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Well, just when I was getting my computer back to up and running I got sucked in to the mad tornado of Valentine's Day projects, class parties, sick kids, and a church calling that definitely picked up speed.
Things in the Stake have been busy as we've started planning for Girls Camp, have ward conferences and New Beginnings programs to attend, and we had the opportunity to entertain a general authority. WHAT?!?! Yes, I got to make lunch for Mary N. Cook, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency! Not only did I make lunch (Cafe Rio Pork Salads) but our entire presidency got to have lunch and dinner with her, spent several hours visiting with her in the Stake President's office, listened in on a focus group that she had with 11 of the girls in our stake, and attended a fireside she put on that night that was broadcast to several other stake centers in our area! I even got to "pitch hit" and give the opening prayer at the fireside when the girl assigned to do it didn't show up! Even though it ended up being a very long and exhausting day (about 9 hours at church) it was one of the truly remarkable experiences in my life. To listen to her speak, watch her teach, and interact with the girls in the area was a testimony building experience. I've never doubted the leaders of the church were called of God but I felt the spirit testify that not only was she called to serve but that she was specifically called to serve the young women. We are so blessed!!!! I was able to use that experience and what I learned from observing her teach when I gave a talk on gospel teaching this past Sunday in another ward (a stake assignment). Throw in another ward conference that I got to teach just a microsecond in young women and another meeting that night and my LONG Sundays are hopefully over. Steve will be SO glad that I only have to attend one ward this week since we are the ones having ward conference!
Cougar is back to regular breathing treatments again and just went for another chest x-ray yesterday. We are waiting on the results and are hoping that he just has the bronchiolitis that is going around rather than the pneumonia we battled the entire month of December. Hopefully we will hear something tomorrow.
Last week Brinley came into the craft room while I was up working on valentines after she had gotten up to go to the bathroom (4 AM, mind you). She talked to me for a minute and when she turned to leave the room she fainted and hit the ground - hard. Her eyes were rolled back in her head so all I could see were the whites and I was worried that she was having a seizure! She came back around pretty quick and then spiked a fever to the point she was sweating like crazy!!! She was crying and disoriented and complaining about her stomach hurting. 30 minutes later I am holding her hair and she is throwing up ... no school for her!! She ended up missing her Friendship Lunch that her class had for Valentine's Day. They each filled out a questionaire about their likes and dislikes and then each student was assigned to bring lunch for another friend in class. Here is the box that she took hers in (well, we delivered it to school since she wasn't able to be there):
Ashton had a friendship breakfast for Valentine's Day and Kendyl had her preschool Valentine Party that I got to be a part of. I love when I can be in their classes but it can be difficult at times with Cougar and having Easton 3 days a week. I've been really lucky this year because most of their classroom "fun" has been on Thursday which is Steve's day off so he can keep Cougar and Easton doesn't come on Thursday! I had fun making valentines for all of the girls this year. As I worked all night to create 3 different designs I questioned myself ... I knew most of these would go straight to the trash with little appreciation for the detail! The pay-off was the next morning when the girls found their bags of valentines and were *SO* excited to take them to school!! They love to take something fun and different and always tell me how much they love that I make them ... guess that makes it worth the effort :) Here's what I came up with this year:
My creative team work has been busy and FUN! I took part in a Secret Valentine Swap for my ScrapMatters Team and got to make a gift/package to send to one of my favorite designers over in the shop! It was intimidating because she is super creative but I loved making all of the goodies. I used all kits that she had created, too! I covered some of the mini mailboxes from the dollar spot at Target for each of her kids, made them each a t-shirt to put inside, and made and epoxy keychain for her! They loved all of their goodies and her son even insisted on sleeping in his shirt :) Here are a few pics of what I sent. If you want more details/credits you can click HERE to go to my gallery!
I've got a few other things I've worked on but those can wait until later! At least you know I am breathing now, right? I have a few pics from Valentine's Day, and need to post some pics of the kiddos so I can prove they are around here somewhere, too ;)
Oh, and my new computer? I'm about to redo all of my HARD work to set it up ... AGAIN!!!!! Less than 2 weeks after I had it running just perfectly I noticed a glitch in the LCD screen! Since it is an all-in-one computer I can't just get a new moniter. My options? Send it to Sony to have them repair it or order a new one from Costco and return the first one. I thought sending it to Sony would save me the trouble of having to reload everything because they could just fix it. Two problems with that - it would be gone for another 10 business days and they have to reset it to factory defaults so my set up work would be gone! My solution? I bought another from Costco and am waiting to muster up the strength to go through the hours of tranfer and set up all over again. Steve has an overnight campout next weekend so I'll probalby do it then (since I don't sleep well when he's not home anyway). I'm beginning to wonder if this is a sign that I should have bought the Mac I really wanted - even if it would have cost me about $1000 more ....
And for my Facebook naysayers - told you I would update tonight!!!
Just a quick post to let you know I have a new computer that is *FAB* and so much faster than my old one. It's taken me more hours than I care to admit to get it up and running the way I like (I'm kinda picky about my computer organization - surprised?!) but think I'm *almost* there ;) The 2 1/2 weeks that I suffered with very little connection or computer was difficult and liberating at the same time. It put me WAY behind on my creative team work because, although the laptop has my photoshop program and my digital goodies are on an external hard drive, it is slower than the slowest thing you can imagine ... and then a little slower. Remember the blog post about Brinley's birthday party? It took me over 4 hours to edit photos, write, upload, and post from the laptop. I'm loving my new pretty and will write more about it and even share a photo and specs in another post - for all my digi friends who care about that stuff :)
Had to pop in to let you know I was the blogger over at ScrapMatters yesterday. You can check out the "official" post HERE. If you aren't currently subscribed to get their newsletter you *MUST* sign up!!! It is a fantastic resource and the designers create a free kit that is included in each issue. Each of the past 4 kits have been amazing so you really don't want to miss out. There are directions on how to subscribe in my "official" blog post. I also included a freebie designed with the kit from the January Newsletter ... just to get you thinking about Valentine's Day ;) It is a wrapper for a water bottle (I used the 16.9 oz. Kirkland Signature from Costco). I tied a "punch" packet onto it - there are so many to choose from and my kids love to shake up their own drinks!! It says "Owl be 'pleased as punch' if you'll be my valentine." You can click on the image and download it for yourself if you like!!
Well, I'm off to try and finish up my projects for the month and get my house ready for babysitters group tonight. With 14 kids planning to be here I wonder why I am concerned with getting things picked up ....
A few things you must know before reading on ... this will be a long post with lots of photos. I've had requests for details so I'm doing the best I can ;) If you want any more info than I give just let me know! Also, because I was so "hands on" involved in the party I was NOT the cameraman for the first time in a VERY long time! It was a hard role to give up ... seriously.
After much preparation, Brinley's birthday party arrived. There were a few late nights getting some prep work done so things could be as "organized" as possible when the girls arrived. Brinley got to invite 8 of her friends and ended up with 6 coming because 2 were sick - the joys of having a January birthday!! Ashton and Kendyl couldn't miss out on the fun either so we had 9 girls taking part in all of the festivities ... FUN!! 
As the girls arrived they were each given a red and pink polka dot apron. I picked these up at Target in the Dollar Spot (the $2.50 section). I also found my goody boxes and rubber scrapers that I used for the invites there ... Target seriously NEVER fails me!!!! Once the aprons were on we had each of the girls make a chef hat. I used posterboard for the bands and tissue paper for the tops. I found the idea on FamilyFun.com but their directions weren't terribly clear so I figured something out on my own. We had tape, glitter glue, regular glue and chunky glitter, foam heart stickers, and sequins on the table for them to decorate away. They all turned out so cute!
While the hats were drying we headed into the kitchen to make fruit kabobs to go with our dinner. They had a great time putting grapes, pineapple, apples, and cheese chunks onto the skewers. Of course they nibbled along the way, too. When they were done we put them in the fridge to save until we were ready to eat.
Next we had a cooking demonstration from ME! I wanted to teach about reading recipes, measuring, etc. so I walked them through making Chex Muddy Buddies. Each girl had a turn to put a part of the recipe into the bowl and since we doubled the recipe it gave me a great opportunity to work in some math concepts, too ("since the recipe calls for 9 cups of cereal and we are doubling it, how many cups of cereal do we need?")!! Guess it's the 4th grade teacher still inside of me ;) The girls didn't complain one bit and had a fabulous time when they were each given a bag of goodies to shake with powdered sugar.
While Steve and I got things cleaned up and ready to make pizzas we had the girls play Cooking Mama Cook-Off on the Wii. It is one of my girls' favorite games and fit the theme of the party perfectly!! They took turns slicing, dicing, mixing, and stirring virtual food. The original idea was to have a "tournament" with a winner at the end but we were already running behind so they just took turns and it worked out great - gave us just enough time to get things prepared to move on.
For dinner we had pizza on the menu, of course!! We set out the toppings, gave each girl a ball of dough (I bought my favorite dough balls and split them in thirds), and let them shape them, sauce them, and top them exactly as they liked. We had them create their pizzas on a piece of parchment paper with their name on it and it ended up being the perfect way to keep track of which pizza belonged to which girl :)
While the pizzas were baking we decided we'd better open presents. Brinley got some fun things - HSM pajamas and tote bag, a scrapbook, Littlest Pet Shops, Kitty in my Pocket, a book, lotions, potions, and an organizer.
Once the pizzas were ready we served up the goods ... pizza, fruit kabobs, and muddy buddies! The girls loved it all! I think they really loved the idea that they had made their own dinner :)
Of course you can't have a party without birthday cake, so I had made and frosted "mini cakes" ahead of time so the girls could decorate them. I baked white cakes - that we colored pink - in a 9x13 pan, let them cool, and then cut them with a circle cookie cutter (about 4"). I froze the cakes to make them easier to frost ... theoretically. They didn't turn out exactly as I had pictured them - next time I will bake the cakes in a sheet cake pan so they won't be so tall when I stack them!! I ended up using 1 1/2 of the mini cakes because otherwise they looked sillier than they ended up. I also ended up with cake crumbs in all of my frosting ... even after freezing them which is supposed to help with that. I decided it was because there were no "sealed" edges on the cake since they were cut out of the middle. If I had had more time (Kendyl had a field trip the morning of the party which cut out about 3 hours of prep time) I would have added one more layer of frosting to cover the speckles. Steve kept reminding me they were for 10 year olds .... We had a counter full of colored frosting, sparkle gels, colored sugars, and sprinkles. Those girls decorated to their hearts' content and had a BALL doing it!! Most of the moms came while they were finishing up and it was fun to see the girls showing off their masterpieces!
On the way out the door the girls got their goody boxes. I had made some chocolate covered popcorn, Muddy Buddies, and cake pops ahead of time. I also made sure to bag up their extra pizza for them to take home. I used the same bag topper that I used for Kendyl's goody bags back in September to top the bags of Muddy Buddies ... just used a picture of Brinley! I felt guilty reusing something I had used for another party but had to remind myself that none of these girls were at Kendyl's party. I spent my "creative juices" on recipe books this time!! I had the moms e-mail me their daughter's favorite recipe to include in the book and added a few of Brinley's favorites along with the recipes for Muddy Buddies and chocolate covered popcorn included in their goody boxes. I put a few blank recipe cards at the end so they could add to their books. I started with the cheap photo brag books that hold 36 photos (around $1 each) and designed 3 different 4x6 recipe cards. I was so happy with the way they came out and think the girls really liked them - I know the moms did :)
Our 2 hour time frame ended up closer to 3 hours - I warned the moms ahead of time - and we were busy the ENTIRE time! After everyone left I cleaned the kitchen until almost 10 PM and had cracked, bleeding knuckles to show for all of my hard work :( I have gotten great comments come back from the moms who had to listen to little girls talk about the party all weekend! It was a lot of work but was super fun to plan. I might tweak a few things if I ever do something similar (did I REALLY just say that?) but for the most part I am happy with the outcome. Thanks to you if you actually read this far ... hope the details can be of help to someone!! If nothing else at least I will be able to remember sometime in the future ;)
You must understand something ... I've been without an internet connection pretty much since my last post. My hard drive has continued to crash, my router has given up the ghost, hours on the phone with tech support has been of no help, the time with tech support has actually caused EXTRA problems getting online (my laptop gave out, to0), and I've had no time to shop for a new computer - in "real life" OR online (since I haven't been able to get online)!!!! For now I can finally get my laptop connected with the ethernet cable hooked directly into it but my laptop is SLOW so it makes life far more difficult to get things done than the way I am accustomed to. This is frustrating on several levels. One, I am used to being able to accomplish things faster than I am currently able to which is a hard pill for me to swallow ... I don't want to have to slow down! Two, it is very eye-opening to realize that my main source of communication with SO MANY is via the internet (e-mail, blogs, Facebook, etc.) - makes me feel totally "disconnected." Third, my church calling uses a computer more than I realized - especially this week! Luckily I have a fabulous "back up" helper :) Fourth, I am pretty much USELESS to my creative teams and forums without internet access. I can't upload my projects to any galleries, I can't download new products to create projects, etc. Lastly, it has become apparent that I may have a computer "addiction." The first few days I was unable to connect I found myself increasingly grouchy and unable to accept the idea that I really COULDN'T connect ... because I continued to return to my computer to try again!! Don't get me wrong - my new Blackberry has been a lifesaver because I was still able to get my e-mail, I could still get Facebook alerts, and I could even look things up online, but it took me forever to reply to e-mails on my phone (it is still "new" to me) so I only did that which was necessary. Steve and I got almost completely caught up on our DVR recordings. The timing was actually pretty good (if that's possible) with all of the birthday party plans that needed attention this week - kept me from getting MORE distracted ;) Speaking of the birthday party, I just downloaded all of my pictures so I should have all of the details tomorrow or Tuesday ... it could take me that long to upload and get them posted on this dinosaur of a laptop ....
It seems impossible that I could be the mother of a 10 year old ... especially since I didn't start having my babies until I was 27! That being said, I AM the mother of a 10 year old - a "tween" as they are called these days. It happened in the blink of an eye. Since that unforgettable day in 1999 we have had the pleasure of using Brinley as our "experiment" child, poor thing! Lucky for us she has been extremely accommodating on most occasions ;) We definitely needed her to come to our family first because she is a great example for her sisters and brother who have come along since then. Here are 10 things we love about Brinley:
1. She does what she is asked - often the first time she is asked.
2. She is an avid reader and can easily get lost in a book.
3. She can regularly be found helping with chores beyond what she is assigned.
4. She is a great leader and looks for opportunities to help others.
5. She is a perfectionist and always does her best.
6. She is a loyal friend.
7. She has a strong desire to do what is right and learn more about her Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
8. She has a curious mind and is always wanting to learn about new things.
9. She stretches her creativity by drawing, writing stories and songs, and role playing.
10. She expresses gratitude for all she has been given.
The day started with opening her presents before Steve had to leave for meetings at the church. She got a bed for her American Girl (Brianna), a new Webkinz, clothes, a book of hairstyles and tips, the new American Girl movie, and CASH from grandparents!! I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast since they are a fave around here. After church we got to watch Chrissa Stands Strong (the new AG movie she got) and she registered her new Webkinz - Cupcake. On the menu for dinner - at her request - was Spaghetti, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans with bean sauce, and Heavenly Breadsticks. Rather than have cake she decided she wanted Magic Cookie Bars! Here are a few pics from our fun day:
I've got several other things to post about this past week, including the winner of the M&M resolution giveaway, but my computer is not feeling well (keeps shutting down with the "blue screen of death" - luckily I have my hard drives backed up) and things are taking me 10 times as long as they normally would so I'll add more of our week later. I will post just a few pictures of Brinley's birthday party invites that went out this week ... LOTS of party details to come this weekend (after we recover from the party scheduled for Thursday)!!!
I would be considered a terrible mother and blogger if I did not post just the tiniest bit of our adventure today before turning in ... even if it is almost midnight and I've been working on birthday party invitations for a few hours (to be posted soon - promise). I've actually been in bed, lights out, having read a book in addition to the scriptures before midnight for the past two nights which is record breaking around here. But I digress ....
After a very busy morning of productive errand running I came home with Paradise Bakery for lunch *YUM* and even remembered to bring some home for Steve since he has a late lunch on Tuesday. It was time to pick up Ashton from school and I would have to go back to the school 45 minutes later to get Brinley from choir. Cougar came with me and Kendyl stayed home with Steve since I would be home in time for him to get back to work. I was no further than the major cross street on the way to the school (less than 2 minutes) when Steve calls and says Kendyl needs to go to Urgent Care. **WARNING - THIS IS WHERE IT MAY GET A LITTLE MORE GRAPHIC WITH PHOTOS** Remember THIS from last year? Steve is on the other end telling me Kendyl was "ice skating" in the kitchen, fell, and cracked her chin open exactly like she did last year at Burger King. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I've been gone from the house for 2 minutes! We not-so-quickly devise a plan for him to take her to Urgent Care, I will get Ashton, have her get Brinley from choir (since I will most likely not be done in time to pick her up 45 minutes later) and I will race to meet him so he can get back to work. It is 2:47 and he is supposed to be at work at 3:00. His office is 1 stoplight (5 minutes "in traffic") away from home and the Urgent Care is right around the corner from his office. By the time I arrive at Urgent Care they are taking her back. Steve heads back to work just in time to see his patient :) BTW we have the *BEST* Urgent Care facility around!! I take Cougar - who had fallen asleep in the car - in with me and Kendyl and leave Brinley and Ashton in the waiting room to work on their homework and read. What else am I supposed to do at this point? I couldn't drop them off anywhere because Steve needed to get to work, I could have taken them in with Kendyl but I didn't need them oogling while her chin was stitched up ... ah, the joys of parenting and taking multiple children places like Urgent Care!!! They took a look and the diagnosis was stitches - SURPRISE! They put the topical on to numb her chin and we sat and waited for it to work its' magic. About 20 minutes later they came in, started to clean her up and get stitching and she could feel the needle. Not good. This meant she needed a shot to numb her. Having gone through a flu shot last month I knew this was REALLY not good. She freaked at the thought, had to be wrapped up in a blanket, and then a calm came over her, they numbed her up with no problems, gave her 4 beautiful stitches (that will leave another fabulous scar on her chin), and we were done. A quick trip to McDonald's for ice cream cones and we were good as new! Steve said he *almost* grabbed the camera on the way out the door. I guess I *almost* have him trained! At least I had my phone so I could snap a few not-so-good pics to share and scrap. No editing tonight ... I didn't get a picture of the stitches after they were in but I'll be sure to post once we can take her bandage off tomorrow - I know you'd HATE to miss out on seeing them ;)
I know, I know ... it seems like an eternity since I last posted but it has really only been a few days. I got so used to staying up until the wee hours after everyone had gone to bed to get my daily posts in! It was actually pretty liberating to skip a few days ;) I did learn how much I loved keeping a better record of our adventures so while I will most likely not be posting every day (I can hear you weeping) I am determined to do better this year at being more consistent with my blogging/journaling.
In the spirit of journaling we have started a family journal project, as well. We are setting aside time on Sunday evening for each of us to write about our week. I was going to make journals for each of the kids but they are having a PJ's (prayer, journals, scriptures) party for Primary on Saturday and they are giving each of the kids a journal so this week I gave them each a piece of paper to write their entry for the week and when they get their journals on Saturday we will transfer their writing from today. I will write for Cougar since he is unable at this point and I will also be a scribe for Kendyl after she does some writing on her own (with me spelling out every word). I told them to make sure to include pictures it they want! My hope is that by the end of the year they will enjoy looking back at the things they have written, recognize the blessings they've received, remember lessons learned, and treasure their accomplishements and times we have shared together as a family.
Since my last entry we spent a day at the Science Center with Steve's parents (who bought us a season pass for Christmas ... we are SO excited to go often this year!!). We said goodbye to them on Friday morning and spent the day trying to pick back up on our routine - slowly. Saturday morning came and it was time to take down Christmas. This is one of the saddest days of the year to me. I *LOVE* the holiday season, love that I actually change some things in my house, and enjoy the extra "sparkle" that Christmastime brings to my house. It seems to take forever to put up and yet it comes down so quickly. We had it all packed up and back in the garage by around 1 PM. We took the kids to see "Bedtime Stories" later in the afternoon. Yes - I dared to take Cougar back to the theater after our last experience. Wouldn't you know that with Steve there he slept through almost the entire show and sat on laps the little while he was awake without any fuss. Note to self ... only go to the movies when Steve is there to work his magic!! They loved the movie, by the way, and I would highly recommend it!
We got rain this morning which is always nice and yet usually unexpected in our area. Our church schedule changed so now we meet at 11:00 rather than 9:00. There are pros and cons to this ... PROS: Steve has time to come home from his meetings before church so he can help out with the kiddos. I don't feel as rushed while getting 5 people ready to be out the door. CONS: Dreadful for Cougar's naptime!! By the time we got home, made lunch, and sat down for a few minutes it was going on 4:00 ... I felt like I'd lost half of my day! My ideal church time is 9:30 or 10:00 - not as rushed in the morning but home early enough to feel like you still have a good chunk of your day.
Backpacks are packed, clothes are laid out, and alarm clocks are set for the return to school tomorrow. It really doesn't seem like time yet - our 2 week break FLEW by with our house full of visitors! I am certainly looking forward to the "routine" that comes with the school schedule and am excited to hopefully get things pulled together and a little more organized around here. I'm working on some schedules that will make us more productive (in my dreams) and am already making some headway on a few things that I'm hoping to change/improve this year!
Don't forget to leave a comment with one of your New Year's Resolutions on my previous post to be entered for the M&M giveaway :) Apparently most of you have "lose weight" on your list and think I am trying to ruin your efforts ... I consider them a reward for a good day!! You could make those boxes last for MONTHS if you wanted to (but who would want to?)!!
HAPPY 2009!!
The month of December quickly pushed me along to another blogging milestone ... 150 Posts! How perfectly timed to have my 150th post fall on the beginning of a New Year :) To celebrate you surviving December with me and to recognize my newest blogging achievement I find it only fitting to have another giveaway!!! And what better to give away than 2 BOXES from my stash of Premium Mint Chocolate M&M's?!?! To be eligible to win, leave me a comment telling me one of your resolutions or goals for the upcoming year. I believe writing down our goals is essential to helping us reach them. With that in mind, I am hosting the challenge over at Jessica Sprague this week! You can check out the details HERE ... I'd love for you to join in :) I'll be finishing my layout in the next week and will definitely be sharing it with you, along with a bunch of other projects I've finished over the past month or so - I feel like I haven't shared any projects in forever!! You have until January 8th to leave your comment and be entered into the drawing for the M&M's. I can't wait to hear what your plans are for 2009!!
I feel like today is somewhat of a blur. The morning was boring - taking care of the needs of children, folding and putting away laundry that I was behind on, getting the girls to finish their jobs, etc. Ed & Pam headed out for eye exams (with the finest O.D. in town) and we were off to the grocery store to buy BBQ sauce, milk, and some snacks for our "party" tonight. We stopped at Tori's house for a bag FULL of Paradise Bakery cookies - at least 3 dozen - before making our way to Party City for some "Happy New Year" garb. The girls always think we should be having some grand celebration with everyone we know but we have had family visiting almost every year since we moved here so we tend to stick close to home and enjoy a quiet night.
When we got home from running errands Ed decided he needed to wash his car. It was sunny outside but not exactly what I would deem warm ... especially with the driveway being in the shade ;) That didn't stop the children from deciding it was summer and time to play in the water! They made a game out of "throwing" the bubbles out of the cooler that he was using for a bucket. Cougar had the most fun with this and we couldn't keep his hands out of the water. They had a fabulous time with Papa squirting them with the hose, riding their scooters through the water, and dashing about - remember it is the last day of DECEMBER!!
I had one day left to claim my free birthday burger from Red Robin so off we went for dinner. This is a tradition in our family that everyone looks forward to. The kids especially love that they sing to you and bring you an ice cream sundae!!
After we came home I had to devote some time to getting the last of my creative team projects posted for the month while everyone else played games downstairs ... Go Fish, Dominoes, etc. The movie selection (to help pass time until a ball dropped somewhere so the kids could go to bed) was Hairspray. By 9:30 people were starting to fade so we knew it was time to take some pictures, blow some horns, pop some poppers, and toast some sparkling cider to a new year. Kiddos were in bed by 10:00 - about as long as they have made it any other year :)
Looks like we survived the month of December!!! I hope you've enjoyed our journey through the last month of 2008 with all of the adventure it has brought. I am happy to say that I actually posted every single day without fail ... even with a week long vacation and company in town for a week and a half. It has definitely been a challenge but I am so happy to have recorded our memories of a wonderful month. I am going to use my pictures and journaling to create a Shutterfly book and I can't wait! My picture a day challenge ended up being slightly different than I imagined going into it - I ended up writing more than I thought I would and I ended up with more than one photo most days. I am glad to have done it so my family can look back and remember our fun times and many traditions of the holiday season. Thanks for your fun comments and taking the time to follow along ... it means so much to share our lives with those we love :)
Ashton had a friendship breakfast for Valentine's Day and Kendyl had her preschool Valentine Party that I got to be a part of. I love when I can be in their classes but it can be difficult at times with Cougar and having Easton 3 days a week. I've been really lucky this year because most of their classroom "fun" has been on Thursday which is Steve's day off so he can keep Cougar and Easton doesn't come on Thursday! I had fun making valentines for all of the girls this year. As I worked all night to create 3 different designs I questioned myself ... I knew most of these would go straight to the trash with little appreciation for the detail! The pay-off was the next morning when the girls found their bags of valentines and were *SO* excited to take them to school!! They love to take something fun and different and always tell me how much they love that I make them ... guess that makes it worth the effort :) Here's what I came up with this year:
My creative team work has been busy and FUN! I took part in a Secret Valentine Swap for my ScrapMatters Team and got to make a gift/package to send to one of my favorite designers over in the shop! It was intimidating because she is super creative but I loved making all of the goodies. I used all kits that she had created, too! I covered some of the mini mailboxes from the dollar spot at Target for each of her kids, made them each a t-shirt to put inside, and made and epoxy keychain for her! They loved all of their goodies and her son even insisted on sleeping in his shirt :) Here are a few pics of what I sent. If you want more details/credits you can click HERE to go to my gallery!
I've got a few other things I've worked on but those can wait until later! At least you know I am breathing now, right? I have a few pics from Valentine's Day, and need to post some pics of the kiddos so I can prove they are around here somewhere, too ;)
