Live, Laugh, and Love with Amanda and Family

Our 2010 in a flash

2011-01-13T09:43:00.000-05:00

WOW what a year I've had! A friend started a blog and talked about how she was unsure how to make it look pretty. I sent her the site I used to learn how to make my blog the way I wanted it years ago when I first started blogging. Then I sent her the link to my old neglect blog. It has been almost a year since I blogged and what a year 2010 was. I'm hoping 2011 is going to be a little calmer!

Wondering what I did in 2010? Here a recap of some of it:
January- Corneal ulcer and had to wear my 10 yr old glasses for weeks
February 12th- Found out I was finally pregnant!
March 1st OB appt and US
Mid March-Got a hell of a sinus infection that led to way too many forced Paid Time Off work days off since working telephonically and laryngitis doesn't cut it
April-had garage converted into a home office to make room for baby
May 14-21-Disney trip, returned home on May 21 and headed to ballet recital rehearsal
May 22-Kirsten's ballet recital
May 30-Miley and Hannah, Kirsten's pet fish, died
May 31-Labor day-my car was totaled while we were rear ended on our way to St. George Island Beach for a family fun day. First ambulance ride back to Tallahassee and to the hospital to have baby checked.
June 1-We are having a boy!!
June 2-crib we used for Kirsten and kept for baby #2 was recalled so now the search is on for a new one
June (2nd wk) we got a settlement for my car and made a down payment on a Toyota Sienna Van
July- Kirsten regressed to wetting her pants and 4 yrs old!!!
Another MAJOR FAMILY EVENT that will negatively changed our lives as well as our children's lives forever.
August- Kirsten got what we are pretty sure was Salmonella and had fever and stomach ache issues for 10 days and wasn't able to go to school
August (late) Kirsten started pre-K (VPK) and I turned 31 years old!
September 1- Routine check showed I was 3 cm dilated already at not quite 33 weeks. I was placed on strict bedrest
September 4-Went into triage due to more contractions and was admitted as I was 6 cm and only 33 weeks
September 10- Dr. checked me and I was 6-7 cm
September 11- woke up with mild back pain that Tylenol didn't help. Nurse checked me and I was 7-8 cm. Kirsten had just completed her big sister class that morning. I became a mother of 2 at 510pm and my little man was taken to NICU.
September 13- We came home as a family of 4
Late October-Notified my job contract would end November 1st as the company didn't renew their contract with the state of FL Medicaid. I was due to return to work late November. Blessed with a great severance package.
October 31 Kirsten turned 5
November 19th-Only 2 most postpartum and had my 3rd interview. Days later accepted a position with a local hospital as a case manager.
December 13-My 1st day of work after 3 and a half months of maternity leave

Like I said we had a hell of a year. We are strong and weathered it well. Amazingly I manage to stay pretty low stress through it all too. I just took an "it is what it is" attitude and knew in my heart as bad as I felt things were that somewhere in the world there is someone that was dealing with something so much harder. I try everyday to look at the positives instead of the negatives. Looking at the glass half full instead of half empty makes everyday (including the tough one) a little less tough.

Will I keep this blog up? Who knows? Working full time, being a mommy to 2, exclusively breast feeding, being a wife, keeping at least a walking path, clean clothes and dishes in my house, snuggling with my babies and spending family fun time as well as carving out a few spare moment of relax and me time are time consuming. I am however on Facebook so look me up!

365: Febuary 6-19

2010-02-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

Second guess whether we were truly meant to be dog owners.

I forgot to take the photo but Balyee chewed into one of these today and ate about 1/4 of it.

When you are the photographer of the family there tend to be less photos of you. I have a handy dandy remote but forgot to use it often enough.

I wore my BeBand maternity band for the first time today. It is very comfy.

Having a morning banana conversation. I love my silly girl.

V-day goodies.

Our original plan was to go out for breakfast. We went to Shoney's, IHOP, and Waffle House and the lines were basically out the door at each. We ended up settling on Chic-fil-a. By the time we got there is was 10:30 am and breakfast were over, so we settled on lunch and ice cream.

Yep it's real. We are pregnant. I took a Dollar Tree test but send Jake to get a real test to verify. We are thrilled!

V-day bag made for Kirsten's class.

Bedtime cutie

B is for BAD as in my bad little 4 yr old drew in pen on my couch.

Little cutie. This is not you normal smile but it's still cute as can be.

A girl and her pup.

Jake & Summer at Alexis's party. Can't believe Jake actually shared his cake with her.

Project 365 Days 32-36

2010-02-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

Project 365 Days 24-31

2010-02-06T00:02:00.000-05:00

365: Day 20, 21, 22, and 23

2010-01-24T17:04:00.000-05:00

I have a corneal ulcer and had to use these drops every 30 mins. Apparently some people have to be hospitalized for these ulcers and they can even lead to blindness. The worst part is I can't wear my contacts and they want me to change to disposables.

Jake is brewing his first batch of beer and wine.

Yes he has a doggie mat and a crate but this is his favorite spot in the house (not counting lap sitting).

Kirsten opened the mail this morning which would not have been a issue except this Netflix envelope had a DVD that was waiting to be returned to Netflix.

365: day 17, 18, and 19

2010-01-23T20:40:00.000-05:00

Project 365: Day 14, 15, and 16

2010-01-16T15:52:00.000-05:00

January 14, 2010

I've always had a thing for peach flavor. I loved Peach Fango soda as a child. Now that it has become almost imposible to get the Fruit 2 O cases at Sams with the peach flavor, I am glad I found a new love.

January 15, 2010

It's nice to connect with others that share my passion.

January 16, 2010

I got this heating pad as a party prize at Madison Nursing Home (my 1st nursing job). I think it was the Christmas party. I was the youngest employee there and they offerred to trade my gift with something else but I didn't have a heating pad so I was fine with it. That was about 12 years ago and my little heating pad is still working. I slept with my heating pad on all night and my laptop, heating pad and I spent a little extra time in bed this morning after breakfast.

Project 365- days 10, 11, 12, and 13

2010-01-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

January 10, 2010

We went to Mori's Japenese restaurant but Kirsten had Daddy take her to the restroom and refused to come out. Apparently she decided she wasn't ready to give them another try. Jake took me for my birthday last year and the start of the show when they do the big fire show scared Kirsten. Outback had a 45 min wait so we went to Chilis where we were able to walk in and be seated immediately. Kirsten informed us during dinner that she saw a lady with a "pig nose". She is noticing flaws in people lately from limpss to imperfections. We are working on teaching her to whispers things to us if she is talking about someone else.

January 11, 2010

Cold, Cold Cold! Send the sun back to FLORIDA! This week I tried to used my drivers license to scrape the ice off and all it did was make scratches in the ice.

January 12, 2010

Kirsten is going through a phase on getting up for silly things after we put her to bed. I can deal with once or twice but I think we had about ten this night.

January 13, 2010

It was Daddy's night off. I picked Kirsten up from school and we headed to the mall to grab dinner and see the Chickmunk's movie. We grabbed Chic-fil-a and attempted to take it in the movie with us (our theater use to allow this) but we were stopped at the entrance and told they are no longer allowing outside food or drink. So we sat on the bench and ate. We missed the first few mins of the movie. Kirsten was frightened by a few parts where she thought the Chipettes were going to get hurt and she love the movie.

365: Day 7, 8, & 9

2010-01-09T16:57:00.000-05:00

January 7, 2010

Kirsten was excited to return to ballet and tap after being out 2 week due to the holidays. She still has over a week until gymnastics starts. We are all excited about that because they moved her up to the kindergarten class so no more Mommy/Daddy & child classes.

January 8, 2010

Daddy turned 32 today. We got him a pie but didn't end up cutting into it because we took him to the Chinese buffet for dinner. We were going to go somewhere a little more high scale but it got late quickly. We will take him for a better dinner later in the weekend. He got his present shortly after Christmas, a home brew kit for making beer and wine.

January 9, 2010

It is usually more of a brunch. It's really easy because we like the packaged muffins that you only need to add water. The bacon is precooked and only takes 20 seconds in the microwave. The fruit varies based on what is in the frige. Our favorite is mixing fresh strawberries with mandarin oranges and peaches in strawberry juice fruit cups.

365: Day 6

2010-01-06T21:02:00.000-05:00

January 6, 2010

Yes I live in Florida and it was 19 degrees today. There is a reason I live in Florida! There are talks that we may see snow flurries by the end of the week. If it is going to be this cold is might as well make it worth it with a little snow.

Project 365- Day 5

2010-01-05T22:55:00.001-05:00

January 5, 2010

Today I worked 11:30a-8p. I work those hours on Monday and Tuesday. It is one downfall to working from home. It usually increases our reach rate though and the benefits of my job far out weight that one downfall. We are losing a nurse on Friday. She is one that was hire instead of me at first and then I was so awesome they basically decided to open a new position :) I can dream, can't I? They did open a new position though and my wonderful sup said she knew exactly who she wanted to fill it.

Project 365- Day 4

2010-01-05T11:15:00.000-05:00

January 4, 2010

Baylee saw the vet for the 1st time today. The vet estimated that he is 12 weeks old. He is heart worm negative and did not have a microchip. I was finally able to relax and stop worrying that he would have a microchip and we would have to break Kirsten's heart and give him back to his owner. He slept most of the day because he got shots. I set his bed and crate up in my office. He was frightened but the porcelain dolls looking over his bed at first but was ok with them after the growled a few times and realized they didn't growl back. He also went looking for Kirsten several times today.

Project 365- Day 3

2010-01-03T13:36:00.000-05:00

January 3, 2010

This is Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus. Kirsten got a fish tank for her birthday (10/31). We finally made it to the pet store for her to pick out fish in December. They like chasing each other around the tank and don't seem to mind that the fish tank apparently has a defect which makes extra bubbles randomly come out of the filter.

I learned that flickr will cut me off at 200 photo and since my goal is 365 photos I have switched to Shuttercal. Click here to a nice calendar shot of my picture.

Project 365

2010-01-03T00:43:00.003-05:00

I've decided to attempt Project 365 this year. The keyword is "attempt". If I slack off then it may turn into a project 52 (a photo a wk) or project 12 (I may have made this name up, it would be a monthly calendar with a picture from each day I was able to take a picture). At the end of the week I will be scrapping a page with the 7 (or less) pictures I took. I may get behind but hopefully I will at least get the pictures taken. If it doesn't work at this year, I'll just consider it practice and attempt next year! I plan to upload the photos to Flickr also. Click here to see album.

January 1, 2010

We attended a NYE party at Ms. Celia's house. There were 6 families and lots of kids. Amazingly all the kids made it to see the ball drop. New Year's Day was spent driving to Lake City to pick up our new dog from Aunt Nanct. we had lunch at Texas Roadhouse. After meeting Baylee and playing for a bit, we headed to visit with Aunt Vicky so Baylee could meet his new cousin, Taylor Dane. Baylee got car sick on the way to Aunt Vicky's and then graced her carpet with some smelly poop. Hope he does better when he is settled at home.

January 2, 2010

Kirsten (ok the whole family) is in love with the our new dog, Baylee. We went to several pet stores today in search of a few more items he needed. We got a halter leash, a sweater, a bed, a different type of food, a dog tag with his name and our phone # on it, pork dipped doggie bones, shampoo that smells like sunflowers, and poop bags. We signed up for our very own membership card at Petco. He is doing well with house training and has been accident free so far. We are taking him out very frequently and he tends to go to the door when he is ready too. We hadn't planned on allowing him to sleep with Kirsten but that is where is ended up last night and he is there again tonight too.

Word Art Freebie

2009-11-15T13:54:00.005-05:00

I know I am a bad blogger! I keep up with Facebook though :) Kirsten is doing excellent at her new school. X-Mas shopping is underway. I'm keeping all receipts in case I find a better deal. I am anxiously awaiting Black Friday sales too. blackfridayads.net is a great site to check out ads early.

I have a cute freebie to share

Here's the awesome collab, Circus Boogie that I used from Danielle Corbitt and Wimpy Chompers Creations. Hope you like it!

Sunday Freebie

2009-10-04T00:50:00.007-04:00

It's been a decent week. We had a great game night with 2 other couples tonight from our babysitting co-op. The kids got along well and had a blast too. Tomorrow I am headed to a bi-annual consignment sale's half price sale. Hopefully I will find some good deals. While cleaning up today I pulled out my stock pile of Kirsten's 4T winter clothes and am now glad I didn't buy many at all at the opening day sale as she has plenty of 4T stuff. I tend to stock pile larger sizes when I find awesome sales. Looks like I will be shopping for mostly 5T tomorrow.

I made a QP with Danielle's new Ooky Spooky Kit.

Download Freebie

Here's another page I made with the same kit:

Double Freebie Friday...ok Saturday

2009-09-26T16:51:00.007-04:00

It was a pretty good week for us. Having gymnastics and ballet on the same day is working out well. We have 55 mins in between to get Kirsten dinner. This week she missed ballet because she was too busy playing at Chic-fil-a and didn't stop to go pee.

I also got Kirsten's birthday invites out to everyone with an e-mail or that is on Facebook. I need to print out a few for those old timers that haven't moved to the technology century yet. I made the invit myself and I am proud of how the invite turned out.

This week I have two freebies for you. The 1st one is using Start Your Engines by Danielle Corbitt.

You second freebie is using Boo-ville by Brandy Designs.

Click photos to download. Hope you enjoy them!

Here's a few of my recent pages. Oh yea I am on Wimpy Cholper CT now too :)

Click layout for full credits.

Friday Freebie Frame

2009-09-17T21:54:00.005-04:00

So I have a house full (ok only 1 child and 1 hubby) with crud. Kirsten started with a low grade fever. She was cleared by the Dr for now as they think it is a virus. The fever went away after a few day and now she is just a cranky little girl. Jake has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics. It's day 8 of 10 days and he started with a fever today. I hope they get over whatever it is and soon!

Wow Halloween is right around the corner! My baby turns 4 on Halloween this year. I dug up an old Halloween kit by Danielle to make a freebie this week.

If you want to use the freebie for points toward a gift certificate check out the Starlet blog for details.

Here's your Friday Freebie:

DOWNLOAD

Have an awesome weekend!

Our Disney Trip & Friday Freebie Frame

2009-09-11T20:54:00.003-04:00

Hope everyone had an awesome week. It was another long short week for me. I was on vacation last wk then came back to work for a day and then had Federal Jury Duty. I'm alternate #3 and have to serve for a yr once they get to me which the judge said they do throughout the yr. If you don't know what fedral Jury duty is you should google it. I didn't have a clue until I got the summons that there was a such thing. You have to serve 1 day a month for an entire yr and they randomly picked the names from a raffle after the few were excused for various reasons.

We had a blast at Disney, outlet shopping, Medieval Times (Kirsten too), and just hanging out. I have posted all the pics but you can find some of them on my Facebook page (link on right of blog). We ended up see almost ever character you could imagine and even saw the princesses and Ariel twice per Kirsten's request. Here's a few of my faves:

Here's your Friday Freebie:

DOWNLOAD

If you download the freebie, use it in a LO and post a link in the comment section I will award you 30 points! If your not sure what the points thing is all about check out the forum.

The basics are for every 500 star points you have you will receive a $5 GC to Danielle Corbitt's Store.

I used pieces from Recycled Art, Add a Little Paint and Rhinestone Cowgirl.

Life and Friday Freebie

2009-08-20T21:25:00.005-04:00

What a week! For those that don't know I work from home as a telephonic nurse. Which means on Tuesday when my company rolled about a new phone system which we now know has quite a few kinks in it, it totally effected my ability to function! I have had to use way to many brain cells this week and have not been my normally low stress self. I am thankful that I work for an awesome company that is very support of any and all technological problems we encounter. Not to mention my co-workers and our online company chat rooms are the bomb with working through issues.

I am going to be a lot more ready for my vacation that I realized after next week since we will probably still be working out kinks then too.

Add to that the fact that my almost 4yr and totally toilet trained child suddenly decided there are more important things in life than taking the time to get to the potty. I taken away just about everything important beside allowing her to play with basic toys. Daddy threatened to put her in a diaper tonight. He found a very old one with side straps and all. I busted out laughing because for 1 I doubt it will fit. My child went to pull ups at 18 months because most diapers were getting too small for her. I am hoping this is yet another phase that she will go through very quickly!!!!

I'm so glad ya'll like the freebie frame from last week. I thought it was quite cute myself too. This week I created a 12 in layered border. This is the 1st time I've ever created one and I like the way it turned out.

If you download the freebie, use it in a LO and post a link in the comment section I will aware you a 30 points! If your not sure what the points thing is all about check out the forum HERE

The basics are for every 500 star points you have you will receive a $5 GC to Danielle Corbitt's Store.

Here's your Friday Freebie:

Silly little girl not included!

DOWNLOAD

I used Loop de Loop by Danielle Corbitt

Happy Friday!

Cluster Frame Freebie

2009-08-15T14:24:00.005-04:00

I'm on countdown for our Disney trip. We have 15 days left. We leave for the resort on 8/30. We will be spending 3 days at Disney, lots of time by the 7 resort pools, and checking out some other places too I'm sure. We are staying at the Sheraton Vistana.

On to some scrap news...

I am going to be creating Friday Freebies for my CT blog and will be sharing there here with you too. If you are interested in using the freebies and collecting points towards a gift certificate to Danielle Corbitt's store, check out the forum HERE for the details.

The basics are for every 500 star points you have you will receive a $5 GC to Danielle Corbitt's Store.

Here's your Friday Freebie:

I'm not including my cute little giraffe photo.

I used the following kit:

DOWNLOAD

Have a awesome weekend!

Our Weekend and Future Plans

2009-07-26T22:01:00.004-04:00

I throw my blog to the wade side esp since lot of my buds are Facebookers now. Now sure how many of our families/friends actually read the blog anyways and whether I am wasting my time. So if you read this and would like for me to post more family info on the blog them make sure to leave me a comment and let me know. I post lots on FB :)

We had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday we had a lazy day around it house. Saturday evening we went to a game night with three other families from the Tallahassee Babysitting Co-op I started 10/07 with a few other moms. We are still going strong and the co-op will turn 2 this October. On Sunday we woke up late yet again this weekend and missed church. I heard it was a good sermon too. Good thing our church puts the sermons online so I will still be able to see it. Kirsten of course asked her at least daily question of "where we going today". We had no plans yet so I asked her where she wanted to go and she said "to get some breakfast" So we headed for breakfast at Shoneys. After that it was home for a little newspaper reading and then I headed out to meet my Tally Mom Friends at Olive Garden for lunch. I ended up ordering dessert only because I was stuffed from breakfast still.

I'm on count down mode for our Disney trip. We haven't told Kirsten yet as she would ask us about it daily for the next month. I did ask her if she could go anywhere on vacation where would she go and her response was to "Wild Adventures". We haven't been in a few months so we have promised her a trip next weekend. I mentioned the places we had been on vacation including Disney and of course after that she said she wanted to go back.

I'm thrilled that another family with a kid the same age as Kirsten will be going on vacation with us so she will get to enjoy it with a friend. We are staying at the Shelton Vistana with 7 pools too!

I hope August flies by!

FREEBIE ALERT: 36 matching QPs

2009-07-18T05:00:00.002-04:00

Choo-Choo! Welcome to the next station on the Lemmon City Productions train. Our awesome team has make enough QPs for you to make an awesome summer book without all the stress of making it. Here's my portion:

DOWNLOAD

**remember we all live in different time zones so if some aren't up yet be sure to check back.**

In case you missed any, or need to back track here's a list of all the links! You aren't going to want to miss any of them.

Christie http://www.christielemmondesigns.com/

Charmaine http://wyldwebdesigns.com/wordpress/

Valerie http://geniabeanascraps.blogspot.com/

Bee http://justplainbee.blogspot.com/

Janie http://scrapastrophe.blogspot.com/

Lori http://ellay365daysinthelife.blogspot.com/

Gail http://gailsmomentsintime.blogspot.com/

Michelle http://inasunshinestateofmind.blogspot.com/

Deb http://digideborahsdesigns.blogspot.com/

Dina http://dinascraps.blogspot.com/

Janet http://nanapixels.blogspot.com/

Mary http://texaschicstyle.blogspot.com/

Alicia http://rosepup77.blogspot.com/

Amanda http://kirstenirenefaye.blogspot.com/ **YOU ARE HERE**

Jamie http://cjoy2day.blogspot.com/

Heather http://babyblueeyesx2.blogspot.com/

Siti: http://haniz-eyecandy.blogspot.com/

Rachel http://steelcityscraps.com/

Here's what you will have at the end:

Happy Scrapping!

I blogged :)

2009-07-10T23:10:00.004-04:00

I know bad bad blogger. But hey I did name my blog Live, Love, laugh and Scrap and I have been doing a lot of those 4 things!

I am on Facebook now too so if you are there and wanted recent photos and such be sure to add me. If only blogging was as simple and Facebooking. Here's my homepage: http://www.facebook.com/AmandaDawnRN

I can't believe in a few short months my baby girl will be 4. She is growing up so fast. We are still battling her with listening although she is doing better now that school is doing a green, yellow, red, and brown (I think they develop this one just for my child) system. And yes she did spend at least one afternoon that I am aware of on brown! I got a reward chart for home too.

I did have to alter it a little and make a few more specific tags to fit her day better but she loves it and it seems to be curbing her behavior.

We had a great 4th of July. We had a cookout at a friend's and then went to a fireworks show a few blocks from the house.

My job is still going well. Great pay, great benefits and I can wear my gym clothes (or nightgown) to work so there isn't much more I could ask for.

LOs and My Baby's Ballet Recital

2009-05-22T14:09:00.006-04:00

This weekend is Kirsten very 1st ballet Recital. Even at 3 she is super excited. We had rehearsal last night and she did excellant. She wasn't even looking at the teacher so apparently she memorized what steps went with what part of the song. She acted like she was at home on the stage and Daddy said he has given up on trying to get her into soccer (he was hoping to pull her from ballet and switch to soccer). Here's a pic of her in her costume:

We did a video but I have to get Jake to cut it so I can upload it. I'll just wait until the real show!

I haven't gotten to scrap as much as usually lately. We have been through AC issues 9go them worked out and luckily didn't break the bank), spring cleaning, and getting ready for her recital. here's a few I squeezed out:

Collab by Brittish Designs and Suzi Q Scraps

Kit is Sunshine Day Collab by Christie Lemmon and Steel City Scraps. Template from CT Inspired: Hillary by Christie Lemmon. Alpha by Amber Gray Designs.

I used a freebie called Project 365 by Brandy Designs.

For the 2 above I used Fun in the Sunshine by Danielle Corbitt. template is by her too!

8 Freebie Templates

2009-05-07T23:44:00.005-04:00

Just found out my favorite digital scrap site is closing. I was so bummed. If you haven't heard it is Digital Candy. Anyways on a happier note I am doing the Friday Freebie this week and I decided I'm going out with a bang. My Friday Freebie is not one but 8 templates!

Here's a LO I did with one of them:

Here's the kit I used:
Hope you enjoy them! Happy Scrapping and have an AWESOME weekend!

Update on us and some Scrapbook pages

2009-05-05T20:19:00.006-04:00

Life is keeping me busy! We are in "ballet recital mode". Kirsten has her first recital 5/23. She has been doing really well listening at ballet (although not so well at home) the last few weeks so the recital is looking promising. I signed up to be stage mom. Not sure what all that entails, but no one else signed up. Per Jake I will be gathering the girls before they hit the stage, sitting in the front and gathering them as they leave the stage. Sounds like lots of fun esp if they all have as much energy as Kirsten.

Jake and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Sunday. We went to Applebee's for a family lunch and had dessert. Kirsten was nice and was very well behaved there so I assume that was her gift to us.

I'm still doing digital scrapbooking like crazy and working at home for McKesson. Feeling like I need a vacation soon. We still need to schedule our next timeshare locations. We are thinking about a cruise for one of them and are looking into a Disney cruise.

I've gotten involve with a new playgroup so Kirsten is making new friends as am I. She just had her school pictures today and I'll be anxiously awaiting the results. She has always had bangs and we are letting her bangs grown out now since she wanted to. So I put her in pig tails and pinned her long bangs to the side.

Here's some recent pages. the 1st one was taken a few wks ago so you can see how long we are now able to pull her bangs back, thought they are barely long enough so they wonder out of the clip.

Check out my Digital Candy online gallery for more recent pages or to get the designer info for the ones I posted..

Digital Candy Site is down...Back u now...Downloader antsy still

2009-03-17T14:13:00.005-04:00

Just a little heads up. The Digital Candy website is currently down. It will be back ASAP so bookmark and come back later to download the QPs, they will be available until 3/28!

EDITED: This is now a download link for 4Shared below for you to grab the QPs. Sorry Folks...technology has a mind of it's own sometimes!

For my family that is getting this off the wall message in their e-mail. Kiss Kiss...love you bunches!

My Kind of Rocket- Digital Candy's Blog hop

2009-03-17T00:01:00.002-04:00

Digital Candy's Design team has done it again! They have created a kit that is OUT OF THIS WORLD! The Rocket left launch Pad Digital Candy at "T-minus midnight" and has now reached my docking station. You just joined me from Docking Station Melissa at Fairytales Studio Scraps. To make sure you have completed the full mission you can head on over to Ground Control - Digital Candy - to find a complete list of all of the Docking Stations.After completing your mission you will have a complete space themed kit and matching quick page album which is great for any space enthusiast. Here's a peek at the entire kit:

Here's my portion to the kit:

**Sorry Link has EXPIRED**

If you missed the kit and would still like to have it, you can pick up the full kit over at our Digital Candy Shoppe

Interested in more fun & super SWEET treats? Head on over to Digital Candy and check out all of the out of this world challenges, freebies & of course the designers in the Shoppe!

Oh and here's what I did with my QPs:

This is my hubby. It's he a cutie too :)

Updates and Blog Hop Sneak Peek

2009-03-14T14:12:00.003-04:00

Wow it's been almost a month since I posted! So much has happened in that month too. Kirsten is at a brand new school. It is led that a mile from her old school. We are loving her new school. The owner is a retired nurse. She is all about providing health snacks and great learning opportunities for the kiddies. Just since the 1st of March Kirsten has had 3 homework assignments, planted cabbage in a little garden, made a pine cone birdhouse, went on nature walks and probably so much more that they haven't shared with us. They have a main topic for each month that they focus on and this month it is Nature. Kirsten had no problems adjusting and loves her new school.

Jake just got back from his 1 wk trip to Chicago for a work conference. I played single mom for the week while still working too. I had to take leave for my evening hours but otherwise I worked full time. It was a little rough at time esp since I was battling sinusitis this week too.

For my fellow scrappers, you will want to check in again on 3/17 as I will have some QPs freebies in my site as well as link you to Digital Candy's Blog hop. The kit you will be getting is huge and awesome! Here's a sneak peak:

And some new layouts:

I love this one. In case you can't read the journaling it basically saids that Kirsten told me out of the blue that "Your're my Angel".

3 yr old for borrow and some new Layout

2009-02-17T21:31:00.004-05:00

Can someone please take my 3 yr old and teach her to listen then given her back? Kirsten's school has requested that we have Kirsten "tested". When I called and asked why the daycare owner informed me that Kirsten is not listening and yells and acts disruptively when placed in the time out chair. She has been having issues listening at home but nothing that I would call extreme. Of course after that info came home from school that same evening I noticed a change in her attitude and she started exhibited what they were seeing at school. I usually send her to her room and tell her she must sit on her bed, calm down and stop fussing or crying before she comes out. She usually takes anywhere from a few seconds to a minute to do that and then she's brand new again. School is concerned whether or not these are behaviors she can control or not. She also started stuttering a times about a month ago. Her main problem with the stuttering is "I" so she started saying "Kirsten" instead. This weekend she was trying to start a sentence with When and after ten attempts and only getting as far was "Wh..". She very frustratingly said, "I can't say what I need to say, I can't do anything". My heart just broke when I heard that. She is an extremely smart girl and excels at learning new things. Her daycare has even confirmed they don't think her issues have anything to do with her intelligence and ability to learn. So I put a call in to the Leon County School Board on Thursday and I'm still awaiting a call back to get her tested to see if we are missing something or if she may do better in a different type of school. I really wonder whether part of her behavior is her getting bored with things at school since she picks up things really fast. That of course doesn't explain the stuttering. The behavior thing is so weird because it seems like at home she changed over night. Daycare did mention they are having to separate her from the other children during some strutured times like coming in and handwashing because otherwise she runs around the room and is very disruptive which doesn't allow the teachers to get things done. I really just want to know what is going on and how we can help her get back to being nice Kirsten.

Here's a few recent layouts:

If you want the designer info check out the credits here.

Creative Team Calls

2009-02-08T10:33:00.003-05:00

If you are a scrapbooker come join me on two of my favoriate creative teams. My two fave desingers are having calls. I'm am having a blast designing layouts for both of these awesome team. Come join me and play with some awesome kits for FREE!

Pic and LO of Kirsten from Today

2009-02-07T16:06:00.005-05:00

I did a Speed Scrap today with Christie Lemmons @ EnchantedStudioscraps.com. I took this pic today :)

Journaling: You love to help with chores. We have yetto assign you your very own chores though that will be coming soon. Today you were helping Mommy and Daddy fold up clothes. You did an excellent job laying your panties out. I gave you your panties and socks andsaid “go throw them in you drawer. You marched off only to come back in a few moments to ask ”I can throw them”? Ihad gotten onto you only moments earlier for throwing socks around. So I told you yes you could toss them in the drawer. So off you went again. A few moments went by and then you call us to come see what a good job you did and this is what we found. You told us “I put them in a circle”.And let usknow you needed more in order to finish yourcircle. You love to keep things interesting.

My Inkubook Arrived

2009-01-26T17:54:00.005-05:00

I got my Inkubook! It turned out AWESOME! Here's a few pics of it although they really don't do it justice at all. If you wanna get your own check out inkubook.com

What a week!

2009-01-19T01:09:00.007-05:00

If you don't have the best virus protection...invest in some! I have been battling viruses this week and they are NOT fun. They bypassed my AVG virus software. My SWEET baby brother is working on it for me. So last week was one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a while. I found myself taking lots of Tylenol in hopes that it might provide some sort of relief. I went back into my last training session for my new job on Monday-Wednesday, This wasn't really stressful at all but learning something new is always exhausting. ON Tuesday (right after a call with a patient) and while I was chatting with my preceptor, my Internet went down. Turned out that my modem was FRIED. I had to take off work (totally Internet dependent) and head to Embarq to pick up a new one (totally free...which was one good thing). On Wednesday I started noticing some funny pop ups with my home PC so I did a scan and it found some viruses, I deleted them and scanned again and they seems to accumulate again and again. So my bro is working his magic and hopefully it will be as good as new soon.

Here's a few of my recent pages:

This is front cover of my 1st photobook with my scrapbook pages which I should be receiving any day now :)

If you wanna see any closer to read the journaling go to my Enchanted Gallery.

Welcome to 2009!

2009-01-06T10:26:00.003-05:00

It's 2009 already! WOW the year flew by. Kirsten is growing up so fast! For New Years Eve we hung around the house (I hate to travel any on this day of the year because of all the people that drink & drive). We made a fire in the fire pit we have and roasted sausage dogs and marshmallows on clothes hangers. We had a blast. For the 1st we again hung around the house, did some grocery shopping, and had dinner at Steak & Shake (complete with shakes of course). On 1/3 we went to Wild Adventures for the 1st time in 2009. We did make it there the end of December too. It's a good thing we went to as they are now closed until mid 3/09. We got our annual passes and Kirsten got her very 1st pass as we have to pay now that she is 3.

For my scrapping friends, there is a new forum in town. Check it out here: http://enchantedstudioscraps.com/forums/index.php

The forum is open now complete with great conversations and awesome challenges. It's gonna be my new home since Danielle Corbitt, Christie Lemmon, and Steel City Scraps are all setting up shops there. The store will be opening mid Jan 2009.

I am working on having my very 1st photo book printed with my scrapbook pages. I'm excited that i will finally have a book with my digital pages to share. I'm ordering my book from http://www.inkubook.com/

Our Christmas

2008-12-26T22:59:00.005-05:00

We had a nice Christmas morning at home. Kirsten didn't wake us up until almost 9 am. She loved all her gifts. We went to my brother's house for X-Mas Dinner. Jake and I went to see "Seven Pounds" on X-Mas Even day since Kirsten was in daycare until 3pm and we were both off. Today she was at school again and we did our after X-Mas shopping and saw "Four Christmases". Both movies were pretty good.

My Present

Kirsten and all her presents.

Kirsten and her new V-Smile handheld.

Kirsten riding her new bike for the 1st time.

In our PJs that Santa dropped on our door step on X-Mas Eve

Our Redneck X-Mas Dinner party at my brother's house. The menu ended up being just turkey and dressing.

New Blog Look

2008-12-21T22:15:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling a lot better about X-mas now! Cards have all been mailed, all shopping is done. I have 1-3 more presents to make but I have all days Monday and Tuesday to do that or just go buy a present for them...LOL. I finally got some pointers on how to add a background to my blog and made a new header. I'm totally loving it! Glitter is one of my faves.

Santa..More Santa & Adams Family Newsletter 2008

2008-12-18T23:14:00.007-05:00

Wow a week until Christmas...where has the month and entire year gone? I have taken WAY too many pictures in December thus far. Kirsten has seen Santa 3 times (once was a trail run so no pics). We have been to several X-mas activities and still have several more and then all the pics we take on X-mas. I just put my last stack of X-mas cards in the mail besides those that will be hand delivered at parties. I finally added a letter to reach card reviewing what our family has done in the last yr. I did remember that I forget to include Kirsten started gymnastics. The letter is gonna look great on a scrapbook page too! I'm still stressing a bit over X-mas presents as I have a few kiddies let to buy for and my home made gifts aren't going as planned (both printers are out of ink). Luckily I am off all next week so I got a few days to do last min things.

This weekend is crammed full with 2 parties and a meeting.

I'm stressing over Kirsten and her back tracking with the whole Potty training thing. She has been in big girl undies for almost a month and did great until two weeks ago when she stopped going #2 at school. On Tuesday I took her big girl undies away and put her back in pull ups. Broke my heart and hers too but we have tried everything else (treats, taking TV away, Santa's not gonna bring your Dora Bike, diapers are for undies...you name it). I know it's not a matter that she can't do it since she did for a month. She's even getting called a "baby" by the kids in her class and she doesn't seem to care per teacher report. We have finally decided that Santa is going to bring her Dora bike either way but will are not planning on letting her ride it. That too is gonna break my heart but what's a MOM to do? We have still yet to get to Wild Adventures to check out their X-mas lights and such. Gonna have to cram that in there somewhere hopefully. Anyways here's some shots from December:

And here's our Newsletter:

The Adams Family Newsletter 2008

Every wonder what’s going on in The Adams Family? Well here’s the scope! In January Jake turned the BIG 30! Kirsten also started excelling with her language skills, her words had become very clear and she started using long sentences. In March we took Kirsten on her very 1st plane ride to Smuggler’s Notch Resort in Vermont. She did amazing well. It was her very 1st time seeing real snow and she love it. The resort had an onsite daycare so we took advantage of that and took a few ski lessons. What we learned was Amanda does not care for skiing and would much rather be doing digital scrapbooking in the warm room and Jake is crazy. After two lessons and no ski lift experience, he decided to jump on the ski lift. He survived, but barely and got a few battle wounds to prove it. The resort was awesome and very kid friendly so we all had a blast. In May we took Kirsten to Walt Disney World for her very 1st visit. She fell in love with everything about Disney. We got 4-day park hopper tickets so we went to all the parks. Magic Kingdom was our favorite. We had breakfast with JoJo & Goliath and Leo and June from the Little Einsteins. Kirsten loved that and the Mickey Mouse Belgian waffles with strawberries and whip cream on top were amazingly tasty. For Mother’s day Amanda got an awesome new SLR Digital camera that takes perfect pictures of her lightening fast daughter. On June 2nd, Kirsten started a new daycare as her previous daycare was closed due to financial issues. Her new daycare was a lot closer to home but further away from our jobs. She was place in the 3-4 yr old room even though she had 5 months until she turned 3. When she was screened they determine she was too big and more advanced than the children in the 2 yr old room and thought she would fit in better with the older children and she did wonderfully. On June 10th my little brother became a father and I an aunt to Summer Rayn Baldwin. We had a great 4th of July and Kirsten enjoyed splashing in her pool. We went to a local church and for the 1st time we were able to watch fireworks with Kirsten wearing earphones to muffle the sound. On August 26th, Amanda turned 29! In September, Kirsten started ballet classes. She has loved it since the beginning and will have her 1st recital on May 29, 2009. On September 5th, Jake’s Mema passed away. In October Amanda was offered a work from home position as a telephonic Complex Care Manager for McKesson Health Solutions and of course she accepted. The benefits and pay are amazing and almost unbelievable. On October 31st, Kirsten turned 3! She had a very cute Ballerina themed party and Daddy built her a huge swing set. The end of November we took Kirsten to her 2nd “The Wiggles” concert and she had a blast. On December 8th, Amanda and Jake had been together for 15 years. We have brought way too many Christmas gifts but Kirsten’s #1 request was a Dora bike.

Please excuse the red eyes and uncropping as I was just lazy and didn't feel like whipping out photoshop. If I don't get a chance to post again before the holidays...HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Be SAFE!

Amanda

X-Mas Card and Template

2008-12-09T23:14:00.006-05:00

I made my X-Mas cards and turned it into a template for my scrapping friends. It is a complete scraplift out of the December/January Digital Scrapbooking magazine. Scraplift was of a card by Becky Pogatchnik. Enjoy! If you use it I'd love to see your results. FYI: For the words (Happy Holidays at the top and the name of family members in the trunk) I just typed them across and erased what I didn't need and to make the trunk and diamond top the same color as the background I just clipped the paper in the shapes too.

Click image to Download

If you download leave me some love here :)

The Fair..The Wiggles and such

2008-11-16T20:15:00.004-05:00

Two weeks into my new job and it is still going pretty well. Ran into a few issues but I was still getting paid since this time it was an issue on their end. Kirsten is doing well. We took her to te fair last weekend and she was able to ride all the kids rides and loved them. I haven't upload the pics yet but they are sure to be darling. We are counting down the day until The Wiggle in concert which is this Friday (11/21). She is getting really excited and started asking , "Mom are they going to sing Hot Potato..." and ask it over and over with new songs. We got 5th row seats too.

I had some issues with my external hard drive and had to get a computer guru to retreive my things off of it as it was getting ready to crash. He got most of my pics (tho our Vermont vacation pics were not saved). They are still on there they just won't let me get them too. I am really hoping sooner or later it will be nice and let me grab them before acting up. Anyways, here's a few of my recent pages:

This double LO is from a challenge where I had to scrap a pic with an imperfection. I take tons of pics so it wasn't hard to find lots with little imperfections.

My BABY is THREE!

2008-10-31T07:48:00.005-04:00

My baby is three...well actually not until 9:29 am. Wow three years have flown by. Here's her birthday picture from this morning:

And these are from her party last Saturday. The theme was ballerinas and I allowed the boys to dress as pirates, They were all very adorable!

My new job is going ok. I hit a few snags this week because my Internet went down for over 24 hours while they upgraded the speed. that was no fun because I needed it for viewing slides for orientation presentation and setting up programs and such. But we winged it and I took great notes and caught up quickly. I even scrapped about it already. I'll share the LO soon when the kit I used is released to the public. BTW for anyone that didn't know....I WORK FROM HOME NOW! My official title is a telephonic critical care manager. It's my first week but the company is so different than the last one I worked for. They have been super supportive and the benefits are great!

New Beginnings

2008-10-21T21:42:00.005-04:00

I'm off work this week. My last day was 10/16. I start me new work from home job on 10/27. I got 3 boxes today of equipment but not instructions so I suspect there is more to come soon. My computers (laptop and desk top) had dates with a computer guru and they have been maxed out on memory and lots of virus were removed from my desktop. Both had security updated too. Today my external hard drive went to be recovered because it is locking up and we suspect it is going bad.

Jake is putting the finishing touches on Kirsten swingset and Papa and Meme G came over and help us bring our back yard back to life. Here's Kirsten's swingset:

I haven't been able to scrap much due to the computer issues but here's a page I did today:

Kit is The Shabby Summer by Christie Lemmons. LO is scraplifted from ledigicecchoukette blog.

Good News!

2008-10-02T23:14:00.003-04:00

I have been having some major computer problems while trying to use to external hard drive. Apparently I am running super low on virtual memory so we are thinking that may be the issue.

On a bright note I put in my resignation letter 10/1 and my last day at my current job is 10/16. I will start my new job on 10/27 from my computer chair at home! My new position is a telephonic case manager and it is a work from home position with McKesson Corporation. The company is #18 on the Fourune 500 list. I am super excited about this new job. The pay is great as are the benefits. And it is from home!

2008-09-20T14:46:00.004-04:00

Last week Kirsten started gymnastics. Her favorite part (as it seemed to be with several kids) was the trampoline. She went thru most of the stations and did pretty good with it too. I forgot my camera and only got one not so good shot with my camera phone. I decided to just have fun with her instead of stressing over getting a picture. That is difficult for a scrapper mom. Here a some of my recent LOs:

New Photos

2008-09-03T21:48:00.003-04:00

We did a little photo shoot with Kirsten on 9/1 with her dress that Meme G and Papa got her. The pics turned out totally adorable. We even managed to get a decent family pic using the tripod. These are unedited so excuse the centering and such.

Today was Kirsten's first day of ballet. She has not been the cooperative child today but here is one picture we got of her after class. I had planned on getting some shots before class but being I am on my own for get her ready and to ballet class (Jake doesn't get off in time to help) it took every second of my energy to get her ready and there. We will def. be doing a ballet photo shoot.

She had a blast and wanted to "do it again" after the 45 min class was over. The instructor kept them busy for the entire time too. She was so darn adorable and were all the little girls. Ballet ROCKS!

Two new LOs

2008-08-31T15:46:00.007-04:00

As you might have noticed I have updated my Creative Teams. I am now on several new teams and loving creating for them. I have been churning out LOs and am gratefully to be on CTs that make creations that inspire me.

One of my new CT has a great kit coming out real soon. It is pink and brown and I totally love it. I creative a darling LO that I will share once the kit is released.

Here's a few of my recent creations:

Credits

Can't find the designer for this one...will update later

Kirsten first ballet class is 9/3. She is super excited and danced around the house in her new ballet shoes. Can't wait to get some adorable pictures.

New Layouts

2008-08-25T23:24:00.003-04:00

The 1st one was chosen Layout of the Week at DSO

Credits for most of the above pages can be found here.

We didn't get too much damage from tropical storm Fay but we did get a little leak in the back door and a little water damage to the floor. Very minor to what I have seen today thus far. Lake Ella has totally flooded most of the businesses surrounding it. We went to visit the ballet shop and it was under water. Luckily we were able to go to her Kirsten's ballet school and get the items she needs to start ballet next week. She is also signed up for gymnastics beginning 9/15. She is super excited about ballet and I'm am sure she will have a blast. She has been wanting to practice with her Bella Dancerella DVD set. I really need to get a video of that is is so very cute and she is getting good too.

New Layouts & 8/08 Pictures

2008-08-16T16:42:00.003-04:00

I made these layouts during Speed Scraps. Digital Candy had a speed scrap last night and another one this morning. Hadn't planned on getting up at 8am for the mornign one by by personal weekend alarm (Kirsten) woke me up 5 mins before 8. LUCKY ME! Anyways I meant to make them match since I was doing them as a 2 page LO. I'll be doing some recoloring I suppose.

Credits

Credits
Pictures were taken 8/7/08

Kirsten the Ballerina and Layouts

2008-08-10T04:16:00.009-04:00

I was searching for ballerina stuff online since that is the theme Kirsten wants for for B-day party. I came across a Dora Ballerina video on You Tube and there were tons of Lazy Town videos in the side bar. Kirsten danced to different videos for almost an hour. She even learn quickly how to use the mouse to pick a new video once it ended. We signed her up for Ballet classes that start 9/3. She really wanted to start today once we went into the studio.

Here are some recent LOs:

Click LOs for Credits & a closer view

Another LO was selected for LOTW

2008-07-28T08:43:00.007-04:00

One of my brand new layouts (LOs) was selected for Layout Of The Week (LOTW) at Digital Scrap Obsession. Here's the one that was chosen:

Credits

This picture was taken at Smuggler's Notch Resort in Vermont. We had a entire week vacation there and it was the first time Kirsten had seen real snow (not counting when they made snow at a Florida amusement park for "Snow Days"). It snowed almost every day we were there and we had a blast. The picture above is exactly what I saw as she peered through the fence on our back patio (all that was cropped out was the fence).

Yesterday when I was browsing through photos from our Vermont trip, Kirsten informed me, "I want to play in the snow". I told her to ask Santa for some snow this year. It looks like we will be planning another snow trip within the next few years. I have to say I am loving having a timeshare. Although they have been trying to convince us lately that we need to upgrade to points instead of weeks or we will start noticing we are limited in where we can go because point holders have priority. Well if it were free or cheap we would upgrade but they are charging over $5000.00 to upgrade. So I told them I was holding out until I noticed a huge difference.

We just completed a week (+ a few days) of Kirsten waking multiple times during the night. Saturday was the start of a new pattern (thank goodness because I was beginning to let her crawl in our bed way too much). Jake figured out she wanted to sleep with her door open. We think she got trapped in her room one day and had problems opening the door. So now we are leaving the door completely open for naps and bedtime and she has done really well. Of course the 1st time she made it through the night again we celebrated with claps and high fives.

Kirsten is going to stay with her Meme this week so Jake and I are gonna make some Mommy & Daddy plans!

Here's some more recent LOs:

Credits

This is my new niece. She is my baby brother, Mike's little one. I am a bad Aunt and have the wrong birthday on there. it should be 6/10/08. It's she a doll? Kirsten adores her!

Credits

Freebie: Daddy's Day Wordart & Templates

2008-07-20T01:17:00.005-04:00

Here's the wordart I used in the Daddy's Day LO I made. It's nothing real special but I thought someone might be able to use it.

If this LO looks familiar and my baby look way younger it's because the pictures are from last year (2007). As I am editing my LOs for spelling errors I have found myself redoing a few LOs that I did when I first started digital scrapbooking.

In case your interested the journaling is mumbo jumbo about the reason the letters look funky. I wanted to late and all the painted letter were sold out so I bought plain one and wrap ribbon around them.
Kit is Just Dirt by Simple Sweet Designs. Word art was made using an action from Atomic Cupcake.

I have added links to my template freebies in the left column to make them easier to grab.

Ponies, Princesses & LOs OH MY!

2008-07-19T22:57:00.000-04:00

Here's a few of my recent LOs:

Credits

I have a few more but I gotta resize them 1st. Last week we took Kirsten to a local consignment shop and she got to ride ponies several times and see a few princesses and a pirate. She refused to within a few feet of the pirate. She loved it! I also got a great deal on some clothes. I bought 3T, 4T & one or two 5T. How can you beat 4 clothing items (many were 2 piece sets) for $5? I got 36 pieces/sets and paid $45! What a great deal! I love getting a good bargain. I should have took a picture of the stack I got but they are all strung out now between the laundry and drawers etc.

Pics from last weekend:

We went back this weekend and Kirsten rode the ponies again and we stood outside in the heat to get Kirsten her very own ID card. She thought it was very cool. We took a break from the heat and went in and found a few cool toys.

Saw this on another blog and had to try it. Have to say it's pretty accurate.

What your Fridge saids about you:

You like to be surrounded by things you love. You aren't exactly greedy, but you can be materialistic at times. (this is an inaccurate part)
You tend to be a fairly thrifty person. You splurge occasionally, but you're mostly a saver.
You are a very adventurous person. You love to try new things, and you get bored very easily.
You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it.
You are likely to be married - and very busy.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

New Layouts & More

2008-07-12T22:53:00.005-04:00

Here's some of my recent LOs:

We had a great July 4th. We went to a fireworks display that was held at a local church. I came up with the bright idea of putting earphones on Kirsten to muffle the sound and she wore them and love the fireworks this year.

Her current is 34 lbs (same as November 2007) but she has grown 2 inches and she is now 3 ft 2 in (38 inches). You can tell it too because she has lost her baby fat and is slimming up some. Her language skills are soaring and she is getting smarter and smarter everyday.

This was our family July 4th picture and it was taken in front of the huge oak tree that shades our house.

I used American Pride by The Digi Twins.

Here are some of my other recent LOs I have yet to share:

This LO was done for Danielle's CT Blog Challenge. Head on over to the blog to participate! I hear Danielle is working on a great treat for those who play along. I used her Beautiful Day Freebie from her blog (6/21/08 post).

This was another LO I did for a challenge. We were asked to scrap 3 places we wished to visit one day. I picked Paris, France and Hawaii. Kit is Sprite Freebie From Britt-ish Designs.

Journaling: You love your new V-Smile game system. You have definitely inherited Mommy & Daddy’s gaming gene!
I used: Becky Wallace's Grab Bag (6/08), Atomic Cupcake Chipboard Action used for Alpha

Paper & Photo corners from Danielle Corbitt's Attach This.
Swirl: no TOU
Used Atomic Cupcake transparency action
Tag from ASterigou Floriade

Kit is April Showers by The DigiTwins
Date Strip by Britt-ish Designs
World Art by Elegant Wordart 2

OK here's the link to my album since there are still some I have yet to post:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AmandaDawnRN/LOs

I got Layout of the Week on Digital candy!

2008-06-23T10:35:00.002-04:00

My "Tree Hugger" LO was chosen for LOTW at Digital Candy. Here's the link:
http://www.digitalcandy.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=6144.

I have a few new LOs that I will share later when I'm at home. I should get back to work now :)

My "BIG" Tree Hugger

2008-06-17T21:52:00.005-04:00

Here's the LO I did today. As soon as I saw this kit I knew exactly what pictures I was going to scrap with it. Check out my adorable little Tree Hugger! She is getting so BIG!

Journaling: One morning when I dropped you off for school you asked me "Mommy I give tree a hug"? I told you to go for it and you did. This picture was not from that day but the last time you gave that tree a hug during the last week that your school closed.

Kit is Tree Climber by Danielle Corbitt (coming soon to digitalcandy.ca). Date stamp is by Brit-ish Designs. Template is from Aggie Aviso Journaling is Scribble.

FYI: You can now receive e-mail notification when I update my blog. Sign up in the upper right hand corner.

TOOTING MY OWN HORN: I just got notice that one of my pages will be featured as part of the Down Load A Day blog post on June 28th at http://digital-scrapbooking.org/main/

Say Cheese LO

2008-06-16T22:44:00.003-04:00

Another new LO from tonight :) I've been playing over at http://www.digitalcandy.ca and got some RAKs (Random act of kindness) items. I made this LO using a quickpage and alphas from a grab bag from Becky Wallace.

BTW for anyone that was still waiting on "my news" it was a possible job change and didn't work out, I'm okay with it though. I'm sure God has a plan and I'll just wait around and see what it is.

New LOs

2008-06-14T00:05:00.002-04:00

Journaling: We met another couple at McClay Gardens and took some shots. We ended up with a few good ones but it got dark quick so we ran into lighting issues.

I used Chirpie Love and Pretty Pins 2 for this LO. The template is my template #5 and can be downloaded below. I made the paper using a filter in PSE. I'm not thrilled with this LO but hopefully it will grow on me. The lighting was terrible on the day we took the pictures and they aren't the best but they still hold a memory that I wanted to capture. I just love these pins and the little chicks are adorable!

Temp by Ferg Designs Kit by Franziska Attmann

I love this new LO. Template by Aggie Aviso. I can't find the kit but will try to update when I do. It's a neat one.

Kit is Sunday Morning by Ellie Lash Designs. Temp is by someone else but I think I deleted it already :(

Kit is from Digitreats add ons (some old one). The word art is from Elegant Word Art 2

Tomorrow is house cleaning day...What Fun! I really need a good house cleaning service.

I'm a Aunt Again!

2008-06-10T22:08:00.002-04:00

My little brother & his girlfriend welcome a beautiful little girl into the world today. Her name is Summer Rayn. I don't want to post her picture online so if any family members want to see a picture e-mail and I will send you one.

New Daycare Update & a New Template

2008-06-05T21:39:00.003-04:00

Kirsten is loving her new daycare. She had no problems at all staying on the 1st day and told us bye and then went about eating her breakfast and check the surroundings out. She has been so perky when I pick her up each day too and yesterday she wanted to give all the teachers that were sill there "big hugs" before she left. Today one of the teachers asked me if she is potty trained yet. I of course responded "no" but we are really working on it. She then told me Kirsten has been keeping her pull ups dry at school and telling them when she needs to go potty. So we had a little talk on the way home and it didn't work because she refused to go potty before or after dinner and of course wet her pull ups. Hopefully with them working with her at school and us at home she is will staying dry at home more too!

Here's a new template, click to download:

Templates 5 + 2 & 3

2008-06-01T00:18:00.002-04:00

So I felt bad after my last post and made a new template. I'm liking it too. It is from the Nov./Dec. copy of Scrapbooks Ect.

You can now download templates 2 & 3 that were in the Autism Kit:

Happy Scapping!

I would love to see the LOs you make using my templates. Shoot me an e-mail to Amanda_Dawn at USA dot com

Layouts and Such

2008-05-31T23:11:00.000-04:00

Momma's Day Memories 2008:

Kit is "In the Yard" by Danielle Corbitt and Alphas are by Boutique Cute Dolls.

Journaling:
I am the luckiest mom I know.
I have a healthy, beautiful family.
There is nothing more a momma
could ask for. Daddy & Kirsten
made my day special by letting
me sleep in, keeping me entertained, and
cooking a delicious dinner.
I also got my Nikon D40
SLR camera too!

You had to have
the sticker off
the baked potato
and you put it on
your mouth like it
belonged there.

You decided to dunk
your head in the pool
for fun, we laughed so
that of course meant
had to do it several
more times.

We ate dinner
at our table
on the patio.

After dinner we took
some R&R in the hammock.

And my June Desktop from a Desktop Quickpage by Scrap Kitten Designs

A LO from 1/08:

Kirsten's daycare closed forever yesterday. She will begin a new daycare on Monday. She has been there for a few hours on a trial basis and loved it. She will be in the 2+ to 3 yr old room because they thought she was too advance to put in with the 2 yr olds.

I in somewhat of a scrapbook rut and haven't got a lot done lately. What I am doing I am using templates, hence why I haven't made any lately. Hopefully I will get inspired really soon and make some. I may try to work on my Disney pages tomorrow.

I got TAGGED!

2008-05-20T12:59:00.003-04:00

I was tagged by Michelle who is a fellow CT member at Xandra Martin's Designs with me. She has some cute freebies on her website: http://inasunshinestateofmind.blogspot.com/.

What is so sad is I had to google "tagged" just to find out what that meant then I realized if I just went to her website it would probably tell me.

So here's the rules as to what I had to do and if you are one of my lucky 7 below then what you are suppose to do.

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

7 Facts

1. I have a Bachelors of Nursing degree, a Practical Nursing degree and an Associate of Arts degree and work full-time as a registered nurse case manager M-F 8am-5pm.

2. I am terrified of most insects (esp roaches and the flying insects). Although I have gotten a little better and will now throw the dead ones in the trash whereas before I didn't want anything to do with them dead or alive. With a little one I can't just leave them there until my hubby can get them.

3. I am addicted to reality TV (my faves are Big Brother, Survivor, & American Idol) and am sad that they are all over for now.

4. I scrapbook on my laptop during my one hour lunch break almost everyday at work.

5. I have only have one biological brother who is five years younger than me but I was raised in a house with 6 total kids (my mom has lived with the same guy since I was 11 yrs old). So adding them in I have 1 sister and 4 brothers.

6. My Middle name is Dawn.

7. I love Zumba!

Ok so who's my lucky seven gonna to be?

1. Shasta: http://byshasta.blogspot.com/
She has some wonderful sketches and does a great job on moderating our scrapbook board at Baby Center (http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=bcus11984)

2. Jen: http://www.roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com/
Great variety of sketches and lovely LOs too. Another lady I met at Baby Center :)

3. Michelle: http://atexaschickie.blogspot.com/
The talented owner of Star Studded Designs. She makes some adorable kits and such and you can check out her store here
I am lucky enough to be on her CT and loving it.

4. Christina: http://wimpychompersramblings.blogspot.com/
Talented chic on Danielle's CT with me. She has some cute LO and so funny poems on her website.

5. Shannon: http://scrappinitdigitally.blogspot.com/
Another very talented digi scrapper and photographer. Looking at her crystal clear pics inspired me to get and SLR Camera

6. Amanda: http://amandaheimanndesigns.com/blog/
Fellow Digi Scarpper that I met at Baby Center. She has some beautiful LOs and sells her own digi designs too.

7. Erica http://www.templatesbyerica.blogspot.com/
And yet another lovely scrapper from Baby Center. She has some very neat templates and kits on her website.

Wow I suprise myself and found 7. Please no one shoot me :)

There are new things going on in my little world but I'm not ready to share yet. When things are more finalized I will :)
And no there is not a baby on the way!

I learned something new...

2008-05-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

how to make a blinkie :) It was actually fairly easy once I figured it out.

I finally got my new printer/scanner/copier up and running. Here are Kirsten's school pictures that were take a few weeks before March. Notice those funky pony bows in her hair, those were not the ones I sent for her. And the one of her sitting on the grass made her look chubby which she isn't. I haven't a clue what the photographer was thinking keeping that one. She is darling tho and I of course paid for the entire package.

New Scrap Layouts

2008-05-17T16:09:00.002-04:00

Here's some of my new pages that I made for the creative teams (CT) I am on. For all my blog readers that don't know what a CT is it is a team that designers of digital scrapbook kits have to showcase their kits that they have for sale and by being on their CT you get free kits for making layouts (LOs) and posting them where other scrappers can see them and hopefully but the kit. It's really fun and I love getting the freebies for doing something I love. So here's some LOs I did using Danielle Corbitt's Kits.

This one is from the "I Lub U Momma Kit" and a template I made. It's one that I donated to the Autism Kit (although I did flip the frames). I will share it in June after they are finished with the kit sale.

and using the "May Flowers" Kit and the template is by Yin Designs

Journaling: You loved dancing to the parade music and watching the colorful floats and costumes. My favorite picture of the day are the ones of you playing with the magnifying glasses.

And this was made using a Freebie by Danielle called Starz

**The journaling basically saids these pictures are from the 1st 7 days Kirsten slept in her big girl bed and the date is 6/2/07.

You can find the kits in Danielle's Digital Candy Store, except the freebie that one I got by signing up at her Yahoo Group

We're Home

2008-05-11T22:32:00.002-04:00

We had a great vacation and Kirsten loved Disney. She is one a first name basis with the characters now and she hardly knew the names of any beforehand. Her favorites are Mickey, Ariel, Donald Duck, and the Princesses. Of course I took tons of pics and have them uploaded so you can check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/AmandaDawnRN/DisneyVacationMay2008

If you are wondering who the picture of the first girl is in the red dress it is last season's American Idol Jordin Sparks. She was apparently filming a video when we were there and she was on a top ledge of the castle (thank goodness for 12x zoom).

We ended up getting a 4 day four park tickets with the park hoppers pass. We rode almost every ride we wanted to and as you may notice from the pics there aren't many pics of us on the rides because Kirsten was actually able to ride most with us. We did ride a few by switching her off. We did find out she does not like 3-D shows. We thought it was the scary ones she didn't like and took ehr to the mickey mouse one and she screamed and bit me.

I didn't get a chance to scrap while we were gone but I did this LO yesterday. It is my first CT Assignment. The kit is "It's Easter for Peep's Sake" by Xandra Martin Designs (link on sidebar).

I also wanted to share what I got for my anniversary/Mother's Day present: A Nikon D40 SLR camera
I took a few pics tonight and haven't uploaded them yet but they look great on the LCD and it takes pics so quickly that I know I will be able to catch those shots I have been missing with my other camera.

So it's back to work tomorrow. When I left I still had at least a day's worth of last months work left so tomorrow with be catch up day...what fun!

LO with Template 4

2008-04-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

Here's a layout I made with template #4:

Jounaling: The Easter Buny left you a bunny nest at Meme's house too.
Kit is Sunshine Sweets Easter Collab Freebie Kit by lliella Designs

Template # 4

2008-04-26T19:09:00.004-04:00

If you are wondering what happen to templates 2 & 3, they were donated to be a part of an Autism Charity Kit and you can find out how to get them below along with a HUGE MEGA KIT.

Here's #4 and it's my 1st two-pager:

Download Here

Info on getting the Mega Kit and templates #2 and #3:

With a little effort from YOU, we can help the kids and families affected by this every year. We can better understand Autism. Donate anything, no matter how big or small, and you will get this amazing GIGANTIC MEGA Kit FREE! Over 15 incredible designers have made 'mini' kits to create this HUGE Kit! 1 in 150 kids, that number is staggering, if you don't know someone with Autism yet, statistically you will, lets do what we can to help now.

Donate to AutismSpeaks.Org
send the reciept to XandraMartinDesigns@yahoo.com
with Autism Charity Kit in the subject field, and you will be sent the download links and password!

I think you have to donate $5 to get the extra bonuses (which include my temps).

2008-04-25T12:48:00.002-04:00

Life's all good. We are on countdown now for when Kirsten will start her new daycare. We actually have over a month left since she doesn't start until 6/1. It's scary and exciting at the same time. I know she will adjust well and she will make new friend very quickly. It is just so sad now the way she talks about all her friend and her teachers and it's hard to imagine that in a month she will probably never see any of them again. She adores her teacher Ms. Porche and I think she has been there since Kirsten began or pretty close to it. She asks for her all the time. I hope she is the same way with her new teacher.

Kirsten did excellent yesterday going to the potty when we were at home. She even went once and had a dry diaper. I'm keeping my fingers crossed she keeps up the good work.

It exactly a week we are headed to Disneyland. I know Kirsten is going to have a blast. She is finally tolerating people in costumes so that is good. I'm excited to see Disney too because the two times I have been it was for night time celebrations. We will be in Orlando for a week and haven't really made any plans and are just gonna wing it while we are there.

I haven't scrapped too much lately, but I have downloaded lots :) I do have some cute pics that we took at the Reba McEntire concert we went to last week so I will try to put a few up this weekend sometime. Kirsten had a blast at the concert and loved dancing. She also loved the water park! It was nice taking a little weekend get away on the spurn of the moment and we went with a friend and her tween daughter and her friend.

This weekend we are headed back to our roots...LOL we are going to the Four Freedoms Festival in Madison, FL were Jake and I were raised. We went last year and it was neat to compared the parade that we thought was a big deal when we lived there to the parade they have in Tallahassee.

Freebie Scrapbook Template #1 & Vacation Pictures

2008-04-12T00:59:00.012-04:00

This is my very own template. I cannot find the 1st LO I made with this template is was really cute too. Hopefully it will turn up soon or I suppose I will have to redo it. You can click the image to download it. Leave me a good comment and maybe I'll get inspired and make some more :)

Here's my redo LO. It's a little different. The Kit is by Xandra's Area It is a freebie for a creative team call.

We decided on a new daycare for Kirsten. She will start 6/1 and her current daycare closes 5/31. According to the letter that we were given the church needs the daycare area for "mission work". There are rumors going around though and it is thought to be all about profits. Turns out they almost closed last year due to profits.

My big girl has learn her full name (including both middle names). She is such a smart little girl. I only had to tell her a few times before she had it down.

We have lots a pictures from our Vermont vacation. I did realize though that the one and only family shot has terrible lighting so I had to change that one to black and white to save it. Here's a few:

Changes to my Blog

2008-04-08T00:00:00.003-04:00

I'm changing the title as well as the original focus of my blog. I pretty much took it over with digital scrapbooking layouts so I figured it was time to change it up some. I still plan to jot down family things and hopefully blog a lot more with scrapbooking and such.

I have lots of family news but will have to get to the details and pictures later because it is WAY past my bedtime. Here's some quick news.

*We survived our plan ride and vacation to Vermont and saw LOTS of snow
*Kirsten will start yet another new daycare 6/1/08 due to her currently daycare is closing!

Details Later :)

2008-02-20T22:16:00.003-05:00

I'm loving digital scrapbooking and feel like I'm finally getting caught up scrapping. I've even done some personal pages (those without Kirsten). Kirsten is growing into a very beautiful and very smart little girl. She is using complete sentences and others can understand most of what she saids now. Here new favorite term is "Whatcha doing?". She had had a virus for a month and we just started antibiotics and she is taking a steriod now too which is the first time she has had to take that. Her asthma specialist was pretty pleased that this is her only long lasting illness since her last check-up. I have had some Dr. appt lately too. Finally decided to get all my little issues checked into. I was cleared by the cardiologist (have a murmur and mild scolosis that are ok), went in for eczema and the dermatologist tested my darkest mole and determined it has a moderate risk for turning into a melonoma in my lifetime (will be having my very 1st in the office "surgery"), pulmonologist thinks my shortness of breath is from "breath stacking" and I have to be more cautious and take deeper breaths to prevent it from occurring. I still have to do a few other lung test to make sure everything is ok.

Anyways thing are going well with us and we are enjoying the everyday moments with Kirsten, she keeps us laughing with something she does each and everyday. She has been going to the potty well and is now letting us know when she need to go. She went away from home on a McDonald's potty last week for the very 1st time. I have her a little seat to sit on and keep it in a big ziploc in her backpack that we take everywhere. She started going really well about 2 wks ago once she told me to "go away" and I stepped around the corner. She now wants us to step around the corner almost ever time. She like her privacy. She is peeing within a few secs tho most of the time.

Here's some pics of her from last weekend:

Here's lots of new pages:

This one is a picture from 2003

This one is from 6/07

Haircuts, Scrapbook Pages & Such

2008-01-24T23:12:00.002-05:00

So I am catching up on my scrapping and falling behind on uploading new pics of Kirsten. Here's a few:

Last week Kirsten got her first all over hair cut. Aunt Nancy has trimmed her bangs a few times but she has a real little girl haircut now and all the thin baby strands are gone. She has a cute little bob cut.

Before

She is sitting in the salon chair and yes that is a tear in her eye. She only shed one. She did very well sitting still and we were rewarding her with sweet tarts :)

After

We have planned two vacations to use up our timeshare weeks before they expire. We are going to Smugglers Notch Resort from 3/29/08-4/6/08. I am excited about this one because they have a day care facility so you can drop your child off and go learn to ski. We plan on taking advantage of that for at least one day. Then the first week of May we are taking Kirsten to Disney World and we are staying at an Orlando resort. By the time we get back from those I will have depleted my annual leave stash at work but we are over due for some family fun. We are still working on potty training. She was doing really well peeing each time we took her to the potty but the last week she hit a rebellion streak and tells us "I don't like it" which is a new fave pharse for her. I taught it to her to get her to stap saving "NO", Good Job Mommy. She also has a cough now to the point it has made her hoarse. So we are going to lay off a little and we will see what happens. I have put her in regular panties a few times and the first two times she peed on the floor. Which I expected because she needed to test them out. The third time was only for about 30 mins before bedtime and she only tinkled in them a little.

Here are my recent pages:

Kit is Inner Child by Grumble Scraps

1st Ice Cream cone
Icecream design is by Sugar Snap Scraps

Sketch is from Shanna @ http://www.scrappysketches.blogspot.com/

Quick Page from 2 Peas with some extras added

Kit Fabulous by Sueli Colbert

2008-01-12T23:38:00.000-05:00

We decided to spend some family time at home on the 1st. I have some recent pics on my camera but have yet to upload them, so I'll post them later.

Here's some of my latest digital scrapbook pages:

Digital Scrapbooking

2007-12-22T03:06:00.000-05:00

December has became a busy month. Kirsten has started seeing a new Pediatrician, her vocab is soaring, she has said "please" for the very first time without being prompted, and saids "thanks" regularly.

I have decided to give digital scrapbooking a shot. Here are some older pics I scrapbooked from June 2007. The last three are from 10/31 and 11/07

Kirsten's New Stuff

2007-12-02T07:30:00.000-05:00

Kirsten's new favorite words are "I don't like that". I suppose it's a nice change from "NO". She has also started saying "Thanks" when you give her something. We have been trying to get here to say "Thank You" for months and she would say it when we reminded her to. A few days ago she said "Thanks" without any prompting.

We decided to start potty training full force. She has peed a few times in her small potty and we are giving her 3 mini M&Ms and she gets to put a sticker on her potty chart.

Last weekend she started singing a few words of some of her favorite songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, All Board the Choo Choo Train and there were a few others that I can't recall now.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

We went to Jake's Uncle Richard's house on Thanksgiving Day. The food was great and there are way too much of it. The desserts were great too. Kirsten found a favorite dessert. It was mini key lime pies. She had a total of 4. She started getting sneaky and would ask to go inside to see her Meme knowing that Meme would let her have another. She had it mapped out where they were and they were within her reach too. Mommy cut her off at 3 but as we were getting ready to go she grabbed #4.

There were only a few kids there and they were all boys several years older than Kirsten. She didn't care though she tried to tag right along behind them and Mommy and/or Daddy tagged along behind her.

2007-11-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

We had a extended weekend family vacation and went to Jacksonville. We took Kirsten to her very 1st "The Wiggles" concert. We all had a blast. She wasn't sure what to think of it to start off with but she got into it and was dancing within minutes.

We went to the Zoo on Friday morning. It was a little chilly but we bundled up and had a blast. She loved seeing all the animals. She used her tag along bear so well for the first time this weekend. She finally realized if she wears it she can have more freedom to roam.

Feeding the giraffe
Climbing on the monkey ropes

While we were in Jacksonville we picked up a bounce house for Kirsten for X-Mas. A friend called and told me it was on sale. I had been waiting to catch one at a good price since her B-day party (we borrow one from a friend). We ended up getting this one.
Another big first for Kirsten was I taught her how to climb up the Chic-Fil-A play place. I finally realized if she used the ropes to hook her feet in she might be able to get it. I only had to show her a few times and after that she was a pro. She was so proud the first time she came down the slide by herself.

Kirsten also met her Great Aunt Pam and several of her 2nd and 3rd cousins. She also got to see her Uncle Mike, Great Uncle Danny and Great Aunt Carol.

Kirsten and Aunt Pam
Kirsten's sleep schedule was all messed up this weekend. Hopefully she will get back on track quick.

As we were walking out of the gift shop exiting the Zoo

2007-11-05T19:00:00.000-05:00

Kirsten went #2 in the potty :)

We introduced the potty chair and toilet beginning at 18 months. Kirsten went #1 a few times and then all she really did was sit on the big potty and read books so we just stopped for a while.

Tonight after dinner I asked her if she wanted to go Pooped on the potty and she said yes so I took her in there and we put her Dora seat on the potty. Daddy set in the bathroom with her and started telling me he was hearing things and just heard a splash. We took a look and there was an entire potty with lots of results.

The scrapbooker in me wanted to take a picture adn made a page but I resisted the urge.

2007-10-31T20:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Kirsten & Happy Halloween!

Today was a busy day. Kirsten took a few great birthday pictures this morning:

Then off to school we went. Mommy at Daddy met Kirsten at school for a Halloween/Birthday party at 3 pm. Mommy made strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

After the party she stayed dressed up and we met some friends at the mall for some trick or treating and dinner.

After the mall we headed to a neighbor a few miles from home for some tradional trick or treating. We were all exhausted so no pics were taken :)

2007-10-29T21:17:00.000-04:00

Kirsten's birthday party was Saturday. The kids had a blast as did she. She loved having all the kids to play with at her house. On Sunday night we watched some of the video Daddy took and Kirsten started crying for no apparent reason. Only thing we could figure is she was sad everyone left and wanted them to come back.

Tonight we finally made it to the pumpkin patch only to fine the few that were left were rotten. We did get a cute family picture and she had fun running around.

We found out on Saturday that The Wiggles will be doing a concert in Jacksonville in a few weeks. We are hoping to get tickets so that we can take Kirsten.

There are lots more pictures in our online album.

2007-10-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

We finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch today. There were only a few rotten ones left (notice the rotten one in the picture). Things are so busy this this of the year. Next year we will have to plan to go early in the month. We did get a great family picture and Kirsten had a blast being pulled in the wagon.

2007-10-15T22:38:00.000-04:00

My little pooping Queen finally attended a full day of school today. She was sent home on Monday of last week, then Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday we kept her out. We restricted her diet (BRAT: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) and didn't allow milk at all. None of which made her poopy change in consistency. She returned on Friday and she was sent home again. We took her into the Dr. on Friday with only one symptoms...huge loose like poopy. They did cultures which so far have come back negative. She is 34 lbs now and we just went up to size 6 diapers.

We attended my 10 yr high school reunion last weekend. There was a Tailgate party on Friday, a family picnic on Saturday and a dinner and dance on Saturday night. We arrived as the scheduled place for the dinner and dance and were notified it had been cancelled a few days before. I never received notification that it was changed another place so we ended up just coming back how. The reunion has a my space page so out of curiosity I check it to see if anything was posted and it was. On October 5th there was a post. I e-mail one of the organizers and her response was "I thought everyone knew". She forwarded me an e-mail reminder that was sent. There were only 10 names (each of the organizers) in the mailed to box. None of the people I was close to in high school attended anyways so it was basically a waste of money (for me it was $60 for a lunch of subs and another of hamburgers and hot dogs) and a weekend.

2007-10-04T23:06:00.000-04:00

Kirsten is beginning to show us just how smart she really is and we are amazed everyday. She learns things so fast. With her growing vocab and ability to communicate her needs and wants we are doing good at avoiding major tantrums. Her new addiction is BARNEY, thanks to Papa and Meme G :) She is totally into babies of any sort. I wanna teach her to breast feed them instead of giving them a bottle but daddy didn't like that idea...LOL

Tentative plans for this weekend is a trip to Jacksonville for Hailey's (Cousin) B-day party on Sunday.

We are also getting ready to tackle a whole new method of cooking. I got the idea from an article in a local paper. Here's the detail: www.30daygourmet.com Wish us luck!

2007-09-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

We went to Brett's 3rd Birthday party today. Kirsten had a blast.

While we were at Aunt Nancy's we got Kirsten's bangs trim for the very first time.

2007-09-09T15:00:00.000-04:00

The party planning has begun. Mommy handmade you birthday invites. We are of course doing a "The Wiggles" theme since you are a Wiggles addict. Mommy is proud to announce that you can however make it through a day without watching a Wiggles episode.

2007-09-08T15:23:00.000-04:00

Today was Kirsten's last day of swim lessons. She was given a different instructor for the last few days and learned more in those two days than she had in the previous 4 sessions. Once they brought the noodle out for her to use she was taking off with me holding only a hand under her belly. By the last day she was kicking her feet and wading her arms in pursuit of floating toys. Next year we will be putting her in private lessons :)

2007-09-07T20:00:00.000-04:00

Tonight we attended our very first "Downtown Getdown". Kirsten had a blast. They had a dump truck deliver sand and had sand toys and beach balls out for the kids to play. She love the FAMU band and Cheerleaders. She also loved the live band and dancing in the street. We ended the night with a funnel cake and headed home with a VERY sleepy little girl.

In the sand box with mommyCool Chic
Watching the band and cheerleaders

2007-08-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

Kirsten started swim lessons on Monday. So far we are not impressed with the instructor. Her only instructions on the first day was to get the kids use to the pull and to go under water. She offer no examples or other instructions. On Tuesday the instructions we to blow bubbles in the water, again with no other instructions. At 6 pm she did tell us we were done. The lessons are from 5:30-6 and she will be going 4x wk for 2 wks. I hope they get better but I have a feeling that is all the instructing she plans to do. We signed up through the county, so I will be calling her supervisor.

My birthday was great. I got $100 worth of scrapbook items, a 5x7 digital picture frame, a steak dinner and brownie sundae for dessert. Jake also gave me some Kirsten-free time to do some scrapbooking.

2007-08-19T21:25:00.000-04:00

We didn't do a lot this weekend. Kirsten and I did some scrapbook shopping while Daddy mowed the lawn. We found a few good deals. We got home right before a big storm hit. The lighting was terrible.

We are working on a displine plan. We have always used the "thinking chair", which is basically "time out". We usually make her sit in a chair faced towards the corner for 1 minute. Up until recently the only reasons we sent her there was for biting or hitting. Last week when I sent her there she decided instead of sitting in her chair to pick it up and parade around the room holding her chair above her head. After that incident we tried lightly popping her hand. That of course as I expected lead to a 5 times popping match, but I eventually won and she gave up. I went and got a few books on discipline from the library and I read about time out. It turns out we were doing everything pretty much correctly and we just need to keep putting her back each time she goes to leave and hold her there for her minute if needed.

So while I sort thru the books we are going to use the thinking chair and/or hand popping as we think the crime fits. Wish us LUCK! I did find out from reading today she is the SPIRITED toddler. Which by the definition in the book is the most active, like I didn't know that already.

2007-08-10T18:30:00.000-04:00

Kirsten said, "please, please" this morning for me to help her down off Mommy and Daddy's bed after her morning snuggle. She is getting so good at using her "Pleases" and "Thank Yous". We took her to the movie theather for the very first time. She made it through an hour of Shrek the Third at our $1.25 Movies. She loved the popcorn, but stayed in Daddy's lap the entire time we were there. She got antsy about an hour into it so we headed out.

2007-08-09T04:30:00.000-04:00

Kirsten has done so well adjusting to her new school. We were so excited to find a place that she will receive a more structure environment, care, and education as well as better communication with the staff about what she is doing each day. At the end of the first week she came home with her very first homework assignment: Work on the letter A, the number 1, the color red, and the shape of a circle. I am proud to announce that she has mastered all of these.

2007-08-08T04:30:00.000-04:00

Kirsten came home this morning from daycare with an Ear infection. Per her doctor it is only mild but she will be on antibiotics for 5 days. Here school called to tell us she was having symptoms of an ear infection. Have I mentioned that I LOVE that they communicate so well with the parents.

2007-08-06T18:30:00.000-04:00

We took Grandma to Applebee's for her birthday. Kirsten was very antsy but we managed. Mommy forgot to take a picture :( But here is one of her and Grandma playing in the pool from 8/2

2007-08-01T05:30:00.000-04:00

Kirsten First Day at Heritage Prepartory Academy

She was so darn cute leaving home with new Little Einsteins backpack!

Waiting on Daddy because he missed the new exit that we get off of the interstate at to drop her off.

Let's go meet out new teacher!

She did excellent and was off adn running as soon as the got in the door, Mommy has to beg her to slow down long enough to get a kiss.

2007-07-27T05:28:00.000-04:00

Our Busch Garden Trip 7/27/07

We had a blast. Kirsten was able to ride a lot of rides. It was extremely HOT but we reapplied the sunscreen frequently and no one went home sun burned. Kirsten got the most tan out of all of us.