We took the kids to Germanfest. They had such a good time and we managed not to spend a ton of money. It was a beautiful day all around!

I've been a busy mama Keeping a clean house, takig care of my health and doing Tupperware parties Whenever possible. Here is some of my most recent work!

I made this page for a challenge over at the design experiment blog

Hope you enjoy it! It is a challenge about what comforts you. I choose to do it about starbucks...when I am tired. Some days when I am sleepy I wake up and say " Mommy will be right back" I head for starbucks and come home all before the hubby leaves for work!

Photos...

These are just some of my most favorite photos have have taken over the past few months. These little feet are baby Amaya's. My friends little girl that I so greatfully got to see come into this world.
My little Q man right after he got his little scar on his nose form taking a dive on my moms concreate.
Eric says he looks evil and I think he looks like " Mom, ok thats enough of the camera in my face...I am trying to play!"
Another photo of Amaya smiling at her Mommy!
Now my goal is to get some great photos of Gracie she just is not interested in the whole "pretend Mommy isnt here thing" She says " Why can't I pose for yo with a pretty smile?" Oh Gracie how I love you, you are growing so fast. This week she has MAJORLY gotten into High School Musical. She told me she wants to learn the dance to the song " We're all in this together" Its the one at the end of the movie that every mom of a 6+ year old can sing in her sleep. Except for I do not know if I am ready for all these clothes that say " I Heart Troy" Thats a little much for me. Although I do not think she will be into that part of it quiet yet. She has also discovered Hannah Montana. Not the show but the music is in the van 24/7. She started on her a little bit ago but recently its gotten really big in her eyes. She even asked if someday we could go see Hannah in concert? Some of her school supplies are covered with Hannah and High School Musical....although thankfully most of them are still Tinkerbell and Disney Princess. I hope she never looses the magic of the Disney Princess stuff....I think I would miss it being around.

Below you will find the pictures of the pages from my class that I taught at The Scrapbook Store on Monday night. Enjoy!!!

Summer with you my dear Gracie has not been a cake walk. You are so fun but you get bored so super easy, are always hungry and want to be outside even if it is a million degrees out or raining. I read other mothers blogs and talk with my friends and they all make it sound so fun and easy. How does that work? Right now you are watching Arthur but I feel a " I'm Bored" coming on as soon as this show is over. Thank goodness for Arthur, it atleast gives me time to think fo something for you to do. Cleaning your room ususally isn't a popular option but thats all I've got for today Kiddo. You can't even play in there or move for that matter becuase it such a disaster. I think you enjoyed making the mess though. Plus I said no friends over until it is clean. So get the baby clean and you can have your friends over every day!!!! I would give them all a warm welcome!!!!!!! I think maybe that little deal was more a punishment for me then you.

You are dong so much growing latly. More on an emotional level then physical. You still wear a size 4 or 5 and you are 6 years old. You still weigh around 32 pounds. Yet, you always want to eat? You are so stinkin' cute when it comes to the things you say.

Funny story......The other day we went to Kohls to look for some shorts for me. Some of the ones I tried on had a little ribbon as a belt. So I tied it into a bow.

You looked at me with disdain and said "Mom, don't do that."

I replied"Why....is it not cool to tie it in a bow?"

You then said"No, thats just not how I roll Mom."

I couldnt believe that my little 6 year old doesn't "Roll" that way. Where on earth did you get that?

The day after it happened I was hanging out with my little sister who just turned 21. As we proceeded to leave the house she said "Lets roll!"

A few hours later we are out and about and I overhear my sis on the phone with a friend and she says ".....yeah thats how I roll...."

Ah-ha! She gets it from my sister. Couple that with the fact that she loves her hot pink nail plish and repeatedly tells me she NEEDS a cell phone of her own. (As well as when I want to tell my hubby something and he is not available at work she hollers from the back seat of the minivan "Text him Mom.....then he can read it whenever") I believe she is 6 going on 21.

I can't text to save my soal.....it takes me like 5 min to write one sentence. I thought being almost

I don't want to forget....

The way Q talks at this age. It is so stinkin' cute! He tries so hard to communicate with us. Sometimes he just babbles with hand gestures modeling it after what he sees but there are plenty of times that he actually says words! Here are some of what he says at 17 months old

"ots" outside
"guuuue" Q
"mom" mom
"da-deee" daddy
"emmm" M also known as Melissa my little sis.
"Ke-ke" KK also know as Kayla my baby sis.
"Sis-sis" version A of sister
"sis-er" version B of sister
"nana" Nana, my mom
"Bop-pa" Bapa, my dad
"Baby" as clear as a bell
"bare-be" berry like a blue berry
"Pss" Grapes
" Hi-E" Hi
"Isshhh" Fish
"Peas" Please
"Stin-TE" Stinky
"Bub-ol" Bubble
"Wa-wer" Water
"Whoa, whoa" when he sees something amazing to him like fireworks or heavy rain
"Ooooooo" When he pours out water
"Cu-wer" Color
"ks" Keys- he loves my parents little key holder at their house.

I am sure there are a few more but I can't seem to remember them right now. I just love how he tires so hard to talk to us. So cute.

Summertime Photos! (Scrapbook Pages Coming Soon)
Gracie on her way to Girl Scout Camp! I never thought she would love it like she did. She was covered in bug bites and pink from the sun but still could not wait to go to camp each day. I don't think there was a single thing that she did not like.
She tired really hard to make ice cream in a ziplock bag. Let me tell you....it does not work. Gracie was one of the few girls in the unit that actually tried hard to get it made. Most of the time it was the 3 adults that were shaking it up!

Below are two pictures of my little sister and her boyfriend Aaron. He is home for only a few more days from Iraq. When he heads back he will be there for another 7 months. It sounds like a pretty dangerous mission that he will be going on when he gets back. So please keep him and his unit in your prayers. He said it will be at least a month at a time that he will not be able to talk to my sister so keep her in your prayers too. I think she is really nervous. I took these pictures so that they could have some pictures of each other while they are apart! In the second picture it is so obvious that she is able to be herself around him.

My little Q is such a basket case. :)
Gracie is such a little buisness woman this summer. She has a little lemonade stand that she made and intends to sell thoughout the summer to make $100! $50 for Disney and $50 for other fun stuff...like a Hannah Montana purse.
Check out how she spelled Lemonade....so stinkin' cute!
Fourth Of July Parade in Butler! They throw so much candy!!!
Q was sitting on the street just loving every minute of it!

And last but not least little Q on the peer at my aunts house on Lac La Bell in Oconomowoc. He was waving to the little ducklings swimming with their Mama.

Last night...

I went to the John Mayer concert! It was super awesome! I went with my little sister Melissa, her friend Ruthann and her boyfriend Aaron who is home from Iraq right now for a few weeks. We took some pictures at the concert last night with Aarons camera so as soon as I can get them from him I will post them. It was a great time and nice to meet Aaron for the first time.

Another Hold Me To It.....

I am not sure that anyone reads all these boring long posts about holding me to things...but just writing it in itself helps me hold to my commitments. So here I go.....

I have been overextending myself for years. I try to make everyone happy, meet every ones needs and never wanting to displease anyone in the process. But, really what happens is I make nobody happy including myself. I try so hard and mush myself to the limit making myself both physically and emotionally exhausted. So, from here on out I am going to limit what I commit myself to. I want to work really hard at doing the things I commit to really well making sure that I am fulfilled and I have fulfilled my duties so that others can rely on me and know that they will not have to pick up the pieces when I fall apart. No more falling apart!!!!

So that means focusing on my Scrapbooking, Tupperware and my family. Leaving out all the fluff and saying yes to every volunteer opportunity that comes along will be good for everyone!!!!!

I look forward to enjoying life a little more, being able to follow through with things and not getting sick!!!

I am starting fresh and will start with a new day tomorrow!!!!!

The new Jessica has arrived. So.....if you are reading this I want you to hold me to it.

Hold Me to It......

OK, now we have the first week of summer under our belts and I am already tired! Not to mention my allergies are totally kicking my butt! This past week Gracie had Vacation Bible School. It takes us a little under 30 minutes to get to church so we spent most of our time to and from church listening to her VBS songs. There are only 5 of them so if anyone wants me to sing them I could probably do it in my sleep. Then when we have listened to those several times we move on to working on her bible verses. Yup you guessed it, I have them all memorized. So if anyone is in need of a lesson on the fruits of the spirit you let me know and I could sing you songs with hand motions and recite the bible verses for you. What a great week it was for her though, she was really loving every minute of it!!! She met new friends and learned so much. I feel really blessed to have had this week for her.

So, now onto the other stuff. I spent so much time going to and from church and working on all my Tupperware stuff that I neglected my house BIG time!!!!!! So today I am going to clean my kitchen and I want all of you reading this to hold me to it! I dislike cleaning the kitchen but it needs to be done. Nobody else is going to do it. So it might as well be today. I thought maybe if i blogged about it that I would have to be held accountable for cleaning my kitchen!!!

Just A Little Bit....

Here is just a little bit of what we have been up to. Gracie and I made this box filled with 40 cards for her teacher.

This is what the last day of school looks like at our house. Gracie was so sad! She did not want to leave the building. I finally got her to leave and when we got in the van she lost it. She was crying so hard. I wanted to get a picture of us being all sad and she wouldn't even let me take a picture of her. So this is what I got. She cried all the way home and then some! I think it was about 30 min. before she stopped. Poor little lady. I was crying too because I felt so bad for her. I never imagined it would have been this hard for her. We went though almost the whole year with her not liking school and not wanting to go. Then finally the last month or two she really grew to love it. Maybe this is a sign that next year will be a little easier.
If anyone ever says Gracie is not like me....look at this! A scrapbooker in training. Go Gracie!
Us at the Zoo. This was the best we could get. We are all in our Giraffe gear. Gracie is sticking her tongue out just like the Giraffes do. Q well he was just not having it....
I Love these little feet. Aren't these shoes so stinkin' cute?
First Popsicle of the season. He was so excited he kept closing his eyes and squealing with delight.
Gracie and her Popsicle. She was not interested in a photo session that day. Enough MOM she kept saying.

LAST DAY!!!!!!

Today is my dear Gracie's last day of Kindergarten. Remember way back in September when I was saying wow what do I do with all of this time that I now have? I am shocked that I even said that! I don't have time now. I have Q here who keeps me super busy and a ton of this and that to do with my scrapbooking sandwiched in between. My poor house is covered in scrapbook stuff right now....well any flat surface above the height of my little man. So that includes the kitchen table, and the counter space next to it. I so badly wanted to get it all spic and span before little miss muffet comes home from school for the summer. But.....life got in the way and I started making teacher gifts, doing Tupperware parties, hanging with my Q outside, and scrapbooking like a mad woman.

Then....

THEN.......

Yeah whats my life without a crazy story.......

Q ate a pistachio.

He is Allergic! We of course did not know that until he ate it and preceded to cough, get red, throw up, and get really really swollen. I decided that it was time to go to the ER. I swiftly buckled him in his car seat and off I went. As soon as I hopped on the express way. He started to drift off to sleep. As a women with a peanut allergy herself I KNEW this is NOT good! So I start to go......oh you know 95 miles an hour. I am singing really loud, making noises, and doing anything I can to keep him awake. I whip my minivan into the ER parking space all funky. I jump out of my seat and grab Q running into the ER. I see that they are slammed with patients! There was not an empty seat in the room. I was overwhelmed and I yelled. He's Allergic! Yeah I know I just could not form any other words then that at the time. So their nurse rushes over and checks him out. Within seconds we are in a room surrounded by 2 doctors and 3 nurses. He was hooked up to a pulse-ox machine, a heart monitor, and oxygen all while a nurse is administering an epi-pen. At this time I can see the pulse ox says he is at 89 (not good-that means he is only at 89% of the oxygen that he needs) and his heart rate is at 200! Yeah total freak out going on in my brain., But on the surface I remained calm. Within a few minutes he seemed to get a little better and then slowly things started to go down to normal. But....yeah there is a but, when they administer an epi-pen you have to stay there for 6 hours! That's right....6! So we were there parked in the ER until 3am. Yippee. I instantly said oh that's cool..lead me to the coffee. So my Mom had just arrived to help me out and sat with the little man while I went and got a large cup of coffee. Soon after my mom left I was able to get Q down to sleep. It was about 11pm. Nothing was on TV except Access Hollywood. I just sat there with him on my lap and dozed off around midnight in a super awful hard chair. FUN!!!!! Let me tell you that was a crazy night. I didn't even really hit me until the next morning when I was standing in the bathroom....Did that really just happen??????No? Oh yeah now I see the bags under my eyes. Here I come Starbucks get out the double shot for me today.

I GOT A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I know I am a super dork but I am so excited as I have lived for the last 2 years without a dishwasher. Word to the wise living without a dishwasher with 2 kids is not a wise choice. Now I think I can stop using paper plates all the time. I have these beautiful back and white dishes that I think we have used all of 10 times. Poor Gracie is always asking if we can use the "fancy dishes" So now I can finally say Yes! We have used our Tupperware plates a lot but it will be nice to actually use the fancy ones.

I have even contemplated making layout about how excited I am about this new modern day marvel......but the jury is still out on this. Anyone know of any paper with dishwashers on it....Ha ha ha!

Here is some of my newest work that I have created.


A card for Gracie to give to her at her dance recital that is in 2 weeks. On the inside it says reach for the stars
I looooove my little mans feet. They are so stinkin' cute!

Clear Disney Album:

Page #1-the cover pictured below
Page #2-The vellum sheet
Page #3- The small journaling circle
Page #4-pictured below
Page #5-Magic transparency pictured below
Page #6-pictured below
Page #7-medium jounaling circle
Page #8- pictured below
Page #9- pictured below
Page #10-pictured below


Hope everyone enjoyed the class as much as I liked teaching it. I look forward to seeing you all again in the next Disney class! If you have any questions please feel free to email me or leave a comment here on the blog!

I Love My Kids!

Just thought I would share one of my favorite pics from this spring. I just sent a bunch to be printed at my local camera shop so I am gonna get my scrap on soon with some of my very favorites from way back when to as soon as yesterday!

"Bring On The Bling!"

The following 4 layouts were from the class that I had at my local scrapbook store last night. I used all kinds of bling, from metallic paper, to gems to glitter.....lots of glitter! The titles are a bit funky for a class so I tried something new and have left the place for a title blank so that they are able to choose their own. I always like to have funky titles on my pages so why wouldn't my students. Right?



I would recommend the title go in the upper left hand corner of both of these untitled layouts.....hey by the way while you are looking, what should I title the one with Gracie at the pumpkin patch? I just can't decide because the layout really isn't very "pumpkinish" if you know what I mean.
So if you took my class last night...Happy Scrapping and if you are just here for a visit enjoy :)