My Cupcakes and Creations

~Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along~

2010-01-15T09:52:00.003-06:00

Before I could even get started on my siggy swap blocks Rachel starts a pinwheel sampler quilt along. I could not past it up!!! She does the best tutorials. So easy to follow so I know I can do this one. I will be about a 12 week process. We have not started yet. This week we are gathering the fabric we need to get started. I guess next week will be our first block. I can't wait. I ordered my fabric for this quilt on Wed and it will be here tomorrow. Yeah!!! I will get a pic as soon as it arrives.

Update on siggy swap fabric...I thought I would not get that fabric till the end of January but I just got an email that it has been shipped out. I should have it tomorrow as well. Yeah!! Lots of yummy fabric in the mail for me!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

~Scruffily Glace Quilt Top~

2010-01-11T10:37:00.004-06:00

I did it!!! I finally finish my first quilt top. Yeah!!! I finished it on Saturday. We have not be going down to the basement since it is so cold. The basement is where all my craft stuff is. Therefore, I have not been getting much sewing done or stampin for that matter. After signing up for the siggy swap I was so ready to sew something. So I brought up my sewing machine and quilt blocks and got to it.

I used Glace by 3 Sisters for Moda. Gotta love the precuts!!! I used a layer cake, jelly roll and a charm pack for this quilt. The pattern is from Rachel at psiquilt. You can find her tutorial here. Her tutorials are so easy to follow. I'm a beginner so they have to be easy for me.

I love how it turned out. If you can't tell from the pictures, this is a Christmas fabric. Yep, I started it in the fall of 2009 hoping to get it done by Christmas. Things happen and well, maybe I will get it quilted before Christmas 2010. We will see.

Update on the siggy swap...I ordered my fabric on Sat. and it is a back ordered fabric, (as usual I pick something that is not available to ship out but I loved it to much to pick something else out ) so I will hopefully get it by the end of January. In the mean time, I'm going to keep myself busy by working on some other quilt projects I need to start. Or I will go buy more fabric. :0

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great day!!!

~Modern Siggy Swap~

2010-01-08T21:38:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited to share with you all, I have joined my first siggy swap. Rachel from psiquilt is hosting. She has some wicked awesome talent in the quilting world. If you have not visited her blog, run do not walk on over and check it out. Unfortunately, the swap is closed but you can check out all her creations and tutorials. You won't be disappointed.

I can't believe I got in on the swap. I check out her blog often but not everyday. I just happen to check her blog out the day she post the swap info. I emailed her with questions, as I'm new to the quilting thing and she answered them and then said that I was in. WOW!! I'm just over the moon!!! I mean there are quilters that are pretty famous in the quilting world and from other countries that I will receive blocks from and they will get a block from little old me. I will keep you posted on my progress. I promise. This is something I can't keep from you all. I will be ordering my fabric tomorrow, so I will not be getting started till maybe next week. I can't wait!!!

~Do U want to know how I get anything done?~

2010-01-07T17:03:00.011-06:00

For me to get anything done around the house I have to roll my girls up in blankets and dare them to get out.

They thought I was kidding about staying in the blankets. I guess my smile and giggling at them was not convincing enough so they rolled right out of them.

Oh, yea, I have them wear there bathing suits around the house too so I don't have to much laundry to do. Now that you know my secrets, leave me a comment so I will have something to do with all my spare time. Thanks to those who do comment. I really love reading them. I'm always glad to have something to do. LOL!!!

~Christmas Pics and Cards~

2010-01-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Below are all the pics that I included in our Christmas cards. Everyone that got a card got 4 pictures. I did not plan on that many because I didn't think the family pic would turn out that good. I did some doctoring it up so it turned ok, so I decided to include it in.

We do our family Christmas pic in pj's. Many years ago Aundrea would not put on her dress so we decided to do our pics in pj's.

The dresses the girls have on were given to them by there MaMaw Stephens. The dresses are just adorable. The girls just look so cute in their dresses!!! I tried getting pics of them together in them but I did not get a good one when they were looking at me at the same time. So I had to go with individual pics. Another reason so many pics in the Christmas cards. I have not heard of any complaints so I guess everyone liked them.

Those who got our Christmas cards this year got them late. I just could not get it together this year.
I wanted to make all my cards like the one below. It turned out so pretty. You can't tell from the pic but that is red glitter. It is so beautiful in person. Just ask my Grandma. She was the lucky lady that received this one and only card. I didn't start making my cards till Sunday before Christmas. Nothing like waiting to the last minute.

I had to figure out a new card design that I could whip out in a hurry. The red glitter card was going to take to long to make. So the next two cards are what I came up with. I made 50 of them in about 2 hrs. I think they turned out pretty cute.
Simple and sweet!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope everyone is enjoy the holidays.

Have a Happy New Year.

~Christmas Eve~

2010-01-02T14:08:00.004-06:00

We had and multi-cultural Christmas Eve dinner with friends. All of us could not be with our families to celebrate with so we celebrated together. We had a great time. It was like a little family of our own. We felt so blessed to have friends to celebrate with.

(from left to right)

Inna, Malina and Spencer, Cassie, Kevin, me and Aundrea down front

With snow falling fast outside we had a delicious and worldly dinner. I cooked the turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, watergate salad and rolls. What I mean about a multi-cultural dinner, is because our friends are from other countries. Melina is from Peru and she brought some Peruvian dishes and Inna is from Russia and she brought a cake that is usually eaten in Russia. Everything was so good. It was so cool to eat foods from other countries for Christmas. It was fun to hear Melina's and Inna's stories about how they celebrate the holidays.
Spencer and Melina brought the girls presents. They got Aundrea a kid sewing machine and knitting machine. It actually works. For Cassie they brought her a train and car set. It had the track for both train and car and all the accessories. Cassie was so excited she was jumping up and down. Kevin and Spencer put is together for her and she sat quietly playing with it. I thought I had pics of it but something must of happened.
Thanks for stoppin by. More to come.

~Christmas Day~

2009-12-29T12:20:00.024-06:00

I have lots to share with you about what has been keeping me so busy and not blogging.

So I thought I would start with Christmas Day. The girls were up late Christmas Eve so they slept in Christmas morning. They got up about 8:30am. Thank God we have kids that like to sleep!! Of course the first thing they run down stairs to see if Santa came. I don't know if we will ever get pics of them coming down the stairs. I guess we would have to be up before them. Hmmm...don't know if that will ever happen?

Santa brought Aundrea...Polly roller coaster water park, Little Pet Shop Pet Daycare, and a MP3 player. Cassie... a plane, train, and baby doll. We could hear squeals of delight. I guess Santa did good!!!

Kevin hand made a jewelery box for Aundrea. He had been working on it for a couple of months and Aundrea had seen all his progress and even picked out the color of the lining on the inside bu she never knew if was for her. She was very surprised and excited it was for her.

I had found some scrap fabric in a quilt shop back in October that would just look so cute for a little girls blanket. But I didn't have enough to make a big blanket for both of my girls so I made a baby doll blanket for each of them. They were so excited and loved the blankets. It just makes my heart smile to see that my girls love handmade gifts not just the store bought ones.

A white Christmas... we had!!! We got a lot of the beautiful white stuff. When we opened the front door we pushed the snow, if drifted so much. We had 7 to 10 inch.

Here is where the snow drifted up against our back door.

Here are the girls playing with the easel that my mom and dad sent Cassie. Hours of fun!!

Another snow drift at the side of our house.

Kevin took the girls out back to built a snow fort.

The fort did not do to well on the grass so Kevin shoveled off the patio and built if there. Cassie came in but Aundrea stayed outside and helped her Daddy. We had a great Christmas day just enjoying each other. We had our big dinner Christmas Eve with friends (that will be in another post). So we had leftovers Christmas day which made it nice that I didn't have to cook but just enjoy my family. I hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the new year.

Thanks for stopping by. Many more posts to come.

~15 Years Ago Today...~

2009-11-19T13:47:00.007-06:00

I married the man of my dreams!!! We were high school sweethearts.

We met in the back set of a car.

Pause.

Get your head out of the gutters. My parents read this blog.

We met during drivers ed class in the back set of the car.

What were you thinking? LOL!!! I just love telling that story. Hee!Hee!

We married at the age of 20. Yea we were young but we would not change a thing. We have learned a lot over the years about life and each other. Our love has grown stronger and deeper.

I love that man of mine. Not only does he take care of me, puts up with me, he even cleans and cooks. Now that is what a girls needs. His Mama raised one heck of a man!!!

Sorry about the bad pic. I just took a pic of our wedding pic on the wall.

We don't have any big plans to go out tonight since it is a school night but Kevin has planned something for us this weekend. Our babysitters are high school age girls and I don't like to have them out late on a school night.

Look what Cassie did for our anniversary. She colored a beautiful picture for us.....
ON THE DOOR, BANNISTER AND THE WALL!!
What a lovely gift. Kevin found our little present last night just before we went to bed. So that is what I had to look forward to this morning. Cleaning crayon off the walls. Happy Anniversary to me!!

I could not get a good pic of the walls because they are a dark green. As she walked up the stairs she used a red crayon to make a mark on the wall, all the way up. WD-40 worked wonders!!! We both thought she should help clean up some how. I didn't want to chance her putting her hands in her mouth with WD-40 on them so I made her sit next to me as I cleaned. But she did use a wippy to clean off the table. I love the way she holds her mouth to clean. She takes that after her Daddy.

Cassie is not the only little artist in our house. Aundrea did the same thing when she was a bit younger than Cassie. Here is a scrapbook page I did for the event.

For all my hard work I'm going to the premiere of NEW MOON tonight with some friends.

Yeah, I can't wait. I hate that it lands on our anniversary but Kevin and I discussed it and well we could not go out tonight anyway so he said he would stay home with the kids so I can go. I tell ya, WHAT A MAN, WHAT A MAN, WHAT MIGHTY GOOD MAN.

A MIGHTY MIGHTY GOOD MAN!!!!!

Plus, he can't stand crowds and there will be crowds. Mostly screaming women. He would not be able to stand that. So he is taking one for the team.

Thanks Hun!! You are the best!!

~Fall Fun 2009~

2009-11-03T08:39:00.008-06:00

First I have to thank you so much for all the wonderful comments!!! The girls loved hearing about them. No, Donna I have not thought ahead to Christmas, but you have me thinking!

This is the view from our back door. I love the beautiful colors of Fall. Now most of the leaves are gone. It has been so windy here.
I just love this picture. I really shows what a great big sister Aundrea is with her protective arms around her little sister and her first best friend, Elliott.

Kevin got out the leaf blower and piled up some leaves for the girls to play in, so I took the opportunity to take some Fall pics. They are such hams.

I love how I can get action shots with our awesome camera.

And of course, a family pic. Hope you enjoyed more pics of my family.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

~2009 Halloween Costumes~

2009-11-02T09:00:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween. We did!!!

First I had to show you my one and only Halloween craft project. I have seen these on blogs and thought I can do that. So I went rummaging through Kevin's wood pile and found some scrap wood to use. My sweet husband cut, sanded and stained the wood for me. Then I added all the embellishments. I love them!!

Here are my sweet girls!! As you can tell Aundrea was an American Indian named Princess Wildflower and Cassie was a Ladybug Princess. Don't you think they are just the cutest kids in the world?!!! NO, I'm not bias.

Yes, that is my handy work. I made the wings and skirt. I saw the fabric at Hobby Lobby and thought of a ladybug. I asked Cassie if she wanted to be a ladybug and she said Yes. I could not wait to make it. Then one day she says she wants to be a Princess so I said How about a Ladybug Princess. She agreed. I think the costume turned out stinkin' cute!!

Here is Aundrea doing her Indian dance. I was going to make her costume too but time got away from me and we were getting ready to go to West Virginia and I just didn't have time to do a good job so I bought this one in the stores. Aundrea was fine with that and she loved her costume. She makes the best Indian with her dark hair, eyes and skin tone. So cute!!!!

Here they are before trick-or-treating. Aundrea was helping Cassie take flight. We had great weather. It was a little chilly but the girls had a blast. A couple of times I had to remind Cassie to say Thank you. One time I said to Cassie "What do you say (after getting candy)"? Cassie said "What did I get"? Yeah, finding out what candy you get in so much more important than your manners. What was I thinking?

Hope you enjoyed seeing the pics.

Thanks for stopping by. Leave a comment. I love to know you were here.

Have a great day!!!

~Projects in the Works~

2009-09-16T21:11:00.004-05:00

Lookie Lookie!! I love me some fabric. Always have, always will!! Did you know I dabbled in quilting. Just a little, before big missy was born. About a month or so ago I found the web site for Moda Fabrics. I love this line of fabrics because it is already cut. That was the part I hated, loathed about quilting. On the web site it has picture tutorials on how to make a project and what you need to make it. I have 3 I'm going to make. Yea, like I need another hobby but it is just eating me up inside to get my sewing machine out and running. I'm so excited to get started on my projects. I will keep you updated on how it is going.

Now, on to what Kevin in doing. He is finishing the space under the stars in the basement. It will be a play room for the girls. He worked on it all weekend while I was out of town. He got a lot done and it looks great. The girls are all excited to have a little space to play.

I will keep you posted on how we are doing on our projects.

Have a great day!!!

~Cassie is Potty Trained~

2009-08-27T10:16:00.006-05:00

Cassie has been showing an interest in potty training since she was 18 months old. Remember this post from Sept. of last year? She did not have it all together then. This summer when we would catch her in a dry diaper and sit her on the potty and she would pee. Then I just had to buckle down and just do nothing but spend time with her on the potty. With Aundrea, she sat on the little potty and watched movies so she would get what it felt like to go, which worked for her. Not so much for Cassie. She is a on the go girl. A week before she turned 3 we went for it. We tried watching movies, play games and color while Cassie sat on the potty. Not too many messes the first day she did pretty good and the second day went pretty well until playing outside she had many accidents. I was about to give up. Then the third day she got it. SCORE!!!

Now about 3 weeks later she is doing great. She is even going to the potty independently. Now doing #2 I had no idea how to get her to do it in the potty. Every one said she will do it when she was ready, and she did. I'm so glad this milestone is over. It hit me one day that there is 3 girls in my house and we all wear panties. I bet you all feel better knowing that. WOW!! I don't have any babies anymore. :(Now a pro and using the potty Cassie is teaching her baby and Aundrea's baby to potty.

This is where the babies go potty. Doesn't she look like a proud mama and so grown up.

She goes to preschool next week. We went today to get her a new backpack and supplies and she is so ready to go. She met one of her teachers yesterday at her school open house. She is so excited to go.

Well gotta go. Till the next post. Have a good day!!

~Aundrea Learns To Ride a Bike~

2009-08-26T10:46:00.008-05:00

Last week Kevin bought us all (except Cassie) new bikes. Well, new bikes to us, they are used bikes. He found them on Craig's List. He found some really great deals. The bikes are all made in the USA and are high quality bikes. He bought all 3 for less than we could have bought one of our bikes new. AWESOME!!! The whole idea behind getting new bikes was so we can take family bike rides together. Which is what we did this past weekend. But first, we had to teach Aundrea how to ride without training wheels.

We rode out to the end of our subdivision to a cul-da-sac that is lacking in houses. The street had a slight slope which is ideal for teaching her to ride a bike. Kevin did all the teaching. He was amazingly patient with Aundrea. He made her fell comfortable and safe. She was having fun!!

She did it!! Can you tell she is balancing? I was so surprised at how fast she caught on. I was so happy for her. Cassie and I were jumping up and down cheering for her. She still needs practice and experience which will bring confidence. During our bike rides this past weekend she used her training wheels. Kevin moved them up so she would have to balance and she did and she was so excited.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. Kevin is trying out for the Circus!!!

Just kidding!!

He was just showing Aundrea something and being silly.

Where does Cassie ride, you ask. She rides in a kid set on Kevin's bike and loves it.

Well I'm off. I have chores to do. Later.

~Cassie's New Bed~

2009-08-24T09:34:00.010-05:00

About a month or two ago Kevin hand built Cassie her big girl bed. He is the most talented man ever!!! It only took him two weekends to complete it. He built it with poplar wood and bead board. The bed is very solid and it is a bed that she will keep till she moves out. It is a twin bed with a trundle. He has not made the trundle yet but the plan is to have one for sleep overs or when we have guest over Aundrea can sleep on the trundle so guest can sleep in her bed. With this bed made for a trundle it is pretty tall, so Kevin built her a ladder to get in and out of the bed. She can climb in and out without it but the ladder looks so cute and just "makes" the bed, and she loves to climb up and down it.

Yesterday we moved her furniture around to make everything fit better and so she can get to her toys better. Here are the before and after pics.

The bedding I LOOOVVVEE!! I found it online at Target and then went to Target to just buy sheets thinking that I would have to order the bedding online. Our Target here had the set. I was so happy that I did not have to wait for it to ship. I love these colors, pink and brown, plus Cassie loves polka-dots. Like you couldn't tell from her B-day party. The bed skirt is satin with tulle over it. Very Princessie!!

She loves her bed. Can't you tell? When she was in her crib she slept with her head toward the door. I wondered if she would change or sleep the same in her new bed. Nope, she still sleeps with her head toward the door just like she did in her crib. No big deal I just thought it was interesting. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics. Kevin plans to make Aundrea a loft bed. She is all excited to get it in her room. He should be getting started here in a couple of weeks. This time it will not be so hot outside when he does it. I will keep you all posted.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great day!!!

~A Polka-Dot Birthday For Cassie~

2009-08-19T10:08:00.016-05:00

Last Saturday we celebrated Cassie's 3rd birthday cookout style. We had friends come over to party with us. We do wish our family could have been here but thank God for friends. Cassie loves polka-dots so that is what I choose for her party theme. Here is a funny story. One evening Cassie saw my freckles on my arm and said "Mommy you have polka-dots." I laughed so hard I thought I would pee my pants.

The next several pics I will show you how I incorporated polka-dots in the party decor. WARNING!!! Lots of dots!!!

I made the birthday banner with my Stampin' Up cardstock, papers and die-cuts. I had so much fun making it and I think it turned out pretty cute!! I also had different candies set around the party space with circles or dots in mind. On the china cabinet I had a bowls of skittles and smarties.

I found this idea on-line. Actually I found a lot of my ideas on-line at Polka Dot Birthday Party Ideas blog. I never dreamed about doing a party in polka-dots till I found this website. Thanks for all the ideas. This is a tarra cotta pot that I painted pink and glued on white fuzzy balls. I had the ladybug cookies made by Laura Poland. (click on her name to go to her website) She was one of the mom's from Aundrea's kindergarten and 1st grade classes. She did an AWESOME job!! The cookies tasted SUPER yummy and they went perfect with the polka-dot theme.

I don't know what happened with this pic being sideways. I used a cake plate to sit the pot of cookies on and used tissue paper and bows to cover the plate. The dots you see are from wrapping paper that my sister used to wrap Cassie's gifts in. I used one of my punches to punch out the dots and used them around all my decor. You can't tell in pic but the dots are covered in glitter. They looked very pretty in person.

I bought lots and I mean LOTS of ribbon to use through out the party space. Here I gathered up the corners of the plastic table cloth to dress it up.

This cake was Soooooo delish!!, and it looks Fabulous!!! I went to my local grocery store bakery and told them what I wanted and this is what they came up with. SWEET!!! I bought the fabric to cover one of my wood risers to raise up the cake for dimension, and of course, tie up the corners with, what else, but polka-dot ribbon. And more dot candies. These were sweet tarts and they were the biggest hit. Eatable decor what more can you ask 4!! Ha, I'm a poet!! He! He!

Here is the cake with the candles on it. My camera died just as Cassie was blowing them out so this is the only pic with the candles lit.

Unfortunately, it was raining so we did grill out hamburgers and hot dogs outside but ate inside. Even though we had a great time.

More dots!!

Let me just share this drink we had. Take frozen pink lemonade and add 7-up instead of water. Very refreshing!!

Thought I was done the the dots? Not yet. I used my dots stamps sets that I have to stamp these party bags to give to the kids. We only 4 total including Aundrea so I didn't have to make many but they were easy to make and they turned out cute.

Here are our goofy girls. They could not wait to dig into the cake and they would not keep out of the candy either. We had to fight them off with a stick to keep the away. Just kidding!! about the stick part!!

Well, are you seeing spots yet? I hope you enjoyed looking at the party docorations because I had fun making them.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Have a great day!!

~Cassie turns 3!!!~

2009-08-13T21:29:00.012-05:00

I can't believe my baby is 3!!!

Tuesday was her birthday so we pizza for dinner, which she requested with sister's help, and a small cake. We are planning a birthday cookout on Sat with friends since our family can't come in.

Just look at that smile. It fills her whole face. Ok, the story about the boo boo on her nose. Her Daddy built her a big girl bed and just a couple of days before her birthday she fell out and hit her nose on something. You can't tell in the photo but it is shaped like a tulip. When she heard us stay that she said " it not a lip!"

After dinner we took her on a photo shoot at a local park and a beautiful waterfall. I love how this pic turned out. My favorite!!! I can't believe how good it turned out and we didn't have to pay a professional!!

Here is the story on this pic. See the flower? Cassie came to me one day with this flower held up to her head just like in the pic and said, " Mommy, see my umbrella?" What an imagination!!

I just love her facial expressions!! She was not looking at me so when I told her to look at me this is what I got. She is so sassy, spunky, sweet and she just keeps us laughing all the time.

My mom got her this dress and Cassie loves it because it twirls. She had so much fun dancing in this dress. Check out the back. Sooooo CUTE!!!

Thanks Mom!!

I had to throw a pic of Aundrea in here. She takes great pics too.

We have been so blessed to have 2 beautiful girls.

I'm busy planning Cassie's cookout, poka-dot theme birthday party tomorrow. I have some cute things I'm making. I can't wait to show you.

Have a great day!!!

I'm off to get ready for the party!!!

~Happy Father's Day~

2009-06-21T12:45:00.011-05:00

Happy Father's Day to all our Dad's out there!!

Here is the girls giving there Daddy his gifts. They decorated Popsicle sticks for him and Aundrea made a book back in school called What Daddies do best! The picture is hazy because I had just brought the camera out and it is so hot and humid here that it fogged up. As soon as you walk outside you are dripping wet.
I bought Kevin a blower vac combo. We don't have many leaves at this time but he can use to blow the grass off the drive way till fall. We get tons of leaves.

Yes it is Father's day but my hubby does not know what it means to rest. He is such a hard worker. It's one of the things I love about him. He had to rehang this thing that holds our garden tools and such. It fell off so he fixed it. He is now, as I type this, hanging shelves over our 3rd garage door to store more junk that we don't use all the time. I will have to post picks later when he is all done.

While Kevin is hard at work. The girls are enjoying the pool.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying there Father's Day. I'm going to go put my feet in the pool before the girls pour it all out. They are on a mission to get the whole drive way wet.

Have a great day and stay cool!!

Be sure to see the post below of Aundrea and her cast. Two post in one day. Woo Hoo!!

~Summer Break~Literally~

2009-06-21T12:26:00.005-05:00

Here she is. My little beauty!! She takes such good pictures!!

Okay, she broke her arm last Sunday. Sorry it has taken so long to post picture of her and her cast but her Daddy was out of town last week and had the camera with him.

This is where it happened. She and Cassie made a pillow pit to fall back into off the couch. ( this is a recreation, as any good mom would do I took her to the doc. before taking pictures) Aundrea fell back into the pillows but her arm hit the floor.

Here are the munchkins in the there pillow pit. Aundrea did great at the urgent care center. The ladies there were so good with her. She acted like she was having fun. The next day we went to the pediatric orthopedic for them to determine if she needed a cast. Well you know what happened. She broke both the ulna and the radius at the wrist. She could move her wrist but it did not hurt to bad. She has been a trooper this past week. She has not let the cast slow her down. She has really enjoyed having her friends sign her cast. She has 3 more weeks to wear it and then we will go back to the doc. to see how she is doing.
I'm so proud of the way she acted through out the whole ordeal.

~Happy Easter!!!~

2009-04-12T09:52:00.010-05:00

Christ has risen today!!!!

Just wanted to send out Easter greeting today!!

I just thank God for his sacrifice for us and pray that everyone will know His gift to us in Jesus Christ and rejoice in it!!!

Here are some Easter pictures for your enjoyment. Since we could not go to visit family we are having friends (no family in town of there own either) of ours over to celebrate. We have plans for an egg hunt, a craft and food. What could be better.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Have a great Easter Day!!!

~Cassie's First Hair Cut and a Makeover for Aundrea~

2009-03-27T18:18:00.010-05:00

I finally took Cassie to get her hair cut. Her hair has needed to be cut for a long time but I just could not bring myself to do it. It would mean that she is growing up and not a baby anymore. Also, her hair was and still is long enough to do pig tails, which she loves. She ask me every morning to put them in.

She looks so serious in these two pics but she loved her hair cut. She acted like a big girl and like she had been doing this for along time.

The hair stylist put pig tails in since she loves them.

Get ready for this one. Aundrea got her hair cut too. Her hair style was all her idea and I let her go for it. I love how brave she is to try a new style. I wish I could be so brave. I have often thought about getting my hair cut short, but to scared.

Yes, that short!! I was so surprised when she said she wanted it that way. Every bath time was not that fun to comb out the tangles. I was always telling her I was going to get her hair cut short and she did not like that idea.

She loves her hair cut!! And so do the rest of us. She just looks so cute!!!

This picture was taken at our friends house in Texas. I'm so sorry for not blogging lately but right after the last post we went to TX to visit friends for spring break. I just did not want to say that on my blog. My charger for my computer has been going bad and while we were in TX it died, therefore my computer died. So we had to order another and I had to be without a computer. OH, NO! What was I going to do? While it was kinda nice to be without it. I was doing so good about updating the blog before I left so I hated missing posting. So now I have a new charger and I'm up and running. I have lots of post to share with you all. Family and crafty stuff.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I hope you will come back.

Have a great day, evening or weekend. We are going be get snow tomorrow (Saturday). Pray for my plants. Later.

~Signs of Spring and a Fairy House~

2009-03-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Spring is just around the corner and here is proof. Aundrea came running in the house yesterday and yelled for me to come outside that :"It is a miracle!" This is what she wanted to show me. I just love spring flowers. I don't know about you but I'm sooo ready for warmer weather.

I then spent a few moments outside with Aundrea while she worked on her fairy house. My Mom gave her a book about a little girl that builds fairy houses outside with things from nature. {i can't remember the name of the book right now}

She looked so cute as she worked so hard on her house.

A completed fairy house. Did you think you would ever see one of those? Isn't it just darling. I love it when she uses her imagination.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day. Check back soon. More post to come.

~Hubby's Birthday~

2009-03-13T06:00:00.001-05:00

Last Friday we celebrated Kevin's birthday. Here is the card I made for him. I have so much trouble making male cards. I don't have any masculine stamp sets so this is what I came up with. I'm not sure how much I like it but I had fun making it and hubby liked it.
We invited some friends over and had root beer floats instead of cake and ice cream. Yummy!!!
Then we spent the evening playing cards.

Hubby enjoying his float!!
Isn't he just the cutest!! I just love this man.
He has brought so much adventure and happiness to my life. From camping, shooting guns, traveling, riding motorcycles to the birth of our girls. I never thought I would enjoy any of it but I do and I'm so thankful he has shared it all with me. I have been so blessed to have in my life. He is the best friend, handy man, Daddy, and Husband a girl could ever ask for.
Love ya!!

Thanks for all the blog lovin! Stay tuned. Several gals have asked about my stampin space. I will be posting pics soon. I'm so excited to show you.
Thanks for checking in!! Have a great day!!

~Quilt Card~

2009-03-12T08:34:00.003-05:00

Hey all!! I wanted to share with you a card I made for Angie's birthday, my stampin' up demonstrator. I love this card!! I have quilted in the past but know I just don't have the time anymore to do such a big project. So when I saw this card I knew I had to make one. I can handle this kind of quilt. I found the card on Di's blog. It was so quick and easy. It took me longer to lay out the "quilt" than put it together. I really enjoyed making it. I can't wait to make more.

So sorry for not blogging lately. I have so much to share with you. Thanks for stopping by and hope you come back. Have a great day!!

~My baby turns 7~

2009-02-11T22:38:00.007-06:00

I can not believe I'm the mother of a 7 year old. I still feel like a kid myself sometimes. I'm so blessed that God choose me for Aundrea's mother. She is loving, caring, sweet, funny, imaginative, out going (yet shy), smart (sometimes too smart for her own good), spunky, feisty and just so stinkin Cute!!! And those BIG brown eyes, to die for!!

Last night I made cupcakes for her to share with her class. Her Dad spent the whole day with her at school. He is a volunteer in the Watch Dog program at her school. He signed up to help out on Aundrea's birthday. He spent the day helping in many classes and in Aundrea's class and got t0 eat lunch with her. She loved having him there. Me too. I love it when they have Daddy Daughter time. He enjoyed being with Aundrea but he was so exhausted when he came home. They kept him pretty busy.

Here is the cake Aundrea requested. Chocolate with pink icing. Same as last year but she wanted a Tinker Bell theme.

Thanks MawMaw and PawPaw Stephens!! She loves the Pet Shop game. Actually it is fun to play. We plan to play it tomorrow.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Herr. Such cute clothes!!

Thanks Uncle Anthony. She has been been bugging me to get online to play with her online Little Pet Shop pet. Thanks!! We will have plenty of time this weekend, she has 5 days off of school.

I will share pictures of what I made Aundrea for her bed room soon. As soon as I finish it. She has been wanting a Tinker Bell themed room and I have been looking forever for Tink bedding, but what I found was cheap looking sets. So after much searching I decided to make her Tinker Bell themed stuff to put in her room. Well, I didn't have time to finish all of it before her birthday. I will be finishing it this weekend. So stay tuned.

I want to thank everyone for all the birthday shout outs for my birthday. I had a great day with everyone calling, emailing, commenting on my blog a facebook page I felt so special. I have such a great family and great friends. You all are Awesome!!!

Must get to bed, it is getting late. Thanks for checking in!! and please leave me a comment to let me know you are here. I love reading them. Have a great day!!!

~Happy Birthday SiS~

2009-01-29T10:38:00.011-06:00

Happy Birthday!!!!

Let me tell you a little about my sis. She is the most loving, caring, generous, funny, crafty, wittiy independent women. She is always there with an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on and someone to have a tear jerking rolling on the floor laughing fit with. That's ~Herr~!!!

Enjoy your day!!!

Miss You!!

Love your SiS!!!

~A fairwell to old Friends~

2009-01-26T09:14:00.005-06:00

This weekend we said good-by to some old friends. They have been with us since we got married, 14 years ago. They have put up a lot from us. We moved them 10 times over the years with little bump and scraps, but they got over it. When they started to breakdown we made sure to get them healed. We could not live without them. They had a very important job to do for us. Clean our clothes. Yes, I'm talking about our washer and dryer. Over the past year they have been going down hill. Like taking 2 hours to dry clothes. Not cool!!! So we finally decided last week to go ahead and get new ones.

So say good-by to 2 hr. cycles....

... and HELLO to high efficiency washer and dryer!! In RED!!!
I Love them!! No, I did not sit and watch my clothes get clean and no, I do not stop to take a peek at them every time I walk past the laundry room. Not me!! I have better things to do.

Like mother like daughter. They like watching the clothes too. Ok, not as much as mommy.
Ok, well I must go and check on my washer and dryer, oops I mean do some laundry. I hate doing laundry, just kidding I love it!!! Whoooo Hoooo!!!
Thanks for stopping by.
Have a Great day!!!

~!!!WARNING!!! Long Post!!!~

2009-01-22T09:11:00.018-06:00

Ok, I'm back. It has been over a month since my last post. I have no excuses, just that I have not posted. I'm WARNING you this is a long one so hang on.

BELIEVE me it is long. This is a pic of my mantel decorated for Christmas. I love this picture!! In my MOPS group we had a secret sister. My secret sister gave me this Believe sign. I love it!! I have wanted one forever and I was so excited to get it. Thanks Noreen!! You rock!!

Here is our family picture. We put our camera on a tripod and took it ourselves. This picture went out in our Christmas cards.

Here are the girls on Christmas Eve in their Christmas PJ's.

Don't they look so sweet and loving!!!

They can be playful and aggravating to each other too!!

I love this picture!!

Cassie rockin' out!!

Here is what Santa brought the girls. I love my camera and the awesome flash. The room was completely dark except for the tree lights. The flash provided all the light. AWESOME!!

This is the only picture we have of Christmas day. Pout!!! In the middle of the night I woke up sick. Throwing up sick. As the girls were running down the stairs I could hear Aundrea say "Is Mom sick?" Yeah, Christmas day was not a good day for me. Kevin is not a big picture taker and I was not feeling good so no pics for that day. The girls loved all their toys and played with them for hours. I slept most of the day. I did see them open their Santa toys and presents later in the day, then it was back to bed for me. Thank God that Kevin or the girls did not get sick.

My parents, brother and sister came the next day. By that evening I was feeling better to eat Christmas dinner. We had planned on cooking Christmas dinner on the 25th but with me sick we waited till my family came on Friday to have the big dinner. Lucky for them they got fresh Christmas dinner instead of leftovers.

Here are some of the pictures of the gifts that my family brought the girls.

My Mom and Cassie.

I know this picture is blurry but it is just too cute!!

My Dad and Cassie.

Cassie loves her PaPaw!

Well if you have made it this far then you don't look like Cassie and have fallin asleep.

We had a long day that day, shopping a crown center and she just crawled up on my brothers lap and went to sleep before dinner. My Mom, Sister and I were card making and Dad and Kevin were making dinner. I thought that Cassie was being too quite so I went looking for her and could not find her. I had already walked by Anthony once but when I came back I saw her asleep in his arms. That is why she was so quiet.

Thanks for making it this far. Again, sorry for the long post but I wanted to get you updated. Thanks for all the requests to update my blog. I do enjoy doing it. So leave me a comment and give me some blog lovin.

Have a good day!!!

~Oh, Christmas Tree~

2008-12-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

We decorated our tree a couple of weeks ago but as I said in my last post I have been busy so that is why I'm just know getting around to posting about it. We get a live tree every year. I love live trees. I guess because I grew up always having one every Christmas and you can't beat the smell. Christmas Pine, mmm love it!!!

I do a Gingerbread theme with red and gold round ornaments.

I just love the candyness (i know that is not a word) of it. The red and white, peppermint, and whimsical of it all. I am always on the look out for anything gingerbread. I even make my Christmas cards with gingerbread on them. I will show you later my cards. They just went out in the mail today. I don't want the reveal my cards just yet.

The evening we decorated our tree we started after dinner so by the time we got the lights on we only had time to get the red and gold ornaments on and then it was bed time. The girls put all them on and did a great job. I told them we can finish it the next day. Well, the next day Aundrea was up at 7 am and could not understand why we did not want to get up. The sun was up so we had to be up. NOT!!! So she goes for reinforcements. AKA, Cassie. She gets her sister up thinking we will get up. Not so much. Then Aundrea asked if they can put the other ornaments on. Kevin and I, loving our sleep, and wanting some peace and quiet we said "Sure knock yourselves out." I can always fix the tree later, I thought. We finally get up because, dangit we have to feed the kids. You'd think if they can decorate a tree they can feed themselves. I just could not wait to see what they did to the tree. When I walked into the living room, Gasp!!! The tree was beautiful!!! Seriously!!! I could not believe it! They did a great job!! Yeah! I did not have to finish it.

Decorate tree. Check.

One thing off of my to do list.

Here is out birds nest. When buying a live tree there is always a chance that you will find a nest. I can't remember ever finding one until now. After we picked out the tree I said let's see if there is a nest in it and sure enough there was. It is said to be good luck. We will see. We took it out and brought it home to put in the tree once we had it in place.
What a beautiful gift of nature.

I hope to have more Christmas decor for you soon. Things are starting to slow down. Aundrea is out of school till next year. My Christmas cards and gift tags are done. I'm feeling much better with things getting checked of my list. I hope things are running smoothly for you all and you can just sit and enjoy the Christmas season.

Thanks for checking and have a great day and thanks for your comments I love to read them.

~You might be a Redneck if you...~

2008-12-15T09:31:00.007-06:00

bath your children with the dog.

A couple of weeks ago Kevin decided to give Elliott a bath. So he moved the car out of the garage, grabbed the pool and used it as a bath tub. We have our warm water hooked up to our water hose so he had a warm bath. Of course the girls could not resist getting in too. I have a couple more pics of Elliott during his bath but there is not much difference. He did not move the whole time. It was so funny! You would have thought he was being mistreated.

This is one of the girls favorite thing to do with Daddy. He pulls them around on the kitchen floor on a blanket. They love it!! Again!! Again!! Again!! and squeals of joy.

I love this pic. An action shot. Ya!! They are being mistreated too. Can't you tell?

So sorry I have been MIA. Things have been busy since we got back from our Thanksgiving trip. I have been decorating, shopping, homework, playing with the girls, spending time with hubby and making Christmas cards. No, I'm not finished with my cards yet but I hope to get them out sometime this week. So family and friends keep watch they are coming and with pictures. It will be worth the wait. I will try to update tomorrow with some Christmas decor pics. Thanks for checking in and for all the request for a blog update.
Have a great day!!!

~Halloween Night~

2008-11-04T05:00:00.001-06:00

I'm finally getting around to posting pics of the girls from trick or treat night. We just recently bought my BIL's digital camera and we have been playing with it, trying to learn how to use it. The pictures below were taken with the new camera. ( I will show you all later what kind it is). We love it but still learning. I'm so bummed that some of these pictures came out blurry.

I got Cassie dressed so I can get her picture taken by herself. Just look at her. She is such a ham!! She was saying "Cheese".

My little fairy angel!! I love this one!! So sweet!!

Just look at that face.
Here they are together. This is the one and only pic I got of them together. Then the tudes came out.

This is Aundrea upset because she could not start trick or treating when she wanted too.

But, what a sweet face.

I don't even remember what Cassie was crying about.

But they finally got happy!!

Here is Cassie in her second Tinker bell costume. This is the one she wore the rest of the night.

Kevin took them out and I stayed home and pasted out candy.

Cassie sounded so cute saying "trick or treat" and moving her hips side to side saying "tinker bell" over and over.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great day!!

Don't forget to vote!!!!

~BOO!~

2008-10-31T05:00:00.001-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I'm so sorry for neglecting you all.

I just wanted wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween.

I will be back to post pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes later.

Take care and thanks for checking in. At least someone is still checking with me. :)

~School Field Trip~

2008-10-09T21:57:00.005-05:00

Today we went with Aundrea on her class field trip. We started off at the Natural History Museum. It was very interesting and wish we could have spent more time there so Aundrea could have really studied some of the exhibits. Cassie just rode along in her stroller. She was so good.

I forgot my camera in the car so all these pictures are from my cell phone.

Aundrea is up at the top with her face in the shadows. I could not tell that when I was taking the picture.
After the museum we drove over to the pumpkin patch. Oh, the girls had such a good time. Playing in hay mazes, on slides into hay and running in the pumpkin patches. This is the patch with the BIG pumpkins. Fortunately, these are not the pumpkins they could choose from because there was no way I could have carried it home. So we got pics with them.

"I'm to cute for this pumpkin"

Pumpkin hugs!!! Cassie loved hunting for a pumpkin. Her pumpkin is the one on the left and she carried it around everywhere.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend!!!

~Color Inspiration #24~

2008-10-03T18:36:00.004-05:00

I know I have posted this creation before but I wanted to enter it in the Kristina's color inspiration # 24. I just love these colors!!! I did not have time to make something new. I was just lucky that this had all the colors in it. I took another picture in better lighting so all the colors would pop. You can see the original post here.

Sorry for the duplicate post but I just love to enter challenges when I can.

I will try to update something new soon.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great weekend!!!

~The Trainee Has Become the Trainer~

2008-09-29T21:33:00.003-05:00

Real quick, I wanted to share with you these photos. Cassie has been showing an interest in potty training but can not get it all together. She knows she is suppose to sit on the potty but does not know what to do.

With all her knowledge, she has her baby doll sit on the potty too. No, baby doll did not fall in, though I did have to put safety door knobs on the door so she does not get in while I'm not looking.

I just thought these pictures are just to0 adorable. I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great day!!!

~Off to the Races~

2008-09-28T20:59:00.005-05:00

WOW!!! Let me tell you how AWESOME our Saturday was!!!

AWESOME!!!!!

Luck was on our side when Kevin got these tickets to the Nascar race. I should say GOD was on our side. Lately I have been thinking how Kevin and I sooo needed a date. I know, I should have been praying for this but GOD hears all. We had a great time!! Just the two of us!! No kids and we did not have to spend a penny, well except for a babysitter, but it was so worth it.

Just look at the view we had from our suit seats. It has been 14 years since we went to a Nascar race and we sat in the stands. Sitting in these cushy, air condition, free food and drink seats, I don't think we will ever go to another race if we can't sit in the suit seats. We have been spoiled for sure!!
Here is the winner doing his burn out after he won. Don't ask me who won because I don't remember his name.

There was a dress code to set in the suit seats. No jeans or shorts. Men had to wear shirts with collars. So we dress up. It was so fun to dress up for a Nascar race. I mean normally we would be wearing shorts and t-shirts like everyone else. I was fun to pretend like we were someone special for the day. We had preferred parking too. I thought that we would be parking some where special, not with all the other race goers. Well, we did get to park closer to the entrance. We still had to walk across the field of cars to get to the entrance. I felt very weird to be walking with the short/t-shirt wearing people when I was dressed up with high heals. I told Kevin I didn't want people to think I'm a snob because I'm dressed up for the race. He said today you are a snob. HA!!! HA!!!

We had such a great time. We will never forget it!!!

Thanks for checking!! I hope to be posting every night. Kevin will be gone till Friday. Boo whooo!! I will miss him sooo!!!

Have a great day!!!

~Apple Cider Days~

2008-09-26T20:37:00.005-05:00

It has been one of those weeks. Like you have been busy but you can't remember what you did. Ever get those? Well here is some pictures from last weekend. We took the girls to Topeka, KS for Apple Cider Days Fall Festival. I heard about it on the radio last Friday and thought it would be fun. The girls got to play on pump it up type stuff and ride ponies. They had so much fun. The highlight were the ponies. Cassie was not even afraid. She cried after we got her off. I got to walk through 200+ crafter booths. That is one of my favorite things to do in the fall is go to craft fairs. I bought a couple of cute things for Halloween. I will share with you later.

Kevin had someone from work that could not go to the Nascar race tomorrow so we got 2 free tickets to the best seats in the house. The better than box seats. We have to dress up (no jeans or shorts). We will have air condition, free food and drinks. We also get to park up close to the entrance. Score!!! Luckily I was able to find babysitters for the girls. Oh, I can't wait. We sooo need a date. I will take lots of pictures to share with you all.

Thanks for checking in. Have a good weekend.

~New Baby~

2008-09-17T21:00:00.002-05:00

I am a hoarder of craft things. I buy paper, stickers, etc and plan on using them but then I'm like I will save it for later because it is too cute to use. Crazy, I know. I'm doing better about using the things I have. Like this card I made. I bought the paper and sticker a couple of months ago. I made this card for a friend that is having a baby next month. I'm so glad I used the printed paper because I think it turned out so cute, and she loved it too. Click here to see her blog. I met her through MOPS. I'm so glad I did because she is so super sweet.

I'm trying to keep my posts short so I can spend more time with my hubby at the end of the day so if you have any questions about the card just ask. I will be happy to answer them. If not that is ok too. Thanks for checking in and have a great day.

~Flower Girls 6x6 scrapbook pages~

2008-09-16T20:41:00.005-05:00

Hello all!!! Here are some more brag book pages I made. Remember the pictures I posted of the girls with flowers. I finally scrapped them. I love how they turned out. The stampin up paper I used matched the flowers perfectly.

Here are the pages close up. I think these pages are my favorite so far.

This was the scrapbook page I took the layout from. No, this is not a page I did. I wish I could take credit but I can't. Just so simple and sweet. Emily made this page for all the Moms at our MOPS group last Christmas. I just love it!!! Thanks Emily for the inspiration!! Miss ya!!

That is all for me now. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by!! I'm off to go make a card. I will share it with you later, if it turns out ok.

Have a great day!!!

~Rides and Rain~

2008-09-15T20:47:00.005-05:00

Our neighbor gave Aundrea a go cart. Their youngest daughter has out grown it. So now we get the privilege of worrying over her wrecking it. Yeah!! No really we were so thankful for such a fun gift. We really have great neighbors. Sunday evening Kevin was giving her lessons. He is so patient with her. Below he is having Aundrea look at him instead of at the break and gas controls. She has to learn to look where she is going so she will not wreck. She was very cautious and with a Dad in the field of safety it will be awhile before she gets to leave the drive way.

After Aundrea's riding lesson in began to rain. Cassie thought it as so neat. She would stand on the drive way and watch the rain drops appear on the ground.

Here she is pointing out the rain drops. So precious!!

Yes, she does have her shoes on backwards.

Thanks for checking in.

Have a great day!!!

~Welcome Fall Friends~

2008-09-14T21:15:00.004-05:00

I know it is not officially fall yet but I'm soooo ready for it. The weather here lately sure does make it feel like it. Saturday I locked myself in my craft room (ok, not really but it would be nice) and made up this little welcome sign. I wanted to make one for spring but never got around to it, so I made sure to do one for fall, since it is my favorite season. I love how it turned out. When Kevin saw it he thought it was made out of metal. What??? I don't craft in a machine shop!!! What was he thinking???!!! That was his way of saying that it look professional. He sure does know how to gain brownie points from me.

I just love fall colors!! I just feel all warm inside. Don't you?
Thanks for checking in. Have a warm and fuzzy day!!!

~Aundrea's Walk-a-Thon~

2008-09-12T20:57:00.006-05:00

Today Aundrea had her Walk-a-Thon at school. She collected donations and all donations go to the school. Very cool!! Each class got to run or walk for ten minuets for tickets to try to win a prize basket. She did not win a prize basket but she did win a pizza party ( with a friend) and all the 1st grade teachers and a pass to pump it up. She was so excited!! I was there helping pin on the kids lap cards. Each time the kids came around someone marked there cards for each lap. Aundrea ran just about the whole time. I think I have a track star on my hands.

Music was playing while the kids ran and the Cheetah Girls songs were playing. She was running, dancing and singing the whole time and got 18 laps in. She is one talented girl.

Here she is after. All the kids were flushed, hot and thirsty. She had so much fun!! While running she never looked winded. She could have keep on if they did not have to stop them. Awesome!! I wish I could have some of her energy.

I'm so proud of her she did a great job!!

Love you babe!!! You rock!!!

~Cassie's 6x6 brag book pages~

2008-09-03T21:17:00.004-05:00

Real quick. Here are some 6x6 scrapbook brag book pages that I made for my grandmas book.

I love making 6x6 scrap pages. They go together so quick. I just get so overwhelmed with 12x12 pages. Although, I do make 12x12 pages but they take me forever to make them. I'm hoping by doing the little pages I will get better at making the big ones.

Thanks for checking in. Hope you have a blessed day!!!

~Labor Day Weekend~

2008-09-02T21:37:00.007-05:00

I'm so slackin' in my blogging. So Sorrrrryyyyyyy!!!

Here is what we did over the Labor Day weekend. My best friend, Traci and her husband Jory, came to visit us. We have seen each other more this year than we have in the past three years. I love that we live so close to each other. Well, with in a days drive or a quick flight.

The kids just love Traci and Jory. They are so much fun to play with. As you can tell from this picture. Traci will probably kill me for showing it. I love you girl!!!
We went to a local park that had this tower we climbed up. It was a little shaky and a little scary but what a beautiful view.

Oh, the best part. Karaoke. Traci and I enlightened Jory with our beautiful (ha, ha) singing abilities via karaoke. We even got both the guys in on the singing. So sorry for the bad pics but with the low lighting for the atmosphere and 2 glasses of wine this is the best I could do. And let me say, wine makes everything sooooo fuuuunnnnnn!!!!!

We had a great visit!! We can't wait to see them again. It will be our turn to travel to there neck of the country. Love you both!!!

Thanks for checking in. I have some scrapbook pages to share with you next time.

Have a great day!!!

~Cards and a Bag~

2008-08-20T09:13:00.005-05:00

Here are the projects I was working on before I left for WV a couple of weeks ago.

This is a card I made for my brother, Anthony. He just moved into his first apt. I bought this stamp set "On the Move" to make new address cards for myself when we moved but never got around to making them. I was so glad to have a reason to use it.

Here is the gift I made for my 92 year old Aunt Izzy's birthday. She is always sending little notes so I thought this would be perfect for her. I have made this before. It is so quick and easy to make. I used Angie's tutorial to make it. Check it out, it is really fun to make too.

I love this paper, so many colors!! It just makes me smile!!

I hope it made you smile too!!

Well I'm off. Lots to get done today.

Have a good day!!

~Random~

2008-08-19T20:53:00.007-05:00

Here are some random pictures from our trip to WV. Here is my sister entertaining Cassie with bubble gum. Cassie thought this was the coolest thing ever!! Who would have thought blowing bubbles would be so entertaining. You can see how Cassie was helping Michelle blow that bubble. (sorry I must have got my finger in front of the camera flash)

Here is Paw Paw Mike at Cassie's party with Aundrea.

Here are some book marks that Michelle and I made. Michelle's is on the left and mine on the right. Yes, that is the book Twilight. I'm hooked!! I loved this book!! Those of you who are reading it, do you know it is coming out in the movies on Dec. 12. I can not wait!! It took me less than a week to read. I have bought the next book but I'm waiting to read it until I'm on the plane this Friday. It's killing me to not read it. I'm going to WV for my Grandmother's 80th birthday. She does not know I'm coming. It is a surprise birthday party.

This picture of the sign below shows you where we had to stop on the side of the road because we blew a tire on our trailer. Was not fun but we made it through. Luckily, our car spare fit on the trailer and we were on our way.

Here is the blown tire. We are so thankful we did not wreck.

Thanks for checking in. Check back later for some crafty stuff.

Have a good day!!!

~First Day of First Grade~

2008-08-14T07:57:00.005-05:00

The day has finally came. First grade!!! Wow!! I can't believe she will be in school all day! Today is half day but tomorrow will be all day. It is so quite here. Cassie is still sleeping. It just feels so different with Aundrea gone. I will miss her even though I'm always telling her to not be so loud. I was afraid she would be all cranky this morning but she was not. As I fixed her pancakes for breakfast she crawled into her tent she made last night. It was just so precious!!

This is the same pose she did for Kindergarten. She said she liked this one. We will have to remember to do this every school year to see how she has changes.

Watchin for the bus and talking to her friends down the street.

As we were waiting for the bus she pulled her hair back in a ponytail. So being me, I had to make it pretty. She let me do this little braid. She liked it and I think it turned out cute. I have never tried this before.

One last shot before she was off to school. I accidentally turned of my camera and this is all I had time to get a pic of. Her last words were "Bye Mom". OHHHH!! We were so caught up in the excitement of the first day I forgot to give her a huge and a kiss. boo who!!!

I did leave her a little note in her pencil box. I love that I can do that now that she can read.

Well I'm off to get the little one up and off to Walmart. Yeah!! I can hardly contain my excitement.

Thanks for checking in. Have a good day.

~Cassie's Birthday Party~

2008-08-13T08:00:00.014-05:00

While we were in West Virginia we had a family birthday party for Cassie. We had a cookout at my parents house. Thanks goodness we had great weather because we had about 20 family members there.

I used a Pooh theme for Cassie as Pooh is the only character she recognizes. She says "pooh pooh". So cute!!

Here is Kevin (on the right) with his brother Brian. Brian's girlfriend Jody and her son Cody.

My 92 year old Great Aunt Izzy and my soon to be 80 year old Grandma, Betty.

They don't look it, do they? What a lucky girl I am.

My Dad, Fred and Aunt Izzy.

Sorry Dad for getting you while you had your mouth full.

From the left is Kevin's Mom, Donna, my brother, Anthony and his friend Jamie.

Sitting next to Kevin is his step Mom Kathy, his Dad, Vince and then my Mom, Melanie. Behind Vince and Kathy is Tyler, Kevin's half brother. I forgot to post a picture of Kevin's step Dad, Mike and my sister, Michelle. Sorry guys, I will post pics of you both on next post. Actually I don't think I have a picture of Michelle at the party but I have some funny ones I will show you. Michelle did play photographer for me though. Thanks Michelle!! Love ya both!!

Cassie was great during the whole party. I was like she knew it was for her. Here we are singing Happy Birthday to her and she putting her head down like she was embarrassed but she was smiling. It was sooo cute!!

Here she is trying so hard to blow out those candles and she did!! Yeah!!! It was so funny though, as she was trying to get a cupcake she was getting icing on her figures and she did not like it. At her first birthday she jumped right it with both hands. What a change.

She had a great time opening her presents too. See picture below. Aundrea gave her this baby bottle and Cassie fed everything she got with it including the cards. Yes, I would show her the cards and point out the animals or whatever was on them and she would feed them with the bottle. I had downloaded the picture of it but for some reason it is not here. It was so cute. She is such a good mommy!!!

I just love her facial expressions.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great day.

~two years ago today~

2008-08-11T13:52:00.010-05:00

Miss Cassie Leigh was born!! She weight in at 8 lbs. 10oz. and you know what I said when I saw her for the first time? "She is so small!!" Yeah, the doctors and nurses laughed too. The reason I said this is because she was small compared to Aundrea who weight in at 9 lbs. 13oz. So yea, Cassie was small for my babies.

I can't believe she is 2 years old!!! I stared this blog after she turned 1 so I will share with you some pictures of her first year.

Proud Parents!!!

This is Cassie's hospital picture. I love how hospitals are getting better at taking newborn pictures so the babies don't look like they are scared to death.

4 months old

The pictures above and below, Cassie was 10 months old. She was and still is Mommies little helper.

I had my back to the dishwasher putting something away and I turned around and she had climbed in. At 10 months!!! I knew right then and there she was going to be a hand full.

And here she is at 1 year old. I guess you knew that with the hat on her head. HA! HA!

I can't believe how much she has grown since then.

I just love her little smile!! She is such a happy baby,oh now she is a toddler. OH MY!!

She can put on the pout and what a temper let me tell ya!!

I would not change her for the world.

Love you Cassie!!

We just got back from WV late last night. We had a birthday party for Cassie while we were there. I will share some pictures with you next time. I did try to update while I was there but I was staying at my grandma's house and didn't have internet connection, and when I tried to connect to a wireless system near by, it was too slow.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great day!!

~Cards~

2008-08-01T09:34:00.008-05:00

Good Friday Morning!!! I have been up for a while now trying to pack up and finish some stampin projects. I will show you later what I was working on. I have taken a break to show you the cards that me and my friend, Teresa, made over the weekend. These are the projects we were going to do at a card class at Angie's back in April. I had to cancel because Kevin was out of town and Aundrea got sick. So we bought the projects anyway to do later. Well, much later. We just got so busy, between her 3 kids and my 2, we just never got around to it till last weekend. While Cassie napped and the big kids played in the kiddie pool just out side the basement door, we stamped and had a great time.

Here is a group picture of all the projects we did. Some of them were made using the same stamp set Angie used and some we had to use other stamp sets because I didn't have all the stamp sets. Makes since? Go here to see the projects as Angie did them. Below are individual pics of the cards.

Well, break is over. I must get back to packing. I will do my best to post while I'm away, but you know how that usually goes, but I will try. WOW!! I just looked at the calender. My baby, Cassie, will be 2 years old on the 11th. I can't believe it!! Where has the time gone?!!

Thanks for checking in. Have a great day!!!

~6x6 Scrapbook Page~

2008-07-30T12:47:00.004-05:00

Hi All!!! Real quick, I wanted to share with you a 6x6 page I did over the weekend. I love doing 6x6 pages! They are so small and quick to get done. I did this one for my grandma's brag book. I also did one for myself. I decided to do a birthday album for each of the girls. One for each of them. That way they can look real quick at how they change over the years. It will also be something good to set out at their high school graduation parties.

I also made some cards over the weekend with a friend. I will show you them in the next post. Friday we are going to visit friends in Evansville, IN and then on Sunday go to West Virginia to visit family. The girls and I have not been to WV since November so it will be nice to go back.

Hope you enjoyed the scrapbook page. I had fun making it!!

Thanks for checking in and have a good day!!!

~Lighting of the Fence~

2008-07-24T21:40:00.002-05:00

I just want to share with you how Kevin finished off our fence. We bought these solar post lights to put on top of each post to add some light. They are not super bright but they do make the fence really pretty at night.

This is what they look like up close.
And here is what the fence looks like light up at night. This was the first night to see them. We sat out on the deck and watched them light up as the sun went down. Oh, the excitement!!!
I'm actually posting from the deck now. They really look great. They kind'a give the back yard a resort type feel. Now I just need someone to bring me a drink with an umbrella in it. HA!! HA!!
Thanks for checking in. Later.

~Color Inspiration # 17~

2008-07-24T15:28:00.005-05:00

Today I got creative. I used the color inspiration from Kristina's blog. This is the first time I have entered one of her challenges. She gets hundreds of entries, so the chance of her choosing mine are slim, but we will see. Below are the colors she picked from the picture.

This is what I came up with. What do you think? I can't decide... I hope you can tell it says "hello". I thought using the flower in place of the O would live'n it up.

Or does the other word jump out at you to much?

Thanks for checking in. I may have another post later tonight. Gasp!!! Two post in one day!! What am I thinking?!! Later.

~Cousins~

2008-07-23T22:27:00.007-05:00

I'm back. Post twice in two days.!! I'm doing good!! Today we met my cousin, Jill, and her kids at the Toy and Miniature Museum. Oh, what a unique place to visit. There were antique toys and anything and everything miniature. It was so cool. I wish I could have taken pictures to show you some of the stuff but we were not allowed to take pictures. Even if we were, I forgot my camera. Bummer!! So, the following pictures are from my cell phone. Not the best pictures but at least I got the trip documented.

Here is the gang.

Left to right:

Jonathan, Owen, Jane, Cassie and Aundrea

I don't know what Cassie is looking at and Aundrea is showing her bracelet off.

Jonathan and Jill

The museum offered a craft activity of making kites. Here is Aundrea and Owen reeling in their kits. All the kids ran around this big room flying their kits. Even Cassie!!

She can really fit right in and keep up with the big kids.

Until she needs a little breather. She just sat right down and crossed her legs.

Soooo cute!!!

After the museum we had lunch to catch up on each other and plan more play dates. We had a surprisingly great time at this museum. It was so interesting. If you are ever in the area try to check it out. Thanks for checking in with me. Hope to have more for you tomorrow. Hubby came to the rescue. He found my pictures and put them where I can find them.

Have a good day!!

~Monday Night Club Projects~

2008-07-22T18:06:00.003-05:00

Monday night I went to Angie's for club night. I do this once a month, so I can at least get to stamp at some point. Here are the projects we made. They are just so cute!! I especially love the bag box. I have seen it on other blogs and have wanted to try to make one, so I was super excited to find out we were going to make one at Angie's. We got to pick out the paper we wanted to use for the bag. I can't remember what SU! paper this is but I just loved the bright colors.

I tried to upload some pics from or SD vacation but I was having trouble finding them on my computer. I know they are there because I have viewed them, but for the life of me I can't find them. I will have hubby help me tonight and hopefully have something for you tomorrow or Thursday. I posted the projects because I was afraid you all would stop reading if I didn't post something. So, thanks for checking in, and for those of you who like to create I hope you get inspired to make something. Let me know if you do. Send me a link to a pic so I can see it. Later.

~Fence'in em In~

2008-07-14T21:52:00.005-05:00

Hey all!! Did you think I got lost in the Black Hills of SD? No, I have been safe at home in Kansas. So sorry for not updating my blog. Kevin has been home ever since we got back from vacation. I think it has been the longest time we have been together as a family since we moved here. So needless to say I have been spending all my time with the kids and him. It has been so nice. We have been really busy. The first weekend after we got home we bought a 2007 Ford Escape. His car had over 100,000 miles on it and we were afraid it was going to lose the engine again. We didn't want to do that again so we traded it in for the Escape. He drives my Jetta and I drive the new one. It is so cute. It's red!! I love it!! Aundrea loves the horse power. Don't ask me where she got that, we did not put her up to it. The things that come out of her mouth, she cracks me up!! The next weekend was the 4th. I think? Anyway, my parents came in to spend the weekend with us. Kevin surprised me by flying my sister in too. I was so surprised. I did not see it coming. We had a great weekend. On the 4th we had a cookout with friends and family. The perfect way to spend the 4th. Sorry not pics. I took most of the shots with my dad's camera and forgot to put them on cd before he left. Below you will see what we did this weekend. We built a fence so we can let the little munchcins run a muck and to keep other dogs from using our yard as their bathroom.

Saturday it rained more than half the day. So we did not get started till early evening. The method Kevin was using was not working. We were hitting to many rocks in the ground. I won't go into much detail because I don't know what the thing'es are called. Anyway, he had to end up digging the holes and using cement to put the post in. We were up to 12 am Sat. night doing this.

Then Sunday we finished. 8 post, 16 horizontal supports, 1 gate kit and 138 pickets later we were done. Thank you!!! Yes, he still has to cut off the tops of the post, but that will have to wait till he comes home from CA. Yes, he is out of town this week. So, I will be able to update my blog more often. I still have to post pics of our vacation and some random ones of the girls. So, thanks for checking in and being patient with me. I'm off to watch a movie.

~Aundrea's Make Over~

2008-06-11T21:05:00.008-05:00

Aundrea has been growing her hair out since Sept of last year. Just a couple of weeks ago she said she wanted to get it cut up to her shoulders and her bangs cut. I was like YEAH!!! She just looks more like a young girl with her hair and bangs short. Don't get me wrong, she still looked cute with the long hair and bangs but so grown up and I'm not ready for her to be grown up.

Here is her before....

and after.
She really didn't want me to take her picture so this is the best one I got. Doesn't she look cute, though!!! My little girl is back!!!

Marietta is one of the moms I met at MOPS and she is a hair stylist who does hair and make-up out of her home. She is so sweet and she did a great job on Aundrea's hair and mine, but this is about Aundrea's make over. It was so cute, Aundrea told Marietta exactly what she wanted. Oh, how she is growing up. She already knows how she wants her hair.

Ok, here is an ode to Emily and her self portrait. I took this pic of us before our hair cuts. I usually don't take good self pics but I think this pic turned out pretty cute.

This is totally a random pic, but I had to post it. This is our dog, Elliott, and he puts up with a lot from the girls. Mostly from Aundrea. Aundrea put her robe on him and I thought it was just too funny. See the glowing eyes, ( this usually happens in his pics) but I think he is shooting darts at Aundrea for this humiliation.

Again, thanks for all the well wishes for Cassie's boo boo. She is healing up nicely. I hope to post again soon. Kevin's family will be here on Friday and we all will be leaving on Sunday for South Dakota. So, my next post may be while I'm on vacation. Catch ya later.

~Storms and Boo Boo's~

2008-06-09T21:04:00.003-05:00

WOW!!! I can't believe that it has been so long since my last post. Time does fly.

I totally meant to post last Monday but we had a storm and it was not to kind to my connection.

Thank you all for all your well wishes about my allergies. You guys are so sweet!! I woke up the next morning all dried up and doing great. It was back to business.

This is where the girls sat during last Monday's storm while I made breakfast. Cassie did not like the thunder so Aundrea was being very good big sister by telling her that everything will be ok, that mommy and sissy are here. So sweet!! It made my heart smile to see Aundrea taking care of her little sister.
Here is a picture of the storm that rolled through yesterday evening. This picture I took while standing in my drive way. The sky looks freaky but beautiful all at the same time. I'm soooo scared of ever seeing or being hit by a tornado but I can't pull my eyes off of the sky.
I will probably be the person that has to be pulled into safety because I'm frozen looking at a tornado, but then I'm the first person to suggest we go in the basement. I know, I'm weird!

Here is a quick pic of Cassie after I patched up her boo boo. She and I were sitting in our recliner and she was trying to get up and somehow she fell over the arm and hit her chin on the edge of a wood filling cabinet beside the chair. The cut was only about 1/2" wide but deeper than a little cut. It didn't bleed much at all. I calmly freaked out and ran upstairs and called my neighbor who is a nurse to see what she thought about having to take her to the ER. Which I did not want to do. It was 9pm and Kevin had left for OH Sunday evening. Well, my nurse neighbor was not home so I call Teresa, my life saver when Kevin is gone, who came over to help me out. In the mean time Kevin called and said to go to the drug store and get the skin glue. Teresa said the same thing, that's what the ER would do she thought as well. So, Teresa stayed with the girls while I got all the supplies. When I got back Teresa helped me patch her up. Cassie did not fight us or try to pull anything off. She even slept all night with out pulling it off. She is such a trooper!!! I know the bandage makes it look bad. Today I found the water proof band-aids that look so much better. The band-aid does not bother her at all.

Well, I'm going to soooo try to post again this week. Kevin is out of town till Friday and I'm getting my house and us ready for Kevin's family to arrive on Friday so we can all leave on Sunday for the Black Hills in South Dakota. There will be 9 of us going and I can't wait to go. I have seen so many pictures and video of this area and it looks so beautiful.

So, thanks for checking in and hope you come back.

~Teacher Appreciation Gift~

2008-05-28T22:26:00.006-05:00

Real quick. I'm having a horrible allergy attack today, but I wanted to post something because you guys are really reading my blog!!! I want to thank you all for the blog lovin'!!!

This is a bag and stationary I made for Aundrea's teachers for Teacher Appreciation week a couple of weeks back. Angie had a tutorial on her blog how to make it. It is a really easy to follow video. If you have not been over to her blog, you need to check out all her creative stuff. I get most of my ideas from her. Aundrea's teachers really loved the gift. They both said it was to pretty to use. I know, I feel the same way about handmade items I receive.

Well, I have to go to bed so my allergies will go away. That is the way it happens for me. They bother me for one day and the next I'm all dried up. So it is sleepy town for me.

Again, thanks for checking in. I love reading all your comments. They make me smile.

~Kid Questionnaire~

2008-05-27T10:56:00.005-05:00

Hey all, hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. We sure did!! We didn't do a big cookout or anything we just hung out and spent some much needed time as a family. Kevin was home for the whole weekend!! Yeah!! But, he is now in Ohio till Friday!! Bummer!!:( I miss him already.

Here is a pic of the girls on Aundrea's last day of kindergarten. WoW!! I can't believe she will be in 1st grade this fall. She has grown up so much this past year. Some of the mom's I have met from MOPS have been posting a kid questionnaire on their blogs so I thought I would too. So here are Aundrea's answers as Cassie can't talk yet.

1. Who is your favorite person?

Kami (next door neighbor)

2. What is your favorite food that mommy cooks?

spaghetti

3. What do you usually pray for?

friends who are sick

4. What is your favorite place to eat out?

pizza street

( we have only eaten there once, but i guess it made a big impression)

5. What is the silliest thing your daddy does?

tickles me

6. How do your parents know so much?

because you have eyes in the back of your heads

7. Who is Jesus?

he is God in Heaven, Gods Son

8. What is the most important rule?

listening to your mom and dad

9. What is the yuckiest food and why?

corn and corn on the cob, because it is yucky

10. Who are you going to marry?

jeremy

11. What are you going to name your children?

jasmine

12. What is the best thing about grandparents?

taking me to toys-r-us to buy toys

and Aundrea wanted to add this question

What is your favorite toy?

Baby

(Baby, is a little stuffed bear that Aundrea has had since she was a newborn. We pray that we never lose it because it would just be heartbreaking for all of us. Click here to see Baby.)

Thanks for checking in. I love to know who is has been here so leave me a comment. Thanks to those who do. You rock!!!

~Bike Week Part 2~

2008-05-21T20:39:00.010-05:00

WoW!!! Thanks again for all the comments!!!

You like me, you really, really like me!! Ha! Ha!

OMG, I had so much fun in Myrtle Beach. I have never had that much fun at the beach before!

I had big plans laying on the beach with a good book or mag. just enjoying myself without a little person bugging me to feed or play with them. Oh, you know I love my kids but a girl needs a break every now and then. Well, my beach towel was never used and my book was never read. I was having so much fun riding the bike with Kevin I never made it to the beach during the day. We did take walks in the evening but it was so windy we could not really enjoy it.

Here are some of the bikes parked at the place we stayed. This is not even the half of them. They were every where.
Ok girls, here you go, me on the bike. Don't I just look like the coolest Biker Mama!! Yah, right?

These are our new helmets. They went all the way to our butts!!
I don't think sooo!!!

And, my new ride. Do you think it suits me? Yah, right!? I will just enjoy riding with Kevin for now.

This is what we saw everywhere. Bikes!! Yes, I'm taking the picture while I'm riding. Don't know I'm that talented, did ya?

Kevin's Dad is on the left and his younger brother, Tyler, is on the right.

This vacation was so good that it has taken me days to recover. It has been so difficult to get back to reality. Like, oh yeh, I have kids to take care of! Hee! Hee!

Thanks so much for checking in.

p.s. Oh, I almost for got. Aundrea and I were in the paper today. Tuesday was Aundrea's last day of school and after school while waiting for our pizza we were playing battmitting in the drive way and a photographer stopped and wanted to take our pic playing. If you are from the local area check out the local section on page B-3. We are star's!!!

~Bike Week~

2008-05-13T20:00:00.005-05:00

I am in Myrtle Beach, SC attending my first bike week with Kevin, his Dad and younger brother. I am having soooo much fun!!! I'm now a Mama Biker, oops I mean a Biker Mama now. See I'm a newbie. I was not sure how much I would enjoy it but I'm thinking I would like to come back next year. Seein' how I'm new at this, I'm trying to fit in. Kinda hard when the first time I put the helmet on I put it on backwards. Ha!! Ha!! Kevin and I started laughing. I think now I will go buy some leather tank tops, get a tattoo and a piercing or two. Oh now, you know I'm just kidding. Kevin and are enjoying each other without the kids, but we do miss them and hope they miss us. Kevin's mom is at the house watching them so I'm sure they are not even thinking of us.

Must be off. We are on our way out for ice cream. I will try to check back in soon. Later

~Flower Girls~

2008-05-01T22:48:00.001-05:00

First I want to thank you all for leaving me comments!!! You all are so nice!!!

Ok, here are the pics I told you about in the last post. Sunday morning Aundrea was playing with some Gerber Daisy's that I had in a vase. The sun was shining in the living room windows and I thought it was perfect natural lighting for me to play around and take some pics, if Aundrea would let me. I grabbed my camera and mind you it is not the best camera in the world but it works for what I do with it, I asked Aundrea if I could play around and take some pics of her. She said "Yes". I had so much fun playing with her and she did too!! Just take a look at what I captured.

She just looks so sweet in these pictures. I think I did a pretty good job taking them. Ok, you girls that are into photography will have to give me your honest opinion. Just be straight with me I'm a big girl, I can take it.

Now, I had so much fun with Aundrea and I was so pleased with the pictures that I wanted to get some of Cassie. Well, those of you with a 1 1/2 year old know how difficult this can be. She would not sit still for me to get pictures with flowers around her face. So, the top picture I had Aundrea go outside our back door and call her name so she would look out the window. I had to hold the flower behind her head and take the picture at the same time. It was the best picture I could get of her. I think it came out pretty good!!

This picture shows Cassie personality. She is just the funniest little thing ever. She always keeps me laughing and on my toes.

We had a pretty eventful evening. We have had and are under Severe Thunder Storm and Tornado watches. Earlier we had Tornado warnings. My friend, Traci from TX and her husband Jory, were tracking the storms for me. Jory is a volunteer for the National Weather Service so he knows what is going on. We had to go to our basement just to be safe. I had the tv on watching the weather and had Jory on the phone. He was on the computer tracking the storms. He was giving me updates minutes before the tv station posted them. Thank you Jory so much for being on the phone with me. I have to admit I did get a little scared. I did have to put blankets and pillows in our safe place to be ready, but I had to stay calm for the girls sake. Thankfully, nothing happened to us or our home, but it was pretty nerve racking with the weather sirens going off just down the street.

Kevin is on his was home from CA. He is flying to CO and may get stuck there due to snow storms. So tonight I may not get much sleep between waiting on Kevin and more storms due between 12 am and 4 am.

So, thanks for checking in. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Catch ya later.

update: Friday 9:40 am~ Kevin made it home. Yeah! He got in the house around 1 am just before the next round of storms hit. We were under severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch. No tormadic activity was happening. The biggest threat was straight line winds. As usual, Kevin went to bed and I stayed up till 3 am when I knew everything was ok for us. But, this storm did produce a lot of damage on the MO side of the city. Everything is ok for us now, so today I will try to catch up on my sleep.

~Dress up storage & Cards~

2008-04-29T19:30:00.001-05:00

Lots to show you. Do you have the time? First, here is what we did Sunday in Aundrea's room. We added a coat rack for her to hang her dress~ups on. I think it is so cute!! I will be a lot easier for her find what she wants to wear rather than search through a basket full of dress~ups.

Ok, finally today I got to stamp!! Yeah!!! I watched the video tutorial that Angie did to make this purse. It is just the cutest thing I have ever seen and super easy to make. If you have not been over to her site, check it out. She is super talented and has great video tutorials to follow. I made this little purse as a gift bag for one of Aundrea's little friends birthday.

The card is also on Angie's blog. I took the pic before Aundrea had a chance to color the cake and sign it, so I will be much better when she gets done with it I'm sure.

This little card I made with scraps I had laying around. It went together super quick and is super cute. I think anyway. BTW, while you are on Angie's blog check out her Chick Stand. It makes adding brads super easy. I'm using the word 'super' a lot in this post. Everything is just super, I guess. Hee! Hee! I'm just so happy I got to stamp today. I usually don't get to or I don't make myself put other things aside and do something for myself. Anyway, next card please.

This one I did for a friend that helped me out while Kevin was away for 2 weeks. Aundrea became super (there's that word again) sick. She was vomiting so much and would not stop, so I ended up taking her to Children's Mercy Hospital at 9pm in the evening and I didn't want to wake Cassie up, much less take her to the hospital with me. I called Teresa and she came and sat at the house so I didn't have to wake Cassie. We didn't make it home till 2 am. Aundrea had to have IV fluids. She did great through the whole process. She got to pick out a movie to watch while she got her fluids. She said "That's cool Mom". I can't say enough about the doctors and nurses at the hospital. They took great care of her and I felt like we were the only ones there, like she was the only one they had to treat. Awesome!! Or should I say SUPER!! Hee! Hee! I kill myself!! :)

I love the inside!! I used versa mark for the heart and stamped the saying with black stazs on. I thought the verse goes perfectly with the heart. Don't you think?

Thanks so much for checking in. I hope to do better about blogging. Thanks for all your comments. I love to read them. Next time I'm going to share with you some pics I took of the girls. So far they are my favorite and I think I did a pretty good job taking them. Well I must be off. Aundrea is watching A Bugs Life and Cassie is making a mess of the famliy room. So I need to clean up and get Cassie to bed so Aundrea and I can watch DWTS results. Ok, so have a SUPER :) day or night, depending on when you are reading this. Later.

~Productive Day~

2008-04-26T21:42:00.006-05:00

The day started out by Aundrea and I cleaning up her room. I have been raking my brain on how to organize her room to make it easier for her to clean up on her own. I have cleaned it up and organized it a couple of times and Aundrea loves how clean and neat it was but still would never keep it clean. She is only 6. Sometimes I feel like I expect too much from her.

Lizz, one of the great gals I have met through MOPS, babysat for the girls the other night so Kevin and I could go out on a date. She is a great organizer so I asked her for some ideas for Aundrea's room. She suggested moving her bed to one side of the wall to give her more floor space to play and adding pegs on the wall for dress-ups and shelves for other things and get ride of some things. So that is what we did today. Mainly, we cleaned her room, moved furniture and organized. We still have to buy pegs, shelves and get ride of things, but I think we have made a good start and Aundrea loves it. What do you think?

BEFORE

AFTER

I have to say I love it too. Thanks Lizz for all your suggestions. You rock!!!

Later in the afternoon, I went to Rene's house for a girls afternoon out to have our make-up done by Marietta. (both gals I have also met at MOPS) Marietta is now selling Marabella (sp?) makeup. I love it!!! She did a great job. I felt so beautiful when I left!!! Rene will be posting pics on her blog so I will let you know when she has them up so you can go take a look.

After getting all gussied up, I came home to find Kevin and the girls weeding the flower beds. They did a great job. Now we have to mulch. Some much to do. Anyway, Kevin has been wanting to get me some boots to wear while I'm riding the motorcycle with him. So that is what we did. I found some. They are cute!! Just wait, I have a pic of me in my helmet. It is hilarious!! I'll post it later.

Well, gotta go. Kevin is back from helping a friend build some shelves in his garage. Need to spend some time with the hubby. Catch ya later.

~MIA~

2008-04-24T16:58:00.002-05:00

I have been MIA again. Things have been crazy here and are starting to get back to normal, if there is a normal. But, we are all alive and kicking!!! The weather is beautiful here now. Finally!!! Everything is greening up beautifully!!! I just wanted to check in. I do have some pics to post but will try to do it later. Cassie and I went out to lunch today after Aundrea went to school. Then to Michaels to buy some bead stuff and to the eye doctor. I found a rip in my contact at the first of the week and finally broke down and took Cassie with me. She did great while I got checked out. I now have new contacts, yeah!! I hate wearing my glasses for any length of time. I feel so smothered. I feel like me again. Well, I have to get Aundrea from her friends house and I'm off to get my nails done. Thanks for checking in. Later.

~Check it out~

2008-04-11T23:15:00.004-05:00

This picture does not do this bracelet/earrings justice. It is so pretty in person. In the past I have made jewelery for myself, friends and family. I don't think I have made anything since I have moved here though. I was blog surfing a couple of days ago and found this blog. It has inspired me to start making jewelery again. So, this evening Aundrea and I stayed up and made jewelery. Below is what she made. Isn't it cute!!!
Let me know what you think of our creativity. I will get back to updates of our TX trip in another post. It is yet another late night and I still have to clean up or bead mess. Thanks for checking in. Later.

~Ft. Worth Zoo~

2008-04-10T23:18:00.005-05:00

Here are some pics from our trip to Texas a couple of weeks ago. The highlight of our trip was the Ft. Worth Zoo. We got there when it opened so it was not as crowded. Good thing too. It was getting pretty crowded as we were leaving. We saw a lot of animals. The giraffes were one of Aundrea's favorite to see. Here is a mama and her baby. So cute!!! I love this pic of Aundrea. I can't wait to scrap book it and crop those people out. Didn't they know I was going for a great shot? Man!!!

Oh, this was a highlight too. There was this huge cage that had a lot of these little birds in it. You go in and buy a stick with food stuck to it and they will come eat off of it. At first, I thought gross. We would be walking out with bird poop all over us, but we didn't. Aundrea loved it when the bird landed on her stick to eat. I thought it was pretty cool as well.
Cassie was a trooper. Kevin volunteered to carry her in the back pack. Much easier to navigate through people than with a stroller. Here she just gave up and fell asleep on the way out of the zoo. So she did not miss anything.

Dad, this one is for you. Jory, Traci's husband, is into HAM radio. At the house he and Aundrea would use them as walkie talkies. She loved it!! Me too, it kept her entertained. Thanks Jory!! You are going to make a great Dad some day!! Anyway, he took them to the zoo so they could talk on them, and here they are posing with them. What do you think Dad?

Well, Kevin will be home in 9 more days. This week has been ok. I just miss him. This has been the longest we have been apart since we have moved to Kansas. We will survive.

Cassie woke up Wed. morning with puck all over her and her bed. I could not believe it. She did not make a sound all night long. I felt so bad for her. She slept in it all night. She did have a little fever but she is doing much better know.

I have been able to make a couple of cards but I can't post them until the recipients receive them. I did get a couple comments about pics of my scrap room. Emily and Rene let me get it cleaned up and I will post some pics. I don't get much time to make anything so when I do it is quick and I don't always get to clean up after. I was in there some today cleaning up so hopefully soon I will get those pics for you. Hang in there with me.

Well it is much to late for me to be up. I need to get to bed or I will not be worth anything tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and leave me a comment. I love your feedback.

Later.

2008-04-05T22:50:00.007-05:00

Kevin made it home Friday evening so we spent the day doing things together because he will be leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks. Yeh, I know it sounds like a long time, and it is, but not as long as the months we spent apart when he was on job. It will be a long 2 wks but we can handle it. I hope. Check back later and see.

Kevin put together my chair for my craft room this morning. I love it!! It is so perfect and I feel I’m going to be more productive now. Well, while we were putting it together in foyer, don’t ask why there, it’s just where it landed when I dragged it the house. Anyway, Cassie helped herself to some graham cracker sticks. She was so proud of herself as you can see in the pic below.

The weather was beautiful today. 68 degrees. It was a bit chilly but warm in the sun. Cassie loves being outside. She found Aundrea’s helmet and put it on and just walked around with it on. She looked so cute!!!

I did get in my craft room for a little bit today. I’m working on a two-page layout for Aundrea’s baby book. I’ll show you as soon as I get it done. Here is a card I made last weekend for one of Aundrea’s classmates birthday.

Here is more from our trip to Texas. On Friday of our trip Traci took the day off and took us to Grapevine Lake for a hike. Here are some pics.

Me and Traci

Miss ya girl!!!

As you can see this Lake was huge! We even saw Sailboats sailing. How cool is that!! Aundrea loved throwing rocks in it. This is how Cassie enjoyed her hike. Oh, the life, to be carried over the rough roads. At first she hated being put in the backpack but as soon as Kevin started walking she loved it.
Thanks for checking and hanging in with me on this long post. I will update more on our trip in the next post. Have a great day!!!

~Yes, we are home~

2008-04-02T22:01:00.006-05:00

Did you think we have been in Texas all this time? At least, I hope someone out there has been wondering where I have been. I have no excuse as to why I'm such a bad blogger. I have been trying a different way to manage my mommy and home duties that I needed to focus on my family. Things are on the right track so I fell it is safe to blog again. We had a great time in Texas! So, I want to update you on our trip.

I said in a previous post that I hoped to see some greenage in Texas. We saw some and had such beautiful weather that we did not want to come back to brown Kansas. I was so excited when I saw something green coming out of the ground. Tulips!!! WoW!! I can't wait to see what color they are. To this day they still have not bloomed. At least I know they are there so I can't complain. We moved here in July of last year and there was not much color in the flower beds and I thought I had a lot of planting to do. Not so much now. I'm so excited!! I love flowers that you don't have to plant every year!!!

Here is Cassie during the drive. She did really good, considering she only napped for only 45 min the whole 8 hr. trip. Yah, amazing. She is a happy kid.

And here is Aundrea, watching a movie and coloring. Thank God for car DVD players. How did we survive road trips without them?

Ok, I know this is not the best pic in the world but it has green in it. I tell ya, I just wanted to see green so bad I had to take a pic.

Here is Aundrea at the Texas welcome center. I love this pic for some reason. I want to scrapbook it with card stock shaped like Texas. Anyone know where to find one?

I will update you on more of our trip later. I say later because it may be tomorrow or the next day, later. You get the idea. Thanks so much for checking in. I hope I still have some bloggin' friends after being such a bad blogger.

Have a good day, afternoon or evening(depending when you are reading this)!!!

~We are outta here~

2008-03-19T08:44:00.002-05:00

We are packing up and leaving for Texas. Yeah! I'm so glad to be getting out of the house. This is a real quick post as Kevin is packing the car and he will have my hide if he knows I'm posting. So, I will try to update while we are gone but we will just have to see if I have time. If not, I will let you all know how our trip went when we get back.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your spring break!!

~Where are you~

2008-03-13T20:39:00.003-05:00

spring? I love this picture!! I took it several years ago. I even forgot I had it. I just looks so springy. So different from what it looks like outside. I can't believe that Easter is just 1 1/2 weeks away. Everything outside is so brown. No green anywhere. I hope something will bloom before Easter or it won't seem like Easter. We are going to Dallas next weekend to visit my best friend so I hope things will be green there.

I was doing pretty good about posting everyday but then I got sick. I spent all weekend in bed. Then Kevin had to go out of town on Tuesday and won't be back till Sat. I miss him and feel so lonely without him. I miss having an adult to talk to. There is only so much cartoons, kid movies and baby talk one can handle. I have tried to do some scrapbooking and card making but I just can't seem to get in the groove.

I can't think anymore. My head is so tired. I guess I have not got all my energy back from when I was sick. One more day and Kevin will be home. I can't wait!! I can do it, I know I can, I hope!!

Thanks for checking in. Good night!!!

~Things are....~

2008-03-07T06:30:00.006-06:00

....getting better. It was light switch had been turned on when Aundrea started feeling better. She became very chatty with me, then she started trying to get out on bed (in my bed Cassie can't get to her) and asking for more food. Around noon a friend dropped off some 7up and Gatorade she offered to get for me and she surprised Aundrea with flowers. How sweet was that!!! It instantly made Aundrea feel better.

Can't you tell? She felt good enough to do some exercise. It looks like Cassie is giving her the evil eye, look "OH NO, she is back among the living". Aundrea is still a little week from not eating enough but she is working on that. She did eat a piece of pizza last night and was asking for popcorn. And her attitude is back full force. She is still asleep this morning. She slept with us again last night. I just wanted her close again this morning in case she may not be able to keep her food down. Kevin slept in our bed too. All three of us in one bed. We have a king size bed, but Aundrea slept right up against my back. Oh, her fever did come down yesterday but it did go back up a little before bed, so she was burning me up. So, Kevin and I did not get much sleep.
Since we spent most of our time in my bedroom, Cassie was finding things to get into. She found a place just big enough for her. She tried to squeeze back in there with her blanket, kitty and a big board book. It was so cute!!! I love how she is starting to smile when I point the camera at her.

She got frustrated so she sat down here to read her book. I love this about her. She will sit and pull her blanket up over her and read a book. She loves books!! Yeah!!!

In other new: My mom is back in the hospital. She went back in yesterday evening with heaviness in her chest and discomfort. There was talk about doing an MRI of her heart since it would be less invasive than a heart cath, but since she was not feeling well they decided to do the cath. It will be done some time today. As of last night they did not know what time and I have not heard from anyone at this time. So could you please pray that nothing serious is wrong and comfort for my mom she is pretty nervous. Thanks and I will keep you posted.

Thanks for checking in and have a good day!!!

~No Change~

2008-03-06T08:43:00.002-06:00

at the Perry house. Aundrea just laid around all day. She did not leave my bed except to go to the bathroom and to eat breakfast. The rest of the day I let her eat in my bed. She has been able to keep down the jello, Popsicles and mashpotatoes all day yesterday till this morning. She still has a fever. I hate this for her. She has never been this sick in her whole 6 years. It just breaks my heart to see her like this. I don't know how the parents do it when their child is much worse than this. I really makes me thankful this is all I have to deal with. I was telling Kevin last night that it has been nice having her all mellow but this is so not like her I would much rather have her bouncing around the house getting on my nerves than have her look so pitiful.

This is a pic of her last night as we were going to bed. She slept in my bed with me and Kevin slept in the guest bed so I could be close to her at night.

On a brighter note... Here is a card I made last week for a friend. I just love this stamp set...Boho Backgrounds. I was hoping to have a scrapbooking night this evening but with Aundrea sick it will have to wait until she gets better.

Today is Kevin's birthday, I don't know how much celebrating we will do with Aundrea sick.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN/DADDY!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Thanks for checking in and hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

~It's Here~

2008-03-05T07:28:00.002-06:00

The bug....flu...stomach virus....cold.....what ever you want to call it Aundrea got it. Poor baby!!

She had be complaining of a headache yesterday and that her jaw hurt. I just thought that she was getting her 6 yr. molar. She came home from school yesterday and did not look good and she did not feel good and she did not want anything to eat and that is so not like her. She is usually starving when she gets home. She had a slight temp. so I gave her some meds and she just rested all evening last night. Then this morning she came in complaining of her head hurting again and that she needed a drink of water. I could not get her a drink fast enough, she was getting really agitated with me but I think she was feeling like she had to throw up and did not know it because she has only thrown up once in her whole 6 yr life. She is a very healthy girl. Hardly ever gets sick. Thank God!! I can not handle vomit. Luckily, she was in the bathroom so not to much of a mess to clean up and most of it was clear. I told her she was not going to school today and she asked "Why?". Because you are sick I told her. She must have thought I was going to send her to school, because I have never had to keep her home from school because she was sick. This is all new to her. She is now asleep in my bed. I hope we are done with the throwing up because Kevin is busy at work today and he will not be able to come home to help me out. Just pray for Aundrea to get better and strength for me to clean up any vomit!!

This stuff is going around. Lots of kids and teachers are out of school. I was going to go to MOPS this morning. Allyson had asked me to bring a hot dish because she had some mom's cancel due to the sickness. I said sure I can help out. Not now. I have to call her a cancel myself. Bummer!!!

Oh well, life goes on.

I was going to download a pic for you but blogger is having some problems. I will try again later.

Thanks for checking in and sorry if I grossed anyone out.

Life as a mother, you gotta love it.

~Card and Prayer Request~

2008-03-04T14:21:00.004-06:00

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger. I will try to do better, that's all I can do.

So, here are some cards I made this morning. Sorry for the blurry pic, but you get the jest.

The little jewel flowers I found at Achiever's in the hot spot. I got this pink that I used on the cards above, lt. purple and lt. green. So cute!!! I only bought one package each. I wish I bought more because I'm afraid I going to use them up. Oh well, we will see if they have anymore the next time I go.

In other news: My mom went in the hospital last night with chest pain. EKG and blood work came back good except low potassium. She had a stress test this morning. Still waiting on that result. So if you are the praying kind, please say a prayer that all is well and she can go home tonight. She lives in West Virginia and I hate not being there but family is keeping me posted and I have talked to her. She is very tired because she had to sleep in the ER last night. So not much sleep there. Thanks for your prayers.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great day.

Update: Mom came home this evening. All test came back good. Thank God!! They gave her a new water pill that will not drain her potassium and she is to see her doctor in one month. She is doing ok, just very tired. No rest in the hospital.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers.

~Thank You Card~

2008-02-25T07:05:00.004-06:00

Good Morning!! Wow!! I can't believe I'm up this early. It's amazing how one feels after getting a good night sleep. When I woke up I thought that Aundrea slept all night but then I remembered that she did get up once last night to go to the bathroom. She always comes in to get me (i know this has to stop!!) but she always says something like I'm scared or I can't sleep, which she said last night. Must not have been that big of a problem because she went back to sleep and so did I. Then in the morning while Kevin is getting ready for work Elliott will whine or bark to go out and wake her up. Then she will get in to bed with me. Most time it is ok, but I like to have the morning to myself for a while but this almost never happens. I like the peace and quite. Like at night when they are in bed. That is why I stay up so late. So, what am I doing? What else, stampin!!! I started making Aundrea's thank you cards last night while watching the Oscars. Didn't know many of the movies so I got a lot of cutting done. These cards turned out so sweet!! I got the idea for this card from Angie. She had made a card similar to this one that made me buy this stamp set, For a Friend. So I need to hop off and get to stampin. Oh, I have my next Stampers Club meeting tonight. I'll post pics of what we make later tonight or in the morning if I get another good nights sleep. We will see.

Thanks for checking in and have a great day.

~My Tinker Bells~

2008-02-23T12:32:00.003-06:00

I had to run out to the post office this morning. Not something I love to do because there is always a line a mile long and each customer takes at least 30 min to do their business. I know I'm exaggerating a bit but that is what it seems like. I don't take the girls because of the long never ending wait. So the girls stayed home with Kevin. The above pic is what I came home too. Aundrea had dressed herself and Cassie up as Tinker Bell. My day instantly got better. They just looked so cute!!! Cassie just loved being dressed up. I'm so glad of this because it is something Aundrea loves to do and now they can do it together. They were fluttering around the house playing so well together. They look so cute!!!
Here is Tinker Bells house. No, it is not a lantern that Tink likes to live in but it will do.

And here are my two little Tinks in their home.

They just make me smile!!!!! I just love these two!!!!

Well, I'm off to stamp. I need to make Aundrea's thank you cards.

Have a great day and thanks for looking!!

p.s. Don't miss the post below of a baby card I made.

~Baby Card~

2008-02-23T12:26:00.002-06:00

Real quick.

Here is a baby card I made last weekend. While my Mom was visiting she got word that one of her co-workers daughter had her baby. So, you know what I said? Do you need a card? So this is what I came up with. The layout I made up myself, but I did you the scallop punch design from the front of the Stampin' Up SAB mini.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

~Hawaiian Day~

2008-02-21T13:59:00.006-06:00

So sorry I've been gone so long. We have had a busy week with Aundrea's birthday and family visiting. So here are some updates.

Today at Aundrea's school is Hawaiian Day. A big contrast to what the day really is. A cold, sleeting, and raining ice day. I was so surprised that they were not out of school. Well, I could not send her to school in a bathing suit, althought she would have wore it. Yesterday was flip flop day. I sent her in warm shoes with the flip flops in her back pack. I told her she could change into her flip flops when she gets to school. Well, I failed to tell her to change back into her warm shoes when she comes home. OOPS!! She walked off the bus with, you guess it. Her flip flops!!! It did not get above 20 degrees all day yesterday!!!!Kids!!!

Anyway, this a laie (did I spell that right?) my parents brought back from a trip to Hawaii. I put it on her to wear as a necklace but she wanted it on her head. I think she just looks so cute!!

I can't wait for warmer weather!!! neaither can the kids.

Below are some pics from Aundrea's birthday. Kevin came home early and met her off the bus. She was so surprised and excited. I had the house decorated with balloons and tinker bell decor. She opened presents then we had dinner (which was pizza and bread sticks) and cake.

This is what her MawMaw and Paw Paw Stephens sent her. Thanks! She is really good at jumping on her hopscotch rug.

Goodies from Aunt Chelle. She loved her Tinker Bell jewelery box. Thanks!!

And her goodies from us and Cassie.

Here is the card I made for her birthday. She loves butterflies and flowers so this stamp set was perfect. Sorry I don't have the name of the stamp set at the moment, I do know it is a SU retired set.

Here she is patiantly waiting to blow out her candles. I made this cake per her request. I figured I better make it because later she may not want a homemade cakes. Anyway, she requested a chocolate cake with pink icing. That's my girl!! She also wanted flowers on it. Well, I'm not so good at making flowers out of icing so I did what I'm good at. Stampin!!

I stamped Big Blossom and the butterfly set on white card stock and cut them out. I attached them to skewers and stuck them in the cake and wala!!! I think it turned out pretty good and she loved it and that is all that matters. Oh, the candle colors were her choice as well.

Thanks for looking and sorry for such a long post, I just wanted to get you all updated.

~Happy Valentine's Day~

2008-02-14T14:13:00.007-06:00

I have the best husband in the world. He sent me these beautiful roses. He does not send be flowers very often so I’m always surprised to get them. He is out of town so I’m extra surprised.

Here are the girls with their Valentine’s Day gift. I found these adorable hippos at our grocery store. Aren’t they just so stinkin cute!!! As soon as I saw them I know I had to get them for the girls, plus I knew what stamp set to use for their cards. Can you guess which one? Pun Fun, what else!

I just love how this card turned out, and how fast I was able to make it. I made two in about 30 min. That is fast for me. I just love this stamp set. (Pun Fun) I just love that I had the set so I could match the card to the gift. Any stampers out there that don't have this one, it is a must have.

I don't buy the girls many stuffed animals because they just have way to many and they don't play with many of them, but this is just the cutest thing I have ever seen. When I bought them, I had them in my shopping cart and was thinking this must have been what it was like for my Mom having to buy two of everything.

Here is Aundrea at her Valentine’s party at school. She got lots of cards and candy and had fun passing out her valentine's too.

Hope everyone is have a sweet Valentine's Day.

Thanks for checking in. I will post pics of Aundrea's birthday soon. Stay tuned.

~Happy Birthday Aundrea~

2008-02-11T11:53:00.000-06:00

Here is my baby at 1 month old.

Isn't she the cutiest baby you have ever seen?!!!!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to Aundrea,Happy Birthday to you!

WoW!! I can't believe she is 6 years old. I look a pics of when she was younger and I find myself saying "Where has my little baby gone?"She is growing up too fast.

While she is at school, I'm going to wrap presents, finish decorating the cake, pick up balloons and put up a few birthday decorations. She will be surpised when she gets home. Also, Kevin is getting off of work early so he will be here when she gets home. She does not know he will be here.

I will post later of all the fesivities of tonight.

Stay warm, or cool where ever you are.

Thanks for checking in.

~Poor Baby~

2008-02-10T10:36:00.000-06:00

Cassie got her first booboo. Well, her first booboo that required a band-aid. I found some blood on the dishwasher and had to search for who was bleeding. Obviously, nothing serious because no one was screaming. But we found the culprit. Cassie had cut her thumb. We found a piece of paper with blood on it so we think she got a paper cut.

As you can tell, she does not like having the band-aid on. She kept coming up to Kevin, Aundrea and me to take it off. She is getting use to it now.

This will be one for the scrapbook.

I will right more later. We have a busy day ahead. Aundrea's birthday is tomorrow so we have a day of cleaning, cake baking, goody bag making, valentine making (party at school on Tues.), and birthday card making.

Have a good day. Thanks for checking in.

~Snow & Cards~

2008-02-06T15:45:00.000-06:00

Good Evening!! We got snow today, well last night and this morning. Aundrea was out of school today. She was very excited about this. She loves to stay home with Cassie and me. She has been jump roping all day. She is getting better and better. I’m just glad to see her do something she likes to do. She likes to dance so we tried dance classes last fall but she does not want to do it again. She just doesn’t like to be in front of a lot of people. Jump roping is great for her. She can do it in the privacy of her own home. She got started by participating in Jump Rope for Hearts at school. She says “I’m jump ropin’ for hearts” while she is jumping.

Last night after the girls went to bed I went to go to my craft room and made some cards. The first one here was made for a friend’s birthday. I bought the stamp from Jenn D. She is super talented. Check out her blog here. She was saleing some of her retired sets and I had to grab this one. I have seen it used with the kissing technique. I had to have it so I could try it. I love this stamp and doing the technique. It gives the card a soft look. I plan to make more in a card set to give away as a gift. I was inspired to make this card from a card I saw on SCS. Sorry I don’t remember who made it. It was just so cute I had to make one.

This card was made just because. I love this stamp set and have not used it much so I gave it a try. This is my original idea. I don’t do many of these. Most cards I make have been inspired from other cards. I think this one turned out pretty good. I just might give it to Kevin for Valentines Day if I don’t make something else.
Thanks for checkn' in. Let me know you've been here.

~Miss Wild Thing~

2008-02-05T12:42:00.000-06:00

Okay, here she is. Miss Wild Thing. Yesterday was wild hair day at Aundrea’s school. So we came up with the plan to put several little ponytails in her hair and tease it up. I know you can’t tell much in the pic but it looked really cool. I didn’t tease too much or use any hairspray (her hair is really thin, like mine). It just would have been a fight to comb it all out later. I just love this girl!!. She can be soooo sweet and sassy at the same time.
Today is hat day at school. She asked if she could wear a crown. I’m thinking well it is on her head, so yea, wear your crown and wear it proud. I forgot to get a pic before she left for school. I will get one when she gets home and post later.
Sorry I have not been posting much lately. I’m just trying to get back in the swing of things after all the company we had this past month. I think now that Aundrea is off to school and Cassie is napping I will go get crafty. Thanks for looking and let me know you have stopped by.

~Happy Birthday~

2008-01-30T13:01:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to Michelle! Happy Birthday to you, and me, Hee! Hee!

Monday was a beautiful day. In the 50’s but very windy. We had high wind advisory all day, and boy was it ever!! Michelle, Cassie and I went to shop at a scrapbook store, lunch and Target to get goodies to wrap presents. Then we made it home in time to get Aundrea off the bus, have dinner and off to stamp. Kevin got to baby-sit the kids. He is so awesome! Have I told you that?! At least Cassie did not throw up on him this time. Oh yha, the other night Michelle and I ran out to the store he called and said Cassie had just throw up all over him and the living room floor, to hurry home. Bless his heart!! By the time we got home he had already had the carpet cleaner out cleaning the carpet. Again, he is soooo Awesome!! I can not handle vomit. I’m so blessed to have a husband that can deal with it. For one, he can’t smell, so that helps. Cassie was completely happy too when we got home. She seemed fine. I guess once she got it out of her system she felt a lot better. Ok, off to a better note.
We had a great time Monday night at my Stampers 6 Club at Angie’s house. I was the hostess so I got lots of free stuff. Yeah!! Love free stuff!! Who wouldn’t! Michelle went with me and we had so much fun and I met some great ladies. I can’t wait till our next meeting.
Here are the project we made. So Cute!!
If you have any questions about them let me know.

These are the goodies that Angie gave me for being the hostess. You rock Angie!!

I love the stamp set she used so much, I ordered one for myself. The name of the stamp set is Pun Fun.

Here are the yummy goodies I made (with the help of Michelle, she gave me the recipe) for our evening stamping.

If you would like the recipe, let me know.

We went to Rainforest Café for birthday dinner. It was snowing something awful earlier in the day. “It’s like a blizzard,” Aundrea says. It was only cold and slushy out when we went to dinner. We had a great time and the girls loved all the animals. Michelle and I got their famous Volcano Cake to share with Kevin and the girls. Can I say DELISH!!!!

After dinner we went home for presents and karaoke. Karaoke and presents. Yippee!!! What could be more fun!!! We got loads of Stampin' Up stuff. Yeah!!! I'm going to be busy!!

Sorry no pics of us doing karaoke. We just look like fools. You can just imagine.

Thanks for looking. Have a great day!

~Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #32~

2008-01-28T16:46:00.000-06:00

Here is my first try to one of Beate's Sketch Challenges. Check out her blog here. I made this one for my sister's birthday. I have never entered any contest. Emily has inspired me to try. Even if I don't win, it is just fun to get exposure and for the experience. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking!

Card Recipe: (every thing used is Stampin Up unless otherwise stated.)

Stamps: Cute as a Bug, Three for You

Ink: Basic Black, Pink Passion, Green Galore, Close to Cocoa

Card stock: whisper white, Pink Passion, Green Galore

Tools & Accessories: Blender Pens, Dazzling diamonds, 2-way Glue pen, Dimensionals, Making Memories brads

~Great Weekend~

2008-01-28T16:14:00.000-06:00

Thanks to those who played along with who is who question!!! The answer is Michelle on the left and me on the right. I guess it was not to hard because you can compare the pic with my pics on my blog, plus we don't look a like as much as we did as kids. The same answer goes for the baby pic as well. Thanks Mom/Dad for the help!!

Michelle and I had a great time shopping on Sat. We bought clothes for ourselves and the girls and make up. Well, so new lip gloss. What is it about buying new make up that makes a girl feel girlie? Thanks to Kevin who watched the girls all day so we could have some much needed sister time. We came home had dinner and a night of karaoke. Well, Disney karaoke. We did this for Aundrea. It just amazes me all the words she knows to the songs.

Sunday we got up and exercised. Exercised? What is that? I mean I have not worked out in a while. Ok, along time. Michelle has been doing it for a while so she was cheerleader. My abs were like "We have been hanging out here just fine and what are you doing, sucking us in?" It felt good thought. Except for today, it hurts to go up stairs. Oh, boo hoo, it's good for you I keep telling my self. Since Kevin watched the girls all day Sat, I let him go shooting with a buddy. Hee! Hee! He deserved it!!! While Cassie napped Michelle and I made cards. The one in the above post is the one I made for her birthday and she was making thank you cards. I will post later when she is done.

Tonight we are off to Angie's house for Stamper 6 Club. Check out her blog. She is so creative. Kevin gets to babysit again. He is so Awesome!!!

Thanks for looking and I will let you know how it goes tonight later. Have a good evening!

~She's Here~

2008-01-26T10:29:00.000-06:00

Michelle arrived yesterday afternoon. I could not wait for her to get here. She is here to celebrate our birthday next week. Yes, I said our birthday. For those of you who I have just met, I am a twin. The above pic we were maybe about 1 year old. I have no idea and we are not sure which one we are. Mom, you will have to leave a comment to let us know for sure. Our guess is that Michelle is on the left and I'm on the right. Are we right, Mom? Isn't that crazy, to look at a baby pic of yourself and not know which one you are!! That is the way it is when we look at our baby pics.
Here we are!! All grown up!! Can you tell which one is which? Leave a comment and a guess, just for kicks. We are off for a day of shopping!!! Yeah!! And who knows what else we will get into. Next post I will let you know the answer to the question. Have a great day and thanks for looking!!!

~Monochromatic Card~

2008-01-16T22:08:00.000-06:00

A quick post. I made this card for my Dad's birthday. It was the first time I made a monochromatic card. I think I like it. Everything is Stampin' Up except the ribbon. I got it at Target in the $1 spot. I have found some cute stuff there. It is so hard for me to make a manly looking card. I think this one will work. I just hope I don't get stuck in a rut. I will have to come up with more ideas. Thanks for looking.

~What a Surprise~

2008-01-14T13:34:00.000-06:00

I had the best weekend!!! My best friend, Traci, came to visit me all the way from Texas. Well I guess it not so far away. It took her 8 hours, but we are so use to living so far from each other, this is the first time in many, and I mean many years that we have lived with in a day from each other. It was such a surprise. She had been talking to Kevin for the past couple of weeks planning it. I was so surprised and so happy to see her!!! We have not see each other for 3 years. I could not believe it had been that long because we talk at least once every week and email in between. We have been best friends since high school and this weekend was just like old times. Kevin was a big part of this weekend too. I have the best husband in the world. He took care of the girls so we could spend good quality girl time together and we did not skip a beat. Friday, we got a bit to eat out and then went to see a movie. Enchanted. Love this movie. Well, I love anything Disney and so does Traci. I had to take her to see it. I saw this movie with my sister back in November and laughed so hard. I laughed just as much this time.

Saturday, it was SHOPPING!!! All day!! Yeah!! Then dinner and back to the house for Karaoke. OH MY GOSH, we had so much fun just goofing off and trying to do our best impressions of Cher and Danny and Sandy from Grease. I hated to see her go. We definitely plan to see each other more often. Traci is the sweetest, kindest most caring person I know. She is so much fun to be with.

The girls just loved Traci. The last time Traci had seen Aundrea was when she was 5 months old. This was the first time Traci saw Cassie. Traci is so good with kids she is a natural the girls loved playing with her.

Oh, I almost forgot. She came to visit me for my birthday. It’s not till the end of the month, this weekend was the best time to visit. She gave me all and I do mean all her Stampin’ Up supplies. She had bought them back in 2001-2003 and did not use them hardly at all. I mean only a couple of ink pads were opened. Isn’t she the best. I mean just look at all this stuff. What can I say, I have the best, best friend in the whole world. Love ya Traci!! Miss ya and can’t wait to see you again.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading about my weekend. I hope you had a great weekend as well. Sorry for the blurry pictures. I hope to post some cards soon. So stay tuned.

~Another Card~

2008-01-09T21:51:00.000-06:00

I know this card is like the card I made yesterday, but I got an email from a good friend from Evansville that will be have surgery on Friday. I had a very busy day doing 3 loads of laundry, moping the kitchen floor/bath rooms, clean 3 bathrooms, and dust. I got all this done while Cassie napped and Aundrea was in school. Then I had mommy duties once Cassie woke up and Aundrea came home. I was able to get the girls off to bed early. (Aundrea was very grouchy this evening) I did not have much brain power left to come up with a different card. I must have had Valentines Day on my mind because this card can easily be used for a Valentine. (which I will probably make more soon) Kevin has requested me to make a card for him to give to me. Gotta love'em!!! He is saving money he said.

I can't think anymore. I'm off to bed to recharge. Good-night!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Getting Crafty

2008-01-08T20:51:00.000-06:00

You can always tell when Kevin is not traveling because I'm not posting. In the past week we have been busy. We have taken down the Christmas decor, cleaned and organized the house, sorted through the girls clothes they can't wear anymore (making room for their new clothes), sorted through the toys (and throw away some, don't tell Aundrea), organized the girls rooms and did a little home decor. (I'll post pics later) Oh, and Aundrea started back to school. Yeah!!!

Since we cleaned and organized I have been able to get into my craft room and make some cards and not feel guilty about doing it. The first card I made for a friends birthday. I cased it from one of the cards I made at Emily's card workshop several months ago. The card Emily had us make we used rhinestone brads. I didn't have any so I covered mine in glitter to give the card some sparkle. It's hard to see in the pic so that is why I tried to get a close up. The second card is for an old friend of the my family's that had open heart surgery today. Please say a prayer for him, he does not have much family. I have known him since I was a little girl and he is very active in my home church. I cased this card from the stampin techniques book that comes with

Stampin' Up orders. I love when envelops match the cards, they look so customized.

I'm off to watch a movie. Thanks for looking!!!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T21:06:00.000-06:00

2008 here we come!!! I can't believe 2007 went so fast. This time last year Kevin was starting his new job position within the company he works for and we were preparing to move to Kansas. It was a bitter sweet decision. The move would bring us closer together as a family but take us away from an extended family and church we loved dearly and miss every day. Evansville, IN became our home and we will hold it in a special place in our hearts. Hopefully we will get back there someday. It would be an answer to prayer. I do have to say that God had provided for us here in Kansas. We found a great house in a great neighborhood with great schools. He also lead me to some great friends. Especially Emily. She invited me to MOPS (mothers of preschooler), where I have met some great women. I have faith God will continue to provide for us in leading us to a church family. All in his time. We have been so blessed.

The girls have grown in the past year. Aundrea turned 5 last February and Cassie turned 1 in August. It has been an adjustment for us all, especially Aundrea, with Cassie as she has learned to walk and how to get into Aundrea's stuff. (aundrea is now keeping her door shut so cassie can not get in to make a mess that aundrea has to clean up.) Over all they get along great. We love to watch them play together. Don't get me wrong, they do have their moments but I try to focus on the good stuff. Aundrea loves Kindergarten. She has learned so much. Her writing has improved and I can't believe she is starting to read and she is only in kindergarten. They grow up so fast. Cassie keeps us laughing. I can't wait to hear what she has to say ( when she finally talks) it will be so funny. She loves to dance, climb into things and be with her Daddy as much as possible. I don't blame her he is pretty cool!!

How was your New Year's Eve! We just stayed in. The last time we were out for NYE was way before the girls came along. We let the girls stay up. Cassie went to bed about 9 pm and Aundrea made it till 10:30pm. Kevin and I watched the ball drop on the tv at 11pm then went to bed. We love living in the central time zone. Everything is an hour earlier.

I did get creative as the girls played. I found the let it snow wood piece at Michael's $ spot. I thought it would be fun to alter. It was already painted blue. I added the white dots with paint, blue rub on snowflakes (by heidi grace, hard to see in the pic) and the white "dress it up" snowflakes ( i added glitter, hard to see in pic), crystal stickers and white ribbon. I think it turned out pretty cute. Kevin asked what am I going to do with it? I don't know, I just had fun playing. I never altered anything till I moved here. Emily has inspired me to do so much more than cards and scrapbooking. Check her out, you won't be disappointed. (she is getting ready to move in 2 weeks so she is going to be pretty busy with that) I hope to do more creative things this year.

Thanks for looking.

Have a healthy, safe and Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas Morning

2007-12-29T23:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry I’v been absent from my blog. It’s the holidays. We have been spending time together as a family. When Kevin does not have to travel we like to spend time with him. So posting goes to the back burner. So, you want to hear about Christmas I bet. We had a great Christmas. It was just the four of us. It was so relaxing staying in one place and enjoying each other. Aundrea had us up at 7:30 am. She came running in our room, “Mommy you have to get up, Santa came”. “How do you know?” I said. She says, “We have already slept!” They had so much fun playing with their toys and opening presents. Cassie was even excited about her clothes. It was so cute. She is going to be our fashion girl. As we made our piles of presents to open Aundrea said she could not open them all, there was too much. We were very blessed from our out of town families.

Be sure to check out the video below of Cassie on one of her toys.

Thanks for checking in. I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas.

Cassie has her phone and she is ready to ride.
Princess Aundrea in her throne.

Rolling in the paper.

How does this work?

The aftermath!!!

Friday's snow fall.

A Yummy, Creative Weekend

2007-12-24T14:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, here it is. My Christmas card that took a billion years to make. It does not look that complicated and it wasn't. Just a lot of cutting and details. I love how it turned out, though. My favorite part are the little jewels on the gingerbread man. I could not find red so I got clear and colored them with my red sharpe and walla!! I have some left over and can't wait to use them on other projects. I hope those that receive this card love and appreciate it. I had fun making them, late nights and all.
This weekend was a yummy, creative weekend, and a restful one. Kevin and I reinvented a swag that was falling a part. I had the swag for about 12 years and really didn't put it up all that much for the holiday. I did not hang well, and I had no place to hang it so I could plug it in. (it had lights on it) But, I kept it and moved it from house to house. I kept thinking I will do something with it some day. Do you ever do that? Keep something, saying that you can find something to do with it later. I do, and most times I never do. So, this year I decided to do something. Having met so many crafty friends here in Kansas, they have inspired me. So, Kevin and I took of the JOY letters and bow off and glued them onto the grapevine wreath. Very simple, but I love it. I think it turned out cute. A little late putting up a wreath on Friday, but it is up nun the less.

Here is our Gingerbread house Aundrea, Kevin and I worked on.

I bought the kit a couple of years ago and never got around to make it till this weekend. The year I bought it I found out I was pregnant with Cassie and we waited till Christmas Eve to make it not knowing that it took and hour for the icing to harden enough for the house to stand before you decorate. Well it was to late to finish it so we planned for the next year. Well, the next year Cassie was with us and things were crazy. So we did it this year. I was a lot of fun to do. Aundrea loved playin in the candy and eating the sickening sweet icing. Talk about a sugar high. :-)

And here is our yummy cookies that we made as well. I know there is only 4 of us this Christmas and a lot of cookies but we had a great time together making them. It's really memories that we are making and that is the important part.
Oh, I have to tell you about my wonderful husband. I had such a restful weekend because of him. Saturday he let me take a late afternoon nap while he played with the kids. Then when I woke up he was making me a warm bath to soak in, again while he watched the kids. It was so relaxing and quite. You would not have known there were kids in the house. Then on Sunday he let me go take another nap while he watched the kids. How awesome it that!!! Two days in a row I got to nap. Isn't he the best. Love ya babe!!!
I hate to leave on a sort of gross note but looking back it was so funny. Yesterday evening after Cassie had her milk I picked her up from her high chair and held her in my lap at the table while Kevin and I talked. She was coughing and the next thing I knew she throw up all over me. In my mouth and down the front on me. (sorry if this grosses you out) Kevin took her to the sink to clean her up while I sat at the table waiting my turn. We think the coughing brought on the vomiting, because she was fine the rest of the evening. Kevin said he wish he had a pic of the look on my face. My too, I bet it was pretty funny. I now feel like a Mom. That was the first time I have ever been throw up on. Really! Last night would have been a good night for a bath. Oh, well. The things us Moms go through.
Have a Very Merry Christmas!!!!!

Aundrea's Kindergarten Christmas Party

2007-12-19T13:57:00.000-06:00

Aundrea is concentrating hard to put the glue in the right place.
Can we have anymore sprinkles on the cookie! HE! HE!

Aundrea told me she was so happy that I came to her party. This made me so happy to hear. I have to treasure moments like this, in a couple years she may not want me to come. Boo Hoo!! They grow up so fast.
She really enjoyed her self at the party. She was the little party director at her table. After we past out plates of cookies for them to decorate she told her table "Lets wait to see what we are suppose to do." She is not normally like this at home. When ever we do a project at home she just dives right in before I can give directions. It just made me smile to hear her talk like that in school. Oh, to be a fly on the wall sometimes!
Be sure to check out the two post below. You should be caught up now.
Thanks for looking!

Teacher Gift

2007-12-19T13:36:00.000-06:00

Ok, I have finally posted something creative. I have been so busy with getting ready for Christmas I have not have time to do anything creative other than my cards. I put together this cute teacher gift. The mug is from Wal-Mart and a gift card from Starbucks. I loved how this little card turned out. I normally would have not put these colors together but this is how it happened. The 3x3 card came with a punch set I bought from Stampin'up. (i don't remember the name and don't have time to look it up, sorry) Since the mug had a snowman on it I wanted to stamp a snowman on the gift card but did not have a snowman stamp. You will never believe this, the image on the card is from a hostess stamp set my sister has. I stamped it several years ago and punched it out and keep it in case I wanted to use it later. Well, much later, I needed it. Michelle was amazed that I was able to find it. I put it in my CM punch holder so I would be able to find it and found it I did. I'm not always this organized. I don't always find things when I put them away in case I might want to use later and find it. This is the one and only time this has happened. Anyway, I used my stampin up marker's and glue pen to add glitter, but it does not show up in the pic. It turned out really pretty with all the glitter.
I finally got my Christmas cards done and mailed out. Yeah!! and most of my wrapping is done. Double Yeah!!! I will post a pic of my card in a couple days, maybe on Christmas. I just want to wait till most everyone has had time to get them in the mail before I post.

I hope to get more creative now that things are calming down a bit. I mean my blog is about my family and my creations. I will do my best.

Thanks for looking.

Snow Fun!!!

2007-12-19T13:01:00.000-06:00

Sunday the girls got to play in the snow and loved every minute of it.

This was Cassie's first time in the snow. She loved it!!
She walked out there like she had been walking in snow forever. Not scared at all.
I just love this snow suit. Aundrea wore it when she played in the snow for the first time when she was a baby. It is just so cute with the lamb on the hood and feet.

Aundrea loves to help her Dad with everything.

Aundrea feeding Cassie.

Sorry the pic is sideways. I can figure out how to turn the pics when they are still in my camera.

Aundrea shoveled a pile of snow just so she can lay in it. She would not wear her cloves. No, she needed to freeze her hands off. She did not complain. Tougher girl than I am.

Cassie loved to eat the snow. I think all kids are born knowing to eat snow. Mmm, this looks good I think I will eat it. Her little face got red but other wise the rest of her body stayed warm. She would have stayed outside all day if we let her.

Hope you enjoyed our day of fun in the snow. Thanks for looking.

My random facts

2007-12-14T21:13:00.000-06:00

I have been tagged my Emily to share 7 random things about myself. (thanks Emily, such pressure ;-) ) here goes:

1~I am an identical twin (yes, Emily I will post a pic of us soon.)
2~I married my high school sweetheart.
3~I sleep with a special pillow and blanket. (I don’t leave home with out them when we travel. If we fly I make room in my suit case.)
4~I’m addicted to ice cream. Right now my favorite is Peppermint by Edy’s, it’s a limited edition, they only sell it during Christmas time. I told Kevin I wanted to buy enough to fill our deep freeze so I can have it all year long. He said “ What ever you want.” (that is what I love about him ;-) )
5~I was a big surprise to my mom at birth. I was born second and she did not know she was having twins.
6~I never miss an episode of “Heroes”. Kevin and I love that show.
7~I have read all Harry Potter books and have seen all the movies so far and can’t wait for the next two to come out.

I’m going to try the follow Emily’s lead and have Kevin tell 7 random thoughts about himself, but he is asleep right now. I’ll get back to you later on that one.
Thanks for looking. I’m off to watch Peter Pan with Aundrea.