More Brailee moments...

Here are some things that I left out of the last Brailee post - click here if you missed it before. I wanted to get them down so I never forget.

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Brailee insists that this new baby is going to be a boy - no matter her mood, she always answers boy. The other night I asked her "Are you going to have a Baby Brother or a Baby Sister?" and she answered me "It's a Boy!" Her Nursery teacher told me that she asked her on Sunday and she said "Baby Boy" and so she asked her if she's been talking to angels and she said "Yes!"

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When Brailee and I are snuggling and the baby starts moving, she will say "Baby's kicking me!" and then she'll start tickling my belly and say "Kickle, kickle, baby!"

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We often ask the girls 'Who loves you?' and Brailee used to answer, Mommy, Daddy, or anyone else she can think of - but now she likes to answer with non-living objects, like the table, or her carseat, pretty much anything she can see at the moment. Like the other night when I asked her, she said 'Couch love me!' and started laughing.

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The little boy that I babysit likes to copy just about everything anybody will say. Sometimes Brailee doesn't mind, but other times, she gets a serious look on her face and says "Don't copy me!" but then starts giggling.

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This one she has done since early November and who knows where she originally picked it up - she likes to shake your hand and say 'Nice to meet you!' Unfortunately, it's only with people she is already comfortable with, but we're working on that ;-)

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Last weekend, SV came here to play basketball, and Gpa T and Shelly came to watch since Shelly's daughter is on the SV team. So we're sitting in the bleachers watching the game and Brailee kept going up and down the stairs, pausing at each hand rail - she would stick her head in the middle and say "Cheese, mom! Click!" So either she was trying to take my picture or trying to get me to take a picture of her ;-) Here is her cheesy smile...

Emporium Clock

Here is a clock I made for my SIL Sandy - using the NEW Emporium Creative Basics Paper, my absolute favorite from the new Idea Book!

I ordered the clock through Oriental Trading - they also have square ones. Here are a couple more clocks I have done before...

Thanks for looking!

Blog Candy

Laurel is celebrating her Blogoversary and giving away some sweet Blog Candy - click here to check it out and enter to win!

Hooray - doing the happy dance!

I just checked the CTMH Artwork winners and I won twice!!!

I got 3rd place for my Christmas Ornaments for the December Make It From Your Heart contest.

I also got 2nd Runner-Up for my Congrats baby card for the Exclusive Color Contest! I didn't plan on entering this one, but I didn't have anything else ready to enter, so I just sent it in with my entry for the other contest - I'm glad I did!

All of the artwork is always so fabulous, I'm honored to win - thanks for letting me toot my own horn ;-)

First Page of the New Year!

It felt so good to finally get a page done this year! I've had this picture sitting on my desk with this paper for at least the last 6 months, just never got the inspiration to do anything with it. Anyway, this month's PageMaps sketch contest is using the following sketch...

I've used this sketch before on this layout, but wanted to try it again since it's one of my favorites. So as I was flipping through my pictures, I came across this one and knew it would be perfect! I didn't notice until now that both layouts using this sketch are swim/water themed ;-P I didn't add as many layers/papers as there are in the sketch since I didn't want to cover up very much of this paper, but I am really pleased with the results! I also flipped the sketch upside down. I didn't plan on the folded corner thing, but when I finished the LO, I noticed some pen scribbles up there (I wonder who the culprit is...) and had to cover them up, and I really like how that turned out, even though it was just an afterthought. Here are my sweet girls - I just love the looks on their faces here - so full of love!

Anyway, enough rambling, here is my layout. I used some paper from We R Memory Keepers (Frenzy - Dither) along with some Summer Celebration Textured Die Cuts, Ocean textured CS for the corner and the scallop circle frame (I cut this with the new Big Coluzzle Circle and then added the scallops using my corner rounder), Orange CS, Summer Carnival Bigger Brads, Love Letters Rub-Ons, white brads, and Today's Date stamp set. Here are some close-ups of the Rub-Ons and folded corner.

Thanks for looking!

March Word Puzzle Workshop

Here are my creations for this month's Word Puzzle Workshop - we are using the March Word Puzzle, January SOTM (Moments in Time), Emporium Creative Basics paper and ribbon, Stickstock Twill, and Pewter Designer Brads. Click here for complete workshop details.

12x12 Option

6x6 Option

Card Option

Mini Calendar

Here is the project that I made for my club that is meeting today - it's a mini calendar on a 4x4 coaster, using this month's Stamp of the Month, Moments in Time, and the NEW paper pack Unforgettable. I also used the numbers in the small Friendship Alphabet set for the year. There are six 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 squares for all of the months (one month on each side) and they can just pull it out when that month is over. These were inspired by those mini calendars that you get from various businesses each year. The clip that holds the months on also serves as a hanger.

Thanks for looking!

January Cherish Challenge

So I've had these done since last year ;-P and I was going to post them on the 2nd but totally spaced it! Here they finally are - these are my pages for this month's Cherish Challenge. The right page is also the 12x12 option for this month's Word Puzzle Workshop. I will get the rest of the options posted soon - I promise! I used the NEW Emporium Creative Basics paper, StickStock Twill, NEW Pewter Designer Brads, March Word Puzzle, and this month's Stamp of the Month, Moments in Time.

Thank You Cards

My hubby needed Thank You cards for those that helped with the Stake YM/YW New Years party, so I whipped these out really quick. Since he needed 15, I didn't put a lot of time or any embellishments into them, but I think they turned out okay. I used a June 2005 PageMaps card sketch, just changed up the papers for each one.

Thanks for looking!

My baby BUMP! Any predictions?

Okay, so it feels more like a mountain than a bump, I don't know if I can take 4 more weeks of growing - I feel huge! For a glance back, here I am at 20 weeks and then 28 weeks. Here is a quick pic that Kaylee took (I'm about 35 weeks) - I really wish I would have done belly pics of my previous pregnancies - I only have one of my Brailee belly, but it would have been fun to compare them all. Does anyone have any predictions for this baby? I did this special when I was pregnant with Brailee and it was fun to see all the guesses - I'd love to hear what you think!

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As the due date (February 9th) approaches, I decided to repeat my 'Baby Special' - from now until January 20th, post your predictions for a chance at some fun discounts! Plus, everyone who participates will be entered into a drawing for a free stamp set from my stash! If you correctly guess...

baby's weight, you'll get that percentage off your next order!

baby's date of delivery, you'll get 10% off any calendar items

baby's time of delivery, you'll get 10% off any My Acrylix Number Stamp Sets

baby's length, you'll get 10% off any cutting accessories

baby's gender, you'll get 10% off any baby themed stamps

What was I thinking?

We really planned on having the girls moved and adjusted to their new sleeping arrangements BEFORE school started again on Monday, but that just didn't happen ;-P So this week, between me babysitting three extra kids, David working, and the girls' schedules and activities, we've been trying to get things finished up before my dad comes to visit this weekend. Then David had to go out of town yesterday and didn't get to come home last night. Since there were just a couple of last minute paint jobs to finish up so we could start moving Kaylee into her new room, I decided that the girls and I could tackle it. What a mess!!! The pictures speak for themselves - luckily we managed to NOT get RED paint on the newly painted white walls, or the carpet, just all over ourselves - the girls had fun, though!

New Year Goals

Yes, it's Resolution season! I didn't make many goals last year, and the only ones I remember are scrap/stamp related, but this year since I have a blog to actually keep track of myself, I've developed a few more! If anyone is interested, I read an article yesterday about Resolutions - click here to view. My favorite part said, "goals are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat yourself with" so then I didn't feel so bad about the simple goals I make.

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I was very pleased that I passed my scrapping goal of 104 pages for 2008 - it may not seem like a lot, but for me, it's almost 3 times as many as I usually do in one year. Here are two slideshows of all the pages I completed last year...

So for 2009, I set the same page goal of 104 pages (2 pages per week) - I would have increased my goal, since I met last year's goal by June, but with a new baby coming in just about a month, I didn't want to set that one too high. My other scrapping goals for this year include using up more of the pics that I already have printed BEFORE I get any more printed. I am so bad about that. I'm thinking I need to do at least 5 pages with pics I have stored before I can do any pages with newly printed pics. I just re-organized one of my scrap cabinets and most of the space in there is taken up by boxes of pics I have printed and organized, I just haven't done anything with yet, so my goal is to free up a little bit of that space.

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Last year another goal was to enter the CTMH monthly contests each month - I didn't quite get every month, I missed a couple, but I was very satisfied with the results - I won 3 Runner-Up awards! This year my goal is still to enter each month, so we'll see how it goes this time!

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While we were cleaning and re-organizing, getting ready to move the girls around during the last couple of weeks, David kindly pointed out how many unfinished projects that I have stored. I am VERY bad about that! I think that's why I like scrapbooking so much, because there is no guilt and no pressure - I know I will NEVER be done and probably won't ever get caught up, but that's okay! I can add a page here or there and just let my books keep growing, and enjoy the memories while I'm doing it! So, this year, my goal is to finish at least ONE unfinished project ;-) No, that doesn't seem like much at all, but most of the projects are crafts that I haven't done for a while, since scrapping is my passion right now. So if I get some free time and can drag myself away from the stamps, paper, and ink, then one project should be good!

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Anyway, now on to my more personal goals. Of course, every year I strive to be a better mother/wife/friend, etc, I just don't really have any specific targets for that one ;-) Another one is to lose this baby weight after I have the baby! When I was pregnant with Brailee, I gained over 50 pounds (the most I have EVER gained) and never lost all of it. With this pregnancy, I haven't gained as much, but since my starting weight was about 20 pounds higher than normal, I'm about where I was with Brailee. I will be getting a new bike trailer this spring since my old one finally gave out, so I hope to put it to good use!

Happy New Year to everyone and good luck with your own goals!

Where does she come up with this stuff?

I've said it before, but Brailee has the funnest personality and she is always making me laugh - I'm sometimes surprised with some of the stuff she comes up with, she's barely 2. Here are some of her recent funny moments...

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This one I have NO idea where or how she came up with it - she will walk up to me and push her finger into the top of her eyelid and tell me my head is broken (I'm assuming it's because of her blurred vision from the finger/object in her eye) - then she takes her finger out and says 'I fixed it!'

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Sunday night as we're enjoying our dessert, she drops her spoon and asks Brianna to pick it up for her. I tell her that she can pick it up herself and she says "No, my belly's too big!" which is what I'm always telling my girls lately as I ask them to pick stuff up for me ;-)

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Then here she was over Christmas Break - we were cleaning up toys one morning and she decided it would go faster if she had a way to carry more toys, so she started stuffing them in her jammies! She's just too funny, I tell ya!

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Here she is all loaded up...

Unloading the goods...

And I just loved her little jiggle dance in the video here ;-)

Aren't these the cutest little bags!

My mom made the girls these darling little bags for Christmas. She also covered a matching set of scriptures to go inside - the girls looked so cute taking them to church on Sunday. Thanks, Gma Nae - the girls LOVE them!

Card Organizer

Here is a fun card organizer that I made for a friend for Christmas. Her favorite color is orange, so this Boom-Di-Ada paper was perfect!

What a way to start off the New Year!!!

So Kaylee woke up early yesterday morning with a tummy ache, which eventually led to her throwing up. One of David's brothers and his family usually plans a sledding party at a warming hut on January 1st every year, so we had planned on going, but when Kaylee woke up sick, we decided to stay home. A couple hours later, Kaylee said she was fine and really wanted to go. It had been a few hours since she'd been yucky so we hoped she was over it and we started getting ready. An hour later we were ready and on our way. The warming hut is about 45 minutes away from home and we got just 5 or 10 minutes away and Kaylee threw up again :-( and I forgot the ziplocs so it was quite a mess. Fortunately, Alco was open, so I bought some new clothes and some ziploc bags and we got her all cleaned up. We didn't want Brianna to miss out on the sledding party, so we took her up the mountain and left her with family and then we came home. Of course, Kaylee was fine the rest of the day, and never threw up again, but it was good to rest - we watched the Looney Toon marathon - I miss those cartoons! I did get some pics, but none of Brianna sledding because Kaylee and I stayed at the bottom while David took Brianna and Brailee up to the hut. He took Brailee down the hill one time and he said she loved it - she was so sad to leave, especially since she was leaving her buddy Brianna behind. But then Brailee fell asleep on the way home and slept until just before Brianna got home, so she didn't miss her for too long. I was bummed that we missed it because it's been about 5 years since we've gone. Last year they were unable to reserve the warming hut, so we didn't go, the year before, I had just had Brailee, so Kaylee went with Grandma and Grandpa and Brianna missed out on that one because she was sick. And the years before that we were either out of town or sick, so I think the last time we all went was January of 2004 and Brianna was just a few months old. Hopefully next year we'll all make it! Anyway, here are some of the pics from yesterday...

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Here are the happy girls on the way...

...then one not-so-happy girl after getting all cleaned up (notice her change of clothes)

Kaylee was fine once we got up there, so I got some happy pictures

As we sat together at the bottom, we were goofing around and taking pictures - luckily I previewed this one and saw Kaylee's face so I asked for a nice picture ;-)

Then she was being a goof and imitating Ralphie's brother (from A Christmas Story) when he was all bundled up and couldn't put his arms down

Here is sad Brailee when it was time to leave

I hope you all had a better (less messy day) - Happy New Year!

December Challenge Update

Thanks to Melissa and Shirene for participating in this month's challenges! Melissa won the drawing for the stamp set! Here is what was created...

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Cherish Challenge - Aesthetic Balance - pg. 32-33
View my Cherish Layout here
View Melissa's Cherish Layout here
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Imagine Challenge - Three-Part Harmony - pg. 44-45
View my Imagine Layout here

Here is Shirene's Imagine Layout...

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Reflections Challenge - Main Frame - Quilt Blocks - pg. 62
View my Reflections Layout here
View Melissa's Reflections Layout here
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Originals Challenge - Diamond Duo - pg. 46
View my Originals Card here

New Year, New Month, New Challenges!

Happy New Year to everyone! Are you ready for some new challenges - I'm actually posting on time this month, too! Remember to post a comment with a link to your entry, or you can e-mail me with your entry, or even stop by so I can get a picture. I can't wait to see what you create! All who participate will get their name in a drawing for a fun pack of cards from my stash!

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Cherish Challenge - Creative Rhythm pg. 36-37

View my Challenge Pages here

View Alanna's Challenge Pages here

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Imagine Challenge - Perfect Prelude pg. 26-27

View my Challenge Pages here

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Reflections Challenge - Bottom Border - Portrait pg. 28

I posted my sample using this layout yesterday - you can view it here

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Originals Challenge - Center View pg. 16

View Alanna's Challenge card here

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I created this card using CTMH's NEW Ms. On the Go stamp set, For Every Occassion, Key To My Heart Paper, Flower Dimensional Element, Sorbet Dash ribbon, and Juniper brads.