Let it Snow!

Last Thursday it snowed when I went to the office, and I came home to this big beautiful snowman, which made me really happy, because it meant that Morgan got some quality outside time, and she was with her daddy having fun. They did it while Payton was napping. However.... I took a picture, and am glad I did, because he toppled over 20 minutes later as the sun came out and melted all the white stuff. There are still bits of him in my yard right now.... but we have NOT had the snow like we should. Morgan has barely experienced winter! This girl likes four seasons, and I am sad that it doesn't look like I'm going to get them. No. I take that back. It'll probably dump on Payton's first birthday party, when the current plan is pinwheels and kites!

Go Davinie, it's your birthday......

Happy Birthday to me!

Last year.
Stunk.
Stunk bad.
Stunk so bad I wasn't sure if I'd celebrate again.... considered instead cutting February a bit short.

This year........................... MUCH better.

It started on Saturday. Steve came home from work, and had Morgan hand me a card. It said.... be showered and dressed comfortably by 10:30am. Get a swimsuit. Wait for further instructions. I was like.... WHAT! You are only giving me 1 1/2 hours to lose 5 pounds! Why do I need a swimsuit! Where am I going? ACK ACK ACK!

Steve said.... "chill mama. No freaking allowed." Shower and dress, because Jessica is popping by at 10:30, and she's taking you to Eagle Crest... because you are going to the spa.

Yipppppeeeee!

Steve surprised me! He surprised me good! He sent both of us to the spa! We got an herbal wrap, a massage, and facials! Jessica did a lot of babysitting for us a bit ago, and she's going to babysit again next weekend when we go on a date night... and he hooked her up!

I've never had a spa day before. It. Was. Fabulous. I feel bad that I was concerned! But who knew what he was planning!

So that was Saturday. Payton isn't really sleeping..... at all, and as far as I can tell, it's just because of her two front teeth coming through. Anyway, she isn't sleeping, which means I am not sleeping.

Sweet story..... I tried letting her cry it out. Well, after a few minutes, I hear Morgan saying "it's okay Payton. Be quiet. It's okay Payton... a, b, c, d, e, f, g.... " she was singing to her. SO SWEET! I smiled, through my deprivation... went in their room, and Morgan was laying there with her eyes closed.... she was just barely awake. Anyway, it was super cute.

So. Payton not sleeping. The beautiful thing, though, is that, unlike her big sister, while at first she was certainly a mommy's girl, now she's somewhat a daddy's girl... so Steve is able to help me in the middle of the night. I usually take care of her until I just can't peel my eyes open, should she wake up about 4am.... so I gently nudge Steve and tell him it's "his turn".

So. Saturday night I didn't bug him, but got up with her... oh, every five minutes.... all night long. Well, super sweetie that my man is, the next morning when Morgan was up at 6am like clockwork, he took both girls out into the living room... and let me sleep till 9am! that was very, very nice of the boy.

Monday we woke up, did our morning routine, and went to Lowe's and the Scrapbook store. I got a little gift certificate, so I spent it on all the yummy new Fancy Pants and Basic Grey stuff... fabu! That's a great birthday gift! Then we came home... and I had an email from Scrapbook Trends magazine for their July issue. My Beachside layout. Fabulous again!

Then we ate dinner. We got some yummy burgers from Jody's (LOVE Jody's).... and then had some carrott cake with cream cheese frosting! Morgan and Steve made it while I was at the spa on Saturday. There was no evidence, so I wouldn't have known at all.... except that my sweet daughter kept asking me about birthday cakes, so I had a little feeling something was up, but I never found it!

So it ended up being a great birthday! One of the best parts, though.... was that my dear, sweet husband actually took a vacation day, as he was supposed to work today. I didn't ask him to, but that was.... on top.... of the icing on my cake!

We were supposed to go on a date tonight, but Morgan has herself a cold, and we didn't want to hand it off to Jessica, so we are staying home.... instead we are going to go out on Friday night. McMinnimans... we are going to go see the Departed. There's nothing really out, but this one just won for best Picture and best director at the Oscars... and at this restaurant, you can eat and watch the movie, which we haven't done before. I'm looking forward to it!

Fresh

I'm glad to finally scrap this picture... This is a new, new Payton, still in the hospital. So adorable.

3 year old Party Girl

A new manufacturer called Daisy Buckets sent me some paper to play with. I liked this line and thought it complimented Morgan's shirt on her birthday, and that the paper looked fun. I think it was a nice fit!

A {forever} Bond

I'm excited to finally be a "Friend of Page Maps". This will be featured on the site www.pagemaps.com on March 1st when the March sketches are revealed. This product is Upsy Daisy Designs, a manufacturer out of Canada who I met at CHA. They sent me some paper to play with, and I was happy to promote them on the PageMaps site. I love these pictures of my girls, and liked having the opportunity to scrap the imperfect ones.... they are adorable too!

Happy

This will be seen in the March/April Ezine from Scrappin Trends. It is loosely based on the sketch for this Ezine. Love the bright colors on this one.... that Goggle layout really inspired me to be more bold in color, and use some paint!

Toofers

Mama's Little Sweet Peach

Goggle -Eyed Girl

I fear I may never get anything done, as I will be spending all my time at my own blog laughing at this layout. I LoVE it. There is a blog called scrapjack, where a group of scrappers got together and scraplift someone and post their layouts, and then they challenge everyone to do the same. I never scrapbook like this, but this picture was begging for this type of layout, so I'm ecstatic to have participated.

CRacking me UP

If this wasn't Payton's first birthday.... I could tell you what I will be doing on March 30. My sound card doesn't even work and I was still rolling on the floor. I LOVE John Heder. This is a must-see.

http://www.bladesofglorymovie.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!

wowee

I just received an email from a lady who owns a scrapbook store and an online site..... in Brazil! She just wrote me to let me know she loved my work. What a great way to start the day! I didn't know my work was being seen in Brazil! I am very flattered!

Happy Sunday! I stayed up too late last night and then Payton couldn't sleep at all, so I am might tired and mighty grumpy this morning, as Steve is on shift and Morgan was up bright and early at 6. That email may be what saves my day.... it's not like I can just go back to bed.... ::sigh:: .... to sleep like I used to sleep..... before I had kids. Heaven.

New layouts.... made today! I'm on a roll

Numero Dos en el Bano

Uncoerced
Unannounced
anticlimatic

It's a banner day. Lollipops for everyone!

Are their cuter piggy tails out there?

I don't think so!

Thank you Aunt Alyca!

Morgan thanks you for her birthday present! As I mentioned, my favorite part is the CONTAINER. But my second favorite part is the colored paint containers with their color coordinated paintbrush. It is easier for little minds to figure out what brush goes where.... and makes them less likely to dip in every container. While her attention span isn't as long as I'd hoped.... Morgan still had fun creating, although she still prefers to paint her hand first. Thanks again! We LoVE art stuff!

Welcome, little one

Meet Miss Shelby Brooke! She was born 1/31 at 3 in the morning and weighed 6 pounds and was 19 inches long. She joins two very happy parents, and a big sister named Krysta. And, sweet girl... at just 4 days old she spent the entire day with us at our annual Super Bowl party! What a sweetie! I look forward to watching her grow, and am so happy for her family, because they are now complete.

She's 10 months old....

My sweet girl is 10 months old... time is moving too fast!

Let's see.... she has been successfully weaned which is great because now I can wear what I want. I can wear a sweatshirt if I want! And Steve can help me in the middle of the night when she wakes up. When. Not if. She wakes up. At least once or twice. Ugh. And she's 10 months old. Does that tell you how long it has been since I've slept through the night? Nope. Longer than 10. I didn't even sleep through the night in California! And on my last night there, my roomie was a'snorin'. I tried thumping on the headboard, sneezing, rolling over loudly... snore away she did. I think she was pooped!

Anyway... I digress....

Payton. Miss Payton Jayne. PJ. Squirt as her daddy calls her. Stinky as I refer to her sometimes.

She's crawlin' like a madwoman. She does both army crawl and hands and knees crawl. It depends on what she's after, and what outfit she's wearing. She pulls herself up to a stand at whatever she motors to. She even walks behind a couple of her toys, which is super cute to see. She stands more upright than Morgan did, so she doesn't move as fast, so is able to stand longer. I don't think she'll be walking unsupported by the end of the month.... but the girl is definitely mobile!

She doesn't like baby food. You have to trick her and pour it in a bowl or she won't even let you attempt a bite. And most of the time that doesn't work either. She's an independent lass. She wants to feed herself, and she KNOWS if she's not eating what the rest of us are eating. So I've been buying less baby food jars, and eating more spaghetti and other foods that can be chopped in small bits.

She's started doing signs. If you do the sign for "more" she immediately looks for the star snacks... those are her favorite. She knows the drink sign, does it sometimes, but at least looks at her cup if I do the sign to her. And tonight when she was in the tub, I asked her if she was "all done" "taking a bath" doing both signs, and she immediately started waving both arms around. She knows how to wave, but always does it with just one hand, so I think she was saying "all done" because she was happy to get out when I reached for her. So I think she's catching on! Sometimes when I'm doing the signs Morgan looks at me funny... and I think that it's becuase deep down, she knows them too, she just doesn't realize that she used to know the signs. The interesting thing about the signs so far, is that Morgan learned "more" first. Everything was "more". I think Payton will be more specific.

I was tossing PJ around today and noticed that she's about to get her two front teeth. They weren't poking out, but I could see them. So she's finally going to get something to line up, because right now she has two front bottom teeth, and her eye teeth. Nothing lines up! It's super cute.

PJ and Morgan have been sharing their room for a bit now... eek, I think I put her in there after we got home from the coast in December. I was worried about the dynamic when PJ woke up crying in the middle of the night... but Morgan doesn't even roll over, so thus far it hasn't phased her a bit. This is good, because it was about time we got our bedroom back to ourselves!

Since California, Payton has gotten up at 3am for some more chow. That's been consistent. She sometimes wakes up at other times as well, but at those times we either give her a binkie or hold her for a few. 3am is the only time we feed her again. And she'll go to daddy too, which has been a great blessing, because Morgan would NeVER go to daddy. So while she was definitely a mommy's girl at first, now Payton will happily go to either of us, which makes my heart swell because I love seein' my girl lovin' on her daddy. And he loves it too, even if it means he has to get up in the night every once in a while.

I think PJ is staying little too. She's still in a #2 diaper, and is still wearing most of her 6-9 month clothes. So, I'd say she definitely takes after her mama, and it looks like I gave birth to Alyca and then Davinie, which is quite funny to me.

Payton loves her sister, loves to go over to the slider and make eyes at the dog when he's sleeping on the deck... and still has that paper fetish. Watch out solicitors! She drools!

Morgan's First Popsicle

Cha cha cha

I'm back! I went to Anaheim for a few days to visit the Craft and Hobby Association Convention. Scrapbooking took up most of the venue, which is quite amazing. I made many great contacts, met a lot of people and was able to do a lot of networking. I had a great trip and can't wait to go to another one someday.

The kids did great at home. Morgan barely wanted to talk to me and Payton is actually sleeping better now, so it was good I left. Steve took vacation time so that he could be home with the girls while I was gone, but unfortunately, didn't get to spend time with them like we had hoped. They were with his parent's and some other babysitters every day because our other house needed so much work he had to practically move in in order to get it to par before our new renters moved in. They showed up with a couple of moving trucks last night at about 6pm. They came from a duplex in Keizer so were very excited for the yard and extra space. They have kids 2, 4, and 6, and while I haven't met them, Steve said they are very nice people. So that's good! We were worried the house would sit vacant, so are super excited that we found renters right away.

So... just trying to get back in the daily grind and get myself organized. It was really nice to get some time for myself, to focus on something I am passionate about, but it was nice to come home to my favorite people too. You know what they say.... absence makes the heart grow fonder! :)