CT Call Change

** Due to an overwhelming response, I am closing my call for lemonheads this Friday, March 2nd. I have lots of things in the works for next week and can use all the wonderful girls I can!! Thanks to all of you who are applying!! It's going to be a super hard decision! **

Short & Sweet
That's what this is going to be today. I have TONS of stuff on my plate and need to get working on them!! :) So, here's a little heads up for my regular blog readers...Saturday is my 30th birthday! AND...I'm going to celebrate a whole week of it starting on Friday, March 2nd and going all the way through Friday, March 9th. LOTS of fun stuff planned...you'll need to tune in here for more details. Also, here's a little hint...keep your calender clear for this Friday night at 10:00 pm, (March 2nd)...a little birdie told me there just may be a chat with me at Elemental Scraps to start off birthday week!! ;)

Comments....
So, what the heck?!?! Only 1 or 2 comments a day? Where are you guys? ;) I LOVE seeing comments when I log on here and I'm just not feelin' the love, chickies! (And before you ask...yes...I am that pathetic that I will shamelessly beg for some! LOL...)

Happy Hump Day!
Have a wonderful hump day, girls! I'll be back tomorrow with more to throw at 'ya! {{HUGS}}

It's a CT Call!!! Looking for lemonheads! Also a little enabling... ;)

So...it's time! I'm having my first ever CT call!! :) I really want to get my name out there a little more and need some wonderful, FUN girls to do that for me! So...what are you waiting for??? Read on! ;) (text version is under the pic) This call is officially open until March 9th, but I will be picking girls THIS WEEK because I have some big stuff planned for March 2nd-March 9th...so hurry up and get your applications in!! You can see my designs here.

For those of you who can't see the pic, here's what it says! :)

Are you sweet? Or are you sour? I need some LEMONHEADS!!

I‘m new to the design world and need my first Creative Team! I’m looking for girls who would like to help me promote my designs, give me their input, make new friends, and most importantly - HAVE FUN!

Requirements:- 1 layout per kit/template I put out- Posted in at least 4 galleries- participation in a CT forum so that we can get to know each other

That’s it! Simple, huh?!? Then, apply!

If interested, send me the following:- Your “real” name- Your username at DST- Link to your most complete gallery- Other teams you are on - Why you feel you’d be a good fit with me, my designs, & the rest of the CT. Interested? Email me at melaniecolosimodesigns@gmail.com

Boring Day

It's a boring day today. Christian had school this morning and Ava & I went to Sams Club to do a little shopping. They had out all kinds of outdoor things already!! YAY!! Bring on the springtime! So, I saw this swingset and I just "need" to have it for the kiddos. It's expensive, but we just got our tax refund money back...think I can persuade Jarrett? Cross your fingers, okay?

Cambridge Wooden Swing Set with Slide

A little more enabling...

Then, I was at DST last night browsing through the threads when I see that my friend, Cori, makes these AWESOME little girl outfits! I mean really, I was friggin' blown away when I looked through them! They are SO unique and so gorgeous. I'm picturing Ava in one already... ;) Here is her "about me" page at her EBay store and here are a couple of my favorites...and yes...I just "have" to have an outfit like this for my little angel!! :)

And on that note...

I'm done for today! :) So, get your CT applications in quick! I'm eager to look through everyone's galleries!! I am already dreading the hard choice though... Thanks so much for your support, girls! Also, hurry up and go buy my 2 newest items at the store...I need to make some money to buy that swingset!! ;) LOL... Have a great day! {{HUGS}}

Relaxing Weekend & 2 New Products!!

Hey, girlies! We had yet another relaxing weekend around here...I LOVE IT!! ;) Did absolutely nothing Friday night...hung around the house on Saturday and my good friend Missy and her 3 little ones came over to see us in the afternoon (she doesn't live around here anymore and was in town) YAY!!!, nothing Saturday night, church Sunday morning (we had an ice storm and there were only about 30 people there!! I had to set up & serve communion, so I had to go out in it), and then last night went to my in-law's house for dinner. And HERE'S where it gets interesting...I thought we were just going over for dinner and it ended up that they were doing a little surprise birthday dinner for me! :) My 30th bday is on Saturday and they wanted to surprise me a little early since I wasn't expecting it. Sweet, huh!?!? Anyways, my MIL made a kick-butt dinner and we had cake/ice cream & presents. I got a gift certificate to Bath & Body Works from my BIL and a gift certificate to a local nursery from my in-laws. (I absolutely LOVE gardening & flowers...I can't always get all I want every year though because it gets to be too much money, so this is a great gift for me!)

THEN...Jarrett tells me that is just the beginning of my birthday surprises....hmmmmm...what's he got up his sleeve?!!? ;)

LO of the Day!

My How Bad? LO got picked as the LO of the Day at The Digi Chick over the weekend!! How exciting!! That totally made my day!

New Products

So, I put 2 new products in the store today! A kit and a template. :) They're both 20% off today and tomorrow, so go buy them!! ;)

Curly Cutie

Pictures Galore - 2 Page Template

Happy Monday!

I hope you all have a great Monday! I'm off to work on a few LOs and some super secret stuff. ;) Don't worry...you'll find out soon enough!! LOL... {{HUGS}}

Doing good!

I am doing SO good at catching up on things! I have my "to do" list in front of me and it feels SO darn good to scratch things off! :) Also, my stomach is feeling better today (thank goodness) which makes the day great!

Went Shopping

Ava & I went to good old Target this morning while Christian was in school. And of course...I got some goodies!! ;) Got the things on my list first of course, but then had fun looking at the Easter stuff, kid's clothes, garden stuff...yes...my mind is on spring!! I bought this dress and a little white hat for Ava for Easter. Not sure if it's what I'm definitely going to stick with or not, but I fell in love with it! Ava was wearing the hat all around the store saying "I pretty, Momma!". Seriously...does it get much cuter than that?!!? LOL...

Also got her this cute little shirt...

and this shirt in 2 different colors

She also got a cute Easter t-shirt that says "cute chick" with a pic of (what else...) a little chick on it. And Christian got a nice polo shirt that was on clearance. (Neither one of these on the website.)

Also grabbed them 2 new toys for a little surprise gift. Ava is obsessed with Ariel from The Little Mermaid, so I got her a really cute soft doll. (she has Snow White & Cinderella already like this) And Christian got yet another monster truck. Monster Mutt. (the one that looks like a big dog with it's tongue hanging out.) Needless to say...they were THRILLED!!!

New Layouts & Some CT Lovin'

I posted 2 new LOs this morning. First one is using the new kit from Andrea Burns & Kimberly Giarusso at TDC. Illuminaire (click here to find it.) Such a rich, gorgeous kit...check it out! Also, it's 20% off today only! ;)

And here's my LO using it. (Check out my sexy hubby!!) Click here for more details.

THEN...Lie Fhung (Ztampf) put out a friggin' HUGE collection last week! The Great Expecations-A Collection. (Click here to find it.) This kit is seriously amazing. If you've never bought anything from Fhung before, it's like Christmas when you open up one of her kits...they are FULL of stuff that's not even on the preview. Her designs are very distinctive and artsy...you can pick them out anywhere!

Here are 2 LOs I did using it. First one is when I was pregnant with Ava and is a 2 page LO. (the template will be up for sale in the next couple of days!) ;) Click here for journaling and details.

And the second one is for a weight loss challenge with TBL girls. You can read the journaling and see credits here.

See ya!

And on that note...I'm done! Whew... ;) Hope you girls have a great rest of the day! {{HUGS}}

Not much going on...

Not much on the schedule for today. My stomach wasn't feeling very well last night and today I'm still not 100%. Ugh...I HATE stomach issues!! More cleaning and knocking more to-dos off of the list for today.

New Template Up!!

So, I got a new template up in the store last night. Swirl Fun is a 2 page template that is also strong enough to stand on it's own. It's also 25% off until Friday, so go check it out!! ;)

Here's a LO I did using it.

Credits here.

I used goodies from Misty Mareda for this LO and let me just tell ya...if you haven't checked out her designs yet, you just have to! She is phenomenal!! She has her designs at Twisted Lollipop right now and keeps adding new stuff all the time. Not to mention, she's a FANTASTIC person! I just love her! :)

Birthday Wishes for Julie
In case you didn't know, today is Julie's (mrs2a50) birthday!!! Julie is one of my favorite digi girls and just cracks my butt up every single time I talk to her!! Not to mention, she is talented beyond all belief!!! You can check out her gallery here if you haven't seen it before. Anyways, I just wanted to wish my special friend the happiest of days!!! {{HUGS}}

Credits here.

Short & Sweet
Well, that's it for now! I know...you're shocked aren't you!?!?! ;) Off to work on my projects! Have a wonderful day, girlies!!! {{HUGS}}

Lookin' good!

So, I got lots of stuff done yesterday and I'm feeling good! Still overwhelmed, but working on my to-do list to scratch things off. Christian had school this morning and was too darn funny. He was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans and absolutely insisted on wearing his Easter tie from last year! LOL... When we walked into school, he went straight up to his teacher and told her to look at how handsome he was! ROFLMAO... I think my little stud has a thing for her! ;) Everyone got a big kick out of it though and it made him happy, so who cares, right?!?!?

More CT lovin'!

Okay, so today's LO is using Andrea Burns' new kit Sweetly and a template by Janet Phillips- Playing with Paper #1. I swear, since I joined Janet's team, I have hardly scrapped anything by myself!! LOL... Her templates are awesome and they go together so fast and easy!

Credits can be seen here.

I'm a guest!

And guess what...I got to be the Digi Dare #24 guest!! My sweet friend, Shelly, asked me to do it and of course I was SO excited! Thanks again, girl! {{HUGS}} So, here's my LO using my Kiss Me kit and the One Heart template I gave to you all last week.

Credits seen here.

And yes...I finally

bought food! LOL... Went to Walmart today and got a huge load of stuff so now we can avoid the takeout a bit more! (Go ahead Jarrett, feel free to praise the Lord!) ;) Oh, and we heard back from the girl that looked at our house and she's not interested. :( Bummer, but what can you do?!!? It's not officially on the market anyways, so now we just need to hit it a little harder to get it in tip-top shape before the spring comes.

Have a good one!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!! I'm off to work on my to-dos to get more done! Talk to you all tomorrow! {{HUGS}}

Some pimpin' today and catch up...

I'm trying to play a little catch up today. Not answering the phone, put the kids down for their nap, and just hitting it hard. I've been slacking on my CT stuff and I need to get more designs done for all of you! So...hopefully a day or 2 like this will get me back on schedule. The designers I CT for have been kickin' out some AMAZING stuff recently! My gosh!! It's hard to keep up with it all! I'll start with Andrea Burns today. I'll do the other girls in the next few days.

So, here are 2 new kits Andrea put out on Thursday. Both baby kits and both friggin' GORGEOUS! The little felt giraffe is seriously too cute for words. You can find them here. Softly and Sweetly. Here's a LO I posted using Softly. I went back and pulled out pics from when Christian was first born and it's so hard to believe he's going to be 4 in April!! Where does time go?!?

Credits can be seen here.

And did you see Gina Miller's new goodies?!?! My lord...this girl is a-friggin-mazing! When I was on her CT as a guest one month, I was spoiled rotten. Now I just have to buy everything I see because I can't break the mold! LOL... So, the new All About The Paper line came out and I was thrilled! I use the first AATP line all the time and this one is just as yummy! Downloaded it this morning and just HAD to scrap with it right away!! Also used a bunch of Gina's stuff I grabbed last week for her 6 month bash. :)

Credits can be seen here.

Weekend

This weekend was another good one. I am totally enjoying this whole "nothing planned" thing! LOL... Saturday, I went shopping with my sister at the mall. I seriously can not tell you the last time I went shopping and actually got to take my time and enjoy it without the kids!! Of course, I had crappy luck and couldn't find anything to buy, but it was still fun. Saturday night, we went to see a friend of Jarrett's who plays in a band. They play all cover music and they are SO good! This is the second time we've gone to see them and we had a blast. A whole group of us went, including my sister, and we just had so much fun. CAN NOT wait to go see them again!

Yesterday was the Daytona 500 for all you Nascar fans. Personally, it doesn't do much for me. I like watching the last 20 laps or so, but that's about it. Now, my parents on the otherhand, LOVE it!! So, we went over there to pick up the kids and spent the day with them watching it. We had a good time and I actually enjoyed the cutthroat ending. Yes...you just heard me admit it...I enjoyed watching a Nascar race!! ;) LOL...

Today's Plans

Well, after I'm done with this entry, here's what is planned for today. Laundry, general cleaning around the house, doing a few CT layouts, putting together some new templates and designs for release this week, and working on some super secret news that I'm hoping to spill in the new few days. Then, tonight, I absolutely HAVE to go to Walmart and Giant Eagle. We have NO food in the house and are running critically low on lots of essentials. Thrilling, huh!?!? So, cross your fingers that I get it all done!

See ya!

Oh, and a big thanks to the Blog Party from Let's Scrap that stopped by here and left me comments yesterday. To be honest...I have no clue what it's all about, I need to investigate a little, but it was nice to see more comments! :) Hope you all have a great day!! {{HUGS}}

Party Day!!

Well, today was the big Valentine's party at Christian's school. Remember? With the 2 nutty moms that had everything planned?!?! *rolling eyes* Well...here's how it went down. First off, the other 2 moms got their kids to school 15-20 minutes late, then they both LEFT the school to go home and come back before the party started!! (it was about an hour and typically, the party parents stay for the beginning of class and start to set up about 1/2 hour early) I got to stay and see how Christian's "normal" school day begins and it was awesome!! The kids were all excited that "Christian's mommy" was there and kept playing around with me and talking to me. TOO CUTE!!! :) The other moms showed up about 5 minutes before the party was supposed to start and THEN they didn't bring all the stuff they were supposed to!!! We were each supposed to bring 4 shoe boxes covered in white paper so the kids could decorate them and use them for their Valentines...I brought mine...1 mom brought 3...and the other mom brought ZERO!!! We didn't have enough for all the kids in the class!!! *yes...eyes popping out of my head in disbelief right now* We actually had to empty and cover a tissue box in order to have enough. The teachers didn't get one and 2 of the kids didn't show up...and thank goodness or we STILL wouldn't have had enough!!! And did I mention that the shoeboxes were THEIR idea in the first place?!?! I had no friggin' input when they brought THAT up at the meeting the other day!! Aye yi yi..... *rolling my eyes YET again*

Anyways, the party was awesome! Christian was so, SO thrilled that I got to stay at school with him! He wore his cute little "Heartbreaker" shirt and asked me to spray some of Jarrett's cologne on him before we left this morning...I think he was ready to pick up some chicks!!! LOL... That's my little stud! ;)

Our Valentine's Day
Well, like I told you yesterday, we don't really celebrate Valentine's day with each other. Jarrett picked up food on the way home yesterday and also grabbed 2 little bouquets of flowers for each of the kiddos to give to me. Oh my gosh...they looked TOO cute walking across the kitchen floor saying "Happy Valentine's Day, Momma...we love you!". So adorable!! We've had snow and ice here the last few days, so we took the kids outside to play in the snow and ride their sleds down the tiny hill in our backyard. They had a blast and so did we!

I wanted to post some pics, but blogger is not letting me yet again today!! ARGH...Anyways, I can't get those darn kids to pose for pics anymore!!! LOL... guess I take too many pictures!!! Anyways, after the kids went to sleep, Jarrett and I snuggled on the couch and watched You, Me & Dupree. Cute movie...not as great as I expected, but still not a waste of time to watch!

That's it!
Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and got all you deserved!! :) Thanks for all the comments on the template freebie...glad you all liked it! See you tomorrow! {{HUGS}}

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

So, what do you all have planned? Anything? Jarrett & I stopped celebrating Valentine's Day a while ago. We don't buy presents or anything, just go out to dinner either the week before or the week after. It's what makes us happy and works out just right! No crowds and no expensive flowers/gifts. So...we'll be celebrating with dinner next week. Tonight is just fun with the kiddos. It's been snowing like crazy here, so I'm thinking maybe we'll go outside and play when Jarrett comes home.

Little Present for all of you...
Of course, I just "had" to give all of my digi girls a V-Day present, though! ;) (Don't be offended, Jarrett! LOL...) Here's a fun little template for you and also a coupon for my store at Elemental Scraps. Don't forget that I put out a new kit yesterday and it's 20% off until tomorrow!! ;)

Use the coupon code luvmygirlies for $2.00 off your order at my store. Valid until March 1, 2007.

And here's the template. If the links expire before you get it, please let me know and I'll get another one for you! Also...please leave a comment if you take it...I'd love to get a little lovin' back for Valentine's day! I also LOVE to see what people create with my goodies, so drop me a link to if you'd like!! :) (ugh...it's SO small!! Blogger is NOT being friendly with me today!)



And here are the links! They are all the same, so please only take one. Start with the first link, if it's expired, try the second.

One Heart Freebie Link 2
One Heart Freebie Link 3

Have a GREAT Valentine's day, everyone! Huge hugs and kisses to all of you!!

****ETA...did you see the cute comment from Jarrett?!?!? He came out from under his rock to post a message to all the digi girls!! God...I just LOVE that guy! ;)

Wonderful Weekend

Oh, it was such a nice weekend! Relaxing...calm...and back to normal. Thank goodness!! :) Went shopping on Saturday to return (finally) some stuff from Xmas...yes...I still had it!! *blushing* We went out to lunch at the Olive Garden and man...do I LOVE their soup, salad, and breadsticks!!! Mmmmm...SO GOOD! The kids also behaved. Miracle of all miracles. You never know what you're going to get in a restaurant...KWIM?!?!

Monster Jam
Friday night was the Monster Jam. A group of us all went. My mom & dad, Jarrett's dad & sister, me, Jarrett, Christian, and a friend of Jarrett's from work and his little boy. (my sister and Jarrett's brother had to back out at the last minute 'cause they were sick) We had a BLAST!!! Christian was on cloud 9 the whole entire time. He had his big ole noise reduction earphones on, sat on my lap, ate popcorn and had a HUGE smile on his face from beginning to end. We bought him the cutest T-shirt and a Gravedigger flag that he just loves. He also got a program and I wouldn't be lying if I told you he's thumbed through it a hundred times since Friday night. He was so wound up when we got home that he stayed up until 11:00 just playing "monster trucks" on the living room floor!!! LOL... He was setting up his cars and running over them with his monster trucks he has. Too darn cute! (Oh...and if you're wondering where Ava was...she spent the night with my MIL!!)





New Kit and LO
I put a new kit up in the store last night. I am so thrilled with how pretty it turned out! :) Hopefully everyone else thinks so too!! I really would LOVE to see some sales, ya know?!?! :) And here's a LO I made using it and also using a template I made for the Elemental Scraps Mega Kit coming out this week.

You can find Belle in Blue here and it's 20% off until Thursday!!! :)

Belle in Blue is a soft, pretty kit that is able to be used with just about any scrapbook LO. Wedding pages, baby pages, love pages, girly pages...you name it!! Kit is created at 300 dpi and has no drop shadows included. Kit includes: 6 Patterned Papers -4 Textured Solid Papers -5 Ribbons -3 Pins- 3 Gems- 1 Glitter Swirl- 1 Metal/Gem Swirl -2 Journaling Blocks -Glitter Alphabet (upper and lowercase)

LO can be seen here.

Back on the Wagon...

So...I'm back on the wagon this week! Eating well, tracking calories, drinking TONS of water, exercising more, scrapping away, designing more for you all...back in the swing of things! :) Don't forget to check back tomorrow...there just may be a little Valentine's present for all of you!! ;) Have a great day, girls! School was cancelled here today due to snow, so I'm off to play with the kiddos! {{HUGS}}

Back to "normal"...

or I should say...as normal as it gets around here! LOL... ;) It was nice just falling back into the swing of things yesterday. Thanks for the nice words and for reading the kids' stories about the funeral. I thought you'd all get a kick out of it! :)

School
Christian had school yesterday and was so excited to see his friends that he missed on Tuesday. Their school was cancelled then because of how cold it was here. His teacher called our house on Monday night and left a message saying there was no school...Christian WILL NOT let me erase it!! LOL. We have listened to it no less than 30 times already and he is so darn excited that his teacher called our house. So cute!

I also had a little meeting with the 2 other moms that are in charge of the Valentine's party with me next Tuesday. Let me just say nicely that...it sucked. I'm used to being in charge of the things I volunteer for and it SO was not that way here! Not that I need to be in control...I would just like to have had some input. These 2 girls both go to church there (I don't), so they already know each other and are friends. I guess they pretty much had it all figured out before I got there, because I had NO input. At all. Nada...zip...zilch! *rolling eyes* I'm used to being a part of the group and being well liked and this really just rubbed me the wrong way. KWIM? I was excited to be a part of Christian's school party, but now...not so much. I'm just a little follower doing what I was told. THEN...the one girl typed up a paper on what we were doing and got my friggin' name wrong!!! Yeah...NICE....huh?!?!? I was "Melanie" in 2 spots and then "Karen" in another spot. Great...just great... *rolling my eyes yet again* Oh well...when you get lemons, make lemonade! I'll just use all my ideas I had with my own kids at home!!!

Oh...the one thing I AM in charge of is doing 1 Valentine's day game. Any ideas?

Big Plans for Tonight
Big plans for tonight...we have tickets to go to the Monster Truck show!!! We bought them months ago and there's a few of us going. My parents, my sister, Jarrett's dad, brother, & sister, me, Jarrett, & Christian. Jarrett's dad may not make it due to other family/funeral stuff, but the rest of us are excited! I've never been to one before, but I CAN NOT wait to see Christian's face! He is seriously going to flip out. I'll be sure to post some pics afterwards!

Logo/Amazing Race LOs
So, here's a logo I think I decided on. What do you think? I wanted something simple, yet pretty...did I achieve that? Any CC? I have my hardhat on...let it rip! :)

And here are my last 2 Amazing Race LOs. We had to give our younger selves advice in one and scraplift our partner in the other. My partner was Laurie Garza and I just couldn't love her more! She is a fantastic person and a wonderful scrapper. We got to know each other better and I am hoping that someday we get to meet each other in person so that I can give her the HUGE hug she deserves!!! :) She's always got sweet words of support and friendship and I can't even begin to tell you how great she is. Thanks again for being my teammate, girl!! {{HUGS}}

Advice. Credits can be seen here.

Scraplift of Laurie. Credits can be seen here.

WOW...
Did I hit ya with enough today?!?! LOL... Hopefully you're still awake! ;) Have a fantastic weekend, girls! {{HUGS}}

Totally, utterly drained....

both physically and mentally! It has been a LONG few days. Viewings for Jarrett's grandma on Monday & Tuesday, funeral yesterday...with LOTS of family functions in the meantime. They wanted us to all be together as much as possible and there was a ton of food sent to them, so we have all been together almost non-stop since Sunday. Makes for a VERY long 4 days!! My parents watched the kids for 2 of the 3 viewings and also for the funeral yesterday, which helped so much. The kids just can't stay still and quiet for that long and they had a blast with my parents playing.

We explained to Christian that Gramma was up in heaven with Grandpap and he seemed to take it well. He's still young, so it still doesn't really sink in. We asked him if he wanted to put something in the casket for Gramma to take to heaven with him and he put 2 of his little monster trucks in there. "One for Gramma and one for Grandpap so they can play together in heaven." Yep...direct quote there. Tell me THAT isn't heart-wrenching! :) It was a very proud mommy moment and it made us all feel better for at least a minute. He placed them in Gramma's "bed" at the funeral home and we also put in a little resin duck figurine from Ava. We took them up to see her and Christian blew her a kiss and told her he loved her. Then, it was Ava's turn to say good-bye....ready for this??!?! She looks at Gramma in the casket, blows her a kiss, starts waving and says "Bye-Bye! See ya!". OMG!!! Jarrett & I almost fell over!! LOL... It's her new thing to say to people as we're leaving them and I guess she felt it was appropriate for Gramma too! Again...the sweet innocence that just makes your heart beat a little faster. I know that Gramma was up in heaven looking down at the 2 of them and laughing. :) Definitely made the day a little easier!

So...back to "normal" now. Christian had preschool today, Jarrett had work today...ugh...back to the grind. I am SO far behind in my CT stuff and haven't designed anything new since all of this started. I think I finally settled on a logo though....I'm going to play with it a little tonight and I'll share it tomorrow along with my last 2 Amazing Race LOs.

Again, thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. It seriously means more than you know. {{HUGS}} I am truly blessed to have all of you in my life. Have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you tomorrow! {{more HUGS}}

Update

So, here's an update for all of you. Jarrett's grandma passed away at about 2:00 in the morning Saturday/Sunday. Jarrett and his family got to be there with her and it was very calm and peaceful. She was asleep the whole time they were there and medicated...she just stopped breathing and passed. We're starting the round of viewings and such, so I won't be around much the next few days. Just wanted to keep you all updated on what was going on and let you know why I wasn't around so much! Thanks again for all the prayers, girls! Jarrett reads my blog as well and is thankful for all of the nice things you are saying. You are all so very wonderful! {{{HUGS}}} I'll be stopping in momentarily to keep you up to date, okay? Have a good week!

Even more prayers, please!

Okay, girls. I need you to send some more prayers my way. I've been posting asking for some for Jarrett's grandma and family. Today...I need even more!

Here it is in a nutshell. They found out a week and a half ago that she has lung cancer. The tumor is VERY aggressive and is multiplying very rapidly. She is too weak to give any treatment too and they gave her a month or 2 to live.

They have called in hospice and she is not able to leave the hospital even to die at home. Last night, we got a call that they didn't think she was even going to make it through the night. Jarrett went to the hospital and was there VERY late. I wasn't able to go because I had to stay home with the kids. My grandparents all died 10 years ago, so she has been like a grandma to me as well. I am just devastated. It kills me to see her suffer like this and it kills me even more to see Jarrett and his family being ripped apart inside. She was 100% normal...healthy...up until 2 weeks ago. How in the world does this happen???? :(

She ended up making it through the night, but now it's just a matter of time. They have stopped all treatment and are just "keeping her comfortable". She has been on morphine since yesterday and hardly wakes up at all. Right now, I'm just hoping that she goes quickly and quietly to end all the pain. Please send your prayers to our whole family right now. We need them. We just need the strength to pull through and realize that this is what God intended. If I'm not around the forums much this week, that's why. I will be updating my blog though for anyone who is interested. Thanks in advance! I appreciate it. {{HUGS}}

Wow...

Life is driving me nuts right now!! I'm feeling overwhelmed and a little down in the dumps. Haven't been exercising much or eating very well, because of it either. Which, in turn, leads to feeling even crappier!! {rolling eyes} How to switch it around? Jarrett's grandma is not doing very well at all...thanks for the prayers you have already given and please keep giving more! We need all of them that we can get!!

"Perfect" Day at Preschool
Christian told me today that it was the "best day ever" at preschool! Is this the same boy who was crying a couple of weeks ago because he didn't want me to leave him!?!? LOL... He was all excited because today he got to take in snacks for his friends (we made the cake balls last night), it was show & tell day so he got to take in his motorcycle transporter truck, and then...to top it all off...he was the flag person today!! Yep...HUGE news in a 3 (almost 4) yr old's eyes! :) The flag person gets to hold the flag (duh...) while the class says the pledge of allegiance and then they are in charge of ringing the clean up bell for the day. Whooooo Hoooooo!!! Too darn cute, I tell 'ya!

And then....our little devil....
I swear, little Ava is the spawn of the devil sometimes! She is not eating dinner well AT ALL. Screaming, throwing her fork/food onto the floor, ugh...then she's just hungry and miserable and STILL won't eat! I've never had a problem with her not eating before. Normally, she's a human garbage disposal that never gets filled up! LOL... Also, her new thing is ripping all the clothes out of her dresser drawer and then climbing up the empty drawers to get stuff off of the top. Dangerous, huh!?!!? Not to mention frustruating as all hell when you have to pick up the clothes TWICE a day (morning and after nap) because they are all over the floor. We moved the dresser out into the living room last night because I just can't take it anymore! I'm sick of cleaning up after it and scared she's going to hurt herself!!!

Pizza Dip Recipe
Okay...so some of the DST girls got a little crazy waiting for Gina to open up her revamped store and started a hysterical thread on the MB. Long story short....everyone wanted the pizza dip recipe I talked about, so here it is! :)

Pizza Dip
1 pkg cream cheese (softened a bit)
1 8 oz. jar pizza sauce
1 c. mozzarella cheese
3/4 c. parmesan cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. italian seasoning
Green pepper and Onion chopped

In a bowl, mix cream cheese, italian seasoning, & garlic powder. Spread in a microwave safe pie plate. Mix together the mozzarella cheese & parmesan cheese in a bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 of this mixture over the mixture. Spread pizza sauce over this. Sprinkle rest of mozzarella cheese/parmesan cheese on top. Sprinkle green pepper/onion on top of that. Microwave for 4 minutes uncovered or until cheese is hot and melted. Serve with crackers. (I used the new Keebler Toppers. The garlic ones were YUMMY!!!!)

Enjoy! This is seriously my new "go to" dip recipe! I've made it for a few get togethers and everyone just flips over it. PLUS it's super easy to make!

Happy Thursday!!
Hope you all have a wonderful day! I'm off to shop at GMD for the big sale and work on a new kit! Talk to you soon! {{{{HUGS}}}}