Blog Candy!

Check it out!  Wild West Scrap Divas is doing a blog give-away!  http://wwscrapdivas.blogspot.com/2009/12/wild-west-scrap-divas-huge-blog-candy.html

Their prize is huge!  I don't know what I'd do if I won all that stuff.  Go to their website and become a follower!

Poor Thing

Elizabeth is not having a good day. 

When she woke up, I thought she felt warm so I stuck a thermometer up her bottom.  She had a fever of 100.7.  I know...not high.  But Elizabeth is like me...she runs a little cool so that's higher for her.  We think she's got a sinus infection.  She gets a runny nose when she's teething and boy is she teething with these canines.  She's just miserable. 

Being that yesterday was Thanksgiving, our downstairs plumbing naturally broke.  (and with a houseful of guests)  The plumber made it here today and neglected to close the basement door.  Elizabeth decided to go downstairs with Daddy.  She made it...almost.  She fell down the last two stairs and has a rug burn on her nose. 

I know she's feeling bad because she's extra snuggly today.  She climbed on my lap after lunch and just layed there.  I feel so bad!  We're giving her tylenol and motrin (alternating of course) to help her feel better. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be her last lvl 3 class at Gymboree.  I don't think we're going to make it.  :(

A New Layout

I love the blog Sketchy Thursdays.  Every Thursday, they upload a new sketch.  I made this layout using their sketch from Oct 15.

Mmmm...Toes
by LilacGal
Scrapbook.com

New Coupon Clipper

After a thread on the Lake Norman Mommies* forum about newspaper subscriptions, I finally got one to the Charlotte Observer.  I've wanted one for a while and finally did a weekend subscription.  So now, I'm getting coupons.  I sat down and clipped them out and realized I 'm full of questions.  I've never actually used coupons.  How hard could it be though right?

1 - Does any store take coupons?  I know the regular grocery stores to but what about Target and WalMart?

2 - What's the best way to store them?  Expiration date?  The product type?  By Aisle?

3 - How in the world do you know what you have?  Do you make your grocery list and then see what coupons you have?  Or the opposite - check your coupons and make your list based on that.

I am so not a coupon queen.  My goal though is to make of the subscription price of the newspaper x2.  Then, I'll have it paid for the next 26 weeks.  If I'm good, I'll keep track of my savings here.  By the end of 26 weeks, I hope to have saved at least $92.  That should be so do-able, right?

*Lake Norman Mommies is my local Mommies Network.  If you're a mom, it's a great place to connect with other moms in your area.  Dads, sorry but it's for moms only.  There are some Daddy Networks too though!  check out http://www.themommiesnetwork.org/

It's Here!

I called my husband to check on him and my daughter this morning and he said a package had arrived for me from, "some pickle place."  Of course, I had a meeting and tutoring after school...the day just inched by.  I got home, hugged my daughter, and tore into the package from Rusty Pickle.  The prize from Lance's blog hop was the large pink trunk!  http://web.me.com/rustypickle/page22/page41/page41.html  It's so cool!  I just can't believe I was lucky enough to win it.  I am doing pink as an accent color in my scrap room so it matches perfectly.  Yay!  Thanks Lance and Rusty Pickle!!!

I won!

Oh my goodness!  I won something on the Rusty Pickle Blog Hop.  I don't know what it is yet but I'm so excited!!!  I can't wait to see what it is.  This is just too cool.  Thanks Lance and Rusty Pickle!

Awesome Blog Hop

The wonderful designers who work at scrapbook company Rusty Pickle are doing a blog hop.  There are tons of great projects to inspire.  I've gotten a lot of cool ideas.  Check out the first blog and hop around to see all the fabulous things they've created!

http://rustypickle.typepad.com/picklelicious/

I never thought this would happen

One scrappy place I go is scrapbook.com.  I love that place.  I've joined a few challenges and like to read their forums.  One nice feature is the ability to upload your pages to share.  I uploaded one of Elizabeth at five months old and it made it on their front page!  I have to be honest...I think it's random that it makes it on the front page.  But, someone left a comment that they saw it there!  Woohoo!  I'm going to think that it was up there because my daughter is so cute in the photo.  What do you think?

I call this my fierce face
by LilacGal
Scrapbook.com

Interesting Thursday

I love my job.  I really do.  For years people have asked me how many kids I have.  I usually respond 30 (or however many kids are in my class.)  I love teaching third graders.  They can do things for themselves like find the right page and button their own pants.  But, they're still young enough that they love school and their teacher (most of the time.)

I've got a couple kids though this year that are really throwing me for a loop.  I ask them a question and they give me an answer.  Ok...fine...but, the answer they give me isn't always truthful.  Did you do your homework?  Did you write your name on your paper?  Have you finished your classwork?  Did your mom tell you to do ______?  They give me an answer and (stupid me!) I believe them!  I'm more annoyed by the lies than I would be if they had just told me they didn't do it to begin with. 

I'm home now.  I get to surf through my various scrapbooking websites and blogs and see what's going on in the creative world around me.  No school for the kids tomorrow so I should get out of my meetings a little early.  I'm hoping to have a chance to use some of my creativity.  Cross your fingers!

One day

One day, I'll be a good blogger! I just get so busy, I forget about this place!

Elizabeth had her birthday a month and a half ago. What a month it's been! She is all over the place more and more each day. She is such a daddy's girl. It's so cute...they're sitting on the couch together right now watching a tv show about crocodiles. Too adorable!

All is quiet...

Tomorrow is the big day. Elizabeth turns one! We went and saw her one year portraits yesterday. The photographer had made up a DVD slideshow of them and set it to music. I cried. I couldn't help it! There were so many cute shots.......all I could think about was how tiny she was a year ago and now, she's a big girl! Walking, talking, and making a mess everywhere!

There was one photograph that I loved. She was playing peekaboo with a piece of tulle. The photographer got a close up shot of her face with her holding it up. He said it reminded him of a bridal veil and won't it be neat to have that side by side with her bridal pictures. Oh! Talk about tugging at my heart! I adore that picture even more now.

I hear Little Miss upstairs in her crib. Time to start the day!

What a Way to Celebrate a Blogaversary!

Wow! Melissa is having a give away in her blog to celebrate all the time she's been a blogger. It's awesome. You can check it out here:

http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-blogaversary-giveaway.html

Enjoy!!

Tomorrow it Begins

Tomorrow, our first guests arrive for Elizabeth's birthday. My mom and sister Karen are coming down. Dad and my stepmom Mary arrive Saturday. Also coming Saturday are my bestest friend and her husband and 4 week old daughter. Friends are also stopping by for the day with their three children. 15 people! It's going to be a full house on Saturday. Sunday will have even more people here. I'm nervous about so many but I think it will be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. We haven't had so many people here so I wonder how Elizabeth will do. She did fine at my family's Fourth of July party and there were a ton of people!!! I'm crossing my fingers...

Turning 1

In just two weeks, my little pookie turns 1. I'm in shock. I'm in awe. I'm missing my little baby terribly. She's going to be a toddler soon!

Moore Than Words

I found a new blog today. It's called Moore Than Words. The blogger is running a contest for some free stuff. She's had some cool things happen to her recently and she's sharing the love!

http://moore-than-words.blogspot.com/2009/07/today-is-my-lucky-day.html

Go check it out!

Puff, puff, puff

Well, little Elizabeth has moved on to her first solid food...I mean real solid...beyond baby food. She has started Cheerios! Yay! She's still working on picking them up a bit better. I think she's figured out if her hand is drool-covered, then the food sticks to her hand. Silly little girl. My husband decided to try the Gerber fruit puffs tonight. He got her some strawberry apple. He put one in her mouth and asked her, "Isn't that even better than Cheerios?!" Umm...the look on her face would beg to differ.

I can't believe she's old enough to be at this point. She's teething again. Tooth 3 came in Sunday and we think tooth 4 is trying hard to come out. She's been miss fussypants lately. Everyone told me how fast this time would go by. I didn't believe it would move this fast though. She seems to be growing up every day. She's crawling everywhere. It's time to buy a baby gate. I thought I'd have a little more time. I guess I need to remember to enjoy each little moment because they are fleeting.

Six months

Today, my daughter is six months old. I can't believe it's been half a year. She's amazing. If I was good at blogging, I would be updating with all the amazing things she's been doing. Since I last posted waaaaay back in November, we have moved into a new house. Elizabeth finally has a room that she can keep! We bought paint this weekend. The bottom will be purple and the top white with a border between.

We've celebrated Christmas too. Like most babies, she was more interested in the paper and boxes than the actual presents. She started sweet potatoes, peas, and now squash and loves them all. She doesn't like apple juice though! That surprised me husband and I a lot!!! She's got her two bottom teeth and started creeping last weekend. She's amazing.

She's changed so much. She's not as cuddly anymore. She's really interested in what's going on around her so she's too busy looking around to cuddle. I miss my itty-bitty baby that snuggled in my arms. Sometimes though, she'll still fall asleep in my arms. I think those are the moments I treasure the most. Last night, we got home later than expected from shopping and she was not going to eat anything but her bottle. When she finished I tried the squash again and she took it from my lap. I kept thinking that soon she'll be sitting in a regular chair...not a high chair or booster seat. I almost cried.

I love seeing her grow and learn though. After working all day, walking through the door and seeing her grin at me still melts my heart. I can't imagine life six months ago without her. Life seems so empty then.