The Princess Escapades

Has it been THAT long?

2010-03-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, I seriously can't believe that it's been since December that I've blogged here. What a total slacker I've been, huh? Things have been busy though. In a good way. My craft blog, The Girl Creative, has taken off so that has kept me busy. We reached 100,000 visitors this week! Yeah!!!! So exciting! We also launched New Friend Friday this week which brought our daily hits to a record high. Good things happening over there!

I finally began blog designing again so again, busy. I just designed my blog design blog and am really happy with how it turned out. Go check it out HERE. I gave this little blog a facelift too. It still needs some work but it's getting there.

My sister is getting married in 2 weeks so the next few weeks are going to be nuts. Traveling next weekend to LI with both girls in tow while Tim stays home to perform in our church's Easter production, Jesus Yesterday, Today and Forever. Sad we are missing it. He has THREE roles! That same weekend we have my new baby niece's christening. I became and aunt again in December, on my Emilee's birthday in fact, and got my first niece, Alexa. Soooo cute!

Oh goodness and I started this ridiculously insane workout called Insanity. Yeah, I'm totally crazy. I hate every.minute.of.it! lol But I hope my hard work pays off!

So yeah, that's basically where I've been. I hope to blog here more often. :)

If you need a blog design, come see me. :)

{Christmastime at the Millers}

2009-12-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be chock full of pictures. The weekend after Thanksgiving we decorated the inside of the house for Christmas. So far the tree is still in tact even if I had to jerry-rig it to fix the big hole Emilee made in it last year. I've only had to tell Gracie about 100 times not to touch things but considering I had to tell her about 501x last year, that's an improvement! I also hosted my first (and actually only - how sad!) party of the season on Friday. It was a Celebrating Home party and a Gold party. I got some cash for holding the Gold party and some free Celebrating Home products so I totally made out! :) Yesterday I let the girls build a gingerbread house. They were looking forward to that all week.

So, here are some pictures from all that.

Here are some of the goodies I made for my party. Chewy Caramel Bars (recipe will be posted at The Girl Creative tomorrow in participation with our Creating Christmas Blog Fest) and red velvet cupcakes.

Here is some bark I made with dark chocolate, white chocolate, walnuts and M&M's. Yummy! And some Walnut Brownie Tartlets.

Now onto the decorations. I made these Christmas Countdown blocks which I thought the girls would be super excited about. Turns out they're not, but I am so that works. ;)

Here is our tree. Not a great picture because after almost 6 years I still have not figured out how to use my camera properly!

And the newest edition to our living room is this little shelf that I got super cheap at Hobby Lobby as well as the tall candle holders.

I did bake so much more stuff but in all the fuss of the party and the set up I forgot to take more pictures. I made a to die for hot spinach and artichoke dip. I made this anti-pasta bread featured at Kevin and Amanda and boy was it good (picture is from Kevinandamanda.com)!!!

Also on the menu was a cold anti-pasta, a bunch of M&M and Chocolate Chip Cookie and shrimp cocktail. I'd say the party was a success. Can't wait to do it again for Christmas. :)

Cooking Up Something Fun for the Holidays

2009-11-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

So, over at my other blog, The Girl Creative, we are cooking up something really cool for the holidays. We are still working out the details and will announce it officially soon, but I'll give you the inside scoop. We are going to have 5 days of idea sharing. Basically, each day we will have a new topic and readers everywhere can link up to one of their posts that pertain to our topic. For example: on day one we may have Favorite Christmas Recipes as the topic. You would link up over at The Girl Creative via Mr. Linky with a post on your blog showing off your favorite Christmas recipe. We are going to do this for a whole week. I'm so excited. It's a great
way to expand your readership as well as to find new blogs to read.

The idea came to me after I had written a post about creative gift wrapping. I thought that it might be fun to do a segment on various creative ways to wrap gifts this Christmas season. Then I thought why not do a whole week of fun posts like that. I won't give you all the details but in the next couple of days we should have it all worked out. Stay tuned!!

Oh, and since I know my sister, Kate, is going to ask who "we" are since she knows I pretty much blog alone, I'll tell ya. The Girl Creative has a team of creative chics that are regular contributors now. Yeah! Go me! lol You can find out more about them by going HERE and finding the "Our Other Playgrounds" title on our sidebar. :)

{One of Those Days}

2009-11-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

This blog post is for my sister, Kate. She thinks I've abandoned this blog but I haven't. We've had so much going on lately (I feel like I'm always saying that) and I have to be in the mood to blog. Today was definitely one for the books so, I'll blog about it.

Normally I'm a pretty happy person. I can pretty much laugh about (and at) anything. Not today. Oh no. I was Mrs. Crankypants for sure! The day just went from bad to worse and by the time I was able to just veg, I really just wanted to cry. I don't know what it is but the 2nd week into my cycle (TMI - sorry) I turn into Monster Mommy. I feel like a switch is flipped and I am nasty. There is no pretty way to say it. lol Today was just one of those days!

It began last night actually. Grace did not sleep well and was coughing a lot. By the time I actually got to bed for good, it was probably near 1am. Then Emilee thought it would be fun to wake mommy up this morning by blowing a whistle next to my head. It gets better. She woke Grace up like that too. What is Grace's payback (to me for some reason and I don't know what I ever did to her), she pees in her pants. Not once, but twice before I even got us all out the door to bring Emilee to school.

That just totally put me in a foul mood and I never really got out of that funk. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful until Emilee gets home and then the fighting begins. The fighting and the crying. The fighting and the crying and the yelling (the girls fighting, Gracie crying and me yelling).

Just before dinner I get a text from Tim that he's going to be late getting out of work. Normally I don't care. More time for me to loaf around on the computer (did I just admit that? lol) but tonight is Wednesday. On Wednesday nights we run children's ministry at our church. We were both teaching in separate classes. No biggie, I'll just combine the 2. We've done it before, it should not be a problem. Well, there was 25 kids in one room (one of which was Emilee who did not want to listen) and Gracie was across the hall screaming and crying. People were late, I was cranky. Still.

And just when I think my day is over and I can put it behind me, Gracie goes and pees in her pants again. Again. 3rd time today. Peed in her pants 3x today.

Did I mention I don't feel good? Yeah that too.

**Disclaimer: I'm fasting from sugar for 30 days and can not be responsible for the whining, crying, or crabby posts that may make their way to this blog over the next month. :)

{I think I'm going to do blog design again}

2009-10-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

So I've been doing some thinking. I've been wanting to get a part time job to help out around the house but with little miss Gracie still at home, it's kind of hard. I even actually applied to a couple of places and nada. I was kind of happy because as soon as the thought to go back to work came, it left. Not surprising. I'm a little flaky like that. lol Anyhow, I started thinking about blog design. I know how to do it. And people make money doing it. Why aren't I doing it and making money at it?

So, here we go again. I'm going to start blog designing again. I don't plan on making a fortune. I don't even plan on charging what some people charge. If I can make a few bucks and help out then yay!!

So, if you are looking for a cheap custom blog design, let me know. :)

Things have been a bit quiet on the homefront. Nothing too crazy to report. We did do some baking and painting over the last few weeks so I'll be posting those pictures soon. Emilee and Grace are both doing great in school and I couldn't be happier. :) God is certainly good!

{New Crafty Blog}

2009-10-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

When I originally created this blog it was meant to be a personal blog about my life with my hot hubs and my adorable daughters. Then I started blogging about craft projects that I found around the web. So, I decided to make a separate blog for my projects. Please ~~follow and subscribe~~ check out my new blog: The Girl Creative. On there I'll be posting tutorials on projects I've done around the house whether it be sewing or scrapbooking or what have you. I will also post links to cool projects that other bloggers have done.

So, if you don't mind, please go check out my new blog. :)

{Apple & Pumpkin Picking}

2009-10-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

There's a farm I heard about from my friend Jackie called Lawrence Farms. If you are from the Hudson Valley (NY) it's located in Newburgh. I've been meaning to take the girls there and thankfully Tim was off on Monday so I suggested we go. I'm so glad we did. We all had a great time. There was so much to do to keep the girls busy from the little village playhouses to hay mazes to apple and pumpkin picking to the general store to feeding the animals to...........well, you get the picture. :) Speaking of pictures, here are some from that day.

Here are the little villians in Jail. This better be the only inside of a jail they ever see! Aside from maybe visiting Daddy at work. lol

The Guest House

Daddy and his girls. It's so hard to get them to pose. lol You can rent the cool wagons for $5. The girls had a great time being pulled around by Daddy.

I think Gracie's face is so funny in this picture. It looks like she's about to sneeze but she never did. lol A little side note about this picture - see the cornstalks behind them (the one in the middle)? Well that used to be the back of some man. I "photoshopped"a cornstalk over him and added some pumpkins. Not bad, huh?

"Miss Thing"

{Returning the Cart}

2009-10-09T07:16:00.001-07:00

Almost every day I'm faced with a decision. Should I return the cart? Let me explain. Up near where I live, for some odd reason, to use a shopping cart at the supermarket and some other stores like Target requires putting a quarter into the cart to unlock it for use. I'm usually pretty good with making sure I have a quarter in the ash tray in the car. But, there are times when I get to the store and nothing but pennies. Ugh. So, I scour the parking lot looking for one lone wagon that has not been returned to the shopping cart parking garage (SCPG - no idea what they're actually called but this sounds good). I have to admit that if I do have a quarter I most definitely return the wagon so that I get my quarter back. I also have to admit though that I appreciate the lazy people who do not return their wagons back to the SCPG. What would I do without them? In fact, I sometimes am one of those people. Like this morning at Target, I was very happy to find a wagon that was not locked in with the rest so when I was done, I left it outside for some poor soul who does not have a quarter. I can just picture the excitement on their face as they see the loner just waiting for someone to come grab it and the excitement that they're feeling that today was their lucky day. lol

All that to say that I find myself faced with a decision each time I go shopping. Do I return the cart to the SCPG where it belongs or do I leave it inbetween parking spots when leaving the store? Sometime I feel bad for leaving them there when there's nothing wrong with my legs and I can easily return it. But since I appreciate the people who don't return their wagons, thus giving me a wagon to use when I'm quarterless, I find that I feel it's okay to leave a stray wagon for someone else to use.

So, there's a total random post without the "Just Another Random Post" title. :)

{A Few Steps Forward}

2009-10-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

I think one of the hardest things about blogging is coming up with a name for each post. I mean how many posts can you call "Just Some Random Thoughts" especially if you have a blog like mine? No real rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes it's about my silly girls. Sometimes it's about the projects I'm working on. Sometimes it's about what God has spoken to me. Sometimes it a whole lot of nothing.

Anyhow, this past week I feel like I've taken a few steps forward in my life. They're all kind of small steps but at least they are steps forward and not back. The first step is with our finances. I use my debit card. A lot. I rarely keep track of my bank account so I never really know for sure how much money we actually have in our checking account. Well this week I decided to take out some cash (based on what was left after I paid most of the bills) and keep track of my spending. I have to say, it feels good to be in control.

My second little step is with my weight loss. In the spring I had gotten down to the lowest I had been since my wedding. I was down 96 lbs. Yeah, that's right. 96 lbs as in 4 lbs from 100. It was a huge accomplishment to get that far. I'm not done yet but still a great feat and something to be proud of. Then this summer we had a chemical pregnancy which completely threw me off the weight loss band wagon. I gained about 15 lbs. I struggled all. summer. long. trying to get my head back in the game. Trying to get back into tracking my Weight Watchers points and eating healthy. I had a few good weeks and then I would revert back to my old habits. Well, I'm back on track thanks to my hubs who has been supporting me through my ups and downs and to my BFF, Karen who is also a huge Weight Watchers success story. She's been on me like a fly on........well, you know what. lol I promised not to shoot her with all her checking up on me (like every. single. day.) if she promised not to shoot me if I have a bad day. Not a bad deal. lol Anyhow, I weighed in today and was down a half a pound. I consider that a victory. What I also did today was begin Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workout. 30 seconds into the WARM UP I was hating Jillian. lol I may or may not blog about my progress because I tend to be inconsistent but I'll try. Pray that I stay focused and complete this 30 day routine. Oh, if you'd like to see my before picture, here you go.

It was good for me to post this. I have not looked at this picture in awhile and it's a great reminder of where I've come from and where I NEVER want to go again. Here is what I look like now (the pic is from earlier in the year but give or take a few pounds, it's pretty accurate).

So, those are my steps forward. I'm thanking Jesus that He's moving in these areas of my life. :)

{Funky}

2009-09-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

I'm in a funk today. It's Friday so I should be happy but I just can't seem to get myself going today. I woke up in a fine mood. Managed to get us all out the door in a relatively timely manner today and then it all changed. While walking Emilee to school this morning, I accidentally dropped my cell phone down the sewer. Yup. Right into the mucky muck that is town sewage. I manged to laugh about it because it could have been worse. It could have been my keys and with a husband that works an hour away from home, that would not have been good.

So, still an okay morning, I decide to go weigh in at Weight Watchers even though I really just wanted to crawl into a hole because I have not been able to stay focused lately. Out of nowhere Grace decides she does not want to get in the car. She's fussing and twisting and stiffening up as I try to get her buckles on. She's screaming her head off and starts kicking the seat in front of her. And then it happened. The shoes. She kicked the shoes off. That was the last straw. I turned the car off, got her out of her seat and went back inside to put her in time out. 10 minutes later, tantrum over but now I'm in a mood.

Yesterday out of nowhere, and after I had already begun the paperwork to dissolve the Emilee Grace corporation (I really hate Murphy and his dumb laws) , I get an order. We never get orders. Rarely. When we do, it's either someone we know or someone from, say, Denmark maybe. Totally random. My first thought is "Shoot. I hope they didn't order something we don't have stock of." Of course they did. They ordered BabyLegs. 2 pairs to be exact. One pair I have in stock and the other I don't. So, I send an email asking them if they'd like a different pair PLUS an extra free pair to make up for the one I don't have. So far nothing back. Then I decided to just take the loss and order the pair they really want from someone else who has stock. I'll pay full price but at this point I don't care. I just want to ship the order. Lo and behold, the address is an APO address. Couldn't be simple could it? No idea how the order got through on my site but I tried to order from 2 different sites (BabyLegs being one of them) and neither site accepts an APO shipping address. Grrrrrrrr..............

So, here I sit. I'm cranky. My kitchen is a mess. I have my Bible study that I've neglected that needs doing and I just can't get myself going. Soon it will be lunch time and then half my day is gone. I know this feeling all too well. Chaos. Overwhelmed. Stressed. And all because I don't prioritize. I hop on the computer first when it should be the last thing I do. Had I been doing things the right way all along, would my day have gone better? Not necessarily. I may have still dropped my cell phone. Gracie may still have had a tantrum. I'd still be dealing with this crazy order. But my attitude would be different. Sunday morning in church we were reminded that we are to dwell in the secret place. That it was not a place that we should just go to visit but it's someplace that we need to live. So, I plan on moving in. I need to. I don't want to live another day as a visitor in the secret place. To some this may make no sense. To others you'll be nodding your head in agreement.

{Creative Tuesday - Mod Podge File Cabinet}

2009-09-22T11:36:00.001-07:00

I'm linking up with Andy's Creative Tuesday over at Poppies at Play and Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog and I figured this would be the perfect time to showcase my file cabinet that I Mod Podged and made over. :) I got the tutorial from Mod Podge Rocks although I didn't go to the extreme that she did (I was too lazy!), I think it came out great. :)

Here is my old, beat up, dusty-lookin file cabinet BEFORE:Holy glare from the camera!

DURING:

And AFTER:
I picked up a really cool scrapbook kit from Walmart for $5 but didn't measure my cabinet before that. The drawers are 11x13. :( So thankfully I found coordinating trim in the kit for each paper and managed to cover the whole drawer. Could not figure out how to get my lock thing-y off so I had to go around it. Not easy. I actually kind of butchered it but thankfully my cabinet was black so you can't really tell. :)

{Quick Fix 4 Your Off Centered Blog Header}

2009-09-19T18:09:00.001-07:00

On my many many travels to various blogs here and there I've been seeing a recurring problem on many blog headers. I know that when I was figuring out all the ins and outs of blog design ~~enough to get me by~~ it would drive me nuts when things just didn't look right on my blog: not enough space between sidebars, my header being off-centered, borders in places that I didn't want them, etc. I imagine that I'm not the only one that is bothered by that stuff so here's a quick fix for one major blog design problem: centering the header.

I'm not sure if you can see it but the arrow on the left is pointing to a light gray border and the arrow on the right is to show you how the header is outside that border. Not good. Fixing this problem is actually pretty simple. The first thing I do is remove the border altogether. That's just a matter of preference really but since this is my blog, we'll do it my way. lol

Step 1 - Removing Border from Header

Go to your "Layout" tab and click on "Edit HTML"
Find this block of code:

#header-wrapper {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}

#header-inner {
background-position: center;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;

Anywhere you see border: 1px in this section, change it to 0px (that's a zero, not an "oh"). That will remove the border from around the entire header.

Step 2 - Centering Header (I got this information from this blog)

While still in "Edit HTML" mode, find this block of code:

#header img {
margin-$startSide: auto;
margin-$endSide: auto;

}

ADD THESE 2 LINES RIGHT BELOW margin-$endSide: auto;

position: relative;
 left: -25px;

So now your code should look like this:

#header img {
 margin-$startSide: auto;
 margin-$endSide: auto;
 position: relative;
 left: -25px;
}

Here's the only somewhat tricky part and by tricky I mean you may have to play around
with the numbers a bit. See where it says -25px;? You may have to adjust the numbers
less than -25 or maybe more than -25 to get it closest to the center on your
particular blog. Make sure you "PREVIEW" before you save. Wallah - you're done. :)

Hopes this helps. If you use this tutorial, please be sure to let me know by leaving me a comment. :)

{What's In The Line-Up}

2009-09-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

I thought that once the girls were in school that I would have some time to work on all the little projects that I've found around the web lately. But so far, I'm wrong. Had to take Em out of school early on Monday for a physical then finally went back to Weight Watchers on Tuesday when Grace went to pre-k. Wednesday is always nuts because of church on Wednesday nights and then Thursday I kept Gracie home because she had a cold. Today brought us to the DR yet again so I'm wondering when I'm going to get the time to do the projects I'm dying to do?

I'm hoping next week will give me some free time to do these cool projects I've found around the web:

I think I'll tackle the file cabinet first because it seems like it would be the easiest choice. The Cuddle Cubes will definitely be next and then the Fabric Pumpkins. Can't wait to get going on those and then post about them. :)

{BabyLegs WINNERS}

2009-09-18T07:49:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the BabyLegs Giveaway. :) The 2 lucky winners are:

#15 - MandyMoo
&
#36 - Sibabe64

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Please respond to the email I sent you with your mailing address and information. :)

{Free Behavior Chart}

2009-09-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Princess Emilee had an okay first day of school. Well, it was her first half day. She begins her full day Kindergarten tomorrow. When I picked her up she was crying. Her teacher told me that she was upset because a girl in her class had gotten a sticker for exceptional behavior. Emilee does not notice that 14 other kids did not get a sticker. She only noticed that she did not get one. Then her teacher proceeded to tell me that she had a hard time following instructions and listening. :( We've had this problem in the past and I used behavior charts at home to help encourage good behavior. She did really well with them.

One of my biggest flaws is that I don't really follow through with much. I've started and stopped so many things so it was no big surprise to me that the behavior charts only lasted a few weeks. Well, here's to my second attempt!

I made this chart that I'm going to print out and hang on our kitchen wall under the calendar. I also made stars that I'm going to cut out. Every day when she gets home, if she had a good day in school, I will give her a star to put up next to that day. At the end of the week, if she has 5 stars then she will get a reward. This week I think her reward is going to be Baby Dora which she has been asking for for months. I think I'm even going to put velcro next to each day and then a piece on the back of each star for easy on and off. I'm hoping to be consistent with this and I'm really hopeful that she will have a great day tomorrow. I've been doing a lot of praying about and and thank God that He is concerned about everything that we're concerned about. There is nothing too big or too small. He cares about them all.

Please feel free to click the image, download the file and print out. Please share with your readers but be sure to direct them to this post to download. :)

**Fonts by Kevin & Amanda and Digital Kit by The Shabby Princess

{BabyLegs GIVEAWAY}

2009-09-11T07:28:00.001-07:00

Now that the weather is finally cooling off I can't help but think about one of my favorite baby products. BabyLegs. Ever hear of them? They are baby arm and leg warmers. Well, that's not entirely true. They are not just for babies. Kids up to 12 years old can wear them and I've even known a few trendy moms to wear them on their arms. They come in a variety of cool colors and patterns.

Since the summer is over and I'm feeling particularly happy about the upcoming holiday season I figured why not give away some Babylegs out of my stock.

To win a pair of the featured BabyLegs, there's a few things you need to do to enter:

leave a comment on this post
earn extra entries by subscribing or following The Princess Escapades
blog about this contest

I will chose 2 winners 1 week from today. US residents only please. :)

**CONTEST IS OVER**

{Easy Wall Art 4 Kids}

2009-09-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

**Edit: If you are visiting from Tip Junkie, please check out my creative blog The Girl Creative for more crafty ideas. :)

I am absolutely famous for buying supplies for a specific project and never getting around to it. I have purchased 2 sets of wood letters spelling out my girls name over the years with high hopes of decorating them and hanging them above their bed. Ummm, never happened. Then probably about a year or 2 ago I found these awesome chipboard letters in Joann's for a buck each. They were all different pastel colored patterns. Each one was different. Very cute. I managed to pick up letters to spell Grace and I *think* I was only able to get the E-M and I for Emilee's name (at least those are the only ones I could find at home). Anyhow, now ready to finish this project, I went back to Joann's to look for the L-E and E to finish Emilee's name and no such luck. :( Figures. Good think we call her Emi a lot so at least I could put her nickname up on the wall.

This was probably the easiest project I've done to date and it was really inexpensive.

The Supplies

Flat thumb tacks
Chipboard letters
Chipboard shapes (flowers, hearts, anything you like)
Hot glue gun
Ribbon
String, yarn or ribbon (my shapes were actually chipboard buttons so I used the yarn to make them look sewn. Leave this step out if you have solid pieces to use.)

First I took some ribbon, thread it through the letters and spaced them out according to my liking.

Then I took my yarn and "sewed" my chipboard buttons. I used a toothpick to help push the yarn through the small holes.

Next I took my hot glue gun and glued the thumb tacks to the back of each of my chipboard buttons and let them dry.

Once they were dry I took the letters to my girls room and used the now decorated thumb tacks and hung the letters above their beds on the wall.

Piece of cake! :) If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see your finished projects. :)

*Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to photography so please forgive the horrible picture quality and lighting on some of the pictures.

{Easy Wall Art 4 Kids}

2009-09-10T13:33:00.000-07:00

I am absolutely famous for buying supplies for a specific project and never getting around to it. I have purchased 2 sets of wood letters spelling out my girls name over the years with high hopes of decorating them and hanging them above their bed. Ummm, never happened. Then probably about a year or 2 ago I found these awesome chipboard letters in Joann's for a buck each. They were all different pastel colored patterns. Each one was different. Very cute. I managed to pick up letters to spell Grace and I *think* I was only able to get the E-M and I for Emilee's name (at least those are the only ones I could find at home). Anyhow, now ready to finish this project, I went back to Joann's to look for the L-E and E to finish Emilee's name and no such luck. :( Figures. Good think we call her Emi a lot so at least I could put her nickname up on the wall.

This was probably the easiest project I've done to date and it was really inexpensive.

The Supplies

Flat thumb tacks
Chipboard letters
Chipboard shapes (flowers, hearts, anything you like)
Hot glue gun
Ribbon
String, yarn or ribbon (my shapes were actually chipboard buttons so I used the yarn to make them look sewn. Leave this step out if you have solid pieces to use.)

First I took some ribbon, thread it through the letters and spaced them out according to my liking.

Then I took my yarn and "sewed" my chipboard buttons. I used a toothpick to help push the yarn through the small holes.

Next I took my hot glue gun and glued the thumb tacks to the back of each of my chipboard buttons and let them dry.

Once they were dry I took the letters to my girls room and used the now decorated thumb tacks and hung the letters above their beds on the wall.

{The First Day of School}

2009-09-10T11:31:00.001-07:00

So the day has finally come. The first day of school for Emilee (kindergarten) and Gracie (preschool). They both only had to go for an hour today but they both did really well. Grace went right into the room and began playing with the toys. I was able to leave, fill out papers and come back without her even noticing. She even told me "I didn't cry". What a big girl she is. She begins her regular class on Tuesday where she'll be starting on the color purple and will be learning about creation during Bible time. Absolutely love it that she will be learning the Bible. :)

Emilee and I got to her school and found a bunch of parents and kids waiting outside. I was excited to see one of the mom's that I had become friendly with during orientation in the spring. Even more excited to find out that her son and Emilee were in the same class. Her teacher seems very nice too. I got to speak to her for a few minutes just filling her in on some of Emilee's little quirks (i.e. very chatty and sensitive). We found Emilee's locker outside in the hall and also found her name all over the classroom on different boards. She's the only one in her class with a December birthday so that should be a special time for her this year in school. Tomorrow she goes for a half day and then on Monday it's full day from here on out. Let the fun begin!

{I Thought I Was Raising Girls}

2009-09-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Last night Tim was working late and Gracie had taken a late nap so naturally I was dreading the night. I was pretty tired from all the laundry I managed to get done yesterday and I really just wanted to crash. Then I thought about my new friend Amy's blog and how she talks about making memories with her girls (she has 3!). Recently she blogged about how her girls were so excited about these aprons they had recieved and when she got home from the gym (exhausted and tired) at 8:30 at night they surrounded her asking her to bake with them. As tired as she was, she took her girls to the kitchen and they whipped up a quick dessert and made a fun memory. Well, clearly I had no excuse (we all know I was not at the gym working my butt off! )so I announced that we were going to have a girl's night in my bedroom including my bed, popcorn and a movie of their choice. Daddy Daycare it is. Or as Gracie calls it Daddy Aycare. She's been dropping the first letter off of a lot of words lately. She'll say ola bar when she means granola bar. She calls our favorite restaurant Ugaboo when it's really Bugaboo. Very cute.

Anyhow, about a 1/4 of the way into the movie, Gracie lets one loose. Of course Emilee had to say "eeew, who farted?" and it began. The farting, the smelling of the hinee's, the laughter. lol The 2 "princesses" were getting such a kick out of themselves. They had so much fun just carrying on and laughing. Strangely enough the room didn't even really smell .Well, maybe just a little. lol Here I thought I was raising "girls" but clearly these 2 hold their own if ever a little boy enters our family. :)

{Before & After}

2009-09-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not doing before and after pictures of my almost 100 lbs weight loss. But, that's coming. Soon. (hint hint - hit that nice little subscribe button to your right so that you don't miss out on that post :)Today I'm participating in a Before & After party over at Thrifty Decor Chick. If you want in on the fun, visit TDC and grab the details. :)

Okay, so in the Spring we re-did our bathroom. And boy oh boy did it need it. We gutted the whole thing down to the studs, replaced the plumbing and created our dream bathroom. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time I took a shower for the first time. I felt like I was on vacation.

The "Before"ShotsOur house was built in the '50's and I think the tub and floor were original. Totally gross. Wait until you see the duck tape. lol

Our horrible spackle/repair job. I have no words for this.

Ahhh, there it is. The ducktape. Lovely. We had caulked and recaulked it so many times that finally I just threw some ducktape on there until the construction work begain.

"During"

The whole job took about a month. One very. long. month.

The "After" Shots

I forgot to take a picture of the bathtub and shower area after the bathroom was completed and this was the only one I have so please ignore the unfinished window and blue painters tape on the right. (I picked up the shower curtain at Bed, Bath & Beyond if anyone is interested.)

I knew I wanted the dark fixtures but was not sure about the floor. Then on our first of many trips to Home Depot (which is where we purchased 99% of the supplies for our bathroom)with our contractor (and friend, Phil) my husband saw that chocolate brown tile and I fell in love with it. I was sold. Probably the easiest decision I had to make during the whole construction process. I never want to design another bathroom. Again. So many decisions had my head spinning. Not to mention the many 3+ hour trips to HD with the 2 little crazy princesses. I'm surprised I did not wind up in a mental hospital. lol

This used to be just a wall behind the door. We went into Princess Emilee and Princess Gracie's closet and took up about half of it to make shelves in the bathroom. They now have a small closer but we did have an extra shelf and bar put up so that each princess has their own rack for clothes.
Not shown here, we also have a towel rack under the medicine cabinet for decorative towels. I made the flower arrangements for dirt cheap. Got the vase in Michael's for a few dollars, used some old smoothe rocks for inside to keep the flowers in place and got 3 long stems/branches of flowers on sale at Michael's also. The whole thing cost me less than $10. I love a good bargain. :)

{Sunday Reflections}

2009-09-06T17:50:00.001-07:00

We had a cool little detour on the way to church this morning. About a mile or 2 from church we saw a man walking with his Bible. I recognized him to be a homeless man that one of our church members usually brings to church. We turned the car around and just as I thought, it was Leonard. I only know his name because we asked him when he got into our car. He told us where he was coming from which was probably a good 7 miles or so. And when we made mention that that was a long way to walk to church his response was, "I go wherever the Lord gives me the strength to go". That statement made my heart happy. I'm sure we were a blessing to Leonard by picking him up but he blessed me today.

Later on in the day I received this video clip from my old Mary Kay director, Jenni. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCF8GN8rWI It's of her 10 year old daughter leading a worship song at church this morning. I absolutely love it when I see children grow up in the ways of the Lord. As a mom, it's my responsibility to train up my children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). It's been my prayer more and more these days to raise Godly children and set a Godly example to my girls. I'm so far from perfect and fleshly in many ways but my prayer is to be more like Jesus and for my girls to grow up to love the Lord with all their heart. At least my heart is in the right place. :)

Right after I listened to this video clip, it was time to put the girls to bed. Tim sat the girls down, had me find a worship song on Playlist.com and reminded them of what they learned in their Sunday school class this morning: be kind to your neighbor. Of course they were getting antsy and squirmy and acting like they had ants in their pants but when we played Jesus Lover of My Soul, we worshiped together as a family and the sweet peace and presence of God rested on us. I love these lyrics:

I love you, I need you
Though my world may fall
I'll never let you go
My Savior, My closest friend
I will worship You
Until the very end

No matter what we go through and though everything around us may seem to fall apart, as long as we hold close to Jesus, everything will be alright. I'm thankful for the Lover of My Soul today.

{New Blog Reads}

2009-09-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

When I decided to re-do my blog, I only kept some of the gadgets because I was just too lazy to make notes of all the rest. Plain and simple. So, I lost my blog list. I was not too worried because I had actually found most of my new favorite reads by visiting Collette over at Jesus Loves Mums. So, I took a gander over there a little while ago and took some notes and re-created my blog list.

Since I'm naturally addicted to the computer and since this has just felt like the world's longest day, I have been wandering around the web looking for some more new favorite reads. Lately I've been in a crafty mood. I haven't really done any projects but I'm always on the lookout for some neat idea or project to do with the girls. Well tonight must have been my lucky night because I came across of bunch of really great ones. Check these out:

Hostess with the Mostess
Little Birdie Secrets
A Feathered Nest
Crafty Chicks

{Princess Escapades}

2009-09-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been so busy. The hubs had the day off yesterday so that always throws my routine off ~~interferes with my loafing around~~. I took the girls for haircuts at Snippets. While it's fun for them, I think that place is totally overrated and overpriced. I could have brought them to my favorite hair dresser EVER, Tosha, and she would have given them a better cut and it would have cost me much less. But.........I digress. I forgot to bring the camera too. Not one of my better mothering moments.

I redesigned my blog.................again. I even changed the name a bit. I think The Princess Escapades is definitely more fitting. lol It's always an adventure. For example, on our way to Snippets we had to stop at Target so that I could use the bathroom. I'm famous for having to make pit stops. I get that from my mom. Anyhow, I drag Princess Emilee and Princess Gracie into the stall with me and are hoping and praying that they don't open the door on me (which Emilee did once but that's another post!). Grace sits on the floor (I know, ewww gross) and decides it would be fun to peek under the wall at the lady next to us. I hear this loud gasp and shreek. lol I'm embarrassed although I think it's hilarious and I'm trying not to laugh. Poor lady. lol So, yeah. This title is definitely more fitting, don't ya think?

{The Story of Us - Part One}

2009-09-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

The story of "us" began 8 years ago today. I had just spent Labor Day with my family and my best friend's family out east on Long Island. It was a rough day for me because my best friend had invited this guy friend of ours to come along. He was so into her and she claimed they were just friends but that day it seemed a little more than that to me. (side note: they are now married with 2 kids!) I was sulking and feeling bummed because yet again, another one of my younger friends seemed to have found Mr. Right while I was still waiting for "the one".

A little background: a few weeks before that I had gone out east again with my family, only this time to visit my aunt and uncle at their camp site. On the way home I had a little chat with God. Over the years He had given me words about getting married so I knew it was in His plan for my life but I just didn't know when. That night I told Him point blank, "I know you have someone for me. You've promised me a husband and I believe you'll bring us together when it's Your time. I'm done asking. I'm not going to beg." That was it. I really was done praying about it. Not because I didn't have faith to pray. It's just that I had prayed and pleaded long enough. I had to let it go.

Somewhere between this conversation with God and Labor Day, I had created an account on Crossdaily. It was really a christian pen pal site and I guess you could use it to meet people. I had a friend at work take a picture of me one day with the digital camera and uploaded my photo never in a million years thinking I'd ever meet anyone. I got your typical crazy emails from foreign men from Africa and the like professing their undying love for me and telling me that they wanted to marry me (which if you knew me, you'd think nothing of this. I always seemed to attract foreigners lol ). Yup. In their first email and all. lol Umm, no thanks. Then the morning after Labor Day, the day I had been feeling down, I got an email from an American (lol) who actually lived 40 minutes away (he had written the email the night before - Labor Day) Initially I was a bit freaked out. Someone close by? What if he was nuts? This is the internet after all. I wrote him back anyhow and there our relationship began.

To be continued..............on our Anniversary in October. :)

{I'm In The Zone}

2009-08-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what has come over me but whatever it is I hope it's here to stay! I am in the zone! The Organization Zone! I'm soooooooo tired of the clutter and stuff in my house and I'm finally doing something about it.

It started early last week with getting a shredder. I do all of my banking online these days, including paying the bills ~~signing my life away to all my creditors~~ so why keep all the paper lying around? So, that begun my journey.

Next I organized my office with my sister (which I posted about this weekend here). Today, I took all of the paper, boxes, mail and stuff out of the kitchen and moved it up to my office where my new shredder is. Then I took all the fake greenery above my cabinets and tossed that. Who needs more dust catchers anyway? I even went through all the cleaners and chemicals under my kitchen sick, trashed the old ones, and put the ones I rarely use in a bin and brought to the garage. Ahhh, it feels so good to get rid of unnecessary mess. All the clutter was really starting to get to me. I was feeling like my house was chaotic all the time. I was edgy and cranky with Princess Emilee and Princess Gracie because I just could not get a grip on things. It's amazing how doing a little bit of cleaning makes you feel so much better.

My goal for the rest of the week:

Buy some cheap shelving for the basement and move some of my dry store items down there (i.e. canned goods, pasta, soup, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.).
Make room in my cabinets for items we use on a daily basis but have no place to put them (i.e. cereal, bread, shake mix - for the hubs)

If I can get some of this stuff done this week along with the laundry that never seems to go away ~~that I tend to put off because it seems impossible to conquer~~, I will be sooooooo happy. Oh, and if I can manage to eat healthy and count all my Weight Watchers points, then this week will have been one of the most productive in such a.long.time.

{Laughing Moments of the Weekend}

2009-08-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

My sister, Kate, came to visit this weekend and she helped me organize and clean my office upstairs. It's something that I've been wanting to do for a few weeks now. I want a place where I can go to read my Word and pray. I want a place to put my laptop so that it's kind of out of the way and I won't be so distracted by it all day long. I want it to be functional enough to do some sewing and crafting projects. It took us h.o.u.r.s. to do but it's done. We even cleaned out the closets and got rid of so much junk ~~brought it out to the garage so it's all out of the way~~. The only downside is that we forgot to take before pictures. Let me try and paint a picture for you:

Medium sized room with L-shaped computer desk covered with paper, pens, junk.
Comfy arm chair in the corner with painting and crafting supplies on it.
Shoes belonging to the Emilee Grace Company taken out of their boxes (by Princess Emilee and Princess Grace) strewn about the doorway.
Boxes of Emilee Grace products along the wall and in the corner.
Clothing and shoes falling out of the closet and on the floor surrounding the closet doorway
Old school computer monitor sitting on old school table.
Old (very old) sewing machine/table in the corner.

Can't you just picture it? It was bad. But now it's clean and although it doesn't look like this (I can dream can't I??), it looks 100x better. Thanks, Kate!!!!Now onto the real reason for this post..........the laughing moments of the day. Once we were done cleaning we needed to bring some of the final junk to the garage. It was our second trip outside so my flops were nice and wet from the rain outside. Gracie was sitting on the steps crying about something and Emilee and Kate were outside the front door. Just as Kate is telling me I need to open the garage door (again! b/c Em took it upon herself to close it), I slip on Tim's boots, while carrying big computer monitor and fall down 2-3 steps. Kate's initial reaction was "Oh my gosh, are you okay" and then it happened. The laughter. I started laughing. She started laughing. We got into some more trouble, laughed and laughed some more. I haven't fallen down the stairs in a long time. Usually I'm tripping up the stairs. I don't blame Kate for laughing at me. I would have laughed at her!

As if the day can't get any more eventful, Grace decides she wants to pee outside. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I'm pretending to be a dog". lol Well, at least she took her underpants off. Gotta give her credit for that!

Thankful Thursdays

2009-08-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my new friend Collette, I came across Thankful Thursdays and I wanted to participate. If you would like to also, please visit Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey and get on board. :)
The five things that I'm most thankful for today are:

I'm thankful that my husband has a secure job and that we have a roof over our heads. I know so many people that are going through tough times right now because of the economy and while we are definitely not living large, God has been keeping us and providing for us.
I'm thankful that my kids and husband are healthy.
I'm thankful for the buttermilk that my husband picked up at the store the other day. lol We never have buttermilk in our house but I've always wanted to make Buttermilk Pancakes and now today I can. :)
I'm thankful for laughter. My girls are seriously nuts and the fact that I can laugh over most of the things they do and the havoc they create is a good thing. lol
I'm thankful for God's mercy and patience. So many times we seem to take FOREVER to get our act together in some areas but He's always so patient, loving and kind with us. His mercies are new every morning and while we can be hard on ourselves at times, His love for us is unconditional.

Total Randomness

2009-08-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

My blog got a facelift. Did you notice? I wish I could take credit for it all but thanks to some really great sites out there, I managed to spruce up my blog. The background came FREE from Aqua Poppy Designs. Me likey.

I made the header using Scrapblog. Soooooooo easy to use and it has so many great FREE graphics. :) This blog is still a work in progress............as is everything else in my life these days.

Today is one of those days where I have a bunch of thoughts bouncing around my head but can't seem to make any sense of them. Maybe I'll just be random and throw them out there.

In no particular order:

1. The girls are watching Dora and I notice that a lot of her adventures include witches. We may have to ban Dora.

2. Tonight is the last night of Bible Boot Camp (VBS) and I'm pretty excited about that. The kids had a great time and I think it was a success. A lot of time and planning went into it so I'm thankful to take a break from that.

3. I got up at 5 this morning to do the treadmill. I told Tim last night to get me up even if I put up a fuss. I only did 15 minutes but I guess that's better than the zero minutes I've been doing lately.

4. One of my prayers lately is for God to make me into a morning person. I'd so much rather sleep in than get up and do anything else. I want to be that kind of mom that gets up early, gets her quiet time with the Lord in, gets showered and ready for the day, gets the house in order and gets the kids ready for the day. Pretty much I guess I'm wanting to be that woman in Proverbs 31.

5. I'd love to be more organized and get myself (and the kids) onto some sort of schedule and routine. I hate that chaotic feeling that I often feel throughout the day when I'm looking at the laundry and the messes around the house, the bills and papers piling up, etc. Sigh.

6. I'd love to reach my Weight Watchers goal one of these days. I started this summer with a plan to lose 20 lbs in 20 weeks. That went out the door pretty quickly. I actually went in the opposite direction, which I'm not happy about. I can sit here and wallow and moan and cry the blues but I choose to start tracking my points again and look forward to Sept. 15 when Emilee and Grace will both be in school and I can actually go weigh in at Weight Watchers and stay for the meetings. 19 days to go. Hopefully I can knock off a few of these lbs before then. Tim's on a new program so it always helps when we are both on the same page. Actually, I've had Em and Grace eating better this week too. I realized that if my kids have weight issues, it will be my fault and I needed to do something about that.

7. I have a lot to do today so I better get going. :)

A Mom After God's Own Heart

2009-08-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

I have SO much to do today because tomorrow morning we leave on a quick mini-vacation and technically I should be showering but I'm really loving blogging these days and wanted to post a little something. It's funny because I don't think many people ever read (or even know it exists)this particular blog (except for Michele lol) but I enjoy doing it so that's reason enough.

I've been reading the book A Mom After God's Own Heart for, well, forever, it seems. I keep coming back to the first few chapters. There's so many great things in there regarding parenting and raising Godly children that I keep re-reading it after I've gotten sick of myself and the Monster Mommy I find myself turning into. I'm sure we've all heard the verse in Proverbs "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it". I used to think that "train" meant taking them to church and reading them Bible stories. As my kids get older I've realized that it's really soooooo much more than that. It's teaching them scripture and reading it to them so that it gets buried deep within their little hearts. It's showing them that our relationship with God should be the most precious, most important thing in our lives. It's respecting our husbands so that they learn to respect their dad. Pretty much every things we do or say should be life lessons we pass onto our children.

One thing that Elizabeth George, the author of A Mom After God's Own Heart, talks about is reading the Word to our children. Here's an excerpt from the book that really spoke to me:
"It doesn't matter how long it's read. Even a few minutes a day will make a powerful impression on your family...................And don't worry about what your children are or are not getting out of your Bible reading times. What they do get is the firsthand experience of seeing your love for the Bible and your wholehearted commitment to God and His Son. They'll realize God's Word is important to you...therefore it will become important to them. They also get to hear scriptures. And, as the Bible teaches, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Your family members will also receive familiarity and respect for the Bible that will help them to love and live the Word of God as they age."

I've slacked in this area but I'm glad that I keep coming back to this book to remind me of what's important.

Soft, Gentle Voice

2009-08-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Lately during worship at church God has been gently speaking to me about things. Last week (or the week before??) He showed me that I am bound by the fear of man. I knew I was a bit intimidated by people at time (i.e. I loathe public speaking, don't like phone calls, etc.) but I realized that it was bondage more than anything else. I've let what people think and the fear of rejection keep me from doing what God wants me to do, really what He wants us all to do and that's to preach the gospel to all people. I'm so consumed and wrapped up in my own little world (where it's safe and I don't have to put myself out) that I rarely listen to the Lord and His promptings. Something's gotta change.

Then this morning at church we got a word about how the status quo is no longer acceptable. That God wants more. That got me thinking. I've been a Martha for a long time when really my heart is to be a Mary. I want to be at the feet of Jesus, loving on Him, seeking His face, falling more in love with Him. That's kind of hard to do when I'm on Facebook more than I read the Bible or pray; when I'm working on things that God has not called me to do; when I'm more interested in the latest "scoop" than I am about getting the heart of God.

So, I'm working on working those things out. Setting my priorities in order and putting the things of this world aside to set my affections more on the Lord. I love the gentle voice of the Lord.

{Way too long since last post}

2009-07-31T06:45:00.000-07:00

So, it's obvious that this blog has fallen to the wayside. Of course it has, with my addiction to Facebook these days. lol Who needs a blog when I plaster my life's happenings all over Facebook. Well, I think I'm going to start blogging here more often. Let's start today.

Last night the house was very quiet. I had a productive day cleaning, disciplining the kids, running some errands and avoiding fast food. By 9:40pm I was realizing that throughout my day I had not spent much time with the Lord. In fact lately, my quiet time has been slim to none. I always say a few things to God before bed each night, usually asking Him to help me do better the next day. Asking Him to forgive me for the ways I had let Him (and my family) down that day. That has been the extent of things lately. How sad. I decided that I would take advantage of the quiet and just put on some worship music and try and reconnect with my Savior. Throughout the songs I would offer up some prayers. One thing I remember praying was for God to remove the plank out of my own eye and to help me to stop pointing out the specs in other people's eyes. Somewhere along the line I had picked up this little self-righteous attitude. Somehow pointing out other people's sins (even if it's only in my head and heart) seemed to become a part of me lately. Ugh, how gross. We all sin. We all have our issues, our areas that we struggle with. I should stop focusing on the things i don't like in others and start looking into my own heart to see where I need to repent.

In my efforts to try to get myself back on track with the Lord I decided to pick up my "Starting Your Day Right" devo and read today's passage. The devo was taken out of Matthew 7 and talking about wide is the gate that leads to destruction............ As a rule, I usually take whatever chapter in the Bible the devo was coming from and read the whole thing. Lo and behold what did I find?

Matthew 7: 3-5

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attenion to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother 'Let me take the speck out of your eye', when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Whoa! Okay, Lord. Point taken. I didn't feel condemned by this. I didn't feel like I had been reprimanded. In fact I was happy that I was convicted of something last night and God confirmed it this morning, in the subtle way that He so often does. Will I never focus on someone else's flaw? No. But you can bet that I'll be trying hard not to.

Thank you, Lord for speaking to me.

Emilee's Birthday Invite - Not an Actual Post - Sorry

2008-12-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

Good-Bye Summer!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

So, the summer is basically over and I could not be happier. I mean, this summer actually was pretty enjoyable compared to recent years but I'm really not a hot weather kind of person. I LOVE vactioning somewhere tropical and enjoy the beach when I can just hang out and not have to worry about any little people. lol But, it's been oh about 7 years since I had that kind of summer vacation.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the fall season. It's my favorite. I love wearing sweaters and jeans and boots and all that fun stuff.

Emilee starts Pre-k next week. I can't believe it. She's going to a Christian/Lutheran church and they call it Jr.Kindergarten. Isn't that adorable? I don't know who's more excited, her or me! ha ha I'm excited for several reasons. One being I think it will be good for her to have some classroom structure other than Sunday School. She is soooooooo smart but LOVES to talk and do her own thing - very independent - so I think this will be great for her. The second reason is I will get a bit of a break. I know, I know, what a bad mommy I am. Not bad, honest. lol It is hard work being a stay at home mom of 2 rambunxious little girls (yes, Gracie is a busy little girl too). We don't have any family up here and no real baby sitter close by so it's just me and them, all the time. I'm very thankful for being able to stay home and raise my girls - I would not have it any other way - but it's hard work and I'm also thankful for the break. Now, before I go on, I just have to say this. Tim is GREAT! He really helps out sooooo much. After a hard day at work, he'll come home and help out with dinner and dishes or just hanging with the girls. He's always willing to give me a break when I need one and has on many, many occasions taken over to give me some time to myself. I really could not ask for better. :)

My third reason for being excited about Jr. Kindergarten is being able to spend some time with Gracie. I've never had any time alone with her really since she was born and I'm looking forward to it. I missed this age with Emi b/c I was working full time so I'm really happy about being able to be with Gracie during this time.

My last reason for being excited about JK is that I'm hoping to get to the gym a few mornings a week to use the gym membership I've been paying for. lol They have daycare and there will be just enough time for me to do a quick workout, go home, shower and then pick Emilee up.

Did I mention that I've lost 60 lbs so far? Well technically 58.6 but I weigh in tomorrow at Weight Watchers and I KNOW I'll pass the 60 pound mark this week. Yay! I've been doing Weight Watchers since the end of March and I could not be happier with the results. It's been a real lifestyle change for me and I'm in it for the long haul. I'm not brave enough to post any progress pictures yet but soon. ;)

I think that sums it up for now. I've been a big time blog slacker this summer. All my blogs have been suffering. Well, not ALL of them. I started a new blog called Sass n Scrap Designs because i have FINALLY figured out how to design digital scrapbook kits. So I've been creating about a kit a week to giveaway as a Freebie until I can team up with an online store and sell my designs. Go me. :)

Keeping Busy - Some New Pics

2008-07-29T18:40:00.001-07:00

So, business has been really slow and since my life is not crazy enough with 2 crazy little girls (insert rolling eyes), I have been doing blog design to keep me busy. I'm participating in a Giveaways Carnival which basically means a bunch of people get together and sponsor a giveaway on their blog. We then post the link to our giveaway on on main page and people will then go to our blog and enter our contest. Well, I could use as much exposure as possible for my business so we're participating. We get such great comments and responses about the website - how cute our products are, how easy it is to navigate, etc. but no one is buying anything. :( Not sure how much longer we can go on because we're losing money keeping it going. So, if you are a prayer warrior, could you pray for God's will and direction for us and for the business? We put a lot of time and energy into it and would love for it to be prosperous. We're in a tough spot because unfortunately, we're unable to sell any of our products on Ebay.

We broke out the bounce house again the other day and the girls (and half the neighborhood) had a great time. Gracie probably did more roaming around the yard than bouncing but it kept them busy for a good while. Here's some pictures. Probably looks a lot like Gracie's birthday pictures but that's okay. :)

Oh, here's a few nice little pictures of Gracie after she decided to color her face with pink highlighter. That was nice. lol

On another note, Tim is off this week - had to use some time before he lost it so this should be an interesting week. lol He hopes to do some work in the backyard - just cleaning it up a bit.

Emilee had an ear infection last week which was really weird because she has only had 1 since she got tubes put in 2 summers ago. She's back to her normal, feisty, strong-willed self so she must be feeling better. ha ha

Gracie has been asking for Justin for the last few days. I explained that he's with his mom so whenever she asks for him she answers her own question with "his mom?". It's too cute. Emilee on the other hand understands that he moved away and is anxious to get his big bed. lol Hopefully in the fall when it's not a suana upstairs we can move her and Gracie up there as well as us.

Nothing else really to report. Until next time........

God Moments

2008-07-22T10:19:00.001-07:00

Last night was a girls night out with some of my girlfriends. Emilee is sick with an ear infection and Tim was working late so I could not make it. Not a big deal. I've missed them before and I know there will be others. Then today I was reading a post that a friend of mine had written about an encounter they all had last night with a lonely old man who they were able to share the love of Jesus with just by listening to him talk and not shunning him. I started to get a little bummed because I missed out on that. A God Moment. Then I was quickly reminded (a soft rebuke maybe from the Holy Spirit) that I was taking care of my kids and that was just as important. I'm really enjoying my kids this summer. I've purposed to do things with them and just enjoy them. Even if it means just going for a drive or running errands. I'm doing what God is requiring me to do at this time in my life. Sharing (and showing) the love of Jesus with my family. Those, too, are God Moments.

Siggie

2008-07-19T20:22:00.001-07:00

Just want to test out my new little siggie feature. :)

Gracie's 2nd Birthday Pictures

2008-07-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Gracie's 2nd Birthday. I can't believe how fast time flies. We have truly been blessed by her presence in our lives and here is how we celebrated her special day. :)

Enjoying the summer

2008-07-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

This summer I decided that we're going to have fun. Regardless of the hot weather, me and the girls are going to do some fun things. I'm hoping to plan a few outings with some friends and some play dates too. I am taking some time off from all the time I spend on the computer to just really enjoy being with my family. I also plan on doing some serious praying and just seeking God for His will in my life and the life of my family.

On a side note, I have been doing a little bit of scrapbooking too. Here are 2 pages that I did today.

I haven't scrapbooked in a long time but it's something I really enjoy and I hope to do more of this summer. I plan on taking lots of pics of the girls and our "adventures" and scrap away!

Change

2008-05-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows us knows how much I have my hands full with Emilee and Gracie. For the longest time it feels like we have been going through that horrible "terrible twos" stage with Em. She's 4 and a half and she started it when she turned 1. Boy, oh boy, has it been a long 3 years! Don't get me wrong, throughout those few years we have had a lot of fun. Emilee is really funny and the stuff she comes out with makes me laugh. But her strong will can be really tiring.

Everyday I'd find myself frustrated and grumpy b/c it was just utter chaos around here. Trying to get a business off the ground has been nuts b/c the girls are just all over the place. Gracie, although a little more subdued than Emi, is a handful. She'll be 2 in July and she is one busy little girl. So, lately I've been miserable. Normally I'm a pretty happy person - I tend to find humor in everything but I noticed that I was not really portraying what a Godly wife and mother should be. I knew I needed to change but I found myself getting cold and not as convicted as I used to get. Right away that was a red flag. I felt like I was treading some very dangerous waters. I felt like I was in a spiritual rut. And for whatever reason I just could not get myself out.

On Easter I was sitting in church and my pastor was talking about Jesus' words on the cross. He mentioned when Jesus said "it is finished" and he started talking about not finishing things that we start. That immediately brought something to mind (something that I won't share just yet) and the very next day I began to work on finishing something I had started a long long time ago. So, with that change and goal I felt my life start to take a bit more order.

Then last week after hearing a message on Mother's Day I realized that my mothering skills really REALLY needed some work. I knew I was not being the mother that God really wanted me to be. I mean, how could I be when I was grumpy, stressed and screaming at my kids all day. I knew the answer to my problems lied in daily time with God. I knew that, for me, my short little prayers here and there throughout the day were just not cutting it. I NEEDED that time with just me and God, devoted to praying for my family. I think what always kept me from doing that was always thinking that I had to get up early and pray and I had tried that and I was always half asleep, could barely say a coherent prayer. I never stuck with it long enough to make a difference.

Well, last week, around mid-morning when I was wide awake, i put a show on for the girls, went into my room, got on my knees and prayed. I talked to God just like I'd talk to my husband or a friend. I remember one week recently during my Beth Moore study how she was talking about talking to God like that so I did just that. It was great. I was not dead bent on having to pray for a specific amount of time or say something specific. I just got open and honest with God and let me tell ya. What a difference it has made! I feel so much better - so much more connected to Him. Emilee and I had a great week last week! We even made 2 trips to the store and she did wonderful. Now, that's huge! I'm praying for my family and friends everyday. I'm far from perfect for sure. I still had a few outbursts last week but I've been happier and my kids seem happier and I'm just SO THANKFUL that God moved in my life and is bringing me to places of change.

Mother's Day

2008-05-09T06:23:00.001-07:00

With Mother's Day just a few days away I've been giving a lot of thought to the "mother's" in my life. I think of my mom and how many times she's been there for me. How many times I've gotten a good laugh at her expense. lol She's is such a great sport too. There have been countless times that me, Kate and Dad have gotten a lot of good chuckles out of the things mom has done. I could always count on her to tell me the truth. And I could always count on her to throw a few doozies out there. I remember one time I was sitting in the kitchen, having eggs for breakfast and I bowed my head to pray. While I was saying grace a few things came to mind so I started praying for them. I guess I had been praying for a few minutes and when I was done my mom said to me "my goodness, Diana, they're just eggs". Oh, Diane! lol

I never realized how much like my mom I was until I had my own kids. Just recently I've heard myself saying "oh, go haunt a house" or "if you don't stop crying I'll really give you something to cry about". Those were her 2 favorite things to say to us.

I can't think about Mother's Day without thinking about my mother-in-law, Stephanie, who passed away 2 years ago.We miss her and think of her a lot. I remember all of our conversations about making cards on the computer and creating mailing labels. I remember the first time I met her. She made stew for dinner and we ate in the dining room with the gold silverware. Everytime I look at Tim, I see a lot of her in him. Momma Stephanie, we miss you. We know you are taking good care of our baby up in heaven. :)

On Mother's Day I think of my grandmothers. Tina who went to be with Jesus a few months before Emilee was born. I have a lot of great memories of Grandma. I remember her in her great big garden. I neve realized how much work that took until just recently. It was her pride and joy. I remember everytime I saw her she'd ask "so, whatsa new?". That translated to "do you have a boyfriend yet?" I remember all the times at our house growing up when she had to use the bathroom and she'd stop right before the door and then lean over and peak in to see if it was empty. lol Awww! I miss her.

Alda. Oh, Alda. She is my mom's mom. We aren't allowed to call her Grandma - it's Nana. She is a rip. She is 81 years old and has more energy than I have. She came to stay with me when Gracie was born and she cooked for me, did my laundry, babysat, pulled Emilee's hair. Good times. lol She is by far the most generous person I know. Always pulling through for birthdays, holidays and "just because" in between.

So, this year, Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's in my life. Each of you has had an impact on me. I love you!

What We've Been Up To

2008-05-03T18:37:00.001-07:00

In case we haven't talked in awhile and you just happen to be reading this blog for the first time, I should probably give you the lowdown on what's been going on with us lately.

Last summer we started thinking about starting a business and in November of 2007 we incorporated a business called The Emilee Grace Company. In March of 2008 we went live with our website after many months and hours of product sourcing and finding great products to sell. If you haven't already, stop by Emilee Grace and take a looksy. We sell some pretty neat products for the modern day mother and her baby. In the coming weeks we'll be adding some new goodies. But, you'll have to check out THIS blog to find out all of the Emilee Grace Buzz. :)

While I was waiting for our site to get ready, I started a review blog of mommy favorites. That is doing really well. I've "met" some really cool people and got some samples of some really cool stuff. That blog is called Modern Mama's Fabulous Favorites and you can get there by clicking HERE.

Oh, I started sewing when my laptop crashed. My new little hobby is coming along. I've done a few projects that have all turned out pretty crappy but I keep plugging away. Eventually I get the hang of it and hopefully by then I can make some cute items to add to our store.

Tim transfered back to his old station in Cortlandt, the one he started his job at 6 years ago (can you believe it's been that long?) after being in Somers for a year and a half. He's loving that. His 2nd day back he had to deal with a homicide which brought in more OT in on week than he had gotten the whole time at his former station. Yay God! Thanks for that little blessing. Not the homicide. The OT, silly. :)

As if his life is not busy enough, he joined our church softball team. He and Justin play on it and they're having a great time hanging with the guys. Tim plays first base (which is what I played high school - pretty cool) and Justin is in the outfield.

We still teach sunday school together at our church once a month. Every other Wednesday night Tim teaches the pre-youth class and I teach the preschoolers. We're happy to be used by God and are always praying about where He wants to use us next.

Justin's been keeping busy playing JV baseball at his school. That takes up a lot of his time (and mine, hello, I'm the taxi lol) but that will be winding down soon.

Emilee is ripping and raring to go ALL THE TIME! From the time she wakes up until the time she goes to sleep, she is pretty much bouncing off the walls. I will say though that she stops from time to time to do a puzzle, draw some pictures, play with play-doe and dance around with Gracie to her favorite CD, God is My Friend. The CD is bilingual and it has Christian children's songs on it. Her and Gracie like to hold hands (well, Emilee likes to hold Gracie's hand. Gracie is usually just the innocent bystander being dragged around against her will) and dance to the songs. I have to crack up when I see a little group of 3 holding hands (the 3rd "person" is one of their dolls - it's pretty hilarious). In September, things should calm down a bit here because Em will be starting pre-school. She's going to St. John's Lutheran where they call it Jr. Kindergarten.

Gracie is a ball of fire too. She a little more subdued than Emilee but she's a cryer. And a momma's girl. If I go out and leave her home with Tim or Justin, she cries at the window. Awww. We are teaching her how to count. She counts to 10 with us and occasionally we'll hear her counting to 5 all by herself. She is talking up a storm. And yelling at Buster, just like the rest of us. She'll be 2 in July.

We get the question a lot about whether or not we'll be having any more kids. Well, we lost baby #3 in November, at the end of my first trimester. That was very heartbreaking for us. Emilee still asks me sometimes if I have baby Jesus in my belly. lol She knew I had a baby in my belly and I had told her that the baby went to be with Jesus so she gets them sort of confused. We decided that we definitely want to try again but probably not until next year. We have some things we need to do first and I think it will be a lot easier once my firecrackers of little girls are in school.

Wow, so this is a book, huh? Kudos to anyone who makes it through til the end. :) Now, let me post some of my favorite pictures.

Okay, I just have to say that this picture is typical of what my life is like; Emilee climbing on top of something and Gracie along for the ride.

Recognize this guy? lol This is Tim in our church Easter production this year. He played the disciple, Matthew. Justin played John, The Beloved Disciple, but unfortunately I could not get a clear picture of him. :( Sorry, Just.

This is from Gracie's first Easter. I did the photo editing myself. Another little hobby I picked up last year. :)

Tim & Gracie at our annual block party.

This is Gracie the morning of her first birthday. She's already pooped and we didn't even have the party yet.

Justin trying to wrangle the girls for our Christmas 2007 picture. A typical sight anytime we need to get these 2 to focus for more than 2 seconds.

Hope you enjoyed our little update. Until next time...........

Welcome To Our Family

2008-05-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

This blog was created because I want our family and friends to be able to come here and visit and see what we've been up to. It's hard keeping in touch with everyone as our life is crazy and so is yours. Here I'll be posting stories, pictures, news and just about anything I feel like posting. Hope you come and visit often and leave us some comments.