Happy Birthday Munchkin!

Saturday was my niece's birthday. As you can see, she turned 3!!! We went bowling w/ some more family members, and a couple of friends stopped by, too. Later, her Grandpa came to get her and her brother for the week. It sure is quiet here!Angel got this clock/radio for Christmas - and she loves it! I'm really happy for her, EXCEPT that she likes to listen to the radio ALL the time at the highest volume - even if the station is rather fuzzy.

Isn't this the sweetest little face. I didn't quite get the shot I was hoping for - but it's still cute. This is a friend's daughter, and I just started snapping pics Monday. :)Hubby got me an early birthday present! THANK YOU!!!! Mwaaaaah!

My poor bro. had to take his bike in today to get new tires. Too bad the tires didn't come in a couple days ago when it was in the 70's. He had to ride today in the 20's and 30's! I've been enjoying my week off from watching the munchkins, working at the school, and starting a project that I'll have ready to post up soon - I hope. :)

Like father, like son

Damian has discovered the world of ebay and craigslist. He is going crazy! He is also a bit of a packrat, so the 1500!!! Pokemon cards he just bought will probably be living with us for the rest of his life! He's happy, though, which makes me happy. :) We're just one big happy family. Awwww!

Angel got to meet

Nastia Liukin! The 2008 Women's Olympic All-Around gold medalists in gymnastics. There was a gymnastics meet here, in Springfield, as part of the Springfield Winter Games, and they got Jonathon Horton and Nastia Liukin to come do an exhibition. They each did a routine, and said a few words. There was a lot of waiting around, but Angel and I finally got to the front of the line (2 1/2 hours and a bump on the head later). Nastia signed Angel's program from the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars, which we attended last Nov. It was a long, but exciting day. :)
Now on to my Project 365:
Thursday, Feb. 26, was a relatively nice day. The kids got to play outside for a little while.

Friday, 2/27: It amazes me how kids fall asleep in any random position.

Sat. 2/28: Here's Angel with Nastia. Awwww! Afterwards, Angel looked at me with big eyes, and said "I forgot to say anything to her!" What a great experience, though.
Sunday, 3/1: Another random sleeping position. I call this one frog-legs.
That darn cat!!! Ok, this pic wasn't really taken on 3/2 (it was on 3/4) - but I promise it could have been! She looks the same. We have started letting the cat in to eat so that we're not feeding every animal in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that means I haven't been able to take a good, deep breath in over a week. My allergy med. takes care of the itchy eyes and sneezing - but apparently doesn't solve the asthma problem triggered by the cat.
3/3 - McTeacher's Night! The teachers from the kids' school were working at McD's, and a portion of profits went to the school. I was trying to get both kids licking their ice cream at the same time - and never got it. I like Munchkin's eyes in this one though. Check out those baby blues!3/4 - another nice day. Angel's doing very well on her bike, and she really enjoys riding.

3/5: Highs in the 70's today - can you believe it? We spent the morning outside again.

AHA Jump Rope for Heart 30th Anniversary

Hello! I'm checking in to post up a plug for the American Heart Association. Both of my kids are jump roping for heart this week at their school. Since I am a bit of a slacker mom, I have not helped them actively raise money before NOW, the week it's actually due. I do believe it's for a great cause, though. The AHA is working to reduce childhood obesity, and to advocate for policies that will increase access to quality physical and health education in schools. My kids only get PE for 1/2 hour 2x/week. I was surprised by that. I thought they'd have PE more often. If you'd like to donate to the AHA, and support Damian and Angel's jump roping efforts, please go to their website HERE to donate. Thank you!

Once again

I have been away from my blog, and will now have a long post to catch up. I hope you don't mind. :) So, it looks like I last posted on the 17th, we'll start again w/ Feb. 18th. It was wrestle Daddy/Uncle Frank night, apparently. They're all there, you can't see T., but he's on top of Angel, under D's foot. :) Sorry about cutting off D's face - i was probably laughing while trying to take this pic.
Once again, I apparently forgot to get a photo on the 19th. I took several on the 20th, though - so here's the restaurant where we met some friends for dinner Friday night. It's our fav. Mexican restaurant, Cielito Lindo.I've turned my Feb. 20 photos into a scrapbook page. I made this page using items from Julie.ItIs.'s grab bag at PDW. Crocuses in bloom on Feb. 20 have kind of a special meaning to me. Here are some details from the LO (layout).
Quote: The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams
Journaling: The first bloom of the year, the crocus, has special meaning to me. My brother, Scotty, passed away on Feb. 20, 2001. On the first anniversary of his death, my mom noticed the first crocus had bloomed right outside of his window. She called me to tell me how meaningful this was to her. It’s a symbol of spring, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, a rebirth, a renewal. A reminder that life does go on, and is still beautiful. There is Hope, and we will be with Scotty again someday. Every year on Feb. 20, I look outside, and the crocuses are always in bloom. These photos were taken Feb. 20, 2009. It was actually just coincidence that I took these photos on the 20th. I didn't realize what day it was until later.
Saturday, the 21st, I went to visit my sis and another friend. I ended up going grocery shopping w/ my sis, and helping out w/ her grand daughter. Here's the baby giving me a kiss. Awwww.

The next day was the baby's baptism. Here's a bragbook page I made w/ Julie.ItIs.'s kit, Spring It.My sis prepared a ton of yummy food for a reception afterwards. I was sooooooo impressed w/ her fruit display. It tasted even better than it looked!
We got home Sunday night. Monday, we finally payed the kids ALL the allowance we owed them. Here's D, checking to make sure it's a real $20. (That's for about 13 week's allowance and 2nd quarter grades - we don't pay them that much weekly!)
Ha ha, look at the intensity in this munchkin's eyes! She was watching ET while eating dinner. She just couldn't take her eyes off the screen. :)
It's NOT A BOX (anyone ever read that book?) It's a hamster wheel! The kids had so much fun in this box today. They rolled it from one side of the room to the other, over and over, like a hamster wheel. So much fun!
Whew, caught up, once again. See you in about a week! Have a good one! :)

I have the most talented friends!

So, since I know we all have some adorable Valentine photos, I thought I'd show you some amazing kits. I have had the priviledge of playing with these kits and making some LOs (layouts) to show you. This first kit is by Dani's Delusions. I love that this kit is not too girly. It has the hearts and glitter, but also some neutral colors and elements that are great to use for photos of the men in your life. It comes with an alpha, and tons of fun elements to play with. You can get it at her store at SunshineStudioScraps. BONUS - if you check out Julie.ItIs.'s blog, you can get a coupon for Dani's store! WooHoo!!!!
Here is what I made with it.

Lucky me, I have not one, but 2 good friends that let me play with their kits! This next designer never ceases to amaze me with her kits (even when she thinks she's in a slump!). Julie.ItIs., at PlainDigitalWrapper has a couple good Valentine-y kits, but I haven't played with Lovebug Serenade yet, but you should definitely check it out HERE. I did make a cute page with Steggo's Valentine, though. I love the colors of this kit.
And, last, but far from least is Julie.ItIs.'s newest kit, Moonbeam. One of my favorites in a long time. I'm a sucker for celestial elements, though. :) The colors, the sun, moon, and stars, the glitter, what's there not to love? As an added bonus, you can find a QP freebie on Candy's blog
And another QP by Julie.ItIs., herself HERE.And here's what I made using this awesome kit. I'll have to go back and play some more, though. There's so much more fun to be had with this kit.

So far behind

Hello, it's been a while! I've got a lot to catch up on! I guess the main even in the past week was Valentine's Day. Did you have a good one? We went away for the weekend. The whole family went to Big Cedar, just south of Branson, MO.  My bro, Ian was wrestling in Branson, so Mom also came down and stayed with us. Unfortunately, we missed his actual matches, but it was nice to go and support him anyway.  Now we're back home and trying to get back into the swing of things after a long weekend.  The kids were off on Monday for President's Day.  So far, so good.  I got up and went to pilates today - trying to get back into that habit AND work off some of that Valentine chocolate.  :)  Well, I've got a lot of pics to post to catch up on Project 365 - so I better just get started.  Last Sunday, I took pictures of all the Young Women at church for an upcoming event.  Most of the girls just stood against the bricks, but this one wanted some greenery.  I had been hoping for some greenery in the pics, too, but all the trees are still bare, and the only greenery to be seen were short bushes.  So, she knelt on the muddy ground to have the bushes behind her!  Of course that meant I had to get down low, too!This is one of my fave's - the sunset on our way home from Angel's dance class last Monday.  I took this from the car as we were stopped at a red light at an intersection.  I'm so glad there weren't many wires, etc. to get in the way.

Tuesday night was D's first Pinewood Derby.  His car wasn't the fastest, but he was very excited about the design.  He designed it after the Mach 5 from Speed Racer.

Here's a close up of the car that I took Wednesday morning.  Damian did his own painting, and we didn't have very good paint, so it was difficult.  I thought it was an excellent first car.  :)
I forgot to take a photo on Thurs., so here's 2 from Friday.  Of course it was Valentine party day at school.  Hubby was kind enough to stay home w/ the little munchkins so I could go help out with the parties.  In D's class, they got to decorate their own cookies.A's class had ice cream sundaes, and everyone got a unique Beanie Baby from the teacher.  A's is an anteater  named Ants.  She loves it - even slept with it (yes, I took a pic).
On Valentine's Day, we were at our condo at Big Cedar.  I had brought everyone's gifts, and stuff to make a special breakfast.  We had pink, heart shaped pancakes topped w/ strawberries and whipped cream.  We did some of the activities at the resort - paddle boats and mini-golf, swimming, and just had a nice day.
Sunday was our last day of our mini-vacation.  We played at the arcade, then took a scenic drive.  We found this nice spot for a photo, and Hubby took a pic (several) of the kids and me.  We went on to have lunch w/ friends in the area before heading home.  
Monday night, I gave the kids haircuts.  See how shaggy they had gotten? (above)  It took way longer than it should have to do D's hair.  I am not trained in hair styling.  I got started, doing what I'd watched others do countless times, finally decided to look up instructions on the internet (most of which included "plug in the clippers and go over the child's entire head until everything has been trimmed").  So I did a combo.  I clippered the lower half and blended that in with the top and left the top a little longer.  A just got her bangs trimmed.  She has layers cut in the back, and I am not even going to attempt that!  I know how picky I am that my layers are done right - I'm not about to ruin her beautiful hair.  So, here's the final outcome.  May not be perfect, but much better than a couple days ago.  :)

Whew - caught up with another week!  How many more left????

An Award!

Wow - thanks, Julie! I recieved a "real person" award from a my friend, Julie :) She definitely deserved it, and I'm flattered that she's passed it on to me.
The Marie Antoinette,
Real Person, A Real Award
Here are the rules for the award:

1. Put the picture of Marie Antoinette on your blog.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate other blogs that you feel deserve the award.
4. Link to those blogs from your blog.
5. Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know you've shared the award with them


I'm going to tag Bethany, Kimberly (Fishinmom), Pamela (Digitreats), and Andrea Dickenson

Now for the last 1/2 of my week in pics.Here is the book I've been reading. I forgot to take the pic on Wed., so I took it Thurs., but I was reading it Wed., and it looks the same :)
This is the back of the shirt I wore on Thurs. to hand out books to the kids at school through the RIF program. Our volunteer coordinator had these printed last year for our school volunteers.
This is me on Friday night in my Tigger shirt. :)
This morning, Angel was invited to a birthday Tea Party. The girls had a lot of fun, and it was a really cool set up at the place they had it. Angel wants to go there for her birthday and do the hula/Hawaii theme.
I guess that's it for this week! :)

Just popping in

to advertise for my friend, Dani. I'm so excited for her, she is a new designer at Sunshine Studio Scraps. she's been designing for a while - but now has her own store (Dani's Delusions) at Sun. Yay, Dani! I recently made this LO with her newest kit (coming soon) Give Me Your Heart.
Go check it out! I hope to be back to post more soon, but if I'm not - have a great weekend!

1/2 way through!

1/2 way through the week and more than 1/2 way through the ADSR challenge - Woohoo! Here are a few of my project 365 pics. From Super Bowl Sunday, here's D after making his special chocolate crispy cookies.

Monday night, Angel wore her new night gown hand made for her by her Great Grandma Harris.
And Tues. night: for our youth activity at church, they played glow in the dark dodge ball. It was a lot of fun. This is my fav. pic of the night.
I have not taken a pic yet today - I guess I better come up with something soon. We did go to story time at the library, and I did "school time" with my niece and nephew this morning, but I didn't take any pictures of that. :(