Time for her to grow up.

I'm having a hard time admitting that my kids are growing up. Not only do I have to deal with the fact that Braden will be 2 on Thursday, today Hailee proved that she is indeed growing up and is no longer a baby. Why does this happen????

Dream Street - April Sponsor for the Playground

pure joy.

Happy Birthday to my FAVORITE husband!!!

Today my husband is celebrating his 37th birthday! It's hard to believe I helped him celebrate his 22nd! wow, that's a LOT of birthdays! :)

I love you Darren!!!

Thursday weigh in and other ramblings

Okay - so I had to get on that darn scale again this morning - I'm really not liking this thing, and I don't think it likes me....but this week I won! It's really hard for me to see the dial, so I'm researching a digital one (any input would be great) but it appears I lost 2 pounds!!!!!!!!!!! No, not a lot, but I'm down 4 pounds since March 13th. That's not bad considering I haven't added any cardio in yet.

Let's see - there is no school today. They send the kids with 7" of snow on the ground, but flooding roads gets the day cancelled! Yeah, major flooding! Our rain meter goes to 5 1/4" and it's overflowing! Tuesday we got 3" so last nights rain just added to it. Lots of roads closed and that's bad for the bus routes - so Hailee gets to stay home and color!

Darren and Braden are finally getting over their colds - thank goodness - snot just grosses me out and Braden's nose turned on and I didn't think would EVER turn off! lol

I'm working with some yummy papers for my upload on the 20th over at the playground! Some months are so fun with our sponsors, this is one of them!

okay - that's all for today - off to eat a rice cake! lol

Happy Thursday...

Simply Cardstock

The Playground was sponsored by Simply Cardstock. Vicky sent us some fantastic stuff to play with - not only did she said lots of yummy Bazzill but she sent some tags and ribbons as well! Here are my creations with the product - and don't forget to go the gallery over at the playground to see what the other ladies did!

Happenings:

Just so you know, Scrapbook Playground is down right now - a new server is being set up and it's taking longer than normal - should be good by this evening, so just keep checking back.

Crop - the Spring Crop is in full swing over at Ready-Set-Create so go on over and be inspired - then share your work with us!

Diet - I am not happy - Thursday was my weigh in and I didn't lose a pound - I'm thinking that's what I get for enjoying Easter dinner! But hey, I'm back on track, doing good, and am ready to lose more!

Birthdays - Darren will be 37 on the 21st - it's amazing to me - he wasn't even 22 when we met! but, the man gets better with age so I still consider myself unbelievably lucky! Braden will be 2 on May 1st and it makes me want to CRY my eyes out! He's my BABY so how is it he's almost 2????

Scrapping - I've been busy with the awesome sponsors that my teams are working with - hope to share soon!

A contest!!!!

Dream Street is sponsoring us this month at www.scrapbookplayground.com. If you love their work as much as we do, then this contest is for you!! To enter: Submit one layout/altered item using mostly Dream Street products into the proper gallery (link below) by April 30th. Rules: One entry per person Must be your own work - no class layouts or lifts You can not win back to back contests - but please enter each month, we love to see your work! Winner will be determined by the Scrapbook Playground Design Team and will be announced in the May 5th newsletter. The winner will receive a Dream Street prize package. Here's the gallery link for you to upload your work! http://scrapbookplayground.com/pp331/showgallery.php?cat=975

some favorite things

just thought I'd do a post about some of my favorite things.....make sure you tell me yours, too! I know I did this not too long ago, but I always forget some, so here goes.

1. Desperado - Antonio Banderas at his BEST, in my opinion!
2. Triple Venti Nonfat Caramel Macchiato
3. S.W.A.T. - love the action, and Colin Farrell isn't half bad, either :)
4. Lazy Sundays
5. A big, comfy sweatshirt on a cold fall day
6. curling up in bed with Darren watching a movie
7. the kids pig piling on mom & dad - tickles and giggles!
8. scrapbook forums - love chatting with all the gals that understand my obsession!!!
9. a nice dinner out
10. a successful diet week - amazing how good you feel when you see the scale go down!
11. having my hair brushed
12. a clean kitchen
13. freshly washed sheets
14. completing a fantastic layout
15. getting happy mail - love goodies in my mail box!
16. blog reading
17. fresh veggies
18. well behaved children - mine and others!
19. cappuccino jelly belly beans
20. visiting home - Seattle will always be "home"!!!

that's a start - tell me a few of yours, I'd love to hear!

Like to crop?

then mark your calendar for April 4th - that's when Ready-Set-Create will be having the spring crop!!!! Lots of fun and challenges!!!!

hope to see you there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(my links are on the right!)

Ready-Set-Create CALL for Pages/Projects!!!!

June/July 2008 Calls For Ready-Set-Create

Please copy and paste the short submission form into an email to Jen@readysetcreate.com.

The deadline is 5/10/08 at midnight MSTIf your work is selected you will be notified, and receive a free downloadable copy of the issue your work appears in. Submissions must not be included in any online galleries, blogs, or stores until at least 30 days after the issue your work appears in has been released.

www.readysetcreate.com

Page calls for June/July:
Father layouts or cards
Summertime activities: zoo, beach, barbecues, anything you do in the Summer
Cards of any theme
Altered projects of any theme
4th of July/Patriotic pages
Projects featuring punches
Open gallery -layouts of any theme

Email: _________________
Project Title:_____________
By:____________________
Supplies:________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________

Happy Easter ya'll!

so I'm late - no biggie - here are pictures for you to enjoy!!!

hope ya'll had a terrific holiday with your families!!!!

Do you like cardstock?

and do you like swaps? Well then head on over to the Playground in the Swap forum and sign up for on of our swaps! There are 2 right now - one for Bazzill cardstock - one for KI lace cardstock! What are you waiting for????

One week later...

well I've been on my diet for one week. I weighed this morning and only lost 1 pound. At this rate I won't make my goal of 15 pounds by my brother's wedding so I better step it up a notch. I'm hoping we start to have good morning weather so Braden and I can go walking, but it's still too cold right now and the poor kid is on a good no sick run so I'd like to keep it that way!

on another note, we've got the card challenges still going on over at the playground. Today's challenge is to use 7 brads on your card - if you get one done pop on and let us know, we'd love to see!

Here are a few of the cards I've done this month -

use blue, yellow, and green together:

Make an Easter card:

use something clear (the snowflake in the center)

use 10 flowers:

use a tab:

use a picture: (this went to my baby brother for his birthday yesterday! Happy 19th Tyler!!!)

use an office supply (label sticker):

Congratulations!!!

Kim Marie! I'll send your email to Jen @ Ready, Set, Create and get your one year subscription set up! Thanks for being the only one to take me up on my challenge :)

Arizona pictures

Okay - here are a few...I'm having some network issues and for SOME REASON Darren isn't fixing it! lol But I'll do what I can to share :)

Here's the "Welcome Sign"....we almost missed it...well we did, and turned around to go back for the picture!

Landscape - it's pretty, but I prefer trees!

This is in Tortilla Flats (pop. 6). Inside is a gift shop, bar, and restaurant...we had lunch here.

The inside is covered with dollars from people all over the world that have dined here. This is the ceiling above our table.

Braden and I outside waiting for everyone.

The famous "toilet seats". There are 2 hanging outside...a larger one for adults and this one for kids. Braden thought this was fun and kept wanting to do it again! lol

The road into/out of town is the kind that makes you nauseous, or it makes ME nauseous. You know, super tight 's' curves....I took Dramamine! It would've help had I not had a migraine fighting it! lol Anyway, the last 2 pictures were taken on the way back down, when I wasn't as green :)

Remember the challenge I gave you?

on Feb 15th here on my blog? well there's still time to do it! Tomorrow is the deadline, right now Kim Marie is the winner!!! Come on, let's get going!!!

http://mysimplelittleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-challenge.html

You just thought you'd get photos!

Darren is working on the pictures and until he's done I've been denied access! so nothing to share YET!

today I'm starting my diet - I'm really wanting to lose 15 pounds before I go to my brother's wedding in May - that's 2 months and I think I can do it! ya'll are my proof that I'm committing to it!!!

All right Holly!!! Finally doing this

Holly tagged me, and I was on vacation so I didn't get it done, but I don't want to be a slacker so here I go.

5 things you cannot live without under $10
1. Diet Coke
2. Nonfat Caramel Macchiato's
3. scrap goodies - many are under $10 so I'll be generic here :)
4. moisture chap stick
5. twizzlers

5 favourite movies
1. Bad Boys
2. The Replacements
3. National Treasure
4. Saw (all 4)
5. The Island

Baby names you love(but won’t use)
Girls
1. Addison
2. Maggie
3. Hayden
4. Hannah
5. Olivia
Boys
1. Conner
2. Dakota
3. Grady
4. Brady
5. Carson

5 songs you could listen to over and over:
1. Remember When, Alan Jackson
2. Ready for a Slow Down, Dierks Bentley
3. Bring it on Home, Little Big Town
4. Carried Away, George Strait
5. Watching Airplanes, Gary Allan

5 people who influenced your life in a positive way:
1. Darren - he has brought me out of my shell in many ways
2. Mom - always my supporter, no matter what
3. The little people in my house - they remind me of the little things in life
4. Dad - though I don't know if I've ever told him - I'm really like him more than I realized
5. Kimmie - she's such a great wonderful positive friend - I wanna be like her :)

5 things that stay in your purse all the time
1. wallet
2. hand lotion
3. nail file
4. perfume gel
5. trident gum

5 moments you knew changed you forever:
1.my wedding day
2. becoming a mom for the first time
3. then the second time! lol
4. moving to OK, but it took a few years to realize it
5.

5 obsessions you have right now:
1. coffee
2. losing 15 pounds by May 17th
3. scrapping - the shopping, the doing, the whole creative process!
4. trying to get Braden to stop throwing things. ugh
5. coffee

5 places you would really love to go:
1. Paris France
2. Venice, Italy
3. New England in the fall
4. Hawaii
5. Montana or Colorado - I've decided I want to live in one of those states :)

Im taggin these 5
1. Kimmie
2. Marti
3. Mel
4. Erika
5. Nicole

Happy to be home!

We made it home from Arizona yesterday afternoon around 3pm. Our kids are EXCELLENT travelers so the 2 day drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!

I'll be back with pictures later :)

wow, been a while...

so what's happened?

**I turned 33 on the 25th, ugh...why can't we get younger on our birthdays?

**we're finishing up the "beat the blues" event over at the playground

**both kids decided strep sounded fun, so they got it, lol

**I finished Neil & Jennifers wedding invitations and reply cards!!!!

**tomorrow we head out for our 2 day trip to Arizona!

**oh, and this came today!!!!

That's about all I can think of - not much in 2 weeks, huh? We're excited to see my grandpa & Wendy, Auntie Pam & Uncle Ray - not to mention my mom and Joe, Uncle Brian, Tammi & Rich, Vanessa & Kurt - and whoever else shows up! lol PLUS - I get to meet Jen Blackwell!!! The fun owner of Ready, Set, Create e-zine, and my "boss" - lol.

Will update again after the trip - later ya'll!