Moving forward...one day at a time

soccer season starts

2010-03-18T21:34:00.002-04:00

T started soccer practice this past Monday. For once, he isn't the smallest kid on the team! lol He did pretty good despite the fact that he missed a couple of seasons. He was excited to be playing again. K thought she should be able to play as well because she kept trying to play in the goal and even ran to get in line with T so she could kick the ball. The other parents and the coaches were all chuckling at her enthusiasm to get out there. One of the coaches told her she was like lightening (which happens to be the team name). So, from now on, I think she will be staying with the grandparents so that I can actually watch T practice instead of run around chasing her. He wants to play football in the fall instead of soccer. We'll see how that goes. He tends to whine a lot when he gets hurt so I don't know that football will be a good match for him, but he may surprise me.
Spring Break is coming up in a couple of weeks. Not sure what we are going to do. The kids will be with their dad the first couple of days, but after that we have the rest of the week to fill up. I've been thinking of trying out geo-caching, but have to figure out if my phone has GPS capabilities (I'm sure it does) and how to use it. Well, that's about all going on around here.

little by little

2010-03-15T19:42:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to make this new life and create a stable and loving home for my kids. I received this at the end of an email and it just sort of fits right now.

Free Your Heart from Hatred

Free Your Mind from Worries

Live Simply

Give More

Expect Less

Don't know who said it, but I think they are wise words indeed.

Believing...

2010-03-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

Kutless - What Faith Can Do
From the album It Is Well

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You do have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Label: BEC Recordings

Playing around

2010-02-13T22:05:00.002-05:00

I decided I wanted a new look for my blog so I am playing around with some backgrounds and the colors, etc. We'll see how it goes-I can't decide what I want to use. I may just change it around every so often. lol
Anyway, we actually got some snow yesterday afternoon! It rarely snows here, and its even more rare that it sticks, so the fact that we got about 5 inches in one afternoon/evening had the local news stations going crazy. It was "the blizzard of 2010" or something like that. lol This was after a lot of the states got 2 feet of snow dumped on them and more yesterday. Just a bit over-reactive here in the South. I did get a few pics of the kids playing in it but they are on my other computer so I'll have to post them later. K thought it was pretty neat until her hands got cold. then she started crying to come inside. She had more fun this morning because I did manage to find some "snow appropriate" mittens (that I thought I had donated already)for her to wear. I didn't get any pics this morning because my camera batteries were dead. T had a great time playing in the snow and didn't want to come inside even though his pants were soaked. We got rid of most of our snow clothes when we moved back to SC, so they didn't have too much that would protect them from the cold and wetness. Oh well, they had a blast anyway.

Moving Forward…

2010-02-06T18:54:00.003-05:00

So life has definitely been interesting for the last few months and continues to be so, even now. Some days feel like I am at a complete standstill and others make me feel as though life is passing me by. I was supposed to start school this semester, but will be starting in the Fall instead.

The kids are slowly adjusting to life without Daddy around, but it has not been easy or fun. T-man is playing basketball through a church league and will start soccer next month. He is looking forward to that. K is a bundle of energy and into everything she can get her hands on. I can't believe she just turned 2 this past week! T is doing very well in school, although he says he doesn't like it. Actually, he says he doesn't like the work part of school, but he does like lunch and recess. Lol

Here is pic of them from a couple of months ago:
I haven't been taking a lot of pics lately or scrapping, but am starting to get an itch for it so hopefully, I will get back to it soon. We are moving into our own place at the end of March so we should be getting into a better routine after that. I hope that is the case anyway. J

MIA

2009-09-13T22:48:00.002-04:00

I know its been a while since I posted. I really don't feel like posting now, but I wanted to let those few who do read my blog know that the reason I haven't been around is because the last 2 months have been a total nightmare for me. C totally pulled the rug out from under me, so to speak, by announcing one day that he wanted a divorce. I won't go into the details, but I will say that I was and still am in shock. So, the kids and I are now in SC at my mom's awaiting a temporary settlement hearing to get some money for us to get our own place. I am looking for a job, but as you can imagine, it is not easy. Apparently, noone wants to hire a stay at home mom of 7 years, especially in this economy. So, that's where I am at right now. I hope to be back blogging one day, but right now I am just trying to make it day by day. T is very sad about it, and K doesn't really know what is going on. They are, at least, enjoying the time that they now get to spend with the grandparents.

Ultimate Recipe Swap: Summer Desserts

2009-06-18T08:27:00.003-04:00

Life as Mom has a recipe swap going on every Thursday and today is all about yummy summer desserts! One of my favorites has always been banana pudding. I remember my Grannie making it often when I was little. This recipe is very similar to the one she used to make, but just a tad fluffier.

Creamy Banana Pudding
(makes 15 servings)

1/4 cup lemon juice
6-7 medium banana, sliced
3 cups 2% milk
2 (4oz) packages vanilla instant pudding
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
16 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
1 (16oz) package Vanilla Wafers

Drizzle lemon juice over banana slices. Whisk milk and pudding in large bowl for 3-4 minutes or until blended and slightly thickened. Add condensed milk and mix well. Chill 5 minutes. Fold in whipped topping. Layer Vanilla Wafers, bananas, and pudding mix alternately in large serving bowl until all ingredients are used, ending with pudding mix. Store, covered, in fridge until serving.

If I am taking this to a potluck or serving to friends, then I add some decorative touches to the top with extra Cool Whip.

Unmotivated

2009-06-16T09:50:00.002-04:00

I've been very unmotivated to blog lately. I guess that's because there just isn't that much going on here these days. T is in school until next Thursday (why on earth do they need to be in school that long!?!) and then we are headed to SC for a couple of weeks. Once there, we have a bunch planned-C has a reunion to go to with his fraternity and we are going camping with my mom and sister for several days. I am hoping to meet up with a couple of friends while we are there also. And of course, we have to see family so it will be never ending. Oh, the joys of going home.
I found this cool blog that is listing some things to do with your kids throughout the summer. Life as Mom has done all the research stuff and is listing it all on her site for others to use. It looks like it will be fun, as well as fairly educational for the kiddos. She will have a different theme posted each Monday through Labor Day. Go here to see what she has already posted. At the very bottom, she has posted the theme for each week. Next week will be great since we are going camping right after that.
Well, that's about all I have for now.

Home Again

2009-05-25T08:28:00.001-04:00

I have been away for a couple of weeks so I didn't get to finish my spring cleaning project. With Simple Mom. Once I get caught up on laundry and other stuff, I am going to continue the process.

I posted this on FB, but wanted to post it here too. The reason I have been away from home. He had a massive heart attack while getting ready to go camping with my mom and sister on Mother's Day, which was also my sister's birthday.

Kenneth Allen Winham

5/12/2009 12:47 AM

Mr. Kenneth Allen Winham, 60, died Sunday, May 10, 2009, at Aiken Regional Medical Centers.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Harvest Baptist Church with Rev. Glen Davis officiating. Interment will follow in Aiken Memorial Gardens.

Pallbearers will be Ricky Woodward, Dewey Toole, Bobby Timmerman, Joshua Barron, Cameron Baynham and Joseph Baynham. Honorary pallbearers will be S.C. Highway Department maintenance employees in Aiken.

Mr. Winham was born in Louisiana, a son of Lila Mae Reese Palmer of Shreveport, La., and the late Morris Allen Winham. He moved to Aiken in 1969 and was a supervisor with the S.C. Highway Department. He was also a member of Bethel Baptist Church.

In addition to his mother, he is survived by his beloved wife, Phyllis Funderburg Winham; two daughters, Becky (Caleb) Risinger of Middletown, R.I., and Bonnie Winham of Aiken; a son, Michael (Terri) Winham of Louisiana; two grandchildren, Teddy and Kelsie Risinger; three sisters, Dorothy (Richard) Rouse of Ft. Worth, Texas, Marsha Miller of Owensboro, Ky., and Joyce Welch of Ft. Worth, Texas; and a brother, James (Thelma) Winham of Johnston.

Memorials may be directed to the Aiken Heart Association, 1003 Hammond Road, Aiken, SC 29803.

Mr. Winham's online guest book may be signed at www.shellhousefuneralhome.com.

Pasted from <http://www.aikenstandard.com/obits/winham>

still cleaning...

2009-05-07T10:16:00.006-04:00

I never would have thought that it would take me 2 days to clean the living room, especially considering that the only thing that really needed decluttering/cleaning was the bookshelves and movie cabinet. I do need to switch out some toys for K, but those are in boxes in the garage so they will have to wait until we can get them out. But, the bookshelves are now decluttered and the movie cabinet is looking better. I put all of our DVD's into a case and tossed all of the individual plastic cases. I am hoping that we can get C's dad to put most, if not all, of our VHS movies onto DVD for us since he has one of those nifty little machines that does that. And then, the movie cabinet will look awesome!!
Here is a before pic of the bookshelves:

And here are the after pics:

I left the bottom 2 shelves on each one open because K likes to pull anything on those shelves off. I am going to get some baskets to put some toys in for her so they are not out in the open and it looks nicer.
And I have a nice little box of stuff for the thrift store. I hate doing yard sales so I am not even going to bother with trying to do that. I suppose I could try to sell some of the books on ebay or another used book site, but I don't know that I want to do that either. I don't have the patience to list each one, much less that much uninterupted time.
Today and tomorrow (and maybe the day after!) I am working in the kitchen. I did unclutter some of that before we moved, but I think I can overhaul it some more. We'll see. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any before shots yet. But I still have a ways to go so maybe I will get one or two at least!

Spring Cleaning

2009-05-04T10:45:00.006-04:00

I decided to do some spring cleaning with Simple Mom. She has a pretty good way of doing things and it just might make life a little easier along the way too.
Here are some photos of what I have gotten done so far today.

before
after

before
after

before
after

I am pretty much done with the downstairs. It isn't anywhere near done, but it looks better. Not a lot in my giveaway box, but that is only because I have mostly paper clutter downstairs. I should have more later this afternoon after I have gone through the upstairs bedrooms. I'll post more on that this evening.

cutie pie

2009-04-27T23:04:00.005-04:00

K is finally getting some hair to play with! Unfortunately, its so thin that it barely stays up! She is a cutie anyway.

C and T went fishing this past weekend and caught the most fish they have ever caught together. T even caught most of them himself. When I told him that he had to help his daddy clean the fish, he informed me that was "only for when it was a contest and they had not been having a contest." Crazy kid. He went off to play and when he came back to find the fish already cleaned, he was upset that he didn't get to watch/help.

The weather is finally warming up here in New England! Yippee! The sad thing is that the temp was only in the high 80's this past weekend and some of the kids were complaining that it was "sooo hot". C and I had a good laugh over that. Being from SC gave us a pretty good tolerance for heat, I guess.

That's about all that's going on around here. Just waiting for school to get out for the summer. We found out that T's school is being closed at the end of this school year so he will be going to a different school next year. 4 schools in 2 years is not such a good thing, I don't think (we will move again in Feb/Mar next year). Thoughts of homeschooling have crossed my mind, but I'm not convinced that I want to go that route-T just doesn't learn that well from me/us well anymore. Unless, that is, its about something totally useless, like fishing or how to store worms for fishing. We'll see what time brings.

Easter Pics

2009-04-16T12:27:00.003-04:00

Here are some Easter pics of the kids. It was pretty chilly that day so they didn't get to spend too much time outside, other than the walk we took at a local park (where we nearly froze to death!).

T refused to wear a coat to church that morning so he complained the whole time, of course.
I can see a very faint glimmer of warmer weather on the horizon. It's been in the 50's the last few days and may hit 60 this weekend. But according to the weather channel, it's gonna rain just about every day next week. Blah! At least it has been sunny so T has been able to go outside for most of his Spring Break this week!
That is about all that is going on around here. C is pretty busy with school work and T is also so we don't have any big plans coming up. Hopefully, we will sit down and plan our summer in the the next week or so. Warm weather can't get here fast enough!!

It should be warm by now...

2009-03-27T20:45:00.003-04:00

but its NOT! It is still in the 40's here during the day and the wind is like ice! My mom told me yesterday that it is already in the 70's in SC. Oh to be home in the South...!
Anway, T-man is not liking school at all these days. He says all they do is WORK! He likes the fact that we are close enough that he can ride his scooter to and from school. Of course, that means I have to carry it back and forth for him. K likes riding in the bike stroller on the way. She just sits back, relaxes, and checks out the view as we go along. Whenever I ask her if she wants to get Teddy from school, she gets all excited and goes to the front door. When we get outside, she goes straight to the stroller and waits for me to put her in.
Not much is going on around here right now. T is in school until the end of June so we will be sticking around here until then at least. He has Spring Break coming up so we may take a short little trip then.
These are some current fave pics of them from the last couple of weeks:

We made it!

2009-03-04T20:59:00.002-05:00

We arrived in Rhode Island on Saturday evening, just ahead of the winter storm that dropped several inches of snow all along the East coast. I was going to make the drive from VA to RI in 2 days but decided to just keep pushing on since the kids were being cooperative (for once). And its a good thing I did because we woke up to about 1/2 inch of snow Sunday morning, with snow and sleet still coming down and a winter storm moving in Sunday night. When it was all said and done, we had about 5 or 6 inches of snow, maybe a little more. It's been interesting, to say the least! T has had a blast playing in it. C bought a sled for him and there is a fairly big hill right behind our house so he has been out there every day. K has been too sick to go out. She's had a really nasty cold for the last few days so I haven't let her out too much. She went out today with C and T, but couldn't stay long because she got cold. I'll upload some pics later of T in the snow.

The big day

2009-02-22T20:10:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is packing day! I think I have just about everything taken care of. I hope so anyway. Whatever is not, will get done afterward. Maybe. If I have the energy left.
So, I will be computer-less for a week or so until we get up there and settled in. Hope everything goes smoothly!

Taking time out for fun stuff.

2009-02-15T15:14:00.004-05:00

The VA Living Museum had "Reptile Weekend" this weekend so I took the kids since T enjoys looking and learning about those kinds of things. He had a blast! K was fascinated by the fish and the reptile show. T got to touch a python at the end of the show. He thought it was so cool.

Here is one of the poisonous snakes that are kept at the museum. I'm glad it was behind the glass! Click on the picture for a better view of the snake.

16 days

2009-02-12T21:01:00.002-05:00

and counting! That's how long until we hit the road for RI. The movers are coming on the 23rd and 24th to get us all packed up and loaded. We will check into housing on the 2nd so hopefully, we can have a door to door move this time. I still have so much to do before the movers get here. Lots to get rid of, keep out for us while traveling, etc. And of course, finish painting the cabinets and laundry area. Thankfully, I have some great friends who have been helping out so I should be able to get it all done.
Not much of an update, but that's what is consuming our lives right now.

Happy (late) Birthday, baby girl!

2009-02-03T22:58:00.003-05:00

I am a bit late posting photos of the first b-day party fun. It's been crazy here with painting, organizing, and getting C off to RI yesterday. We did manage to squeeze in a small party with some close friends on Friday evening. She was too tired that night to do much with her cake so we tried again on Sunday and she LOVED it! But she didn't like all the icing on her hands...

Whirlwind times

2009-01-23T22:56:00.002-05:00

I have been soooo busy the last couple of weeks. We found out that we have to go ahead and move to RI if we want to go with C. So, we are moving in March. That's just over a month away. Crazy! C and I have been doing some painting and trying to get the house in shape for renters (hopefully!). Not that we are painting for the renters, but because when I changed out some stuff from the previous owners, they didn't bother to take anything, i.e. towels rods, shelves, etc, down to paint behind it. So, now we have these ugly holes that need painting and we don't have the paint that they used. Nice. Not! I have been wanting to paint for the last 3 years that we have been here but C has not been on board with it until now.
So my little baby will be ONE YEAR OLD in just a few days. I can't believe it! She is still not walking on her own yet. I guess she knows she can get there faster by crawling. She honestly looks like she is running on her hands and knees sometimes! Its pretty funny to watch. And she wait until we turn our backs and then takes off, either for the stairs or the bathroom. She likes to go fishing in the bathroom. Thankfully there hasn't been anything for her to fish for!
T-man still has a love/hate relationship with school. He has a great time when he is there and enjoys showing off what he has learned, but he would much rather stay home and play. And he will tell you as much if you ask him! He was most upset when we told him that we were going to be moving soon. He is going to miss his best friend. I know he will adjust, but I still worry about him.
I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to take any pictures lately. How sad is that? I hope I don't forget to take pictures during the move. Chances are that I will forget since C will not be here. Oh well... we'll see. That's all for now...

Friday Fill-ins

2009-01-16T09:21:00.002-05:00

1. Enough with the cold temps without snow.

2. Moving to RI causes me to be conflicted.

3. I've been craving Mexican.

4. My friend Shawna makes me laugh.

5. I wish I could go to lunch with a friend next week.

6. Our move has been on my mind lately.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to keeping warm by the fire, tomorrow my plans include maybe some shopping and Sunday, I want to take a nap!

Friday Fill-ins

2009-01-09T10:55:00.001-05:00

1. It's January; and we are moving soon.

2. Taco Bell is what I crave most right now.

3. Cork and wine go together like 2 girlfriends and chocolate.

4. Time alone is so nourishing.

5. Let us dare to take the risk.

6. I need to organize my home.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to working on a layout, tomorrow my plans include doing some solo shopping and Sunday, I want to relax and take a nap!

Happy Birthday T-man!!

2009-01-02T21:21:00.004-05:00

Six things about a boy...

1. loves to go hunting and fishing.
2. is crazy about Star Wars
3. loves to play with military/war stuff
4. has a heart-melting grin
5. loves to make his little sister laugh
6. can't stand getting up to go to school every morning

Love you, bud!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T18:28:00.003-05:00

I can hardly believe that it is 2009! 2008 certainly seemed to fly by, didn't it? I guess that is what happens when you have a brand new little one. My big boy turns !6! tomorrow! He is getting so big. And learning more and more every day. I'll try to remember to do a birthday post tomorrow for him. My little one is almost one! That should not be allowed! She is such a sweetie too.
A new year and a new blog look. I may change it around some more, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see. I haven't come up with any resolutions for the new year. I did start a 365 photos blog to try and motivate myself to take more photos on a daily basis. We'll see how that goes. My first post was a close up of my new bedroom furniture. I'm still in awe at how beautiful it is. I have started thinking of my one little word for this year, but haven't decided on anything yet. I will give myself a couple of days to figure it out.
I finally got all of my Christmas decorations down. I still have to wash a couple of towels and dishes, but then I will have it all put away. Now to just vacuum and get the furniture moved back into place. When that is done, life will start getting back to the normal routine, at least until C leaves at the end of the month. T goes back to school next Tuesday. I will hopefully start going back to the gym every day. Well, at least 4 days a week since I will be keeping a friend's 2 kids on Fridays. That's about all that is going on right now. I'll have to post some of T's b-day party pics tomorrow.

Christmas greetings

2008-12-25T21:57:00.002-05:00

We had a great day today. The kids were up by 7 am, with T asking if it was Christmas morning yet. When I (jokeingly) told him no, he opened the window and said, "but look, mama!" showing me the brightening sky. He and K had a great time opening presents. Actually, I opened all of K's and she just crawled back and forth between her stuff, T's stuff and the wrapping paper. They both loved all of their stuff.
Some friends came over for lunch and we had a nice time with them. The kids were all great-no fussing or fighting. Our friend's little one had a couple of potty accidents because he was so excited about everything, but it was not a huge deal. It happens.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around and playing with new toys. C and I had to get everything in our bedroom straightened up so we can put our new furniture in tomorrow. I am so excited about it. I'll post a pic as soon as I get one, of course!
Speaking of pics, I forgot to post the Christmas card I made to send out this year.

Christmas pics

2008-12-13T22:09:00.003-05:00

I took some pics of the kiddos for the Christmas cards this year. I was going to go somewhere and have them done, but after thinking about it, decided not to spend the money when K is not too cooperative about photo shoots. She just looks at me like I am from outer space-sometimes I get a smile, but mostly not so much. Anyway, here are the ones I did get of them.

You can't tell in this pic, but the b/w wrapping paper on the little box actually matches K's dress. So, of course, I had to buy it and do a photo shoot. :)

That's about all that's going on around here. It will definately get busy after teh new year so I am enjoying the calm before the storm!

Friday Fill-ins

2008-12-12T09:43:00.001-05:00

1. Friends are hard to say good-bye to.

2. Good health; it's invigorating.

3. I'm ready for the New Year.

4. My husband’s cologne is one of my favorite perfumes or aftershaves or smells.

5. The oldest ornament I have is a small wooden angel that I remember my mom hanging on our tree when I was a little girl.

6. Take some good friends, family, and good food, mix it all together and you have made some great memories.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, tomorrow my plans include going to the commissary and Sunday, I want to go to the church auction and listen to the Tabb Girls Choir!

I figured it out!

2008-12-05T22:35:00.003-05:00

I have seen these mosaics on several blogs and finally learned how to make my own.

1. Happy Birthday Becky 2. Delicious Mexican food in Flagstaff Arizona 3. Aiken_Silo_composite_WEB 4. paint the town red. 5. Trace Adkins at the Tomb of the Unknown Civil War Soldier 6. Sweet Tea, from Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles 7. Pieces of Europe 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake 9.Happy Birthday Princess Steph 10. Albuera Pier - Children at Play 11. The Trees of Loyal Love 12. brisinger

My favorite cookie ever

2008-12-05T21:21:00.002-05:00

I made some of my absolute favorite cookies ever today. I only make them at Christmas because I would be in serious trouble if I had these all the time! They are so melt-in-your-mouth yummy!

Gooey Butter Cookies

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 yellow cake mix
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Cream together the cream cheese, butter, egg, & vanilla extract. Stir in the cake mix until well blended. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in confectioner's sugar. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

Decisions

2008-11-20T09:47:00.002-05:00

Well, the decision has been made. C will be going to the war college in Newport, RI. He will be moving in late January to start classes in Feb and the kids and I will move up in June when T gets out of school. And then we'll pack up and move again in early 2010. Don't know where that will be yet, but at least the next year is planned out. ha Hopefully these orders won't change!
Just a quick update today. nothing else is going on. thank goodness!!

What a week...

2008-11-19T09:33:00.003-05:00

Leave it to the Navy to create havoc in our lives (again!). C checked out of the command last Friday for 2 & 1/2 weeks of leave before flying out. He got a phone call Monday afternoon saying his orders have been cancelled. So now, he has to scramble to figure out what to do/where to go next so that he doesn't burn up all of his leave. And then, depending on what he decides, we may have to pack up and move ourselves as early as January. He has some options open for him, but none of them are as good as what he would have been doing overseas. And believe it or not, we are both pretty dissappointed about him not going now. Not that I wanted my hubby gone for that long, but we had plans for the next couple of years that are now out the window. We have been planning on this trip since last spring so several little detail type things are now having to be re-worked in just a few short days. Its things like this that make me just loooove the Navy! NOT!
In other news... K finally got her first 2 teeth in this past weekend. It was painful, for her and the rest of us. She was quite the little grouch on Sunday. Hopefully, she will not get any more in for a bit and meybe they won't give her as much trouble. Wishful thinking, I know.
We are getting ready to head to SC this weekend for Thanksgiving. T is so excited about that. He wants us to move to SC to live all the time. If only the Navy had options for us there. Oh well...

Baby dedication

2008-11-09T21:59:00.003-05:00

We had a Baby Dedication Day at church for 2 of the babies who were born in the last year at our church. K did wonderfully, not that she had anything in particular to do except stay in my arms. the other little guy, who just learned to walk, wanted to do just that-get down and walk around. HE is pretty cute and everyone was good-nautred about it, of course. I think his parents were a bit embarrassed but I'm sure he will provide many more embarrassing moments for them in the years to come. I know this from experience. I won't go into details on that one... lol
Anyway, here is a pic

Not a lot going on here, as usual. C is still trying to get a few projects done around the house before he leaves. That is coming up faster than I care to think about. He found out last month that he will only get one leave period instead of two as we had previously thought. I am going to have to buy a huge jar for our "Daddy kisses" this time. I think I am going to do enough for the first 6 months and then do enough for the last 6 months, instead of counting down the whole year. I think that will be easier for T and I won't have to count as many kisses at once. lol

T-man is doing very well in school. He has learned enough letters to start making words. He has a word list of around 50 words that he can actually read. So proud of him! I think once he realized how to sound out the letters and then blend the sounds together to form words, he thought it was pretty cool. So now he is practicing more at home and wanting to send "messages" to T-pa and Papa. Those are mostly just him typing out the words he can spell.

K is finally starting to crawl around on her hands and knees more, although she still prefers the commando crawl when she going "cross-country". She is also pulling up to her feet all the time. She hasn't started cruising anywhere yet, but I'm sure that is coming soon. I think she is finally starting to get her 2 bottom teeth in. I can see and feel the little bumps on her gums, although they are not red and inflamed looking yet. I hope they aren't too rough for her.

That's about all that is going in our household. That's about all I want to be goign on right now too. :)

Halloween pics

2008-11-01T09:38:00.005-04:00

My kiddos for Halloween:

K, the "tired baby" lol

T, the pirate

Nothing new

2008-10-12T19:44:00.002-04:00

Not a whole lot is going on around here. We are just gearing up for C to leave in a few weeks. He is trying to get some stuff taken care of around the house before then. He is finishing up the garage and is going to restain the deck. He is on leave this week to work on that stuff and we are going to SC for a friends wedding this Saturday. We are leaving mid week to visit with his sister and kids because that's the only time they will get to see him before he leaves.
T is still loving Kindergarten. I had my first parent/teacher conference last week. He is doing well, according to his teacher. He is doing well with his letters and even learning some words, which is making a big difference in his eagerness to learn. He can actually see/understand what we mean about needing to know his letters to read.
K is just growing like a weed. She is still just scooting around, but she started pulling up/climbing on me this weekend so I'm sure she will be doing more of that soon. I'm so not ready for that yet. I guess it will happen anyway. lol
I've been working on Christmas cards lately. I am thinking about doing an album for Christmas (pre-made pages) and/or an album like this one. I'll have to go back and take a look at how she put it together. Since C is leaving before Christmas I decided that I would stay home with the kids. Mostly because its just too much effort to drag 2 kids, all their junk, as well as Christmas presents for them and for(and from) family all by myself. I also think that keeping things as routine as possible will help, especially in the beginning.
That's about all for now. Here's a couple of pics of the kids playing outside a few days ago.

Inspiration

2008-10-11T10:28:00.002-04:00

I have been a little slack on getting my camera out the last few months, which is not a good thing since I have an 8 month old who is constantly moving/learning/discovering and has a ton of fabulous photo opps every day. I have seen this flyer on a couple of different blogs lately so I think I am going to try it out. Maybe it will get me motivated.

A site to share...

2008-10-08T21:05:00.002-04:00

I read about this site in a magazine that I subscribe to and I checked out the site. It seems pretty straightforward. I am going to dig through some of my old books to see if they will take any of them. For anyone who may have college kids/friends/etc, this could be the way to get rid of the unwanted textbooks.

Oh man...

2008-09-28T14:41:00.003-04:00

I was doing so well there for a while. I have just been to busy to update the last couple of weeks. T is loving school and baby K is just about ready to start crawling. she is scootin' around here like she owns the place and is rockin' on her hands and knees a good bit. I can tell she wants to move that knee forward, but is unsure of exactly how to get just one to move at a time. So she either moves them both at the same time or just flops back onto her belly and scoots to where she wants to go.
Not a whole lot going on around here. I got a couple of pics of them playing outside together. K just loves riding on this little digger with T. We bought this for T when he was about 18 months old and even though he is way too big for it, he still plays with it. I think its probably the best $35 we have ever spent on something for him. He has played with it just about every day since we bought it. And now she loves it too.

Something scrappy

2008-09-04T21:09:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted anything scrappy in a while so I thought I would share this one. I did this last night and love how it came out. It looks much better irl!

This was so simple to make since I used a transparant overlay from Fancy Pants. I just stuck my photo and mat down and then put the overlay on top and added a couple of rub ons and the glitter hearts, also from Fancy Pants. I think this one is my new favorite of her. I'll have to get a frame for this one for sure! Good thing I just got a coupon for Michaels!!

One more day of school and the first week is over. T seems to be enjoying it. We live close enough that I can walk him to and from school so that is what I did this afternoon. We may not be able to tomorrow, depending on the storm(s) that is/are heading our way. Hopefully, we won't get anything too serious, but we'll have to wait and see.

First Day of K!

2008-09-03T20:36:00.003-04:00

Woohoo! T is in school all day now! I do miss the little rugrat, but the house sure is nice and quiet and peaceful during the day now. Well, it's just easier to drown out the ga-ga, goo-goos from baby K, than T's random dinosaur/monster/wild thing noises. I can only handle so many of those in a year and my limit is quickly being reached. It's probably better for him that he is in school, otherwise I'd have to lock him in his room or something.
Anway, here are the pics. He just had to have one taken by the mailbox. Don't know why.

This is what he looked like when I told him he had to go to school ALL DAY. He had just asked me if we could go to Chick-fil-a for lunch after school. Last year, he got out of preschool at 12:30 so we would sometimes go get a little something then or meet friends for lunch. So he likes to eat lunch out. He was a bit disappointed.

So when he got home from school, he promptly asked if we could go to Red Lobster for dinner.
(No, we did not go out to dinner either.)

A little update...

2008-08-28T21:41:00.003-04:00

It's been awhile, I guess. We have just been busy with the end of summer and getting ready for school. T starts Kindergarten next week. I can hardly believe it! We get to go meet his teacher tomorrow morning. He is excited about that. We have to cart his pile of school supplies with us tomorrow. I don't remember having this much stuff when I was in school. I still want to know what they are going to be doing with FIVE packs of 8 count cranyons AND a 24 count pack of crayons?? My son just doesn't like to color that much.
Anyway, we went on a little camping trip a couple of weekends ago. It was a nice relaxing time. Except for baby K. She didn't enjoy not getting to sleep in her own bed. She was a pretty good sport about everything else. She absolutely loved being outside and playing with T.

On the way to the campsite, we stopped to see this:
It was really pretty. The campsite was called "Hidden Valley" and it was truly hidden way out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Virginia. We woke up to deer eating out in the field beside the campgrounds every morning, which was really neat to see. We went on a little hike to this swinging bridge that crosses the river close to the campground. T had a great time playing on that. I did not. I don't like heights too much and I don't care for bridges of any kind too much either.
That's about all I am motivated to write this evening. This whole "practicing getting up early for school" thing sucks. I never did like getting up for school-just ask my mom.

Almost there!

2008-08-11T09:12:00.002-04:00

These are pics from last week:

Can you see the difference? He is NOT wearing a life jacket this time! He is so proud that he can "swim underwater now"! C says it is more like drowning with style, but hey, he's trying at least! SO proud of him!

And here is our little fishie. She LOOOOOVES the water! Any time she sees T in the pool, she tries to jump out of my arms & in with him.

I've had a cold for several days now so C has been taking her in and she loves every minute of it!
That's about all that is going on here. Getting ready for school to start. T starts Kindergarten in about a month or a little less. I can hardly believe it! He is ready and so am I. It will be a good thing for both of us, I think.

big girl moment

2008-07-29T22:03:00.003-04:00

T-man had some big boy moments and now K has her big girl moment too! I got these this afternoon.

She's a total cutie, even if I do say so myself! I can't believe she will be 6 months old this weekend! It seems like I just had her yesterday! She is scooting across the floor to get what she wants, which is usually something that is not hers. She kicks her feet like a frog swimming and pulls with her arms to move herself forward. I am sooo NOT ready for her to be mobile yet! It won't be long before she is zooming all over the place. T will get a fast lesson on keeping his toys put away and out of her reach! Guess I need to buy those baby gates for the stairs sometime soon and get all the cabinets locked up. She is so bad about putting things in her mouth. T almost never put anything in his mouth, other than the teething toys he had, but she puts EVERYTHING in hers. She is one determined baby. She sees what she wants and starts scooting toward it, then fusses because she still can't reach it, then keeps scootin' until she gets there! I better start resting up because she is going to be into everything!! lol

big boy moments

2008-07-19T20:22:00.003-04:00

T-man had not 1, but TWO big boy moments today. First, we had this:

Then, we had this:

I'm probably most excited about the swimming moment since he has been soooo scared of the pool for the last 2 summers. He would always refuse to get in and when we did manage to drag him in, he would hold onto our necks so tightly we could barely breathe. But today, he put on his life jacket and after a little protest (and a big push off from C), he was on his own. Once he realized the jacket really would keep him up, he started to relax and enjoy it. He is already talking about swimming again tomorrow. I am so proud of him! Great job, T-man!!

latest pics

2008-07-03T20:47:00.004-04:00

of the kiddos. They happened to be dressed in coordinating outfits so I grabbed the camera for a photo shoot. Baby K has not figured out how to "work" the camera yet. Her big brother has, obviously. He is such a camera hog! lol

And then I made this altered cd case for dh to put on his desk with these 2 photos, as well as the individual ones I took. It was cute and he didn't seem to mind that it was a "crafty" kind of thing.

I stole this...

2008-06-14T20:09:00.003-04:00

from Susan. hahaha

What Becky Means

You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous.
You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things.
Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily.
You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind.
A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable.

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life.
You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip.
People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them.

You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.
You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.
You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

inspiration

2008-05-22T21:51:00.004-04:00

I was inspired by Susan's list earlier this week so I created this layout. It only took me 3 days to get it done. lol I miss just being able to sit down and scrap for hours on end. I guess I have to give up something (partly) to enjoy this little bundle of goodness.

I am going to do one for T as well, but I have to get some pics of him first. I have been pretty busy this week, running around. His last day of preschool is next Wednesday. He starts Kindergarten in the fall! Kindergarten!! It seems like she was just born yesterday and he was born the day before. Time flies when they are little. I am trying to remember to embrace the miracles of everyday because they only happen once and time is too short.

ps-Susan, I got the magazine! Thanks! I paid it forward by offering to watch my friend's daughter while she took her other daughter to the doctor.

A boy and his dog

2008-05-10T22:49:00.003-04:00

Well, what used to be his dog. C decided to try his hand at quail hunting this past year and bought a puppy 2 summers ago. The dog, a Brittany, was a beautiful dog and very sweet and loving (even when T kicked, hit, chased, and fell on her). The major problem was that she required LOTS of exercise, and I mean LOTS. And since I was pregnant and then had a baby to take care of, I could not walk her everyday. C never had time to walk her when he got home in the evenings, which means that she had to find ways to relieve her boredom. That relief was usually in the form of digging up the flower beds that C worked on all day to make them look nice. I honestly had good intentions of starting to take her for walks when the doctor ok'ed exercise for me (post c-section). Then we found out that C is probably getting orders for a one year unaccompanied tour overseas with follow on orders (hopefully) to Germany. I am not about taking care of a high maintance dog in addition to 2 kids, one of which will be miserable without his daddy around. Plus, I did not think it was fair to her that she wouldn't be able to go out and hunt/train on a regular basis, which she absolutely loves to do. So, C and I decided to give up the dog. We contacted the breeder to see if he wanted her back and he said he would take her back. C and T drove down today to drop her off. C called once they had completed the task and said that T was very upset about it and cried for a while. He thinks that we got rid of her because she was digging up the flower beds. He keeps telling C that we could get another puppy that would not dig up the flower beds. I feel so sad for him. He aggrevated the dog like crazy, but he loved her to pieces. I guess we will have to get him a rabbit or something. lol Those don't require LOTS of exercise, do they?

They grow so fast

2008-05-06T21:21:00.004-04:00

I can hardly believe that my little cutie is 3 months old already!! I took her for some professional photos last week. She didn't do as well as T would do for the camera. But I still got a couple of good pics of her. I came home and took some more of her and some of T, but could not get them together because she was ready for a nap. Next time, hopefully!

While we were at home in SC, C and T went to a minor league baseball game with C's dad and uncle. T had the greatest time! When we got back home, C bought him a baseball glove, and then I got him a bat and a hitting tee. He is pretty good. He can hit the ball when it's pitched to him even. I think it would be funny if he loved baseball instead of soccer! lol C would not be too happy about that though.

That's all I have for now.

Easter Pics

2008-04-04T10:59:00.003-04:00

They are not great pics. We didn't get to the mall to get T's hair cut so it was just wild and K just can't sleep without her pacifier so that ruins any good pics of her. Oh well. At least I remembered to get some shots of them. I did almost forget because K was sleeping when we got home from church and T wanted to change clothes to go out and play.

T has spring break next week. So NOT looking forward to that since C is still out of town. It's been crazy with him gone. Mostly because the dog is depressed and driving me nuts. Hopefully, she will be gone soon so that will be one less stress factor in my life! This is a short post this time. I have things to get done before K wakes up.

Finally

2008-03-20T22:39:00.003-04:00

got to use the new tripod this week. I got some really cute pics of both kids. Then I edited them in PSE to this:

I love the little basket K is in. I received that with a wedding present and have had my wedding bouquet with it until now. I thought it would make a cute prop and it did! That's all I have time for tonight. It's been a long day.

Oh yeah...

2008-03-13T11:18:00.001-04:00

here is the finished announcement:

gotta love...

2008-03-13T11:04:00.003-04:00

those first smiles. They are so cute! And they just get cuter and sweeter as she gets better control of those facial muscles. I think she melted C's heart the other day. She had been smiling at me for a couple of days, but had not specifically for him. Then one morning, he got up with her to change her diaper and she did smile for him and he got the biggest grin "Awww, look she's smiling!" So now he tries to get her to smile for him all the time. And she was smiling at T this morning too. He thought it was great too.

She is trying to laugh too. All she can get out though is a grunt or something along those lines. Its pretty cute. Every once in a while she will let out a "coo", but its purely accidental.
T is looking foward to going to SC next month. He wants to go camping and fishing with his daddy and papa. He loves to go camping! He told T-pa (my mom) that he wanted the camping set from Bass Pro for Christmas and of course they got it for him. He plays with it just about everyday. He even takes his Star Wars figures camping-Storm Troopers included! So then he told Nannie (C's mom) that he wanted to boat to go with his camping stuff so she bought that. Now all the Star Wars guys go fishing together too. It's quite funny to watch him. At least he is using his imagination, I guess. lol

Its not the two kids part

2008-03-05T21:57:00.002-05:00

that has me stressing, its the whole trying to work our normal "routines", i.e. T to school, MOPS, etc, into the whole nursing schedual that drives me batty. The two scheduals rarely seem to be synced together. That's what is the most stressful about having two kids. Of course, its only been a month so I guess I can't really make a judgement like that yet. I have not gotten any more photos yet. I've been getting back into the swing of things with MOPS and church so that takes up time and energy. Hopefully, I can get some more in the next few days.
Baby K is smiling now so I have to get some pics of that. She is still "practicing" so they don't always come out as a smile, but when they do, she is like a ray of sunshine. And she reminds me so much of T when he was a baby. Her smile is even the same as his was. I can hardly believe she is a month old already! Where has the time gone? Time sure doesn't slow down for anything, except deployments.
Speaking of, C has been chatting with the detailer lately since he is due for orders this November. C is looking at doing a year unaccompanied. (For those not in the military, that means he goes overseas to a base without family for a year.) Talk about time standing still! A whole year this time! I am okay with those orders, especially since he is asking for follow on orders to Germany (3 years-so cool!). I hate that he will be gone and will probably go nuts before he gets back, but I think it is what he needs and is supposed to do next. And he will be on shore duty while we are in Germany so that is a bonus too. It's just not cool that he has to be gone for a few weeks at the end of this month and most of the summer and then turn around and leave for a year at the end of this year. Oh well...that's Navy Life!
T is growing everyday too! I think he is actually learning some letters. Well, he knows "T" very well-the sound it makes and that toys starts with "t". I guess that is all you really need to know about the letter t anyway. He is totally into all things that shoot, kill, fly, and fight. I think he's been watching too much History and Military channels with his daddy. Last night, he sat riveted to a program about Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony (& Cleopatra) and Octavian. And he asked less questions about it than he does the movies that he has seen a hundred times at our house! He's probably going to be just like C-full of completely useless knowledge.

Finally!

2008-02-24T21:28:00.003-05:00

Things are starting to settle down somewhat around here. The parents have all come and gone, C has gone back to work, T is/has been back at school. It is nice to show off the new baby to the grandparents, but at the same time, it's even nicer to have her all to ourselves now. LOL! She is such a sweetheart too! So easy going most of the time, unless she is hungry and I'm not moving fast enough for her! Still trying to get a good bedtime routine going though. She is like her daddy-goes to bed late and gets up early. That's been a bit of a struggle for me since I don't like to get up early!

I got some more shots of her and some of her and T together. He just loves her to death. He tells me all the time how beautiful she is and wants to give her hugs and kisses. He asks to hold her a lot too, but I think he feels a bit awkward so he doesn't hold her for long.

And who doesn't have a pic of daddy and baby asleep on the couch?

This is the photo I ended up using on her birth announcement. I made them myself in PSE.

Here is a pic of T in the snow that we woke up to one morning. We were very surprised that morning since it was not in our forecast. Both C and T were excited to go out and play in it. As usual though, it was gone by the afternoon.

C actually got me a tripod for V-day-even if it was a week late. I just ordered his present too, so we're even on that one! lol Now, I can force him to sit for family shots at home since he never wants to go have our photos taken anywhere. I didn't tell him that little bit of info, otherwise he may not have gotten it! hahaha

A few more pics

2008-02-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

I managed to get a few more quick shots today. They aren't exactly what I am looking for, but cute anyway. I want to try to make her birth announcement in PSE so I want the perfect photo of course. I will keep trying. T wants to take some pics with his new camera tomorrow too. I need to set him up a folder for his pics on the hard drive. I've been promising to do that for a while now.

She's here!!

2008-02-10T10:27:00.000-05:00

Kelsie Caroline was born 2/2/08. I had a feeling on Friday that I was going into labor because I was having contractions all day, even though they were not very painful or frequent, and some other "stuff" that I just won't go into details about here. lol The contractions started getting more frequent and regular after dinner, so around 11:30 that night, I called L&D to see when/if I should come in. The contractions were regular, but not increasing in intensity very much, if at all. They gave me some guidleines and we got to the hospital around 2 am on Saturday. Nothing like a 40 minute drive on an interstate that needs repair to make contractions really start hurting! lol They admitted me to see if I was really in labor, and finally around 6:30 or so asked if we wanted to have a baby that morning. She was born at 7:42 am, weighing 7 lbs 4.9 oz and measuring 19&3/4 inches long.
It's been a tiring week, trying to get the whole milk supply established and adjusting to 2 kids. The stupid dog thinks Kelsie belongs to her or something. Every time she cries, the dog comes running over to see what the problem is. If the dog is in the kennel when she cries, she (the dog) goes nuts wanting to get out. Drives me insane. Anyway, here are a few pics that we have taken. Heven't had too much time this past week to get many, but I am planning on getting some shots this week.

She is the sweetest baby! Sooooo different that T was as a baby. She actually likes to be held and cuddled. And she loves her pacifier. She sleeps great so far and is very easy to please when she cries. T just loves her. I was a little worried at first because the first time he came to the hospital, he did not want anything to do with me or her. I think that had more to do with the fact that I still had the IV's and stuff hooked up and could not get out of bed. He was much happier the next day when I was out of bed and could give him hugs and stuff. He told C that first night that he did not like his baby sister, but now he says he loves her and likes to hold her. He was excited last night because he told me "now that the baby's out of your tummy, you can play with me!" I had to remind him that I still have to be careful because of my incision, but he didn't seem to mind that.
I'll post more photos as I take them, hopefully some each day. I told C that I want a tripod for V-day so I can get some shots of all of us together. C hates going to have our pictures taken so he never smiles in those pics, but he will at least look happy in ones I get at home. We'll see if he actually gets it or not.

A Week of...

2008-02-01T11:25:00.001-05:00

contractions and this baby has still not made an appearance! Ugh! I went to the doctor on Monday and found out that I am completely thinned and 3 cm dialated, but still nothing! So frustrating! At this point, I wish she would just come on out! lol
My mom called me last night to tell me she may not be able to come because she just caught a really bad cold. That could be a little bad since C has lots going on at work right now. HE was planning on putting in some late days while our parents are here so that he could take time off after they leave. I'm sure it will all work out somehow.
Other than that, there is nothing going on. Just hanging out, waiting on this baby girl!

Just maybe...

2008-01-28T00:19:00.001-05:00

this little baby will be here soon. I've been having lots of contractions since last Wednesday and she has dropped considerably over the weekend so it's just about impossible to walk. Had lots of contractions today too and now my back is hurting as well. Don't know that that indicates anything, but we'll see. I do have a doctor's appt in the morning so we'll see if anything is happening then. I'm kinda hoping that I am still having contractions in the morning and have dialated enough she will go ahead and put me in the hospital. Not holding my breath though. I'll try to remember my camera, just in case. lol
That is pretty much all we have going on right now. Just waiting on baby K to get here. Don't know if it's the anxiousness, or what, but T has been driving us both crazy lately with whining, not wanting to do what we tell him, and talking back. He's also aggrevating the dog, who doesn't need any other excuses to be hyper. She is going nuts too. I guess she senses the changes about to come as well, because she has been a little more hyper as well the last few days. I may lose my mind if this baby doesn't get here soon!

Only

2008-01-23T23:31:00.000-05:00

12 more days until Baby K gets here! Unless, of course, she decides she can't wait that long. Which would not really be a bad thing, as I can barely sleep and function properly at this point. It doesn't help that I have a cold that is messing up my head as well. The joys of the last trimester... I am just glad that I am not as miserable as I was with T at this point!
We did finally decide on a name, but I'm not gonna share that just yet. LOL!! A few more days of waiting for that won't hurt anyone! I will say that her initials will be K. C. Risinger. Finding a name for this baby girl was hard! C and I could not agree on most of the names that the other threw out as ideas! We finally found a couple that we both liked and just picked one. We both came to the conclusion that boys are easier to name!
I've been scrapping up a storm lately to try and get caught up with T's album before she gets here. I have actually done a couple of pages for her album as well. Here are some pages for her album:

I was pretty shocked that I actually took some belly shots this time. C was shocked too because he commented on it as well.

And here are some from T's album that are recent:

If I weren't so tired, and lazy, I would upload to photobucket and do a slide show. That is just way too much effort right now. hahaha On that note, I better go to bed and at least try to get some sleep.

I didn't feel so bad...

2008-01-08T16:11:00.000-05:00

until I saw these pictures.

I just took them today and OMG! I didn't realize I was so HUGE!!!!! Oh well, at least I don't have that long now. lol I go to the doctor this Thursday to schedule my c-section, which she already told me would probably be either 2/4 or 2/5. The doctor finally got the report on my c-section with T and she said that my chances of having a successful VBAC are only about 20% because he failed to descend. So, rather than go through all that again and be disappointed with another c-section, I opted to just go ahead and have the c-section. She did tell me that the recovery will be easier this time because I would not have struggled with labor all day/night. As long as she is healthy and happy, I'm good. And from the looks of my belly right now, she may come early anyway! LOL I was measuring 2 weeks over what I should have been at my last appt so I'm hoping that means she will be a little early!
That's about all I am up to right now. I don't have the energy to much of anything else.
We did have a nice Christmas. C's parents came up for a few days during Christmas so T was excited about that. My parents are coming for a week when the baby is born and C's parents will come back the week after that. T is looking forward to that, as well as when the baby sister is coming. We have to count the days until she comes about every 2 days or so just so he can keep track. We still don't have a name picked out. C told me I could not ask him about it anymore until he had looked through the name book, which he has not done yet. I think I may just tell the doctor to name her when she comes out.
Ok, that's all for now because its hurting to sit here any longer. lol

I'm so bad at this...

2007-11-29T15:51:00.000-05:00

whole blogging thing. Oh well. I haven't even had time to answer emails lately so I'm just going with it.

We've been busy with the house the last couple of months. C got the tile put down in the kitchen finally-it looks awesome! And we are getting new carpet next week. should be getting some new furniture in the next week or so as well. We looked at some sofas and stuff today and are just getting an idea of what exactly we want to get, i.e. sofa and loveseat, sofa and 2 chairs, a sectional and a chair, etc. Our living room is such a wierd layout that it is hard to arrange furniture in a way that is functional and stylish. We'll get it worked out though.

We've also been trying to get the baby's room finished. there is still a ton of stuff in there that needs to come out and we have to put the crib up. It seems that the screws for the crib have been lost in the move so we have to go buy some more. I'm hoping we can get that done this week sometime. I actually took some pics of my huge belly. Can't believe I did that! There was NO WAY I would have done that with T, but I am not nearly as big this time so I caved on it. ( I still can't figure out how to get my photos down into the body of the blog-it annoys me to no end!)

This time around has been so different than with T. I was way more nauseaus and sick this time, but I'm not as big (cause I haven't gained as much weight!). I think that has allowed me to enjoy it more this time around. Not that I really enjoy all the wierd and uncomfortable "side effects" of being pregnant, I am just beginning to get really uncomfortable and worn out. But, only 10 weeks left! Actually, just over 9 because the doctor will schedule the cs for the week before my due date. the holidays should make the time fly by and she will be here before we know it! We still haven't decided on a name and I have no hopes of that until January. I'll be surprised if we can agree on one before then.

Well, that's all I have time for today. maybe it won't take me so long next time.

And the results are in...

2007-10-05T13:26:00.000-04:00

It's a girl! We found out last week when I had my ultrasound. I totally wasn't going to find out, but decided while I was lying there that I needed to get over any disappointments BEFORE I held that sweet baby in my arms. I had to take a deep breath and stop myself from crying when she told me. I'm okay with having a girl (now-LOL). I just know there will be some challenges that comes with having a girl. I know this because I am a girl and KNOW what kind of drama it entails! So, I had to go shopping that evening to try and cheer myself up and it almost backfired on me. Too much PINK!!! I hate pink. Actually, I don't hate all pink colors, just girly, baby pink. And everything for little baby girls is that awful color pink. Thankfully, Target knows that not everyone wants that awful color on their baby girls and I found the sweetest outfit to bring her home in. It is pink, but NOT that awful baby girl pink. And it has flowers and butterflies embroidered on it. So, it's a girl and we are (getting) excited about it. lol
I'm loving the doctor that I've seen. I have been able to see her every time I've gone for an appt. That is a major miracle since the military hospital always wants you to see every doctor available. But she has scheduled all of my appts before I left and I am seeing her again this month. Hopefully, she won't leave before the baby comes!
In non-baby news, dh is re-doing our kitchen floor. Finally! I hated that white vinyl floor fromt he beginning and we have finally gotten rid of it! He is putting in tile. This weekend he is installing the underlayment. It will probably be next weekend before he gets the tile installed because the underlayment has to sit for a couple of days before he starts. And he will be out of town next week (of course). So, that's our life right now. Not so exciting.

It's official...

2007-07-26T20:34:00.000-04:00

I really am pregnant! lol I had my first doctor visit today and got to see the baby! Probably the best part of being pregnant (besided the fact that you get a baby in the end!) is seeing those little pictures, hearing the heartbeat every time, and feeling those little movements. T was fascinated by the pics of the baby, but a bit concerned too. He asked me, "Did the doctor have to cut you to see the baby?" So sweet and innocent. I hope he understood about the special camera that can see through your skin. He knows what an x-ray is so I tried to compare it to that. Anyway, the official due date is Feb. 9. The debate is still out as to whether or not I will have to have another c-section. The doctor said my success rate is only 25-50% because I had actually labored and had an "unsuccessful" vaginal delivery. And on top of that, she found a fibroid that is right in between my cervix and the baby, which could also decrease my chances of having a successful VBAC. She did say that she would not know for sure until she sees my records from the 1st c-section and they do my 20 week ultrasound to look at the fibroid more closely. She has put in for the ultrasound to include scans and pics of the fibroid area so they can try to determine if it will be problematic or not. She said that MOST women with them do not have problems during their pregnancies, but that the problems that have been associated with them are pre-term labor and restricted growth in the baby. Both of those are pretty biggies so they will just monitor the size and growth of both the baby and fibroid (they grow during pregnancy due to the hormones, etc). Hopefully, that will not be a problem.
So, lots to think about and do over the next several months! I am hoping to start feeling better in the next couple of weeks and get back to scrapping, among other things! I haven't done anything scrappy related in several weeks. Actually, I did do some recipe pages and birthday cards for some swaps I'm in. Nothing too exciting there. I did not even take pics because they are pretty plain.

New Class at 2ScrappyChixDesigns

2007-06-18T14:13:00.000-04:00

I am taking a new class over at 2ScrappyChixDesigns. I can't wait to get started! It should be a blast. I love the idea of being able to finish an album quickly!

Only 3 more days until I leave for the crop! Woohoo!! I am packing my scrappy stuff today! I know C is going to have a fit when he has to help me load it all into the truck Thursday evening! Oh well. He'll get over it. I think he and T are going to try to go camping this weekend. If he can find a spot that isn't too bad. Glad I'm getting out of that one! Problem is that I know T will want to go again and its only getting hotter! Oh well, its usually pretty fun to take him camping so I guess it won't be so bad if I have to go later.

Well, back to packing!

More exciting news!

2007-06-15T13:52:00.001-04:00

Yep, that would be positive for a new baby! Woohoo! T keeps saying that he is getting a little brother AND a little sister. Not that that would be bad, but it could be more than I'm ready for! LOL! I won't find out for several more weeks-couldn't get into the doctor until July 10. That's the military for ya-no rush on anything.

I'm getting so excited about the crop next weekend! I got my tablemate gifts together today. It's not much, but pretty cute packaging, at least. Now, I just need to try and pack so that I am not carting everything to F'burg with me! It will be so nice just to be away from the house by myself! And of course I get to scrap with all the CHIX who are coming too! It should be a fabulous time!

Home alone!

2007-06-07T18:56:00.001-04:00

I actually have the house all to MYSELF tonight and all day tomorrow! Ds is visiting grandparents in SC and dh is in DC for meetings. Dh should get home tomorrow evening sometime and we go pick up ds on Saturday. It's been a great week! I've been able to complete at least one layout every day this week! I finished my project for the crop over at 2 ScrappyChixDesigns this weekend. I know the crop will be lots of fun, as it always is! I wish I could be there for the whole weekend, but we have to get our child sometime. I talked to my mom yesterday afternoon while she was watching ds and she told me she had gone in and told her co-worker that she didn't think she was cut out to be a grandma because he never shuts up! I just laughed at her and asked how she thought I felt all the time. I love the little guy to peices, but he never shuts up! LOL! Always asking questions too so I can't even tune him out when I want/need to! Oh well, he's learning lots of things right now so I guess its not all bad!
I got my ATG gun today! Woohoo! I have already completed a layout with it! So far, so good with it. There was a little bit of a learning curve, but not too bad. I just have to call the company tomorrow because they did not send me as many refills as I had ordered. At least they didn't charge me for them, but I don't want to pay shipping to re-order them either! I'll let tomorrows problems worry about themselves, I guess. Right now, I'm going to scrap some more!!

Exciting news!

2007-06-06T09:53:00.000-04:00

I have the chance to be a guest design team member over at 2SCD this month! It is a great little kit that I have to work with. You can see it here: http://2scrappychixdesigns.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=50&products_id=1360 I don't normally work with black and white that much so it was a little intimadating at first, but I have done a couple of layout so far. the top 2 layouts are fromt he June kit and the bottom on is for the monthly challenge over there. The pp on the last one is Daisy Bucket-so cute! I have several papers from them and LOVE it all!

It's been awhile...

2007-05-23T16:35:00.000-04:00

again! OH well, life

happens. C got home last month and we went down to SC to get his truck, visit family, etc. We managed to sneak off for some alone time while we were there. That was nice. We had not gone anywhere by ourselves in a long time.

Here are some of my favortie creations from this past week. Not sure why they are on here funky like that. I may try and figure out the whole slide show thing and add that, but that will have to wait until later this evening.

T is done with school next week. Not sure that I'm ready for the summer, but what can I do about it? My goal for the summer is to get the house organized. Maybe now that I said it, I will make it happen. LOL

gotta love being a mom

2007-04-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

I love being a mom. Watching T grow is so exciting and heartwarming. It can also be hilarious with some of his antics and the things that come out of his mouth. We went to one of his little friends' b-day party yesteday up in King George and he had such a great time. Its hard to imagine that kids that young can have a best friend, but he does. He and C used to play together all the time and then we moved and don't get to see them that often. when we do see them, its like they haven't missed a day of seeing each other. I guess that's what being friends is about, picking up right where you left off.
I have received this email about moms a couple of times now and just thought I would put it here. It's so cute! I always laugh when I read it.

Why God made Moms. . .Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you Your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between Moms and Dads?
1 . Moms work at work and work at home & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mom Perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

What makes me happy...

2007-03-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

A lot of little things make me happy. Like receiving snail mail, especially scrappy goodies, listening to T play, phone calls from C, emails from C, tulips in the spring, this new layout of T, the new CherryArte paper line, snuggling with C, watching a favorite movie, an ice cold glass of sweet tea, the smell of freshly mowed grass in the summer, a few moments of quiet time. And the list could go on and on and on...

This is one of my newest fave layouts of T. It was so easy to put together, but I just love the colors and how vibrant it is. It matches T-man perfectly!

We should be on the countdown for C to come home now. He still does not have an exact date, but it's getting closer for sure now! Woo hoo! Hopefully, he will find out soon so we can plan our little weekend getaway. Can't wait for that! We haven't really been anywhere without T for a long time, and we need it! It'll be fun and I am very excited about it!

The days are getting longer!

2007-02-27T20:11:00.000-05:00

Yeah! I love it when the days start to get longer and it gradually starts to warm up. Spring is on its way! And the great part is that Daylight Savings Time starts early this year! Woohoo! I'm sure T will give me grief about going to bed when it's still light out though. That's okay 'cause he will have to go to bed anyway. haha-It's great to the mommy!

I spent the day scrappin' since I had to keep T home from school yesterday and from MOPS today. He had an upset stomach so I couldn't take him anywhere. He is definately feeling better now though. he's just about drove me nuts this afternoon! Here is what I did today. I also made a card for a swap I am in.

Other than that, there's not a lot going on around here. Trying to make the time go by until C gets back. I am thankful there is nothing going on because that would totally stress me out! Well, I'm going to find something else to work on tonight!

5 Things that made me Smile...

2007-02-21T22:35:00.000-05:00

this past weekend.

1. Being able to leave Teddy with someone while I got my hair cut.
2. Watching Teddy play with his grandparents.
3. Caleb's phone call.
4. Spending time with my cousin and his family.
5. Teddy and his trains

We had a great time visiting our family in SC this past weekend. It was a quick trip! That was the whole point though-to make some days go by faster! I always love going home and going to Hobby Lobby, where I find all kinds of cool things that I just have to have for my SB stash! Like a bunch of clear stamps (at 50% off-who doesn't need them?!?), a huge paper punch (also 50%off), some cute rub ons, and other assorted stuff. Love that place!

I am so excited that I have been able to "fix" some of my wedding photos with Photoshop Elements. I've even done 2 layouts for our wedding album! I'll post those later. I'm off to bed here shortly.

Just another Monday...

2007-02-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

at our house. Busy, as usual. But that is a good thing because the time goes by faster. And soon, Caleb will be home! Yippee! Tomorrow is MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and then I am meeting with some gals to chat about starting a group meal swap. I think it will be neat and will definately be a time saver for all of those involved. Hopefully, we can get the details worked out tomorrow and get started on it by the beginning of next month.

Anyway, I finished T's mini album yesterday. Here's the rest of the pics. I am so glad I did it for him. I think he will like it. And maybe I'll get to hear his "WOW! Thank you Mommy!" one more time. In the last week, he has started calling me mama instead of mommy and that makes me sad. He still says mommy about half the time, but it is still a bittersweet time. My little boy is growing up so fast. Literally. Just in the last couple of weeks, he has outgrown most of his clothes! I had to go buy all new stuff for him last week!

Well, that's all for now. I need to get some reading done tonight.

Scrappin' the day away!

2007-02-10T22:44:00.000-05:00

That's what I did today! Had tons of fun at the 2SCD online crop today. I decided, yesterday, that I should make Teddy a mini album for Valentine's Day so I worked on that during the crop. It is so cute! Totally glad I did it! Here are a couple of the pics. Can you tell he is totally into transportation things, especially his trains? We went to see Thomas the Tank Engine last summer and he had a blast. I'm thinking about taking him again this year. Just have to see how Caleb's schedule is for the summer first. I'll post the rest of the pics as I get them done.

Thanks for the comments about the scraproom, ladies! I am totally lovin' it! So much so that I haven't even changed anything yet-which if you know me, says a lot about how well it works. I constantly change things around, just ask Caleb! haha

I still have not attempted our taxes. I have always done them online through the IRS linked sites (free, of course-gotta love the military!) when I have done them, but I'm not sure if we will get to file for free this year. We may be right at the cutoff for the AGI, but I'm not sure. Guess I'll find out when I start them! Maybe I'll do that this coming week.

I'm thinking about going to SC for a long weekend this Thursday. I'm hoping it will make the time go by a little faster. We are almost halfway through this deployment, but it is dragging along ever so slowly. That's the one thing about post-Christmas deployments-they drag because there is nothing going on really. Which reminds me, I need to take a pic of our kisses jar. It's about half empty! Well, I'm off to bed now! Hopefully, it won't be so long next time!

Busy, busy, busy...

2007-02-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy lately! Running around after Teddy, working on Mary's circle journal, getting stuff for other swaps together, doing some layouts, stuff at church. the list just goes on and on and on! I really need to sit down and do our taxes soon too. That's going to be a nightmare, I'm sure! I hate doing them! But I'm too cheap to pay someone else to do them so I gotta just buckle down and do it.
I haven't really done anything else to my new scraproom. Actually, I did buy a big cutting mat to go on the desk. I love it! It beats dragging out a small one every time I need to cut something! I am loving the new set up too! I can get to everything I need easily and quickly. I think it's just about perfect! That's all for now! I still have stuff to do before bedtime tonight!

Almost done!

2007-01-26T10:57:00.000-05:00

I'm just about done with my reorganization project. I have all of the big pieces in place and almost everything loaded back into the room. I just have a few things that I don't use very often, but are still a necessity, left to bring in. I may have to do a slight tweak on where everything is placed, but I like it so far! I have another pic, but I could not find it so I'll post that later.

I am almost done with my circle journal too! I have the cover and my layouts complete. Now, I just need to do the title page and sign in pages and will put it in the mail next week! This should be fun!

We had some snow flurries yesterday afternoon, but nothing stuck to the ground. It only snowed for about 5-10 minutes. Just long enough for Teddy to catch some snow flakes on his tongue and then be upset when it stopped. After it had stopped, he came to me and told me he "had a probwem" because "it's not snowing anymore". So cute! He was so dissappointed that it did not snow any more. Maybe next time...

I couldn't stand it!

2007-01-23T23:10:00.000-05:00

I had to start rearranging my scrap room tonight! I went to Lowe's and got them to cut a sheet of plywood for me to the size I needed. When I got home, I put T in the bath and got busy moving stuff out of the way. I've been busy trying to get everything back where it needs to go tonight. I've the "furniture" part in place, now I just need to get all of the stuff loaded back into the room. I'm so excited about it! I'll have to post pics tomorrow when I get it done.
Anyway, I got the album that I am using for my circle journal today. So needed to work on that BEFORE I started rearranging everything. Oh well. I did pull the papers and pics that I want to use with it so that should help. That will be my first project on my new scrappy desk! Yippee! Ok, it's late and I'm tired so I'm going to bed now!

I love phone calls!

2007-01-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

Especially when they are from my deployed hubby ! The only problem is(was) that T wanted to talk the whole time! I only got to talk for a few precious minutes, while T just babbled on and on. That's ok though. I know he is missing his daddy a lot. I miss him too.

Instead of making another emergency info book for my MOPS prize, I just altered this little notebook. I found a pack of them at Book-A-Million a couple of weeks ago and they are just so cute! I got busy getting ready for our creative activity that I ran out of time to work on the emergency info book. We are making picture frames. I found some unfinished wooden frames at Michaels for $1 so I got those and I primed them this afternoon while T was in school. They should be ready to go for painting and decorating.

I am signed up for this circle journal on 2SCD and it's my first one. I'm excited about it and nervous too! I don't use all of the embellishments and jazz up my layouts as much as some of these ladies do so I hope they still like what I do for them. It will be an awesome journal when I get mine back, I'm sure!

So I really stink at this...

2007-01-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

but that's ok. I've been busy, or so it seems. At least I feel like I've been busy, but I don't know with what. Oh well. Tomorrow's another day...

It's been raining here all afternoon. It was sleeting earlier, but changed to rain. I just took the trash out and there was a thin sheet of ice covering the gate lock and top of the gate. Hope things don't get too nasty tonight. T was very disappointed that it was not snowing like he wanted it to. He even made up a song "ice go back, please snow come down, please ice melt away!" It was so cute.

I haven't been doing much in the way of scrappy stuff lately. I did finish a couple of card swaps I'm in on 2SCD, but that's all I've done lately. That and the emergency information mini album I made for my purse. It's pretty cute. That's what the pic is up top. I think I will make another one for a MOPS prize on Tuesday. I better get busy on it!

Great mail day!

2007-01-18T22:42:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! I got some prizes in the mail today from the online crop at 2SCD and they were so awesome! For the posting prize, I received some KF big time brads and some combo pocket journals. Totally cool! For winning the special edition bingo game, I received an alterable calendar, MM rob-ons for the calendar, white mounts, small watch faces, AND the MME Everyday Moments die cuts. WOW! What great prizes! I can't wait to play with them all! I have the pressing issue of getting my scrap room organized and spruced up first though.

Anywho, here's a layout from T's costume parade at school. It was too funny. When the kids started to sing, I realized I have THAT KID-the one who doesn't sing and even looks mad that he has to stand there. yep, that's my kid. But I gotta love him 'cause he is just too darn cute!
We had our photos taken at the church today for the directory. He was so cute. I could tell he gets lots of practice smiling for the camera! He can cheese it up with the best of them.
I've been working on some swap stuff today-cards, embellies, etc. I figure if I can get it all done, then I'll have that much more time to organize, right? yeah, right. I keep coming up with one project after another to put it off! I did find the cutest little tin to alter. It looks just like a band aid tin, only bigger. It is the perfect size to hold hand made cards! I just have to decide how I'm going to alter it... I'll post a pic when I'm done.

It's only been 2 weeks...

2007-01-17T21:53:00.000-05:00

since C left and T is driving me nuts! He misses his daddy so much and I hate to see him so sad. It just breaks my heart. But he has managed to push every "button"-at least twice-today that just sets me off. I'm not sure if he is just doing that because he can or if that's somehow how he is dealing with daddy not being here. I don't know, but I do know that I am exhausted today, mentally, physically, and emotionally. He's in bed and I am about to head there myself.
Anywho, progress on my scrap mess is slow. I'm having a guilty conscience (don't know if that's spelled right?) about painting the room. C did not want me to really. I think that is because he would rather see me throw it all out the door and keep a "neater" house. that's a whole other post right there though. I'm not sure about the color anyway. I would love to paint it orange-to inspire creativity-but we do have to sell the house in a couple of years so I have to take that into account too. I already have stripes in 2 other rooms so a bright color may not be such a good idea. My sis gave me 2 movie posters that I want to put up in here somewhere. she is an assisstant manager at the local movie theater where I grew up so she has all kinds of posters. I just think they are cool. I may have to think on it a bit more before making the plunge with color! I have decided that I need some other sort of work surface. I am currently using a folding card table, but I don't like it because it is too wide. I can't reach some of my shelves so I want something about the size of a kitchen counter. I gotta think on that one some more too to make sure it works for me! I would post a pic, but my computer doesn't seem to want to so maybe tomorrow.

I'm back...

2007-01-16T17:29:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a while. I knew that would happen at some point! Oh well. It's all good. T and I went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch today. It was the first time I've taken him. He actually went with Nannie last summer and they had to leave because he got scared. He wanted to leave today, but I made him sit it out since we had ordered pizza. So, we sat there and FINALLY got our pizza and he actually ate 2 slices of it. That was a first! After we ate, he decided that he wanted to look around again. We found some games he could play and he rode in the cars. He actually won some tickets-45 to be exact. So he was able to redeem those for a prize. He chose 2 tootsie rolls and a little toy. He thought that was great! I did not have the camera with me because it was a last minute decision to go there. We had our sketch drawn and I will put that in the family album.

Anyway, I was able to finish my Christmas album during the 2SCD online crop this past weekend. the crop was so much fun! There are always some good projects and challenges during them. These are 2 of the layouts I completed during the crop. I was so happy that I managed to use a flower on a boy page!

The beginning

2007-01-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

Here is my scrap mess room. Stuff everywhere! Things have finally settled down so that I can start to re do my room. I haven't gotten very far. I did manage to get everything non scrap related out of the room, except for a couple of things I use for phone numbers, etc. There is an online crop at 2 Scrappy Chix Designs this weekend so I want to leave my scrap stuff up and functional for that. So the real fun will begin next week when I get everything taken out and stored in the other bedroom and begin to take the wallpaper border off the walls.

Love is my word for the year

2007-01-08T10:08:00.000-05:00

While sitting in church yesterday morning, Pastor Tom made to statement "Love requires action." This stuck out to me because so often, I get caught up in the day to day business of life and forget to show those that I love how much I do love them. Not only does it apply in the spiritual sense, as he was talking about, but it our other relationships as well. So, I chose LOVE as my word for the year (Ali E's challenge) to remind myself to DO the things that show my love. So, I made a layout for it. And, of course, I used some tips from Ali E's book on scrapbooking with patterened paper. (I just got that last week-needed it a long time ago!) I am pleased with how it turned out. I posted it on 2 ScrappyChix Designs for the Elsie's challenge that is going on there. I enjoyed creating this layout!
T's birthday party was great. He had a blast and the other kids did too. they played Musical Islands, Walk the Plank, and X marks the spot (pin the x on the map). Then we had a little snack and cake and ice cream. the cake was totally cool. They all loved the treasures inside the cake. After the cake and ice cream, we had a treasure hunt for their treasures (goodie bags) and that was a great time. It was a fun party. I'm glad T had such a good time. The weather was fabulous-over 70 degrees! I don't know when he will get such great weather for his birthday again!

Party Day

2007-01-06T08:05:00.000-05:00

Here's the birthday cake for T's party. I have made the cake for all of his parties and this is probably my favorite one. It was so simple, but looks so cute. He is so excited this morning. We have some friends coming in from out of town for his party and he can't wait to see them. the little boy was his best buddy before we moved and this will be the first time they've seen each other since March. I'm looking forward to catching up with them too.

I haven't been able to scrap in about 3 days now and it's driving me nuts. I have a layout started on my table, but just haven't had a chance to work on it. I am almost finished with T's 2006 album and am itching to get it done. I have some cute ideas for the 2007 album, which I think I will turn into the family album instead of just T. Ok, I still have some stuff to do this morning before the party.

Happy Friday

2007-01-05T09:15:00.000-05:00

I am so tired! We had to drop C off late last night so he could fly out and then T was up before 7. I have to finish cleaning the house for his b-day party tomorrow afternoon and do a couple of last minute things for it. Too much to do and so little time to do it in! After the party though, I will have all the time in the world, or so it will feel like with C gone. I hope to get some scrapping done this weekend so I can start tearing apart my scraproom next week. I'm pulling everything out so that I can paint and reorganize everything. It's not terribly messy, but it's not in the order that I want it in. I could do better in here.
I finally got Ali Edwards book yesterday, A Designers Eye for Scrapbooking with Patterened Paper. Have only gotten through the first chapter, but so far I am loving it! I can't wait to use the knowledge and some patterened paper! I also get her AEzine and this week she talked about choosing a word to focus on throughout the year. I'm having a hard time deciding just one word. I'll have to think about it more and post this weekend.

Kisses from Daddy

2007-01-04T09:17:00.000-05:00

Whenever C deploys for a long time, we have a jar of kisses for T. Every day, he gets one kiss from Daddy. When the kisses are all gone, that's when Daddy is coming home to give us real kisses. I try to keep extra on hand because some days, he needs more kisses from Daddy and some days, he knows I need a kiss from Daddy too. We only needed a quart size jar (as opposed to last years half gallon jar), but it still seems like such a long time when the jar is so full.
Last night, I was thinking of how I was going to include this deployment in our scrapbooks, besides the pics of everyday life without Daddy around, and I decided to use the jar of kisses. It holds so much for us-kisses from Daddy, time, hope, excitment, love, and chocolate (!). So I thought this would be the perfect way to include his time away from us.

What have I started?

2007-01-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh, I started this and then I think I dreamed about it the rest of the night! How crazy is that!

Anywho, I got the new SS magazine last night and read it all, of course. There was one article/layout ideas that grabbed my attention in there. It was about writing from the heart. One way to become a better writer is to spend more time listening to those around you and those you love. After reading the journaling on the different layouts, I thought that I should do that with T, especially since C is leaving tomorrow and will be gone for so long (3 months). I understand and comprehend why he has to go, but I never know/knew what T understands and doesn't understand. All he knew last year when C was gone to Afghanistan was that he was gone and that he called us sometime. When he was in the Middle East in November, he did not totally understand where daddy was and why he could not come home or why we could not call him. I didn't really listen to how he may have felt about it though. I could see that he was sad and didn't quite understand, but that was all I processed. This time, I think I will listen more and make a page for him so that he will know and understand later about his daddy's deployments.

Starting Fresh

2007-01-03T01:57:00.000-05:00

I have no idea why I think I need to blog, or even where this will take me, but I started one so we shall see....

T turned 4 today and I can hardly believe it has been 4 years since I cuddled him in my arms for the first time. We have been discussing his birthday party since September, when I found a magazine with party themes in it. He told me right off the bat that he wanted a FARM PARTY and has been insisting on that ever since then. At least until the day we went shopping for party supplies, which was also the day that I had mailed the party invitations to his friends. I made the cute little invitations "please come to my farm party", complete with a stamped cow on it. We get into the store and he sees the pirate party stuff so he HAD to have a pirate party. Now I have to let the kids parents know the change in adventure. But he is and always will be my sweet baby. This is a favorite layout of him.