We're Back!!!

Yep - we're back in the wonderful world of white (meaning snow!) It's amazing to me that in 5 hours we went from 30 degrees to 83 degrees and back again the opposite way! We had a GREAT vacation! I will share some photos of course! Our travel was good - everything went quite smoothly. We left on Fri. the 23rd for Chicago. As we were driving thru the big city we got an idea to find Ed Debevics for dinner (it's one of my favorite places in Chicago!).

We then headed to our hotel to get a little shut eye before our 3:00am wake-up call! Saturday was a bit of a blur to me. We were tired of course, but our flight went well and we made it into Dominican Republic around 12:30. I believe we got to our hotel around 2:00 and got checked in. One of our rooms was ready and one wasn't yet b/c check-in isn't until 3:00. We just had all the luggage brought up to the room that was ready. We grabbed a much needed lunch and then hung out in the nice lobby on the couches while Kyle took a nap b/c he wasn't feeling so hot. We think it was just from the waking up early, plane ride, etc... He re-couped by the evening. It was very warm - but comfortable warm! We did dinner at the Seaside Grill that night which was very good!

Hmmm...the rest of the week all started to get a little blurry - it was mainly a lot of laying out in the sun, drinking a few drinks, a lot of GREAT laughs, and even more R & R!!! We did one excursion and that was to the Marinarium. We took a catamaran out to the reef, went snorkeling, then swam in an area with nurse sharks and stingray. It was amazing to see the shark right below us. Then it was back on the boat for some sandwich and drinks and the boat took us up the coast to a "natural pool" (which on Lake Michigan we just call it a sandbar!). We had a ton of fun on that and we danced a bit on the way back to the starting point! Kyle and Jeff also did a Deep Sea Fishing Tour and it was pretty much horrible. Jeff was sick the whole time and Kyle didn't feel so hot either - it was WAY TOO wavy. The boat caught one fish - a MahiMahi so that was alright. Kyle also got a great shot of a nice whale right by the boat! The resort had a trampoline out in the ocean so that was fun - we did that a couple times. The night life kind of sucked at the resort so I am glad that we had some friends to liven it up a bit - I think if it was just Kyle and I we would have been REALLY bored. They had a nightly show but those weren't all that great. The Dominican people are some of the FRIENDLIEST people I know. They are VERY hospitable and they go out of their way to make sure you are happy. At times they almost seemed too friendly - like one night Gasolina decided to just come and sit by us and make small talk. Unfortunately as American's we really were thinking that he was up to something instead of just thinking he was being friendly. We totally apologized to him for kind of shoving him off. We kind of thought he was getting friendly with Kyle to take him up on the stage as part of the show so Kyle ditched him! :) Poor kid. ;) Anyway - that pretty much sums up the week. It was amazing to not have to think or worry too much about the kids back home. I knew they were in great hands and they loved the time they got with their grandparents! It was so divine to do things at our own pace and not worry about what needs to be done when and who needs to be fed when!!!

Here are a bunch more pictures - straight from camera.

Whew. That just took me all day I feel like!!! Anyway - there you have it! I did forget to mention that Kyle and I celebrated our 8th anniversary while in Dominican! Year number 7 was our toughest so far so we are praying for a great 8th year!!! I am so proud of us for the "home"/family that we have built!!! Beth took some great pictures of us that I am excited to scrap as well (two of the many are above - in the wedding type gazebo, with me and Kyle looking at each other/kissing). It was so great to take a week and focus on each other and not the kids! we needed it!

And of course now it is back to reality! Gracyn has had 3 blow-outs since we got back. She has a completely raw buns, and is teething horribly so we are dealing with that now that we are back. We have been spending lots of time together playing and cuddling though since I got back!!! This month I ramp up my work schedule a bit. I am excited to learn some new things and do a different type of job, but I am nervous about working a bit more. I have still not figured out child care so I am hoping to nail that down this week! That will help with much of my stress!

OK - your bored, I'm tired! Peace out!!!

MandaKay

Happy 3rd Birthday Selah!

Selah was born three years ago today! My second child, second girl. We knew what we were having and we knew we were having her on this day - we set up an induction at the Dr. appt. previous to this day. We had Braelyn overnight at my parent's house because we knew we had to be to the hospital early and figured then we'd for sure get a decent night sleep (as good as one can get being 9 months pregnant!). I had gotten up at about 6:00am I believe to shower and as I was getting up I recieved a phone call from the hospital stating that I needed to wait to come in because there were too many babies being born at that time. So we waited. Finally we were called to come in around 11:30 I believe. We got all situated and settled in our birthing room and I was started with the induction medicine. I HATED being induced. It seemed to take forever!!! I know in terms of time it really didn't but it just seemed to. I hated walking the dang hallways of the birthing unit all big and pregnant and puching my pole. Wincing in pain. I had gotten at epidural sometime late that afternoon and was more comfortable then. I don't remember all of the details, and I am not near Selah's birth book to get real facts, but I know Selah was born into this world rather late - only a few people came once we called them - most waited until morning. I think I remember her bath being around 12:30am or something. So maybe she was born sometime in the 9:00pm hour. Funny how it a little bit becomes a blur. I had three VERY different births, and this one was by far the worst (and that's saying alot b/c the third birth was eau natural!), although still not HORRIBLE. I really never hated childbirthing! Such an amazing experience. Anyway - we knew Selah's name ahead of time and everything and she was as cute as can be. She is an integral part of our family for sure! Happy 3rd Birthday Selah - we love you!

The weekend was great - it went fast! I feel like we accompished a bunch of stuff which is always nice! We had a little cake/present party with Kyle's family for Selah on Sat. night after dinner out and she got some great little gifts that have been keeping her (and Braelyn) busy!!! Someday I really need to sit and post some pictures on here. I've been bad at that lately!

Happy Monday everyone!

Where have I been???

I have to ask myself that! January for us has been busier than Dec. for some reason! Just lots of stuff going on, busy every night and weekend it seems like! All fun stuff for the most part, but it has been keeping us on our feet! I don't know where to even begin with blogging it's been so long!

I got a call last Fri. from my boss asking if I wanted more hours and if I wanted to be office manager! I was kind of taken aback because we are super busy b/c of the economy here and I work for a financing company and we all know how tough financing is right now! Anyway - our office manager resigned on good terms, and I was next up for the spot! I need to pick up at least an extra day, which means extra child care though. So that is the big part - I am looking for someone that I can pay to come to my house possibly one day a week! With my mom and mother-in-law covering the other two days I think that will work out okay. It might pose a problem come next fall with schooling and stuff to work out, but the job and my boss are also very flexible and it's a small office!

We are a week away from our warm weather vacation!!! I can't even express how excited I am! The high temperature today is 10 degree (which is better than other parts of the country - experiencing negative degrees). The roads are quite icy and we need to drive slower around here. I hate having to drive slow! ;) Anyway - Punta Cana 10 day forcast shows an average of 82 degrees and that is looking pretty welcoming at this moment! The break from kids and all the noise and busyness is sounding pretty swell too!

The kids are good. Selah turns 3 on Monday so that's kind of fun! We were supposed to go to Chuck-E-Cheese last night with my family, but we cancelled due to the flu still being passed around in our family. I made a 2 layer marble cake that now sits on my counter so that's a bummer. Selah is quite the girl. She is as sweet as can be at times and yet can be such a little stinker. She longs to be like her big sister, and they have been quite the players lately! Sometimes they are not real nice to Gracyn - they don't always want them around them. Gracyn is growing up so big too - 15 months and full of life. Braelyn is out playing with Kyle in this COLD weather which I think it nuts. She is daddy's girl thru and thru. The girl adores her Dad.

Tonight we are going to Buffalo Wild Wings with a bunch of friends to celebrate my girlfriend Beth's 30th birthday. Tomorrow night we are going out with Kyle's whole family to a yummy local pizza joint (8 adults, 9 kids - yikes - pray for us!) After dinner we are coming here for cake and ice cream for Selah's birthday. Sunday is a soup and sledding event after church for our Fusion group, so it's a busy weekend!

I have not been really scrapping lately. Not sure what it is, but I just am not feeling it. It doesn't help being so busy, but when I do sit to scrap I just don't come up with anything. I am thinking it will be a bit easier after the vacation - should have some nice photos from that, and I picked up a few vacation/island type kits to play with!

Ok - time to scoot - have a great weekend everyone!

MandaKay

Pen Scrappers - Vote Please!!!

So I have been scrapping lately with my Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet and I love it! I really would love to learn how to use it even more when I have the time, but I love the pen and have gotten used to scrapping with it! I am doing something I don't normally do and I am entering some layouts in the Penscrappers challenge. I just entered this LO (that I did for The-Lilypad Blog Challenge this week) and so if you have a second go on over and vote for it!!! (just follow the link and hit the VOTE NOW "tape" button!) HERE is my entire gallery there - I only have submitted about 4 LO's so far I think.

Check out The-Lilypad Sale Calendar this month too - all kinds of deals going on because of the 2 Yr. B-day celebration - and don't forget the great $1 deals tomorrow - some good "staple" items coming out that every digi stash should have!!!

I also have to just mention how proud of myself I am. On Dec. 13 I got the workout video "30 Day Shred" and I have done it every day except for 2 since then (the two days off were during the flu episode!) I feel great (tanning helps too here in Michigan - getting ready for that warm tropical weather!!!). The workouts are only 20 minutes long and although they are tough they are bearable. I am not a workout type gal -let me tell you. Prior to October of last year I HATED excersizing, and I also don't eat all that great. I am just feeling that now that I am probably done having kids I can actually work at being healthy and I can maintain a decent weight. It's amazing to me how my abs were shot from having 3 kids in 3 1/2 years! Anyway - just wanted to post a little bit about the workout video - I HIGHLY recommend it!

It's all Digi

It's all about digi today! Ok, Ok - I'll fill ya in on our New Year's Eve, but mainly it's going to be all about my digi scrapping! There is so much going on at the sites I love! First of all The-Lilypad is having a birthday!!! 2 years and the designers have done a year of BYOC's!!! This January BYOC is the colors of The-Lilypad site again (just like the first BYOC)! Such good stuff in there! There are going to be sales all month there, and they have 3 guest designers this month - CD Muckosky, Anne deJonge, and Kasia Designs!!! Hop on over and check it out. Here is my first LO with the BYOC. I have a feeling I am going to do more b/c Gracyn's room has these exact same colors!!!

And, with some sadness I have learned that Janet Phillips, my template making QUEEN is going to change direction a bit and not design templates right now. :( She has one LAST GRAB BAG that you MUST buy - it is WELL worth it and it is available until the 6th I believe! On the same note - it is with MUCH excitement that I want to tell you about her new dream! Janet has opened a site called The Daily Digi (TDD) and it is going to be the go to site for everything digi! Great little tips, tricks, info, spotlights that you will not want to miss if you are looking for information! So I am sad that I will not be on Janet's template team, but I am so happy and excited for Janet and the new site that she put together! Congrats Janet - it looks GREAT!

I do have a few more new LO's to post.

This LO uses most Lilypad goodies and was done for the Lilypad blog challenge this week - THREES!

This LO was done using a kit by Sabrina Dupre at Shabby Pickle Designs - first time using her goodies - I got a little gift from her right before the holidays - too sweet!

We had a great New Years Eve. We got together with 2 other couples (was supposed to be 3 other couples, but one of my girlfriends got sick) and we did a progressive dinner. We started here at our house with appetizers - I had fondue for mushrooms, cauliflower, and green beans, a chip and dip thing and a few other little munchies. After that we headed over to the Maat house for dinner - a great ham, party potatoes, brocolli, rolls, and applesauce. After dinner we played a little Wii Guitar hero and played around with the Wii Fit! By about 9:00 we headed on over to the Tibbs' house for a whopper ice cream dessert! By 11:30 we made our way back here so we could relieve our babysitter and we rang in the new year together! Beth took all the pics so I will have to wait until I get a few from her to post! Speaking of - I need to get pictures from a few people - Tammy, Nina, Beth, Kim, Shawn - if you have any good pics of my kids I'll take them!!! Really - I will take any good pics of any of the last few parties - even if they don't have my kids so that I can document the parties!!! Anyway - I am enjoying these nice long weekends with Kyle home and it will be eye opening to get back in the swing of things next week! I better go enjoy the weekend while I have it!

Adios Amigos!

Post Christmas post

Did you all have a great christmas? We had a splendid christmas here. This year was VERY much focused on family time and the Real Reason for the Season - Jesus Christ! There are very few new toys taking up space on my living room floor - which is kind of nice! The girls loved the gifts that they got - which is always a bonus! Braelyn got a pink Sansa Fuze (and let's be honest - I am sure I will be using it as much as her!), Selah got a Hannah Montana music player thing, and Gracyn got a tub toy. The Sansa Fuze is a great thing for kids - quite a bit cheaper than the Ipod's (depending on which one you get), and it has FM radio which is kind of nice! We are VERY happy with it so far! We also got all three girls an art easel and they have been loving it! Braelyn has been REALLY into drawing and coloring and art, so I knew she would love it, but the other two girls have been just as into it!

Christmas Eve was the party at my parents - didn't take my camera, so I am hoping I will get pics from my sisters that did! We had a great night hanging out - it was very low key. Christmas morning we opened presents with the girls (Kyle and I did not exchange gifts - I think we are calling our table our Christmas gift!), and then they opened their stocking from Santa. Santa got the girls candy, cute furry winter croc type shoes, art supplies for their new easel, and toothbrushes! After opening presents and getting ready we went to Kyle's parents for a great breakfast! It was so good and I was hungry by time we got there! We had some time to come home and relax before bringing the kids to my parents while we went to our traditional Christmas Day movie with Kyle's parents. We've done this for quite a few years. We saw the movie 7 Pounds - which I LOVED. I would recommend it - don't read too much about it or it will ruin it though - I loved that I went into it not knowing much about it! After the movie we picked the girls up and went to a chinese buffet restaurant (which I really only have to do once a year). It was a great Christmas in my books!

Today Kyle took the girls out to run some errands and he also had to work for a couple hours. I got to clean the whole house and take down all my Christmas stuff. I normally wait until January 1 to take down all my Christmas decorations, but I was kind of bored and I wanted the space back in my living room. There is nothing better then putting all that stuff away and vacuuming so good and cleaning things up again! Braelyn just got over a little cold and now Selah has gotten it in full force, so after dinner I hung out with her and Gracyn watching Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer while Kyle and Braelyn headed off to Sam's club! I just got those two girls in bed and am enjoying some quiet time! The best thing is - Kyle is going to bring home a Steak -N- Shake Christmas shake for us to enjoy tonight! I've been working out like mad lately so I feel like I deserve it! :)

I have probably bored you out of your mind by now, so I'll leave you with a few photos and call it a night! I can't believe it's only Fri. night - two more nights of weekend - Wooohoooo!!!!

Slipping and a Sliding

So I am sitting here and again I am watching the 5th person get pulled out of the ditch behind our house. For those of you that live here in my town - you know Adam's St. between 96th and Drenthe. Apparently it is VERY slippery right by 76th (our back road). I truly do feel bad for each and everyone of them, b/c I know it must suck making the call to your spouse to come help you out. Today I caught the whole thing as a Tahoe spun around and threw powdery snow all over the place. Yikes. (Edited to add: make that 6 now - and this one hit a road sign and the cop had to come out because of property damage - awe).

The snow here is just incredible. Yesterday Kyle had to take me and the girls to my mom's house and then I took her 4WD to work. My minivan would have never made it out of the cul-de-sac. My little 'ole mini van has been in the garage, not even started, since last Thur.! With the flu and Kyle being home a bit more we have been forced to use his truck to get around b/c of all the snow!

I have a few pics to share of our new dining room table!!! We finally found one we liked and that would match our house! I LOVE it! Then as I was taking pictures of it I remembered that I never took "final" pics of our kitchen and house. I took a few today of rooms that were halfway decent looking! :) Here is my new table! We are looking for a bench to put one side so that two side chairs can go on the ends and we can seat 6-8! The table also has TWO additional 18" leafs so it will get HUGE if we ever needed it to!

And here is my most favorite room in the house! ;) my half bath! I know I know - I'm crazy, but I love it even though we barely use it! I got this super cute lamp for Christmas from Kyle's mom!

This is the garage entry - and the door there to the laundry room. The locker system is almost exactly like our last house and I love having it!

A view of our pantry (which has a nice counter in it so I can hide some of the obnoxious stuff that I hate having on my counters!), and our little desk/mail area in the kitchen.

And a little different view of the living room, from the kitchen - with our new couch. This room was kind of a mess with a new kitchen set (that will NOT be staying there), and the extra christmas decorations that I am actually almost ready to take down to declutter again!

Here are a few new LO's I had been working on. All using The-Lilypad goodies!!!

Are you still here with me???!!! Kind of a long post - guess I am making up for lost time! OK - Merry Christmas everyone!

MandaKay