off to a great start!

I Made the Team!

2010-01-14T16:20:00.004-06:00

About 2 years ago I stumbled upon a little scrapbooking community called Dixie Pieces. They were having an online crop that I decided to participate in. I've enjoyed every minute there and the Owners put together some great monthly kits. They recently had a Design Team call, so I sent in my application, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best. Well, earlier this week I found out I made the team!! So for the next 6 months I get to play with their monthly kits and you'll be seeing the results of that here on the blog.

I've purchased a handful of their kits over the last couple of years, so in celebration of making the team here are a couple of layouts from their Nov 2008 kit.

Right now they are having a HUGE sale on all their previous kits that they still have in stock. The pickings are getting slim but there are still some great ones left. The kit I used for these layouts is on sale for $14! We also have our 3rd Annual Beat the Winter Blues Crop coming up the first weekend in February. If you are a scrapbooker we'd love to have you join us! (if you're family just enjoy the pics of the kiddos and try to ignore my scrapbook obsession :)

What We've Been Up To

2010-01-10T18:07:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted anything! So first up is the scrapping I've done this week. Scrap-Friendzy is having a sketch fest (they post a new sketch every day) and while I haven't been able to do as many of them as I'd like, I have gotten a few done.

Journaling for "BrokenHearted":
I remember this day and moment so well because it was Natalie's first day of preschool. We had gone just outside the door to take some pictures of her with her backpack. I looked back and saw you standing at the door like this. I knew you were upset because we had left you inside, but I also knew you'd feel this same way about Natalie leaving for a few hours a week. But don't worry sweet girl, taking Nat to school was hard on both of us. What are we gonna do when she goes to kindergarten? What am I gonna do when you both are old enough for school? I'll be just a little bit brokenhearted.

Journaling for "Playground":
We just happened to get the cabin in the State Park right next to the playground. Natalie was constantly asking to go play. She would have stayed for hours if we let her.

And then this last one is for this week's challenge over at Scrap Whispers. Our challenge was to make a layout or card using purple and turquoise. Come on over to the blog and play along!
So what's been going on this week? Well, it has been extremely cold here. We got a little bit of snow (less than an inch, but that's a lot for us!) on Thursday and it is still on the ground in places.
Here are the girls trying to catch snowflakes.

We also had a very exciting game to watch this past week. The Alabama Crimson Tide won the National Championship!! I haven't missed a game all season and can you believe I fell asleep during the 4th quarter!!! I missed the most exciting quarter of the whole game! But I'm glad they won it and I did wake up in time to see them accept the trophy. ROLL TIDE!

And last of all, I'm gonna have a proud momma moment here.
A couple of days ago Natalie showed interest in writing her name. So we've been working on it with a lot of help to get it right. Yesterday, Abigail was napping, I was playing on the computer and she was playing in the living room. She exclaims to me that she's written her name all by herself. When she brought me the board and I saw what she'd actually done....

I couldn't believe it! And you know my first thought was to grab the camera! :)
Have a good week everyone!

January Sussies and Scrap Whispers

2010-01-03T20:36:00.004-06:00

I've got a lot of scrappy stuff for today, so here we go..
The January kit at Scrapbook Sussies was a lot of fun to work with. I especially loved the extremely girly stuff that was in this month's. I had an idea for making a door sign for Natalie's room, and with the embellishments that came with this kit it worked out perfectly.

For the door sign, I used a 10x10 canvas. I sprayed glimmer mist all over the base. This was a very easy quick "paint" job. I then cut an 8x8 piece of the poodle paper and then layered my embellishments on top of that.

I need to take a better picture of this next layout. I do see that it has a bad glare on the left side. But here are my other two layouts using the girly side of the kit.

For the boy side of the kit, I was really wondering what I was gonna do because well, I don't have boys. But as I was looking through some of the pictures I've recently printed out, I noticed how well our clothes matched these papers in these family photos. I cut up one of the rubons (a frame with "this boy" in the center) and re-purposed it. Using the frame to house "love" and using only the "this" as part of my title.

Now with this last one. I doubled up. It is my 4th layout for the Sussies kit, but it is also my very first layout for Scrap Whispers. A few months ago, during their down time, I was asked to join their team. What is scrap Whispers? Well I'll get to that in just a minute. The first challenge for the new year is "Stars and Spikes". That's it, no more direction than that. You can interpret it any way you like. I chose to simply include stars and added a spikey banner along the edges. (By the way.. these pics are of my cute nephew!)

Be sure to head over to the blog to see how the other Design Team members took on this challenge. And play along! We have a new challenge every week, and at the end of the month one lucky participant wins a scrappy prize.
Now.. what is Scrap Whispers? Remember that game you played as a kid, where everybody sat in a circle. The first person thought of a phrase or sentence and whispered it into the person's ear next to him and then that person whispered it to the next, and so on and so on. By the time it made it all the way around and the last person said it out loud to the whole group it was usually NOTHING like the original phrase. Well Scrap Whispers is the scrapbooking version of that. It's played by scraplifting a layout and passing it on to someone else in a team. If you'd like to know more, stop by our blog. I believe there are a couple more days to sign up if you'd like to participate in our next round that is beginning soon. In the meantime we also have new challenges every Sunday that are open to everyone, whether you're signed up for the "whisper" round or not.

Have a great week and ROLL TIDE!!!!

2009 Top 12 Pics

2010-01-02T12:03:00.014-06:00

As I start this post I realize that picking one picture from every month is an impossible task, but I'm going to attempt it anyway. And it's so hard because I took roughly 9,000 - 10,000 pictures in 2009! Good thing I've resolved to only scrapbook my favorites!! And I'm already predicting that these will mostly be of the girls.
OK, here we go.

*January - This picture is a result of some "practice" for a Valentine shoot I was gonna do of the girls. I didn't get Christmas cards out for Christmas of 2008, so I decided to send a Valentine's Card instead. My cousin let me borrow this vintage quilt of hers. This isn't the one that made it onto the card, but it's a fave.

*February - This is the one that made it onto the card.

*March - Abigail is the spittin' image of her daddy..

*April -Natalie was in my cousin's wedding in April and was an absolute doll in her white dress. This was one I took before the wedding. I just need to learn some better photoshop skills and take my dad's hand out of this pic.

*May - I didn't take many in May for whatever reason, but htis one makes me smile.

*June - My baby turned one!

*July - I have a whole host of favorite from this month because I took a series of pictures of the girls that I totally fell in love with, but since I'm picking just one..

*August - We went to the beach with my family in August, and I never posted any of the pics from that trip. I've printed a bunch of them out, so they will probably show up in scrapbook pages on here over the next few months. But this one stands out to me. I love that I caught this expression on my Dad's face.

*september - Is there really any explanation needed for this one?

*October - This month is impossible to choose. I took two separate fall sets of pics of the girls that I LOVE. Natalie turned 3, we went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, had a family photo shoot on Grant Mountain, and Halloween. Just in October alone my pic count is 700! But here is my fave from Natalie's birthday.

*November - I love catching the two of them in simple interaction.

*December - Another impossible month because of the sheer quantity of pics I took.
But because of the sheer happiness and fun these two were having, it takes the cake. So there you have it. I VERY quick glimpse of 2009. Happy New Year everyone!
Come back tomorrow for a very scrappy post.. January Sussie Reveal and my first challenge reveal with Scrap Whispers.

Christmas in Pictures

2009-12-28T16:18:00.005-06:00

I took over 300 pictures this Christmas and it's hard to pick just a few to share. You can click on these collages to see them larger.

*Christmas with my parents*

*Family Gatherings - and I know you're wondering about that bra.. I ended up with the boobie prize..literally.. and my bro thought he'd model it for us.*

*Christmas Eve before bed and then morning*

*Christmas Eve with the Wrights*

*Natalie's Dinosaur*

*Family Photo*

*Family Photo 2**More Family Christmas*

I hope your Christmas was Merry!

Christmas Eve Eve

2009-12-23T09:29:00.003-06:00

I don't know what it is about this year, but I have been just like a kid this Christmas Season. Maybe it's because last year I was really sick for most of December and didn't get to enjoy it, or maybe it's because both the girls are so into it and having so much fun.

Last night I helped Santa wrap gifts. There are a few more that we'll wrap tomorrow night and I have a few other gifts to finish up, but other than that, we're ready.

Today the girls and I are going to make cookies and rice krispy treats for Santa. The rice krispy treats were Natalie's idea and I know Santa will LOVE them. She also wanted to fix him a banana smoothie (??? the girl cracks me up) but decided that he'd like a Dr. Pepper instead.

I hope you are enjoying time with your families. We have a fun few days ahead of us!

A recent Layout to share:

Journaling Reads: A peaceful moment between you two is sometimes hard to catch. I love that you two were being so sweet and reading together under the tree. You girls bring me such joy that you'll never understand until you have children of your own. Love You. Dec09

Christmas Videos

2009-12-21T14:24:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how fast the last week and a half went by! Christmas is in 4 days! I still have just a couple of gifts to take care of, and then I have to help Santa wrap everything at some point in the next couple days!

The girls have really enjoyed the holiday season. Especially Natalie who loves all Christmas songs.
Today I have a couple of videos to share. We discovered that Abigail could say one whole line of Rudolph, and while this video doesn't capture her line at it's very best, you should be able to make out what she says at the very end. John is the one talking/singing throughout most of it, but listen closely at the very end.

And then Natalie singing the entire song: You may have to turn up your volume, she wasn't singing very loud.

Today was also my day to post on the Sussies Blog. Head over there for some last minute card ideas.

Ho Ho Ho

2009-12-10T22:28:00.003-06:00

I just got in form our ladies Christmas party, which was so much fun! But I am so ready to hit the sack! Just wanted to post these pics of the girls I took yesterday!

Around the House

2009-12-08T14:37:00.003-06:00

We are really getting into the Christmas spirit around here. Natalie has sung Rudolph a thousand times the last couple of days. We've watched both How the Grinch stole Christmas and Mickeys Twice Upon a Christmas today. We've also been wrapping presents!
Here are just a couple of pics as we enjoy the day at home.

Srapbook Sussies December Reveal

2009-12-06T15:50:00.005-06:00

I don't have a lot of time, so I'm gonna be quick! Here are the rest of my Sussie Layouts for this month. These really got me in the Christmas mood!!

I had a photo session today out at a local Mall. They have a huge tree that made the perfect backdrop. Well, I know Santa is watching because he showed up!!
I hope you've been good!

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-04T22:30:00.002-06:00

We don't have any presents under the tree yet, but I wanted to experiment with taking some pictures and getting some different effects.
So here's what I did. For this one I turned the manual focus on and blurred my picture just a little.
Because of the low light situation I had my shutter speed at 1/60 and my aperture at 1.4fFor this one I left my setting the same, the only thing I changed was bringing the picture into focus.

Now with this next one you can see what a difference it makes simply by changing your shutter speed. When photographing Christmas lights, you can achieve a really bright look by leaving you shutter open longer. For this one I set the shutter at 1/10.

These aren't ideal.. I obviously need to move that air filter propped up against the wall.. but you get the idea. If you have a camera that you can actually control the settings on, I encourage you to experiment!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-12-03T21:47:00.007-06:00

A few pics from Thanksgiving..

The girls with their uncle..

and with their Obie (grandma)..and having some fun!!

and a group shot of the Wright family..
Currently I have about 6 running to-do lists. Everything from Christmas lists, to household chores that need to be done, to Christmas projects, and so on and so on. I have LOTS I want to do this month. I was hoping to post something for every day of December leading up to Christmas, but I'm not gonna stress myself out over that, so it may or may not happen.

We got our tree up and decorated over the Thanksgiving holiday. Natalie had so much fun doing that with me.

And here's one of my layouts for December Sussies kit. These pics are from last Christmas.
I'll share the others later, for now I'm off to bed!