Thursday, April 26, 2007

No...I didn't forget about you!!!

I'm just SLAMMED with stuff going on right now. I promise I'll post some pics from Christian's bday party soon. I just need to start to get things under control again!

SO...that's it. Just wanted to let you all know I didn't forget about 'ya!! ;) {HUGS}

Friday, April 20, 2007

Quick post and extended sale!!

Okay, girls...it's gotta be a quick one today! Christian's bday party is tomorrow and I am SO behind!!! Here are the last 2 days in a nutshell. Wednesday I did laundry, made cake balls for Christian to take to school for a snack on Thursday, and had a church meeting for the 150th anniversary. Thursday, Christian had school and I got to stay! :) YAY!!! They walked down to the library and had a little story time. They looked so darn cute walking in their line down the sidewalk. Christian was just thrilled that I got to stay and my goodness...the kids in his class are TOO cute for words!! It's so fun to see what he does when he's there, KWIM?

Today, I need to clean and go shopping for food for the big party tomorrow. I make cakes for each of the kids bday parties, so I need to get off my butt and figure out what I'm gonna do for that too! OY!! I need to get moving!!! LOL....

The weather is supposed to be GORGEOUS all weekend! 70 degrees and sunny! And can I just say...thank goodness!!! Our house is too small to hold a big party like this inside, so every year, we just cross our fingers and hope that it is warm enough to be outside. Nice way to plan, huh?!?! ;) It's worked for us every year so far though.

AND....since the weather IS so nice...I'm in a giving mood! ;) SO....that's a perk for you! All designs by me at Elemental Scraps are going to remain 50% off through Monday!!! That's right...3 extra days of shopping!! Could you ask for more?!?!

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Well, okay...if you really need more of an excuse to shop....take another $2.00 off your purchase of $5.00 or more using the code niceweather

Now, go shop!! ;) And don't forget to enjoy your weekend! I'll have some pics from the party when I post on Monday! {{{{HUGS}}}}

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Sick to my stomach...

about all of the violence that is going on right now. It is so sad and horrifying to see all of the stuff on the news about the Virginia Tech killings. Makes me wonder about the world that we are living in and that we are raising our children in. How do people end up this way? Why do they do what they do?

It is disgusting to me. How are you supposed to feel safe in this society. How can you live without fear? I am always worried that something is going to happen to the people that I love. It has gotten way worse since I had children. Unbelievable...People killing each other "just because". Sick...

Then I hear this....2 of the high schools in my area have had bomb threats in the past couple days. The high school where I graduated from (and the school district that Christian goes to preschool and that we are moving back to) had writing on the bathroom wall and a note threatening a bomb for tomorrow (Thursday). Parents were already given the option to have their children stay home from school tomorrow. My mom also drives a school bus for that district and I am worried about her. What if....ya know?

The second high school that had a bomb threat is literally at the top of my road. 4 houses away from ours. :( I just heard this about 5 minutes ago and I am SICK.... This threat mentions tomorrow as a date as well. They have tightened security, cancelled all school activities and have a lockdown search today at 4:00 to check the entire school and tomorrow there is a ban on backpacks as well as a search on every student when they get there. I am SICK to my stomach. :( Anyways, sorry for the bummer of a post. I just needed to get it off my chest.

Lighter note...

We are all starting to feel better finally. Thank goodness!!! Also....

I'M HAVING A SALE!!! 50% OFF ALL MY DESIGNS AT ELEMENTAL SCRAPS
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Plus...if you read my entry from Christian's bday, you'll find a little coupon to add to it!
New LO Posted
I posted a new LO too! It uses Lie Fhung's Evening Falls kit at Ztampf. I had a blast with this one! It's not my usual style, but when I saw those moon and stars, I wanted to do something fun with them. :)
In my gallery here
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See ya!
On that note...I'm done ranting for the day. Hope you all are having a good week! {HUGS}

Sunday, April 15, 2007

My baby turned 4 today!!!

Can you believe it? My gorgeous little Christian turned 4 today. Wow... I still can't believe the time has flown by so fast. Anyways, here's a little blast from the past to honor my little buddy...

April 14, 2003/April 15, 2003:

A normal day. Jarrett came home from work and we were eating dinner and watching TV in the living room. As soon as dinner was over, I had cramps in my stomach. I thought that maybe something I ate didn't agree with me. I was in the bathroom and I remember thinking that it definitely wasn't just an upset stomach...something was different. I had Jarrett grab my trusty "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book and started to read up on contractions. (I didn't know what to expect and didn't know if these were them or not.) WELL...let's just say....it didn't take long to realize that those excrutiating pains HAD to be contractions! We started timing them and they were very close together from the get-go. We called the doctor and she told us to make our way to the hospital.


Right before we left....

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I don't remember much about the drive there. Only that I was in SO much pain that I didn't even want to hear Jarrett's voice on the cell phone. (He was calling our family and friends to tell them we were on our way.) By the time I got admitted, I was SO ready for drugs! (And yes...I normally handle pain pretty well!) The guy who came to give me my epidural was wonderful. He totally did not look like he should be working in a hospital. He looked like he could have played football for the Steelers!!! LOL His image will be in my head forever because it threw me off guard so much. They made Jarrett leave the room while he did it and let me tell ya...it was a miracle!! My football player gave me the epidural (with NO pain at all) and before he left I told him that I would marry him if I wasn't married already. YES...it worked THAT quick!! ;) Jarrett came back and compared me to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. LOL Huge difference!!!

I will always remember that the movie The Mummy was on TV the whole night. The hospital only got a certain number of channels and there was nothing on any of them! The channel we were watching was playing the Mummy back to back, so we saw it a million times that night!

We just sat and waited it out to see what would happen. They brought our doctor in when it was time and I didn't have to push for very long before we learned what we had....a BABY BOY!!! YAY!!! :) We didn't want to know ahead of time, so it was a HUGE surprise! The doctor pulled him all the way out and as she lifted him up to my chest, he started to pee on me!! Only 1/2 a second old!!! I was laughing my head off and she said "Ummmm...I'd close my mouth if I were you!". EW!! ;)

I will never forget that moment. 2:06 am. The moment where my life would change forever. The moment where I would realize that nothing else in life mattered anymore. The moment where I saw the most beautiful little testament to the love that Jarrett & I share. Wow. I'm tearing up now just thinking back to it. My little guy has made me happier than I could have ever imagined. And just when I think that it's impossible to love him any more than I already do, he proves me wrong. I thank God every day for him and for the way he has changed me and my life.


Then


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Now

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Have a great night, girls! I'm off to kiss my little ones goodnight and get in bed! {HUGS}

****Here's a coupon for those of you who shared this special day with me...$1.00 off your order at my store at Elemental Scraps (valid until April 20th using the code bloglover). AND...my store is 50% today through the 19th. (Discount will show in your cart) AND the WHOLE Elemental Scraps store is 50% off April 17-19th! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Where does time go?

I swear, it seems like just yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with my first baby. Now he's turning 4 on Sunday! *sob* Where does the time go? Today was his birthday party at school. They sang to him, made him a card, he wore a cute crown...he loved it! I took a couple pics but didn't download the camera yet. He looked like such a big kid today! He kept referring to today as his "special day" since they made a big deal about it at school. We made up cute little treat bags for his friends and he was excited to pass them out. They also got a visit from the zoo today. They brought in 3 animals. A chinchilla, a turtle, and a python. He was THRILLED! Both of our kiddos are huge animal freaks so he kept going on and on about what he saw/learned today. Too cute!

And....today is my mom's bday! She went shopping at Party City with me & Ava to get party supplies for Christian's Cars party next Saturday. Then, we took her out to lunch when we picked Christian up from school. What a nice day! We're going to my parent's house tomorrow night for cake/ice cream and to give her presents.

I think the sickness is hitting our house once again. We're all sniffling, have sore throats, tired, achy, cranky, etc...ugh...when is it going to hit full force? Hopefully it's quick and over with.

I've been tagged!
Oriana tagged me and I figured now was as good a time as any to fill it out! :) Here ya go!

FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD
1 – Cashier at a grocery store
2 – Retail clerk at the mall
3 – Secretary
4 – Service Department Manager

FOUR MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED OVER AND OVER
1 – Dirty Dancing
2 – Father of the Bride (1 and 2)
3 – Gone with the Wind
4 – any Disney movie

FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1 – Pittsburgh, PA
2 – Erie, PA (college)
3 – -
4 – -

FOUR TV SHOWS I LIKE(D) TO WATCH
1 – Criminal Minds
2 – CSI Las Vegas
3 – Amazing Race
4 – America's Next Top Model

FOUR PLACES I HAVE BEEN ON VACATION
1 - Walt Disney World (Orlando, FL)
2 – Niagara Falls, Canada
3 – Outer Banks, NC
4 – Caribbean (St. Thomas, St. Martin, St. Lucia, Barbados, Nassau, Antigua)

FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
1 – Pizza
2 – Hamburger
3 – Pasta
4 – Good Bread

FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
1 - On a beach
2 – At Walt Disney World
3 – A spa being pampered
4 – In bed

FOUR PEOPLE I WILL TAG
1 – Whoever wants to do it, grab it! I'd love to hear from all of you!! :) Especially my CT girls!
2 –
3 –
4 –

Good Night!
And with that, I'm off! Have a great night! {{HUGS}}

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

What a weekend!!!

Busy as usual! First off, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! :) SO...here it is in a nutshell...

Friday: Jarrett off work. Took the kids to the mall to get their pics with the Easter Bunny. Jarrett waited in line for 40 minutes!!! Insanity.... Ava was all about it while in line. Waving to the bunny, pointing, saying "bunny" in an excited voice...(yeah...see where this is going?)...CRIED from the second we put her on the bunny's lap until the time we took her off. OY!!! Christian smiled like a big boy and we have a priceless picture! LOL. I'll scan it in later to show you.

Saturday: Me, my sister, my mom, and my sister's best friend all went out to lunch downtown and then went to see Sweet Charity with Molly Ringwold. The show was just "okay". None of us were very thrilled with it and we were TOTALLY annoyed by the crappy ending! :( What a letdown, but it was still nice to get out.

Then we went to Jarrett's uncle's house and had Easter dinner. It's their tradition to do it on Easter Eve every year. (his dad's side of the family) We all had a good time and the kids looked adorable! All was going good until CHRISTIAN ATE A PENNY!!! Yes...you read that right....MY SWEET LITTLE CHRISTIAN ATE A FRIGGIN' PENNY!! My MIL was sitting with him while eating and I guess he had a penny on his plate. (Just exactly WHY, I'll never know). Then he walks over to me VERY calm and says "Momma, I swallowed a penny and it's in my belly". Ummmm...WHAT??!?! You have GOT to be kidding me!! Just so happens that Jarrett's family is friends with a doctor who just so happened to drop by to give them a cake for Easter. Thank goodness!! He told us that we had to check Christian's BMs until we found it. YAY! {sarcastic, of course} Just what I want to do! As long as he didn't have any pain in his stomach and passed it in a couple days, it was no biggie. Long story short...we checked poop for 3 days and found the penny yesterday! My word.... {rolling eyes}

Sunday: Church at 7:00 am, breakfast at church 8:00 am, my parent's house for dinner/egg hunt/baskets, Jarrett's aunt's house (his mom's side of the family) for dinner again! We got home around 7:30 pm and the kids got to look for their baskets and eggs from the Easter Bunny. They got lots of goodies and went to bed VERY happy! :)

That's it!
CRAZY weekend!!! As always! Hope you all had a fantastic one as well! {{HUGS}} Have a great day!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Good morning and HAPPY EASTER to all of you!! :) It is 5:30 am and I am getting ready to go to the sunrise service at church. I just wanted to take a very quick second to let you all know I was thinking of you and that you have a special spot in my life. {{HUGS}}

And, of course...don't forget the true meaning behind today!

Matthew 28

The Resurrection

1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The Guards' Report

11While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Friday, April 6, 2007

Happy Easter, Sale, and a Long Weekend...

Jarrett is off today, so we are starting a nice, long weekend! YAY!! :) I just love when he's off! Doing a little shopping today and then we're going to do Easter bunny pics later and dying eggs. SO....I'm gonna keep it short & sweet today!

I'm having an Easter sale today through Monday. 35% off of my whole store! Enjoy! :)

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That's it for today. (TOLD ya it would be short & sweet!) I'm probably not going to check in again until Sunday night or Monday, so have a WONDERFUL EASTER!! This is truly the time of year to realize just how lucky we are for all that we have and for our wonderful family and friends. {{{{HUGS}}}}

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Funky weather!!!

Okay, so seriously...what is UP with the weather?!?! :( On Tuesday it was 75 degrees. We went to the park in shorts & t-shirts, played on the playground, and took a nice walk. Today...it's friggin' snowing outside and FREEZING! Ugh...I am SO sick of the winter! :( And of course, both of Ava's Easter outfits are for warm weather. I'm going to go shopping tonight to try to find her a little cardigan sweater to wear over top of them. Crappy, crappy weather!!

So, I never made it grocery shopping last night. Guess that's going to happen tonight too! Actually, I may push it off until tomorrow. I just need to get my goodies made before Saturday morning for both of the family dinners.

Speaking of Saturday...
My sister bought me tickets to a show, Sweet Charity, for my bday. It has Molly Ringwold in it and to be dead honest...I know nothing about it! LOL. Me, my sister, my mom, and my sister's friend Beth are all going. It's an afternoon show, so we're going to meet for lunch and then go to the show. Then, I need to hightail it home and hurry to get to Jarrett's uncle's house for their Easter dinner. Oy! It's going to be a busy one!!

Fun Things...
So, my friend, Michele, pointed out this great free font site. I had a few of them already, but I just HAD to download the whole set!! I am a true font junkie and these are GREAT! Check them out here.

Nothing much else
I'm going to try to get some LOs done today and try to get another template up in the store. Jarrett is going out after work with some of his friends, so by the time he gets home I should be fit to be tied! LOL. I seriously don't know how single moms do it...by the time he gets home, I am SO ready for him to be here!! I'm going to put the kiddos' baskets together tonight and fill the eggs for their egg hunt. I read something last year that said to give each kid a designated color to look for. That way, there are less fights and everyone gets an equal amount of goodies. SO...they'll look for their color and then some special ones that will have better "goods" in them. I found cute "Cars" and "Disney Princess" eggs at Walmart. They are going to be the special ones. Fun, huh?! :)

Have a great day, everyone!! {{{{HUGS}}}}

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

New Product and Easter Prep!

I put up a new product in the store yesterday. Tiers of Paper is a 2 page LO in PNG, PSD, & TIFF formats. It can also be used as a single page LO. This template is close to my heart because the LO that was the basic setup for it was chosen to be published! I hope you like it as much as I do! :)

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Easter Preparations
I'm desperately trying to get everything together for Easter. While Christian was at school yesterday, Ava & I went to Target and got LOTS of goodies! I had a lot of stuff for their baskets already, but I wanted to grab a few more things and then ended up finding some "extras" that I wanted to get for their bdays and such that are coming up. Here's a little of what I bought...
~ 4 DVDs: Ice Age The Meltdown, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Great Clubhouse Hunt, Little Einsteins Search for the Golden Pyramid, & Dora Shy Rainbow.
~ Spring/Summer PJs for Ava. She is growing like a weed and needs something other than long sleeves and pants.
~ T-shirts & shorts for Ava. (I thought Christian would fit in stuff from last year, but after checking last night...I don't think so!! :( SO...I guess I need to get him some too! Good thing Target has them 2 for $6.00 this week!!)
~ 3 T-shirts for me. I'm a pretty plain kind of girl. I got a pale pink, light green, and plain white. They are slightly fitted and SUPER comfy!!
~ Starburst Jellybeans...have you tried these?!!?! I had them at the in-laws house on Sunday night and I loved them!!! I'm not much of a jellybean eater, but these were YUMMY!!!

I need to go grocery shopping tonight or tomorrow and get the goods to make stuff for Jarrett's family dinner on Saturday night and my family dinner at my parent's house on Sunday. I'm making potato salad, an appetizer, and a dessert for my family and probably an appetizer and dessert for his family. I'm a HUGE cupcake freak for those of you who don't know, so I'll be making cute springy ones for both houses to put in my super cute cupcake tree! :)

My mom's bday is next week too. (The 12th) Anyone have any great ideas for a gift? We don't spend a TON of money, but I'd like to think of something different than what I normally get her, KWIM?

That's it for now!
I have been pretty productive this morning and want to keep up the pace. I'll check in with you all later! Have a great Wednesday!! {{HUGS}}

Monday, April 2, 2007

Desperately ignoring you...

and everyone else!! *blushing* The weather has been GORGEOUS here and we have been outside enjoying it every second we can. Not to mention that from now until June, life doesn't even BEGIN to slow down!! It's amazing!! I seriously don't even know how everything is going to get done, but I'll deal with it as it comes, right?

This past weekend was a big dinner at the church. We needed to be there Friday night, all day Saturday/Saturday night, and then yesterday morning for the regular church service and then for an hour afterwards getting all the money together for a deposit. Oy!! My knee was KILLING me on Saturday night when we came home. We also started planning the Silent Auction for our church this year (it's going to be on June 9th), a big church picnic for June 23rd, selling engraved bricks to make a nice brick patio, etc... It's the 150th anniversary of the church this year and they want to get a lot of really neat things done for it. The bricks and picnic are part of this.

Christian's bday is on April 15th...he'll be 4!!! *falling over in shock* I need to get started on planning his party on the 22nd. Of course, it's going to be a Cars party. He won't have anything else!! LOL So, if you have any great ideas for this, I'm all up for it!!

Can you believe Easter is this weekend??!!? I can't believe it! It seems like it always comes so fast. We go to the sunrise 7:00 am service and then the men of the church prepare a HUGE breakfast for when it's over. It is SO good!! I look forward to this every year and this one is no different. It's been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Then, we all go back to my parents' house and eat Easter "dinner" at around 1:00. It's nice because then we have the rest of the day to relax and enjoy things. We celebrate with Jarrett's family the night before Easter every year. It has always been their tradition and it really makes it easier for us in the long run too!! :)

I am SO behind in my designing and my CT work!!! Ugh...I need to get my butt in gear. There are so many things that have a high priority right now that it's hard to get them in order, KWIM? I need there to be 48 hours in a day and even then I STILL don't know if it would all get done! LOL.

Hope you're all doing well! I promise I'll try to stay better at bloggin' this week! {{HUGS}}