I was feeling very sappy when I wrote the journaling on this page. I mean every word though!! I used Catherine's Zen Attitude and Karla's Thankful Brushes @ After 5 Designs!! (click LO for more credits)

Here's what the journaling says: For all the random hugs and kisses, for all the times you cared when I was sad or hurt, for all the times you hugged Daddy when we were all teaming up on him, for all the snuggles.....Thank you, little sweetie!!

For Vinnie's Challenge #1

Here's my LO for the challenge. This template was different from the usual, and it was fun to try something new! :) I also learned something new. She had mentioned how she blended the photo or paper. I had never thought to do that; so I used color burn (I think) to change my paper. And I blended other papers in different ways too! It was fun to learn a new technique and give a page a whole different look! :) Credits: All Vinnie freebies from the blog or site & Syrin's stitches.

Vinnie's Store

Tomorrow, one of my very favorite scrappers is going to be opening her store!! I discovered Vinnie's gallery quite a while ago and was so inspired by it. I love all her freebies and can't wait to see her full kits tomorrow!!!! Here's a link to her store!! If you register today, there's a chance for an awesome prize too!! :) Oh, if you want to see her freebies, you can find them on her blog. :)

Poop.

When you become a mother, I don't think that you realize just how much poop, pee, and puke (not to mention clay, playdough, tiny beads, milk, water, etc....) you are signing up for. And, these things usually happen all in one day too, btw! Well, with the girls being 3 and 6, I was beginning to relax and enjoy those days fading into memories (except for the tiny beads and milk- but that is another story). Until today. I suddenly had flashbacks to puppies and babies and all that comes with them. Only our dog isn't a puppy. He's a small horse. And his poop is the appropriate size for a small horse.

You know that song "I Have Been Blessed"? (click on title to hear) and the part where she says, "I get to hear my kids laughing down the hall..." when she wakes up? This wasn't one of those mornings.

Here is my version of that song today:

I got told by my kid
this morning
That the dog pooped on the floor
Not one floor, but two
Not hard poop, but goo...
And it smells really terrible
Sometimes I stand on my stained carpet
Just soaking up the pee
I think to myself,
I think to myself
This day couldn't get any worse.

The dog was pestering me this morning while I was trying to sleep and I kept telling him to go lay down. Then, Kylie got up and came in holding her nose and saying that the dog pooped. So, I layed there procrastinating the inevitable.... Then, I finally went to look at the damage after Ari came in. Well, it was in two spots in one room, one spot in another. Kylie had spilled her cereal milk (and to give her credit, tried to clean it up) in the only clean room. And for the cherry on top, Jas stepped in pee by the back door. So... that was my morning. Now, I'm off to get everyone ready to take Kylie to school....

Oh, you know after cleaning that up (I used SOOOO much Lysol!), Ari came up to me and said,
"You did pretty good mommy," and gave me a hug. That made me feel so much better-what a sweetie!! :) Then, when I finally let the dog back into the house, Ari looked at him and said, "I think he's thinking of pooping on the floor."

If he values his life at all, he had better NEVER think of pooping on the floor again!

For the Hodge Podge Challenge. This was actually a harder challenge for me than I thought it would be. But, it was a really fun one. We were supposed to be inspired by the side bar on a blog. I used a lot of stuff from Kasia and also some from Paisley Press and Taylor Made.

I am sick today. We were planning on going to Mom and Dad's and camping, but it looks like we may be spending the weekend here instead. I hope that the girls don't catch it!! :) Gotta love cold/ flu season!!

Oooh! I found a fun challenge place!

Here it is: Hodge Podge Art . I hadn't seen this site before, but the Paisley Press blog had a link. The challenge this week is from her and there is an awesome prize! I love her stuff!!! I'm definitely trying this one because it is really inspiring! :)

Here's my newest LO using Emiko Designs kit (which is amazing!) @ After 5 Designs.I have been wanting to find an Asian-Inspired kit, and this one is exactly what I was wanting! :)

Kylie's First Parade....

Last Saturday, Kylie was in the parade with the cheerleaders! We dropped her off (after Jas ran back for her hair bow that I forgot). We waited with Grandpa and Grandma....

Waving and acting cute seems to bring candy....

Oh boy!!! Saturday candy here I come!!

Commissioner Anderson introduced himself and cracked us all up... Ari was mostly looking for the candy that came after the handshake! :)

Could life get any better than this?!!!

Here comes Kylie!!

There she is in the middle waving to us!! :)

Here are the rest of the K-6th grade Cheerleaders.

Hey! We know him! This had to be one of the funniest things I've seen in quite a while! :)

It was a pretty fun day!

After the parade, we went to watch Kylie cheer at the football game and then to Skyline for supper and lots of drinks. It was REALLY hot! I was exhausted by the end of the day! :)

Here's my newest LO

I used Cathrine Designs' kit Summer Evenings for most of it! She is debuting @ the brand new After 5 Designs today! They are having their Grand Opening this weekend too!! Here's a link: After 5 Designs

I entered this contest with about a million other people; so, my chances of winning are like... none! But, if you could help me out, I would love to win that camera!! :) So, just let your mouse slide to the right and click on the little yellow square.... pleaseeeeeee!!! lol!!

After 5 Designs!

I was reading Cathrine's blog (which you will want to visit tomorrow for a freebie?), and saw that she is going to be a designer! And, it gets even better! She's going to be designing for a new store called After 5 Designs with some other amazing designers! One is Amy Hutchinson!!! I love her stuff! You can sign up for the newsletter; so you won't miss their grand opening here: newsletter . I also added their blog to my list on the side so that you can find it if you want! :) Yay!!

Twilight....

I was about to do something more appropriate to my age (like upload a new LO to photobucket) when I noticed a picture labeled Edward Cullen. Immediately, I was sidetracked wondering if that was really a picture of the guy that would be playing him in the movie. I haven't seen anything about the movie; so, it was exciting to see some of the characters. Isn't it weird when the characters from a movie match up so well to what you had pictured in your mind?!!! I'm on the third book in the Twilight series, and they are soooo good! If you haven't heard of them yet, run over to Amazon and grab the first one.... http://www.amazon.ca/Twilight-Stephenie-Meyer/dp/0316015849 ! Don't worry about it being about a vampire (I don't like vampire stories either!!). It is such a good, romantic book- written for teenagers but read by a LOT of girls my age too! So, here's a picture that I found in photobucket:

The stuff nightmares are made of....

With the magic of photoshop, people have created some incredibly funny and disturbing pictures. And, to make it even funnier, there is an entire website dedicated to

Man Babies!

Click on the picture .... Jas was crying he was laughing so hard!

Lookie what I found!!

.... Some of my favorite paper companies (which have collected a ton of my money in the past and are about to do it again! ;)) have gone digital! SEI, Daisy D's, My Mind's Eye.... and they are having a grand opening September 12-14!! So, that means SALES! Here's the link to Get Digi With It !

my kick in the pants...

I think this is so true and so sweet..... http://www.notesfromthetrenches.com/
And, just to remind me how I should treasure my husband instead of wanting to club him over the head for not being EXACTLY as I imagine he should be...

I was IMing my Aunt Barb the other night and we were talking about someone not wanting to go for a walk with her husband..... she said, "If John were here, I would go on a walk anywhere he wanted." (Uncle John lost his fight with cancer on Christmas day last year and went to celebrate Jesus' birthday in heaven.) Well, this hit me like a brick.... why do I sit around thinking about how much my husband doesn't do right? What if I didn't have him? Then, I would be thinking the same things she does. Instead, I do and I just spend most of my time (at least this year) being mad about one little thing or another. What a waste of my precious time with him! Bad me!!

Credits for Picture: Danielle's Antique Overlays (available soon @ Catscrap) and Christian O'Dell's free texture from the blog (see sidebar for link)

Cheering her first football game!!

I didn't realize just how much Kylie loves to cheer until I watched her today! She was focused (this seems to be hard to do lately :), loud, and so excited! You could just see that this was something that she loves to do! She was so confident too... not nervous about being in front of everyone or anything. I was so happy to see her having so much fun! The little guys even scored two touchdowns! They lost the game, but everyone was just so cute!!! Here are some pictures! :) Can you tell how proud and happy I am of her?!

before the game:

Announcing the boys:

"They want us to have our pom pons."

Some of the first cheers! Look how happy she is!!

The Bantum Black Cheerleaders!

Look! Mommy's a "real" soccer mom now! I have a decal on my mini van! A dream come true!

Go, Kylie!!! You did great! :)

Credits for some pictures: Textures by Danielle available soon @ Catscrap.

Label: Where the Shepherd Takes a Nap

@ Deviant Art
Doesn't it look like an awesome place to sleep (provided this place has no bugs)?

What do you think this means?

from: Blind Faith @ Deviant Art

I really like this for some reason, but I can't decide exactly what I think it means.

Puddle Jumping...

Yesterday, Ari and I splashed in a puddle in the school parking lot after we dropped Kylie off... she was so happy and cute!!

I just got an email update from the Garden of Hope, and I am so happy that they were able to open the children's center that they had been needing! I have had the site over on the side in case anyone would like to pray for or support their efforts. At our church, we had a lady talk about this place that helps women who have been abused and basically forced into prostitution in Tailand. I love what they are doing here! If you would like to read more, here is the site: http://www.justfoodinc.org/

Here is a little about the women that they help:

Human-trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by the means of threat, force, deception, or abuse of power for the purpose of exploitation including prostitution, sexual exploitation, labor, slavery, removal of organs, adoption, or marriage.
In the Mekong sub-region, estimates indicate that anywhere from a few thousand to 200,000 individuals are trafficked each year. Trafficked victims are typically females who come from minority, rural, economically disadvantaged backgrounds and have low levels of educational attainment. These women are often trafficked into prostitution. In Thailand, the expectation that female children are to provide income for their parents is one of the contributors to the high number of women who are trafficked.

Now they are helping children in this area too through a center for them:

The Garden of Hope's Children's Drop in Center (CDIC) provides Christian care and protection to exploited and at-risk children in the red-light district of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In the past 5 years, The Garden of Hope (TGOH) has built relationships with over 100 of these children. As representatives of TGOH have secured their trust, the children have come to us with their problems, including teenage pregnancy, troubles at school, physical abuse, and being approached by strangers for sex. In April 2008, TGOH opened the CDIC, to respond to the needs of the children for a safe place to rest, study, eat, learn, and grow. On an average night we have between 30 - 50 children who come to the CDIC for a safe and fun place to be a kid. The Garden of Hope is also working with parents to raise awareness about child labor, with the goal that the children can be kids and not have to work. Since the opening of the center, many of the children are no longer selling flowers in the red-light district.

Last night, the girls finally got to have their lemonade stand.

I was so happy that so many kind people stopped! Our neighbors

came, and one lady driving by just stopped and backed up so that she

and her boy could come over! Here's Joe and his wife from next door.

They were their first customers. :)

After a while, they began to wave excitedly to all cars passing by.

Ari liked drinking the profits more than anything else! lol!

Josh and Alison came by:

Jeremy and Grandpa and Grandma Maggard came. Tyler and Stacie came with Moose:

Cynthia, Dan, and Gracie stopped by. Pretty soon the 3 dogs were having their own party. :)

Look at these birds!!! There was a TON of them that flew over us!

And, here's Ari on her first day of gymnastics! She stopped to look back at me... isn't she adorable?!

She started crying "because she missed me" in their opening music thing. So, I got to go around with her and help her get used to it! It was so much fun!!! She really does well becuase she is good at mimicing and listening! I will try to add more pictures later. And I still need to add some from Kylie's first day of school! Ahhhh!

Oh! Jas asked Ari and I to meet him for lunch after gymnastics. We ate at Skyline (Ari's fav) . It was SOOOO much fun that he asked!!! Now, off for a nap and then time for Kylie to go to cheerleading! Jas says that I'm "earning my pay" now!!! HA!!!