Oh, The weather outside is frightful...

and it's not much better inside. We had a frightful night last night. Around 12:30 I started to feel nauseaus and so I layed down for a bit. About an hour later I threw up. It continued until about 7:00 - out both ends. I had thought that hopefully it was just hitting me b/c I had gotten a flu shot while at the Dr. on Wed. I also started some new meds that had side effects similar to what I was feeling so I hopefull that no one else in the family would get it. Well, by 8:00 Kyle had started and shortly after I got the kiddos to bed (while I was still in a state of pure exhaustion), Selah threw up in bed and then Braelyn. I was back an forth from one room to the next all night long. I was also busy keeping the laundry going all night. Thank goodness that Kyle let me stay in my bed all day yesterday to prepare. Unfortunately he couldn't be much help at night b/c he was doing the same thing as the girls. The only one spared was sweet little one year old Gracyn - hopefully she doesn't get it either. So here we sit this morning hunkered down in the house today relaxing, disinfecting, cleaning, laundry - all that good stuff. Church was canceled due to the horrific weather out. Fri. morning we got a huge storm that canceled schools, and now this morning a huge storm that canceled churches. Ugh. I guess I am glad we are stayin in. We were supposed to have quite a busy morning at church too with me having to spotlight our new nursery committee/sign-up, and some stuff in our Fusion group. I felt bad last night that we weren't going to be able to make it, but now everything is canceled.

I haven't blogged in a while - guess maybe I am/was feeling burnt out on it. From the week before Thanksgiving until Mid Jan. it is just really busy - I know you all know what I mean. Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed with all there is to do. We are doing a VERY scaled back Christmas - there are 3 presents under the tree and that is all there will be - other than some stocking things. This year we spent more on supporting others than we did on our family and it feels good. I am thankful that we will be healthy hopefully on Christmas Eve and Christmas day! Our party on Sat. night got canceled (which is good b/c we were sick), due to one of my cousins little daughters' being ill and in the hospital, so that party I guess will get rescheduled.

Other than that its just been christmas pageants, shopping, and baking going on around here!

On the scrapping front - I did muster up a LO this week using SMJ's new kit: Rock Star - girl edition. And thankfully Janet Phillips templates saved me again - these things are a lifesaver when you are low on inspiration or time!

That's all I can muster up today gals - I think I will take another nap today - Kyle's doing it now, so I'd say it's my turn next! :) Hope you all stay healthy and if I don't check in before Christmas then I want to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Frustrations & Thanks

Just feeling frustrated lately. To sum it all up...Kyle is cut down to 32 hr. weeks, which is really quite an adjustment financially. I am impatient with my girls and I don't think they like me all that much right now. The economy is a while frustration in and of itself. The nice thing is...God is always faithful. I have no reason at all to doubt that he will remain faithful to Kyle and I and our family, so I just need to hold on to that!

On the other hand...I am thankful that Kyle HAS a job at all right now! I am thankful that my girls do really love me and that they are healthy and adorable! I am thankful that the economy will get better - it always has! I need to just remind myself to view the positive and not the negative!

It's been a busy week around here - we have something every night this week! Monday night was a very nice dinner with Kyle's work group for Christmas. No cruise giveaway which we were VERY bummed about this year, but they did bless us with a little mastercard spending money which is ALWAYS nice this time of year! It was an enjoyable dinner/night out. Last night I had some of my church girlfriends over for some scrapping. I got NOTHING done whatsoever, but it is always nice to chat and hang out! Tonight is Taco Supper at church and Braelyn has class. Tomorrow night I have to jog off to a Nursery Committee meeting. Friday Kyle and I get to go shopping for the girls' christmas presents finally (they are getting VERY little this year - mainly just stocking stuff!), and then nothing at night (I hope to sit on the couch maybe watch a movie and snuggle by the fire - seems like I haven't really connected with Kyle lately!). Sat. we start our first of family Christmas parties! I am most excited for that! We will have a wide variety of yummy food, and then Santa will make a little visit (which the kiddos love!), and then we will all open our little gifts from eachother! This first party is with Kyle's mom and dad and siblings! Sunday we have a busy day wth church stuff. Our Fusion group is having a Christmas breakfast during the Sunday School hour, and then at night the girls get to be in the Christmas Program! There's my week in a nutshell - bet it's pretty boring to some! :)

I have been VERY unmotivated on the scrapping front. I have been doing little things here and there for gifts and stuff, but nothing much for LO's lately. My pictures are all horrible - I wish I actually had some good pictures to work with. May have to borrow a decent camera for a week or something to get some fun pictures!

Well, I hear Gracyn jabbering away in her crib right now - and I am guessing the other two girls aren't far behind, and when they wake up I am going to have to apologize to them for being impatient and unkind to them before naps :). Such is life! :)

Hope everyone's week is going well!

One holiday down...

The biggest one to go! I really do love Nov. and Dec. I hate certain aspects of these months (like snow, shopping, driving, etc...), but there is so much to love too! I love that these two holidays are so close and that we see friends and family so much! I love my kids excitement over all the holiday stuff! I haven't bought too many gifts yet - I just said to Kyle that we really need to get rid of the kids for a night and go out and do some shopping. The thing is, we really don't have a lot to get. For the girls I think we are mainly sticking to stocking type gifts and then I got a great deal on an art easle. I think we are going to get Braelyn some sort of cheap MP3 player too (like a Sansa - with FM tuner as well). So that is about it for that. Kyle and I are not doing any christmas gifts we said, and then that just leaves a couple DVD's for Kyle's side, and a family gift for the family name we drew on our side - that's it! I am done with Kyle's parents and I think for my parents we will all go in together as kids and get them something. Pretty basic Christmas around here and that is my FAVORITE part about it! I can't imagine having to buy something for EVERY little niece or nephew, or something for every extended Christmas party. It's all about hanging out and having a good time if you ask me - I could leave the present thing altogether!

Thanksgiving was great for us - lots of good family time. Braelyn kept saying she was thankful for our family being together - so cute. I think that stems off of Kyle being gone for that week hunting and her having to eat dinner with just mom every night! On Sat. we went out to Grand Rapids (about a 45 minute drive) to go and get some Krispy Kremes and then to sit at the airport and watch planes. We acutally got to see two take off and one land, so that is better than what we normally get to see! :) We like to do this little ritual every couple months and we were long overdue! Love me some Krispy Kremes! My favorites are the blueberry cake donuts and the maple glazed donuts!

Got all my decorations up - I'll share a few pics! I put the tree up when Gracyn was asleep and when she woke up and I took her downstairs she just stared. She did not go up to it and touch it or anything! All three of my girls have been amazing with not getting into things! I will say yesterday she did take an ornament off and bring it to me. I told her NO in a stern voice and brought it back to the tree and told her "no touch" and she never went to the tree again! Love that! So thankful for kids that never got into things like that!

(shocker - the picture is blurry - nice camera)

Pretty standard week this week. A vet appt to take Gauge to, a Dr. Appt. for Gracyn for her follow up flu shot, and Braelyn back into school routine after a week off. Church night again on Wed. night and pretty much this weekend is pretty low key. Starting next Mon. we have Christmas parties every weekend and quite a few throughout the weeks too on weeknights. Let the festivities begin!

I have a few LO's to share too (of course!)

This first one is for The-Lilypad Blog challenge this week - about your christmas wish! Here is one of my many wishes even though I KNOW it will not be a dream come true yet - it's fun to wish! I am also submitting some of my LO's to the Penscrappers Contest (b/c I do a lot of my scrapping on my Bamboo Tablet) and would love it if you would put in a few votes for me! Here is the link to it: http://www.penscrappers.com/2008/12/02/christmas-wish-mandakay/

And this one was a LO i just did for fun b/c I loved these little ballerina goodies! I also entered this one into the contest - VOTE HERE!

Thanks a bunch guys!
Hope you all have a safe and nice week!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I LOVE thanksgiving! I am quite sure it is my favorite holiday b/c it is a day that you just can't help but be thankful! I love the church service on Thanksgiving, I love the lunch with Kyle's family, the kids running around, the dinner party in the evening with my extended family (cream turkey - YUM), and crashing on the couch after kiddos are in bed!!! What is not to like about that? Hope you all can find a million and one things to be thankful for!

Tonight we go out with friends to a local pizza place with all our families - it is so fun to hang out with everyone - it's our little tradition! Tomorrow is the usual busy fun day. Friday I always set up the tree and decorations - I think the kids will be a big help this year, and it should be fun to see what little Gracyn thinks of all of it! Will she pull all of my ornaments off??? No shopping for us - we try to stay in on Black Friday! I think Sat will be a nice "veg" day too - should be a very nice weekend and I think we will all just enjoy having Kyle back around!

I have a LO to share too - shocking right?!

This layout was done with the new Funky Junky collab - Home for the Holidays from The-Lilypad. The pics are all of the progress of our house in the building project. I am so thankful that we are all settled in now, but I wanted to document the process!

Once again - Happy Thanksgiving everyone and hope you all have a great weekend!

MandaKay

My Guy

It's his birthday! We celebrated it earlier this week since he is gone on his birthday! We are so happy to have him in our lives! Happy Birthday Babe! I got Kyle an IPod "in home" radio, and it seems as if I am enjoying it more than he! ;) I got one with an FM radio on it also, so I have been listening to 105.7 non-stop (Full time Christmas music for those of you that don't live near me!) I also have free reign to Kyle's IPod while he is gone, so I am enjoying that as well!

I have been playing with some new kits as well!!! Shabby Miss Jenn has put out some great new holiday goodness! Not only did she release 3 new kits, but she also put out a TON of new albums, blog packs, treat toppers/wrappers, and also a freebie Dec. desktop calendar!!! Go check it out HERE! I did a LO of Kyle and I on our wedding day - we had a winter wedding so the kit Snowy Day worked out great!

For this LO I used the Grandma's X-Mas kit - these are the ornaments I made with some girlfriends last week!

And if you would HOP on over to The-Lilypad you would find a TON of new products over there too! Oooo...I just can't get enough of all these BEAUTIFUL new kits and goodies! This LO was done for the Hodge Podge Art Challenge also!

So there is quick update from me - normal life is just normal - not much different going on. I am looking forward to this week - Braelyn is off from school all week and of course Thanksgiving (did I tell you yet that it is my FAVORITE holiday?).

Light at the end...

of the tunnel. We moved in about 2 weeks ago now and there is finally a little glimpse of light that I can see. It's not a bright bright light yet, but it is light - and I'll take it! I am finally getting things put away where they "belong", and I can actually clean a little bit, now that there aren't boxes everywhere. Maybe just maybe I can begin taking pictures of everything set up!

Speaking of pictures - I have a picture of some ornaments I made Tue. night - they turned out great!

I found these on this website - she has got some great crafty ideas. So anyway, I really had a good time making these last night with my girlfriends.

And I did get a chance to play along with the Lilypad Blog challenge this week - great challenge by Emily Merrit! Here is my LO - it's Gracyn and her love of the kazoo - girl could play that think like a champ by her first birthday!

There are some really great products coming out at The-Lilypad tomorrow and I have been trying to grab a few extra second here and there to create a few fun pages - we'll see if I can finish them up. I have had something EVERY night this week, and this weekend I will be spending some quality family time with Kyle and the girls before he heads our for some hunting soon!

We hope to go see Madagascar 2 this weekend so that should be fun - Braelyn and Selah have Madagascar, so they have seen it quite a few times now! Hopefully we can find someone to take Gracyn for 2 -3 hours - she could NEVER sit thru a movie! Not sure what else is really on our weekend agenda - just hanging out probably!

Have a great day!

Unsettled

Just been having that unsettled feeling lately. Not just in our new home, but in life. I'll take it in paragraphs!

We are all moved into our new home. ALMOST everything is in our possession and with us (I say almost b/c there are still some items at our storage unit, but it is really mainly garage stuff and it doesn't effect me!). I have come to find out that I am kind of a neat freak. I've always known that I don't like messes, but I am constantly being reminded of it in the last week. I hate that there is not a home for everything like I want there to be. I hate the clutter. I hate the boxes. I can't wait until we get a bit more settled in this house! And you all know that once we get settled it will be time to box it all up and move again! :) Such is my life! Anyway, on a more happy note...I LOVE our new house! Here is a little list of the things I love about it!

1. my wood floors (dark hand hewn wood)

2. my gas stove (first time for gas for us - cooks so much better!)

3. the girls each having their own room (they seem to sleep a bit better)

4. my master bath shower (a touch bigger than the one we were used to at my mom's!)

5. my new hutch in living room to house all of my scrapbooks and some kids toys and stuff

6. our half bath (do you remember me telling you this was going to be my favorite room in the whole house??? Well, it just might be!)

7. our fully grown front yard full of grass!!!

8. my little cozy office which will get even better once we get our new couch in there!

There you have it! Once we get more settled I will take more pictures on a day after cleaning it up all pretty and post them - just right now it really doesn't look that much different from the last pics I showed at the end of construction! :)

Life unsettlement:

I am going thru those feelings of being unsettled here on earth. Can't really explain how or why, I just know that I don't belong here. I am made for a better place, which is comforting and yet frustrating all at the same time. I feel unsettled about our country/world's future. I feel unsettled with my role as a parent. So many things that I just feel frightened about. Do any of you have those feelings lately? I know a few of you do just from talking with you lately. Glad I'm not alone!

Anyway, on the scrapping side of life - I've been in a rut lately. I haven't had time to really sit down and scrap some pages. When I am on the computer I am either selling things on Craigslist, checking emails, checking my scrapping, forums, but never really scrapping. I am gonna get behind if I don't watch out. That's probably another reason I want my house all settled so that I can sit and scrap! :) I did host the Lilypad blog challenge this week though! It's a fun easy one, so if you scrap you should join in - a very high chance of winning the gift certificate since not that many people play along!!! Here is the LO I did for it!

Hopefully I will blog sooner than I did between these two! Our weekend is pretty busy with a family date night, settling the house more, going to the movie "Fireproof", and a Sunday night Fusion leadership meeting! Hope you all have a great weekend too!