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???

Goodbye Razor Phone!

So this week has been filled with knocking off all the "to-do" list stuff. You know all that silly little stuff that you keep saying to yourself you need to get such-n-such done, but maybe tomorrow. Well we've been doing all those things this week. We re-organized the kids toys including dumping out the toy box in their room. I now remember why I hate toys with tiny pieces or lots of accessories...because they just find their way to the bottom of the toy box with all the other tiny parts. So after we sorted through all of it we then worked on their toy bins they got for Christmas. Each bin on the shelf now has a designated toy that goes in it (all small toys) and the front is being labeled with a photo and the name of that toy. Maddelyn was tickled pink about the new way of organizing her toys...yep another OCD-er like momma! The hardest part for her has been that Emma doesn't quite get (or shall I re-phrase that care) about our little organization system and just puts the toys wherever during clean up time. Poor Maddelyn, I feel her pain!

I have also been working on some new bows and clippies for the site. These different boutique styled bows will each come in an array of colors and the clippies are adorable holiday shaped clips. I would post pictures....but...my camera is currently being sent off to Nikon for repairs. So it's great that I had the insurance, not great that the repair time is 4-8 weeks! I will get a loaner though but it usually takes a week to get those to the customer.

So my phone died today...no I mean DIED!!!! I used it last night and then this morning when I went to use it the back fell off. Hmm? I tried to still use it and it wouldn't even turn on so I thought maybe it is just completely out of batteries. So when I charged it, it just vibrated and nothing else. I thought maybe I could reset it by taking out the battery. Bad idea! So when I took out the battery the back of the phone was full of a clear goop! I think the battery had exploded and then ate the plastic off the back panel of the phone! So after this happened I realized that hmmm...I bet if it was leaking battery acid that is what I got in my eyes this morning when I was putting in my contacts. It wasn't quite labor pain, but close!!! So anyways when I took it to the phone store they said that since the sensors in the phone showed that it had been wet inside (uhhh duh the clear battery goop) my warranty was no longer any good. But, since they offer a military discount I got a pretty good deal on a new phone. Oh my the joys of today! So....if you don't hear from me in a while it is just because all my contact numbers in my phone died with the phone. If you don't hear from me it's not because I forgot you, I just lost your number!

Getting Used to Blue!

So I finally had a few minutes to sit down and write this weekend. The week was a crazy one with the girls being in PA at my in-laws and then myself getting ready for a garage sale at my parents' house. the garage sale went wonderfully and I think it was the busiest one I have ever had. I don't know if it was the economy or what but there was a constant stream of people coming in. The girls had a blast at their grandparents house at their church's vacation bible school. When they came home we broke the news that they were getting a baby brother. Maddelyn seemed pleased but no big reaction. Emma was not happy at all. She tucked her little fists in her armpits and snarled up her nose at the news. She teared up and said but I want a sister! Oh my! I guess it's because she is 3 1/2 and in that stage that boys are yucky.

Today I started the morning by visiting my good friend Jenn's new local scapbooking store Scrapbooking Cafe. Their grand opening was today and I stopped in to see some of the yummy new scrap goodies! It was really funny picking up some blue and brown papers. Yes....I can do some cute shabby chic pages with a teal blue and chocolate brown but the intention of these were to make some pregnancy or newborn layouts for the new baby's album. Getting used to blue is definitely not easy. I've been out shopping a bit since we found out and yes it's nice to see things that are non=pink, but the boy outfits and crib sets just plain old aren't as cute as the girls. I have found though that you can't just buy plain blue or blue stripes/patterns on boys clothes and such. On my girls I tend to try and lean away form any items that have like characters on them or such. As in...we only have a few princess shirts or pooh bear blankets. I generally buy just solids or cute patterns (dots/stripes/gingham's.) Well with baby boy stuff everything has balls, trains. trucks, airplanes, dinos, lions, or such on them. Even the simple basic onzies at walmart were blue but then had a bat and ball on them. Oh this is going to be hard. And...on top of all of that how do you leave the house with your newborn without the headband, bonnet, ruffle socks, and tiny patten leather black dress shoes. I know I will adjust, but what accessories can you put on a tiny boy? LOL! NOT that I am the least bit unhappy or complaining about our precious gift. I am just saying after three girls it is definitely going to take some adjustment.

Sneek Peek

Well, as you can see we had an OB appointment today. I had a routine ultrasound to check to make sure nothing was changing as far as early labor or anything...because of my prenatal history with the girls. they will be doing the full ultrasound at 20 weeks to check the baby out in detail. To our surprise the baby was in the perfect position to get a peek at what we are getting. so to our surprise today...we found out we are going to be getting a special Christmas surprise.....

It's a Boy!!!!

New Scrapbooking Projects

I promised I would post my layouts and projects from the Design Team kit with twelvefridays. This past month's papers had such a beachy feel so it was just perfect for all the pictures of the beach from our trip to New Jersery. I just loved how the 2 layouts came out. Both of these photos are two favorites of mine from our trip visiting Alicia and her family. The first is of her family's feet on the beach and the second one is of Alicia on the beach. I also made an altered box to put all the rest of the photos of the trip in. Each card is 2 sided so there are many more photos than shown below.

Busy Weekend

So obviously with the website opening this has been a pretty busy week. I've also been knee high in baby/kids clothes getting ready for our garage sale next week. I also have been researching and pricing curriculum for Maddelyn's kindergarten this year (we homeschool.) I think we've decided on Abeka. I really liked their phonics program. Today was crazy with running errands, finishing up my projects for the twelvefriday's design team, and packing for the weekend. The girls and I are doing some garage saleing tomorrow with my mom and then Nathan is coming over to have dinner with us that evening. We'll be spending the night there and leaving from there to Sandusky to go to Cedar Point, since Willard is about 1/2 there. We will be meeting Nathan's parents for the day at Cedar Point and then they will be taking the older two girls to PA for the week to attend their church's Vacation Bible School. On Sunday we have my mom's family reunion so I think by Monday I'll be collapsing...oh wait...I have to finish getting ready for the garage sale! Our Summer's are always this crazy.

I thought I'd share a cute picture of the girls I took this past weekend. They are wearing the matching outfits from Heartstrings that their dear auntie Alicia sent....THANKS!! I'll post the projects I made for twelvefridays after they go up on their site. Have a great weekend!

Grand Opening!!!

We are pleased to announce the grand opening of.......

SUGAR SWEET BOWTIQUE

After many hours of work, our korker hair bows and accessories store is now open! And... as a bonus from now until August 1st, we are running a grand opening sale! Be sure to swing on by to see what new we've cooked up. Take a look and let us know what you think. We're always open for comments on the website! We're new to the bowtique world so let us know what you think!!!

http://www.sugarsweetbowtique.com

Texas Pictures

So I finally got all of my Texas pictures downloaded and into the group on snapfish so everyone could order from them. I know....took all week. I decided to share "a few" of them with you since I took like 380 pictures. Which for anyone who knows me that is pretty low for 8 days! I think my problem though was that I am kinda a posed picture kinda gal and with 48 people running around it's kinda hard to get those kind of pictures. I just had a hard time taking pictures with other people in the back ground, some children not even looking or as most people say....non-posed pictures. I know they are some of the best but for an OCD gal like me....it's hard! LOL!

5 Generations

The Parade Float

Yep, sad to say they're are brothers!

Make you're own pizza night

Ladies Day Out

"some" of the cousins around the table

We're Home!

So we're home!!! We had a ton of fun, but oh how this preggo momma missed the 80 degree weather of Ohio!!! I have tons of pictures to share and am currently uploading the ...cough...cough....500ish of them! Yep, it's taking a bit. I will share a few from our session at Sears that we did to take pics of everyone. I just wish the studio would have been big enough for all 48 of us to fit in one family photo. I guess when you have big families a group picture is out. Oh well...that's the Martin family though!

Nathan's parents and siblings

All but one of Grandpa and Grandma Martin's Grandkids...notice the difference in ages!

Grandpa and Grandma with the "greats"

4 generations picture

The tiny ones at this year's reunion. We did the same photo when Maddelyn was about 2 months old.

Grandpa David and Grandma Carla with the grandkids

So now that I am counting my blessings to be in C-O-O-L Ohio, here are a few things that you miss about the Buckeye State while on the Mexico boarder.

1. Grass and Trees

2. Temps under 100 (it got up to 105 ouch!)

3. Sleep (we had a WONDERFUL but busy week ontop of a time change)

4. My kids sleeping past 5:45 am

5. Mountains/hills that actually look like mountains and not just piles of dirt(see below)

6. Not being swollen ( I felt like a water balloon with the heat and fatigue last week.)

7. Did I mention the cooler weather? Oh how it is miserable being preggos and HOT!

Okay and here are a few cute kiddos quote from Texas.....

Maddelyn: "Mom! Look at those really big piles of dirt!" Mind you she is looking at a desert mountain that just doesn't have vegetation on it. It really did look like a pile of dirt!

Emma: Uncle Tim do you have a baby in your belly too? How embarrassing but I would rather she asked him than a woman who was not pregnant!

Maddelyn: "Dad can I get a cell phone?

Nathan: "Why do you need a phone?

Maddelyn: "To call all my friends like Lizzie!"

I seriously thought that we would make it to at least 9 before that conversation and not 5! Oh my!