my kids OWE me!!!

LOL! (laugh out loud--for my mom)...anyways, we decided to go to disney world...in october...not much time to plan. so the #1 priority for my kids is eating with the princesses.

you can not imagine HOW difficult it is to get those reservations! people make those 1 year in advance! so i didn't have a chance. well, when i initially called, they were booked solid for breakfast, lunch and dinner. i was very discouraged. so i went online to see the other dining options (character meals) before i called back. well when i called back, i got a different lady and on a whim decided to ask her if there were any openings at the castle...well it turns out if i made reservations for their Halloween *not so scary* party, then i would be able to dine with the princesses after all. so we got them. and we paid for them. BELIEVE.ME.

but this will probably be the one event that my kids talk about for the rest of their lives. haha! so in the end, its worth it.

now i just have to figure out the rest of the details.

i also wanted to shout out a huge thank you to all of you who sent me emails and PM's about not making the DT and for supporting the way i handled things. its all good and i'm moving on!

will return on here later to share some more pictures!

what goes up...must come down...

was on such a high yesterday after having a good day with my girls. today has definitely been a low.

well, the design team results are in and i am humbled to say, i was not chosen. apparently i am not what they are looking for and not *design team quality material*. so i will cry tonight and feel awful...but at least i finally have an answer. i'm really ok with this.

honestly the part that has bothered me the most is the management and the way they handled announcing the team. they actually notified the team yesterday and held them in secrecy until TONIGHT when they actually informed everyone else. i don't know about you, but that just stinks.

i have promoted Creative Express for a long time. I have met some really incredible women there and really grown as a scrapbooker. but i am sad to admit it is not the same place it was when i 1st started hanging out there. the management is not great, which really brings down the remainder of the community.

i know it seems silly to be upset about a scrapbook forum, but it was more than that.

when you're a SAHM (stay at home mom---thats for you mom:), your whole world is wrapped up in your kids. its not like you get bonuses, awards, raises...good reviews.

you get thrown up on, peed on, yelled at, doors slammed. i wanted something for me. something that would make me feel good as something other than a mom. don't get me wrong, mother hood has its rewards...but i just wanted this. and i'm competitive as hell, so this really kills my ego.

thats ok. tomorrow will be better. i will continue scrapbooking because i truly love it. i am my family's historian. and that is even more important than design teams.

one of my all time favorite quotes is this:

a birth certificate shows you were born
a death certificate shows you died
a scrapbook shows you lived.

i have no idea who wrote this, but its absolutely true. so i will continue showing how much my family and i are living!

thanks for listening to me babble.

sometimes you just need a snuggle!

ella was all snuggly tonight and i just ate it up! they went to play at day care today while i took a much needed *mommy break*...i love when i pick them up and they miss me as much as i miss them!

ella: you're the best mommy ever
me: you're the best ella ever

i love it!

today was a good day. not just because of the break. because after i picked them up, we all seemed to love and appreciate each other more. there was no arguing, screaming or naughtiness for the entire evening. loved it. renewed my faith that i can do this motherhood thing. its days like this that i want to freeze time with. good day.

don't want to ruin this day by saying anymore. good night.

randomness

i realize the pic from yesterday was completely random. its my dad and ella doing the princess (or in his case the prince) wave. what goof balls!

not much new in the land of the turkeys, so i will probably share some more random pictures (just as soon as i teach my kids that i have changed my name and its not MOMMY anymore!!)

ugh.

well i am happy to report that my back no longer hurts. i don't know what the deal was, but thankfully for now that is over.

ok...here are some pics, hope you enjoy!

you can view the bigger versions of these on my flicker acct http://www.flickr.com/photos/91708449@N00/

deep breath...

i am sure i am not the 1st or the last to say it...but being a stay at home mom is honestly the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. it has changed my outlook on a lot of things in life, some for better and some not so good. it has disappointed me in many ways as well. when you grow up with a june cleaver, mrs. brady view of motherhood, you quickly realize after you become one that its NOTHING like you thought.

and the funny thing is that no one warns you. maybe they hope it will be easier for you. maybe they don't want to admit their own downfalls or mistakes. maybe its better to start this journey with blinders on. all i know is it has been an amazing and exhausting experience at the same time. and then factor in that i am a single parent far more than i would like...well, it makes me want to go back to work somedays! :)

and now i am one of those parents who is thrilled that in little over a week, school starts.

it's a MIRACLE!!

BOTH of my kids slept in their OWN beds last night!!

i can not tell you the last time this happened!!

things going bump in the night...

so last night as a i was reading in bed i started hearing noises outside...nothing big...until i heard this big noise that was somewhere between my roof and the wall my bed is on...i freaked out naturally. i hate noises. i am the biggest weeny when it comes to being scared of the dark. so being the brave girl i am, i turned all the lights on in the house, porch lights on and went out on the back deck. didn't see a thing...thank goodness. i had the phone in hand ready to dial 911.

so i went back in the house and double checked all the windows, basement, doors, etc. then i sat in my bed shaking. i didn't think i would be able to sleep. anyways, i finally settled my heart down enough to read some more and get my mind off of things. didn't hear anymore bumps,and i finally fell asleep.

needless to say i am quite tired this morning from being up way later than i had planned. and i walked outside this morning to see if i could see what was causing the noise, but i didn't see anything. and now that every thing is lit up by the rising sun i'm wondering what i was so scared about after all...funny how different everything is at night.

going NuTs!

still waiting to hear ANY news on the design team being picked for Creative Express.

NOTHING.

nada.

its driving me mad i tell you...MAD! its like when i was pregnant and would wake up everyday wondering if today was the day. it would have been so much easier if god had just whispered down that it would be monday or whatever. then i could sit back and enjoy the rest of the time knowing that an end was in sight.

but not this time either...they said they would make their picks mid-august and make the announcement after that...very vague. not nice. there are a lot of very anxious, nerve wracked women who need to be put out of their misery!

me for one!

onto the next thing bothering me (warning...i'm gonna whine and complain some more)...

my back is still hurting!! i go a day or 2 where i feel good and have roughly no pain and them WHAM...i wake up this morning and am back to wanting to crawl out of my skin. no fun. thankfully right now, my heavy dose of motrin has indeed kicked in and i am feeling some relief!

ok...off to enjoy my pity party. will post some pics later...

who needs roosters???

when you have CROWS!!! big, black NOISY crows!! uughhh! and they think my back yard is their new chat room! my kids would probably have slept a little longer if it wasn't for these obnoxious animals! i may have to purchase a super soaker water gun and teach them a lesson!

in other news...

my back still hurts

matt is on another business trip for awhile

is it time for school to start yet??

there is only 1 mountain dew left in my fridge. (that is considered a 'critical' shortage!)

happy monday!

in my groove...

creativity for me comes in spurts...and many, many dry spells.

here are some of my latest layouts...enjoy~

Creative Express (my scrappy hangout) had their monthly cyber crop this weekend. that helped get me out of my rut and get the creative juices flowing again.

gobble, gobble

this is what i found in my back yard this morning...17 in all! click on the pic to make it bigger!

thats a wrap!

for the weekend. sunday night here and i am thankful that the house is quiet and i can finally crash!

threw my back out at the end of last week and have suffered all weekend. it *seems* to be getting better...s-l-o-w-l-y.

it has been almost a week since we cut ella off cold turkey from her binky. poor kid. she has handled it like a champ! (well, most of the time)

had a break from the rain for a few days and the weather has been downright delightful. 71 degrees. thats what i'm talking about!

blew a wad of money this weekend buying stuff to finish our basement. (the checkbook is crying right now!)

going to have my newest will drawn up tomorrow. really hope that doesn't jinx me!

ok...i'm done rambling...really i am.

so i will post some pics now

ok, if anyone knows what kind of plant this is i would love it if you would leave me a comment!

another plant picture...dh is 6'2"...see that plant off his left shoulder??? lambs ear growing wild. its insane how tall this thing is!

ok...this last one is from our backyard. i would have cropped in closer for a better view, but wanted you to have the perspective of just how close these turkeys are to us. and in between those arrows there were about 5 more (no lie). it just might be a happy thanksgiving after all.

had to crop the picture in anyways because blogger doesn't let you have big pictures on here. so i hope you get the idea. good night~

the end is near...

well, the end of the day that is! haha! its WAY too late for me to be up...was up scrapbooking tonight. Creative Express is having their open call for their design team. so i figured i had nothing to lose. you can enter up to 3 things, and i finished the last tonight...screeching it into their online gallery just shy of the deadline. yeah, i'm a *work-under-pressure-freak*...anyways, i had to try...just for myself if nothing else. this is my 3rd year at trying (yeah, thats embarrassing to admit)...but at least i can say i tried and i have some great layouts to show for it.

latest weekend events:
*bought 2 more bikes (total of 3 now for 2 kids) abby was having a hard time with the bigger bike, so we bought a smaller one and she is blazing trails with it! ella has a little bike and looks so adorable on it! they have had a lot of fun this weekend!

*bought a storage shed (looks like a mini-barn)....getting that delivered on monday
*picked out stuff for our basement refinishing...and a new MBR shower (thank god, our current one is awful!)
*had a major anxiety attach about all the stuff we *want/need* to get done before matt has to leave {{deep breath}}
*enjoyed having my hubby back and getting a 3 day weekend out of it! my kids have actually gone to bed WITHOUT fighting for 2 nights in a row now (knock on wood)


ok...must stop and go to sleep~ here's a couple recent layouts...just trying to get the pictures scrapped:) enjoy!