Vacation is over and I’m back to reality!

I’m always amazed the difference between my time on vacation with no kiddos and my time at home in the normal everyday grind!  We took an adult only vacation with our friends, and our only stress for the day was where we were going to eat that night for dinner!  I didn’t have to worry about making lunches, doing homework, running to t-ball practices or gymnastics, work, etc…  I didn’t really sleep in on vacation – it’s just not something I can do, but to be able to get up in the morning, check some emails, sit out on a porch listening to the gulf waves, and having a good breakfast was wonderful!  I even read a book – literally a whole book in one day!  That is a huge achievement for me!  I am just not a reader.  I wish I was, but I never take the time to do that.  To be completely honest there is always something else I’d rather do…like scrapbook or browse galleries/forums.  My girlfriend had brought along the book “Heaven is for Real”, and she was telling us some of the facts about the book, and it intrigued me!  She finished it up, and I started right in!  We had some great dicussions about the book and the concept of heaven, while sitting on the porch at night!  I now have my hubby reading it!  It’s a pretty unbelievable story, and it paints a great picture of heaven!  And the whole concept of children in heaven…wow – how precious!  They truly are Jesus’ children!

Here are a few photos from our vacation!

Our drink cups and tunes!

the dolphin that was extremely close to shore!  We could completely see his whole body very well!

We had a pretty good time watching this movie – The Other Guys!  Got a couple good lines from that to joke about all week!

From the roof of the condo – great pool and beach!

The guys went out for shark and tarpon fishing, but only caught one smaller shark.  Kind of a bummer.

And one night we went to the dog tracks.  I have never been and was interested in what they were.  We aren’t big gamblers and we have kind of bad luck with these type of things, so we were out after $10!  Good night though!

And of course we had to love the guys cooking breakfast and cleaning the kitchen!

And the guys were even good sports and wore these fun, LOUD, touristy shirts that Beth got a steal of a deal on!

Good times…just good times!  It was a great break from parenting and my kids loved the time they got to spend with Grandpas and Grandmas and Aunt!

 

Braelyn is in her second year of t-ball and she is liking it much better this year!  She is much more confident and is really getting the concept of it.  Last year was somewhat brutal to watch because none of the kids really understood what to do with the ball!

She made it to home plate on each inning!

And what would a t-ball game be without ice cream afterwards?!

My diva – jumpin’ around

And today we went to the Tulip Time Parade, and I forgot my camera!!!  Gasp!!!  It was fun to just enjoy it though!  I think I actually got more sun in one day here today in MI than I got the whole week in FL though!  I ALWAYS put on sunscreen when I am laying out, so I was lathered up in FL, but I don’t always do so good lathering up at home when I am just running around or doing stuff outside all day.

And I haven’t been scrapbooking much at all!  I don’t know what it is, but I am just not feeling it.  I did manage to do this LO while on vacation though, and I LOVE how it turned out – it was the perfect kit for the perfect picture, and the LO got picked yesterday on the Gallery Standouts blog!  Such an honor!

 

Have a great rest of your week!

MandaKay

Long time!

Whew…it’s been a long month!  I always wonder where the time goes!  I know you all do to!  We’ve just been living life!  It’s funny because when I don’t blog for more than 3 weeks, then I never know what to write, or where to begin!  It seems like it’s easier to just do a little picture update – I love getting some outdoor pictures finally for the year!  I’ve really been struggling with my project 365 and taking a photo a day, and I know it’s because I am so sick of taking indoor pictures!  So it’s nice to finally have sunlight and get outdoors!

First off, Gunner has gone from 15 lbs. to over 40 lbs. so far!  Not the best photo – hard to get one of them outdoors because they are CONSTANTLY moving!  He’s really fun to have in our family – the girls adore him and love running around the yard with him – he’s super fast!

Second, our basement went from this…

to this!!!   And now it is primed and the trim starts going up this coming week!

Spring break was fun!  We had play dates, slumber parties, made crafts, and baked.

Grandpa even took all 13 grandkids (and most of his own kids!) on a field trip to the hatchery!  It was such a fun day!  Grammie even treated us to ihop lunch!!!  Such a great memory!

And of course we had to go out with a bang for spring break, right?!  Last Friday Selah got her finger shut in a door, and broke a bone, and needed 8 stitches!  Beware…this might make you cringe!  OUCH!  I must say though, we have been parents now for almost 7 years, and this was our first trip to the ER for an injury of any sort!  She already gets the stiches out tomorrow, but will need to wear the splint for 4 weeks, and no gymnastics for 6 weeks the Dr. said.

I also might have done a little baking this month!

So, that’s been our month, in a nutshell!  Full of life and good memories!  I am just hoping that the next two weeks go as fast as the last two, because then I will be sitting on a beach in Florida!  I love my girls SO much, but I cannot tell you how excited I am to go out to eat without having to cut up food, or take a child to the public restroom (have I told you how anal Kyle and I are about public restrooms, and yet our kids seem to have to go EVERY time we are out and about!)  I am looking forward to some warmth – if not even HEAT!!!  This 50 degree weather is just not doing it for me!

Hopefully I can pop in here again before then!

MandaKay

Mid Week

We are almost mid week!  The hard part for me about that, is that my second half of the week is always way harder than the first half.  I work now the last part of the week, and from Wednesday night church night thru Friday at 5:30 it is GO GO GO here.  Tomorrow night is our last night of Wed. night programming at church, which will be a nice welcomed relief – one more night to free up for the spring and summer!

I never posted the LO’s I worked on at my last scrapbooking weekend away!  I think I probably finished about 10 LO’s.  We watched about 3 movies and gabbed a lot!  It was a fun fun weekend!

Here are a few of the LO’s I worked on.  Some of the LO’s I did will be going in a bound book, so I will have to show those off later!

I’m really struggling with my pictures this year so far too.  I am continuing on Project 365 – taking a photo a day (or at least 7 a week is really more like it, since I don’t snap one a day always!), but I am finding myself very bored, and uninspired.  I think pictures get better come spring, summer and fall in Michigan – when I am outside more and we are more active!

So, who’s looking forward to spring break, who’s been on spring break and are you going anywhere/have you been anywhere?!   We are staying home, hoping for great weather, and looking forward to no plans!  We may need to do a trip to IKEA, but nothing else planned!

Chat at ya soon,

MandaKay

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

I’m not at all Irish, and I have never really celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, but I always love a good reason to bake a unique fun cupcake!  I have a slight cupcake obsession – I love looking at pictures of cupcakes.  Cupcakes make me smile!

Here are the Rainbow Cupcakes I made today:

Here is the batter divided into 6 different containers and dyed the appropriate colors!  At this point Selah and Gracyn’s eyes were big as saucers!   I think they thought I had gone mad!

I filled the cupcake liners with the colors in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.  This part was a bit tricky, and thru this phase I seriously wondered what I was getting myself into.  I did NOT think these were going to turn out!

But guess what…

they seemed to turn out!!!  The finished product was VERY good too!  White cake mix ( I used Pillsbury this time and loved the taste!)  White cake is definitely my favorite!  And I made the frosting.  I did a block of cream cheese, a stick of softened butter, and I think about 3 cups of powdered sugar of course, some clear vanilla extract, and a touch of almond extract!

So there you have it – Taste the Rainbow!!!  And happy St. Patrick’s day if you celebrate it!

Some new LO’s

I wonder how many of my posts start with that title or something very similar!!!  I think that is my common go to title for posts that are going to have some layouts.  A few things to share – LILYPAD Challenges – I am hosting one this month – it’s the formula challenge!

March Formula Challenge

I love the month of March for so many reasons...spring slowly starts here in Michigan, St. Patty's day, and it's my birthday month!!! My formula challenge for this month will incorporate a little bit of all of these things!

1. I want the main colors of your page to be "spingy"!
2. You need to have 3 green elements - in memory of Saint Patrick & Ireland!
3. It's my 31st birthday. I need you to use 3 fasteners (staples, stitching, clips, brads, buttons -anything that you would use in real life to fasten something to a page), and 1 alpha!
4. And I'm kind of a date freak - put a date on your page somewhere!

And here is a little inspiration for you:

Have fun and I can't wait to see your pages!!!

***Please note our NEW CHALLENGE SYSTEM, starting with our March challenges! The Pad is switching to a points system for their challenges; the number of challenges you participate in determines the store discount you will receive at the end of the month:
2 challenges = 10% off
4 challenges = 20% off
6 challenges = 30 % off
If you complete all 7 challenges, you will receive a coupon for 30% off, plus you will be entered to win a $10 store gift certificate! All challenges need to contain 75% TLP product.
To keep track, please post your pages in the March Challenge Layouts thread.

Challenges are a great way to get a page scrapped quickly and when you play at TLP you also now have the opportunity to earn discount codes for product!

And I participated in the template challenge too!  You get a free template to play with and create a page with by Amy Martin!  Here is my page!

And then a few random layouts that I have worked on!

I hope to have another LO post to share after this weekend, because I am scrapbooking for the weekend with some girlfriends.  I need to have a game plan on what pages I want to work on and get done!  I always enjoy getting together with girlfriends and scrap, watch girlie movies, eat great food, and just enjoy some time without kiddos.

Have a great day!

MandaKay