Happy Halloween!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day. Our girls had fun carving pumpkins today and then trick-or-treating tonight. Heaven knows they don't need any more candy since they still have some left over from the church party last week, but it's fun for them, and we want them to have fun being kids.

We spent the morning at the park, and poor Sarah was so tired. We drove from our house to a neighborhood down the street a couple minutes and she was asleep by the time we stopped the car, then wanted to be carried most of the time we walked around from house to house.

The girls got lots of candy, then we stopped to visit the girls' new little nephew, Cody, who is almost a month old already. Cute little boy!! As we were getting out of the car to go visit them Matt suggested to the girls that we give their candy to the kids at the childrens' hospital. "But they don't have any teeth," Hailey said. I don't know what gave her the idea that people in the hospital don't have any teeth. Silly girl. They sure are fun.

We stopped at Matt's parents' house before going home and the girls had fun getting more candy there and always LOVE to visit with their Grandma and Grandpa. Sarah threw a fit on the way home because she wanted to hold her candy bucket and eat some more candy on the way home. I'd already brushed the girls' teeth since I just KNEW they would fall asleep on the way home (which they did- hooray!!) and I didn't want a fight to get their teeth brushed again.

Now the girls are all nestled snug in their beds (wrong holiday, I know)in their princess costumes and Aimee in her little orange and black striped pants and Halloween shirt. It was quite an eventful, fun day. I am so glad that Matt got to spend part of it with us since he's working graveyard shifts this week. He sacrificed a lot of his sleep so that he could spend time with us. Thank you, Matt. We love you!!

Boys will be boys

After my last post I thought I'd better add something more light-hearted.

We carved pumpkins with the kids today and even Matt was able to get in on the fun!

prayers in behalf of a little girl

One of our friends in Boise is currently undergoing treatment for leukemia (ALL- acute lymphoblastic leukemia). She'd done okay and the family and doctors were hopeful that she'd gone into remission. Some tests were done recently and two showed no remaining leukemia, but one test came back today and Sarah has had a relapse. The next course of action will be total-body chemo/radiation to kill all of her bone marrow followed by a bone marrow transplant and 1-3 months of recovery in the hospital. After that the survival rate is apparently only about 50%. We are so worried about her and sad for the family.

Matt's cousin's wife passed away from ALL and she'd been treated at MD Anderson Cancer center in Texas, one of the foremost cancer treatment centers in the country. We would love to ask for your prayers in Sarah's behalf, and for her family. Not that she will be cured, though that would be a miracle, but we ask for prayers that she and her family might be strengthened and comforted in the coming days and months. It is such a scary time for them right now.

Thank you.

Happy Halloween!!

I know that we are a few days early but we had our church trunk or treat activity last night and the pictures of the girls turned out so cute that I simply can't resist sharing them a little bit early. Sarah was our little Snow White, Hailey was our Belle and Aimee was a little pumpkin (a costume all of the girls have worn as babies!). It was a fun night- yummy chili, fun farm animals, a hayride and LOTS of candy. The girls wanted to eat it all on the way home. I haven't decided what is worse for them- eating it all until it's gone and have it eaten quickly or to ration it out and have them eat the candy over a longer period of time. It's candy, it's bad for their teeth, but they are kids, so I guess we will just let them enjoy it :)

Cosmo Cricket fabric

I love Cosmo Cricket (a scrapbook product manufacturer, for those who might not be familiar with the company), but this is beautiful! Cosmo Cricket fabric to go along with their paper lines. It debuted in a Texas quilt market somewhere recently and I WANT some. I would love to get my hands on some to make a quilt, or some curtains for my scrap room. Isn't it so gorgeous?

Happy Birthday Aimee

Our sweet baby girl is one year old! I know that I am a little late posting this, but it's been quite a busy day. We had yummy chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream and fruit to celebrate, went to the park and played lots. I think we are all so tired...which does not explain why I am up in the middle of the night writing this. I just can't get to sleep for some reason.

I know that some of you are anxious to see some pictures from Aimee's birthday party, so here you go. She had quite a time with that chocolate cake of hers...it was everywhere, including her chubby little neck folds and her armpits! It took two baths to get her all cleaned up but it was sure fun to watch her :)

More scrapbooking projects

Right now at AC Bailey we are holding a contest on the consultant forum. During "Croptoberfest," as we are calling it, we post different challenges throughout the month for members to complete. I was in charge of doing a contest for decorations- anything that's not a layout basically. So, I made these using some yummy-smelling candles from Walmart (we love that place!), some rub-ons, Queen and Co. felt, Bazzill shaped cardstock edges, and paper from the AC Bailey October kit.



One of the other challenges was to create a layout based on a song. I was having a hard time coming up with a song I could use and then remembered this old song called, "Angels Among Us" and knew it would be perfect to go with this picture of sweet Aimee.



One of the scrapbook sites I like to visit is scrapbooks.com. Each month they have a contest where you have to create a layout based on a sketch from their design team. They choose a winner from all of those who submit pages and choose someone to be a guest design team member for the next month. Here is a page of Hailey that I created for one of the sketches. Wish me luck!

We're having a party!

It's hard to believe that Aimee will turn one year old tomorrow. Hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. She is such a sweet angel. I will post some pictures tomorrow since that's her "real" birthday, but since Matt has to work tomorrow we'll be celebrating tonight with his family. I can't wait to share some pictures of her enjoying her first birthday cake!

Scrapbook fun

Because of the lack of time I have to scrap lately I've been trying to figure out some ways to speed up the process for myself. Here are some relatively quick pages. Used some Sassafras Lass, some Basic Grey Offbeat, some Scenic Route and some October Afternoon and the beautiful October kit from My Scrapbook Nook. Enjoy! And, leave a little comment if you'd like :)

Sing sweet nightengale

Are you familiar with that song? It's the song that Cinderella sings while she is scrubbing the floor.

I was downstairs taking care of Aimee after we got home from picking apples yesterday and kept hearing what sounded like water. If you know much about our kids you will know that they love to play in the water. Anyway, I ran upstairs expecting to maybe find some water on the floor in the bathroom, but instead I found this:



Water all over the floor and a whole bottle of handsoap wasted. I questioned the girls about it and Hailey told me they were doing "Sing Sweet Nightengale" and that she'd told Sarah she needed to scrub the floor like Cinderella. They were just cleaning the floor, she said, and how could I argue with that? So, instead of getting really frustrated I ran to get the camera knowing this would make for a great blog story. Then we all cleaned it up. It took 5 or 6 towels to get it all. Silly kids.

Apple Pickin'

Since we thought everyone was over being sick we decided to take a trip to a local apple orchard. We invited Matt's parents to come along since we hadn't been able to see them much lately with sick kids and sick us. Just a quick drive to Idalou and we were there. We had lunch and then set out to pick some apples, and got a few good ones. We were a little disappointed that most of what we saw had worm holes or had been pecked at by the birds but we came home with quite a haul anyway- fuji, golden delicious and granny smith apples. And, the girls were so proud when they found a "good apple" and could run over and add it to the bucket. It would have been a fabulous time if Aimee hadn't gotten really sick over and over on the way home. It was almost a perfect day.

Play group and pumpkins

Since we've been sick so much lately I thought it would be nice for the kids to do something from their regular routine. We'd had to miss play group so many times recently, so I decided that this last week I would take Aimee and Sarah while Hailey was at preschool, and the activity was a trip to the corn maze out in Shallowater. Not only do they have the big maze, but lots of activities for little kids: a cow car train, a hay bale maze, farm animals, hay ride, etc. Sarah had so much fun running from this thing to that, and loved going up to the animals to say things like, "Hi BIG cow." "What'cha doin' goat?" It was so funny. She got quite a kick out of the chickens and turkeys.

During our hayride we got to stop at the pumpkin patch where we chose some "Cinderella" pumpkins, as they were called. Sarah, of course, was excited about that. They are round and flat on the bottom, just like the pumpkin used for the coach in Cinderella, hence the name.

Here are a few pictures from our fun outing. The girls were so tired (as was I)by the time we got home, but it was so worth it.

still sick

It's been almost a month now since Sarah got sick, then the bug spread through the rest of the family. And, then it started over again and it's been awful. Hailey was spared this second- and now third-time around, but Aimee has been so sick. When we think she's finally getting better she gets sick again, and they've run tests and haven't found anything. So, all we can do is keep cleaning and being cautious and just wait it out. Poor little girl. Matt and I keep getting sick, too, since we have to clean up all the messes. Yuck. If you'd like to say hi, please feel free to do so:)

AC Bailey October kit

I am a little late posting this again...things have been a little too exciting around my house lately with us being sick, getting a new car, Aimee learning to crawl, preschool for Hailey, gymnastics for the girls, etc.

The kit of the month for October features the "Trickery" line from Creative Imaginations Art Warehouse. Also included with the double-sided papers, journaling cards and cardstock stickers are some fun paper blossoms, chipboard shapes, buttons and brads, ribbon and alpha stickers.



And here are a few pretty-quick pages that I have put together so far. One of Aimee showing the versatility of the papers, one of Hailey when she was little, one of Sarah and her poor rejected pumpkin.

Oh wow! How did I miss it?

I know that for most bloggers reaching 1000 guests on your blog is not a big deal. For me, since there are probably not that many people who read my blog, it is a very big deal. Well, I just noticed that I have passed 1000 visitors. HOORAY!!! Thanks, everyone, for visiting my blog. As exciting as it may not be to some of you, I appreciate it and my blog thanks you. It's so nice to know that someone out there in the blogosphere is amused by something I have to say or some layout I have to share.

Mom in a mini van

When we're out driving around Matt has a tendency to poke fun at the way women drive. Not that he's sexist or anything because he really isn't, and he's really a great guy, but when someone is driving really slowly or driving wierd, he tends to say that it MUST BE a woman driving. Because men never drive badly, right? Yeah, right.

Anyway, one of the groups that tends to get lots of attention and comments from my dear husband are moms in mini vans. Gotta love them, but sometimes I am sure that they are preoccupied by the craziness in their vehicles to pay attention to the road. I can say this because I have had many a difficulty while driving with my 3 lovely and well-behaved (ha ha) kids in the car.

Well, sad but true, I am now a "mom in a mini van." I have tried for so long to fight the inevitable, but we have outgrown our cute dark green Mazda 626 lovingly known as Vladi (For Vladimir...don't ask, Matt likes to name the cars) and have upgraded to a gold Honda Odyssey. Not the car of my dreams but it is definitely a lot more roomy and it's harder to hear the fighting and screaming with the two older kids WAY in the back of the van. I can't complain. It was a little sad leaving poor Vladi at the dealership in Amarillo, especially since we didn't get nearly what he should have been worth for our trade-in.

I will take some pics soon and post them for you all to enjoy. That sick junk we had a week or so seems to be lingering still and I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days. Fun for me.

Now I need to go wrestle my kids to bed. Have a great night!

I will try and post some pics of the new AC Bailey kit of the month later tonight. Very cute, featuring the "Trickery" line from Creative Imaginations Art Warehouse. Halloween-y without going overboard, and includes some great prints that could be used for anything, not to mention the beautiful round die-cut paper and cute journaling tags. I'll have to post some pictures!

Can you believe it?

I can't hardly believe that it's October already. Where has the time gone? This year has gone so quickly. This time last year I was about done with Christmas shopping and had lots of handmade gifts done for members of the family. Not this year. I haven't even started yet. Sure I have ideas for some things, but that's it. Of course last year I was 8 months pregnant and scheduled for a medically-necessary c-section, so I had to have things done or I just wouldn't get to do anything once the baby was here. Man, time flies.