MyEbella...

Oh Boy Oh Boy...

Forgot a quick couple of things!! I got home from work late the other night and found out that my cute and not so innocent 17th month old (actually today she is 17th months) could CLIMB INTO THE KITCHEN CHAIRS ALL BY HERSELF! What?? When did that happen, yet another thing we have to really watch for!

So Dad and I were talking, Bella was in a chair sitting in E's booster seat and Ethan was off playing and we didn't think he was paying attention to us!  So our conversation went something like this:

Mom:  We might just have to get Bella a booster seat too!

Ethan:  The baby boy can use the high chair then!

Mom (& Dad):   What baby boy?

Ethan:  The baby boy we are going to get!!!

Um What??? What does he know that we don't... Hmmm! Interesting! As far as we know this is it!! The two we have are a handful!!!  LOL

In other exciting news... Guess who is getting a new 50" plamsa TV this week?  yup you guessed right WE ARE! (Thank you tax money to come!)  =)

Hopefully it doesn't over power our room, but for the huge deal we got ($1000 mail in rebates) it was the best buy compared to a 42" or 47"! Hoping for Wednesday; they are waiting on the delivery truck! BUT it WILL be here in time for the SUPER BOWL!!!!

Happy Monday!

Catching Up....

I keep telling myself to keep my blog better caught up. Not sure why this isn't the first thing I work on when I get on the computer. I always start surfing the digi sites and blogs. So hopefully my "catch up" won't be too long

Digi Scrapping Moms:  Things just keep moving along on the site! I really need to get some information on the homepage about who we are and how you must be registered and active to join. Keeps our group small and we know everyone. There have been a few changes though. Randi one of the three designers we had decided it was time to venture off on her own. She had told me about starting her own site when we first started up Digi Scrapping Moms, but I didn't think she was going to leave us. Either way I am happy for her and her partner. I wished them the best of luck!

My two designers are still creating:   

Melissa just came out with a new sketch set! (I could be biased, but I love all of them!) She takes all her templates from her own pages and well all of her pages are amazing!! She makes it look so effortless (I've hello-d with her and I know she goes back and forth w/ elements and papers just like the rest of us LOL but still...she can do her pages soo much quicker than I can!! =)  Here is her blog and a link to her TEMPLATES!

Here is a page I just did using one of her new sketches from set# 5.

Shawna Clingerman and Dani Mogstad year of memories kit (feb), Melissa Lewis template (from set# 5, template# 15), Font is Highland Perk & Century Gothic

Jen  is creating like crazy...I am loving her new kit. I haven't got a chance to use it, but love all it. The Rope, the tractor and the puzzle pieces are my favorite!

Hoping to create something this week with this kit! Ethan is going to love the tractor!! Go check out the rest of her kits! With two girls at home it was exciting to see a boys kit come out!! =)

So since I've put my DIGI SCRAPPING MOMS plug in, here is another page I did the end of last week. I love the kit I bought from Michelle Underwood. I am loving her stuff lately (okay I always have loved it)

Michelle Underwood Making Memories Kit, Michelle Underwood Love ya Bunches White Photo frame, Miss Mint Duct Tape (Letter L), Gina Cabrera Binder Clip, Font: Title & Journaling is Highland Perk

Well probably a good update for now! Off to see if I can get another page done, have a few more personal updates...I'll save that for later!

Monday and Back to Reality...

Another weekend come and gone; boy was it busy!! 

London had his first birthday party (he actually turns one on January 31st) We missed his birth last year since we were in Korea picking Bella up!! Wow almost been a whole year!!  Back to the party! Just as small get together, but seemed to work out good! I don't think he was completely over-whelmed! He got lots of cute toys and the announcment that he was going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!  Cara is pregnant again!! Yeah, not by much...She is due September 13th! Hmmm Hoping for a girl and then her and Iz would only be about 2 years apart! =) 

Iz has been sleeping a little better even sleeping through the night a couple of times this past week and/or weekend! Well I did have to get up with her a little bit ago and tonight I think was one of the first few times I let her cry (ok scream). I wouldn't say I let her "cry it out". I don't think her or I are ready for that. Tonight she went to sleep around 8:30pm which is ealry for her, but I'm hoping to get her and E on the same bed time when her conversion for her crib comes in!  But a couple minutes of her whining and screaming and she was SOUND ASLEEP!

I was able to do this page from a picture that was taken a week or so ago! Kind of "copied" multiple layouts of Melissa's.

Credits can be found HERE

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Wow getting pretty late, I need to get to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I can journal about the funeral. I want to make sure I have time to do right it like it should be!

The GOOD, BAD and SCRAPPED!

Let's see it has been over a week since I blogged and a lot has happened in that week... Some good and some bad.

THE BAD

On Thursday the 11th Mom was staying with Granny...Ever since Christmas she hadn't been feeling herself, sleeping a lot. So Mom had taken a couple days off work and stayed with her. My Aunt Janet was coming up to stay the weekend with Granny and give mom a little break. Long story short, Mom went into help her change and realized her eyes had rolled back, so she freaked for a minute and called 911, then my dad, then Uncle Tony (her brother). The paramedics were there in minutes and did CPR to bring her back! They finally transported her to the hospital.

I took Isabella down to the hospital with me on Saturday the 13th. I was able to go in with Aunt Terrie and "talk" to her. I kind of chuckled at it then and still now, but the nurse really thought we should have left the room and let her rest. Well we weren't in her ICU room very long Aunt Terrie and I held her hands and the nurse made the comment that she thought she (granny) was frowning and that she thought she wanted to rest... I kind of smirked at Terrie and said, Granny Grumpy? Yes, she has been known to be grumpy and we went right on holding her hands! =)  I know that is there job, but she was soo sick why not let us be with her?!

She "stayed with us" until Tuesday the 16th!! Mom called Tuesday night to say that they had left the hospital and were heading home that she had passed away. It all becomes soo complicated. What did she had written up, what would she want. I think she will be happy now that she will be back with Papa again. She didn't want her picture in the paper...well she didn't win that one; but they did choose this smiling one of her that I took from Ethan's birthday party last year (2006). I think she would have liked that we chose that one. I think she would have enjoyed the little "blurb" (sounds much better than an obituary) that was in the paper with her picture.

Ethan's 4th birthday was on Friday the 12th, Moms' birthday was on Wednesday the 17th, Mom & Dad's anniversary was on the 19th, and Todd's birthday is today the 20th! So lots of happy things going on, just wish she was here to share it all with us! Instead tomorrow (Sunday) we go to share with family and celebrate Granny's life!!!

THE GOOD

My baby turned the big 4 years old on Friday the 12th! He was pretty excited he's kept saying that he was going to do this and that when he turned 4!! Like wear big boy underwear to bed (not happening yet), no more sippy cups of milk in church (this IS happening) We probably should have stopped it earlier, but if it helped him sit still AND quiet for an hour then so be it!

This year he asked for a kids birthday party! So that is what he got! LOL We had a few kids from daycare and 2 boys that we met through Ethan's adoption. We went with the Monster Truck theme and every one seemed to have a great time! Throw a bunch of kids in a room together, add pizza, cake and ice cream and then presents.... Well it was a loud, busy, quick 3 hours!! =)  Here are a few of  my favorite photos from his birthday dinner at Red Robin and his party!

Treat boxes for all the kids

Singing Happy Birthday to Ethan    

The Cake =) Notice the car being ran over?

I won't bore you with more photos...Hoping to scrap some of them soon anyway =) But I think they all had a good time so it was worth it!!

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Well pretty late and need to get up for church and the funeral tomorrow...So off to bed and will add "THE SCRAPPED" pages later =)

Okay finally got some time to post the layouts I did the other night!

Credits can be found HERE

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Credits can be found HERE

(Ethan helped pick out all the papers and helped tell me where to put them!) ********

Credits can be found HERE

TOOT - TOOT ...I've been published!!!

I've been waiting to post this to the blog, I wanted to have the magazine in my hot little hands! Some of you may know that I started a website called DIGISCRAPPINGMOMS. (you can read some about it in the sidebar) We are all moms (a requirement for the site) and started out as a google group that wanted to learn more about digital scrapbooking. As our little group kept growing it became harder and harder to see everyone's layouts and then to go back and see them again! I came up with the idea of starting a website... It quickly came about and we are growing and growing! I just wish I had more time to devote to it....But we are a great bunch of woman sharing mom stories and any  helpful tidbits of information about how to digital scrapbook. Having a feature on digital scrapbooking written up in Adoptive Families (and mentioning our site) has helped our site growing in great numbers!

Recently we even added a store (found HERE). We've got three designers Melissa Lewis, Randi Oh, and Jen Hanson.(I guess I felt the need for a little background...Really just wanted to say how much I am enjoying the site and the girls that belong to our little group.)

Well since we like the feel of being a small quaint little group, that we requirement registration. I send an email to all who register at our site. I ask basic questions and tell what we expect from them, etc. One night I was sending out the "Before I Approve your Registration" emails and one of the replies I got was from Colleen from Adoptive Families Magazine. She said she wasn't a mom but that she was doing an article on digital scrapbooking would I be interested to submit a couple pages and answering a few questions. OMG how exciting. I mean I've always wanted to submit a layout to a magazine (even have one in mind) but have never done it... I said OF COURSE. A couple other girls from the site were mentioned too (Anjali & Randi--Randi sells her designs at our site).

Here is the article that was written up about digital scrapbooking!

FRONT PAGE OF THE MAGAZINE

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS...Yes that is my Bella showing that the article is on page 34!

PG 1

PG 2...Check out that page of Ethan (credits didn't get printed, but that is from Nikki Painter, font is Spacesuit)

PG 3

PG 4

PG 5Two more layouts of mine! =)

It was soo excited waiting for the magazine to come in the mail and to actually read the article. She did a great job with it and already is steering quite a few people to our site (and others I'm sure) to stat digital scrapbooking. That might have been just enough of a confidence booster to encourage me to apply to a couple of the different magizines... We'll see!

Wednesday...Over the Hump!

Another day come and gone... time seems to be just flying by! Every night I plan on updating the blog and then I start surfing, reading blogs, starting a scrapbook page (did you see the STARTED part) I have soo many layouts started. Slow going and soo many other things to be doing! I have a few updates I want to share so I'm hoping I don't jump around too much!

Bella still isn't sleeping through the night. We thought the dr. was feeding us a line about her just having dry skin/excema, but I was "helloing" w/ a friend Janel the other night and her son Carter has it too...Same symptoms (and others have agreed w/ the dr.) But I guess I just didn't want to hear it since I know there really isn't anything you can do for it (ok yes there are things, but not really things that will stop her from waking up multiple times a night to scratch herself!)...So hoping I get this posted before she wakes up again. 1 am here and already been up twice w/ her!  (Edited: We didn't make it, she was up at 1:45am and we ended up sleeping in the chair downstairs =( but she thankfully went back to sleep in my bed, so off to get ready for work)

E has decided yet again that he like our bed better than his! So the last couple of nights it has been a tight fit w/ all of us in bed together. I feel so bad; the other night he gave Todd the line, "Why does Izzy get to sleep in your bed & I don't?" OUCH....really how do you make an almost 4 year old understand why. So in hopes of helping transition her back to her room which will be all new to her, heck we have never even lowered the crib to its lowest setting...I can't remember the last time she slept in her crib!

So I called today about getting the side rails to make it from a crib/toddler bed into full sized bed (what is another $100?). LOL I told Ethan that he could start sleeping in her bed with her. Not sure how I missed it but once we get ready to make the switch... we will need NEW SHEETS, and we'll need A NEW MATTRESS... the important stuff! We'll see how that all goes, but atleast when we are doing the bed shuffle in the middle of the night then someone could sleep in her bed w/ one of the kinds if needed!. Hmm new sheets; does that mean I get to pick an all new theme!??

E is E =) Keeping us on our toes! Always has something funny coming out of his mouth! Lately everything has been quoted from CARS or from ICE AGE 2. Amazing what their little brains can handle. Still battling a little w/ some tantrums, screaming and crying when he doesn't get his way! We are thinking some of it due to him being tired (we can definately tell which days he napped and which ones he didn't!) I think it can be hard on him; it seems like we are constantly telling him and asking him questions.

E's birthday stuff came in the mail the other day. It looks awesome! Bad mommy I forgot the pinata!!!  Oh well-just need to come up w/ a couple small simple crafts for them to do  and I've also toyed w/ the idea of renting a monster truck movie!

Mom called this past Sunday. She was at Granny's house, doing her laundry and picking up stuff. Ever since Christmas she has kind of been a hermit... Sleeping tons. Hopefully they will be able to figure out what is causing her to be so tired and withdrawn latley.

I was able to do a scrapbook page the other night. I saw a page that Melissa had did and once again had to copy her!! I loved this template/acton!! Here is Melissa's layout.

Credits can be found HERE

Well tonight I'm hoping to post a little TOOT TOOT =)

Birthday Party here we come...

Yes I'm a procrastinator, Ethan's 4th birthday is on January 12th and just a few minutes ago I ordered the party decorations! As soon as Ethan saw the Monster Jam theme he knew that is what he wanted!!!

So this is what it looks like... of course I go to place the order and the discounted bulk package (you know the big Deluxe one that includes just about everything in it) says it is ready to ship on 1-26-07, so that won't cut it! His party is on the 13th! So I'm sure that I spent a few extra dollars but I think he will LOVE it and it is his first freinds party! Nothing like having 8-9 four to eight year olds running around my house! =)

We got the:

• Filled favor boxes
• Thank you cards
• Plates (dinner and dessert) ...we are having pizza then cake and ice cream!
• Napkins (cups were out of stock)  =(
• Activity Mat Placemats
• Tatoos for the kids
• Center piece for the table
• Balloons (mylar and latex)
• Curling Ribbon
• Streamers

Hoping Ethan won't be too disappointed but I FORGOT the Pinata! Oops! Disappointed I screwed that one up! But since I spent soo much money I received free shipping so for 2 day shipping I only had to pay $12 instead of $26 something! So don't think I want to order the pinata and then pay MORE shipping!

He is pretty excited about turning 4! We've been using his upcoming birthday as a "tool". You know...

1. Come your birthday no more sippy cups during church (sometimes it is a last resort to get him to sit still) but heck lately he hasn't even been drinking it during church
2. No more wet wipes for washing our hands. Bad habit to even start, but sometimes it is quicker and easier...
3. This one is his, but he keeps saying when he turns 4 he is going to wear underwear to bed!  I keep telling him he better hurry up and learn how to wake himself up at night that his birthday is coming fast and considering a changed a poopy diaper last night =(  I think we have a ways to go!!

Birthday Presents... This sucks having his birthday soo close to Christmas, but what am I going to do? Besides changing him to having a 1/2 birthday and celebrating it in late spring early summer ... Hmmm that is an idea! Okay back to presents... What are we going to get him???

His answer: A goldfish (argh I think we are going to take the fish plunge), Weebles (Sister got some for Christmas and these we probably ARE NOT getting), another Transformer (he got this one for Christmas) but heck it is pretty complicated so not sure about that (and we found a great deal before Christmas...we did NOT spend $50 on it), and I think he mentioned one more thing, but my MOM brain had already started wandering!

I'm thinking we will do a couple new V-tech games

and of course a couple new monster trucks and maybe even the monster truck carrier, but hmmm check out what I just found at Toys R Us

Their Description: The first ever Monster Truck Game features a real truck input device. Shocks provide rumbling action to give players a realistic Monster Truck feel as they drive. Complete with working steering wheel, throttle and Nitro Button. Visuals and audio throughout the gave give the sights and sounds of a real Monster Truck event. $18.48 not sure if I can pass that up!

All this talk about his birthday I'm starting to get excited ... =)

Long overdue post!

Wow it has been a quick couple of weeks... Hubby was on vacation and it made it hard to get my computer time in! He just doesn't get "it" =) Have a lot to update on but will probably just add a few quick things tonight and a few of my favorite photos from the past couple of weeks (would show more probably, but now my computer is holding a photo CD hostage, so until it decides to release him, it might be a few days before I can upload more photos from the Christmas holiday!)

This year I gave Ethan three throw away camera to take pictures. I forgot to take one on Christmas Eve, but he pretty much used up all three on Christmas morning and then Christmas Day at my parents house. 

He thought he was pretty funny taking these self portraits... He just suddenly held the camera out, turned it around and snapped his picture and this is what we got:

LOL they just make me smile everytime I see them! =)

Miss Bella has aquired quite the attitude these days. Maybe it is her age (she just turned 16 months) or the fact that she's been home w/ us for two weeks instead of daycare... but my oh my!!! This picture shows one of her new smiles (haven't got a good picture of her "other smile"). Actually she loves to stick her tongue out like that and say MOMMA, if you don't stick your tongue out and say MOMMA back to her then she just keeps doing it and she gets LOUDER and LOUDER! Pretty funny!

Did you notice the bruise on her left cheek (our right side)... yup she's had that beauty for a couple 2-3 weeks now! She thought she was 15 months going on 15 and thought she would WALK down the stairs...Oops...didn't quite work that way! She rolled head over hills down the last 2 or 3 steps (I was in the hallway upstairs (watching) and daddy was downstairs fiddling w/ the tree)...She was just too quick and neither one of us could stop her (Dad did make it to her before she hit bottom though!)

More to come hopefully tomorrow... Better head to bed before little miss attitude decides it is her middle of the night wake up!

Hope everyone had a great new year!! =)