Off We Go

What a whir-wind of a day :) Fun, but fast! Started off at 7am, getting kids ready for school, and working fast and furiously to arrange my living room for the party. I got the kids on the bus, and moved things around so I had seating for 21 in my living room. In a big circle.

I went to Andreas house at 8am to exercise, and was home at around 9am. I swept and did a few dishes and washed some counters and swept some more and put on some better clothes and made my egg salad sandwiches shaped like dinosaurs and made caramel corn and drank some Diet Mountain Dew and swept some more (did I tell you that my kids crushed some styrofoam yesterday ALL over the house - yeah, still sweeping it up from random places), and all of a sudden, it was 11am. People started trickling in.

I had Jessie (2 kids) and her friend (1 kid) and her friends friend and Bridgette (2 kids) and Kayley (1 kid) and Andrea (1 kid) and Veronica and Laurie (1 kid) and Leigh and Leslie and Aimee (4 kids) and Danielle (1 kid) and Heather (2 kids) and Heidi (3 kids) and Karen (1 kid) and Hillary and Sarah (1 kid). Wow. That's a lot of people and kids. If I counted right, it was 18 women and 22 children.

We ate a TON of food (mostly desserts, mainly cupcakes - hehehe) and chatted and laughed and giggled and played a few games. We did another "under $3" gift exchange and chatted some more. At 3:25pm, everyone was gone, and us moms who get kids from the bus made our way over to the bus stop.

After the bus, Jake and Joe played Wii, with Hunter (Leslies kid) joining them, Eme and Tom went with Veronica to play with Michael and Bella at their soccer games, and Jim and I went to the park to play with Andrea, Luke, and Ben. It was a sunny and nice afternoon at the park.

We came home, and I cleaned up after the party. The kitchen wasn't too bad, but the living room needed some work. I swept up candy wrappers and cake and cookies and frosting and such. hehehe. I put chairs back where they went, and did a load of dishes. It looked pretty good when it was done. But I don't think that I EVER Wanna see another treat again. I feel SICK from all the junk food.......

At 8pm, we turned on a "family movie", and laid down in the living room with pillows and blankets. Captain America came home at 9pm, and joined us for the end of Batman Begins. I think I'm gonna make the man take me out tomorrow late morning for a "date", since I'm too tired tonight. That should be fun :)

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Sleepy Time

See, I'm not totally brainless. Well, not TOTALLY. hehehe. Anyway, I'm remember to post todays "Fresh Fruit Friday!" And it's even Friday! Aren't you proud of me! Well, you should be :) heheeh. Click HERE to go to my store. Remember, all my new stuff is 20% off (or $2.00 per pack) for the first week :)








Hello busy day! I hope spring break really is a break. Cause I need one!

I was up at 7am, and did the normal routine. Kids up, dressed, fed, coated, out the door, and to the bus. Then, at 8am, I mosied down to Andreas house for exercise. It'd been since MOnday that I last exercised, so it kinda kicked my butt. Just a little, though.

I sat and watched a partial episode of Oprah with Andrea (even though I don't like Oprah, I did like the episode - all about shoes and accessories), then headed home.

I cleaned on and off all afternoon. I did all the dishes, some by hand. I washed down the counter tops. I moved around the furniture in the living room, and swept really really good. I made 48 cupcakes, but didn't frost them yet. I also hard boiled 2 dozen eggs.

I showered, and at 2:50pm, Andrea came and got me. We took cupcakes from Veronica for her son Michaels class for his birhtday. Then, we stayed for the kids to finish up AQ, then came back home.

I got my kids fed and situated doing homework and chores, and headed for the commissary. Andrea followed behind in her suburban. We hurried and go all of our weekly shopping done, then headed back home.

I barely had time to get the kids to unload the truck, pull all the food into the kitchen counters, grab out the bagels and cream cheese and cheese slices and cotti salami, and assemble sandwiches. Joe was in his Scout uniform for tonight, and Jake and Tom had on their football stuff.

We loaded up in the truck at 5:50, and off we went. The original plan was for Captain America to be home, and take Joe to Scouts. But he wasn't, so it kinda put a kink in the plan. I took all the kids.

Jake's uniform didn't fit right, so he was supposed to talk to Coach about some smaller pants. I dropped the boys off at 6:03pm, and headed back to post. We went to scouts, and were 20 minutes late. But, they hadn't started yet. They were even slower that I was - hehehe.

I coudln't keep Jimmy in the room where they were doing Tiger cubs, because he was too nois7. Not a bad noisy, just playing with toys noisy. SO, I went to the room next door, and let him play with the other little siblings.

Captain America called at 6:45, and said that he was coming home, and could pick up Jim and Eme. So I walked them out to his car, and went back in for Joe's lesson. They were learning about music. They listened to 5 different songs, and tried to say how it made them feel. Most said they felt silly. Silly boys!

We were home by 7:15pm, and I dropped off JOe, and headed to Andreas house. We needed to grab a few things from the Jewelry Box for the party, but we had to hurry. I had to get Jake and Tom at 8pm.

So, we went, got a few things, and hurried to football. We were only about 5 minutes late. NOt too bad. Jake looked GREAT. He got a bigger uniform (oops about the "alterations") and smaller pants. He looked pretty good.

We came home, dropped off Andrea, got the kids to bed, and I started cleaning again. I did more dishes, Captain America frosted all the cupcakes, I made Egg Salad for sandwiches, moved ALL the chairs in the house to the living room (we now have seating for 20-21), made up the table for the paper products and punch, put a tablecloth on the counter, and am now blogging. Sigh. It's after 11pm, and I'm beat.

Of course, the dose of Niquil I just took may be contributing to that. My head hurts. And it's not a migraine. It feels like what a migraine starts out feeling like. Pressure behind my eye. But it doesn't develop into something else. I guess it's a Sinus Headache. I've been taking a decongestant, but I don't know how great it's working. Maybe if I hadn't taken it, I'd be dying? Who knows.

Anyway, I'm excited about my party tomorrow. I think I'll be fun. But mostly, right now, I'm excited about going to bed. Because I'm tired.

SO, in honor of my sleepiness, I'm quoting one of my FAVORITEST funny movies, "The Master of Disguise". Yeah, if you haven't seen it, you should - hehehe.

Click on the link below to go to my account to downlaod the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

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Oh The Pain

OK, for anyone who wants some Baby WordArts at a VERY good price, I have the sale for you :) 8 Baby WordArt packs, for only $5. That's $0.62 per WordArt pack, and $0.14 per WordArt. Yeah, can't beat that! Not too shabby, right? It includes:

(ALL PREVIOUSLY RELEASED PACKS)

Pregnancy Attitude 1
Pregnancy Attitude 2
Pregnancy Attitude 3
Pregnancy Attitude 4
Newborn
Baby Shower
Baby Shower Mega
Ultrasound

Click HERE to go to Baby 1 Bundle. I have 2 other Baby Bundles in the works. Look for those soon!

WHY!!! Why must I be getting a head cold? *sniff* *sniff* Hopefully it'll pass quickly. I have WAY too much to do to be sick.

And, I just realized that it's Jimmy's Un-Birthday today. Because March 11th is 6 months from September 11th. Happy UnBirthday, Jimmy. I'd get you something, if we celebrated. But we don't. So I won't. hehehe.

I was up getting the kids ready for school, but felt like I was dragging a bit. I got them out the door, then managed to throw on some "non sweats" clothes for my meeting with Joe's vice principal at 9am. I met with him and the speech teacher. When we put Joe back into Kindergarten, his old 1st grade teacher mentioned that Joe may need speech. So we went that route. AND, the speech teacher pre-tested him last year (october), and found that he was having problems with about 6 things. When they did the formal testing this year (last month, I think), they found that it was now only 2 problems. He's progressing by himself. They think he'll grow out of it. And yeah, he probably will.

Then we talked about Tom. He was officially denied treatment from our Insurance. Twice. SO, that's not gonna work. I found out today that the school never officially tested him, because he only had problems with that one sound, and that the district would likely deny him.

BUT, I pushed for the formal evaluation, and the speech teacher said that we'd try and make it work. Even if she had to "fly under the radar" to get him some help. Thank goodness. I'll have to make sure that I keep up with them, and push to get Tom's issues fixed. Why can't it just be easy.....

I got back from the school, and slipped right back into my sweats clothes. And stayed that way for most of the rest of the day. I just kinda loafed around the house, feeling congested in my head. Sinus pressure. I didn't like it.

After lunch, I decided to "un computer lab" my dining room. hehehe. Remember how I said that the whole wall in the dining room was lined with computers? Well, now it's not. I have the hutch and one folding table with computers on one wall, then in between the 2 windows, I have 2 folding tables jutting out into the dining room. So the computers are facing out, all the cords together between the two tables. Clear as mud? hehehe. I think it'll work better. Opens up the room better, I think.

Anyway, I took down ALL the computes, moved all the folding tables, and swept really good. It was a BIG mess for an hour or so, but cleaned up nicely.

Before I knew it, it was time to get the kids. I opted to go and get the kids from AQ, since it'd been a while since I had a turn. Andrea was there too, so we hung out from 3-3:45, waiting for the kids.

I came back home, and started on dinner. I made potato soup. It was pretty good. We heard from Jakes football coach that they finally had enough boys to make up a team, so they were issuing equipment before practice tonight.

We left a few minutes early, picked up Kayley's son Joseph on the way, and went to practice. They only had a tiny (on Jake) practice jersey for Jake, but Captain America said that we could cut the sleeves to make it work. Jake's SO afraid that he'll get in trouble. I told him to just tell the coach that his dad did it if he looks like he's gonna get mad.

The kids and I sat in the truck for 45 minutes while the big kids did football. It was WAY too windy to be outside. Cold and windy. At 6:50, we got Jake, and headed for Scouts. They're going on a snow camp out over Spring Break, and needed to have their bags packed so it could get ok'd. He hauled his big duffel bag out, and I left to go home.

Kayley was picking up her Joseph and my Tom from Football, and since Andrea was at the church tonight anyway for a meeting, she said that she'd give Jake a ride home.

By this point, my head was really starting to hurt. Felt like a migraine. But I think it's sinus. I took a decongestant a few hours before, but it didn't really seem to do a great deal. Right before bed, I planned on taking some Niquil. That'll do the trick, right?

I put Joe and Jim to bed, sent Eme upstairs to read, and relaxed on the couch for a bit. Tom came home a little after 8pm, and Jake was home by 8:45pm. Captain America came home at around 9pm. Here it is, 10pm, I just took my Niquil. I should hurry and go design, before the Niquil kicks in. There's no telling what I'm likely to come up with - hehehehe.

Yeah, I bet you can guess where I got the inspiration for this beauty - hehehe. Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Be Happy Mask

Another day done :) Started off a little earlier than normal, but still good. Because it's getting lighter earlier, the little kids are up sooner. So they come in to see my sooner. So I'm awake sooner. BUT, there's a time change coming up soon, so it'll be dark again, right?

I got the kids dressed and fed and presentable for school, then sent them to the bus stop. I got ready to exercise, and texted Andrea to see what time we were gonna be doing it. No response. I figured that either she was sleeping, or there was someone sick. I took some time to read :) Cause I like reading :)

I got Jake started with school, and finally heard from Andrea. She'd been up late coughing, and her hubby let her sleep in. But we made plans to go to lunch with the girls. SO, I hopped in the shower, and got all ready.

I still had an hour or so before time to go, so I cleaned up a bit, and hung for a while. I got the kids all ready for their lunch, then left with Andrea. Captain America had wanted me to get a few things from the store, and wanted me to drop off his Laptop at Fedex (it's still broke).

Andrea and I headed for Olive Garden, and met Veronica there. Laurie and Hillary joined us later. We had a bunch of fun, eating and visiting and being silly. Girls always have a GREAT time :)

After lunch, Andrea and I went to the Dollar Tree, looking for decorations for the St Patricks day party. We found a few things that would work as decorations, then headed to the Fedex Store. It was a super fast trip.

Next, she dropped me off at home, and I picked up Jimmy, and we headed to the commissary. They were out of a few things when I'd shopped last week, and today was the day to get them :) Less than 30 minutes later, I was heading to the bus stop. I got the kids from the bus, even though I was a few minutes late, and took them home.

We got chores started, and homework started, and snack and such, and headed off to Football/Babysitting class. I dropped Jake off at the SKIES building at 5pm, then took the other kids to the football field to wait for Football to start. Eme had gone with Bella (Veronicas daughter) and her family to their sports practices, to play with Bella. I'm SO glad that she's found a girl friend!

Jimmy fell asleep on the way, so when Tom went to help the coaches set up before practice (we had an hour to kill), I designed on my laptop in the truck, and read. Joe was back and forth to the play equipment, and finally came back to the truck. It was SUPER El Paso windy outside. Andrea dropped her kids off at the SKIES building for piano at 6pm, and joined me at the Football park. She and Luke came and hung out in my truck, and we chatted for about an hour.

At 7pm, she left to get her kids, and I left for home. Captain America was home, so I figured that I could leave the little boys with him, and go back to get Jake at 9pm. Kayley was picking up her son Joseph and my son Tom at 8pm for the Football field.

I uploaded all my new products to my store between 7:15pm and 7:45pm, then headed to the SKIES building. I got Jake just as his class was ending, and headed home. Tom beat me home by about 5 minutes. Emeline came about 20 minutes later. She'd had a TON of fun with Bella.

All the kids are in bed now, and I'm working on the MONSTROUS pile of laundry in the laundry room. I watched a movie and folded laundry at the same time. I think there's probably still about 5 loads still in there. I have 6 baskets full out here that I need to either put away, or give to the people who belong to the clothes. Sigh. Laundry is never ending, you know...

Click HERE to go to Scrap Orchard to download the zip file, or HERE to just go to the freebee gallery, and remember, you must be logged into the gallery in order to get the download. Thanks!

Laughter Makes You Happy

Another Monday is gone - hehehe. It was a good day for me. I woke up at 7am, getting Joe, Eme, and Tom ready for school and out the door and to the bus. I got Jake and Jim up and ready, then headed down the block to Andreas house at 8am for exercise. We did the 30 minutes video, since we'd missed quite a few days last week. We'll do the 30 minute video for a week, then go to the 50 minute one. We don't wanna start too fast, you know ;)

I was back home by 9:30am, and helped Jake get on track with school. Jimmy and I hung out for a while, and we just spent the morning at home. I worked on my Oregon taxes most of the morning, and finally finished them up. First time I did it, I owed Oregon almost $100. Second time, I owed $70. Third time, I found a Military thingy, and they were giving us back $98. Sweet! Apparently, military pay can be deducted on state taxes, so I didn't owe any taxes, AND we got back what we payed in for State Taxes. Sweet. Now, to assemble all the parts, and send it off.

Captain America came home for lunch, and I was on the phone with the Oregon Tax information people in Salem Oregon, and I was on hold for almost 50 minutes. I just wanted the address to send my taxes too. Would it be too much to ask that you put the address on your website? Really? I didn't feel like paying $35 to efile my state taxes, so I just did it myself. But then, when looking for the address, it was NO where to be found. SO not cool.

I spent the afternoon reading, and Jake finished up school. My Visiting Teachers came over at 2:45pm, and we visited and chatted for a while. Kayley and I walked to the bus stop to get the kids at 3:30pm, and I brought back home Veronicas 2 youngest kids from the bus. She was at the school getting Michael (hers) and Tom from AQ.

15 minutes later, she took her, and left me mine. We did chores, and got the house pretty clean, then played for a while. Joe and Jim kind of worked on their room. Kind of. I had all the other kids clean their rooms too, and now my laundry room is EXPLODING with laundry. Sigh. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow.

After what should have been dinner (Leigh, my next door neighbor, brought us over a chocolate cake, and we kinda had that for dinner, plus some soup and bread from my visiting teachers), I worked on the bills. I got my monthly budget for March all worked out, and balanced out February. It looked pretty good :)

Captain America had come home at around 6pm, and left shortly after for Basketball. He's on the units team. He called at 7 something, saying that the other team had forfeited, and that they'd automatically won. AND, since he was done early, said that we could now go to the outlet mall and get new shoes. Joe desperately needed a new pair.

SO, I gave directions to put the kids to bed, got Joe ready, and left with Captain America to go to the West side. We got there about 30 minutes before the store closed. We found a nice pair for Joe for $20 (after a 20% military discount). I found a pair of light hikers that I liked, and they were 2 for $50. I found a pair for Tom that would work (can you believe the child is 10, and wears a 9 in mens....), so we each got a pair for $25 (instead of $30), but after the discount, they were $20 each. Captain America got his, and used his "Shoe Allowance" fund. He needs new running shoes every 3 months, because of the amount of PT that he does.

We left the store a little after 8pm, and headed home. Joe told us that he was STARVING. Poor kid. We stopped at Burger King, and got him a Whopper Jr and a fries. He scarffed that thing down SO fast. So we got him a 2nd Whopper Jr. That kids doesn't eat often, but when he does... Look out! hehehe.
We headed home, and Joe was fast asleep within 2 minutes. He was full and he was tired :) We got home, I brought in all the shoe boxes, and Captain America put the sleeping Joe into his bed. Captain America headed off to bed himself, and I sat down to blog/design. It's not 11pm, and I need to make my freebee real quick, then I'm gonna read a chapter, then hit the sack. I'm sleepy :)

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Team Jacob: 236
Team Edward: 253

I'm just sayin'.......

Beautiful to Me

Happy Monday, everyone! Sunday was good for us. I got up at 7am, got ready, got the kids ready, printed out my Sunday lesson, and still had 25 minutes left over. Next week? I'm sleeping in till 7:25, I think - hehehe.

We got to church on time, and the kids were mostly good for Sacrament. I said the closing Prayer, and headed to Primary. We only had 1 teacher not show up, and apparently she'd texted me that morning, but my phone was lost under Captain Americas seat, so I didn't know. But we easily found a sub, so it was all good.

I did my sharing time lesson, which went well. We got home from church at about 12:45pm, and started on lunch. We cleaned from 1-2:30pm, and the house looked MUCH better. The kitchen in particular.

We read a lot today. I told the kids that they heeded to either play quietly in their rooms, or pick a book and read. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon.

We watch the church movie, Testaments, with Captain America when he got home. It was nice. We talked about it when it was over, then had more free time. Captain America left for a church meeting at 6:30pm, and I let the kids watch a movie while I read some more.

Joe and Jim went to bed at 8pm, and the other went to their rooms then, and turned off lights at 9pm. Captain America got home at around 9:45pm, and was chatting with his dad when he walked in the door. Paul's such a great guy :)

After Captain America went to bed, I moved out to the couch to read some more. Here it is, 12:30am, and I'm tired. I need to design something and get some "shut eye". Know what I mean?

This WordArt request is from Carrie. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file., and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Study of the Scriptures

Well, I finally got my relaxing morning that I always wanted :) I woke up at 9am, to find my kids watching TV quietly, having already fed themselves breakfast. Can't wish for a happier scene than that, right?

I got myself breakfast, then just spent the rest of the morning doing nothing. It was SO nice.

At 12:30pm, we got the kids some lunch (hot dogs on the grill), then hung out some more. Back at around 10am, I made the kids turn off all electronics, and just play. Some went to the park, some played at the neighbors house, some read books, just a quiet late morning/early afternoon. Eme was still at her friends house, and had plans there for the rest of the day. She was REALLY liking the "girls time" thingy :)

At 4pm, Captain America and I started to get ready for our date. We'd decided to go on a date on Saturday instead of Friday, since Friday was so hectic. I showered, and he cut all the boys' hair. They were starting to look a bit shaggy.

We got ready, and helped Jake and Tom make homemade pizza. They really did a fabulous job. They got the yeast and water together, letting it rise. Then added the flour and oil and salt. Then kneeded it until it was super soft. Tom did an outstanding job with it.

They got it on the pizza pans, then shredded the cheese, cooked the meat, spread the sauce, the meat, and the cheese. When we finally were ready to leave for our date, all they had to do was preheat the oven and pop it in.

We gave Jake directions for the evening, then headed out. We went to Applebees for dinner. We got the 2 for $20 deal. With cheese sticks, and we both got a steak. With a salad and steamed veggies. Pretty close to the ole diet. It was nice to sit and chat and just hang out together.

Next, we drove to the East side-ish area, and went to the Movie theater. Tinsletown. Where all the teenyboppers hang out. hehehe. We checked to see what was playing, and there was a showing of Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief starting in 5 minutes. Perfect! I paid, and Captain America parked, and we headed in. We get the military discount, so it's about $6 a ticket instead of $9.

The movie was really good. My kids are gonna LOVE it when they see it. We'll take them when it comes on post.

After the movie, we stopped by Walgreens to pick up my invitations to the St Patricks Day party. Remember how I had the Valentines Party? Well, we're having a St Patricks one too. SO excited! Should be a ton of fun.

We made it in through the gate without having a "random inspection", and home. It's almost 11pm, and I've got my Primary sharing time lesson all ready for tomorrow, am done blogging, and am now gonna go design a freebee for all of you fabulous ladies! Night!

Here's the Visiting Teaching message for March, in case you needed something to pass out for the month :)

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! Oh yeah, and it looks like Team Edward is winning, but only by 8 downloads :)

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