Wall "stickers"

I LOVE all the designs that are available in vinyl for your walls!

I think Blik is my favorite so far...

I have been holding back-since we plan on moving...
But the longer I wait, the more options I find!

I am going to have a house full of "stickers"
But dang they are cool!

Check this article for links to many manufacturer's of this unique art!
(I found this great article via Christine Middleton's blog-thanks Christine!)
http://simplystated.realsimple.com/home/2008/03/wall-decals-sti.html

Too cool!

Those branches... vinyl!

Jerry liked this one...
To keep it "local"... (Candi's friend) vinyl expressions by jodi
and Cathey, who does the vinyl for Scrapaganza (she does wall quotes and "art" too)
signs by cj

Cake extentions... (Happy Birthday Jerry!)

Enough with the March birthday's already!!! :) Just teasin'!

OK, so I asked the kids to draw pictures for their Daddy for his birthday...
So Gavin is asking me questions as he draws... How old is Daddy...How to you spell "out"...
I couldn't help but wonder what he was up to!

Well, this is what he was up to!!

He drew a cake, and started applying the candles... only to find that 38 candles were
not going to fit his cake... so he extended it! When he showed this to me, I about
fell over! SO funny! I told him I was SO proud of his awesome idea!!!




Gabriel's picture of our family.

Yes, you should probably know {sigh} we're aliens. :)

Cora's "picture" turned into a lesson on writing her name... she wanted to show Daddy how good she did! :)

Happy Birthday honey! We all love you SO much!
But I love ya the most! ;D

Blizzards and bunnies!

Another attempt to get a picture before church on Easter Morning... it could be worse... at least their all looking!

Isn't she pretty!
OK-this is the deal. We have a easter egg hunt each year at my Dad's.
As "the real reason for the season" is emphasized at our house-this is their chance for
candy and bunnies!
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the easter bunny-well, maybe I don't. {wink}
I just don't know when the emphasis became big baskets of toys, instead of reflection on
the biggest gift ever offered humanity.
I try for balance. A little fun didn't hurt anyone. As long as they know it isn't "the point". :)
YIKES-got off subject there for a minute! (or did I??)

ANYWAY, we do this egg hunt each year at my Dad's house... but this year, we had a little surprise. It snowed hard enough that some of the candy couldn't be seen! JUST when the kids started the hunt, the sky's opened up and DUMPED on them!
I took shelter in the garage, and took pictures from there!
TOO funny!
Compare the snow on the ground from the first pictures to the last!


The sweet white pattened shoes had to be nixed for practical boots! :)
Jeff taking shelter under a sled! He'll be able to ride it soon!!
At least Grandpa Don and Grandma Dinah were dressed for the occasion! :)
OK, check out Jer's hair! It was snowin' hard!
Dad helping Gabriel find some loot! (The cash!)
As you can see by Cora's basket, they did alright regardless of the conditions!
Gabriel didn't miss a beat! Check out the snow in the background! WOW!
Cora sorting her treasures!
Gabriel displaying a prize-a chocolate bunny!
One of Gavin's favorite things about visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house? Atari Classic!
Dinah making the famous "Kraft Dinner" -for the kids... yeah right. For Dad!!!
Amber being grossed out by her beloved. :) Always a few laughs at our family gatherings. :)
OK, don't ask me why everyone was standing... the couches look plenty comfy to me! Thanks Dad and Dinah for another memorable Easter! :)
And praise Him for our health and happiness!!
Amen!

Witnessing miracles...

By chance, I was involved with this wonderful event! As the photographer.

The Nelson's, (what a wonderful blessing to know Sarah... (who is in my Mom's group)) adopted a 4 year old boy from Korea-who they names Micah.
What a wonderful blessing to see them bring home their third child through
adoption! (they have 6 total!)
Crazy they might be {wink} but wonderful blessed they all our to
be together...
Here is Sarah's blog: http://momsmusings-sarah.blogspot.com/


The relief was palatable. She picked him up, and brought him right in, and he paused too... it was a great moment!

They he leaned back to check her out. He had seen pictures of his new mom, but not in 3D before! :)
I had to salvage this one-I was walking backwards, and it blurred a bit, but I loved the look they gave each other!
Handsome little dude, huh?
I couldn't help but think, as I watched them walk away-just like a birth, this moment changed their lives forever!

His, theirs... Sarah was still in shock, and the kids were taking it in too...
It was just somethin' to watch them walk away to their new lives!

All my blessings to you all!!

Another exciting week!

DANG I am busy!!! Is it really Easter this next weekend???

Ok, well, last weekend on Thursday night, we headed to Bloomington for the Hearts @ Home conference. It was {as always} incredibly uplifting and encouraging. This was my 4th year attending. This time was more about organization and planning for me. I am SO excited about doing the "Super Summer Challenge" over the summer for the kids (click on the link for more info!), and I am also SO excited about the new skills I learned to continue to purge and get organized! I have been on my way to this for some time. Karen gave me even more useful skills! Not to mention Ken Davis made me LAUGH! Even some of his stand-up that I had seen, he still made me roll!

So Sunday night, I got home at about 7:30pm, and then left the house, to leave for Oprah, at about 2:35 AM!! Home six hours! Yikes!

Here's Kelly VERY early!! Wait... isn't she suppose to be driving?? :)

Where we entered...

Since no cameras inside, here I am outside...

...and Kelly at the Oprah Store.

I miss visits to Chicago! I MUST visit more often!

Oprah was a great time! It is really interesting to see how it all works! The set doesn't seem near as grand as it does on TV, and Oprah, well, she is quite the Diva! WOW! People running on stage to fix this, adjust that, spray this... but do ya blame her? She IS the riches women in the world, right?? :) We saw Simon Cowell, the winner of the British version of American Idol, and the winner of "America's Got Talent"... it was very interesting and entertaining! We were in an upper area. But we could still see great!

After the shows (which was live for Chicago, and 3 or 4 pm for the rest of the country) they did some taping for promo, etc. Then they told us they had a special treat. They would feed us a "divine" lunch (uh, Subway is divine?? LOL), and we would stay for a special taping with Kirstie Alley. OK... so it was kinda implied that it was with Oprah, but OK... Well it was a "test" taping for a possible new talk show (hosted by Kirstie). It was cool to see them redo the set and all, but it was a LONG day. For our time, we got a CD of the British Idol winner Leona Lewis. We got back home at about 7pm maybe??

Since I went looking at available Oprah tickets, there have been at least three other calls! (I am trying to get a reservation for my MIL) So if you want tickets, go to Oprah.com and scope it out!

By the WAY! Happy Birthday Alicia!!

My good friend Alicia (who went to Hearts @ Home with me)
turned 40 today!!!
Here are some pictures from our celebrating her Birthday over the weekend! Her sister brought a HUGE balloon arrangement to Biaggi's! She was a bit red!


Happy Birthday Alicia! You are loved!

A Week In Review! (A BUSY week!)

OK, lately Gabriel has been all about Mr. Potato Head and K'Nex... he has always liked them, but lately, it is almost all he wants to do!














A planned visit to go to Happy Joe's for my dad's birthday, Gabriel's birthday and Gavin's birthday made me think it was time for a haircut for Gabriel! I admit it! I love my boys with a bit longer hair. Can't imagine why. ;D






















My Dad said "this is after a haircut?" Yep!





The boys birthday party was on Saturday, March 8th! I decided that I would rather go "all out" for two of their friends, than do the minimal for their whole class... so we took their "best friends" from school (convenient that their best friends are brothers!) to Build-a-Bear Workshop, and then to Chuckie Cheese... Here are the highlights!

And for Gavin's "actual" birthday (on the 10th) Cake and a present! OK, so I broke my own rule... I got him Star Wars (which he asked for). The new rating system made it PG-13!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Scary! Oh well... exceptions are OK sometimes, right? He was thrilled! And so was my husband, who got to hang out with Gavin and watch his favorite movie (from his childhood) with his son!

Happy 7th Birthday Buddy!!

I'm GOIN' to the OPRAH show!!!!

I'm GOIN' on OPRAH!!!!

OK, so when I found out Candi was going to be on again, I was on the phone with her and said, "were are you going to get these tickets?" She's like, "go look"... so I see a link "It says-calling all Simon Cowell fans"... "What's this?" "That's it! Fill it in! They'll call you if they pick you"...

I thought-OK, what are the chances that someone I know gets called, and then I do??

Well, this morning, the kids were climbing on me, and the phone rings "Hurry, get off! It might be the Oprah Show!" :)

I look at the caller ID-Harpo!!!! 312 area code!! THAT IS WHAT CANDI SAID!!

OK, so this is when "crazy" happens! Poor phone lady!! My phone has a long pause sometimes, cuz we have Vonage... so when it does kick in, she hears... "HELLO, HELLO, HELLO!!!!!"

So I am going on March 17th!!!!

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

So what are the chances?? Candi and I going a week apart??

Life's funny!!

Comment and WIN!

Gonna give away some Memories Complete product!!
Just leave me a comment, and you could WIN!

Drawing on March 15th!

Click here or here to see the product itself!

Here are my layouts again, made for the CHA booth (in one day!)!

Click here to see Candi's layouts for the CHA booth!

Ask your LSS to get some of these great products in! :)

Happy Birthday Gabriel!!!

...and Dave too!

This weekend, I worked on Friday night until 1am, worked the next day during Scrapaganza's AWESOME sale! And then there was a party at our house! We are the official "party house" for the Smith family! Well, at least until Pat and Frosty's basement is done... but even then, we'll have to share the duty! It's fun having everyone over! I am happy to be a part of a family that gets together weekly! It's really wonderful! As Sue (grandma-my MIL) and Pat ("Aunt Pat") were dancing in my kitchen with my children, I was thinking-THIS is what it is about! This is what makes family "family"... the ease and love! Nothing makes me happier than when I am with anyone that I love, and we are having a great time "just being together"...

I love a full house!!

OK, these gals are crazy! (But fun!)


Gabriel turned 5 on Sunday! He picked Wise Guys pizza for his birthday meal! I thought he wanted Golden Corral (Sue and I had just taken him there recently) He kept mentioning pizza (they have pizza at GC too)-and the place "where you get the food for me Mama"... well, I hadn't been to Wise Guys buffet. They had always been there with Jerry! So when we went to Golden Corral and he was upset-this wasn't it! We put it together... and off we went to Wise Guys! To my dismay. I don't really like pizza all that much! But fresh off the buffet, it was good! And they had the specialty pizza's as an option that I don't ever get to get when we get pizza together as a family! I could get use to the pizza buffet! And the my true favorite-dessert pizza!!



We started the day with cake!! (Angel Food cake from the evening before!)


Then, after lunch, we went to Grandma Sue's for cake!! Gabriel picked marble with chocolate frosting! Yum!


We love you SO much Gabriel! You'll always be my baby-even though you are getting SO big!!

Yep, SO loved!!


Grandma got then an air hockey table, {which we have since found out is broken and has to be taken back!!} and Shrek "crocs" for Gabriel! Fun!

What a great day-cuz it was over 60 degrees to boot!

Last Friday was "History night" at school for the boys! They were very much filled with pride to share what their class had done! The older kids, they each did a board-they all did a great job!!


Mr. Serious was sick this day-but still wanted to go to History night... :)