Mmm... Crate Paper!!

The manufacturer sponser at Crop Addict this month is Crate Paper, YEAH!!! I seriously had SO much fun with the Sweet Branch, Katlin and Static lines, here are some of my creations. I did twelve layouts and four projects so it's going to take me a few posts to show you everything, but here's a start! You should head over, the winner of the challenge gets a yummy prize pack from Crate Paper themselves!!! Check out the gallery at the very least, it's FULL of awesome inspiration...

What's with this weather??

Seriously, I took a nap this morning becuase we had plans to go strawberry picking with Michelle and Ella and I kept hitting the snooze button (my bed felt SO good, I didn't want to get out), the last time the snooze alarm sounded different. I got up and came downstairs and realized it wasn't my alarm, it was the tornado sirens! No joke, I turned on the tv just in time to hear the weather man tell me to take cover, the tornado cell was headed pretty much straight for our town! Not such a good way to wake up, the sirens woke Ari up too and he was NOT happy about it. Thankfully I bought him a new toy yesterday so he was easily distracted!

Anyway, strawberry picking didn't happen. We figured it was a little too soggy to trapse through strawberry fields and I was nervous since this mornings storm just appeared out of nowhere! I thought after that last storm that we were done for the day but just as Ari was waking from his afternoon nap it started storming again. My yard has a river in it! At least my flowers are thriving, April showers right!

Ari and I are just going to chill the rest of the day. Matt gets home tonight and has five days off, I cannot wait! We're back off to Florida Thursday though and I still haven't unpacked from the last trip... it is the end of the month though so you know what that means. Layouts are up at Crop Addict for the May kit! I really pushed myself with this kit, I made 5 layouts and an album of our trip to the zoo! I'll show you the layouts today, I need to make a slideshow of the album so you'll have to wait until tomorrow! Head over to the gallery at Crop Addict to see the other designer's creations...

I'm SO not a morning person...

Which I already knew... if I had any doubts though today solidified that for me. A few days ago we had Ari's appointment with the speech therapist to work on his food issues. While we were there they looked in his ears and did a tympanic membrane vibration test. Long story short, his right ear has abnormal fluid build up and they said we needed to take Bean to his pediatrician. So, that's where this morning comes in. I called for an appt. and they told me to come in at 9 this morning. They have weekend hours until noon, I said great, we'll be there. I get there, sign in and the somewhat rude desk girl tosses a paper at me and says, "you have to sign this too." I read, it says I understand I'm being charged an extra $65 since it's a weekend... I sign, I mean I'm already here right... dragged out of bed hours before I would have liked. I tell her they should really tell people on the phone about the extra charge before they come all the way here and she says, rudely again, it's a five year old policy and they just assume everyone knows. My lack of morning person-ness is really starting to become evident now and I tell her does it look like I have a five year old? No, I'm a new patient, you should tell people. Duh.

Anyway, we go in and the doc looks in Ari's ears and tells me Yep, there's fluid. What do we do?? Nothing. Have a good day. Seriously, that's all. I'm a little peeved at this point, I feel like I seriously wasted my whole morning and about $100 to be told something I already knew. What's the freakin point?? Couldn't I have just waited until his next check up to be told something I already was told by another doctor??? Whatever.

I'm so over all of this, doctors are at the bottom of my list of people I want to be around right now. Good thing I have a fresh batch of muddy buddies ;) Today is looking pretty lazy. I was supposed to have some people over for dinner but I'm really not in the mood to clean my house. I think I'm going to go back to bed while Ari's asleep, I feel like I need to start this day over again... maybe I'll get up on the other side of the bed!

A little trophy for me

My good friends Jen and Amy, as well as my other good friend Jenn have awarded me this:



It's the Arte y Pico award for being an outstanding contributor to the wonderful world of blogging. Thanks chicas!!! The idea is to pass it along to five other outstanding bloggers that I feel make our little bloggy world a better place, so here goes...

Michelle
Chrissy
Virginia
Debbie
Deanna

Alright ladies, the trophy is yours now!!!

I'll be back later today for some scrappy eye candy, stay tuned...

We're home... finally!

I am SO exhausted! But we made it, Ari is napping and I'm about to join him but I have been itching to have some computer time so here I am!

Most of you may know but I was out of town for a week! Last Wednesday I went to Nashville, TN for the Scrap, Etc. 2008 Event! I was so incredibly lucky to be invited by Virginia to help out and being that I fly for free and all it was fairy easy for me to arrange it. Matt was off Thursday and Friday and his mom came to stay with Ari Saturday! I had such an amazing and exhausting time, I met many new friends and a few older friends too! We had classes with Heidi Swapp, Gretchen McElveen, Jenni Bowlin, Vanessa Hudson, Wilna Furstenburg and Angelia Wigginton! I seriously thought I was going to have to buy a box to mail my scrap goodies home but me being the master packer that I am managed to fit everything in my roller board and carry on!

Since I was Event Staff I shared a room with some of the other "employee's" and it was too funny. I remember waking up at like 4 in the morning thinking that my roommate had rolled over. I was sort of annoyed, I mean, how hard does one need to roll to get comfy in bed?? Come to find out it was an earthquake! I was really groggy, obviously one doesn't roll hard enough to shake the whole room. Hehe...

I left the Event Saturday to fly back to Charlotte, pick up Ari and head to dad's! Nothing like a little beach vacation after a nice scrappy retreat! Sunday we hung out on the boat and Monday we hung out with Matt! He just happened to have a Panama City Beach overnight, it doesn't get any better than that! Here are a few pics from the trip. I'm going to go take that nap now...

OK, so no pictures. They have failed to upload twice and I'm tired of waiting... later, I promise.

Hmm, let's see...

There really isn't much to report, it's been sorta lazy over here the past few days. I'm so unbelieveably tired and don't really know why, maybe I'm not caught up from the Charleston trip last week. I took a nap with Ari today, well not actually with him, just during his nap if that makes sense. I ran a few errands with Tara then Bean and I came home. I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends before leaving Wednesday for my super awesome secret trip. I am getting my hair cut tomorrow, and a pedicure!! Michelle is going to watch Ari for me in exchange for some scrap supplies, hehe. I have some other things for her that she doesn't know about yet (well, I guess she does now considering she reads my blog pretty much every day)!!

Well, I guess I'll leave you with some pictures. I meant to add more yesterday but my dad called for a video chat so I ran out of time. Oh, by the way, web cams rock! I can "see" Matt while he's at work and he can see us! Dad got one too so he can watch Ari run around like a mad man every now and then. It really makes up for the distance. We're going to see him Saturday too, I'm looking forward to a little ocean and sunshine!! Ooh, I almost forgot. Ari was bad today. He bit me, hard. Hard enough to break the skin and leave a bruise (through the shirt I was wearing). He was mad at me because I wouldn't let him push random buttons on the DVD player, when I picked him up to go upstairs he chomped right on my arm. He did time out and got a nasty look and lecture from me but I'm not sure what else to do about it. He is teething, I don't know if it was just one of those things that he didn't really realize he was doing, he's been chomping on all sorts of things lately (including his shirt sleeves which is driving me batty because he's stretching them out and almost tearing them). Either way, it's bad and he needs to know that. He went to bed early tonight, I couldn't take the meltdowns any more. We're smack in the middle of terrible two's. I know it's early but that's exactly what it is. I won't bore you with the greusome details. Here's those pics I was talking about, mostly from our various adventures last week.

Bad Blogger, I know...

Well, at least I warned you that I was uber busy this week. No excuse though, sorry about that. I think it would be easier for me just to do a quick recap of each day instead of long drawn out paragraphs that just ramble on and on... so here I go.

Monday: Ari and I drove with Michelle, Ella and Rachael to Charleston for Michelle's birthday trip. The drive wasn't bad, that's about the longest Ari's been in the car but he was really good. We arrived and went to the aquarium in Charleston. Let's just say I'm glad we weren't making the trip just to go there, it was horrible. It was $17 to get in and they didn't even have Nemo fish. Seriously, they had some trout. Not cool. After that we headed towards our hotel and did some shopping, checked in to our hotel and went to dinner. Rachael brought a birthday cake for Michelle so we did that then walked around a bit more so the babies would fall asleep. It worked, they were both out. Ari slept until around 11 then woke up a few times and refused to sleep in his pack-n-play so in the bed with me he went. It was horrible, I don't know how people co-sleep. We've never done it before and won't do it again. I got about 2 hours of sleep, not in a row.

Tuesday: Ari was not a happy camper at all. He was tired and cranky, I don't really blame him. I was too. We went to breakfast where I had some soggy french toast that I was afraid to eat. It wouldn't be fun driving home with salmonella or something like that. We were going to go to the beach but it was pretty chilly and sorta rainy so we skipped it and headed for the zoo in Columbia. Oh, I almost forgot. Michelle and I took the babies on a walk before breakfast to see the fountains. Ari decided that water isn't fun unless you sit in it so down he went. Of course I didn't bring him extra pants and it was cold. Needless to say I was not too happy. Ari and I don't do well on no sleep, it was obvious, poor Michelle. Sorry. Anyway, we went to the zoo and Matt had the day off so he met us there. It was awesome! We will most definately be going back!!






Wednesday: Absolutely gorgeous weather, sunny and near 80 so after Gymboree we went to Lowe's and bought flowers to plant. I'm now a crispy lobster but it was worth it. The yard looks great!

Thursday: More of the same, gorgeous weather, yard work, etc. Ari discovered dirt this week. Yay.

Friday: Matt and I took Ari to storytime at Joseph Beth. Michelle and Ella were there too, they had a great time. Ari is really brave, I was proud of him. He walked right up to the story guy and sat with the bigger kids. He's such a good boy! After storytime we had some lunch and did some shopping at Gymboree (it's Gymbucks time if you have any!!), Baby Gap and Ari got his first pair of Crocs! They're bright orange, so cute. I know, his toes will get ripped off by an escalator but you know what, my kid doesn't play on escalators so we're all good.

Saturday: It stormed Friday night and most of Saturday so we had family jammo day. It was awesome. I only got out of my jammos long enough to get some diapers and wipes from Target. Matt grilled some chicken for us for dinner and we had a nice evening.

That brings us to today! Ari and I took Matt to work around 1 then headed up to Mooresville. I browsed The Scrap Shack briefly, got Donna Downey's new book and a sheet of die cuts but was otherwise unimpressed with thier stock. Just as well, I need more scrap stuff like I need a hole in the head. I stopped by Northlake Mall to get the curtains that I *thought* matched my living room perfectly, but no. Not even close. So, another trip to Northlake is in my near future to return them and find something else. We're home now, Ari's hanging out watching Baby Einstien (aka: crack for babies) while I update the blog. So sorry for the delay, it won't happen again. Except that it might because this week is just as busy. I have a ton of scrap projects in the works and the itch to clean my house. I'm headed out of town Wednesday for some super fun things that I can't exactly chat about just yet, as soon as I'm home I'll spill the beans! After my secret trip Ari and I are jetting down to Florida to visit Gramps (my dad) and Matt will be there Monday for work, so bonus! It will be eight days before I see him again and I'm sad about that so the Florida thing works out great. Well, this is long enough. Thanks for hangin' in! There are lots of fun scrappy things to come too, promise!

Hmm, what's new?

Not a whole lot. I'm really only blogging because I feel like it's been too long. It's been a pretty chill weekend, Matt went back to work Friday. We did have those aforementioned nasty storms but came through unscathed, the yard is a bit soggy but no harm done.

Let's see... Saturday: Cleaned the house most of the day, just tidying up here and there. Tara and Hannah came over for a double play date! They ended up spending the night, Tara and I scrapped until almost 2 am. It was great but man I feel like an old lady today, I'm draggin'!!

Tara and Hannah went home after breakfast, Ari took a nap and I hopped in the shower. Ari and I had a lunch date with Matt since he had 4 hours to kill between flights. It was great to see him especially since Ari and I won't be here when he gets home tomorrow. After lunch I picked up Tara and Hannah and we went to South Blvd. for some shopping. I needed a few things at Babies'R'Us for Ari and Michael's is right next door so of course we had to browse. I got a new cartridge for the Cricut, it's an alphabet one so I can cut my own titles for layouts. I'm excited, I haven't gotten a new cartridge in SO long. We came home, Ari had some dinner and a bath. He's now happily playing in the family room humming to himself. It's too cute, if I weren't so tired I'd take a video but, nah.

I have a bit of laundry to do tonight before we leave in the morning. We're headed to Charleston, SC with Michelle, Ella and Rachael (another friend) for Michelle's birthday. We got a suite in Charleston to spend the night, we're going to the beach and aquarium tomorrow then on Tuesday we'll stop at the Columbia Zoo on the way back home. I'm really looking forward to it, the beach is calling my name. I have yet to pack a thing but since it's only one night it shouldn't be too time consuming. I really wanted to get a pedicure before we left but ran out of time. I'm going to give myself one tonight, I got one of those foot spa thingy's when I was pregnant with Ari and haven't used it since. I got the new Scrapbook Trends magazine at M's today so that pretty much sums up my evening. I'll be sure to post pics from our trip when I return Tuesday. We have a busy week ahead of us so if I'm MIA for a few days don't take it personal ;) Love ya!!!

I hate storms.

Seriously. Hate is not a word that I use very often, I'm not a fan of such extreme negative emotion. It's my personal belief that to hate takes just as much energy to love and if I'm "hating" for real, it's just not worth it. Well, with storms I really truly hate them. We're under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and just had a Tornado Warning for about 45 minutes. Of course, I had to grab Ari and huddle in our half bath until the creepy voice on the TV said it was safe to come out. My next house is going to have a basement, no questions asked. I was really hoping to get to bed early tonight and get a full nights rest, my asthma and allergies are still seriously kicking my rear. With these warnings and watches though I'm not going to be able to sleep so I may as well be productive. I'm scrapping, what else?? What, the house is a disaster?? I can't hear you...

Our day in photos!!

Typical Wednesday around here, thought you might like some photos. I do enough talking, hehe. Sit back and enjoy!

A few fun things

Crop Addict is hosting a challenge sponsored by American Crafts. I was lucky enough to be given some of their new Amplified line to work with along with a fabulous sketch from Tessa Ann. Here's what I came up with...






The first layout pictured was made following the sketch, the rest are creations all my own! Be sure to head over to Crop Addict to play along. The winner of the challenge will receive a prize package from American Crafts!!! You don't want to miss out, they have some really cute new things.

Today was a better day all around. The weather started out pretty ick but it cleared up and the sun came out! It ended up being in the mid 70's and Ari had a chance to play outside after dinner. He and I went out to lunch with Alice and Charlie, friends of ours from Gymboree. After lunch we went to play gym since it was still pretty yucky outside. Play gym is where you can go to Gymboree and play with all the equipment but it's not a structured class and it's open to all age groups. The class we are in (level 3) is for little ones ages 10-16 months. It's really nice because everyone is generally the same skill level, no one gets trampled and the curriculum is geared towards what kiddos that age are focused on accomplishing. We had fun, Ari and Charlie were all over the place. Ari is most definately a climber, he was zooming to the top of everything he could reach!



I didn't get any pictures, I was too busy making sure Ari didn't fall and break his neck!!! We came home and Ari took a ginormous nap. I went out with Tara and Hannah in search of a new scrap store, it was the crappiest little store I have ever been in. Seriously, I have more scrap supplies than the store had!! It was sad, but good because I didn't spend a dime! When I got home Ari was awake and ready for dinner. After I fed him Matt took him outside so I could clean the kitchen, my little helper tends to get in the way and if you tell him to move he throws a complete tantrum. He was happy outside, I got the kitchen clean and Matt got some super cute pictures. I'll end with the pictures from today, we definately got some keepers, you'll be seeing these in upcoming scrappy creations for sure!