SSDS and SSS challenge plus new additions

I am a little late getting my projects up for the new challenges that went up on Saturday. I made the challenge posts and then forgot about my own blog..lol. But I am here now. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We kept it close to home since Patrick is gone right now. We just lounged around watching movies and grilled ribs..yum! Actually our whole weekend has been lazy. It is so nice to have one of those at times..lol..and it has been well over due. So what did you do this weekend??

This week at Scrap and Stamp the challenge is to use the color RED with at least one stamp on your layout. Easy enough right?
This is one more photo from Christmas Eve of Patrick and Nick playing with the rocket. I cut some of the stars from the pp for the embellies and used a fun stamp set from Thats Jazzy Stamp Dream.
supplies: Bazzill cs, Inique Boutique pp and sticker, American Crafts thickers, KI Memories shaped paper, Thats Jazzy Stamp Dream stamp, Making Memories ink, markers

A little close up of the embellies.

At Stamp, Scrap and Doodle we want to see a shaped project. Anything at all works as long as it isn't a square or rectangle. Our sponsor this week sent us these fun The Angel Company products to use. I use the papers and only the sentiment stamp.

I used a Tattered Angels mask as a template for the butterfly.

supplies: The Angel Company pp and stamp, Recollections cs, sharpie, gems, chalk ink

The inside is simply stamped...

I hope you will join us this week with both challenges. Be sure to head over to the blogs and see what the design teams did with the challenges.

On another note. Our sweet Sophie had her kittys last weekend, they were a week old yesterday. She had 3 that look exactly like here. Here is one of mom and babies.
And just the sweet babies. They are so cute and already opening their eyes.

Well I am off. Got to figure something out for dinner. Have a great night!

Congrats GAB Class of 2009!

My cousin goes to the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon. She has been since she was 11. Her sight and mental disability came about from a car accident when she was 3 months old. It was a miracle she survived and was pretty touch and go for quite some time. She is legally blind but can see some up close. It was a hard decision for my aunt and uncle to make about sending her off to school. She spends the week at school and is home on the weekends. But it was by far the best thing for her. They teach them life skills, job skills along with all of the other educational things they should be learning. She learned to read which we weren't sure would ever happen. She can read braille as well as large print books. It is amazing the changes that have happened in Kristen. We are so proud of her and how far she has come. They can attend until the turn 22 if it is needed. Which I believe is about the average for everyone, really. She will be 22 in June.

Here is the entire graduating class. It was a truly touching ceremony. I couldn't hold the tears back. I can't put into words what I felt sitting there watching all of these amazing young adults working through their disabilities to ac hive one of their goals. Each and everyone of them climbed those steps to the stage and received their diplomas, including the one in a wheelchair. It was so moving to see her determination to walk across that stage.

Here are a few photos we took after we arrived home and the boys had a good long nap. It was rough for them because we had so much traveling to do. We left home at 4:30 am and didn't get back to my aunts until 7pm. It made for a long day with the younger 2. I was rather impressed how well Patrick was with so little sleep...because frankly he is usually a monster if you wake him up. Patrick and I didn't get back to our house until after 10 pm.

The above one is of Kristen with the nephews...(left to right) Jaise, Carsyn and Patrick.
And the proud parents below.



Congrats Kristen! I can't wait to see where all you go in life! God Bless you and we love you!!

Happy Easter!!!

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Ours was pretty laid back this year. We kept it simple and just did desserts with family. Everyone came here at 3 and ate dessert and we hid 100 eggs for just the 3 little ones. The guys thought we were nuts for doing that many but the kids loved it. Notice our yard youngin's, they are all barefoot. LOL.... We can't keep shoes on any of them. Carsyn was not cooperating for the photos he really needed a nap.

Here is one of Jaise and Patrick. And the next one is all 3 of them. Carsyn wanted to lay down. So I tried to work with him and let them all lay down and take it from above. Of course then he wanted to move..lol. These will have to do!
Have a great day everyone I am off to clean up the mess and get Patrick to bed!

Woo Hoo! I finally got a new background to actually show up..lol. I am so excited to have something other than the basic options...yeah me!!

We had a very busy week last week. My nephew was over visiting from MS during his spring break. Patrick loves when Trevor gets to come visit. Patrick was still in school but I picked him up at lunch so they could get all they time they could together. They spent the days playing and swimming. Patrick then went to the beach with his dad, who flew in from Colorado to spend the weekend with him. I think they had a great time together.

Since Patrick has been out of school this week we have been busy visiting with friends and family and just spending time together. I have managed to do some scrapping though and you can look for a few projects to be posted tomorrow. I have not been able to get any decent photos with all the rain we have been having the last two days.

A long week!

I have got a nasty cold this week and let me tell you it hit me like a Mack truck. All of a sudden with no warning. Luckily it is almost gone now. Because I don't have time to be sick. I have projects to finish for Patrick's teacher, Valentine's to make for his class, a gift for his little "girlfriend", and finish his teacher gift. Since I used the one I had made for her as a get well gift for my SIL. Thats not to mention the ones for Nick and Patrick. Plus, I have been helping with the Book Fair at his school. Which I love I think that is the best part of having a kid in school...the book fair...it was always what I loved...lol and I still do! I am happy that Patrick shares my love of books. I hope that continues thru out his life!

On top of all of that the power supply or the mother board went out on our desk top. Thank goodness for a warranty and the laptop but I don't have my camera program on this one so there may not be any pictures loaded for a few days.

A happy note! I found out today that I will have two cards featured in the March Scrapbook News and Review! It has been an awesome week for me in this field!

Enough complaining I guess...thanks for listening to it! I am off to take some more meds so maybe I will be feeling up to dealing with Patrick's class in the morning and hopefully get to scrap some tomorrow night.

later

Our dear Smokey

I am afraid our dear Smokey is gone. Some of you may remember that a few months ago we had to have a tumor removed from his side. They said it was caused by his vaccines..insane I know. Well it came back before it even healed all the way. This time it was growing even faster than before. We made another appointment to have it removed again I just wasn't ready to face losing him. He doesn't act like it bothers him unless you touch it. It had gotten so large that it rubbed when he went out the catdoor to get to the litterbox so we had been letting him go outside because of that. He never goes outside for more than one night normally. But he has been gone since Monday. His appointment was yesterday. We haven't been able to find him since he went out on Monday. I am so afraid he went off somewhere to die. I hate to think he was alone at the end. I keep hoping he will show up.

So in honor of our little guy here is my fav picture of Smokey. And one of Smokey and Stuart together. He thought he was Stuarts mom I think...lol. He brought this kitten up and took care of him until we brought him in the house.














But to move on from our sad news. Here are the little goodies bags I made for Patrick's Christmas party. They came together pretty quickly. I used my cricut to cut the bags and reindeer out. We used wiggly eyes, and stickles on his nose, which I poped up with pop dots
and My Sentiments Exactly stamps.
We put each childs name on the bags because Patrick made ornaments and wanted to give one to everybody.

We had a very eventful night last night. Around 7 we got a phone call that our 2 year old nephew had been shot. Yeah you heard me right SHOT! How insane is that? They were in their house with Carsyn riding his tricycle, Jaise was also playing in the room. And there was a shooting at the neighbors house on another street and 2 stray bullets came into their house and 2 stuck in the banister of the porch!

Carsyn is fine really. He was very lucky. It hit him on the edge of his knee, it went all the way through from front to back. Only fatty tissue was effected..luckily! They went in last night around midnight and cleaned it again and sewed it up. He was such a trooper. He cried until they covered it up at home. And then started laughing and laughed and played while in the ambulance. He never cried while at the ER until they washed it out! Everyone was amazed at how he was doing.

He was back in his room at 2 this morning and by lunch he was up and walking on it!

Patrick was so worried about him. He refused to stay with grandma and stayed up all night at the hospital with us. He had to check Carsyn from head to toe to make sure he was really okay. Such a sweet boy!

Thank God it wasn't any worse. We could sure use any prayers and thoughts for our little guy though. And for the family they are now looking to sell their house and buy a new one.

Thanks so much guys!

Well I have been a little bit slacking in the new year as far as blogging is concerned. The end of 2007 was so busy that I have been relishing in the fact that it is a new year and that I haven't had a ton of plans so far.
I realized today that I never updated about Christmas.
So a quick run down of some of the things we have been doing.

We had several Christmas gathering so now Patrick is convinced that Christmas lasts at least a week with presents everyday. We actually spent Christmas in the Smokies with my cousin and her family. It was suppose to be more of us but that didn't work out. We had a wonderful time. We spent the days lounging around and site seeing and the nights in front of the fire or in the hot tub. Of course with the boys fighting over toys. Patrick ended up sick on Christmas Eve and was sick for the next week. So by the end of our trip he and I were both miserable. We drove home the day after Christmas...this was no fun with a sick child in tow.
We got together with Nick's family before our trip and with mine after. I was lucky enough to be able to go pick my sister up and have her with us for a few days during our family Chirstmas. I would have loved to have been able to take her with us to the Smokies but she couldn't handle the traveling.

Nick also planned a small get together for my 32nd birthday without my knowledge. Amber baked me a yummy "daisy" cake. All in all it was a wonderful day.

Of course since having kids New Years Eve isn't that big of a deal with us. We had planned to have some family over for the evening but plans do change. So we spent the day just the 3 of us as a family. We took Patrick to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the drive in. All I can say is at least he wasn't aggravating everyone else. It was such a cute movie though. Of course we had to make one more trip to see the Christmas lights. There is a new display close to here that is pretty cool. They had tons of lights, even though most of them where in the trees they put alot of planning into it and had built some really cool displays and also did a fireworks show for new years. It will be interesting to see how this display grows every year.

Nick and I have also celebrated our 1st anniversary! Yeah us! It sure did go by fast. Nick surprised me with roses, dinner and a movie. We saw National Treasure 2...I know not exactly romantic but it is what I have been wanting to see. Patrick stayed with my MIL which is a huge step because he doesn't stay with anyone. So we got to stay out late and not worry about anything. We also went shopping and I got new goodies for my camera.

So this is some of the major happening with us. So this post ended up being longer than expected so thank you for taking the time to read it.

I plan to get back to blogging regularly and posting some of my creations. I have been making lots of time for scrapping recently and need to get something loaded.

Wow, I don't even know where to begin about how busy the last few weeks have been. The Sunday after thanksgiving (25th) Patrick and I flew to Knoxville to visit with my aunt who is not doing so well. We stayed for 5 days and it was so nice to be able to spend time with family that we haven't seen in awhile. Even if it was under sad circumstances.
Since we have been home we have finally gotten the house decorated for Christmas, and have made and painted ornaments twice, once with our cousins and the other time with playgroup. We have had our Christmas parade, Christmas photo shoot, and Victorian Christmas at Landmark Park. It is really cool like a step back in time. The kids made ornaments, a small broom of pinestraw and a stick (but it is so cute), a tin punched lid ( I actually held a nail and let Patrick hammer, I must be nuts...lol, but he never hit me so it was all good). It was a lot of fun we will do it again for sure.
I have also been trying to get things together for our trip to the mountains for Christmas. I can't wait for this trip, our family and my cousin, LaShelle and her family will be spending Dec. 22-26 in the mountains.
I have gotten some holiday decorations made and a couple of layouts. I hope to be able to post some soon. Since I haven't actually posted any scrappy stuff in awhile.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and magical Christmas!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I also hope everyone got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. We had thanksgiving at our house this year. I made the turkey...I am very glad to say that it turned out great. I don't do turkeys too often. Mostly it was just Nicks family, his sisters and their families and his mom. And my cousin and her family came. We had a great time and lots of great food. I hope to get some scrapping done tonight. Hopefully I will be able to post some layouts soon. My SIL will be hitting the sales tomorrow. Yes, I know I am crazy to go...but I only have a few things left to get and I love to watch all the people...lol.

Then on Saturday Patrick and I will be leaving for Knoxville to visit with my aunt. She was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago and it has gotten really bad, they only give her a week or so right now. So we are going up to see her.

~~~Our busy Weekend~~~

We have had a really busy weekend. First off we went to the Peanut Festival on Saturday night. It is a yearly event around here. It lasted for 10 days this year. It is an annual event that started in 1938 and the carnival rides were added in 1953. There are rides, food and games. Local vendors all the tractor companies have huge displays. There is a pagent, parade, petting zoo and exotic animals. Here is a link you can check out the activities.. http://www.nationalpeanutfestival.com/
This year they had elephant rides, camels and monkeys. Here is a pic of Patrick and our niece with the monkey. I felt so sorry for the little guy, they had a collar around his neck. Normally I wouldn't have paid for a picture because of this act alone. It just seems so cruel. But the monkey and the picture had been talked up to Patrick so much by family that I couldn't get out of it.
I have to say that we get off really cheap going to these things because Patrick doesn't like the rides. I still think they mess with his ears. Patrick and I went with my MIL and niece this year. He did have fun with the games, I let him play a few of them. Of course the tractor displays were the best for him. We spent alot of time with them and the petting zoo. He even spent some of his bday money at the John Deere booth.


Then on Sunday, my cousin and I took our 2 boys to see The Wiggles in Atlanta. It was a really great show and we had AMAZING seats. From the floor we were 7 rows up, about even with the stage.
Of course Patrick was trying to act all serious to begin with. He has gotten to where he tries to act like he doesn't like them but he still will only wear Wiggles underwear and he watchs them and walks around singing their songs all the time. It did take Patrick awhile to understand who Sam was (he is the new yellow wiggle that took Gregs place, when he had to leave the group). This is the first time he has seen anything with Sam in it. He kept asking where Greg was, and then he would say there he is. He thought it was Greg until he started talking or singing.
Patrick and Jaise really enjoyed themselves, and so did we. They really do put on a great show. We saw them last year in Mobile too and it was just as good this year. If your kiddos love The Wiggles, then I would highly recommend you go and see them. It is so worth the money and the memories.






Afterward we went to eat at this little Mexican place, it was really yummy. We went to Bass Pro Shop so the boys could look around, they love this place. They had all of the Christmas displays up already, including a full size sleigh and reighdeer. And a huge rock formation with Moose, mountain lions and goats. Here are a few pics of the boys, they are kind of blurred. I hope that my cousin had some come out better, we were taking them with our cellphones.


Now that our busy weekend is over I hope I will be able to get some scrapping done.

Day Out With Thomas!!

Okay so today we went to Cordele, Ga to do Day out with Thomas. I know this sounds crazy because Patrick doesn't even like Thomas, but he does love trains. Plus LaShelle wanted us to go because Jaise loves thomas and it was a good family outing. Of course we roped Nick and Mike into going too. Also a friend of Mikes from work and his family went.
This is a picture of all of us (except for Nick, who was behind the camera) with Thomas.
Considering how badly Patrick could have acted it turned out to be a really fun day. Patrick has been talking about it ever since we left. Patrick, Jaise and Carsyn all had a blast. Of course Carsyn isn't old enough to know what is really going on but he sure enjoyed getting to ride and see out at the same time.




They had a DNR booth set up with Ga reptiles and animals. The did a very informative program and had snakes, gators, hawks, turtles and a flying squirrel. Of course the best part for Patrick was the gators. He talked the one girl into pulling them back out for him after the show. I thought this was a cute picture of the actions.





Of course you and Jaise also got to touch one of the snakes...I am still now sure how I feel about it but you liked it. But you refussed to hold it...thank God...








I love this picture of Patrick and Carsyn on the bus heading back to the van.


















We also got to see all the old planes, tanks and cannons before we left the park. All in all this was a good day. We had lots of fun and made lots of new memories!!! And something else for me to scrap!!!

This is a layout of my niece. I did this one awhile back but had to get the picture scanned. I finally finished it last night.

Chatterbox pp. All the flowers were cut out of a sheet of pp. Stickles glitter, Peebles in stamps and olive green paint. Bazzill CS









This is my other niece Chasity. I completed this one awhile back also but just had to get the picture scanned. I finally completed it last night also.
I love this Junkitz paper. The flowers were cut from a sheet of pp also. Bazzil CS. Thickers alpha stickers, Stickles glitter, unknown ribbon and rhinestones.