Tea Party fun

Brodie loves her tea parties! I managed to catch her having a Tea Party while my mom was here and got some cute pictures... I love this one of Brodie. She looks likes she's just shooting the breeze with my Mom... and actually she is! She talked non-stop about everything... it was so cute! Anytime you took a sip of tea, she would refill it and even add sugar and cream, too! She was quite the hostess! As you can see, Snow White, or Snow Wipe as Brodie calls her, joined the party, too!




Somehow I manged to catch Brodie being cute again... go figure! I love this picture of her on her new bed, showing off all her Princess friends on the wall. She knows them all, Cinalalalala, Snow Wipe, Bellelala and Seeping Booty. We haven't quite figured out what to do with her mop of hair, as you can tell... It's finally growing, but it's so fine it does whatever it wants, no matter how much hair stuff we use! Until then, at least "bed hair" looks cute on a 2 year old! Wish I could get away with how mine looks in the morning sometimes!







And finally, here's the latest picutre of baby Colt! He is now 31 weeks! We have about 7 weeks to go. YEAH!!! Brodie is constantly hugging my belly and talking to him. She pats my belly and says "baby Colt come now?" She takes such good care of her babies, so I think she is going to be an awesome Big Sister! Now if I can just keep her from feeding him the things she feeds her dolls!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. We invited 2 cadets over who were unable to go home. Our house was filled with laughter, the smell of good food and love. These two cadets have become a part of family and I hope we are able to continue to watch them grow in their career in the future. We were also blessed with a short visit from my mother before Thanksgiving. She had baby things to bring that would have cost more to ship than to drive, plus it's an excuse for her to visit! She needed a "grandma-fix" and we needed a "grandmama-fix." Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law and brother, Colt will be warm through the winter! We have managed to pass down clothes through our 6 kids that started with Randy and now and my 4th child will be warm in them, too! Carter's is AWESOME!!! (Ok.. the realization just sank in that I will have 4 kids! What was I thinking??? :-) )

So.. school starts again tomorrow. A part of me is VERY glad and then I feel guilty for feeling like that! Cold weather has been keeping the kiddos inside, and this wood-floor house echos EVERY noise that they make... I think it actually amplifies it! But, the boys are excited about going back. They have a school performance coming up and now that they are in school together, they can talk about what each of them is doing. It's cute when they discuss what part they are singing... and tell me I can't listen until I see it "live!"

Until my next post, I hope that all of you have had a wondeful Thanksgiving, found something to be thankful for and enjoyed some time for yourself as well. Have a GOD week!!!

I'm Thankful

I'm thankful for my full stomach because that means I have enough money to buy food.
I'm thankful for the dirty dishes in the kitchen because I have the ability to clean them.
I'm thankful for the extra food I had to prepare, because that means we had friends to share our food with.
I'm thankful for the noise the children made all day, because I have healthy children and my hearing.
I'm thankful for the soreness in my feet from standing and cooking all day, because I have the ability to walk.
I'm thankful for the burn on my arm from the stove, because we have electricity to cook and stay warm.
I'm thankful for the football games that have been on all day because I have the freedom to watch what I want... well, what my husband wants!
I'm thankful for the time I took to type this becuase that means I have friends I enjoy sharing things with.
I'm thankful for you, for taking time to read this.

What a way to start a Monday!

This is what we woke up to today!!! SNOW!!!! The boys were so excited. It was all they could do to get dressed, eat breakfast and find their gloves and hats! We had to take a picture of our first real snow! It was in the 40's yesterday, so it's not sticking to the roads, but cold enough to cover the grass, trees and cars! Best of both worlds! Snow AND school! Funny how things change when you get older. You don't want there to be a snow day, unless you can go out and play in it, too! Now I really need to go find snow gloves, boots and SLEDS for the, um, kids, yeah, that's it, kids!

It is so beautiful outside! The trees are a beautiful red, orange, yellow and green and when you add snow to it, it makes it perfect! It's truly a Winter Wonderland outside! Mom is only about an hour away from us (she's driving up to bring baby stuff and visit!), so I'm glad it's not sticking to the road.... now when she gets here, LET IT SNOW!!! It can snow as much as it wants from now till 12 Jan... then it needs to stop so I can at least get to the hospital for this baby!!!

Ok.. now I need to go make some hot chocolate, oatmeal, soup, warm bread, snowflakes.... anything that makes it feel like WINTER! Oh, and I need to stamp, too! Christmas cards! YEAH!!! I LOVE Mondays!!!

Cute gift idea!!!

I found a new thing to make!!! I love this cute little bag! It's made out of Card stock and holds cards! I made one for my friend who hosted my Baby Shower. It was so much fun to make!!! I wanted to do something that didn't involve stamping, so I used one of the Simply Scrappin' Kits... how easy! I got the tutorial from here. It was really simple to follow and you can modify it anyway you can think! I can see it being awesome for teacher's gifts, my secret sister, and anything else I can think of!!!
I made matching cards to put inside... I used the same Simply Scrappin' Kit so they all went together. I loved this WHOLE set! Makes me want to get some more kits just for this project! I also included a little notbook I altered with the kit. I used the sketches that I have been using from Angel and it was so quick to create 5 cards! Now, I just need a reason to make more!!!

Someone turned 8!

My first born is now 8!!! I'm in denial! We had a good time yesterday. Randy got spoiled at school and then again at home! I brought cupcakes into school for his snack. I didn't get a picture of him with them, but they were cute! Jason came home early and we went to Randy's favorite mall. (A four story mall with ferris wheel and roller coaster!) Unfortunately, the ferris wheel wasn't working, but he got to pick out where we ate and he wanted Outback. He's really into ribs all of a sudden, so it was quite a treat! He got to go into the Lego Superstore and a new Robot Store (think Build-A-Bear for boys and men!) We made a simple cake for his birthday today, because we are having cadets over next weekend for his real birthday party.. he loves "our cadets" and wanted to celebrate with them. So we will do a big cake for him then... a Transformer Headquarters. Should be fun! Be sure to come back and look for pictures! He realizes that even though it's not his birthday, he'll get 2 days to celebrate!
I love this picture of him... he was busy pulling off candles but I made him look up and smile! He just wanted to eat the cake!
So, now I'm depressed that my "baby" is 8! But at least he's still in the single digits! Now I have 3 months to prepare myself for Riley turning 6!

Baby Shower Boxes

I'm having a Baby Shower tomorrow and I'm a little excited! I haven't had one since Riley, so I'm excited! Not just for the shower, but for the chance to interact with adults! Guess I need to practice conversations that don't consist of "because I said so," and "in a minute!"

I made some little "thank you" boxes for the guests. I had a hard go at finishing these... they just wouldn't come together. I think I finally got it figured out and this is what I came up with. I found some cute little heart candies that have baby sayings on them! Perfect touch! The bear is from the set I'm using for the Birth Announcements and I think he's adorable!

Ok, I'm off to take cupcakes to Randy's class because today is HIS BIRTHDAY!!! I can't believe he's 8! Where has the time gone???? I'll take a picture of him at school with his "Octopus Creature" cupcakes. They turned out pretty cute. Then I'm off to eat lunch with Riley so he doesn't feel to left out. Busy Busy Busy! BUt I love it!!!

Stamper in Training

I saw this image when I walked into the kitchen this morning...(my stamp area is in the "kitchen" where the kitchen table used to be till we moved it because it was too big!). I guess it's true when they say your kids watch what you do.... guess she could be doing something worse! She's already mastered the paper cutter (thank goodness it's almost impossible to cut yourself!) and LOVES the glue... oh, and glitter and embossing powder, and anything else she can dump out! I've had to "Brodie proof" my stamp center by using bungee cords to close my drawers and hide more more messy items... ie: glue. :-) Luckily, since my cutters tend to break or I can't find replacement blades for them, she has her own cutter now! She's all ready!!!

Bittersweet ending....

...or is it? I guess that depends on who Angel draws for her BIG LOOT WINNER! Regardless, I have had a blast this past 31 days! Today is the last day for Angel's 31 Day's of Angelosity Birthday Countdown! How sad! Now I am going to have to start being creative on my own! I've had a blast playing along with Angel as we countdown her birthday... There have been a lot of very creative ladies playing along and I have looked forward to seeing their creations. I can't wait to see what this last day brings!

Here is my submission for Sketch #31. I tried to go a little untraditional, again, with my snowy picture. After yesterday, I got the itch to use my other snowman set! Maria's sketch was fun to play with and I see a lot of other uses for it! I am so glad I have been saving these to play with again! Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, YoYo Yellow and Real Red make up the card base... inked with antique cracking in Bashful Blue to give the "snow" appearance behind the popped-up snowman. Frosty Friends came out to play today. I colored in with the same Bold Bright colors. Buttons added the final touch to the sketch! How fun! Now I'm ready for the snow here! We can't wait!

Thanks again, Angel, for including us in your Celebration Bash! It has been an awesome journey and a quick 31 days! It's helped get me up and going in the morning!!! Now, off to my mundane mommy chores, again!

Snowy day!

I wish!!! But it looks like it on my card! I was playing catch-up again today. I managed to do Sketch #29 and Sketch #30 from Angel's 31 Days of Angelosity Birthday Countdown. How sad! Only one more day!!! What ever will I stamp!?

This is Sketch #29. I loved the way it turned out. My DP actually matched the paper I wanted to use, so it was even better! Another stamp set that I don't use much...but I always like it when I do! I think the Groovy Guava matches the "peachy" color on the peach. Ballet Blue and River Rock are the other two colors. The eyelets are actually So Saffron, but they match the brownish in the DP, really, they do! :-) Overall, I LOVE Monica's sketch! Great Job! I know I will be using this one again!!!

Sketch #30. I had visions of Snowmen dancing in my head after seeing the post this morning... of course that's only because Angel said it first! I finally got to use my "Frosty" stamp set, but didn't realize how big the image was until I went to put it all together! I wanted to do something "unblue" since I always do blue for my snow cards. I LOVE the color combo I saw in the Holiday Mini-Catalog! The bad thing is that 2 of them are In-Colors and will be gone soon!! Always Artichoke makes up the base, followed by River Rock and Purely Pomegranante. I used the snowflake from Frosty but the little snowflakes from "Flaky Friends." The words are from Mini-Mates. (I love that set, too!) Again, awesome Sketch design from Carla!

This has been too much fun, but I am afraid I will have to start being creative again on my own! I have saved and printed most of the Sketches from Angel and they have already come in handy! Thank you Angel!!!

Ok, New start!

Alright.. due to some unwanted readers leaving unwanted comments, I had to change my Blog Address. I hope that if you made it here you didn't have trouble finding it. I know I didn't change it much, but we will see if this works. If not, I will have to go with a completely new blog and limit who can see it. It's really sad how a few people can be so rude that they ruin a good thing. Oh well..

On with the fun! I haven't done today's sketch for Angel's birthday countdown, but I did make some cards for my husband's cadets today. As you can see, I used Sketch #10 again! I LOVE this! He actually came up with what he wanted on the cards and I vamped it to fit Sketch 10! The colors are specific for the Branch of the Army they are going in to... I wanted something simple to do since I only had about 30 minutes to do 8 cards! (Nothing like last minute, "Honey, can you make me some cards, please???) At first it was 28, but then he narrowed it down to 8! I didn't have any images that would work for the cadets, so I needed something that would work with just a word. I ended up using an image from Smorgasborders for the bottom because it was too plain. I'm off to try and fix the couch and then try and work on today's sketch... with an extra hour, you never know!

Diamonds and more diamonds

Today I am ready with Angel's Sketch!!! I had a change of plans this morning and ended up not going to my Scout training. So here I sit at home. Why not stamp?
This is Sketch #28 of Angel's 31 Days of Angelosity Birthday Countdown! How much fun has this been!!! I can't wait to see what the last 3 sketches will bring us!
I ended up sticking the middle diamond on first, not thinking about popping it up in front of the other two. I was trying to get the alignment correct and got a head of myself. Oh well! I'm finding there are a lot of sets that don't get enough ink time, so I'm trying my best to get them some use! This is no excuse...Nature's Wonders. Such pretty images and there it sits! I had an itching to use Cameo Coral. It's one of those colors that rarely gets used by me and when I finally do I remember how pretty it is. So Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue it is. I used a piece of striped paper from a Simply Scrappin' Kit, but somehow I lost the front page that tells me what it is. Oval hodgepodge hardware over a piece of Vanilla that says, "be happy" from So Many Sayings.
So, now I'm off to do boring Saturday chores... oh joy! Oh well, maybe I'll manage to slip in more stamping time!

I'm running to catch up, again

Today was Riley's doctor appointment to try and get his allergies under control.. poor kid! It was an early morning appointment, not my favorite, but it slowed the whole day up!


So now I'm catching up with Angel's 31 Days of Angelosity Birthday Countdown! Today is Sketch #27. I changed the Sketch a little bit to make it work for Randy's birthday card. I liked the car stamp and wanted to use bright, bold colors and make it look like it was crossing the finish line... so I had to change things around a bit.. hope it still qualifies!!! (No pun intended!!!)


This is a second card from Sketch #26. I had already made a circle card for another challenge, but wanted to make a fresh one for Angel's. I have been wanting to use this Big Blossom stamp and thought it might work for this one. I know it's simple, but sometimes they say the most! The center says "hello." I need to get more creative again! It's been a blah day.. I think the weather is starting to get to me! I LOVE fall and cooler weather, but after 3 years in Texas, this is an adjustment! I don't think the baby is a cold weather kid!
I have Scout Training all day tomorrow, so we shall see how that goes. Jason's first "full" day alone with all 3 kids... should be intresting! I wonder who I will get the phone call from first: Daddy or the kids telling me to come home!!!

Halloween Picture

I know this isn't the best one of the boys, but it was late and they just wanted to check out their candy stash! As you notice, Brodie is nowhere to be seen... she actually fell asleep about 4 houses into the fun! She dressed up as Veruca Salt in a dress, and had a sign on her stroller that read, "But Daddy! I wanted 3 Oompa Loompas!" They seemed to be a hit... lots of comments and the boys even sang the "Oompa Loompa" song for several people and earned quite a stash of Candy for it!!! Riley actually wanted his face painted this year! I forgot the padding for their "hair" so they were a little awkard to wear.

Overall, it was a good night! Jason went over to a friends house...(they lived on the better side of West Point where the houses were closer together and NO hills!) and handed out candy with him while they chilled in the front yard. Literally, it was rather cool!

Now I begin the search for next years costume.... at least I'll have 4 characters to work with!!!