Still Growing!!!

It's been a minute since I've posted any pix of our puppy Trae. Mainly because he has learned, probably from Markell, to run from the camera :-).

Not too much to say about him this time other than the usual...He's Beautiful and he's HUGE!!! As of today, he's 9 months & 9 days old and weighs in at a teeny tiny 62 pounds!!! :-)

Well, here he is!









I love this picture. Here's Jayla & Trae looking out the window. You know, keeping an eye on the neighborhood :-).













Perched up on the book case and gazing out the playroom window has become one of Trae's favorite past times. Especially when our front yard is full of kids running around, screaming & playing.










I know the clarity isn't that great. But I just love this picture. Trae is EXTREMELY tolerable when it comes to Jayla. She got a kick out of putting this bib on him. It's the kind with the elastic around the neck and it just pulls down over your head. (NOTE: these bibs are not as easy to get on dogs as they are to get on babies...something to think about...hee hee) Don't you just love what it says on the bib? :-) Poor Trae, I guess sometimes it doesn't pay to be the younger "sibling" :-).











Enjoying another favorite past time...playing ball with Daddy.











Other than our socks, shoes and the kids toys, Trae's "Flubber" basketball is his favorite outside toy.

Well, that'll do it for now. Thanks for looking.

Drop Dead Gorgeous!

I know what you must be thinking...I shouldn't call a BOY gorgeous. But my goodness, look at him! He IS!!! This is one of my 2 favorite soccer players, my boy, Markell. Markell is now at the age where he literally RUNS from the camera. He is such a humble kid and to be honest, I love that about him. He's not a "show off" and it's still so cute when he gets a little embarassed when he gets a compliment. I can't tell you how funny it is to see him blush when I yell and cheer for him from the sidelines when he's playing soccer. Especially when I yell out, "Hey, Keeper...You ROCK!!!" He often plays goalie/keeper and when he blocks a shot... it's a sight to see.
Anyway, I don't normally do posts JUST about him. Simply because, like I said, he doesn't like having his picture taken. But this one, he had to take. One of his teammates mother is our "team photographer". She warned me and told me I was going to LOVE Markell's picture. And she was right!!! However, prior to me seeing it, Markell said I wasn't going to like it because he didn't smile like I like him to. But I was PLEASANTLY surprised. The picture looks AWESOME! And if you don't mind me saying it again...this kid is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!!!! I love you, Markell!!!! You ROCK!!!

New Layout - S.A.H.M.

I have once again been challenged. Fortunately, this LO covers 2 challenges in one. The first challenge was from Adrienne. Adrienne tells me quite often that I should step out of my comfort zone and do a scrapbook layout about myself. So to some extent, that's what I've done with this one. Although my kids are pictured with me. The LO is actually about my becoming a Stay At Home Mom. Not sure when or if I'll ever do one of JUST myself. But this is a start. Thanks for the challenge, Adrienne.

The second challenge was from Muriel. Muriel had actually used this patterned paper in a LO she did. I commented that I loved the paper, but was a little intimidated by it and didn't think I'd know how to use it. She told me who made the paper and challenged me to find it and TRY to do a LO with it. Well, I looked for the paper, albeit not very hard...hee hee. And I couldn't find it. Muriel told me that she was going to get some more of it and bring it to me when she came to visit. Hoping that she'd forget, I thought nothing more of it :-). But of course she remembered and brought it to me earlier this week. Well, I took the challenge and I think it came out pretty well. As a matter of fact, I LOVE how the pages turned out. Thanks for the challenge, Muriel.

Well, without further ado, here it is. Thanks for looking.

We finally met!

A couple months ago, I did a post on a layout swap I did with fellow scrapbooker and blogger, Muriel. Well, she recently made her way to Georgia and we finally got to meet eachother. Let me tell you, she is just the cutest thing. I also got to meet her mother. She lives here in Ga, and now that she's met me and my DD, Jayla...she wants to move to Cobb County...SMILE! Just kidding. Seriously, they are both just as sweet as they can be.

I was a little nervous, just as I was the first time I met Adrienne. Not sure why though. Guess it has something to do with "feeling or thinking" that you know a bit about someone because you've chatted via email or by phone. Something about that face to face though...don't know what it was. But, once again, I was nervous for nothing. We met, had a nice lunch, nice conversation and all was well. Muriel and her mother got a kick out of my chatty daughter. But again, we all had a nice first meeting. And we even hope to hook up again the next time she's visiting the South.

Here's me, Jayla and Muriel outside the restaurant. Too bad her mother wasn't able to be in the picture. Maybe next time.

Muriel, by the way, I have a message for you from Jayla, she says she loves you! :-) Too funny, she falls so quickly :-).

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Wouldn't it be nice if it was actually, Happy Woman's Day??? All females aren't mothers or wives. But we're all WOMEN!!! :-) Just a thought!

Anyway, I just wanted to share the wonderful day I had today. We got up early this morning to get ready for church. My DH handed the kids their respective Mothers Day cards and both of them raced to give me their card first. Needless to say, both of the cards from the kids were adorable and I love to see their cute little "signatures" on stuff. The card from my DH was beautiful. I love him!!!

After getting my DD and myself ready, I went downstairs to wish my MIL a happy day. She came out of her room, gave me a big hug and led me to the kitchen table. On the table were 2 little red boxes. She told me that the gifts were from her and my DH. (I noticed the 2 of them were being a little sneaky and whispering earlier last week...smile). Well, they bought me 2 beautiful pairs of earrings from Talbots. Mom and I saw one pair about a month ago and I just made a comment of how pretty I thought they were and that I might come back and get them one day. I guess over time, I forgot about them. But she didn't! She told my DH about them and he picked them up at the store near his office. I thought that was just the sweetest thing ever. I even took off the earrings I already had on just so I could wear my new pink ones :-).

After Sunday school, we picked up my DD from her class. She's normally very excited to see us when we pick her up. But this time, she seemed even more so. Reason being, she had made me a sweet little bracelet out of wooden beads. She was elated when I put it on right then and there. It was very cute and I was excited that she was so excited. She wanted me to show EVERYONE my new "jewelry". After church service, we met my SIL at Kobe Steaks, a Japanese restaurant(www.kobesteaks.net). It was so delicious and very entertaining. The host even gave all the mothers a long stem rose as we entered the restaurant. Have you ever seen kids try and use chop sticks? Too funny!!!

My new earrings and bracelet.

My beautiful rose.

The onion "volcano".

Don't remember what this was, I think it was the shrimp :-). Just thought the flames were pretty.

And lastly, orange sherbert ice cream for dessert.

What a wonderful day. I hope everyone who reads this had a great day too. And again, for all you ladies out there...Happy Woman's Day!!

The beauty of WOOD

Hello everyone. Some of you may know, that we are in the process of doing some renovation to our home. (not sure why I think some of you know that...just seemed like the thing to say..hee hee). Anyway, one of the project that we had done was finishing our basement. And as soon as I get the pictures together that I want to share, I'll post some of that experience.

However, I wanted to go ahead and share another one of the projects we had done. Yesterday, we had hardwood floors put in our foyer, dining room and in my MIL's bedroom (this room use to be the formal living room). Oh my goodness! Talk about beautiful!!! It's amazing what a difference this change has made to our home. In the photos you're about to see, you will notice the French doors. That was another project that happened during the basement finishing. Those doors go to my MIL's room.

Anyway, enough chatting. Please enjoy the photos and thanks for looking.













BEFORE: Foyer & MIL's room.















BEFORE: Foyer & dining room.

AFTER: Nothing more needs to be said :-)

Again, thanks for looking. Enjoy your day.

My first home made card

Well, I have yet again stepped out on a limb. My friend Adrienne told me that this day would come! Next, I'll be distressing my layouts, stamping and using rub-ons :-) Ok, I confess...I've already bought a few stamps & ink.

Anyway, the card that I made is for my niece who will be graduating from college later this week. I won't be able to go as the graduation is on a Wednesday night. So I made her a card. Hope she likes it.

This is the front of the closed card. I used a photo of my niece when she was little. And the first part of the quote I used says, "What we are, is God's gift to us.
This is the opened card. And the rest of the quote, used with her cap & gown photo reads, "What we become, is our gift to God."
Thanks for looking and your comments are welcomed!

New Layout - Best Friends

This is my newest layout. And I absolutely love it. I have been waiting for quite some time to do this layout of my DD and her very best friend.

There's really not much else to do at this point but show you the LO and let you read the little "story" of how they met. The journaling will follow the photos. Enjoy!

Journaling reads:

These 2 little sweethearts have shared a special
bond and friendship…even longer than they are aware. Back in October of 2001, Marque and I were about 2 months away from the birth of our baby. We attended a birthing class and met a wonderful couple, Rico and Stephanie De Benedictis. We introduced ourselves and quickly became friends. One night a week for about 6 weeks, we sat together and laughed at the upcoming events that we’d soon be encountering when we had our babies. After the birthing classes, we all kinda went our separate ways and soon had our babies. Ours due in November, theirs in December. In January, against my hearts desires, at the age of 7 weeks, we put Jayla in daycare. One afternoon, a few months later, I picked Jayla up and while signing her out, I noticed a familiar last name of a child in her class. How common is the name De Benedictis? Not very I thought. After further investigation, we found that Lanie De Benedictis was actually the daughter of Stephanie & Rico. AND, they lived about 2 miles from us! As the girls got older, they were just drawn to one another. And always seemed to be playing together. Because Jayla was a month older, she moved on to the next class before Lanie. But soon, the twosome was together again. When they became toddlers, they were labeled “Partners in crime” J. And rightfully so I might add. They were also great friends with Lindsey and Gabby. But Jayla and Lanie were the most fond of eachother. In May of 2004, we took Jayla out of daycare to stay home with me. But because of their undying fondness for one another, we have kept the girls in touch through play dates and birthday parties. However, in August of 2006, the girls will be back together again…every day. As Jayla and Lanie will be attending Pre-K at the same daycare center in which they met.
Hopefully, this will be a friendship that will last forever.

The supplies I used were: Deja Views Open Windows Scrapbook Matting System, Paper Reflections "Contemporary Palatte" patterned paper (from Target), Heidi Swapp Ghost flowers, Prima flowers, Pressed Petals "Hip" Chip Chatter letters, mini heart brads, MM Gameboard Alphabet letters and DCWV "All about girls" Vellum Quote stack.

Thanks for looking.

The Wild Blue Yonder...

Oh my, what a weekend we had. Albeit busy, we had a great time. Jayla had to be at the soccer field at 10:30am for team pictures. Then her game was at 11am. After her game, we got the Cheetah's together for their end of season party. We had cake and chips for them...as well as ALL the fixin's for ice cream sundaes. The kids loved it. And to top off their season, they all got trophies with the cutest little Cheetah on it.

This is Jayla after receiving her trophy. She's pictured with Coach Juan and Coach Daddy :-).

After the soccer festivities, me and the family went to grab some lunch (now that we've already had dessert...LOL)

Not that U6 soccer isn't exciting...but after grabbing a bite to eat, we headed to our next exciting stop of the day. We got a chance to see the Blue Angels fly in the air show that was held at Dobbins AFB. Oh my goodness!!! If you EVER get the chance to see these guys do their thing, you will NOT be disappointed. We were also able to see them 2 years ago which was the first time they had flown in GA in 17 years. So that was quite a treat...considering we didn't even know there WAS an airshow that day :-). It was Mother's Day and we were on our way home from dinner. We saw an unusual amount of traffic and finally noticed all the jets flying around...DUH!!! It's the airshow :-). So, we pulled over, got our folding chairs out of the van and watched the show. It was amazing. However, I didn't have my camera. But this year, we knew about it and I was prepared. So, without further adu, enjoy some of the pix I took of the Blue Angels in flight.

This is FAT ALBERT, landing after checking out the flying conditions for the Blue Angels.

Well, that's about it. Hope you enjoyed my photos. I must admit, I'm pretty proud of myself for getting these shots. Believe me when I say these planes are F-A-S-T!!! I think I got a touch of whiplash while trying to get some of these shots :-). But it was SOOO worth it!

Thanks for looking!!!

Oh darn, I forgot to mention. Markell had his EOS game on Saturday too. And they KICKED BUTT!!! They won 7 - 0!!! Go Stingrays!!!