Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Key Largo, more invitations, and Olympic Trials...

June 22-27, 2011
Jeff had a conference in Key Largo, Florida and the whole family decided to tag along for the trip. We stayed at this beautiful resort called the Ocean Reef Club. The condo we stayed in was the perfect accommodations for a family of 7.
Well...maybe minus Emily's bed. Hey, she was 7 months old...it worked and she won't remember...hahaha!
My one and only complaint was the insane amount of mosquitoes! One night after dinner we planned on sitting outside and enjoying some ice cream...UNTIL we were attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. It was mass chaos...all the kids were screaming and swatting mosquitoes away...mind you while trying to hold onto their ice creams. We made a mad dash to the car...however once we got into the car we weren't alone. Mosquitoes were all over the car. I was trying to defend Mary Kate and Emily (the most defenseless of the bunch) from the attackers as well as myself. We did manage to make it out alive...however lesson learned...bug spray was a MUST from there on out.
People laugh when I tell them that we didn't even go to the beach. In my defense...flying with a family of 7 requires a lot of luggage, a stroller, backpacks, etc....to add beach gear to that would have been impossible. The resort had an area with a lagoon which brought in the ocean (controlled) and sand...actually a mother of little one's dream.
Beach or not...we had a great time!
Barbie Invitations
My neighbor (Bianca) hooked me up once again with her boss who was in need of invitations. This party was for a 5 year old who was gaga about Barbie. Here are the invites and the thank you notes.
Olympic Trials
My awesome sister in law (Jackie) is an incredible marathon runner! This past January (2012) she qualified to run the Olympic Trails in Houston, Texas. Only 209 women qualified to run, and the top 3 finishers of this marathon will head to the Olympics. Although Jackie won't be going to the Olympics she did phenomenal! She finished in 2 hours and 48 mins (to have a comparison Jeff's best marathon is 3 hours and 19 mins.) She finished 109th (52 women dropped from the race) which improved her ranking from 172 in the country to now 109! She was solid the entire race...an incredible experience!
All of my husband's brothers and sisters (remember, he's one of nine) went to Houston to cheer Jackie on. We ran around the city with our signs and big mouths to catch her whenever we could. It was such a great weekend...I'm so proud to say that Jackie is my sister in law!
Jackie and her family

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Segways, Baby Diva, and LNO...

June, 11, 2011
So some neighbors and Jeff and I went on a 2 hour segway tour through downtown. I had never been on a segway before...but it was fairly easy to get the feel for it. It was pretty funny seeing a dozen people on segways creating a mini-parade on the sidewalks through downtown. My one neighbor said we look like "Dorks on parade"...I kind of agreed...hahaha!
Little Diva
Here are the invitations that my neighbor's boss decided to go with. This "Little Diva" idea went a long way.
Outside of envelope
Cotton candy bags (favors for the party) - stuff with tissue in this pic
LNO - Ladies Night Out (present)
This past Friday night was Ladies Night Out up at my son's school. Not only is it a night just for the ladies to dance, have some drinks, and eat but it is also a fund raising event that the mother's of the 8th grade students put on to raise money for the 8th grade field trip to Washington, D.C. This year's theme was "Back to the 80s". My friend Shanulie (aka Julie) and I decided that we didn't want to go with the obvious 80s styles (ie. pegged jeans, the Madonna look, Forenza sweaters, stirrup pants, etc) but we wanted to be a little over the top...so here was the end result.
Did we succeed? We had so much fun...but no one will be seeing my Olivia Newton John (Let's get Physical) look anytime soon...hahaha!
Well, that's all for now...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Our first dance recital, an invitation, and a birthday...

May 31, 2011
If you were a fly on the wall in my house surrounding this date you too would have
had the song "My Heart Does a Little Dance" embedded in your head. This was the song that Claire danced her first recital to.
It was such a cute little dance...even I would dance it with her...only in the privacy of my own kitchen of course.
I was worried how Claire would do up on the BIG stage in front of a BIG audience...but it didn't seem to phase her in the least. She did her thing...and did it well I might add! I was so proud of her...and she loved every minute of it!
Birthday day invitation
My neighbor (we'll call her Bianca for anonymity purposes...we don't want to draw the attention of the media to the celebrity that lives in my hood...haha)...so Bianca calls me one day and says that her boss is looking for some one of a kind birthday invitations for her daughters 2nd birthday. I was thrilled at the opportunity so I came up with a couple of samples. Here is a pic of the runner up.
I'll be sure to post the one that Bianca's boss went with later.
My BIRTHDAY! (back to the present)
Yesterday was my 39th birthday...and I must say I had a really great day! It started out with my kids (ages 7, 6, 5, and 2...my 1 year old was still sleeping) bringing me breakfast in bed. (I started the tradition of breakfast in bed for the birthday boy or girl.) Mind you...my husband was out of town so this idea was of their own doing. I cried when they all appeared on the side of my bed. I have truly been blessed with some pretty incredible kids.
Then my good friend Shanulie (aka - Julie) invited me down for lunch. When I got there she had a Happy Birthday sign in her front yard, balloons in her kitchen, and a birthday cake for me (and my friend Kate...her b-day is Saturday). It was such a surprise and very thoughtful...so thank you again Shanulie...YOU ROCK!
And my night ended with dinner out with the family. Although the kids really wanted me to pick Chuckee Cheese they still seemed to have a good time at Great Scott Diner (they have games the kids could play).
Well, that's all for now...stay tuned...there is a lot more to come...wait to you hear about my shingles...hahaha!
PS - Sorry that this post looks like one giant paragraph. I ,for the life of me, cannot figure out why my posts look absolutely fine when I'm typing it, but then when I publish all the spacing and whatnot goes crazy. I wish I were tech savy.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

I'm BAAACCCK!

It has been way too long!

When I first started this blog my intention was to showcase my hobby of scrap booking and card making...along with a little bit about myself. This morning as I looked back at past posts I also realized that I liked the running timeline of my life. It's something that I hope one day my kids will want to look back and read.

So, with that said...I have a lot of catching up to do. My goal for the next few weeks is to get this blog caught up with all that has been going on in my life since last May! I want to post the day to day happens that stood out in my mind, the big events, and my hobby...of course!

Funny thing...a few weeks ago I was cleaning my kitchen as I was talking on the phone with my friend Sarah. I came across my 2011 calendar and asked her if I should pitch it or keep it. She suggested keeping it in case I needed to reference appointments, dates, etc. So I shoved it back in it's hiding spot and carried on. Good thing...my memory might need all the help it can get!

Stay tune...I'll be back soon!