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

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...

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.

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!

Crop-A-Doodle-Do

Every year in the springtime a couple of friends and I get away for a scrapbooking weekend. A couple of weekends ago we all headed to a bed and breakfast called Crop-A-Doodle-Do in Arcadia, Indiana! (You can check it out HERE.) It's an adorable old farm house in the middle of a wide open field that has been renovated to cater to scrapbookers. (I still dream of doing something like this one day.)

I must say it was a very relaxing and restful weekend...two things I desperately needed! However...with all of the struggles that I had just getting out of the house...I wasn't sure the weekend was even going to happen.

I was suppose to drop the kids off to Jeff at his work after preschool, stop by the scrapbooking store near his office for some supplies, then hit the road...but NOOOOO! As I was leaving preschool pick up I get a call from my oldest son's school that he's complaining of his stomach hurting (a stomach bug had been going through our house that week...it was now Logan's turn to get it). Then Jeff had a phone call go long and he was an hour later getting to our house than planned. In the meantime I'm trying to arrange for a sitter to come to the house around 5:00 so the sitter can watch the kids while Jeff takes a prescheduled conference call, figure out how Frank and Logan were going to get to piano lessons from 4-5 (before I knew Logan was sick), and then get Frank to his 5:30 soccer game...and not feel guilty that I'm heading out of town in the midst of all of this.

Needless to say it all magically worked out and I made it to Crop-A-Doodle-Do in time for dinner.

Over the weekend I got a few pages and cards done, had a lot of laughs with some really funny women, got two full nights of sleep (don't think that's happened in a long long time), didn't get out of my PJs all day Saturday, and ate everything in site! It was a good weekend!

Here are some of the pages I did...










I'm sure you noticed how some of the pages don't have pictures on them...that was another road block I encountered while trying to pack up and leave...our printer ran out of ink. So I just did the pages with papers and embellishments I liked and figured that I'd find pictures to match them later. This method was actually a little bit easier for me because I wasn't all caught up on the color in the pictures and the paper matching perfectly. My motto for the weekend was "Don't over think it...just do it!"

This layout I put into my new hanging frame that I bought from a friend's Creative Memories party. Where the 12x12 layout rests is magnetic...so it can easily be changed out. My plan is to change this with pictures taken from what is going on around here that month. It's my hope that this will allow me to keep up with a family album. A BIG hope...I'll let you know how that pans out:)

Well, that's all for now...

Some updates...

I just wanted to say thank you to those people who have been sending in cards for James and his family! When I go to my mailbox and find cards sent for James...it is truly more exciting than getting personal mail for myself! The furthest location one has been sent from is the Netherlands...AMAZING! I've also received cards from New Jersery (thanks Judy!), Wisconsin, and Texas! I'll be sure to post any updates I receive from the family in regards to the cards. Thank you again...and keep them coming!

Here a few that I plan on adding to the mix...

These are a few I made over my scrapbook weekend away at Crop-a-doodle-do...I'll be sure to share about that weekend soon!

The answer to the Knock Knock one is..."i - 8 lunch already...where's dinner?"

For Grace...

Obviously for James...

Another update...I've recently purchased my web address where I hope to sell my cards! My next step is to get with a designer and bring it to life. As soon as there is the tiniest thing to look at on the website I will be sure to post it here. So, I've put it out there...I've spent money on it...now I have to follow through!

Well, that's all for now...

I am a Flying Pig...

This past Sunday I was able to scratch one of my New Year's resolutions off of my list...I ran Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon!

Yesireee...I ran all 26.2 of the miles that it took me to get from the start to the finish. Although my goal was to finish in under 4 hours (I finished in 4 hours and 1 minute) I was still excited to have ran it nonetheless! (Don't you worry though...I will crush that 4 hour mark sooner or later:)

I have to give a huge shout out to my AWESOME husband who ran the marathon with me every step of the way. He encouraged and reassured me at all the right times. He knew when to make the conversation light hearted and knew when to keep it to himself :) Without him I never in my life would have considered running a marathon and never would have actually followed through with it! His drive is contagious...one of the many things I love about him! Thank you Jeff!...the last one to Boston is a rotten egg!

Several of my friends in our neighborhood were running the PIG as well so I decided to make up some little goodie bags (filled with runner type snacks) for them to wish them good luck...and of course a card!

These were not necessarily fuel for running...but a sweet treat when all was said and done. They're pink chocolate pigs!

Get it??? GU-d luck!

Overall I really enjoyed training for this marathon. Sure some of the runs were painful (getting up for a 5:00 a.m. run after dealing with a newborn during the night, running in snowy streets, the dreaded treadmill for a 16 mile run, dehydration, sore legs, chaffing...in unspeakable places, the hidden dog in someones yard that jumps out and scares the crud out of you, etc.) but the sense of accomplishment as I checked off the miles each week closing in on the marathon keeps me coming back. Will there be another marathon??? ABSOLUTELY!!!

Well, that's all for now...

PS - I'll be sure to post the picture from the marathon finish when I get it!