Queen of the Day!

YAY!!!! I'm the Queen of the Day at DST today!! :) :) :) I am so excited and so flattered. Stop over and drop a line or feel free to ask any questions you want. Here is a little gift for all of you as well just because I'm SO excited! Use the coupon code queen627 for 50% off my entire store through Friday (6-29).

SO busy with house stuff...
We are still trying to sell our house and looking to build a new one. We spoke to a builder and have it narrowed down to 2 different house plans with some updates. The Lexington and The Jamestown. It's just amazing how much all the upgrades come to and once you figure in the cost of the property, it is just obnoxious!!! We need to figure out what we can afford and then go from there. We're going tomorrow night to see a Jamestown that is under construction to try to get a better idea of what it looks like "in person" and not just "on paper". The home builder had a model of the Lexington at their site and it was SO pretty! We actually didn't like it "on paper", but loved it "in person". Now we're seeing pros and cons to both plans and need to figure out where they fall money-wise.

Speaking of money...
Just a quick rant... Why is everything so gosh darned expensive?!?!? I swear, it is unbelievable!! I'm lucky enough to be a stay at home mom, but the "play money" just isn't there, KWIM? It just amazes me what life costs.... Okay...rant over! ;)

That's it
Just a quick blog post today. I still have to download the camera to get off the camping pictures to show all of you. I promise I'll get on that today! ;) (ooppssss...did I say that DAYS ago??!?!? LOL) Thanks to all of you for being such wonderful friends!! {{HUGS}}

Whew...SO busy!!

I know that I have been SO totally neglecting my blog. Life has been so hectic and insane! Here is the last couple of weeks in a nutshell:

~ Ava turned 2!

Yes...my baby girl turned 2 years old on June 2nd. It is seriously so hard to believe! We had a girly monkey themed bday party. She is just obsessed with Curious George and all things monkey! Here are a few pics for you all... (isn't her dress the cutest?!?!)













~Church things...

We had our Silent Auction this past weekend. I was in charge of the whole thing and it went very well. A TON of work goes into it, but it is totally worth it in the end. We're also planning a big picnic for the whole congregation this summer and also selling engraved bricks for a patio that we want to install this fall. Overall...just FULL of stuff to do! Bible School starts next week and Christian is going to go at least part of the week.

~ Designing & CT stuff

Some new templates are in the store and I'm working on some more. I'm having a blast with them and I just love working at Elemental Scraps! You really need to check out the store and the great designers there if you haven't already. I'll be getting some more new goodies in there next week! As for now...here are some previews of the new stuff!

Point it Out


Backyard Adventure


Ray of Light


Steppin Down



~House Selling stuff...

We still have the house up for sale. We haven't really advertised it at all except for putting a sign in the yard. We've been too busy to put the time and effort into selling it really hard and now is the time for us to step it up. We're hoping to buy the property off of my aunt that has been in my family forever. We are really hoping to buy and build a house within the next 9-12 months. Keep your fingers crossed that we can get it all figured out!

~ That's it & a coupon

Not going to bore you to death anymore! ;) If you've read this far, here's a coupon for you to use at my store at Elemental Scraps. Valid for $3.00 and until July 1, 2007. Code is loyalreader I'm going to try to get better at blogging regularly again and hopefully get you all to start reading again! :) Have a great day! {{HUGS}}

50% off my entire store AND last day for free...

Mega grab bag at Elemental Scraps! When you spend $10 in the store, you receive a HUGE grab bag worth over $40 including the June mega kit by the ES designers.

My entire store (Melanie Colosimo) is 50% off through June 8th. Including all of my new templates too! SO...RUN OVER! You don't want to miss this!



I promise...
that I'll be back to regular blogging soon. Life has been SO hectic recently and I haven't had time to devote to it. Sorry! I miss you girls! {{{HUGS}}}

I'm back!!!

I'm back!!!!

Thursday was Christian's preschool end of the year program and it was TOO CUTE FOR WORDS!!! :) He looked so grown-up in front of everyone and of course, proceeded to ham it up for the audience. Yes...he likes to steal all the attention! LOL He was one of 3 boys who got to come up front, wear fireman hats, and sing a special fireman song....too adorable! He's been walking around the house singing for weeks now and I just love hearing his little voice. During the program, he was so cute. I heard him lean over to his little friend, point, and say "there's my momma and daddy over there!". LOL Guess he was excited! There was also a part where they needed a partner and another little boy didn't want to be partner with a girl. And guess who was there willing to take his place!!!! ;) My little studman, Christian, ditched the boy he was partner with to grab the little girl. Too funny!!! We went out to lunch with the in-laws afterwards and then left right away for our trip to the Outer Banks.

As you all know, Jarrett was the best man and it was an "adult only" wedding. It KILLED me to leave the kids with my in-laws for so long. I seriously was upset for hours into the trip. We stopped in Norfolk, VA on Thursday night and I got to meet up with a digi scrapper that I'm good friends with, Hollie! We had a great time and it was so fun to meet her! Thanks, sweetie! I had a blast!!!

Friday, we drove the rest of the way to Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks) and started on the "wedding duties". We had SO much to do and it was NON-STOP through Saturday night. They had the wedding at a bed & breakfast and the owner did hardly anything to help! We had to set up tables, chairs, move a wood pile that was near the wedding site, set up centerpieces, rolling silverware, etc....UNBELIEVABLE!!! We worked our butts off the whole time and it looked beautiful when it was done, but whew...we were whooped!! The maid of honor didn't do much at all, so I was the unofficial "helper" to everyone! LOL They are good friends and I wanted their wedding to be "perfect", so we all did what we could to make it that way.

We actually got to spend time together and do what we wanted on Sunday! We went to the Hatteras lighthouse, walked on the beach, stopped at a few stores/restaurants, stopped to see Grave Digger (the monster truck) to take lots of pics for Christian, then stayed overnight in Front Royal, VA. We woke up, went to some beautiful caverns, and started homeward. We stopped to shop/eat and ended up at my in-laws to get the kids. We had to get all their stuff together and hear about the weekend. We were all SO GLAD to see each other!!! I haven't stopped hugging them yet! LOL

Jarrett took off work yesterday to spend time with the kiddos and we had SO much fun! It was Christian's last day of school, we took them to Toys R Us, and went to the zoo. Then, we went to my parent's house to eat dinner with them and let them see the kids. What a nice, relaxing day!

Anyways, I'm glad to be back and start eating right/exercising again. I gained 4 pounds while gone!!!! I missed all you girlies! I'll post some pics after I get them all downloaded/sorted.

Literally losing my mind...

Ugh...I am seriously starting to lose it. I have NO time to do anything but work on the house. :( HELP!!! I can't wait until the damn thing is just on the market and sold. Bad attitude, I know...but I'm sick of working on it. Never-friggin-ending!

Worked on the house all weekend and didn't even get to enjoy all the NSD festivities. HUGE bummer! I did jump into a chat at DST on Saturday night hosted by some of us Elemental Scraps designers. Had a flippin' blast! I just love chatting with you girls and giving away goodies! :) That was only an hour...then back to work. I did a little bit of shopping. Went to the Lilypad, Gina Miller Designs, Amanda Rockwell, Funky Playground Designs and got LOTS of new goodies! Also, did I tell you that I'm a guest CT for Traci Murphy this month?!?! Lucky me, I know... She is so friggin' awesome. I just love her to death! :)

I decided to extend my sale on all my designs at ES until Mother's Day, so run and shop if you have any money left! 50% off and free gift w/$5 purchase. I also put up a new kit and a new template. (You can see my first Traci Murphy LO on the template preview)

Feelin' Flirty

Tiny Bubbles

Bday Pics...
And a little late...but here are a couple pics from Christian's bday party. Cute, huh?!?! I still can't believe my baby turned FOUR!!! (not edited at all....excuse it, please!) ;)

With all the "traffic light colors" balloons...


Again...we LOVE balloons!


See little peanut crying in the background? Guess who blew that Cars hornblower thing right in her face 2 seconds before this? LOL... Hence, the HUGE smile on Christian's face!!


The whole group of kiddos eating dinner. They are SO darn cute and seeing them all together was a blast. These are the kids of my 2 best friends. (Missy, if you want a full sized version of this, let me know...I have some other cute ones of Dylan & Brady too!!)


Blowing out the candles. Yes...I make my own cakes. My mom did it when I was little and it's something I like to carry on. They aren't the most extravegant, but we love them!

And that's it!
I've slacked too much here...need to get back to work! My dear friend, Andrea Burns, tagged me but I'm going to have to wait to do it. :( I promise I will though! Have a great week girls!! {{{HUGS}}}

My gosh...I'm a slacker!! LOL

When it comes to blogging, that is! ;) I have seriously been SO busy that I don't even know how I'm going to keep up with it all. Here is what life has coming up for us...

-Still trying to get projects done around the house to get it up for sale. We're hoping to get the sign out this weekend and a blog up and running for it too. Keep your fingers crossed that it's a QUICK sale!!

-Trying to figure out where we stand on building a house. Of course...it all comes down to money and what we can afford. (Doesn't everything in life?!?!?) We're getting a piece of property tested to see if we are able to put in a sandmound since it doesn't attach to the main sewage line. We also started looking at modular houses since building from scratch isn't in our budget. I was amazed when I started looking at these!!! I had a stereotype in my head of what they were going to look like and I was SO wrong! They are gorgeous!! We found a model that we just love. Big, open floorplan and we would have a HUGE basement to finish too! YAY! Now to only figure out the other specifics....

-On top of the projects at home, we've been packing/moving furniture/de-cluttering the house to make it more "showable" to people. We rented a storage facility and have been making trips there. TONS of work!

-Parties/Baptisms/Bridal Shower...all parties that we had/have to go to in the month of May/June. Ugh...

-Ava's bday is June 2nd. Still haven't written thank you notes from Christian's party. Still haven't posted pics for you of it... Our 6th anniversary is on June 1st.

-Wedding in the Outer Banks, NC in a few weeks. (10 hour drive for us) Jarrett is the best man and it is for his best friend, Jason. It's a small wedding and is an adult reception only. MEANING....my poor kiddos are being left here while we go!! :( I am totally bummed about it and don't want to leave them to go. We're leaving on Thursday afternoon and coming home on Monday evening. (yes...we are driving the 10 hours!!!)

-Silent Auction at my church June 9th. SO much planning and stuff left to do for it. I'm in charge of the whole thing (of course) and I don't know how it's all gonna get done.

-150th anniversary for my church. Activities all year long for this and I'm a co-chairperson. Starting in May/June we are going to sell engraved bricks to make a cute little patio.

Not to mention, my CT work, designing, etc...

UGH....I am losing my mind!! I am tired, both physically and mentally, 24 hours a day. I honestly don't know how I'm going to make it through the next few months. Jarrett & I are both irritable with everyone and everything. (more me though, of course...) I just hope that things go well and fall into place quickly. I don't want to drag this all on forever, KWIM? Please say a little prayer that it all comes together and that we have a quick sale on the house.

That being said....SALE!!!
I'm having a sale for National Scrapbooking Day!

~ Now through Monday ~

All items by me are 50% off at Elemental Scraps AND...you get my new Spring is in the Air doodles totally FREE with a $5 purchase!! YAY!



AND...if you've read through this whole boring blog post and have continued to read even though I've taken a break, here's an additional coupon for ya! ;) Use the code bored2tears for $1.00 off your purchase!

Happy Friday!
There is a chat tomorrow night at DST from 10-11 pm EST with the designers from Elemental Scraps. (including me!) Be sure to check it out if you have a chance! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy all the digi sales! {{{{HUGS}}}}

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}

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?!?!



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}}}}

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

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

See ya!

On that note...I'm done ranting for the day. Hope you all are having a good week! {HUGS}

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....

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

Now

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! :)

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}}

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!

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."

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! :)



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}}}}

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}}}}

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! :)



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}}

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}}

Nice Weekend!

It was a very nice, relaxing, and productive weekend and let me tell ya...it was MUCH needed! we went looking at modular homes on Saturday with my parents. These are the homes that you order to be what you want and they are delivered to your property in 4-6 weeks. Nice, huh!??! ;) So...my expectations were pretty low just because I've never seen them before. I was absolutely SHOCKED at what I saw!! They were very nice inside and much bigger than I expected. For a LOT less money than building from scratch with a contractor, we could get a bigger house. Anyways, that's just one of the options we have right now. And it's not at the top of the list either.

At the top of the list is moving into my parents' house. They are talking about the fact that it's too much for them to handle now and that they want to downsize. They live in a gorgeous stone house that is almost 180 yrs old on 3 acres of property and a VERY quiet street. This house has been in my family forever and I would love to live there. We would put an addition on and renovate inside a bit to make it more "us", but financially it is still the best bet for us. We just need to work everything out with my parents and my sister to see if it's going to happen. Don't you wish that money grew on trees to make life easier?!?!?

Date Night
My parents kept the kids overnight on Saturday and Jarrett & I had "date night". This consisted of dinner out and then shopping around to see how much money it was going to take to fix up the house before we sell it. We also watched 2 movies over the weekend. Starsky & Hutch and Friday Night Lights. I have to say I wasn't impressed in the least by either one. They weren't horrible, but not good by any stretch of the imagination either!! We've been watching movies more often and actually using the Blockbuster Online that we have and it is so nice!! I've been staying off the computer as much too and it's a well needed break I think.

Productive Sunday
We picked up the kiddos, painted our split rail fence, raked out the flowerbeds and cut back the dead stuff on my perennials, raked up leaves by our fence in the backyard, picked up TONS of sticks, and just overall cleaned up a bit outside. The kids were playing and just enjoying the gorgeous weather and Christian has proven himself to be quite the little helper!! (Guess who picked up 97% of the sticks?!?!?) :)

Misc Mumbo Jumbo
Here are a few little odds & ends...
~ The weather is GORGEOUS here the last few days!! 70 degrees and sunny!

~ I finished a couple LOs and will post them in the next couple days.

~ I have been digi shopping crazy this past week!! I got TONS of goodies at Gina Miller's sale last week and finally caved in and got some Lilypad goodies too. I seriously need to go on a spending freeze though...I'm buying more than I'm using!!!

~ I'm working on some new stuff for the store. Hopefully I'll get them done in the next couple of days.

~ Have an Anniversary Committee meeting tonight at my church. Yippeee!!! (dripping with sarcasm there)

~ Having the in-laws over for dinner tomorrow night.

~ Christian gave me crap again today about not wanting to go to school. Ugh. I hate that!!! Today it actually started before we even left the darn house!!! Then, he refused to get out of the car in the parking lot of the school. {rolling eyes} He was fine 2 seconds after I left and happy as a clam when I picked him up. Aye-yi-yi....what am I gonna do with that kid!?!??!

Sayonara
That's it! I'm going to enjoy the weather and open some windows!! Hope you all have a great day! {{HUGS}}

Been a LONG week...

Ugh. So sorry I haven't been posting this week! :( It's been a rough one! As a lot of you know, I do a lot of volunteer work for my church and this past weekend, we started working on our Silent Auction (which I am the head of). We got together to stuff almost 500 letters the other night and there is just so much "behind-the-scenes" stuff to get done for it. I'm also a co-chairperson for our 150th anniversary committee and there is a whole year full of stuff going on for that too.

Other than that keeping me busy, it's just been a crappy week. The weather is rainy and gross, Christian had a fit when I dropped him off at school on Tuesday again. :( Yes...I had to leave him crying again AND it was their picture day! Then, Wednesday, I got a horrible stomach thing that was just killing me. It was so bad, that I didn't even take Christian to school yesterday because I didn't think I could handle it with my stomach!! :( UGH...it's still not feeling 100%, but it does feel better. Also, my knee has been killing me! As a lot of you know, I had surgery on it a year ago and it hasn't been the same since. How in the world can I only be 30 yrs old and be falling apart so bad!?!?!??

Anyways...enough for the downer talk. I'm hoping that next week is WAY better and I promise I'll be on here more often updating. As for now, I'm going to take a shower and chill out. I started working on a really cute kit last week and haven't gotten around to touching it again. Maybe I'll do that too! Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in!! {{HUGS}}

Fun new product and storewide sale!!

The last few days have been pretty uneventful. Christian was off of school yesterday for an inservice day so we just got to bum around. It's rainy and cold here too, which just makes you tired and want to stay inside. KWIM? I cleaned the house a little and got some new stuff up in the store too! Productive, huh!?!?

New products
So, I love polka dots! I thought a fun line using them would be a great idea since they are so versatile. This is the first in the series. Polka Party - Primary Colors. They are available seperate or together in a bundle pack for the best bang for your buck! AND...everything in my store is 40% off until Sunday! :) YAY!

Papers


Ribbons


Doodles


Bundle Pack


Storewide Sale
Also, Elemental Scraps is having a storewide 40% off sale this weekend! Good through Sunday and valid on almost everything! So, go check it out! It's a great group of talented designers!!



St. Patty's Day
Anyone have any plans? I wanted to go to the parade downtown, but it's going to be too cold. :( I'm not taking the kiddos out in that crap, KWIM? We're going to go to my parent's house and have a few beers, wear our green (of course), and watch The Quiet Man. This movie is a tradition for us to watch every St. Patty's Day. It is a WONDERFUL movie and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it! I've been reading a thread at DST about being a "leprechaun" to your kids. This is THE cutest idea ever! I'm thinking they might be too young for it this year, but I am definitely keeping these ideas for next year. I'm also going to do a couple of the little things like dying their milk green. :)

So, anyways....enjoy your weekend and your St. Patty's Day!! {{HUGS}}