Creativity


I've had a little time to get crafty. Even if its while a child is asleep on my lap or I stay up a little to late, its still time well spent! Hope you enjoy the new things I've made.

Oh Olivia! You are so CUTE!

I made another hat for Miss Livie yesterday. I was making it for Gracie when I realized it was a bit small. Crocheting is so much fun! I cant wait to crochet something to use on a scrapbook page!

February Fun

February is a hard month. Its still cold and I think everyone would just like it to get warm already. None the less we found some great ways to have fun this month.

We went to Chuck E Cheese for Q's birthday. It was a ton of fun and not a whole lot of people there so the kids had free rain of all the games.

Auntie Tina came to visit us from Maine. We adore you Tina!!!! We wish you lived close to us. We had a great time with her in town for a weekend.

I started crocheting again. Its a great project to do when the kids are cuddling up with me or falling asleep on my lap. I made this hat yesterday. Ive also done some scrapbooking and will hopefully share that with you really soon.

Im not kidding...this is how she sleeps. Isn't it funny?

Another layout- Proud To Have You Home

Journaling reads "They were all smiles when you came through that door. They both wanted to cuddle up with you all day."

A Big Deal.....Turning 4 at our house is a major right of passage. Its when Mommy lets you chew gum for the first time. ( Call me a mean Mom, but I don't want to deal with a 2 or 3 year old with gum....sounds messy) Its when you move from a "Baby" carseat to a "Big Boy" Booster. It's when you start 4 Year Old Kindergarten. It's when you can choose an activity to participate in (Gracie choose dance...not sure what Q's choice will be yet) So enjoy all your new found 4 year old fun little man. Happy Birthday!

What do you do on a Snow Day?

This is what we do....
put every flower clip that the girls have in Doug's hair. There are 12 flower clips in his hair!

After he shoveled for over an hour this is exactly what he had in mind to do today. Thanks for being such a good sport Honey!

Regional Dance Competition.

This past weekend Gracie attended her very first dance competition in St Louis. She LOVED every moment of it! She was able to take classes with well known choreographers in dance styles that she normally would not have the opportunity to take at her studio as well as performed on stage 4 times. I have to admit that I had a nice time as well. (Thanks Auntie K for the shout-out to Gracie on your blog, we hope you enjoy the pictures and when you come home we have a video of it to show you. )

This is "Dance fashion" Crazy colors, fun prints and a whole lot of cute. This is what you wear to class.

Mommy and Gracie right after make-up was done She loves making the "Victoria beckham face"


They all had a little friendship/good luck squeeze circle. It was cool.


She's a little nervous in this pic. She just really wanted to do her best.


The whole group in their tap costume.


Her face says it all! She just found out they got gold in both dances and will compete again tomorrow in the "best of show".


The whole group with their teacher Kelli showing off their the ultimate award "best of show" in the Mini category. They were all running around jumping and screaming. They were so excited.

NATIONALS HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!

She rolls! I can't believe how fast it all happens. For a Mama of three you would think this would be old news for me. But, it still amazes me every time.

I noticed....that my list of favorites on the sidebar is quit outdated. I look at it and think I rarely shop at The Gap anymore, ScrapinstlyeTV is no longer around. I think its time for an update. Check back soon for an updated version of my favorites. Until then here is another layout.

Lately....

As I sat down to write a little ditty about Q I realize that I have no pictures of the little guy lately. Ya know why? He's always running around in his "underpants" (that's what he calls his underwear these days) and a pair of socks. I'm pretty sure that no one wants to see my scantly clad young lad on the blog in only his underpants. So, an older picture will have to do.

He's a funny guy. He has some interesting thoughts that come out of that little almost 4 year old mind. Like the other day I picked him up from preschool and he started with this:

Q: Mommy, when I'm 55 I'm gonna buy a dinosaur.

Mommy: Really, how are you going to do that?, dinosaurs are extinct. (I went into the explanation of what that means)

Q: (He interrupts my little educational moment) Mom, no, no no, not a REAL one, a big giant plastic one!

He went on to elaborate that by plastic dinosaur he meant "a really big one, as big as a real one. "

So, my fellow blog readers in 51 years, if you see a guy walking around with a giant plastic dinosour you will know its Quintin.

Dancing Queen

My little dancing queen has a competition coming very soon and she is so excited! I love that she has found something that she adores so much. Right now shes dancing 4 days a week to get ready for the upcoming competition...and she would do it every day if she could. She lives for it! When the competition is over she will go back to 2 days a week (and every other day of the week in her bedroom.)

Another Layout.
Q loves anything with wheels. Always has and I think always will. He is currently pretty sick but that doesn't stop him from playing with trucks and cars. Love this Echo Park paper! Its perfect for Mr. Q.

Easy Valentines Day Project!

I'm on somewhat of a creative roll these days making lots of fun stuff. This one is a project we will be doing at Gracie's school. It's just a fan folded piece of paper hot glued to a pencil. I stuck a large candy heart in the center and then little candy hearts in the pot to keep it standing up. It's something I'm sure many have thought of before, but none the less it will be fun for the kids to do at school.

For Tori-

My dear, I know you have been waiting a long time for this picture....but here it finally is. Just beofre dance I snapped this pic of her in her cute new clothes. She wears this sweatshirt all the time! :)

I love Scrapbooking! It's so much fun! Finally Miss Livie has a book of her own started. :)

One Little Word


I just got out of the shower...I do the best thinking in the shower. It's quit possibly the only time I get to think ALL BY MYSELF. Needless to say I milk the shower time for all its worth. Before stepping into the shower I happened to read my friend Katherines blog. She has decided to join in the One little Word Challenge with Ali Edwards and pick a word to be the focus of her year....I got to thinking. Could I be that deciplined and pick one word for the whole year to focus on? In the end would I have found that it was really another word that best described my focus in 2011? Past tense I am sure I can describe each year with one word. 2010 would be grow. Not only did the obvious happen-my children grew, my family grew, my love grew, my belly grew, but I grew in an emotional way like I could have never thought. So then I go back to the first day of 2010, would I have known that my year would be one of growth? 2009 could be described as true. In 2009 I learned to be true to myself focusing in on what I wanted in my life and REALLY, for the first time welcoming it with open arms. But again, in the beginning of the year would I have known that? Or would I have picked another word entirely and that word would have changed my focus entirely and changed the course of my life for that year. Wouldn't it be great if I could pick a word right now it it could truly shape my life for the next year?

As I sit here typing this with 2 out of 3 children in need of my attention I realize in order to decide if I am going to try my hand at this word choosing task I need another shower to really think it all through with a clear head....so maybe tomorrow I will get that chance. Or maybe, just maybe, after the kids are all sleeping in their beds I will carve out a moment for myself to think.

Christmas was good!

We had a wonderful morning filled with opening presents and then played with our new things all day. I think I am still recovering from all the holiday hoopla. I love it all so much but it sure is a lot of work. Now if only there was a service that came to your house and cleaned it all up, placing all the decorations neatly back into their boxes and organized them back into the attic.

Creativity.....

I know your all loosing sleep out there in the blog world because you haven't seen anything creative on this blog in a very long time. I became concerned and wanted you all to get a good nights sleep tonight as it is cold and flu season so we should all take good care of ourselves. LOL (Sometimes I think I'm so funny)

This is the latest layout I have made: Its my first look into the little one we now call Olivia. So yes, to all those who have asked me, I do still scrapbook. Just not as much.

I've also branched out into other crafts. Like this tree skirt. I just didn't want to pay $40 for a tree skirt. So I made one for $10.

I'm not the only creative one around here....Q very creatively decorated his Christmas tree. It makes me smile! He was so proud of it. ( Make note of all the ornaments on the same branch.)

Then there's the creativity in the kitchen with Gracie and Nana. They made chocolate covered pretzels. Not just 30 or 40 of them but several hundred.
Have a creative day!

She Smiles!A lot. Isn't it great? It might not be the best photograph, or the best angle but its the first smile caught on camera. So, to me its perfect!