La-la-la...

So, uhm...I knew I'd been neglectful. Didn't realize it had been that long! I'm just gonna gloss right over that little factoid and continue on like I blogged more recently than 2 weeks ago! LOL

1. MotD/Family Update: Today's Tayvan's 2nd birthday!!! WOO HOO to my baby girl! :) We had her party yesterday...fun with family, presents, and best of all--CAKE! :) Its tradition for us to re-do the kids nursery into a Big Kid room for their 2nd birthday. But since Tayvan is still totally content in her crib & we don't need it for another baby like usual, we've decided to let her redecorating wait just a little bit. But I'm looking forward to it. :)

Today, we went to Canton to find some coolio furniture. We didn't really have any furniture luck, but I found the most fabulous doors from an old school. They are HUGE 8ft tall, 2in thick solid wood with glass panels! One of them is already turquoise and still has the steel hardware on it. And the best part? $20 for both!!!!! Total huge !!

Then we came home & I searched ebay again for a chair. JACKPOT!! I actually found and won a fabulous turquoise chair! Finally! :) Check it out...

Yeah! So now that its on its way, I can almost finalize fabrics and paint swatches. Soon! :)

2. Inspiration: Okay, I'm just gonna go with this...*everywhere* I looked at Canton today was...turquoise/aqua & hot pink. Granted, I was looking for turquoise stuff but it was all.over.the.place. And mixed with hot pink a lot, but not for girly frou frou stuff. Just for regular stuff--home decor, clothes, knick knacks. So use that as a jump point! And if you need more inspiration for those colors...check out the MyFavoriteMemories.net October 1st gallery tomorrow morning. The October kit is full of bright colors! :)

Back in Town...

So much for regular blogging, but I have a good excuse...
I was busy having a great weekend! :)

1. Family Update:

We went to Bob's family reunion this weekend. Two days out on Possum Kingdom lake. Lots of fun, some not-so fun...but all in all, a great time!

Good Highlights: Kids swimming in the lake. Jumping on the water trampoline and rolling off into the water. Paddleboats. Good food. Family fun. Lots of laughs. Lilli caught her first fish. "Camping" in a cabin just like my grandparents old one (brought back memories). Kids all piled up in the tiny living room to sleep. Family breakfasts with lots of kids helping. Feeding the deer by hand in the morning light.

Bad Highlights: Drive taking twice as long as we thought. Tayvan falling IN the lake and bashing her head on a rock. (still makes my heart race) Not nearly enough sleep b/c I don't sleep well in weird places. A honkin' water bug dive-bombing our bed right as we drifted off. (still makes my heart race) Leaving early so that I could make a OPT Team function that was kinda jacked up.

But all in all...a Fantabulous Weekend!!!
:)

2. MotD:
Trying to work with Lilli on enjoying school work more. Since the weather was great today...I decided to take homework outside. Grabbed the chalk & drew her math table on the porch so that she could fill in her numbers to 50. Still not selling it 100% so at the end of every row, we did a Super Silly Dance! SUCCESS! ;) We did it for 2 rows & I started weeding the flowerbeds with a promise that she'd tell me when she was ready for more silly dancing. *Several* minutes later, she says she's ready. I'm thinking "ugh, girl...do you know how long it took you to do 1 row??!! Focus child, focus!!" So I go over & She'd Finished The Whole Thing!!!!!! WOO HOO!!! Major focus, major initiative for her. Silly Dance. Silly Dance. Silly Dance! :)

3. Inspiration:
Been playing with some super simple digi stuff for Tayvan's invite (which you can see on the MMM blog). Wanted to share some fab digi downloads...fonts, brushes, etc. :)
http://www.misprintedtype.com/v3/goodies.php
Enjoy!!! :)

Have a great day!
...S

Mixing It Up...

Just now posting what I half-way wrote last night! LOL :) It's still Tuesday right? ;)

1. MotD:

Adding Declan into the mix with our RAK's. He helped me hand out a couple of candy bars to folks at the grocery store on the way out. He was so cute..."here ya go! Have a sweet day!" Went to lunch with Tayvan and Bob while Dec was at school on Monday. She was in *rare form*--crazy laughing, noise making, smack talking baby girl. Bob & I were cracking up at her! Great to be able to spend some one on one time with her and us.

2. Family Update:

Okay, not really *family* but I'm going to look at the yummy chair that I found on Craigslist tonight. Its awesome to me and fugly to Bob, but he's said that I can go for it...he's okay with it if I love it. that I love IRL tonight & that the guy is negotiable on the price. Check it out...

3. Inspiration:

Music today mostly but I don't know how to post it so that it plays on my blog yet. So I'll do the link thing instead...

Flyleaf (one of my mega faves)

http://www.flyleafmusic.com/

And a new band I heard on the radio this week...best place I can find is on this guys blog but its a cool song...

http://www.johnmortell.com/2007/06/21/paramour-misery-business/

Smooches all! :) ...S

Hi!

Sorry...went out of town for the weekend. Catch up time...

1. MotD:
My faves of the weekend:
* watching Lilli play with the "big girls" under the bleachers at the football game. It was a lesson for me to learn to let go a bit...she was under the bleachers out of sight, but not out of hearing range with her older cousin to watch her. She did great and followed the rules. I did sneak down to peek on her every once in a while though! Loved watching how she interacts and how animated she is. :)
* Bob playing Kerplunk with the kids at the kitchen table. They were loving playing with Daddy and its a strategy game (albeit an easy one) and he's so good at those!

2. Family Update:
Same old, same old. Lilli=school. Declan=school. Tayvan=crazy silly funny girl. Bob=feeling better, back to biking, working a lot. Me=dancing fool, scrapping nut. Been scrapping a *ton*...can't post anything though. :( Oh, I had a dr appt today. He removed the mole from below my right eye. Its been bugging me...don't want to be "that lady with the mole" so gone it is. :)

3. Inspiration:
I think that this is the new fabric for my couch pillows. I'm going for a vintage-y flea market-y kinda vibe. What do y'all think? Does this fabric look like an old tablecloth to you? It kinda does to me! Yeah!!!!

http://www.freespiritfabric.com/core-pages/gallery.php?gal_id=97&sw_id=2028&add=ok&add=exist

Gonna party like its your Birthday...

1. Memory of the Day:
Today is Bob's 33rd birthday. I should say that our MotD is cooking him a cake, or taking him out to dinner, or something fancy and nice like that. But its not. When I told the kids that Daddy would be home soon, they started to clean on their own so that the house would look nice. Then when the garage door started its grinding noise, they ran and hid (Lilli behind the couch, Declan under the slide, Tayvan and me around the corner in the toy room) so that we could yell....SURPRISE!!!! when he walked in the door. Just lots of love and happiness...yeah, MotD! :)

2. Family Update:
Lilli was Table Master today. A big woo hoo for her b/c its a reward for good behavior. Once the teacher can trust you to make good choices, you get to be a Table Master for a couple of days. I'm not sure what all it entails, but I know she gets to take some extra funsie books for storytime and she was excited about getting the papers to pass out and keeping the table clean. :) WTG girl! :) Especially great b/c Lilli's been talking about how she keeps working hard to make good choices, but not everyone in her class does and she doesn't understand why. I've been telling her to just keep doing HER best and she would be a good example for the other kids. Love that that was reinforced in such a great way for her! :) (Now, if she'd do this at home to be a good example for Dec & Van all the time I'd be set! LOL)

3. Inspiration:
My KI girl, Danni, sent me this link today. Totally yummy fabric goodness. Makes it really hard to stay true to my self-imposed "not gonna take up sewing until I work on my photography" rule. But the fabric is droolworthy. Maybe if I just don't sew with it, if I did something else, I could treat myself to a smidge of it? ;)

http://www.joeldewberry.com/

Tough Sell...

1. Memory of the Day:

Well, my planned MotD didn't pan out b/c Dec's little friend didn't come over to play. But we made the best of it and sang & danced around to the little karaoke machine. Thank goodness for microphones & a hubby who doesn't think I'm crazy when I ask him to put in a stage & mirror in the toy room. The kids LOVE it! :) And I got to snuggle with Lilli for almost 45 minutes while we went through her word family booklet! Perfect! :)

2. Family Update:

Not a whole lot going on today. Dec starts pre-k tomorrow. He's excited! :) Worked on lots of mail prep stuff today--contracts, packaging, supply lists, etc. Oh, I took a pic of the potential pillow fabric. See what y'all think!! And tell me the truth! :) Remember, the wall behind the couch is ultimately going to be turquoise. I like that the cherries are kinda funky cool and the colors are good, but not sure its retro enough to give the flea market vibe that I was wanting, kwim?

3. Cool Inspiration of the Day:

Love this dress. Makes me wish that I was a girly girl...at least for a second. But I'm not, and I'm cheap to boot, so it'll never be mine, but I can glean a little inspiration, right? LOL :)

http://www.betseyjohnson.com/Evening_Graceland_Dress/pd/c/1101/np/1101/p/3223.html

Family Fun Day...

1. Memory of the Day:
So we got up this morning with all kinds of plans. Decided to scratch those and head to the zoo with the kiddos. We had fun walking around for a while, before the skies decided to open up and dump a ton of rain in as short a period of time as possible. LOL We took cover under an awning but Lilli had other plans. She kicked off her shoes and danced all through the rain, in and out and all around, twirling and jumping, and having a ball. Declan and Tayvan joined her a bit...laughing all the way before retiring to shelter with Bob & me to watch Lilli. :) And we got to be the RockStar parents today to the kids. We let them all ride the big carousel at the zoo! They had a blast and gave me & Bob a hug afterwards, saying "Y'all are the best parents ever!" Aaaaaawwww! :)




2. Family Update:
Y'all are not gonna believe what Tayvan did today!!!! She was running around nakie after a bath and told me "Mommy! Potty!" I sat her on the potty & she peed!!!!! Oh.My.Gosh. We did the whole pee-pee party song & dance & YEAH! Probably not really full-on ready to train (she's not even 2 quite yet), but at least its a good move in the right direction!! :)

3. Inspiration of the Day:
What do you need for inspiration? Cute, colorful, cool technique...gotcha covered! :) Check out these super cute little pins on etsy! :)

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5231330

Quick & Lovey...

1. Memory of the Day:

As another of my new ideas, I am making a goal to do some little RAK every day. Some days, little. Some days, bigger. But something to make the world a little more smiley for someone. Today, the kids & I made a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies for the folks that work at the child center at the gym. They take awesome care of my kiddos while I get my groove on, for which I am so grateful. They always know us by name, love on my kids like they are their own, offer smiles & hugs everytime, and just generally make my life so much easier. So I wanted to return the favor. We made cookies and made a Thank You card to put with it. They were all shocked, said they'd never had a parent do that before, which shocked me. Made me want to do it more often for them! :) Here's the card that we made this morning...






2. Cool Inspiration:
On the same RAK note, my daily inspiration isn't scrappy related exactly. But its worth it. Its a website FULL of RAK ideas and stories. If you need a good cry, need to have your faith restored in humanity, this is for you...

www.actsofkindness.org

3. Family Update:
Off to my dad's for a Labor Day cookout tonight. Hope to have lots of fun, lots of laughs, and get lots of pics! :) CU tomorrow! :)

I'm calling it Saturday "night"...

So technically, its 2am on Sunday, but this is my Saturday post, 'kay? I have a good excuse for my tardiness...I was finishing up a layout for the MFM gallery! :) That's good, right? :)

1. Memory of the Day:
So the kids MotD doesn't actually involve me and Bob. That's gotta be okay sometimes! I got a fabulously HUGE Rescue Heroes station toy off freecycle today. It's awesome..lights, sounds, moving stuff. Declan is In Love. And Lilli and him actually played together super well for a while...she with her Barbie house, he with his RH station. Apparently, Barbie wouldn't leave Billy (Blazes) alone at work and kept calling him to come home. LOL :) But all's well that ends well...Lilli, I mean Barbie, talked "Billy" into coming to the house b/c their kitty (Lil Pet Shop) was stuck in the tree! LOL :) I loved listening to them play together...happy, imagination, love. Its not so common these days...the argue more than play together, so it was nice to hear & see that they still like each other! ;)

2. E-Crew Update:
I think I found some fabric for my couch pillows!!! YEAH! Its been a major long ordeal with lots of searching that ended with 4.99/yd fabric at Joann's. LOL I'll take a pic of the fabric laying on the couch tomorrow so that y'all can tell me yeah/nay. I *really* want opinions! :)

3. Cool Inspiration:
So, I'm sharing a biggie with y'all here b/c I'm too tired to search etsy/ebay/et al. right now. This is one of those sites that you're gonna get lost in, so don't click till you have a few minutes to look around. Its a children's clothing company in Australia. Every page of their site is pure eye candy...the layers, the elements, the design. And then you get to the clothes! Check the layers, the buttons, the texture, the details. Absolutely Amazing Inspiration. It always makes me wanna sew something though! :)

http://www.paperwings.com.au/