Tales of a Mommy to Preschoolers

You know you're a stay at home mommy to 3 under 5 when..........

* You change your 13 month old's diaper and find not one...but two buttons in it! Well, I was thinking I know she found a button in my scrapbook room today but I got that out of her hand? Hmmm? Did she find another one and it slide into her diaper? Oh no! I did dump a container of buttons on the floor yesterday and the girls helped me pick them up. I guess she "helped" pick them up and ATE two of them! Oh my goodness if I had only known we would have been in the ER! What mommy doesn't know won't kill her I guess? You know it took 3 kids for me have one pass someting into her diaper that she swallowed. I would have put money on Emma being the first one to eat something? Maybe she has and it just never showed up in her diaper! HaHa!!!

* You feel like you need to take your 3 year old to the front of the church for prayer because she STOLE a bible from the church! Uhhh! Emma! So if your going steal something...one don't steal the bible and two don't do it in church!!!! Yeah, our pastor got a good laugh out of that one! She came up to me carrying this tiny pink Bible and was trying to convince me it was hers. She even screamed when I took it away!

* I got this email from my aunt and it made me smile. All of you who have small children will get a kick out of this and relate to it! It's defineitley worth the read and I'm sure you'll pass it on to all your other mommy friends! It's saluting husbands to mommies with small kids for keeping the romance alive despite all the things mommies do. It's a great laugh! http://www.familymanweb.com/article/bedroom-secrets-of-the-suburban-dad

Here is another great laugh I got friend. On a day like today it takes little chuckling moments to get you through, or at least to help you count to 3 BEFORE disciplining your children!

One Sunday morning the pastor noticed little Alex standing in the foyer of the church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names with small American flags mounted on either side of it.The seven year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the little boy, and said quietly, 'Good morning Alex. ''Good morning 'Pastor, what is this?' he asked the pastor.The pastor said, 'Well, son, it's a memorial plaque to all the young men and women who died in the Service.' Soberly, they just stood together, staring at the large plaque.

Finally, little Alex 's voice, barely audible and trembling with fear, he asked, ''Which service, the 9:30 or the 11:00?"

New Bows!

Hey everyone! I know that several people have asked for a picture of Caroline in her hair bow to prove that she really can wear one and I will get one soon just not tonight. I'm going to make this super quick since it's so late. I've been a busy bee the past couple of days claning the house and listing 30 auctions tonight since the stike on ebay is over now. I had lost of bows around here that were samples, left overs or whatever. So like I said I listed 30 today and still have at least 15 or so items sitting here to list tomorrow even before I start making any bows up. Here is one of the new items that I am making and if I get a store will be selling there as well. Let me know what you guys think?

I have these flower headbands in several different colors which fit newborn all the way up.

This is a hair bow holder that is topped with a huge 3-D felt gerber daisy and has 2 - 24 inch ribbon strands handing down from it to clip the bows on. It also has a hanger on the back of the flower to hang it on the wall from.

Our Weekend

Nathan and I had a unplanned...but lovely weekend. We were scheduled to go to Greentree Inn for a leadership retreat with our church. We had trouble finding a sitter for the girls over night but at the last minute Nathan's Sergeant Major and his wife Molly said they would keep the girls. This lovely couple just adore the girls and Maddelyn and Emma were so exited to spend the night at Sergeant Major and Miss Molly's house. Well, because of the weather the retreat was cancelled. That meant Nathan had time off work and we had a sitter with no place to go. We made a last minute decision to stay the night in Columbus. The girls were tickled to find out they still got to go. We got a late start to our evening together part because of just daily life making us run late, part because of traveling to Columbus in an ice storm, and part to the fact that I got a flat tire on the way to Molly's. So...after we dropped the girls off and headed to Walmart to drop of my van, we didn't get to a restaurant until after 7:00. After wards we did a bit of shopping. I picked up this adorable coral Easter dress at Forever 21 for $11.50 regular price...yeah great deal! Nathan spent his birthday money and that is all everyone around him has heard the past 2 days. He purchased a shirt and tie at Brooks Brothers and is I believe still smiling about it! Needless to say he loves it and has told EVERYONE about his purchase and how his high style shirt is iron free because it is made to release the wrinkles when your body heat warms up the shirt. I told him I never want to hear anything about my Gymboree habit again! I told him that I don't think there is anything over $50.00 in Gymboree and after seeing the price tags at Brooks Brothers.....he can't say a thing!

I also was relieved to get my largest korker bow order to date out the door. This is what I worked on all week. Sorry for the bad picture but I was in a hurry to get it. The bows will be done up in 4 strips...brights, pastels, Christmas, and Halloween. These are for the Fall/Winter catalog that my wholesale distributer will be releasing in mid-March for her boutique retailers.

I am so happy to announce that Miss Caroline had her first hair bow in her hair without the need of a headband! YEAH! Of course it was clipped on to about 5 hairs that were wrapped in a tiny rubber band and then the clip was clipped on to it. The bow was too cute and it actually stayed in all during church this morning eventhough it wiggled as she walks. I told Nathan that I was determined to get a bow in her hair for her 1st birthday pictures this week. We received a picture of my friend's baby Emma-Lee in the mail this week and with her being only 6 weeks older than Caroline...she had one of my toddler korker bows in her hair! I said that's sad. I make the bows and my own child is too bald to wear them at 13 months! So Miss Alicia.......(or Joye because Alicia always gets the scoop on my blog from you) Caroline can officially wear the hair bows now too, even if Mommy has to cheat a bit to get them in her hair! LOL!

8000

Just wanted to say...WHO-HOO! I just saw that I hit 8000 visitors on my blog! Thanks guys for checking out the silly ramblings of a stay at home mommy. Or shall we say...thanks for checking in to see if I have listed my kids on ebay yet? They should be thanking God for the ebay strike this week or I could have had to make up a couple of kid-for-sale aucitons! LOL!

My Girlies

I thought I would stop by really quick and post a couple of new pictures of my girlies. I had a fit trying to get these pictures. I think I took about 15 of them and sure enough I don't have good smiles on all threee in one of them! Uhhhh! I guess that is what happens when you have 3 under 5 and you are trying to get them to actually do the same thing at the same time? I just love Caroline in this outift. That color looks really cute on her and of course it is even cuter because I know I got it at Old Navy for $2.99! YEAH! And...you can't forget that korker bow!

I have been busy all week trying to get that wholesale order out. It's amazing that when you need to get 66 bows in the mail...that is when the girls decide to be normal toddlers. Emma peed through her pull-up last night so of course I had to strip the bed. Caroline decided that she wanted to taste mommy's glass of blue kool-aid so she and the carpet got a bath in blue! It came right out of the carpet so hopefully her outfit will do the same. Maddelyn was the only one who had a normal day? Oh....I forgot to say I am so proud of my little pre-reader! She is now writing her name and everyone else's! It took her like 3 or 4 days of practicing her name a couple of times each day and she now has it memorized! I was kinda worried since her name is 8 letters long! That's why we gave her the nickname "Maddie" so it would be easier to learn to spell. Well...she learned Maddelyn first. I guess that makes sense since we rarely call her Maddie. Her thing this week has been asking you how to spell everything. This week she learned "Emma" by heart and now she wants to know "Emma Grace" as well. She is so smart! We have also been working on memorizing sight words since she picks things up so quick. I am all about phonics, but she is very intelligent at memorizing words in her enviorment so I figured she mine as well try site words.

Well I need to get to bed. We have yet another busy day tomorrow. But, then again, do we ever not have a busy day? Oh....and I wanted to say congrats to Nathan's Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Steve on the announcement of baby #6 that is arriving in October! I told her that she was truely blessed to be the mom of 6, but unless God moved in our hearts....this would we one pregnancy we would not be going through at the same time. Our youngest two children were due around the same time. So....not saying God can't change our hearts, but for right now it will be a bit before #4. You know, now that I think of it this is pretty dunb wrighting this? If I hadn't have said anything we could have gone years with no "oops!" But sure enough as soon as I say we're waiting we'll get a big surprise. So if I was a knock-on-wood kinda gal, I would be pounding on wood! LOL! But as we say....nothing EVER catches God by surprise...natural family planning or not!

Decisions Decisions!

So after all this craziness with ebay I am seriously considering opening my own website for my bows as well as a few other girly girl boutique items. I had tossed around the idea before but I am pretty serious about the idea now. So..I have been doing research on exactly how to do it without breaking the bank. Of course we started with political friends who do web design and though I am sure it would be an awesome professional site...I am not ready for $150.00 a month when I don't know how many bows I will sell at the beginning? Of course on top of that I would my paypal credit card fees and such. I then started looking around on the web and have been considering yahoo small business because they one are cheap...haha...and I could control it myself. You know me...I have to have control of everything in my life. I have also looked into a Work at Home Mom site that is similar to yahoo small business. http://merchantmoms.com/ If any of my readers have ANY experience in this or can direct me to more resources I would love to hear from you!!! This newbie could for sure use the advice! okay..that's enough for tonight. I am in the middle of a 66 bow wholesale order! Yum! The smell of baking ribbons!!!

Yes...I'm Doing the Ebay Boycott!

So that answers the question for you. If anyone is not familiar with what is going on with ebay this week, they are releasing major changes to both the sellers fees as well as the feedback processes. These new changes are really scaring frequent sellers such as myself. I belong to several yahoo groups (Loops) which all sell and trade boutique children's clothing (I advertise my bows on them.) Anyways there is tons of chatter happening about the new changes and many of these ladies are participating in the boycotting of all selling and bidding on ebay from Feb. 18th - 25th. Here is the sum up of what's happening.....

The listing fees are being lowered which sounds really nice but they are then raising the final value fees. So what used to cost a seller $0.75 to list a 9.99 item now only costs $0.35. Great. But...then after the end of the auction ebay used to take another 5.25% of the closing cost of the item and now they take 8.75% of the final amoun the item sells for! So for people who are selling large ticket items that is a HUGE change. I figured that on a $10.00 sale...which is normal for me....I used to pay $1.27 and now I will be paying $1.22. Ok...so not a bad thing for small item sellers like me but horrid thing for large ticket sellers.

What really has all of us sellers scared is the new feedback process for sellers. Feedback is a great thing because it forces sellers and buyers to do their best in each transaction. Yeah you might get a crazy nut who will ruins it for everyone, but for the most part it helps buyers and sellers know what kind of customer service/product/ect they will be getting before they even bid. Well, now ebay is changing everthing. They are amking it a one sided process in that sellers will no longer be able to leave negative or even neutral feedback for buyers? Hmmm...so for example I have a bidder right now who has purchased 2 auctions and it's been over a month since they ended and still no payment or contact has been made from her? Now that I can not leave negative feedback she can go on and bid on someone elses' hairbows and that seller will have no clue about her past actions.

Another odd thign ebay has announced is that thie siter company...PAYPAL is now going to be able to hold your ebay payments for up to 21 days? Here is what ebay had to say......In a small percentage of cases where it has been determined the risk of dissatisfied buyers is higher, PayPal may delay release of the payment funds to the seller until the buyer has left a positive feedback or 21 days have passed without a dispute, claim, chargeback or reversal filed on that transaction. WHAT????

This is what it breaks down to: if ebay sees you as being high risk for having dissatisfied customers, they can hold the money form those auctions for up to 21 days with paypal. They are saying that if a buyer leaves you a negative feedback, paypal hold the money for 21 days automatically. If you get marked as a high risk seller then they can hold the $$$ until one of three things happens...the buyer with that auction leaves you positive feedback, 3 days pass after you can prove the item was delivered to the buyers mail box, or 21 days pass with you not getting anymore negatives, complants, etc. So basically a person with over 500 positive feedbacks like me can have one person get ticked at me for a silly reason...believe me it happens more than you know...and I could get my $$ froze for those 21 days. Now I would still be responsible for completing that sale and shipping the items to the buyer even though I never got paid for them! Does that seem fair to anyone??? Not every negative leads to being flagged as a risky seller but all it takes is a few run-ins with some crazy bidders and they can easily mess up your selling, especially since you can't scan out the crazies since sellers can no longer leave bad feedback for buyers.

So after lots of research and consideration, I will be participating in this ebay strike from Feb 18th-25th. That means no lisitng, no bidding, no activity of any kind. I got a really neat link from one of my yahoo groups that shows a current count on the numer of lisitngs each auction site has at anytime and how much off precentage wise they are form their normal amount of listings. Anyways I have been watching them all weekend and ebay is hovering at around 3% loss of auctions and the strike does not begin until tomorrow. http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

I'm a Child of the 80's!

So I've seen this before and each time I do it makes me laugh. I might have even posted it on here before???? Forgive me if I have....each new baby kills more brain cells! I highlighted the ones that made me drift back to my childhood. Sad to say that I am now an 80's kid when there is a generation behind me saying....that's so 90's! UHHHHHH I'm old! Well in celebration of my 20 cough....cough....ish...cough.....something...okay 26th birthday in a couple of weeks. Here is a little trip down memory lane.

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE
2. You watched the Pound Puppies ......not sure about watched but I had several
3. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton Dance
4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy ....more like "leggins"
5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own. ....I think I still own over 100 of the books!
6. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls YES!!! Maddelyn's nursery was even in St. Shortcake!
7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom
8. Two words: Hammer Pants Definietly did not do that one!
9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock" I LOVE Fraggle Rock!
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect ....Yep on the steamers until they got plucked out one-by-one.
11. You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales" YEP!
12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons ....Amen to that!!!
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head ....sadly yes!
14. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen...and still know the turtles names not into TMNT
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school ...That was REAL technology in the classroom!
16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side ...I think my Aunt Donna bought them for all the nieces??
17. You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House) ....Everyday at recess!
18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it
19. L.A. Gear....need I say more? ......Shamefully yes again!
20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. ...I think I was the only non-GEMer?
21. You remember reading Tales of a fourth grade nothing and all The Ramona books ...Great Children's Litature!
22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
23. You wanted to be a Goonie ...that was a wierd movie?
24. You ever wore fluorescent neon clothing ...didn't everybody?
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted LOL!!
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf ...yes and why did the one male smurf sniff flowers and have a girly voice???
27. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard ...loved my plastic lunch boxes and the matching thermos!
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets ...those things were dangerous!
29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence
30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band
32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up. ...For sure!
33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly shoes. ...All 3 of my girls had Jellies last summer!
35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?" 36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide. ...again NOT a toy approved my the American Pediatric Society for safety reasons!
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds. ...those were some of the best parties! Remember the surgar candy Ronald McDonald cake toppers they had on the cakes?
41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
42. You remember Popples
43. Don't worry, be happy
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks. ...no..no..only 4 pairs!
45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do..getting yelled at by younger hip members of the family) ...okay I left that in the 80's!
46. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
47. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
48. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!" ...I had the green lamb Carebear Cousin
49. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales ...those were the days!
50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot
51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac
52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB" ...I has a duffle bag with them on it!
53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class
54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - > YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
55. You just sang those words to yourself
56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird
57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
58. You remember when mullets were cool! ....okay they were never really cool...some people were just trying ot pass it off so they woudl fit in!
59. You had a mullet! .....That's just sad!
60. You still sing "We are the World"
61. You tight rolled (pegged) your jeans ...okay I just wanted to say today at Old Navy they had tight fitting 5 toddler jeans with zippers on the ankles! Can we just put that away and leave it there!
62. You owned a banana clip
63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"
64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis? ...not sure about this one?
65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it ...how big of hair can you have at 5???
66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!


I just want to say I have a lot of those memories but I plead the 5th! This era is totally my parent's fault not mine! When you turned 8 in 1990....those 80's years were 100% controlled by my parents! Sorry mom but I am passing the blame off on you for these crazy choices!

Pictures From the Week

Here is my Valentine's gift from hubby...yes ladies thats 2 sets of roses this month! He loves me!

Here are the girls in their Valentine's Day outifts that my mom got them with the bows I made.

My sweetheart on his birthday! Love you hun!

Here are the pictures I promised from Washington DC this past week at CPAC.

Newt Gingrich

President Bush

Mitt Romeny During his concession speech

Vice President Dick Chenney

Update....

Hey everyone! So sorry that my blogging has slacked off this week.....pretty much everythign has slacked off since I have spent most of the week in bed with this stupid cold. I just wanted to give a heads up about my Uncle Carl, who I had asked prayer for. As of this afternoon my mom had said they were supposed to release him from the hospital, but his good cholesterol count was way too low so they were going to give him meds and see if it came back up. I did get this lovely post from my aunt though that I wanted to share with everyone. Some of you might have already seen in it the comments.

Mandi - thank you so much for this entry. I can't tell you how much it meant for me to read this while Carl was in surgery. It's incredible the number of emails and texts we've gotten from God's people who have been interceeding. Thank you to all of you.Carl came out of surgery very well with 2 brand new stents. He's sitting up in bed, ate a big (but healthy) dinner, and is back to making me smile.It's easy to get frustated that after less than 2 months he's back in the hospital, but God's still in control. Carl's the love of my life, and I'm grateful for every minute I have to share with him as his wife. Blessings to all of you. Kim

Kim, thanks so much for the kind words and know that there are many people in lots of states praying for your family! You guys are an amazing couple and like Nathan and I have told you before, our inspiration on how a Christian Marriage should work. We really look up to the two of you and just pray...I mean pray that our girls turn out 1/2 of what your daughter has! You guys did a great job!

On another note.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN!!!

Love you sweetheart! I will get back on the reasons I love and respect you as soon as the cold goes away and my world starts again! Until then thanks for all you do and I really enjoyed out "date night" tonight! Thanks for getting a sitter and seeing a chic-flick with me!

Prayer Request....

Hey everyone! So sorry that I did not post the past couple of days. I was literally sick in bed in DC all that time. I am still pretty under the weather with this horrid cold, but I'm home now. I will post later with what all happened in DC as well as with some pictures. Right now though I wanted to post a prayer request real quick. A month or 2 ago I asked prayer for my Uncle Carl who had been lifeflighted with a heart attack. Well...... as of last night he is back in the univeristy hospital with another heart attach. Please Please remember him, his wife Kim, and thier daughter Kaytie who is down in TN at Lee University. This is an awesome man of God who is in his early 40's with now 2 heart attacks. The last time they did put stints in and their whole family has drastically changed their lifestyle to live heathier, so I'm not sure now what will happen? Our family would definitely appreciate all those who could help us in laying Carl before God's thrown. I will keep you all posted as I get the news.

Watching History Happen Live!

As many of you know, Nathan and I were able to watch history unfold infront of our very eyes today. We were about 5 rows back when Govenor Romney announced that he was suspending his Presidential campaign. When he walked into the room here at CPAC it went wild! He obviously was the key speaker of the day as far as crowd anticipation....which makes sense since he was the true conservative canidate speaking at a conservatie political action confrence. Everyone was hooting and hollering and holding up signs. The campaign volunteers and loaded the crowd with Mitt material and I think we ended up with like 8 signs, 3 pins, a tee shirt, and a foam glove??? Yeah the room was full of support for the govenor. He made a great speach and everyone was cheering him on. Little did we know that his speech was about to take a dramatic change and he soon was telling us that for the sake of the party and winning in the Fall he was backing out. He told us it was all about America and making sure someone who would strongly and not cowardly back the war on terror get elected, and by him stepping back this would give us more of a chance as a party in November. Very couragous and honorable decision! I felt horrible for him and Ann though! You could tell he was having trouble fighting emotions through the speech and when they left the room Ann had tears in her eyes. The rest of the room just sat there in shock after he exited the room. See, the news broke on tv and the blogs around noon or so and that was right around the time they were shutting all of us in to wait on his arrival. We were told afterwards, that once the seats were all filled they closed up the hall's doors to keep us in and the news out. The people waiting in the hallways were starting to find out and spread the word about the news and they were told to keep it down because the people inside did not know yet. Also, because we are in a bad cell spot it was hard for people to get messages in the hall so that kinda delayed the spread of the news before Mitt delivered it. Like I said....totally a shock!

I'm once again sitting in the room while Nathan is out shaking hands, part because I am still under the weather and part because we have yet another early alarm! The President arrives tomorrow at 7:15 for his speech so security opens up at 5:00am for all of us to pass through! Nathan said for us to get ready, take the metro and be there first thing to get a seat...the wake-up call is going to ring at 3:45! Oh how politics was not meant for sleepy heads like me! Nathan though said he would be back to th room at around midnight and then up at 3:45, but he said...hey..that's CPAC for you!

Okay since with the craziness of getting into DC yesterday I did not do day 6, here is days 6 and 7.

Day 6:
I love and respect my husband because.......he knows that I am always pushing things right until the very last minute with getting there on time (or late!) and he still loves me. If he says let's leave between 1:30 and 2:00, we have all the kids in the van and on the road at 2:15. I also hate being late and I really do try, but being OCD and a perfectionist, there is always something else to do or work on before we leave. Yes, it's not always things that have to be done before we leave, but I have a hard time putting things down and walking away before they are complete. Sorry hun, and thanks for still loving me with my flaws!

Day 7:
I love and respect my husband because.......everywhere that man goes people say they see so much potential in him and he WILL either be a king or king maker someday. I have been telling him that for years, so it's nice to hear others affirming that in his head....now if he will just accept the compliments and let them sink in!

From Our Nation's Capital......

So we obviously made it to D.C. todayfor CPAC (Conservitive Political Action Confrence). The trip seemed to last forever...but I did get to do a little shopping while Nathan was still at work this morning. For all of you fellow shoppers...The Children's Place has an additional 50% off their clearance and Old Navy has lots of new lines in their clearance! They have some really cute Spring clothes at 50% off! Happy Shopping!

We've only been here a few hours and Nathan is alreay in Heaven! For my friends who knew I was debating about getting a confrence ticket I have a funny.....GOD STORY...for you! So I couldn't decide if I wanted a pass to the speaches/book signings/confrence floor or not. The tickets are $125.00 just to get into the door and I wanted to hear some of the speeches but I'm not Nathan so I don't know about 2/3 of the people who were to be speaking. So I was kinda debating about it and then he said it's my birthday present so I can get the pass or the $$$ instead to go shopping with while I am here...well yeah! Easy choice. Then we found out that President George W. Bush will be here this weekend! Okay....change of plans again but I hate espending that much $$ and not wanting to attend all that stuff. I felt like I was waisting it. Anyways we are checking it tonight and we had left straight from the Guard so Nathan still was in his uniform. They told him they would comp his ticket because he was active duty military! He told them he had already paid so they said they could do my ticket instead! Funny how God works! I still got to go and for free! LOL!

Nathan is still out and about rubbing elbows and exchaning buisness cards. I was not feeling too hot so I decided to come back to the room and just chill in my PJ's. It's nice to have an evening where I don't have to do anything! No laundry to change, no fights to break up, no bows to be made or mailed out! Ahhhhhh. I could get used to this!

So I found out that I am able to post the projects I made with my twelvefriday's design team kit! YEAH! Wait until you all see how cute this stuff is! I had so much fun palying and there was TONS and TONS in this kit as well! I made 3 layouts, a mini album, and a card and still have enough to do at least that much again! Let's just say these girls spoil you with the kits you get from them! Another great thing abot their kits is that they are done with exclusive papers, meaning the only way you are ever going to get you hands on this paper is if you join the kit! They do not sell their twelvefriday's papers wholesale to retailers, just to kit club members like you!! Also, they have several great paper designers working with them so no 2 months papers will be the same. It's not like some company's....uhum....B*sic Gr*y....uhum...not mentioning any names! LOL! I love those different companies, but when you see the new lines come out in the stores or at the shows....it all looks the same, just different colors and a tad bit different pattern or floral design. You'll have to keep an eye on the twelvefriday's future kits to see how different they are. http://twelvefridays.com So here is the fun I had with my design team kit!

You'll have to wait until "I LOVE YOU" Day to see the card and mini calbum since they are for my sweetie!

Alright, I need to head off of here and get to bed! Another busy day with an early alarm! We have to be in line to at 8:00am to go through security to hear Vice President Dick Chenney. Man this place is awesome! I will take pictues through out the weekend and will try to uplad them for you...if I brought the cord to my camera???? We'll have to see when I finish unpacking.

My Prima Ballerina!

Yet another drive-by post tonight! It's way after midnight and unfortunately...we are leaving for DC first thing in the morning. Well I actually an dgoing to Columbus with Nathan for his 1/2 day of work and then we are leaving for DC from there. So that means I have to be up to go to work with Nathan at 4:30! Uh yeah that's not long from now! Good thing I can sleep all the way to DC!

Here are some pictures of my little model Maddelyn in my newest creation. I made this tutu and the matching korker bows for an ebay auction. Isn't she a doll!

Day 5:

I love and respect my hubby because.....he is so dedicated to the convictions that he holds! Yes...tonight after working 2 jobs and having to leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning with still needing to pack, did he get strait to it so he could get to bed? Nope...we sat up watching the results coming in for Super Tuesday. (For those of you not in the know...it's the biggest primary election day in the presidential race for '08.) Anyways my husband leaves politics only after God and his family. As his motto states...God-Family-Country. Nathan has such a passion for the political world not because of the power and control that politics brings but because as he says....he wants to be sure that the America we leave our girls should be one we can be proud of. He is deterimed to leave a legacy for his children and I am very proud of him for doing that. I very much respect you for that hun!

Day 4....

So a quick post tonight since it's past midnight and I still have a ton to do before bed. the girls are leaving for PA tomorrow and I have to finish packing and getting Maddelyn's school work done for her to take to work on. So here we go...

Day 4:
I love and respect my hubby because....he works 2 jobs and gets almost no sleep at night for us! I can't survive with anything less than like 10 hours (no joke! I think it's the fact that my body has been pregnant or nursing for most of the last 5 years now so it's kinda worn out!)... so the fact that he does about 5 hours max leaves my head spinning. I am totally not someone you want to deal with if I didn't get enough sleep, and he's suviving with 1/2 of what I am and not grumpy about it! I just wanted to say woo-hoo to him for his endurance ...eventhough it might kill him someday...just to bring in the extra $$ that allows me to stay home. Thanks Love!

Day Three....

Day 3.
I love and respect my husband because.......
He keeps me from overdoing my OCD-ness! Nathan is the polar oppposite when it comes to being a neat freak or a compulsive cleaner. So I am so glad that God has given me someone to keep me balanced in that insane part of my life! If it were not for him, 2:00 am clean sweeps would be more that a once or twice a year occurance in our lives. The very brief sum up of the 2 am cleaning is that at about 11pm I am getting ready for bed and realize the sink has toothpaste on it so I wipe it off. Well I have to clear it before I can wipe it so I take the girls Barbie dress into their room instead of the bath room, and see a shirt that really needs to be soaked in Tide before it sets in. So on my way down to throw that in I realize I mine as well put a load of laundry into the washer since I am down there anyways. And...because I put a load in means a load has to come out, which means they need folded and put away. So I finish putting the girls socks in their sock drawer when I realize there is one of the girls' towels lying on the floor. I of course go into the bathroom to hang it up and then I remember I was cleaning the sink.......and what's the use of a clean sink if it's in a dirty bathroom, so now I begin cleaning the bathroom and look at that....it's 2am! See, compulsive! Thank God for a hubby that can *sometimes* get me to leave the piles on the floor and enjoy a movie with him on the couch. Thanks Love!

Back at it!

I've been a busy little bee at my scrapbooking desk today! Oh how I love the fun things I got in my twelvefridays kit! Ooooo La La! Such adorable papers and fun embellishments. http://www.twelvefridays.com I never realized how much I love kits before. It's nice for busy mom's like me because you don't have to waste the first hour of your precious mommy time trying to dig out papers, matching embellishements, alphabets, ect. Nope, today I just opened my twelvefridays kit, grabbed some photos that corrodinated and started scrap'n! It was so nice. Now that doesn't say that it was a quick scrapbooking afternoon (6 hours later) but I did get to start right away and didn't have to dig through drawers and containers full of items trying to find just the right shade of buttons or whatever. I can't wait to show you all my creations but since they are design team work I will have to wait until after they are posted on the site.

I also realized today how wonderful it feels to scrapbook after it's been a long time. I had done a few quick layouts before Caroline's party, but today I just got to sit and create. It was wonderful! Not that I am endorsing drugs or rehab...but I kinda know now why people who have gone through months of detox and rehab slip back in to their bad habits! LOL! I was clean from scrap'n for months now and after just one afternoon with my scrapbooking addiction I am back in it full swing! Oh how much I missed you smell of new scrapbooking paper when you first come out of the pack! There is nothing like being able to have total control over your 12x12 page....no sticky fingers covered in peanutbutter, no whining about one side of the page thinking it's not fair that the other side of the page has more embellishments, no complaining that the buttons are board or that the ribbons need more juice in their cup! Oh how I love this hobby....or maybe it's the mommy only time?

DAY 2:
I love and respect my hubby because:
After being at the Guard all day he walks in, sees me knee high in scrapbooking papers, buttons, and adhesives and just takes over for me with the kids. He got them dinner, dressed for bed, and tucked in without even skipping a beat...and the best part was he did it without me even hinting. Thanks sweetheart!

Reasons I Love Him....

I have decided that since it is not only the month of LOVE and Valentine's Day, but it also happens that I married a Feb 13th baby..... I am going to start a new challenge for the month of February. Each day of the month I am going to list one reason that I love my husband! Not only is this a way for me to express my love for my sweetheart, but it also hopefully will encourage all of my bloggin' friends to take a few minutes to write a note of love and respect to their spouse.

While I am thinking of it, I 100% recomend the book LOVE and RESPECT by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. http://www.loveandrespect.com/ This book seriously changed our marriage! After just reading the first chapter you sit back and say "WOW! So that is where he's/she's coming from!" Not I am not saying that our marriage is perfect (we actually could use a re-read on it) but after doing a couples Bible Study on this book, it sure changed the way we view eachother. The book is biblically based on how the man is to LOVE is wife and the wife is to RESPECT her husband.

Ephesians 5:33. "Husbands must love their wives, and wives must respect their husbands."

I bet that's a new concept huh? If you're anything like me you are saying what really is respecting your husband? I had no clue that men need to feel respected by their wives like women need to feel loved by their husbands. If you are looking for your next read or just think it's about time to actually figure out who that person really is sleeping on the pillow next to you, then I greatly suggest LOVE and RESPECT by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.


So...here is Day 1

1. I love my husband because....he remembers the exact shade of coral/pink roses that he bought when he gave me my first roses 6 years ago. Needless to say he brought that same shade of roses home to me today with a card stating that he got the same color as my first roses! Yes girls...he's mine!