Merry Christmas!

So it's Christmas Eve and we still fight every day to get Megan to eat. She is so stubborn. When after a half hour of fighting with her we told her she needed to eat or she couldn't open her Christmas Eve present...surely that would change her mind right? WRONG. She said "Ok." and went to bed. I swear my hair is going to be all gray by her next birthday. (she did eventually get up and take a couple more bites but it took some coaxing from Kip.)

The stockings are hung, reindeer food on the lawn, we have been tracking santa and baking cookies all day. Just waiting for the big guy to arrive. Hard to believe it is almost over.

Now you must indulge me for a moment. My favorite kit club where I order all of my scrapbook goodness is having a contest. I need to make a Christmas list for their site. These are all my favorite things I haven't managed to snag just yet, with Christmas I had to be good.

1. Doilies Stamp
2. Mister Huey MH in Apple Jack and Lunchtray
3. Tweets Rub-ons
4. Noah Alphabet

Of course there are new inks and all kinds of fun things I would buy from the shop but these are on my wishlist for January!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

scrapbook space

There is a discussion going on about small scrapbook spaces. We all share a basement together, no fancy room for me. I like that I get to be with my family. I don't think I would ever scrapbook if I were by myself somewhere. So this is our lovely basement. (We didn't really think we would still be here or that pink carpet would be gone by now.)



As you can see my side is on the left and Kip's side is on the right. Sometimes this is good and sometimes...well he plays games and yells.



This is the top of my desk. We bought this folding table as a make-do type thing until I could find the desk I really wanted. Again we thought we were moving and didn't want to buy furniture until after that. The little box houses my newest Studio Calico kit and the tins have pens/twine/jute in them.

Here is a better picture of the whole area. Nothing fancy but it works. I don't know how I have scrapped for 7 years and this is all I have but it's true! The blue tub has my sc kits in it. I need to figure out a better place for it but my cat is addicted to chewing on plastic and she isn't allowed near my kits! It's the only place that is safe. I keep my ink pads in the bread box. I tried to put my mists in there but they were too tall with the lids on and I couldn't handle having them without lids on. You can't see it but my sewing machine is on the floor. I just pull it up to use it. The pink basket is recycling.

And then what isn't photo'd is the rest of the room which houses all of the children's toys, our tv, wii equipment, kid's computer and craft desk, and couch.


So there it is. I didn't even clean it up for you. :)

Pets

Our out of focus friends. I will be back to do a post marathon post tonight.

Summer is here!

Bailey had her last day of school. We will miss Mrs. Crawford very much. She was an excellent teacher and was a wonderful person. I think she set a great example for Bailey for what school is like and taught her many very important skills both socially and academically. I spent a lot of time in the school this year volunteering for the class and helping with the school store. It feels like family when you walk in, I just love it there. We are very lucky considering the anxiety I had last year this time praying that Bailey would be accepted into their school of choice program.

I finally finished a layout. This kit has me stumped. I don't know why, it seemed so my style and I just have the most difficult time using it. I did this one last night for the Studio Calico Sunday Sketch Challenge . I really am happy with how it turned out, that is one of the best pictures I have of Kip's grandparents. Grandpa normally doesn't smile at all.

Miss Bailey attended yet another fabulous birthday party for her friend Katie. A friend of theirs painted all of the girls faces, she did an amazing job. If we end up doing a sleepover party I'm pretty sure we will be hiring her to come to Bailey's. It was really glittery when she first had it done but by the time we got home alot of it had rubbed off.

I had coffee with a friend and we attempted to go find garage sales yesterday but we were pretty much rained out. I didn't find any of the treasures that I was after, I did get a brand new AE sweater though for a buck, score!

Miss Megan is potty training today. So far we have had one accident and one success. I will take that over our previous attempts (this is our first success ever lol.)

Just as I was going to post this we have an update, we had another accident followed by 2 successes.

And that's our week.

in my absence we...

We shopped at the best toy store around. It's quaint and charming and filled with wonder for kids.

We inspected the dog statues downtown.

We ran in the new fountain for the first time.

We have spent at least 4 days at the beach already! We flew kites and played at playgrounds. We even swam a little last week.

We had Grandpa Roy visit and took him Angi, Dorothy, and Alice to see the carousal.

Soccer has come and gone. Bailey scored several goals this year and has decided she wants to play again. School is almost over. One more week and it will be summer vacation. We are going to miss her teacher, she's the best and has taught Bailey so much this year. I probably don't give myself enough credit, I'm sure the fact that we read with her every. single. day. has added to her love of learning.

I celebrated my 32nd birthday and Mother's Day. Now it's Memorial Weekend and Megan has a tummy bug. It really stinks. I had looked forward to lots of time outside, bbqs, and fun. Hopefully she gets better today and nobody else gets it. It wasn't alot of fun last night. However, since I was up already I was able to look thru the http://studiocalico.com/ gallery while she watched cartoons, and I am so excited for the June kit to come! Makes me want to get outside and take lots of pictures. The kit is so bright and fun this month, very summery. The main is honestly my favorite this month although I did add Rec League and a few goodies to my cart. I also managed to swipe Martha's monarch butterfly punch at M's today, it was even on sale.

Well I am off to tend to the little and get her back up and running. Oh speaking of running, umm my husband signed us up to run a 1/2 marathon June 19th. We've had to kick it in gear to prepare and went from 3 miles to 5 miles to 7 miles in three weeks. I'm pretty sure I have some sort of injury in my left calf, but only 3 weeks til the race so I'm going to muster through the pain, probaby doing serious damage that I will later regret.

oh and one other thing, guess who is going to see David Gray in August for our 5 year anniversary? me, that's who! So terribly excited I can't even stand it.

And I am officially a "soccer mom", tho ill-prepared

Bailey had her first soccer game today. It was freezing! 49 degrees with a windchill that had to have brought it down another 10 degrees. I didn't bring hats or gloves for anyone. No blanket for us sitting on the sidelines. No cash for the concession stand. I totally failed. Bailey doesn't really know though, she just had a good time. They were so cute, a little herd of children running around the field chasing the ball. No goalies, no scores...just good fun. My favorite was when she was going the wrong way. haha. I said before they even started I bet she runs the wrong way if she gets it, sure enough. Grandma treated us to Pizza Hut after the game since Bailey played so well.

Miss Megan is so sick. She's scaring me. She fell asleep playing rockband, literally fell asleep on top of the guitar. It was very pitiful, and that child is not one to just crash so she must not be feeling well at all. Her temp is around 102 right now so we are keeping a close eye on her. Kip is sick too and I haven't felt the best, while Bailey has a cough. Who wants to come over?!?

We did manage to make up my Amish Friendship Bread that we have been *mushing* for 10 days. Today was finally the day and it is yummy. I read on the internet that you can make it without the starter part so I might have to experiment and see if they are right.

Off to do a little relaxing.

it feels like summer

The picture above is the "almost" sleepover the girls had. As it turns out it wasn't a good idea and Megan is still too little for sleepovers with big sis, what a shocker...not really.

Today was a fantastic day and not one single picture to be had. It was just beautiful out, 80's with a nice breeze. After school Bailey had a play date and so we packed up a lunch and went to the park. We ended up having a super playdate because 2 other friends were at the park and they went crazy. The kids played for 2 hours and Megan had finally had enough. When we got home Meg didn't see more than 2 minutes of Dora before passing out on the couch.

Later Bailey had her very first soccer practice, cutest thing ever! I was so worried because the coach didn't seem to be very organized but she was just the nicest person. She was very kind and patient and she made Bailey feel very welcome with the other girls. It was very cute to see them all play. Poor Megan kept saying all day "play soccer ball with Bailey." She didn't even notice she wasn't with the big girls. I was smart and brought her Dora ball with us so she would have something to kick around. The practice was only about 15 minutes and her first game will be on Saturday.

Not much else to report, pretty normal day. I'm tired from all the fresh air. I'm not sure how late I'm going to make it tonight.

Yay it's Tuesday!

Not really. Tuesday isn't really that great other than it's no longer Monday. Although Glee and parenthood are both on tonight, that's exciting! And it's really amazing what is considered exciting to me now that I have kids. Ten years ago exciting would have been an impromptu trip to the casino at 2am, or going to see a concert at the last second. Now exciting is getting to watch a television show about a Glee Club lol. Funny how life changes.

This past weekend we spent Saturday doing some shopping in South Bend. It was a good time, although I was pretty tired. We finally ate at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and it was super good. I have a feeling every time I cheat on my diet from now on it is going to be there. And by diet I mean trying to eat healthy and as clean as possible, not fad dieting, I don't do that. So after lunch we ventured to the mall and got some new spring clothes for everyone. I only got a couple of shirts at AE. It's hard because a) I tend to buy work clothes when I get new stuff even though I really need casual clothes and b) I intend on being at least a size smaller in the next month or two so I really don't want to buy a whole lot of stuff. After the mall we went to get Bailey her soccer stuff and then out to dinner.

Megan took a good sized chunk out of her head yesterday. The poor thing doesn't have much hair to begin with she doesnt need any help! I cannot wait for nice weather so we can go outside, the children need fresh air. Bailey is actually playing with a friend right now and they are getting along so well, I'm very happy about this.

Here's a layout I did for Studio Calico's sketch challenge. I kid you not this layout took me 3 hours, AND I WAS COPYING FROM A SKETCH! I hate circles and this didn't come out anything like I envisioned it in my head. Oh well, it's for the kids anyways. Another memory down, a million more to go.

Happy belated Easter. Spring break is almost over, although it wasn't really much of a spring break for us in rainy Michigan.

We had a great weekend with my sister, brother in law, niece and nephew. The girls got along so well as did the little ones. We ended up at Curious Kids Discovery Zone on Saturday since it was pouring down rain. The kids had loads of fun and road the merry go round. When we were leaving there was a "live statue" in the lobby area. Bailey no sooner asked if he was real when he moved and waved at them. The poor thing freaked out! She started crying and hid behind me while the 2 year olds laughed and waved at him. The little ones thought he was just the best. It was quite humorous.

Bailey stayed the night at Kip's parent's house on Sunday and went golfing and out to a movie. I took Megan to the library and the park. I watched The Hurt Locker finally...it was so good even though I had issues watching it. I thought my blood pressure was going to sky rocket it was so suspenseful at times. Watched Into the Wild last night which was very disappointing. Music was good but that's about it. I really wanted to love it too which made it even more of a disappointment.

Today we are heading to meet friends for lunch at McD's so the kids can play (it is still raining). Then Bailey is going to stay the night at her friend's house and we are going to come back and relax. I cleaned the whole house last night in anticipation for my Studio Calico kit which is driving around St Joseph right now. New pics ordered and all. It's going to be a scrappy day!

I better get showered and the last of this laundry done so I can truly relax today!

Kelly

Robot Hands

Megan wears 1/2 of the ZhuZhu pet hamster ball on her head and runs around saying "Robot Megan" all the time. I don't know if the hamster has ever even been in the ball. In the above picture she is showing me "robot hands." She's a trip.

Jane is coming down tomorrow for Easter. It will be the first holiday they have spent down here with us. We are all very excited for them to visit. I think Bailey is counting down the seconds before her cousin gets here. The problem is we are supposed to get rain on Saturday...grr. So I'm thinking maybe curious kids museum will be in order, or maybe Alvin and the Chipmunks II. Bailey hasn't seen it yet and its the kids movie this week. At any rate I'm sure we will have lots of fun!

Bailey spent the day at Livinia's house today. They had her, Olivia, and Zachary over to play. It looks like they had a super fun time outside all day (it was 80 degrees...unbelievable!). Considering that she fell asleep in approx 5 seconds upon hitting the pillow I would call it a success! I'm so happy she has such great friends already. I'm hoping they all can remain close for many years to come.

Happy Good Friday!

eek! I'm so bad at blogging!

I hadn't realized over a week had gone by! I have goals. At some point I would like to put a link to my blog in my signature at the message boards I frequent. However I hate when I click on blog links and the person hasn't posted in a decade. So I swore I wouldn't do it until I could commit to posting regularly. Things are not going well. Sigh.

Another Megan layout. I could add "Really Mom?" to it as well. She ends everything she says in one of the two phrases. Or if she isn't sure how she wants to answer you (ex: she's going to get in trouble) she says "what you say mom?". Clever that one. Today she totally used ninja stealth to drop the pieces of cereal she didn't want to eat in between the couch cushions, while sitting right next to me. It's insane...not only is she naughty but she's quick and quiet too. But then she's so cute when she gets caught she never gets in trouble. I can only hope she grows out of this by the time she's 16 or we are in deep poo.

Running goals? Failed. I am going to be in so much pain come June when I run around Higgins Lake.

It's not helping that Kip has been sick for a week and I've been playing taxi cab all over the county. I had to take both girls to a birthday party on Sat. Two things about that 1. Megan lost her balloons and bless her little heart she went running and jumping after them yelling "I can't reach them mom!". I'm not sure if I was laughing or crying but there were tears. 2. I lost Megan at Curious Kids. I have never ever lost either of my children. That was the absolute most horrible feeling in the world. And nobody was helping me find her. She was only missing for about a minute before I located her but let me tell you it was the longest minute of my life.

Scrapbooking. I started another purple layout. I hate purple. I don't know why I even try to use it. So there it sits, taunting me. Instead I keep going to Studio Calico's site and ordering more stuff. And Kip is no help, he says "well did you get everything you wanted? I don't mind buying you stuff." that doesn't really help the self control at all. http://www.studiocalico.com/ all the goodness awaits!

I need a list that I can't lose in my head. Things that I need to scrap as soon as this purple layout is gone.

1 Robot Megan

2 Bailey and her healed sandals

3 the one that got away (balloons)

4 nighttime routine

5 daytime routine

Those are the ideas that keep popping in and out of my head. Alright, I hope to be back tomorrow or Wed for sure!

Bless her heart. On Friday she was so tuckered out she fell asleep watching her afternoon Dora. (She eats lunch, gets one Dora, then has a nap during the week.) She didn't make it very far and she would not take off her "lifejacket" lol.

We had a beautiful week. Lots of sun and playing outside. Then mother nature thought it would be funny to give us snow on the first day of spring...and it's sticking! Blasphemy I tell you.

I just finished watching Seven Pounds and it kind of disturbed me. It had a mix of sad/happy ending and its probably not what I should have watched tonight. Watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past now to hopefully put me in a happy mood before bed. Bailey has a birthday party tomorrow, then 2 next weekend. Goodness these kids get expensive! I hope all these parents remember this next year around Sept. 15th!!!

For some depressing news, I have to actually start diet/excersizing. Blah. It appears that eating all the time and not running has taken its toll on my body. I really wish I had made those funnel cakes before the switch! So tomorrow I have to figure out some way to start doing something. The problem is Kip is gone all day on Sundays. Maybe I should go to bed and run in the morning. Hmmm I'm just rambling at this point.

At any rate tomorrow goal: eat healthy. Excersize hard. Fantasize about buying new spring/summer clothes after I get those 10 pounds back off.

I'm going to scrapbook now I think. I finally emailed Studio Calico to subscribe to their kits. I've wanted them forever and I don't know why I haven't joined yet to be honest. I think its the monthly payment thing...but since they sell out immediately each month I'm guessing selling it wouldn't be an issue if there were a kit I did not like. Good night.

they grow up so fast

This past weekend was the big scrapbook retreat. It was so nice. 8 women packed in a church camp house watching movies and scrapbooking...what could be better? I only completed 8 pages hahaha...I won a prize for my lack of accomplishment as well. At least I saw some movies that did not involve a certain Barbie and her 3 Musketeers or a small hispanic girl named Dora.

The layout above is one of the reasons I scrapbook. I tend to reflect alot when I see other people scrapbooking and see why they do it and what it means to them. Some people have a goal of getting pictures on paper. Some people like to try every technique one one page. I personally, like to remember little moments about my girl's childhood. I get crazy every now and then and break out the paints and dyes, but for the most part the pictures and stories are my focus.

A story that will be scrapbooked just as soon as I have a soccer picture...Bailey and I were in Target and I stopped to look at the soccer cleats selection. She took one look at them and said "but Mo-o-o-m, I don't want to wear those they are ugly. Don't they have pink ones?". My little princess, she's something else. She likes to play in the dirt but she prefers to do it while wearing a frilly dress and healed sandals!

Off to get some housework done. We have a new friend coming to play tomorrow, Morgan. I don't want her to run away frightened of our home. Kip did a great job of not letting them totally destroy the place, but it is far from "clean".

Happy Monday!

Tuesday blahs

I think I have a harder time with Tuesdays than Monday. On Monday I can say "well I can just clean tomorrow." On Tuesday if I don't actually do something I feel really behind. I need to get the house cleaned, at least one meal ready, grocery shopping done, and pack all my stuff up for this weekend. This way they just have to keep it semi-cleaned and I will be happy when I come home.

Good news, Pages in Time re-opens this week!!! I'm so excited to have another lss again. I love the one in Niles but she doesn't really carry the products I use so I tend to shop online. It's much more fun to go shop in person. I'm definately an instant gratification kind of girl.

I guess that's it for today. Off to try and figure out this new grocery/coupon thing. I'm making a big attempt to save us some money. It makes no sense to spend what we have been spending grocery wise.

On another side note after trying the Oil Cleansing Method on my face for 3 days I am pretty sure it's not for me. I'm terrified it's making my face worse instead of better so I'm off to get new facewash instead!

The children are WILD today. Of course its the day that Kip leaves me alone with them. They are both taking naps right now, even after listening to how "not tired" Bailey was for an hour, she fell asleep first. I might bribe them to go to the scrapbook store with me today. It's a bit of a drive but it would do some good to get them out of the house for a while and the parks are just too muddy for me yet.

I ran today. After being sick all week and only getting 3 hours of sleep last night I managed 3.7 miles outside. It felt so good. I can't wait until it stays light enough at night for me to go after dinner again. It was the perfect relaxation time for me last spring.

I did some reflecting of kindness today while out running. There is this house by Bailey's school that is always decorated for every single holiday. They currently have a St. Patrick's Day flag outside. There was a man working on the yard today when I ran by. After thinking for a moment I decided to turn around and thank him for always decorating his home and told him that my girls love it. He thanked me and said that was why he kept doing it. He said his children were older now but he kept it up for the little ones that he knows sees it. Good people. It's little things like this that I think are important. I think we forget to compliment and thank people daily. I can't tell you how many people Bailey makes smile when we go out because she will compliment something about them. She will say that she likes their shirt, or their shoes, or earrings...you name it. It's so her, and it's genuinley kind. I didn't teach her to do it, she just does it because she likes people. I think I am going to take her advice and do more things like this from now on. Last fall I stopped and told an older woman how much we love her home. It's the most quaint house you can imagine. It reminds me of a little cabin type home in England. All I did was stop to tell her how charming we thought her home was and she told me that her grandfather had built it for her grandmother. She had found a home pattern in Better Homes and Gardens that she liked, so he built it. So sweet and all the more meaningful that the lady still has that house in her family.

I will never forget when Kip's friend told him that our house always looked really nice. He said he was amazed that I work full time and have two little kids and still any time he has ever been to our house it has been clean. He will never know how much that compliment he gave my husband means to me. I work very hard to keep our house clean, not spotless, but clean and healthy. It's not a mansion or one of the fancy beachfront homes you see popping up all over, but it is ours and I am grateful for the fact that we have a place to call home. So thank you Dave, your words will probably stay with me forever.

I guess the message today is stop and thank someone for something you would never think to. I'm going to make it my goal to thank or compliment someone twice a week from now on. (I mean beyond telling a cashier thank you at the checkout...something more meaningful. I always tell people thank you.)

Lazy Saturday

(The above picture is from the ice festival a couple weeks ago. My camera is upstairs and I dont have the energy to go get new pictures off of it!)

So far it's been a lovely Saturday. Not a whole lot of cleaning this morning, a trip to Lowe's to get a new faucet, a stop a Target to find that they did not have black jelly beans (the horror!), and soon we will be going bowling with the children. The sun is out and its actually not bad out there considering the snow.

Last night we had new friends over for dinner. I met Tracie at Bailey's school this year and we actually have quite a few common interests. Her daughter is in B's class. It was a nice evening. Megan is still hitting though. She's going to find herself in a heap of trouble if she doesn't cut it out. I don't know where she is getting it from but it is NOT ok, I just don't know how to stop her. At dinner when she doesn't want to eat she looks at me and says "Megan go in time out" and punishes herself instead of having dinner. I've tried positive reinforcement. I would take something away but I don't know what to take since she doesn't really have a fav toy.

Tomorrow I am starting my running training. I pushed it off a week because I decided to run the Higgins Lake 1/2 marathon instead of the Sunburst. It will be more low key and easier for me as a first race I think. I still am consider the Chicago Marathon but I don't know. That's alot of people all packed together on the road. We will see if I even like the 1/2. Running may be something that I just keep to myself instead of running in large clumps of people.

Next weekend I'm going on my scrapbooking retreat. Very excited to enjoy some relaxing time with mom and friends. The hardest part is that my mom is coming down and the girls want to see her. I don't think Bailey realizes that she's coming or she prob would be throwing a temper tantrum about it by now. Speaking of Bailey that girl is reading! It's amazing. She has to bring these little books home and read them on mon, wed, and fri and she does an amazing job. I'm so proud of her.

Spring...Hello?

I am so ready for spring. It is very very cold today and very very windy, yuck. Kip is at the doctor's, wondering if we shouldn't take Bailey in as well. She has had a bad cough since Sunday. I try not to be one of the crazy moms bringing their kids in for every ache and pain, but its not really sounding any better.

Yesterday the little monkey (Megan) moved a chair from the kitchen table over to the counter to reach the last of the Twizzlers! I heard a small thunking sound and just thought she had tossed her sippy into the sink (it's her new "thing" to put all her dirty dishes in the sink) so I ignored the sound. I was quite shocked to walk into the kitchen and see the chair, then I found the culprit on the couch munching away. It's hard to be mad when she's so cute.

We are still using just one car so life has been a bit of a pain. It's good because it means I can't leave the house and spend money but bad because we are stuck at home all day and the children are restless. I think I am going to shoot for the curious kids museum one day next week.

This picture says it all. Megan is a handful alright. When I ask her to "say cheese" she squints her little eyes and says "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" EVERY SINGLE TIME. Needless to say I don't have many good pictures of her lately.

Ran 2 miles today and it was rough. I think I have been over doing it, but still I managed through it. I'm sure the bacon cheeseburger didn't help the night before. I don't know why but I cannot resist a good hamburger. I'm going to have to start though because today was awful.

Bailey had lots of fun at her friends house and stayed up very very late. I was told she was very sweet and thoughtful, which isn't normally what I hear so I'm a proud mama today. My child can be bossy and very energetic so knowing she was a bit more laid back is good. We are trying to decide what soccer team to put her on. We really need to get on that before registration is over.

I think I might get scrapbooky today. My problem is the whole entire house needs a good cleaning. It's hard for me to relax when so much needs to be done. I know I can just clean tomorrow after we get home from work/school but its another way for me to procrastinate actual scrapbooking for another day.

Saturday

Not much going on today. Bailey is going to a sleepover tonight and we are heading to South Bend to pick up an Olympic Bar Kip wants and hopefully some cold weather running pants. In the past week I have run a 3.1 mile run and 2 2 milers plus I have been doing some cross training with Kip. Next week starts the training for the 1/2 marathon so I've just been trying to ease back into it after my 3 month vacation.

I've been reading and researching organic foods and healthier options than the way we currently eat. I think I'm ready to start switching over but I need some more recipes first. We've been converting to more homemade snacks and dinners but not necessarily organic yet. I'm working on it, it just takes alot of planning. (It has been 1 week since my last diet coke. I haven't given up coffee yet but I am quite proud of the no pop.)

Scrapbook status: I have a ton of pictures to edit and print, plus I'm really backed up on pics already. I need a scrapbooking week! Does that exist? My mom and I have a weekend coming up here in a couple of weeks but I am not sure one weekend is going to cut it. Plus new CHA stuff keeps coming in and my basket is getting more and more full. I just have been in a funk. I don't know why I can waste hours away playing bejeweled blitz but I can't get a piece of paper out and glue down a picture. I think its because the basement needs a serious decluttering and It is stiflign my creativity. Really its just all excuses, I just need to get back to it. Maybe tonight.

First day as a Part Time employee and the children are C R A Z Y. Neither would take a nap, which I later found out was probably because they had oreo's and chocolate milk for a snack today. Megan brought me a handful of poo. Really they are crazy. But I guess if this is day 1 it can't get much worse. At least they haven't torn apart the house...yet.