The tooth fairy will be coming tonight....

Kalli finally worked out another one of her teeth tonight. She has said for the last couple of days that it was loose because another little girl had hit it but I guess tonight she'd had enough so she grabbed her rag and did her tug. I tend to let her just do her own thing with pulling out her teeth - one because she is a total trouper and will yank those suckers out if it means an extra dollar and two because it just gives me the heebie jeebies to try to pull one out. I just figure if it's loose enough to come out, it will with Kalli pulling it. If it's not ready, it won't come out - NO Biggie!


So here's the shot I had to get of Kalli so she could have a picture of herself without the tooth.

And here's the cutest thing she just had to leave for the tooth fairy. Apparently she's gotten real smart when it comes to buttering up the tooth fairy so she even made her a note with a little gift. The note says: "Dear Toothfary, I lost a tooth and you can have THIS to remeber me. Hope you like it. Love, Kalli" Her gift to the tooth fairy was her new melted bead design star she had made this afternoon.

Now, the tooth fairy will really be broke if Dylan's teeth ever start falling out. Kalli's been on a roll and has made a killing off of her loose teeth. You got to love it though because she gets so excited to get it under her pillow each night and it's the first thing she checks when she wakes up. Ahhh, sweet childhood. :)

Do you ever...

just think things just don't go right? Feel like everything is a disorganized, heaping mess? Wish that there were more hours in a day? Well I'm having that day today. Nothing has gone right. I have every intention of bringing organization and order into my home, but nope - not today - that thought is gone right out the window. There's too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it. Maybe tomorrow it'll be better. I'll get things right, things will get done, and I can go to bed knowing that I'm all set for the next day. Then again, that's probably just crazy talk.

Here's some pictures especially for Uncle Jimmy. He's been asking me for basketball pictures of the kids and I just have not gotten around to it. Finally, I can cross this off the list.

On the bright side of today, it was WARM! Like actually above the teens, up in the 60s! Hopefully this warm trend stays around because we really are ready to be done with all this cold stuff we've been having. I'll just be keeping my fingers crossed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay so not quite yet but I figured hey - I might as well be ahead of something I post.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stuff

Not a whole lot going on. It's been cold, cold, cold here. Work stress. The kids have been busy with all their basketball games & practices so they are definitely getting their exercise. Kalli is quite the ball player. Last Saturday she made 10 of the 14 points that her team had. She is a pretty good little shooter. Dylan is gradually understanding the game but needs the occasional help understanding how to "get open" & not guard when your team has the ball. Oh well - he tries really hard. Plus he's really a good little ball stealer. It's funny to see a group of boys all together & not know who has the ball & then see Dylan come from the pack with the ball in his hands.

You've got to see this....

This is our first MAJOR ice storm of the year.

And as you can probably guess, we've had some major power issues. We first lost power for a few hours on Friday and then Sunday it went out completely until Thursday evening. Jerry decided to brave the cold & stake it out in the apartment but me & the kids didn't want anything to do with a cold, boring apartment especially since school/work was cancelled for most of the week. We took up Uncle John's offer to stay at The Cabins in Branson (where he works) & just stay warm there. The cabin was awesome so I had to take pictures of our mini vacation.

Anyways, there's a busy week ahead for us. Tomorrow Jerry has the board meeting to go to so he can see if he got the school's mowing bid. From the way things have transpired, I really doubt he'll get it but we'll still keep our fingers crossed though. Also, this week I'm going to find out if I will be moving over to the Accounts Payable position. I love my job but the salary increase would really help us out. I'm hoping we can check into several houses this week too. Our realtor is due back in the office next week & I'd like to be able to make an offer on something. Plus we'll get back into the swing of school & basketball practice too after being cooped up for a week - the kids NEED to get rid of some of that pinned up energy.

Happy New Year!!!

It's 2007! Not too much exciting happening this year yet (thank goodness) but I have been able to get a little scrapping done. I'm hoping I can get a lot of that done this year. The kids have had a fun day of video gaming so we've had a pretty lazy day. Tomorrow that changes though - I start back to work after my 2 week vacation. Talk about sucky!! :) Yeah I REALLY don't want to go in but I guess I have too. The kids aren't going to like getting up at 6 am again (neither will I). We were really liking sleeping in until 9 or later. Oh well - back into the swing of things I guess. Oh & today I got some really cute pictures of the kids & me.


Hmmm... oh yeah! I almost forgot! We looked at houses the other day & we found a couple that we really liked. Now we just need to look into financing & see what payments would be. They both are ones we'd need to do a little work on but they were both really good sized (even room for a scrapbook room!!!). I just hope & pray we can figure things out if this is what is right for us. I don't like the thought of jumping into something but I really don't know how much longer we can stand it in this apartment. I think it's beginning to wear on all of us. Anyways, I'm keeping my fingers crossed & pray that we find/get in our home soon!

A Very Merry Christmas

Whoooaa! The holidays are officially over (okay except for New Years but no stress on that one)! Well I guess they're not - we have one more Christmas with Tiffany, Jim, & the twins & then it'll be over. This year it has been exhausting! But all that matters is the kids were so pleased this year. They got a Playstation 2 & have had a blast playing that. Apparently Santa thought they were good kids this year. :)



We even were able to try our first gingerbread house. It didn't come out all fancy like the box but we thought it was cute. I think next year we'll use the hot glue gun.

Now on to the next mission - Kalli's 8th birthday. We're planning her a party at SkateLand in Monett. This will be her first year inviting friends so I hope a few of them are able to come. She's even letting Dylan invite a couple of his friends too. I just cannot believe my baby is turning 8.

Christmas time is coming soon...

I've been busy lately so I haven't had much time to update my blog so here's a little run-down on what's been going down.

Last weekend we went to see the Santa train. Both kids got to sit on his lap and tell him exactly what they wanted. Dylan told him he wanted a PS2 and Kalli wanted an Amazing Allison doll.



This week Dylan had his Christmas program. He was the cutest darn reindeer ever! They sang several songs and then the reindeers took the stage for their performance.



Then to top off this week, last night we went to Silver Dollar City. That place is absolutely beautiful at night with all their Christmas lights. Although most of the pictures we got were blurry (haven't quite figured out the thing yet), we did get some good ones. Oh - and the kids got to make a sculpture hand while we were there & loved that! They turned out really cool looking plus we can always look back and see how small their hands were.

Oh my Freakin' GOSH!!

I cannot believe it. I am still in utter shock. I was just so NOT expecting this. I made it. I actually made the cut for the Design Team at Scraplove. (now I have even more reason to be on there all the time) Emily & I were the two chosen to start out Scraplove's first design team. This is just all so crazy to me. I worked for 8 weeks with such awesome & talented scrappers and it's been nothing but a fun & growing experience for me. I cannot praise those girls enough - all of them are awesome. And to Monica & Flamy - you girls rock! Not only for letting me become a part of their team but for giving us all this opportunity to have fun & do what we love!

tag you're it!

I was tagged by the talented Ashlee, so here it goes...

A - Available or single: don't they both mean the same??
B - Best Friend: Tiffany
C - Cake or Pie: pie (key lime - yummy!)
D - Drink of choice: Pepsi
E - Essential Item you use everyday: deodrant :)
F - Favorite color: pink
G - Gummy Bears or worms: worms
H - Hometown: Aurora
I - Indulgence: junk food
J - January or February: January (Kalli's b-day)
K - Kids & Names: Kalli & Dylan
L - Life is Incomplete Without? my kids
M - Marriage Date: none
N - Number of Siblings:1 sister, 2 brothers (all younger than me)
O - Oranges or Apples: oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: losing someone I love
Q - Fave Quote: Don't worry, be happy. :) (that's all I could come up with)
R - Reason to Smile: today is going to be a good day
S - Season: Summer
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Bethany, Denise, Linda, Lori
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I have a tattoo
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: Peas (ewww!)
W - Worst Habit: not speaking my mind when I should
X - Xrays: teeth
Y - Your Fave Food: Chicken fajitas
Z - Zodiac Sign: Cancer

Pretty nice, uneventful day...

It started with us going to get Dylan's hair cut. Then we went to check out the house we've had our eye on in Mt. Vernon. We thought we would possibly make an offer today but after today's inspection we're not willing to offer what they'll want. We liked the house - just not enough to spend that kind of money to fix & update it. Which bums me out some. I really want to get into our own home but then again, I don't want to jump into something just because I'm impatient. Tomorrow we're looking again at some open houses so that'll be fun. I just hope when we come to the right house, God makes us know that it's the one.

The most fun part of the day though was driving through all the snow. It is absolutely beautiful to just gaze across the open fields with the glistening white snow - JUST BEAUTIFUL! I brought my camera & ended up with 53 shots. Here are just a few of my favorites:

I've been busy this week...

nothing like a good ole' snow day to help me get some things accomplished. Actually we've had 2 snow days which was kind of nice after going 2 yrs without any. I ended up having to work part of the day yesterday (& then working some at home too on work junk) but I was able to get most of it out of the way so today has been nothing but a lazy day. I love LAZY days! Actually now that I think of it it's not been real super lazy - I've done dishes, laundry, & clean-up everywhere but it's been nice. I didn't have to get up early & I made time to scrap. (the scan looks terrible & crooked - which it's not IRL).

Here's my new layout...

for the Superbowl of Scrapbooking over at Memory Creators.

I've still got one more to do for it & then come up with an "I wish..." titled layout for the DT contest at Scraplove. It's been fun doing these challenges & getting some scrapping done. It was really nice though to have this Thanksgiving break too just to kind of take a break & relax from all this scrapping.

What's going on?

I'm kind of bumming a little. Thanksgiving is next week and we are no where near being ready to decorate for Christmas. For as long as I can remember we've decorated the day after Thanksgiving but this year I don't even have a tree yet. I miss my old tree, my wood snowman, & all my cutesy decoration.


I've been busy this week with the challenges for Scraplove. I got to work with Laura on our Partner Challenge & that was awesome! She is a talented scrapper so I was so happy to get to team up with her. We got to collaborate on our design & it turned out really cute. Then I also was able to do a layout on the fire. Not a normal "pretty" layout but I did get some journaling out with it.

Oh & the other week I was able to do up a gift album for a scrap friend who's having a little girl. Hopefully she doesn't see my blog before she gets her gift & I hope she likes it!

I can SEE!!!

I can see, I can see, I can SEE! I'm not quite 20/20 but I can see to drive, wake up in the night & can read the alarm, & I can see in the shower. It is so so awesome to be able to see! I look a little weird (my eyes have big red spots on them) because the surgery bruised my eyes but WHO CARES? I can see! :) I just hope it gets better & better. Right now the only thing that has been hard is trying to read a computer screen at work all day. Something about the contrast in letters & white space just makes it a little hard to focus.

Today we started a new chore program at our house. I was really surprised at how excited Kalli & Dylan are but I'm not complaining. I gave them each a chore chart & let them try to earn stars throughout the week. The exciting part? - if they have 40 stars at the end of the week they get $2. Whooo Hoo! They are so excited. I think both of them had at least 10 stars tonight. I just hope they keep it up. Dylan was my main reason for doing it because he has a real hard time remembering to do homework & clean up his room. Now he has incentive for it. :)

I'm about ready to hit the bed but I wanted to post my latest creation for the Design Team contest at ScrapLove. The challenge this week involved using a CD cover for inspiration. As I couldn't find any of mine that I wanted to attempt to create, I went on a search & found a CD to use. It's a really simple layout but I was amazed that I forced myself to fit 6 pictures onto one page. Anyways, here's how it turned out:


I may be kicked off this week but Hey - I tried & I've actually gotten a lot of scrapbooking done. :)

I'm actually doing it...

I'm having Lasik done on my eyes- TOMORROW! I've been saying forever that I've wanted it, just didn't think I was ever able to have it done. I'd been told before that my cornea was too thin & I just wouldn't be able to have it. After getting all sorts of measurements taken at my appointment on Wednesday, I was told that they weren't sure about me being a candidate for Lasik (that they would have to put my numbers into the laser machine) but I for sure could do the PRK. They said PRK was more painful and took longer to recover but that they both would achieve the same results. But good news was - they called me back & I can have Lasik done.

It will be amazing after all these years to be able to wake up & SEE CLEARLY! I'm excited but nervous at the same time. {Guess that's the hypocondriac in me} What really hit me hard on how bad my eyesight is was when I kept hearing the phrase "You are SO nearsighted" and also when they told me my eyeglass prescription was 20/60 (old old glasses that I knew were not the right strength). The doctor then mentioned that you couldn't pass a driving test without eyes at 20/40 - so that was a real wake-up. I shouldn't even be driving with these ugly things.

Anyways after sitting & sitting & sitting & thinking about when to have it done - I opted for Friday. For 1) I had to leave contacts out for 3 days prior (they've now been out 6 days) so why mess up another week of wearing these ugly, embarassing glasses, & 2) I didn't want to mess up Thanksgiving weekend, & plus 3) I won't have to miss hardly any time of work. A half day for the surgery & then whatever follow-up appointments.

I'm just so happy. I can't even believe that tomorrow I will be able to see better. This is going to be so awesome to be able to wake up & see. Not have to fumble around for glasses or stick contacts in.

Design Team Challenge...

It has been {so fun} working on these Scraplove challenges. Each week they give us a challenge and test our abilities to try & find people to become a part of their design team. I really doubt I'll make the cut but at least this gives me incentive & ideas to scrap. This week's challenge was "One of Each". Quite a {scary} challenge if you ask me but here's what I came up with....



The layout is a picture of Dylan at our very first Springfield Cardinals game. I had a couple front shots of him with the field behind him but {I loved the perspective of this one} with him taking in the whole experience. I got a little creative too with the journaling block by making the background the stats from the Cardinals' games.

Lucky enough for me though, I got immunity this week because I picked one of their favorite manufacturers - KI Memories (and I love love love them too). Anyways, I'm excited to see this week's challenge so I can get busy & come up with something.

New fall pictures!!

I so love it when it's fall! It is the perfect time to go out and shoot some awesome photos. Today we went over to Tiffany's and let her take some shots. They all turned out really cute but here are some of my favorites. (Oh & if you notice all the Kalli shots - it's because she is a total poser!!)

This one just makes you want to smile. They all look so happy! Lexi & Dylan don't look too thrilled getting another picture but Riley sure is having a good time!

Here's my poser girl! She's quite the cutie though isn't she?

I love this full scenery with both kids! Tiffany really did an awesome job with this set-up.

Here's my handsome young man!!

Kalli once again! :)

House fires really do suck...

Well I don't know where to really start. It happened to us on August 15, 2006 around 3 am. Jerry had fallen asleep on the couch & woke up because he smelt smoke. When he got up & looked, he saw a red glare on our wall from our garage. He ran & looked & thought it was the mower on fire so he ran woke me up & we got the kids up & ran out the front door. The smoke detectors went off just as we were running outside. I just thank God that he woke Jerry up with the smell because we wouldn't have been able to get out the front door had we waited for the detectors to go off.

As soon as we ran out the doors we had grabbed keys & moved our vehicles across the street. By time we were across the street our whole garage was gone and the flames were coming out of the roof. Jerry had called 911 as we were running out but by time they got there, the fire had already went through our south side of the house. It was the most horrible thing to sit across the street unable to do anything & no one there to just stop it. They were able to stop it before it reached the entire north side with the 3 bedrooms but everything that did not burn up is water, heat, or so far smoke damaged it's not salvagable.

At first all I could do was cry. Now that I've not been to the house every day, it's getting easier. What I just focus on now is that WE ALL GOT OUT SAFE & THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS! We can replace stuff, we can't replace people.

We finally found out last week that the insurance adjuster totaled the house. Which is good - because that pays off our mortgage and gives us money for a down payment on a new home. It just really stinks to have to wait though. Apartment life is really not for us. The kids have had a hard time just because there is no where to play out here (besides the parking lots & street - which I won't let them play on). But - it is a place to live and we've only signed a 3-month lease so we are not stuck here forever.

We are still inventorying everything which really SUCKS! I mean, you would think when they total a house, they'd be like okay - total contents too & give them the total coverage on that but nope. Real bummer that they don't do it that way because the spreadsheet we have to put everything is seems like a never ending job. And we have to replace everything within a year to get the depreciation back - okay this stuff has accumulated over 8 years and yet you're supposed to get it all back in one.

But all in all - this has been nothing but an eye-opening and learning experience for us. We have seen so much generosity in people that truly is unimaginable. It truly is amazing the help that everyone has provided us. People who didn't even know us offered to help. It really is amazing how generous and loving people are.

So I've been slacking....again...

Not much up since the last post except I JUST GOT BACK FROM MY VACATION TO CANCUN.

Me & Tiffany flew out on July 26 from the Springfield airport. We had a connecting flight so we hit Memphis & then straight to Mexico we went. Definately a whole new world out there. The most amazing was how stinkin' HOT it was. Like you would walk outside & immediately be sweating & feeling like your cheeks were burning. Yet people who live there were walking around fully clothed in jeans & long sleeved shirts.

Our hotel was really awesome.
We had a beautiful oceanfront view from our 7th floor room & were able to capture some really cool photos.
Only thing we didn't care for was the toliet not working the first two days (which we kept on them until finally we were in working order) and the food was really not that great at all.

We had thought with it being all inclusive, we'd eat like crazy & try all kinds of yummy new things. That wasn't what happened. We actually ate less than normal (lived on the chips and guacamole) and drank less too (pop, that is). And we didn't even have mexican food at our hotel (okay besides the chips & guacamole). Is that not completely crazy? We're in Mexico and don't even get to pig out on Mexican food. I did, however, finally get some fajitas when we went out one night & ate at Planet Hollywood.

Funniest was that we were always questioned on if we spoke spanish. We had a couple times the waiter would come up to us, say something in Spanish, & we'd be like "yeah, we're done with our plates, you can take them" but as we found out - that wasn't what he was even saying. He was actually complimenting us "pretty chicos".

Another funny was when we both seriously got worried that we were going to get scammed. We had been walking along the beach when some guy came down and gave us a price list for a massage. They were offering a free 5 minute massage and tried to entice you into buying the full body massage (which wasn't bad - 1 hr for a full body massage = $45). Well after our 5 minutes we were all into getting our massages, right there in a hut on the beach. So, without thinking, we both strip down to bathing suits and stack clothes and wallets on a seat at the end of the massage tables (YEAH! NOW I KNOW HOW CRAZY WE WERE!). Then we both hop right up on the tables face down without even thinking about what may happen to our stuff. The massage was AWESOME and felt so good but we were like grease balls walking out of there.

All in all, it was a great trip. I really missed my kids but it was nice to get away too & just relax. We got to see some pretty sights and just take time for ourselves so that was awesome.