Good Monday morning!

Howdy All!!! Hope you all had a good weekend - we sure did here! Lots of family stuff and hanging out - not too much work either which is always nice!

Kid Updates:

I figured it was time for a little kid update for those of you who don't see Braelyn and Selah a whole lot.

Braelyn: at three years old she is just getting so big. There are times when I look at her and think "wow - she is just beautiful and I am in big trouble". I know, I know - I am her mom and am supposed to think my kid is beautiful, but honestly - I am worried. Also worried that her little attitude will get the best of her too though. One of my fears is that she will be a little snot - I hated the snotty girls in school and DO NOT want my daughter to be one of "them". She mostly pulls the attitude with just us - she is generally well mannered around others! She is so into me having this baby which is so fun. When I was pregnant with Selah she didn't really have a clue - she was 20 months old only when I HAD Selah. Now she keeps saying "mommy - you can't pick me up you might hurt the baby in your tummy" and stuff like that. She is watching my belly growing ever so fast and notices it daily now. Just this morning she pat my belly and said "Mommy, is she getting big and strong in there so she can come out?" So cute! She now is only saying baby sister too which is good. She's off the baby boy kick as we are too! :) Fun stuff - a three year old - she amazes me every day!

Selah: 17 months old. Stinker is my word for her! She is a little naughtier than Braelyn was at this age. Throws a few more fits, etc... So cute and getting so big. I ask her where baby is and she tries to pull down my shirt and makes me flash everyone -LOL. Her latest is singing. Now I love to sing - I sing, hum, or whistle with EVERY song on the radio - no matter if I know the song or not - LOL. Selah and Braelyn have become big singers too. Braelyn sings really good - even on tune most the time. Selah - well she can sing songs like "You are my Sunshine" almost all the way thru. Amazing to me. I guess since I have been singing it to her since she was baby baby that she just has it memorized by now. She sings to a few other songs too with my dad - just not every word. So she too will be about 20 months when this new little baby girl comes along!

And now a few quick LO's I finished up lately!

Polishes - my LO for the Hodge Podge Challenge! This is my second time joining the challenge - love it! This site has inspired two different LO's for me that I would have never gotten to doing probably. The challenge for this was to scrap what makes you a girly girl. For me it's my polish collection and love for painted nails!!!

Rolling - This LO I did for Amy Martin's Featured Product challenge over at the-Lilypad and DST! Lynette won last weeks challenge with Amy's sequin frames - which is super cool b/c I know Lynette a little bit, and found out she won $10 to Amy's store thru her blog entry! Sooooo worth playing along! These painted shapes are 45% off too this week!!!

In Full Swing - Just a for fun LO!!! Can you tell I have been LOVING Nancy Comelab's cluster frames! I have to admit - at one point I was not sure of the frames that were coming out that were "lifted" off the page. My biggest argument of them was "will these look too fake/digital when under a page protector in a book"? That was my question to myself b/c I want my LO's to look "real" not necessarily digital very often! But now that I bought these packs when Nancy had her huge SALE I cannot stop using them! I have even tweaked them a little by taking photos away and still making them work! Very versitile! So this was a fun fun LO for me of Selah!

Just working today, off tomorrow, half day work Wed. and work Thur. - and then Fri. we head up to a cottage with 3 other families for some fun play time!!! Braelyn is so excited to play with all her friends at the cottage! Looks like the weather will be decent - warm for swimming - lets just keep the rain away! Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Weekend Again???

Yippeee....it's the weekend again! Did that go fast for everyone else??? Nothing monumental planned for out little family - looks like a fairly decent weekend weather wise!

Credits Here

This was such a fun LO to do! I have been wanting to do a LO with diamond cut papers lately - not sure why, but just felt the urge! I followed the diamond theme all the way thru the LO - there happened to be diamonds on the postcard and then used Shabby Princess' diamond gems - too fun! I also used a bunch of different designers stuff which is always fun. Now when I first started scrapbooking I used ONLY one kit - and it had to be a KIT. I have come a long way in giving up that mind-set!

Scrapping these pictures reminded me that we need to do our Sunday night beach visit again. We head out to our state park on Lake Michigan (about a 10-15 min. drive only!) and pick up a hot pizza on the way. Cooler packed, kite stowed away and off we go! So much fun and the kids love it. I love it also for the reason of there is no clean-up really - just throw it all away and wipe the kids with a quick wet-one!

Couple great little sales going on in the digi-world! Little Dreamer Designs is having their grand opening!!! There are so many things by Michelle that I really want, but probably won't buy yet b/c I have gone WAY over my scrapping budget the last few weeks. There are a couple great freebies to start with though!!! Janet Phillips just added her June grab bag to her store! I have bought two of her grab bags and if you like templates and stuff you will NOT be disappointed! I have found that her grab bags are worth well over the $2 you spend!!! I have already spent $22 on this credit card statement and that is $22 more than what I normally do - yikes!!! Hope hubby doesn't see that bill - LOL!!! So needless to say I will not be buying anything else - gotta be responsible!!! And who am I kidding I have a lot of new and fun stuff to keep me busy for a while again!

Had our third house showing last night. Again, the people seemed to really like it and they have their house for sale, but I am sure it will be a waiting game. All three couples gave really nice comments about our house which is always nice. I would hate to go thru the hassle of cleaning and making the house presentable just to have them say "we just don't like it". I am sure that is so frustrating and it happens a ton! So we will wait and see if this comes to anything. We are in NO hurry to sell at this point in our lives b/c of the baby coming and Kyle's work getting busy starting this month, but we will go with whatever happens. In this market we could wait a while for the other people's houses to sell! So that is the word on that for those who have been wondering!

OK - off to play with kiddos - maybe head to the park in our back yard! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Tag!!!

So Amy tagged me and I am a little late at getting to it - but here it is!!!


1. regular or diet soda: Definitely regular pop, and since I am pregnant I try to only drink caffiene free!

2, salt or pepper: SALT - so much worse for you, but I don't use pepper on anything - drives my hubby nuts!!!

3. hot or cold weather: I am a hot weather person - hate Michigan winters - I agree that it is easier to cool down than warm up!!! I do love air conditioning too though!

4. dogs or cats: dog person - and only my dog - LOL. never been a HUGE animal person.

5. dieting or exercise: can I say neither??? I don't diet or exercise - how horrible is that???

6. cooking or doing dishes: Definitely doing dishes - I am not a good cook - although I do it almost every day!

7. sleeping or shopping: sleep - not a huge shopper

8. Red Lobster or Outback Steakhouse: We don't frequent either one of those alot, but I like each for different reasons. Red Lobster for the rolls - although I hate seafood. Outback for the steak.

9. classical or hip hop music: Neither again - I guess I am picky. I listen to christian rock mostly - not a huge music person.

10. dancing or playing sports: I don't dance or play sports.

11. back rub or foot rub: BOTH?!

12. fruits or vegetables: fruits for sure. I do like veggies too, but fresh fruits are the BEST.

13. Grey's Anatomy or House: Don't really watch either although I have seen House a couple times and never have watched Grey's.

14. coffee or tea: I do drink tea - with sugar and honey - only lipton reg. tea - none of the fancy stuff!!!

15. curling up with a good book or a night out on the town: night out on the town!

16. straight or curly hair: straight

17. skirts or shorts: shorts/capris

18. burgers/hotdogs or chinese food: hmmm... I guess burgers and dogs b/c the only chinese food I eat is the sweet and sour chicken with no sweet and sour sauce!!! But man I do like that and the fried rice!

20. sports car or SUV: SUV all the way - need the space and I like feeling higher up! Never been a car person!

OK - peeps - short and sweet! Hope you're having a great week so far!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! I am sure not too many people are going to read this necessarily today so I also hope that you had a great relaxing day!

Our weekend has been super busy. I cannot even re-hash all that we have done, but we have been busy!!! We did take Braelyn to see Shrek Third - she liked it I think - we did too. There was a lot of adult humor in this one that I know she did not even get. A couple grill outs, and last night I actually last minute got to go scrap with the girlfriends while the guys were at one house watching the Tigers and the Pistons lose their games! Kids were in bed, and I found a sitter last minute!!! Good stuff going on!

This morning we had a Memorial Day parade - so cool to sit and clap for the all the veterans that walk past! Such an honor that we can live in a free country. So cool that the men and women fighting right now even for OTHER countries freedoms - Thanks so all the soldiers!!! So the parade was about an hour long and then we went over to my mom's again for a nummy nummy brunch!!! We're talking Papas y huevos (potatoes and eggs - yummola - my sister in law is spanish and she whips up a great tortilla with fried potatoes and scrambled eggs!), french toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon, etc.... Tons of leftovers. This afternoon we are just chilling - Kyle mowed - I took down the tent that Kyle and Braelyn slept in the other night, & posting some LO's. Soon we will head over to Kyle's parents for some pontoon boat riding, swimming in the lake and eating some more good grub!!!

Just got a call for a house showing again! That's three in like 2 weeks - very cool. The couple that came thru on Thurs. did call back for some more info and seem quite interested - we'll see if it pans out. The person that just called wanted to come thru maybe today, but of course I cannot have my house ready like right now so we declined for today (plus we have to leave soon for our party), and so they are coming thru Thur. night. Crazy that we have more showings for sale by owner than we did ever with realtor??? Crazy. Anyway - that is the news on the home front!

And finally here are a few LO's with some of the new digi stuff out!

Credits Here - These sequin frames are Amy Martin's highlighted item this week over at

the-Lilypad - 35% OFF!!!

Credits Here - New Playground kit by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs - template by Janet Phillips

Credits Here - Flea Market Baskets kit by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs - super kit!!! - This LO was done for the Hodge Podge challenge!

Credits Here - And this LO was done with the collab kit by Ahsley Olsen and Miss Hunibuni over at the digishoppe! I believe right now it is only $5.00 - and it is a HUGE kit! I know Dawn and Ash are working on a girl collab kit too!

So I did a fair amount of scrapping and an even fairer amount of family time!!! Just good stuff all around! Hope you stuck with me through this LONG post! Enjoy your shorter week!

Big Digi Stuff this weekend!

First of all - thanks for all the congrats on the healthy looking babe and the girl!!! We really weren't that shocked since I figured it was girl all along - very fun! We are beginning to talk names which is always fun!!! Don't think I will be sharing any though - we do keep that a secret!!!

Second - oh my word - some fun stuff going on in the digital scrapbooking world! One of the teams I am on is Audrey Neals. A week or so ago she gave her team links to a new kit she was going to put up at a new store! I got to work on a LO and then held on to it until it was okay to post! Well this morning I got the okay to post! So that is right - Audrey Neal will now be selling at Oscraps. I have not previously shopped this store so it was great to be introduced to another great site - a few good freebies there too!

Here are the full credits

Then - as I was catching up on my blog feed reading, I of course visited Janet's blog. She has got a HUGE sale going on at her store this weekend - WOW - I am in heaven! So head on over and grab something at a great price - I am a template junkie so I will be getting the CD album template for sure!

Dawn and Ashley over at TheDigiShoppe have been working on a few kits together - the boy one (Mr. Funk) just came out - super fun! Have to do a fun LO with that today!!!

ShabbyMissJennDesigns just might have something up her sleave too for later this weekend!!! That's all I am saying about that! :)

So - just a little enabling for you today - as if there isn't enough enabling in all the forums and stuff! Since my house was all cleaned for the open house yesterday I get to scrap during naps later - that is my goal - 3 LO's again - LOL - like that will happen!!! I am vowing to stay off of the internet part of computer later - just SCRAPPING!

I hope you all have fun stuff planned for the weekend. Kyle is going to sleep in a tent with Braelyn tonight after dinner out in Grand Haven and walking the pier. Tomorrow is just a fun day - go with the flow - NO WORK!!! I have to make my hubby stick to that. I think we will try to take Braelyn to see Shrek 3!!! Might have to take Selah with unless we can go during her nap and someone can have her sleep at their house- we'll see! Tomorrow night is friends hangout (with kids for most of us). Sunday is pretty basic - church and lunch at mom's. Monday is the Memorial Day Parade and then brunch at mom's and dinner at mother-in laws!!! My husband's parents live on a little lake and have a pontoon and I think last year we spent some time on that - good times! So again - hope you all have good fun family time planned too - that is our goal is good family time together!

Baby #3 is.......

A GIRL!!! Can you even believe it - what are the odds??? OK - I know the odds are actually pretty good, but come on - a boy would be nice too! I had a feeling all along that this was a girl growing inside of me, but you still hold out hope for that boy - you know?! Kyle and I were both just glad that the ultrasound looked great and that "she" looks good and healthy! I am so blessed to have such text book pregnancies! Praise God for another healthy looking babe!

We really have come to terms with the fact that it is another girl - the whole sister thing and having them so close does excite me!!! I am the type though that won't lie, and so I will say that Kyle and I both did KIND of want a boy this time. I am just being honest and I can assure you that this little girl WILL be welcomed with open loving arms and will be treated the same way as Braelyn and Selah!!! We are over the boy thing already! So that was our big news of the day - just getting the ultrasound - fun stuff!

Braelyn's birthday went GREAT! She was so excited for her birthday and we have had a busy couple days because of it! We had a party with my family on Sunday afternoon after Sunday lunch which was great! I had gotten her a Cold Stone Cake for that party and my mom (being the great grammie that she is) got a pinata for the party too! Monday I worked and had a low key night, and then Tue. night we had Braelyn's party with Kyle's family. Tue. was her ACTUAL birthday. That party was great too - we picked up pizza and Braelyn got her Dora cake that she requested. I think I got some great pics from both parties and will HAVE to post them when I get a spare moment!

Honestly - my hubby comes home and I have no time on the computer! That's good though - he is pretty fun to hang out with! This afternoon though we got a call for another house showing. Stressfull!!! They are coming thru tomorrow morning first thing, and I work so I need to leave the house spotless and beautiful (all for nothing usually!). At least we are seeing some action on it - this is the second showing in just over a week - the most we have had in 1+ years - LOL! The first couple loved the house and as of last Fri. hadn't made any decisions either way it sounded like. This couple had a contingent offer on their house, but might take their house off of the market b/c they have not found ANYTHING they like - which is crazy to me. Our area has such a saturated market that you could find EVERYTHING you would want - LOL! Anyway so tonight Kyle was out spreading our bark and mowing while I did the indoor cleaning! Our yard looks phenomenal I think - I LOVE fresh new bark! I love the indoors all clean too, but that just never stays that way for long!

Hmmm....So many fun things we did these past few days, but I can't even begin to touch on them all! I do want to shout out to all the scrappers to check out the new Lilypad gallery - wow is it smokin!!! If you leave that gallery and still don't feel inspired then I don't know what will knock your socks off gals! What a talented group of teams and people posting over there! I will say that it is not real tough to knock out a GREAT page with those great designers! Did you all see too that Nancy Comelab has hopped on over to the pad??? I snagged up her 10 new clusters with that fabulous deal that is going on tomorrow and Fri. yet!!!

Here is a LO I did with lots of Lilypad goodies - check out those woven mats - might be my new favorites by Amy Martin!

OK OK OK - I guess I will leave you with a few pics - but then I am getting to BED!!!

Just so you know - it is VERY rare for Braelyn to crack a smile! For those of you that know her this is a common face. For those that don't "know" her - this is a normal face - LOL! She is pretty straight faced no matter how excited she is! Cracks me up when I go thru pictures!

Have to sleep!!! NIGHT!

Some more LO's and pics!

I don't think I've blogged this much in quite some time - especially during the weekend! I am getting so much done still too! This morning the kiddos kind of let me sleep in which was wonderful - 8:00am is sleeping in to me! Braelyn did come in at 6:30, but she fell back asleep with me. I just spoke with Kyle which is always nice - just good to hear his voice and have the kiddos talk to him.

Here are the flowers I got planted yesterday. Just a small little flower bed, and they look somewhat sparse now until they fill in nice and full in a few weeks! Love spring!

Now to mow the yard and then fo to a little carnival at my parents church, and then finally after afternoon naps off to Target to pick up the presents for Braelyn. I think from Kyle and I we are going to get her a little picnic table for our deck. They love to play on our deck and we have a little house that she got last year for her birthday that sits on our enclosed deck. The nice thing is that they can play out there together while I clean and I know they can't go anywhere! I also have to pick up a gift from Braelyn's great grandma and grandpa since they don't really shop. I think from them I will get her some sort of little backpack. And from my mom (who will go with me this afternoon) I will get the fisher price digital camera. Braelyn is always wanting my camera and telling me to take pictures - she will like that!

So that's my day today - fun stuff - still enjoying my computer/scrapping time, but getting ready for hubby to be back home too!

Here are two more LO's that I had in the "vault" from a while back. Just added a few finishing touches and called them good!

Credits found here

Credits found here

So I am off now to the carnival, got the lawn mowed (I am doing this post in segments - LOL)!

Tonight it will be bedtime at 8:00 and finishing up some more LO's!!! Hope you all have a GREAT weekend and fabulous Sunday!