I have the coolest SIL...

...so I love all of my SIL's, but Sandy is my stamping and scrapbooking buddy - I get so much inspiration from her, I really love to see her artwork and I enjoy hanging out with her. My birthday is coming up next Friday and she gave me my birthday present early - lucky me! Here is what she gave me...it's the new Originals Book - woohoo! It was at the very top of my wish list from the new Idea Book, so I'm excited. The artwork inside is fabulous.

And here is a close-up of the card she made me...

Thanks again, Sandy - you rock!

Mommy Moments

I just noticed that I haven't posted any pics of our summer fun recently, I really haven't taken many pictures lately - I know, a real shock! So I thought I would post some of my proud Mommy Moments.

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I am now 14 weeks along and had another appointment last week and we got to hear the heartbeat. It was about 155/160 - so, does anyone have any predictions? We like to be surprised, so we won't find out until February, but it's always fun to guess. I had a dream last night that it was a girl and I was a little relieved - we have everything we need for a girl and we'd have to start all over if it is a boy - but as long as it's healthy and happy, we'll be thrilled. I have still been feeling great, as long as I can stay stress free. I've been getting some killer headaches, which is just not like me. But between my headaches and Brailee having a mysterious fever last weekend, I have finished reading Breaking Dawn - LOVE those books - I highly recommend them if you haven't read them yet!

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Brailee was such a big girl yesterday - she woke up with a dry diaper in the morning and went potty for the first time - we were all so excited for her. So far it's been the ONLY time, too, but I still thought it was pretty cool - she likes to try, but I don't push it too much with her, I don't want to scare her off!

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Brianna has been going to a 'Getting Ready for Kindergarten' program at school since last week. She gets to go for two hours every day for two weeks to start to get used to things. She is really enjoying herself and keeps asking when she gets to go ALL day! School officially starts in less than 2 weeks, so not long, at all!

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School is close enough that we ride bikes every day - they wish they could ride their bikes everywhere! Anytime we are going somewhere, the first thing they ask is, 'Can we ride our bikes?' Here we are on the bike path - I wish I knew how many miles we go when we go this route, but we're usually gone for at least an hour and a half, it's a fun ride, and uphill on the way home, but the kids love it. On our short route, it's just over a mile, and only takes us 20 minutes, so I would guess this way is at least 2 or 3 times that distance.

I hope you are all having a fun summer - take care!

Family

I ran across these old pictures the other day and knew they would be perfect with one of Marjorie's Color Challenges, and it's finally one of the more current ones, so I got to play a little today. This layout is for MCC #29 - my SIL, Sandy came over today with her box of new stuff from the new CTMH catty. I don't have a scrapping budget as of lately so I don't get any new stuff for a while, so it was fun to see the awesome new products and play with some of it, too!

I'm pretty sure I got the date pretty close - all I know is that these pics were taken at least after August 1990 and before March 1991 and for some reason, I just have it stuck in my head that it was around Christmas. I'm close, anyway! I forgot to add my pull-out tag with names, I will have to include that soon! If anyone can see the pic decently, can anyone guess which is me?

Products Used - all CTMH unless stated otherwise: NEW Chocolate Alphabet Large, Chocolate Textured CS, Honey, Barn Red, and Olive CS, The Works Alphabet, Christmas Greetings stamp set, sanding block, edge distresser, Scallop Circle template (from OT)

Sisters

Here is a quick page that I did today for the latest PageMaps Blog Challenge and MCC #27 - I thought the bright colors were perfect for these B&W pics that I found. The Blog Challenge was named a Vacation Challenge, so I don't know if mine counts since it's not about vacation, but I found these pictures before I found any compatible vacation pics, and I had to scrap them right away! Plus, all my vacation pics need at least a 2-page layout ;-)

I recently saw the lacing on a layout on Melissa's blog and had to try it right away - it added a fun touch, love those sassy strands!

Oh, and this includes another sneak peak at an upcoming Stamp of the Month, the journaling piece on the right came from Annotations, which is October's SOTM. I didn't think the detail stood out enough with the light Kiwi ink, so I used my piercing tool to pierce the design - I LOVE the results!

Products Used - all CTMH (except the Fiskars Threading Water Punch - LOVE that thing!): Watermelon Textured CS, Sanding Block, Kiwi and Sunny Yellow CS, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Annotations, Checklist, Bubblegum Sassy Strands, Piercing Tool,

Cookies with Gma Nae

So I couldn't get enough of that Heart Throb set that I used on my last layout, so as I was looking for my next set of pictures to scrap, I found these from 2006 with my mom and girls making cookies and knew they would be perfect! I used the very last of my Cranberry B&T papers :-( and kept these pages really simple but with a lot of fun stamping. I still need to add my journaling in the empty white piece on the right page, but other than that, I think it turned out quick and cute.

Thanks for looking!

Products Used - all CTMH: Imagine Layout - Jazzy Combination (pg. 38), Cranberry B&T paper (retired), Heart Throb stamp set (upcoming Dec. SOTM), Cranberry Ink, Giggle Uppercase stamp set, White Daisy and Cranberry CS

I love YOU the most!

My mom sent the girls these sweet letters and pictures shortly after her most recent trip here - they were so precious that I didn't want them lost or forgotten, so I scrapped them! I used MCC #20 for these pages - for those who aren't familiar with Stacy's abbreviation, that means Marjorie's Color Challenge. I used to do at least one of her challenges per month, but it's been a while lately, and this is even an old one, so it shows how far behind I am! You can check out all of her color challenges HERE.

Here is the layout with a sneak peak of CTMH's upcoming December Stamp of the Month, Heart Throb! I usually don't like Valentine stamp sets, but I just LOVE this one! I am working on another layout today using this stamp set again, hopefully I'll get it posted tomorrow.

Products Used - all CTMH: Imagine Layout Sweet Symphony (page 24), Watermelon, Hydrangea, and Moonstruck B&T papers (all retired), Heavenly Blue CS, Extreme Caps, Rustic Alphabet (stamp kissed with Heart Throb), Because I Love You stamp set, Dimensional Elements Flower Garden, Heavenly Blue Embossing Powder, White Daisy Embossing Powder, Moonstruck and Hydrangea Bigger Brads, White Daisy RicRac Ribbon

Fair Results

The fair went well - I picked up our projects and my cash (SWEET!) on Sunday. I ended up getting Best of Show for the Professional Division on my purple 'Simple Beauty' layout, and I also ended up winning an additional award for that layout which was picked among all of the Craft Professional Best of Shows, so that was a really cool honor, plus an extra $10! I got second on the other layout that I entered. All of my cards and my book got first place, except one card (my favorite) ended up getting second. The girls were excited - they got ribbons - just Participation ribbons are given for the Kidz Class, but they didn't care, they were excited! It was fun - the hardest thing about our fair exhibits is that they don't display things by category, so everything is just kind of scattered all over the place, which I really don't get. It would be so much nicer to be able to see everything in the same category without searching the whole building. Anyway, it's been like that all 3 years that I have participated and I finally put in a suggestion to change that AND add more scrapbooking categories, so we'll see if next year is any better! Next year I plan on entering some photographs - I thought about it this year, but not until the last minute, and then I couldn't decide which pictures to enter. Now that I have been looking, there are a bunch I realize I should have entered! Next time I will be more prepared!

Anyway, thanks for letting me share!

Yankee fans in training!

My dad got to go to New York in early July - for those who don't know, our family has always been big Yankee fans, and he got to go to a game at Yankee Stadium. My girls have never really watched baseball on TV before, because I never thought they'd like it, but since Grandpa T was there, we turned on the TV and watched it that night. I officially have Kaylee hooked! Every time she sees MLB on the channel listings, she begs to watch baseball. It is so much fun to watch with her - she asks lots of questions and really gets into how the game is played. Anyway, my dad sent the girls these shirts and they just love to wear their Yankee gear! Brianna was excited to see the gray one, she said, "Mom, it's just like your sweater!" - which is funny because I never realized that she even noticed that old hooded sweatshirt before. I guess I didn't realize how much I really wear it ;-)

Here I am trying to get a good picture of the girls in their shirts - they are so silly sometimes it's hard to get just one 'decent' picture.

Brailee didn't mind posing for a pic - unfortunately, I was zoomed in, so I missed her cute little arm pose - too cute!

August Challenges

Sorry I'm a day late getting these posted - I can't believe it's August already! Plus, I was working on my layout for the Cherish Challenge earlier this week, and Brailee got a hold of it - grrr - and tore the left page apart, so I had to fix that before I could finish. So, I didn't get around to doing a brand new layout for the Imagine or Reflections Challenges, so sorry to those who have seen these before.

So, here are the challenges for this month. Here's how it works - at the beginning of each month, I announce which layouts from Cherish and Imagine that we are going to be doing - and starting this month, I'm going to add in Reflections! You don't have to do all of them, just what you want. I will also post my example. You then create the layout using your choice of theme, papers, orientation, etc. and send me a link or a picture of your layout. I will draw a name from all participants and the winner will get a fun bundle of cards at the end of the month. It's fun to see the different results from the same layout!

The Cherish Challenge is Dreamy Look on pages 52 and 53

Melissa's Little Miracle Layout

On this page, I used the hole from a Photo Hanger to 'circle' the number 7 for the date.

The Imagine Challenge is Up the Tempo on pages 64 and 65

On these pages, I cut each petal on the Big Blooms in half and then rounded the ends to resemble the flowers in the pics. I also used my sewing machine on these pages - fun, fun!

The Reflections Challenge is Bottom Border - Base on page 29

On this page, inspiration came from the Laurie Berkner song, I think it's called 'Who's That?' Anyway, the song echoes, so to take that echo onto the page, I created a mirror effect on the left side by using my rubber brayer. The tab on the top right pulls out for hidden journaling. I just love the look on Brailee's face in this picture!

Fair Entries

Here are the projects the girls and I are entering in our county fair this week - wish us luck! Oh, and just so you know, my girls did their projects all on their own. I was very impressed with how well they did by themselves, especially their bead projects. They came up with the pattern all on their own and had fun stringing the beads, I only helped them tie off their bracelets - they can't wait to wear them once the fair is over!

Kaylee's card...

Kaylee's bead project...

Kaylee's painting...

Brianna's bead project...

Brianna's crayon art...

And here are mine...

Stamping - Any other project...

Scrapbook Page...

Card...

Stamping Card (used stamp kissing)...

Invitation...

Altered Book...

Any other card...

Pioneer Celebration

The youth in our church went on a Pioneer Trek last week - and my hubby went with them as a leader. We welcomed them in at Rock Creek on Friday night after two long days of walking and pulling handcarts. If anyone would like to read more about the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies , which have special signifigance in our area, check out this site. Here are some pictures from Friday. I did a quick sewing job on Friday afternoon and made the girls some new pioneer skirts since their other ones are two years old and way too small - glad I had a bunch of fabric and elastic on hand! My SIL, Jamie let me borrow an old dress for Brailee - they all looked so cute!

Memory Tag

I was just visiting one of my cousin's blogs and found this fun game. I thought it looked fun so I decided to play along. I also discovered we have the same tastes as we have the exact same background on our blogs...for now, until I find another one that I like better ;-)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Changes!

Thanks to my blogging friends Lisa and Melissa, I discovered this great site with free backgrounds for blogs, so bear with me as I try some out! Try it out yourself (the link is below) - it's super easy and there are LOTS to choose from!

The Cutest Blog on the Block

Sweet Summer Treat

My girls LOVE berries - here they are picking raspberries from our garden the other day - yummy! We started with one starter plant from David's Mom 4 years ago. We dug it up and moved it when we bought this house, and this year we have lots of plants and finally some berries. They can't wait for more berries to be ready, even though they eat them faster than they pick them, so I don't think we will ever do anything with them...besides eat them of course ;-)

From my sweet friend...

...Ramsey - she dropped off these fun little goodies on Wednesday - I've never played with Riley images before, so I'm excited! I really need to break down and get my own Bella's and Riley's and all those other fun stamps - but first I need to play with the images I have received from my dear friends.

Thanks again, Ramsey, I can't wait to play!

If you're in the mood for blog candy, go check out Korin's blog.

They did it!

Here is what the girls learned to do while at the reunion - they finally learned how to ride their bikes with no training wheels - I'm so proud! The grass was the perfect place to teach them, so they didn't get hurt if they fell, plus they weren't scared to try. Kaylee only needed to be pushed by Daddy once and then she had it from then on. Brianna had a harder time petalling on the grass with those little tires, so she needed pushes just to get started, but neither of them needed us to hold on to them to help them balance, they did great! So the day after Kaylee learned, we decided to go on a family bike ride. Well, Kaylee crashed, big time, and really scraped up her leg and cried that she would never, ever ride her bike again. But the next day she was brave enough to try again, and we practiced using her brakes more, and now she's riding like she has been doing it for months.

With all of their cousins around riding around up there with no training wheels, it was a great incentive for the girls. I'd tried before, but Kaylee was always too scared. Brianna wanted to learn a couple months ago, but that was when I was so drained and I had a hard time with Brailee on the loose, too. Anyway, we came home and Brianna practiced a little on some cement and now she can start herself with no problems. I can hardly keep them OFF the bikes, now, they are so excited with what they have learned!

Thanks for letting me share!