This is the Layout I made for Griffin's first trip to the Bowling Ally . I need to print out the pictures for it but I like how it turned out. I designed all the diecuts in design studio .

This is the invitation I made for Griffin's 3rd Birthday Party He is obsessed with bowling so hence the bowling theme to this years party.

Explosion Box Album that I made during the Mother's Day Weekend. I now know what to do for the next time I make one . I really like how it turned out.

Bizzy Bizzy Bizzy

I swear I don't mean to forget to write but I do anyway, I am a bad blogger . I have been so busy lately that I have not been able to do much online or Scrapbooking ( though yes I do try ) Since National Scrapbooking Day I have worked on about 20 Layout's some are Halfway finished, I touched up and added some bling to older ones or completely made up some new ones But I still felt like I haven't gotten much done. I'm just so far behind in my Pictures.
So what have I been doing you ask? Well, I have of course been the best Mommy I can be to my Kids, Griffin has been having some issues lately with telling us when he has to go to the Bathroom After doing so well for about 2 months and I have no Idea what changed for him. He also has had several ear infections recently and has been fighting a viral infection this past week now. We had to go to his Early Intervention Evaluation at the school this past Thursday and he was a crying blubbery mess... but then after about 30 Min's he was fine and I was able to disentangle myself from him and leave the testing room. When he was done he was so happy and he actually held the Speech Pathologists hand and skipped to me! LOL it was precious. The Speech Pathologist says that she will be recommending he go into the Developmental preschool where he will have speech as well as his socializing that he is in need of. He will have to ride the bus so I'm actually kinda sad about that. But it will be great for him so I will not complain!
I also have a Developmental Pediatrician referral and a speech pathologist referral coming soon from the Dr. and can't wait for that Griffin will need the Speech this summer as Early Intervention stops when he turns 3 and that is only weeks away now and the Developmental Pediatrician is so we can hopefully have a solid Diagnosis of what is wrong with Griffin's Speech. Apraxia is so far the top of the list but he has to be officially confirmed to get the treatment he would need to overcome it enough to be fully functioning in society as an adult. I've been reading 2 great books all about Apraxia and other Speech problems and a book on the ways to treat it with diet and supplements. The Late Talker is great and the other book is LCP Solution.
Anyway.....
Rory is doing great and getting BIG! he is growing out of alot of his clothes , Trying to talk to you he squeals and smiles alot and is trying to eat his toys if you hand things to him. He also trys to reach for things and grabs on to anything his hands come into contact with my shirt, his swings tray, his link-a-doos, his Disney Dumbo & Lady Plush Rattles..(He likes to attack those!) He is such a sweet happy boy but when he gets tired ( cause he wants to stay up and see what's going on around him) ugh boy is he a grumpy thing! The past few days he has been awake for way longer than he normally is and then he just gets these sad frowns on his face and whimpers, then he cries when I put him down in his swing so he can take a nap cause when it gets to that point there is nothing else to do but let him swing himself to sleep. He is doing Great with his tummy time and has been holding his head up for quite awhile he does eventually get upset cause he can't hold his head up any longer and is rubbing his head into the ground so that's when we have back play time and do fun games like peek-a-boo and tickle monster( Even Griffin joins in on that one!) My Favorite game is Kissy monster where I hold him real close and I kiss him to death all over his face and neck.. I love the way he smells and he is so soft and cuddly... I still do this to Griffin but he will not let me do it as long..He would rather be bowling! or Playing Cars Or Bowling Cars! LOL ...

Exciting News & Cricut Die Cuts

Exciting News!

My Daughter Erika Friended me last night on Facebook! LOL ... I was quite Surprised & Happy that she did it. Our Future looks promising. =D

Cricut Die Cuts ...

I've been working on making some more die cuts with the Cricut. I love, love, love the new Cartridges I got. They are what I needed to get the ol' creative juices flowing. I have started to alter them and wanted to share since tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day! I'm hoping to have a whole slew of new Pages done tomorrow so I will post those when I get some done!

I got my Mother's Day gift yesterday!

here are some pictures of the die cuts I made from my 2 new Cricut Cartridges and my New Jukebox!! The Expression was last years gift for Mother's Day... As you can see I'm going to have some fun with these new toys!

It takes me forever....

to go to the Grocery store nowadays... I went to three stores this afternoon and took me til 7 pm to get home! Yikes... I'm pretty sure I left at about 3:30-4:00 or so . I did go into Peoria which takes about 20 mins give or take depending on traffic . then stopped in East Peoria , then on to Washington with another stop.... I only took Rory

Excuse me? Your think your poor & you make how much?

As I surf the Internet this morning I came across this article about the perception of wealth and the tax changes to those who make over 250,000 a yr . Now I can understand that if you live in a certain area ( like most areas in California ) 250,000 may not be a lot of money but with that small exception those who make over 250,000 a year need to prioritize. Read the excerpt below taken directly from the article and you will most likely agree with me on that .
Excerpt -
Van Moore, an optometrist in Sevierville, makes just enough in his practice that he worries he might qualify for the tax increase. Mr. Moore said he was contemplating adding two staff workers and another doctor to his practice, but then the economy went soft. In the years after he finished optometry school, his first job brought in less than $20,000 a year. Then he made $50,000 for several years, all the while dealing with his $150,000 student-loan debt, which he still has. Now he is making just above $250,000.
"I'm not in a mobile home with no utilities or running water and holes in the floor," he said. "I'm not poor, but I'm not rich."
For the Parnells, their perception of themselves is based on the math. The value of their house is down $60,000. Ms. Parnell says the couple's gross income last year was about $260,000. Taxes, premiums for medical care and deductions for Social Security and their 401(k) contributions cut the gross to about $12,000 per month. The family tithes $1,300 a month at their church. Their mortgage, second mortgage and payment on land they bought is nearly $4,000 a month. Other expenses, including their family car payment, insurance and college funds, as well as basics like food, utilities and donations to charities, leave them with about $1,200 left over each month.
"I'm not after sympathy. We are blessed. What I want is a reality check on what rich means," Ms. Parnell says. "I can pay my mortgage and I can buy some clothes. I'm not going without, but I'm not living a life of luxury."
Please .... Mr. & Mrs. Parnell get a grip you have more money left over to spend how you please on extras than most people make in a month! I mean I feel like we are blessed to be able to let me stay home with the kids for now and if we have enough to buy some extras each month after things are paid we are doing great.
Then I read this and think ya know these people need a reality check! Quit your bitchin' and do your part. Maybe you shouldn't have bought such a expensive house , I'm sorry you can't take 2 vacations a year, or that you may have to buy off the rack from a High End Dept store once in a while. What! You can't buy only designer clothes & handbags (Gasp!) what will the neighbors think! ... maybe you should not give the church so much money since it obviously means so much to you...
Seriously we are a family of 4 and Brad makes way less and we are fine... we have food , a home, a car , and clothes on our backs. We don't want for anything... if we do want something and we don't have enough to go out and buy it then we just save up for it . AND yes we shop at Walmart , K-mart, Garage sales & Second hand stores... there is nothing wrong with that. I would rather take something that is used and in perfectly good condition and save my money on more important things like gas , food and (LOL) Scrapbook supplies....
I just hate people who think expensive material things are a necessity they are extras and you can survive without them .

Smilebox digital scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Easter Digital Scrapbook with Smilebox

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Filipino Prisoners can DANCE!

I had to share I stumbled upon some funny videos of Filipino prisoners doing some choreographed dances .. check them out!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/1260596/4422029 this one is the Rico Mambo not as good as the Thriller one but still cool to watch.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/857193/3498139 this one is Thriller and really good ! I used to love Michael Jackson! LOL

Rory's Photo Shoot

Last week I decided I should get some new cute pictures of Rory and share them with everyone. I wanted them to look semi professional so I took them with him Naked on a plain background

.... Note to all this is so much easier to do when they are newborns but I still wanted to do it even though he was not as cooperative as I would have liked. Here's a few of my Favorites.

I tried to get Griffin in on the action but he wasn't going to cooperate either so I gave up on him early... 2 year olds what are you to do with them.

Deals Deals and more Deals

OK so First off I have to say I have had a great weekend so far! I had so much freakin' fun at the Scrap Friday night, I managed to make about 4 pages and since they were having the annual garage sale the next day if you went to the scrap you got a sneak preview and got first dibs to buy anything you wanted ... you see where this is going I'm sure.

Well I went to the right while just about everyone else went the left.I was by myself at the first table I went to & one lady had stuff marked down to ridiculously low prices... needless to say in just a few minutes I had an armload of Stampin' up wood stamp sets , a ton of baggies with multiple punches, papers , magazine & Idea books , templates and numerous other things... I had a huge pile by the time I made my way to the other end of the store. I didn't bring enough cash so they held what I wanted and I went Sat morning to buy what I had left along with a bunch more ... LOL ...In total I spent $68.00 - $48.00 this morning and $20.00 last night - the scrap fee was 7.00 and I bought 2 stickles and some extra papers for the pages I was working on while there plus the 10.00 in garage sale stuff.

I probably bought well over 1000.00 worth of items and I would venture to think that it was even more than that if I had bought them new at full price!!!!

But What happened to be in my e-mail this morning when I checked it ? a great exclusive offer from Provo Craft! Yay! so the deal is you buy a bundle set of 2 Carts that they will be releasing in May for 99.00 and if you paid in 1 payment then you also got a Cricut Jukebox and Cricut markers! So I had mentioned it to Brad and he was like Wow that's a good deal you should buy it and kept asking me if I had bought it yet well I finally broke down and bought it It is just a little more than the jukebox at most stores anyway unless it is a really special sale like Black Friday and the Home Decor Cart looks cool I know I could do alot with that . As for the Jubilee Cart I could do without but I don't have any extra fonts just the one that came with my Expression when I bought it so it may be nice to be able to have another to use until I have the SCAL program and Design Studio ... those are on my wish list and I may be able to buy them here fairly soon but I figured I would wait till they came out with the DS pro since that is supposed to come out soon.

Anyway those were some fantastic deals & I can't believe that I am so lucky to have such a supportive guy who lets me spend money on my hobby without every complaining and even encouraging me to get a certain item or whatever it is that he knows I want .

Now I just need to put in those "new " counter tops ( from Brad's Parent's kitchen re-do) and finish my scrapbook room again, it is almost re-organized and the room lost a few things again that I didn't really use & the space seems much less crowded.

Stay tuned for more installments , I will be posting some new pictures next time!

Free digi kits at twopeasinabucket!

I know I know I'm behind the times it seems... Everyone but me knew it was there...BUT...

I just found the FREE digital Scrapbook kits at my favorite Scrapbook website two peas in a bucket! I'm on there all the time ( well at least when I get on the computer) I go there to check out others Layouts and take part in the challenges they have to take a class or whatever and I haven't been that interested in digi scraping cause that's all I need to do is start obsessively collecting digi kits like the real Scrapbook stuff.

I just guess that was too much to ask for, Now I want to start Digi scrappin' so I can send them to people and not worry about my pages getting damaged. I would also love to do some Hybrid Scrapbooking with both Digital elements and Traditional Scrapbook supplies and see what I could come up with. I started downloading kits that were free and now I can't stop ... it's terrible really the excitement I get from a new scrapbook element but at least it's not Drugs! Safe and Legal is the way to go!

Anyway I need to find some fonts so I can print out some Journaling and some titles for my Pages for this Fridays crop and I still need to print out some pictures.

Back to work while I have a free hour from Rorys hungry belly. It's so quite right now... ahhhh Feel the Peace.

Scrapbook Crop

Ok well I'm so excited ! I get to go to a scrapbook swap next friday! It's a 6 hour event at my Local scrapbook store ( LSS). I can't wait it will be my first time away from Rory for more than an hour, Yikes! I have to pump this week so I will have enough for Brad to feed him while I'm gone. I'm sure he will handle it fine but I still a bit aprehensive...

Anyway, I have been taking a ton of pictures so I can choose some for my LOs I am hopeing to get at least 6 done 1 an hour ... I may be able to get more done if I plan ahead and print out the pictures , cut out anything with my Cricut machine that I may want, and Print out some titles off the computer & dig thru all the embellishments and stickers so I can have as much choosen and ready to go.

I know already some of the photos I will be using already , check them out below . Cute huh?

Welcome Roarke Maxwell

Welcome my newest addition , Roarke Maxwell . He was born on Jan 30th and I have been so busy I haven't come back to update everyone but most of you know already anyway...LOL

I swear the past 2 months have just flown by I still feel like it was just last week that I felt like I was recovered from the C-Section. I suppose it was only 3 weeks ago really but man it went quick.( note to all that may have a c-section in the future - brace your belly with a pillow and bend over when sneezing otherwise you may rip a stitch! like I did and boy was that painful )

I have lost just over 30 lbs so far and I have sooooo much more to lose. It really sucks I could eat wonderfully the whole pregnancy and still gain 50 lbs I swear but I have started eating super wholesome again and now that it is supposed to get warmer I will be able to start going out more with the boys.. we live a block away from the park and last year griffin and I went almost daily. so this yr we 3 will go for walks around town and the neighborhood and play at the park and if I can bring myself to get into a bathing suit then we will go swimming !

Lose that baby weight Tazza Lose it quick!

Dissapointment...

Well, I got the Amnio done and they told me I failed all 5 test! Soooooo My C-section was canceled. They did reschedule it for the following Friday the 30th so now I just have to be patient and wait a week. I will definitely be much happier that way I am so uncomfortable and cannot imagine having to be pregnant for the normal 40 + weeks most women are!

In the mean time I've been busy cleaning and organizing and donating a ton of stuff on freecycle , to a local church based thrift store and to goodwill. I figure if I am not going to use it and it's been sitting there for a yr or OK maybe 3 then I should most likely get rid of it . It makes me unhappy to have it sitting there anyway. I would love to have the Garage done so We can have it made into a finished Garage again and be a workout room for us to use. That is my next goal this yr to clear out all that crap in there and sent it to someone who can use it! I am trying to sell alot of stuff right now mostly the stuff I know is worth money like the vintage glass and toys that I have collected. I'm such a pack rat....LOL...

My Griffin is getting so big ... I was hoping he would be potty trained by now but he's not and I am a bit slack some days... but he really has wanted to do it lately and gets quite embarrassed when he pees or poops his big boy pants. I feel bad for him he has the biggest tears as he realises he has started to go ... poor guy. he has so many words now they are not consistent but sometimes they are really clear and there is no denying what he said... his newest word is no but it's not that mean now it's really cute the way he says it.... HAHAHA I say that now right? ...
He says Ow alot I'm guessing due to me always saying it cause little baby Lyon kicks the crap out of me or moves a hurts the heck out of me.

Oh and I finally got the crib up and it's so cute... I love it , beautiful wood... I think it's birds eye maple. I will have to post some pictures as soon as I take them of the new room but I am still in the process of putting some things up in there so it may be a little bit.

That's all for now I'm sure I'm boring you rambling on like I do ...

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Well I have been so busy lately. I have been trying to finish The boys room and the playroom , I had to sell the Red Armiore I bought and painted last yr to make room, but I made a profit I bought it for 20.00 and sold it for 50.00 ! Yay!I also sold Griffin's Toddler Bed that I had painted red to match the Armiore for 20.00 got that for free so of course that's profit too! Yay again..LOL...
I am selling a bunch of fisher price little people and some vintage household stuff... I had found some really super cute lamps at a church sale this past summer and I love them but of course Brad doesn't like them so I'm selling those too just taking up a bunch of space right now and I need the room to have a really cool Scrapbook space.
I have another Dr appt today and then Friday & Saturday I have Steroid shots... then next Wednesday I have my Amnio, and my pre screen blood work crap for the c-section . Not so yay but at least I will have the baby soon and not have to worry about it anymore.
That's all for now I'll update soon!

It's been awhile....

I know, I know .... I should have posted before this. I didn't forget but alot of stuff has been going on. We had a major Ice storm that took down a ton of trees , electric poles and yes cable lines.. sigh... Mother nature is not happy this winter ... But we did thaw out and they are starting to pick up all the broken limbs and fixed pretty much all the downed lines so we are all better now.
I am 33 weeks and 5 days today had a Dr's appt today they take half the day now and it sucks. At least my Friday appts are not that long they normally last about an hour and I'm outta there ( with good Ultra Sound pictures ) so I love that.

Griffin hates the hospital and gets upset when we go to my Appointments there, Poor Guy. All Dr's and Nurses freak him out now even worse than before, He had to get a full back allergy test not to long ago. he is now officially allergic to Dogs , and some kind of Dry outdoor mold... and he still has an unknown allergy to some type of preservative... Dr says it's rare to be allergic to a preservative but he breaks out all over his face and has had 1 bad reaction to ketchup where he had hives and got sick. soooooo he will have to get tested for some of the more rare ingredients at a later date but the Dr and I need to get a list of common ingredients together and she has to special order them.... so that's a to be continued episode .

I have been pretty busy lately sorting and organizing and trying to get the house at least in a semblance of order and cleaned. LOL it is even more messy at this point that it was last week or the week before. I guess it has to get that way to get better , At least that is what I'm telling myself at this point with only 2 weeks away from my C-section. WOW.. just 2 weeks from Friday! it's so soon yet so long... I hope we will be ready. I should really buy some diapers for the baby... LOL I have been meaning to buy some but I keep thinking I have time but now I don't have much at all! Aghhhhh!
Anyway, back to my nesting cleaning thing I'm doing at the moment. I sold Griffin's Red Computer armiore it was to big for me to keep in his room with the twin bed and the crib. and I am trying to sell the toddler bed but I may just put it up on Freecycle . I'm sad to see them go but we don't have all that space to keep them at the moment so out they go. I also sorted through all the toys and I'm getting rid of a bunch... mostly Little people cause I have a sickness and collected them for him and now I have to many ( Ha did you notice I said I have to many!) LOL ... I get obsessive about things and just don't know when to stop but luckily I did stop a while ago when Brad complained to much .... Poor guy he puts up with alot LOL again I'm working on this compulsive pack rat tendencies I have but it's hard ...
I am also getting rid of a file cabinet that we kept from an old desk . It's so big it takes up way to much room in the new family playroom that is going to hold our computer now... we are also getting a bigger desk since it's to small. I want something long so we can have the printer, the computer and the photo printer all on 1 table together and have space to work . I'm thinking of a buffet table will work or a similar type. I need a table like that for my Scrapbook stuff as well so the Cricut has to have a place to rest. Overall things are going out and not coming in so we are making progress! I'll update sooner next time so stay tuned !

30 Weeks Today!

Well today I am officially 30 weeks along, I feel good and a bit anxious about having a new baby so soon. I have so much to do and really not much time left so I need to step up the pace .
I had a Dr's apt just the other day and they are changing my C-section date since they messed up and scheduled one for a bit sooner than they should have. I'm waiting for the Dr to call and let me know when they think we should do it. I need to know these things it makes me feel a bit more in control of things especially right now with the all natural birth option taken away from me this time. In case you haven't heard the news from me yet I have Vasa Previa and I have to have a C-section to prevent myself or the baby from well major complications... I don't even want to type it so if you want you can look up Vasa Previa and you will understand.
Anyway, I am just hoping that things will be smooth sailing until the c-section date and we are able to all come home healthy and safe.