amystaats

Go ELFyourself...

2008-11-25T16:37:00.001-08:00

Washington, DC

2008-11-23T17:01:00.001-08:00

F A L L I N G L E A V E S are a pain in the ...

2008-11-11T18:05:00.001-08:00

This time of year - is pretty with the all the colors of the leaves - but man I hate to pick them up! It is like a never ending task. Rake them, bag them, turn around and do it all over again, and again, and again. Then I have a dog that wants to lay in the middle of them. Guess she thinks it is a dog bed or something.

Little Miss Gracie playing in them. Boy she thought it was too funny to mess up the pile after Tom raked them all up!!

Try to get two crazy dogs to sit still with a little one long enough to get a picture. Not happening - as you can see one of them is already getting up!

Then they decide to wrestle right in the middle of the pile. After they ran through them and spread them all over the yard. See told you it was a never ending job - had to rake them up again after they were done. Now they are all over the yard again - so looks like this weekend I (notice I said I) will be at it again! Mr. Tom starts to help, them disappears. He has to check the scores of the football games. Whatever!

Happy Fall Y'All!!!!

Hello - Hello - Hello-

2008-11-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

Had breakfast this morning with Gracie at her school. We played with playdough, colored, did some puzzles and ate. It was fun!

Boo....

2008-10-26T18:39:00.001-07:00

Just a quick Halloween card I made for Gracie and my niece Haley!

Can I get in MY bed or what????

2008-10-07T18:20:00.001-07:00

So if you want to go to bed at my house, you better be the first one in there or this is what it looks like!! Can I get a spot??

So after the Tower of Terror...(read the post below)

2008-10-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

So after the Tower of Terror, which at this point it is like almost midnight, we leave and go back to the hotel. We are all just about asleep when someone knocks on the door - it is one of Tom's teammates - go figure right. So his teammate is laughing soo hard, he can't breathe let alone talk. He finally tells Tom to come with him and tells him what is going on. (like I said in the previous post - they are all nuts). So to make a long story somewhat shorter - one of the guys called in a "we have a lizard in our room and can't get it out" call to the front desk and asks them to send someone with a big net to catch it. But it wasn't his room - it was another teammate and his wifes room, who were sleeping. So the rest of them are hiding outside waiting for the hotel crew to go to this guys door to catch a lizard. So they finally come with a box and a can of spray to get this thing, they knock on the door and wake the guy and his wife up at like 1:30 am, and of course they tell them they are at the wrong room. They hotel guy says well it has your room number. All the while, everyone else is hiding, watching what is going on and almost peeing there pants. So the next morning the maid bangs on there door at 7 am wanting to clean their room and wakes the guy and his wife up again. So then the same prank caller calls the front desk at like 9 am and tells them the toilet is overflowing and won't stop flushing and to send someone right away to fix it because the floor is flooded. No one goes there, that we can see. So we all go to breakfast, except the guy and his wife. So about noon we get a text message from the guy and his wife and he wants to know if someone is messing with them because someone from the hotel just showed up to fix their overflowing toilet. Of course we all denied it because we aren't even at the hotel, we are at breakfast!! We had the perfect alibi! This guy is freaking out, swearing that someone is messing with him. SO we never see the guy and his wife until we get to the airport and guess who is on our plane home?? The guy and his wife!! They start telling everyone about it, and I have never seen a bunch of adults lie and deny all while keeping a straight face!! It was a fun weekend!

The Hollywood Tower Hotel...

2008-10-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

We went to Disney World last week with my husbands Coed Softball team for them to play in a tournament at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex. Anyway we enventually ended up at the Hollywood Tower Hotel aka the tower of terror, and thought I would share some funny pics with you. The pics are a little blurry since I took a picture of the tv monitor that they display the photos that they took of you on the ride as they are dropping you down! So look close and you will see what I am talking about. We got Gracie to ride with us, and I have never heard her laugh and cackle soo much in all my life! She was loving it and was begging to ride again. I think she ended up riding it like 10 times! So this is the outside of it - they take you on ajourney through the "twilight zone" in an empty elevator shaft and drop you down and shoot you back up in the dark! It is a great time!! Here is one picture of us - we are all in the front row. Grace and I are to the left and Tom is 2nd from the right. Look at his face! He hates heights!! If you click on the picture it will enlarge it.
In the next picture we are all on the right hand side and they came up with the bright idea to act like we were all throwin up! They are all nuts!! Tom and I are in the front row to the right and Grace is behind me, you can just see her head!
So in this picture they all decided to do the YMCA! I am telling you they are all nuts!! Grace and I are in the middle and Tom is in the back, he is suppose to be the C part of the YMCA, but he was holding on so you can't see the bottom of his C. Let me tell you they harrassed the heck out of him for messing up the YMCA. They made him ride again and then he was the Y. I missed that pick for some reason. But the whole way up to the top the gave him grief to make sure he didn't mess it up this time.The last picture is Tom and Grace in the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel!!

Just a quick pic of my babies!!

2008-10-04T18:11:00.001-07:00

They finally sat still just long enough to get this picture to put on my desk at work!

OK...well...

2008-10-02T14:11:00.001-07:00

I have been out for a while. But I was at Disney World for a few days, then I started a new JOB, then my computer mouse was broken. So I am bacckk! But will have to post some things later - I am just too tired to do it now. So later tater!

It has been 8 LOOOONG Years....

2008-09-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

It has been 8 long years since I opened my home daycare business and tomorrow is my last day! I don't know whether to cry or be totally excited that I am on my way to a new adventure in life! It is sad, but I am so glad that I got to be a part of some very special childrens little lives and I hope that I brought a little bit of caring and stability into their fragile little worlds. I have watched many of them from infancy right up to school and still see some of them around from time to time. My have they grown, but I can still recall all the quirky things they used to do. I could go on and on. I will spare you of that. But I must vent just a little, but before I do, to all you parents out there (if they ever read my blog) that allowed me to be a part of your childs life - THANK YOU! I totally enjoyed them all! Now to all of you out there that always felt the need to be late (yes I am talking to you, the one that lives around the corner from me), I know that you were home everyday by 5 pm, yet you were always late to pick up your children!! Hello - you live around the corner, DUH! To all of you that paid me late, and made me ask you to pay me - shame on you!! I was never late to open my door and feed your children breakfast, lunch, snack and sometimes even dinner! How dare you pay the person who takes care of your children late, and then have the nerve to walk in my door on Monday morning and tell me all about your fun spending spree weekend - um that was my paycheck! Please take the time to treasure your children, and stop running around like chickens with your heads cut off. Make them breakfast and get them ready to school in clothes that aren't all wrinkled, because I would undress them and iron their clothes and them send them to school (yes I am talking to you again around the corner)! Don't share your stupid stories and all of your family drama with your next daycare provider, like telling me about your sex life and all it's craziness! Stop trying to make people think you are more than you are - you can often judge a book by it's cover!! Yeah - you really can, trust me! And finally to you, the one that still owe's me money - I am almost to the point of no longer wanting to be a "nice" person anymore, so pay up!! Finally I leave you with this, Little Miss Gracie, who if it wasn't for daycare, I would of never had her in my life! These are the moments that I treasure the most! So to new beginnings!Little Miss Grace at 4 months and look at her now. All grown up at the tender age of 5. She has become my shadow, my partner in crime, sort of! The crime to torture Tommy, my husband. Oh she has him wrapped around her fingers and she's not letting go!

3D Design Challenge

2008-09-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

3D Design Challenge is having a little "3D design challenge" going on over at there blog. If you participate, you could win this super cool Urban Tote Bag! I almost forgot about the challenge. It took my like 15 minutes to whip this out!

I am soo tired I am ready to fall over. We gave our dogs some pills from the vet to "ease their anxiety". They are absolute freaks when you try to cut their nails. Anyhow it almost completely knocked them out and that totally freaked me out. So needless to say I was up till about 2 am with them making sure they were ok. I also slept half the night on the floor with them. Do you think we got their nails cut??? That's a big fat NO! They still would not let us cut their nails. It took all last night and most of today for the medicine to finally wear off of one of them. Talk about freaking me out!! I spent all day bugging the dog to make sure she was ok. I will never give them that again! Oh and here's the best part of it all - the male dog decides today he will let me cut his nails - no problem, no drugs, no questions asked. Although Tom did hold him a little. I could of killed him this evening!

Scrapdango Contest

2008-09-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

Srapdango is having a great contest! You have to create 2 layouts and a card based off of some sketches. This first layout is based off a sketch by Lucy Chesna.
This next layout was designed by the owner of Scrapdango, Carrie Leavitt.
The card layout was also designed by Carrie Leavitt. You were to design a card based off of the sketch you chose for your layout and you had to use the same colors.

What a C R A Z Y mess...

2008-09-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

When you have crazy curly hair this is what is looks like when you wake up in the morning!!

She turned the BIG 5!!

2008-09-20T16:00:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Grace turned 5 the other day! We went to Chili's for dinner, her choice of course! She was loving it when the waitresses came out and sung happy birthday to her!

What do you think....

2008-09-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

about my new banner?? You could make one here at scrapblog! It's free, it's fun and it's super easy!

One of my FAVORITE layouts...

2008-09-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

So a while back I created a sketch for a layout and this is my take on it!
This is one of my favorite layouts with two of my favorite people - little Miss Gracie and my husband Tom. I love the little pose that she has going on! This was from one of our summer vacations to Navarre Beach in Florida.
Another view of the layout showing the dimension along with some hand stitching that I did.

Pencil Box

2008-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

So I made this pencil box out of a paper mache box. I used my cricket machine for the letters, Stampin' Up! ribbon and ink, MME designer paper, Making Memories flower, Inkadinkado clear stamps and some little jewels to add some sparkle!

One Sheet Box Challenge

2008-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

I made this cute little box using this template from 3D Design Challenge. It is a super easy to make and only uses one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. I made a see through window in mine!
That way you can see the goodies inside!!

The Big Day

2008-09-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

My good friend got married on September 5. Here are a few pics of Amy and her new husband Brett from their big day!!
She got him with the cake, but he got her even better!
Amy and my husband Tom.The two Amy's. It is too funny that we have the same first and middle name!

Here comes the bride and groom collage...

2008-09-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

One of my friends is getting married tomorrow so I made her a collage as part of her gift. The blank squares are for pictures of them from the big day. The brown paper, ribbon, wedding dress and the leaf cutout square are from her bridal shower and wedding invitations. I thought it would be cute to use them in the collage, since they are part of the big day. Click on the pictures to see it in more detail!

Collage Layout...

2008-09-01T18:23:00.001-07:00

I did this collage for my mom's good friend who adopted a little baby. Sorry for the glare - should have taken a pic before I framed it!

Mini Album

2008-09-01T18:13:00.001-07:00

A mini album I created by using a template to cut shapes out of card board then covered with designer papers and embellishments. This first pic is my mom and my niece.
My mom and Grace at christmas.
Tom and Grace in Disney 2006.
My niece Haley at softball after receiving the game ball.
Another pic of Grace, Disney 2008.

Ahoy...Matey!!

2008-09-01T17:40:00.001-07:00

Kids meals at Peg Leg's come in a sand bucket with a pirate eye!
So Grace had to put the bucket on her head...
and so did Uncle Al!! We tried to talk Big Dog into too, but wasn't having it!
Grace with Peg Leg Pete!

Peg Leg Pete's...

2008-09-01T17:19:00.001-07:00

One of our favorite places to go out for dinner while on vacation is Peg Leg Pete's in Pensacola Beach. Grace loves it because it has a playground! She is trying to climb backwards up the slide.
Grace (in her favorite cherry dress) with our good friend Michael - aka Big Dog! Grace calls him little pup!
Grace and Tom waiting for our table.
Grace, Barb and this little girl who insisted that I took her picture after every picture that I took of Grace.

So where have I been....on VACATION at the beach - of course!

2008-09-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

Our rendition of a sea turtle!! We can't claim to be the best sand sculptures!!
The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay blowing by us.
Tom acting like his goofy self!
Grace and Tom walking along the beach. There was a slight drop off and Grace told Tom she was taking the high road and he was on the low road! She repeated that from me of course!

Grace and I jet skiing!!

Welcome, BABY!!

2008-08-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

One of my mother's good friends adopted a little baby boy. His name is Jeremy Matthew. They are having a baby shower for her and we all pitched in and bought her the crib and dresser she picked out. I made the little boxes to put a picture of the crib and dresser in (they are ordered, but haven't come in yet), and made this card for everyone to sign. Can't wait to see her face when she sees what we got her!!

Check this OUT!!

2008-08-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

So today is the day I am a Guest Designer over at Creative Scrappers!! This is the layout I did!
Kristine Davidson, owner of Creative Scrappers made this layout of Grace! Isn't it great!! It
was picked for the Rose Moka gallery!

Tooth Fairy Box

2008-08-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

I made this cute little tooth fairy box out of a Making Memories acrylic eyelet container! I hate to throw the containers away!

Happy 9th Birthday HALEY!!

2008-08-02T19:22:00.001-07:00

I made this birthday cake for my nieces 9th birthday out of chipwood boxes and patterned paper. I saw this idea by Cindy G. I just love it! I'm going to fill each box with a different little birthday suprise!

So back to SCRaPDANGo...

2008-07-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

SCRaPDANGo held a contest looking for some new design team members and here are the layouts I created. The first one had the theme "girls just wanna have fun" while using the colors orange and purple, 2 photos, 7 flowers, and the quote they provided along with journaling.
The next layout was made using a sketch that another scrapper made.
Then as a bonus, you had to make a layout using the sketch you created. So I think this is my favorite layout ever! I love the colors!
Then we had to do a 2 pager using the colors green and red, with 5 photos, one of which had to atleast be 5x7. I'm not to good at two pagers! Oh the scrolls are by Nicole Lombardo.
The last layout was to be a pic of yourself scrapbooking. The other requirements were - 5 different patterned pieces of paper, 4 different pieces of chipboard, 3 different buttons, 2 different colored pieces of cardstock, 1 photo of yourself and journaling. So I think it came out ok.

Uncle Al is no longer the ULTIMATE Bachelor...

2008-07-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Uncle Al & Barb tied the knot on Saturday, July 26. It was a perfect day for a very casual beach wedding!
See why I love this beach so much..the color of the water is unbelievable!
My husband and I!
My mother (wearing the sunglasses), her sister and her brother.

My family, the ones who could make it! I wasn't passing up the chance to be at the beach for a couple of days!!

SCRaPDANGo...

2008-07-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

What is SCRaPDANGo you say?? Well click here and check it out! FUN FUN FUN!! Check back later and maybe I will post some of my layouts from their design team challenge!

Another LOTD....

2008-07-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

I got another Layout of The Day on July 14 over at Creative Scrappers!! Woot Woot!! Have you checked them out yet?? Well what are you waiting for?

ELVIS is in the...backyard??

2008-07-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

I went to a BBQ last night and they had an Elvis impersonator! It was soo funny, and the guy was actually pretty good. Most of the time those kind of people creep me out. He worked it for almost an hour. He even passed out all his silk scarves to the ladies!!

Let's go Y A N K E E S ! ! !

2008-07-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

Before the game, Yankess warming up!
THe Yankees taking the field.

Tom and I went to the Yankees Baseball Game in New York yesterday. This is the last season in the old stadium. They already built a new one for next season. So we had a great time, even though it was stinkin' hot! But here are a few pics. If you look at the last one you can see my name on the big screen that was in center field. Tom had them put my name up there! He is so goofy! But it was cool!!

LOTD...

2008-07-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

OOH - I forgot that on July 3rd on Creative Scrappers I got "layout of the day" with this layout based off one of their sketches! How could I forget about that! And they are having a guest designer contest until July 15. Just design a layout based off of their sketch and submit it to the gallery!! Maybe you could be a guest designer too!!

So want to hear some E X C I T I N G news??

2008-07-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

So I got this GREAT email this morning from Kristine over at Creative Scrappers, and guess what it said?? She asked me if I wanted to be a guest designer for them on August 3. So of course I said....YES!! So go over there now and check out the website - it has great designers and some really cool contests (with some cool prizes)!!! Then go back on August 3 to see what I got to design based off of one of their sketches!! What are you waiting for - go check it out!!

Happy 4th of July...

2008-07-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

I made this star box for my good friend who is in the hospital on this 4th of July. We are also making her a BBQ dinner to take since she cannot come here to enjoy the holiday. Just a little something to cheer her up!!

Scrap Happy...

2008-07-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

So come and check me and some other talented scrappers out at Scrap Happy.
This was done for the Scrap Happy website. The idea was to create your own summer layout. Mine is of Tom and Grace at Navarre Beach in Florida.

Did you say...S W I M M I N G ? ? ?

2008-07-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Just say the "word" and psycho nut 1 and 2 are in the pool! No begging or having to ask them twice. You just better hope that you are ready! Then try to get them out! Since we only have ladders and no stairs, you have to pick up two 100 lb. soaking wet dogs and put them out. Then you better hope that the one that you got out stays out until you get the other out. It makes for a pretty funny time, unless off course it is you trying to get them out. Then it is not soo funny!

My chocolate babies!!

2008-06-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

My chubby baby is on a diet! UPDATE...

2008-06-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Ok so she has lost a total of......10 lbs!!! YEAH - we are getting closer to her goal! She is now 107 lbs. Just 22 lbs. more to go! She even met the goal this month to lose 2.8% of her body fat, even though we took her on vacation and slacked a little on the medicine! I think I need to start taking her medicine!

Wedding Invitations...

2008-06-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

So my Uncle Al in Florida is finally getting married. We can't believe he is really gonna do it after being single all these years. He was the "ultimate bachelor", that's what my husband and friends call him. Living at the beach being a retired beach bum. Anyway they are having a small ceremony on the beach so I made their invitations and party favors for them. Can't wait! Hope it is a super nice day!

2008-06-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

A few quick cards I made with my Stampin' Up! supplies!

Layouts...

2008-06-25T19:35:00.001-07:00

This was created off a sketch at Scrap Happy.
This was created off a sketch for a 1 hour contest at Creative Scrappers.

Venting...

2008-06-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

So nothing bothers me more than all the rude and inconsiderate people in the world today. What ever happened to saying "thank you" to someone who holds the door for you? How about the total disrespect when people are driving today and they make an error but flip you the bird! The lack of the word "excuse me" aggrevates me to no end. Like, hey you just bumped into me - does excuse me mean anything to you?? I use it! My dad would have knocked me simple if I acted like a fool and disrespected somebody. The other thing that really bothers me is lazy people that don't want to work and pay their way, yet they can abuse the system. Don't get me wrong - if you are down on your luck and you need assistance - I am all for it. But I was in the grocery store the other day and the cashier had the nerve to ask the guy in front of me why he was paying for formula. He responded that it was for his baby, and her response was why are you paying for it - you can get it for free and have $75 in your pocket! Um excuse me, you get it for free when you seriously need help - not just because you don't want to pay for it. Anyway I need to stop or this could be a looonngg post. So toodles!

A Perfect Day....Thursday - June 19, 2008

2008-06-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Eating Cherries out of your drink at lunch on the Destin Harbor Waterfront....
Off to the Butterfly House in Navarre....
Cooling off at the mini waterpark in Navarre...
Playing at the beach....
Watching the sunset on the dock overlooking the bay in Navarre Beach, Florida.
What else could you do to make the day more PERFECT!

Photo of Water..

2008-06-09T11:03:00.001-07:00

Some pics from our trip to Puerto Rico a few years back. The first one is the sunrise from our hotel room and the second was also from the hotel. The pics of the cemetary I added because it was right on the water and it is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The statues and all the tombs with crosses were just amazing.

Summer Memories...

2008-06-08T08:20:00.001-07:00

I have lots of summer memories. But some of the ones that stand out are: catching crawfish with my sister in the creek near my Granny's house when we were younger. Boy was she ever mad - we used her drinking glasses to catch them in. Riding my mom-mom's three wheel bicycle up and down her back lane with my baby cousin tucked in the basket. Taking my first plane flight to Florida with my mom. My poor mother - I was a wreck! Going girl scout camping - that was always a blast. We went to the summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta. That was super cool - but it was HOT! Visiting my husbands elderly Aunts in Georgia and staying up half the night playing scrabble. We quit long before they ever did! Hiking down into the Tallulah Gorge, also in Georgia. Thought I would never make it back up out of there. That was once in a lifetime - I passed the next time they decided to do that. And lastly going to the beach! Who could forget that.

Baby Blue Bird

2008-06-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

This little baby blue bird was sitting in our peach tree today. It was soo cute. Just kinda hung out and then off it went up to where it's momma was in the bigger tree.

Summer Menu....

2008-06-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

So I would choose "steamed" Maryland Blue Crabs and ice cold Corona's. Nothing like eating a ton of messy crabs and drinking ice cold beer! Of course BBQ food is always great too! As long as I don't have to cook it - I don't care what's for dinner! Just ask my husband - he says "what's for dinner?" - I say "whatever you are making!". Sounds good to me!

Happy Birthday to YOU!!

2008-06-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

My babies turn 5 today!! It doesn't seem like they are that old already. It seems like just yesterday that they were tearing things up around my house. Well maybe that's beacause it was just yesterday that she - "little miss Mandy" was tearing things up around here. She is determined to do what she wants and Marin always tells on her. He runs away from wherever she is tearing things up.

V A C A T I O N..........

2008-06-06T04:32:00.000-07:00

What - talk about vacation! Get out! (ever see Elaine from Seinfeld with the get out phrase) Anyway so my countdown is on for vacation and yes we are going to.....the BEACH!! I love the beach! I live within 2 hours of lots of beaches on the Atlantic Ocean coastline but they are dirty! Sorry all you Atlantic Ocean beach goers you have to admit the water is not pretty - ok maybe on some days (not). But I am going to drive 18 long and I mean long hours with 2 big dogs, a husband who gets grumpy and a 4 year old to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Since I've been many times it's not my dream vacation. I would love to go to Greece. I just love the way it looks - pretty ocean, all those white houses up and down the countryside. But I hate to fly!! I mean hate it. Will do it, but hate it. Anyway Florida Gulf Coast will see ya soon!

Summer Theme Song...

2008-06-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

I already had my summer song playing on here! Easy blog for me today. Although I must say that Justin Timberlake can rock the house, and he's alittle HOT too. My husband and I went and saw his concert awhile back and he put on a great show! Now I've seen plenty of music concerts from the Grateful Dead to Prince to Emimem to Stone Temple Pilots to Metallica and then back around to Snoop Dog. But Justin did rock the house. My husband is total live music freak and we go to a ton of concerts. But anyway have a great day! Little overcast here, but then tomorrow the humidity kicks in high gear -ugghh!

Something I love...

2008-06-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well I love my family the most. They are all great, and we all get along well. But since I am counting down the days till beach time, that is what I am loving at the moment. So here are a few pics from 2 summers ago when we took Grace with us. I know you are probably tired of hearing about "the beach" but - I NEED A VACATION!!!!!!!

Something Refreshing...

2008-06-03T09:59:00.001-07:00

The pool in my backyard is definetly refreshing...but I would rather be looking at the second picture right about now cause that would mean I was on vacation, relaxing with no work!!!

HOT in her shades...

2008-06-02T19:50:00.001-07:00

Grace in her shades today. It was a nice day - finally!!

Gracie's Dance Recital...

2008-06-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Grace had her first dance recital last Friday. She did a great job. Wasn't sure if she would pull the old "I'm shy" trick and not do her routine. But she did every bit of it! She performed in two different dances. This pic is from the second dance and after she smeared her eyeshadow halfway down her pretty little face.

Something HOT...

2008-06-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

So this is something HOT to me....the hot sand on the hot beach in Navarre, Florida!! I am counting down the days until we leave for vacation! It is going to be HOT and I cannot wait! We are going to see family and friends, as well as taking little Grace with us and some of our best friends are going with us too. We are driving for 18 long HOT hours, cause of the dogs, but once we get there I will be loving life! Lookout HOT sand on the HOT beach cause I am parking my big behind there for 10 days!

Big Blog challenge...

2008-06-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

So I am doing this blog challenge with a lot of other people on scrapbook.com where everyday there is something different to blog about. So not much to say for today, except I am slow getting to the first day of the challenge. But I have good reasons - power washing the driveway & sidewalk (which takes forever!!) and grocery shopping (I hate grocery shopping). I don't soo much hate shopping - I just hate all the people that have nothing better to do but stand in the middle of the aisles. Shopping carts should come with horns since some people have no idea what "excuse me" means. Anyway till tomorrow....chow!!

B R A T .....

2008-05-30T10:34:00.001-07:00

This was done for a contest on Creative Scrappers website. The sketch was done by Jodie Kautzner.

My babies...

2008-05-29T09:58:00.001-07:00

Some more pics of my babies in the front yard!

My chubby baby is on a diet! UPDATE...

2008-05-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

So Mandy went back last night for her second weigh in and she has......lost 3 more pounds!! So she is has lost a total of 7 pounds and is down to 110 pounds!! She missed the goal for this month by .8%, but it is most likely my fault since I neglected giving her her medicine a couple of nights. SO we are on to month three and hopefully will lose a few more. Seven pounds down and thirty more to go!! The little snot would not look at me to get a picture!

Mom...

2008-05-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

This is my mom... in her younger years! She will appreciate that! Anyway this was created for a challenge on my creative scrapbook based on a sketch by Liz Qualman.

Time...

2008-05-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

I forgot I had this!! Whoopsie!! This was created off of a sketch on the lotus paperie website.

So....

2008-05-24T08:13:00.001-07:00

I changed my header. Do you like it?

Blowing in the wind..

2008-05-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Gracie on a dolphin cruise in Destin, Florida summer of 2006.

SMILE...

2008-05-22T08:02:00.001-07:00

Another layout of Haley! Boy my fingers were sore after punching out all those circles to make the border!

Carefree...

2008-05-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

This layout was created for a contest based off a sketch at creativescrappers.blogspot.com.

This is Haley at Cape Henlopen posing for pictures with mom-mom.

We will miss you - Zeek!

2008-05-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

My sisters family dog - Zeek passed away today at the tender age of 3. This is a puppy pic of him and Haley from 2005. He was an English Mastiff and was a big baby even though he weighed about 150 lbs. He was a good boy and will be sadly missed! RIP Zeekie baby!

Your way too beautiful girl....

2008-05-16T18:55:00.001-07:00

A layout of Haley that I created for several challenges on scrapbook.com.

Precious Brandy

2008-05-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

This layout was done for a 6 x 12 layout challenge for Lotus Paperie. I then made it into a 12 x 12 layout to put into my album. This is Brandy, she passed away at the tender age of 4 from cancer. She was such a good dog, even through all that she went through she still was herself until the bitter end. We miss her everyday!

sorry for the bad photo, for some reason the picture looks blue, it really is black and white. TFL!

Catchin' Some Rays...

2008-05-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Mandy & Marin catchin' some rays out on the new deck! Thanks Pop-Pop and daddy! We are loving it!!

Pretty Flowers...

2008-05-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Some pretty flowers from our yard. Happy Mothers Day!

Creative Scrappers Sketch Layout

2008-05-05T19:55:00.001-07:00

A layout based off a sketch at Creative Scrappers website. These pics are from Christmas 2006.

Haley playing softball!

2008-05-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Some pics of Haley at her softball game! She had some great hits! It is funny to watch them play, as most of the time the ball never goes where it is suppose to.

Thanks, Pennie!

2008-05-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

This beautiful card came from my Stampin' Up! demonstrator as a thank you. Isn't it great! I love it - especially the flowers (which are diecut, by the way)! I can't wait to get my order!! Thanks Pennie!! Check out Pennie's Stampin' Up! blog at www.stampingwithpennie.com
If you love Stampin' Up! - you will love her creations!

All caught up for now...

2008-04-30T19:03:00.001-07:00

Well I think I am all caught up for now...until tomorrow!

Dance...

2008-04-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

This was done for another challenge on scrapbook.com hosted by missSweden. You had to scraplift one of her layouts that she scraplifted off of someone else.

Gracie at the park

2008-04-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

Some pics of Gracie from the park. She was having a blast. She took Tom's sandal and was running all over the place trying to keep it away from him. She didn't think it was too funny when he took her sandals!

My chubby baby is on a diet!

2008-04-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ok - so the vet says Mandy - aka chubba - is a little too heavy at 117 lbs (she should only be about 85 lbs). SO he put her on Slentrol, which is a fat blocker for dogs. She has lost 4 lbs, thats 3.4% of her body fat, in one month. The goal was 3%, so she beat the goal. We are making progress. So now we are onto month 2. Can't wait to see how she does this month!

Lotus Paperie Challenge

2008-04-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

These layouts were based off sketches for the Lotus Paperie weekly challenges.

Marin - my BIG baby boy

2008-04-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

We are watching u - little bunny!

2008-04-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

The babies were watching a bunny in the neighbors yard.

Watching Daddy wash the cars!

2008-04-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

4 going on 24

2008-04-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

This layout was scraplifted off of robinzberdz's gallery at scrapbook.com. I love her layouts!

Pages created for a Challenge

2008-04-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

These scrapbook pages for scraplifted off of missSweden at scrapbook.com for her challenge. You had to copy one of her layouts.

Scrapbook Pages

2008-04-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

Some of the other scrapbook pages I created. I love the one of my dad - it reminds me of Dennis the Menace.

A trip to the Camden Aquarium

2008-04-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Tom was begging Grace to stand next to him for a picture, she finally gave in. But not too close!

Scrapbook pages

2008-04-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Some more scrapbook pages!

Scrapbook Pages I created

2008-04-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

A few scrapbook pages I created. The love layout is scraplifted off of robinzberdz's at scrapbook.com.

Navarre Beach, Florida

2008-04-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from Navarre Beach in Florida. One of my favorite places to go.

Mandy

2008-04-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is my other baby Mandy. She is the terror out of the two of them. She is always looking for something to chew on, even if it means opening the closet door with her nose. She has her own little personality and rarely answers to her name. She likes to be called Choochie or Chubba.

Marin

2008-04-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

This is my baby Marin. He is a spoiled rotten chocolate lab. He is totally a mommy's boy. He is the well behaved one out of the two.

Gracie

2008-04-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

So this is Gracie - my little best friend! She asks me all the time if I am her best friend - I think she does it just to irritate my husband Tommy (as she calls him)!

I'm starting OVER....

2008-04-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start with a new blog - with my name this time. So will try to repost some of my posts and picture from my other site. We shall see how it goes....