Great News!

So we had a very exciting day today! We accepted a counter offer on a house! So...we are quickly on the way to owning our first home. I only have the photo from the reality website to share with you...but will add more after we another walk though after Disney. The house is a beautiful Victorian on a grand boulevard in a small town here in Ohio. The house needs some remodeling/updating before we move in but nothing too major. After the remodel I am told that the house will be about 36oo square feet, 6 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bath. There will be a master suit on the 3rd floor where the walk up attic is and the basement is partially finished with a rec room. The 1st floor of the house has beautiful hardwood floors and tons of gorgeous woodwork through out. There are 5 or 6 fireplaces and I think 3 of them are working? There are butler stairs from the kitchen to basement and kitchen to the upstairs! Yes...that would total 5 staircases in the house! The total # of rooms will be 14 rooms not including the bathrooms. Uh... yeah! I can definitely loose my kids in it! Hmmm????? Ohhh! I forgot to mention that the house has a Den AND a Study off the main living room so Nathan get's his office and I get my SCRAPROOM!!!!! :D So we're pretty excited about it. We definitely know that God was involved in the purchase in this home. It was an amazing find and we got a really good deal on it. So....like I told Nathan... I won't have enough furniture to fill it! We'll have the new house, but we'll be sitting and eating on the floor! LOL!

Layouts

So here are the recent layouts I've been promising the top two are with my design team kit with twelvefriadys. Every month I am amazed once again at how large there kits are! I finished these 2 layouts and a mini album and still have about 1/2 of my kit left! Yeah...huge! Their kit for next month is just adorable!

These are the layouts I did last week at the crop. It happens each time that about 1/2 way through my pregnancy I start panicing that my youngest child doesn't even have their baby/newborn pictures scrap-ed yet and another baby will be here soon! So.....I start power scrap'n those baby pictures before I forget all the details when the new baby and their delivery/newborn stages happen. Guess what? I've started on Caroline's! HaHa!

New Bows

What's happened in our house in the last 24 hours....

Caroline has learned to climb out of (or knock down) a baby gate. Yep, she's getting used to her play pen again!

I went to the dentist expecting to need a crown and it was something simple...praise God!

I worked on 2 layouts and a mini album for twelvefridays (I'll post them tomorrow)

We tried a new box mix for gluten free pancakes...not too bad! Thanks Tim and Teresa for the suggestion! Best thing is they are pretty cheap at the commissary we are shopping at this weekend so we will be stocking up.

Caroline discovered she can climb up on top of my kitchen table! Yep...it's been a frustrating day with Caroline getting into stuff.

I have been working on the girls' boutique outfits to wear at Disney. Thank you Mom and Donna for your help!

I've been doing up laundry and trying to slowly pack our Disney suitcases!

Nathan found my diamond stud earring that I had lost 2 weeks ago! Woo-hoo! I was afraid to vaccucm because I knew it had to be here somewhere. He found it behind the bathroom door in a clump of dirt, while sweeping??? Weird but I have it back now!

So I have been promising photos of my new bows that I will be selling on my website. They are not up on the site yet, but if you are interested feel free to email me and I can make some up for you. The bows with the large ribbon are only available in the solid colors pictured and about 10 shades of polkadots, at this time. The clippies and the baby bows are available in any of the colors on my ribbon color chart on my website. http://www.sugarsweetbowtique.com/

Basic Boutique Bows - $4.00

Pinwheel Bows - $4.00

Tails Down Bows - $5.00

Character Clippies - $3.00

Simply Baby Bows $3.00

Silly Stuff

With yet another busy week I had little time to post. I had a scrapbooking crop on Friday night and it felt so nice to scrap. I only got three pags done but it's better than my normal amount. Nathan always tease me that I go to these crops and only talk. Yeah...he's pretty much right, but it's worth all the hassle getting there for the adult conversation! HaHa! I'll post the layouts as soon as I get a change to scan them in. This week I also spent some time getting a few tings up on ebay. I figured that with the Disney trip coming, it couldn't hurt! The next several days are going to be packed full with getting ready for our trip. With being on the road for over 2 weeks with 3 little girls we have a lot of packing and planning to do!

I'll leave you with a silly little something just for fun.


1. WHAT TIME DID YOU GET UP THIS MORNING? 9:00
2. DIAMONDS OR PEARLS? Diamonds
3. WHAT IS THE LAST FILM THAT YOU SAW AT THE CINEMA? What Happens at Vegas.....$ Theater and there wasn't mush else to choose from and we couldn't pass up a movie since we were kid free that night.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? John and Kate Plus 8
6. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Jo
7. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? Raw Onions and chocolate
8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CD? It's been ages since anything but kid's CD's have been in my van
9. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE? 2002 Montana Mini Van
10. FAVORITE SANDWICH ? My Mom's Reubens
11. WHAT CHARACTERISTICS DO YOU DESPISE? Lying, gossip
12. FAVORITE ITEM OF CLOTHING? Besides Maternity Clothes??
13. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, Where Would You Go? Hawaii
14. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHROOM? white
15. FAVORITE BRAND OF CLOTHING? Gymboree.....or for me Ann Taylor
16. WHERE WOULD YOU RETIRE TO? Wherever God leads
17. WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY? My 5th when my parents took me to see Snow White on Ice
18. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH ON TV? Sport...HaHa! Yeah Right!
19. FURTHEST PLACE YOU ARE SENDING THIS? not sure
20. WHO DO YOU LEAST EXPECT TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? don't know
21. PERSON YOU EXPECT TO SEND IT BACK FIRST? don't know
22. FAVORITE SAYING? Leave Your Sister Alone!
23. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? 3/1/82
24. ARE YOU A MORNING OR NIGHT PERSON? definitely nights over mornings
25. WHAT IS YOUR SHOE SIZE? 10
26. PETS? As I have Maddelyn trained to say..."We don't have pets because we have siblings!"
27. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH US? We're headed to Disney!!!!
28. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE? A Nurse
29. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Sleepy because I missed my Sunday afternoon nap
30. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Swedish Fish
31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? pink roses or purple pansy
32. WHAT IS A DAY ON THE CALENDAR YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO? December 24th (my due date!!!)
33. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Amanda Jo Hartz Martin
34. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? another episode of Lost
35. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Pizza
36. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Nope!!
37. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Hot Pink
38. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? nice and a beautiful Harvest Moon
39. FAVORITE SOFT DRINK? Mt. Dew and Sweet Tea
40. FAVORITE RESTAURANT? Mexican... right now I'm craving salsa!
41. SIBLINGS? one brother
42. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Christmas!
43. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Strawberry Shortcake Dolls
44. SUMMER or WINTER? Winter but from inside my warm house!!!
45. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs
46. COFFEE OR TEA? Tea... Earl Grey
47. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Vanilla!
48. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO EMAIL YOU BACK? uh I didn't email this!
49. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last Night....I'm Pregnant!!!!
50. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? Empty travel bags and our swim stuff
51. WHO IS THE FRIEND THAT YOU HAVE HAD THE LONGEST? Elaine
52. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Went to a Republican function and then put stuff on ebay and watched lost
53. FAVORITE SMELL? cinnamon
54. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Snakes
55. SALTY OR SWEET? 100% Sweet
56. HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR RING? 3
57. HOW MANY YEARS AT YOUR CURRENT JOB? being a stay at home mommy...5 1/2 years
58. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Sunday
59. HOW MANY TOWNS HAVE YOU LIVED IN? 3
60. DO YOU MAKE FRIENDS EASILY? Usually
61. HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL YOU SEND THIS TO? ??????
62. HOW MANY WILL RESPOND? ???????????

New Pictures

So I am finally getting around to posting some old pictures that were on my camera before my computer went blitz this Summer. The first ones are of the girls at their ballet recital. They were just too cute in those little Alice in Wonderland costumes. Even Emma looked all girly in her tutu. You never know there was a tom boy under all that blue satin!

Here are a couple of pictures from the Kenney Chesney Concert that we went to.

These are a few pictures of feeding the ducks at the duck pond in Shelby this Summer with my parents.

Yesterday we took the girls to the Richalnd County Fair we were to have a shift at the county's Republican booth but wanted the girls to look around first. We stopped by the tractors to see some of the ones my great uncle had entered. When my grandparents had their estate auction years back he bought some of the tractors that my Grandpa Hartz had rebuilt and now he enters them in the fair each year. My Grandpa was so proud of his John Deeres. I'm not sure that this is the right one of my great uncle's, but the picture is just a memory of my sweet Grandpa.

Disney Here We Come!!!

So this weekend we broke the news to the girls that we are headed to Disney World over Labor Day weekend. We have reservations for a character breakfast with the princesses so the way we told them was they received an "invitation" from Snow White inviting them to breakfast with her princess friends. We then explained to them that she doesn't live in Mansfield so where would we have to go for the breakfast. It took them just a second to blurt out Disney! Let's just say the screaming began there! Maddelyn said "I've been waiting for years for this!" Okay...remember she's 5! They are so excited! I don't think that evening they even took a breath between questions and statements of things they wanted to do! We'll be staying at the Military Resort on property called Shades of Green. It's supposed to be an amazing place and because it's based on your rank....it's cheap too! Always a plus!!!!

Yesterday we went to the Ohio State Fair with my parents and brother's kids. Th girls had a blast! Maddelyn ended up catching 2 fish and Emma one in the kiddie fishing area in the Nature Center. Caroline loved the animals. She is really into animals and babies right now so this was right down one of her alleys! The only bad thing of the day was that by the time we got to the milking parlor where the kids can milk a cow, they had closed up shop for the day. Emma was pretty disappointed because all week she had talked about "pouring milk from the cow." The night before going to the fair we stayed in a hotel and of course swam with all the kids. Maddelyn is my...uh....deathly afraid of water kid. When we got in the pool she was literally climbing my arms with her fingernails because I made her leave the steps to walk around with me in the shallow in. Mind you she had on one of those swimsuits with the life jacket built right into it. It took ALOT of working with her from my mom and I, but by the end of the night she was "swimming" all around the shallow end totally by herself? Yeah...can we say drama queen. Now Emma had the same suit on and she was jumping off the edge into the shallow end totally by herself. A couple of time I actually had to get her to take a time out on the edge of the pool be cause she was swallowing so much water. That little girl is fearless of water! How opposites can they be???