Wordless Wednesday

((linking up here and here))

Mommy Diaries #4

OR… click here to get to The Lilypad!

My page with last Tuesday’s free template. (Make sure you go and get it because the link will be going down soon)

And my Wordless Wednesday page:

((Those were both made with new releases from The Lilypad’s Friday releases))

Wordless Wednesday

OK… this is a tough one for me to share. I got some of the cutest pictures of Bella playing in the tub last night (she’s learned how to be a fish and a mermaid in the water), BUT I have discovered that I am super paranoid about sharing tub time pictures online. So… We’re going with just this one picture where you don’t see more than just her shoulders and face.

I’m still pretty eh about sharing even that. And if it shows that I get found through any nasty word searches or linked from nasty places I’ll take it down with the quickness.

Anywho… here’s what I did with last week’s picture:

(using It's My Party by Traci Reed)

linking this up here, here, and here

A video, a template, and a review

First off…

Yes! Another new edition of the Mommy Diaries.
Next, a new template! (It is Tuesday after all – or so I think. lol)

((download no longer available))
There is only a 12x12 version in PDF and TIFF forms this week. If anyone would like the other size or sketch format just let me know and I’ll try to help you out. Oh, and make sure you go and snag last week’s before I take down the link.
Lastly, I finished reading the last book in “The Hunger Games” series yesterday.

I’ve been hearing so much about them lately (what with the movie coming out soon and all) and after the shocker of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I figured I should actually read these and get an idea of them before deciding to see the movie.
So… what did I think of them?
I liked them well enough. I debated with myself a little over if I wanted to keep reading them after the first. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it or enjoy it, I just had a really hard time actually getting into the book. At first it was one of those books that I just had to tell myself “No! You will finish this book!” I did get more into it as I went, but that kind of beginning is just never a good sign for me with a series.
I decided to go ahead and go on to the second, and while I didn’t have any problems getting into it, I didn’t quite like it as much as the first. No particular reason why. BUT I did like it enough to just have to find out how it ends, thus giving me no qualms over buying the last book. And I really did like the last book. Especially the way it ended.
Overall – I liked them well enough. Maybe won’t read them a gazillion times, but I’d probably read them again, and I really want to see how they translate as a movie.
((lol – I totally just reviewed while giving no spoilers! Go me!!))
I was excited to read these, not because the story sounded like something awesome to me, lol, but because they were the first books I got on my Kindle, and I was able to get the first two free through lending sites and Amazon. (John has a Prime Membership) Couldn’t find the last one anywhere available for free, and would have waited until February to get it free from Amazon, so I broke down and bought it, but it was only $6, which in all sense means I only paid $6 to read all three. Score. lol

Thirty Weeks and Mommy Diaries

and...

 

Dishes Drama

This would be a conversation between Zach and I tonight. He was being forced to help me load and unload the dishwasher while John helped me out by cooking dinner.

“Gosh, how many more dishes do we have to load?!”
”As many as it takes to empty the sink.”

*5 minutes later*

“Seriously! Are we done yet?”
”Seriously… no. Quit complaining I do this several times a day with no help.”

*5 more minutes later*

“If this takes much longer I’m flushing myself down the toilet and going to someone else’s house. This sucks.”

Yes…. doing dishes does completely suck. He will get no argument from me on this.

Wordless Wednesday

Ryan’s Birthday edition. ((Cause my sweet angel turned 6 yesterday and we took him out to Incredible Pizza for a birthday extravaganza dinner.))

my favorite shot from the dinner fun

And just for fun…. John always makes me look fat when he takes pictures of me while I’m pregnant. I should just ban him from the camera until Mason arrives.

Don’t forget to pick up yesterday’s free template while you’re here.

Linking this up to The Paper Mama’s Wordless(ish) Wednesday.

A quickie Tuesday

Someone had to go to work today, and has to go again tomorrow. And to think, I thought I would have myself a lazy day today... WRONG.
Anyway, template for today, click to download download no longer available. Last week's link will be coming down whenever I get around to it. (lol)

And... this, this is the visual picture to my heart's little cries that my sweet angel turned six today. Pictures tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Mommy Diaries and Scrapbooking

Was planning to be able to type even more today... but the youngest is being a super brat, so I'm going to have to do another quick, short, and simple post.

First up - the first edition of the Mommy Diaries.

Yup... they are going to be videos!

Next, it's my favorite Friday of the month - the first one - which means The Lilypad has released their all new BYOC (Build Your Own Collab) products. This month's are some primary colored dreaminess... and perfect if you plan to do P365, P52, or any other similar thing. But for those of us who aren't exactly planning to do those - these are perfect for just your everyday type pictures. You can see all the goodies here. And here are previews of Karah and Amy's stuffs. (click the images to see them in the store)

Karah Fredricks: Splatterific 14 and Stuck Together {Every Day 3}

Amy Martin: Betwined Baker's Twine and Ticketed & Boxed Up Bundle

And now my BYOC pages! (linked for full credits)

That's all I have time for! I'm lucky Bella even let me post this much to be honest....

Day 3: Clouds

Just have time for a quickie to make sure this goes in as the 5th. lol
Day 3 picture - CLOUDS... and yeah I'm already slacking. I'll just have to cheat and play catch up tomorrow. lol

Wordless Wednesday

Please say hello to the Princess Pudding.

Linking this one up to The Paper Mama’s Photo Challenge for this week.
Theme of SPARKLE.

Linking this one up to Me As A Mother’s Black and White Wednesday:

God that picture makes me so sad. My baby looks so big in it.

How sad is this?

I've decided we'd go with the brutal honesty approach today.

I have - honest to the Lord up above - avoided blogging all day. If you are wondering why it's because that darned 30 Day Photo challenge thing. Don't get me wrong, I have the picture, but it was on what I wore, so I had John take it, and I look bad.
*gulp*
I really don't want to show you this. It makes my eyes sad. BUT... I will.

30 Day Photo Challenge #2 - What you wore today (yesterday)

Baggy gray v-neck shirt (stretched to the nth degree from Old Navy
Gray and Melon striped undershirt from I have no idea where - hand-me-down from my little sister
Maternity jeans from Motherhood Maternity.

I look at this picture and just think "Ewww." I can see all those extra pounds that I said I wasn't putting on this time. And as sad as I am sure this is to say, this picture just makes me think this: "God I don't want to get fat."

Now that I've thoroughly experienced a severe case of word vomit I think we should probably move on before I make it even worse... and yes, I can always make it worse.

Anyway... it's Tuesday (well at least I have a bit over an hour left to my Tuesday - again - blame the picture, I just didn't want to blog that picture) and on Tuesdays I have to come up with a template for the Digital Scrapbooking board over on JustMommies, so I figured I'd go ahead and offer it up here as well. It works out if you are a paper scrapbooker as well... I made it into a sketch form for y'all.

This be the template, just click it to download download no longer available:

The download includes PSD, TIFF, sketch, AND all the previous mentioned also in an 8.5x11 format as well. Ain't I accommodating?
Here is what I did with it. I combined it with a portfolio challenge over at Sweet Shoppe.

Click it for credits.

And one last thing for the night.
Over on her blog, Amy Martin - hey I work with her! - Amy went over her stats for scrapbooking last year and showed her favorite pages. I figured I'd share mine as well.

I scrapped 177 pages - no hybrid projects - and no incomplete pages waiting to be finished. I pulled up my favorite page from each month last year and put them all here:

And that is all folks. So long, and gosh-darn-good night.

Birthday Chronicles Part I

He has a birthday today.

They celebrated it yesterday.

He had a bad week at work (money-wise) last week, like really bad, so he cancelled his birthday plans.

She had money leftover from money people gave her at Christmas, and she knew he would veto her plan. So she set up a secret. She called her parents and set up babysitting for the kids and had them call him and say they wanted to take him out for his birthday. (That last part was a lie...) Really, she was going to take HIM out.

Three quarters of the way to the restaurant she realized that she forgot all her money when she changed purses. She then had to tell him the plan to make sure there was enough money in the bank for her to use the debit card instead. He just shook his and said that was typical of her, and just to make sure she gave him the cash when they got home. He also said that she should not be using her Christmas money this way. She reminded him that it was hers to do whatever the heck she wanted to with it. Plus b already used a big chunk of it to pay for the groceries yesterday so he was too late anyway.

She got the cheapest thing to eat at the restaurant and told him to get whatever he wanted. He got the meal that cost $16. 

She told him he still got to go to the movies. She didn't even complain when he picked a movie that she didn't particularly want to see.

She is trying not to hold out hope that he will do anything sweet or unexpected for her birthday in a few days.

This is what a dad's birthday really looks like.

So what we went and saw was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

 So, are you like me and haven't read the books or seen the original movies? If so listen closely if you are thinking of seeing this movie (slight spoilers):
If you can not stomach seeing rape, pictures of violent rape and murder, or if you do not like seeing sex or boobies - this really just is not the movie for you.

Don't get me wrong - all those things - even the boobies - add to the whole story and mystery, which as many know that usually isn't the case. But honestly, without them the story wouldn't be complete. And the story was really good. It's a great mystery and it keeps you wondering and guessing at what happened to the murdered girl and how her murder ties in. It's really like three mysteries in one movie.



inspiration for this post: she & he posts from here and monthly lifestyle project featured here

The great room switch and much more.

Hello 2012, and an even bigger hello to my new BLOG!
...though I still want to work on that header some more...

Welcome to the official kick off of my new blog, I meant to get around to posting earlier... but I didn't... I was, well, living. lol I love using the excuse of being too busy living to make up for not blogging sooner. But this first week of January is seriously crazy for my family. First we have John's birthday - tomorrow (2nd), then mine - the 7th, then Ryan's - the 10th. Today I took John out for his birthday, but I'll say more on that tomorrow. Plus today was Sunday so we had church.

I don't know what you did to ring in the new year, but we did the lazy way - though shocker of shockers - John and I both managed to stay up until midnight this year. Usually one or both of us fall asleep before it hits. Anyway, in our house we ring in the new year at 9 PM so that the kids can join in but not have to stay up so way past their bedtimes. But only Zach made it this year, Ryan and Bella both conked out.

We spent the actual evening doing the great room switch.

Zach was moved into Bella's room, and Bella was moved into the Zach's old room with Ryan. You might ask where Mason will go when he comes, and I will concede - that is a very good question. Right now, Mason is going in my room - my bed to be more precise - same as the other three did. We just aren't also setting him up an official spot in another room, we'll put his clothes in our dresser and clear out a small space for the pack-n-play for naptimes. We're nowhere near done on the room switch though. We still need to bring over Zach and Bella's actual beds. Right now Zach has the tiny top bunk off the bunk beds and Bella is still in the toddler bed/crib. We also need to get all three new bedding, new curtains for both rooms, and some decorations for Zach's room.

Ryan... well... he just ain't a happy camper over the switch, but I gotta say tough titties to him. If he would have just learned to leave Zach be, and better yet, leave Zach's stuff be, he wouldn't be stuck sharing a room with Bella. I have no pity for the boy.

And lastly... I gots to keep up with this for a challenge over at Sweet Shoppe... virtually smack me if you see me lagging.... cause I do tend to lag. lol

Day 1: Self-Portrait