Addie's birthday party

So, here are the pictures from Addie's second birthday party. her birthday fell on a Thursday so we had a little party up at my parents' house with all of our friends and family up in that area. We had a great turnout and I think everyone had a blast.

Derek took Addie for little restful ride right before the party to rest her up a little bit. I think she was still a bit cranky.

Margo brought Addie some Birthday Princess stuff

She's not quite sure what she thinks about all that

Maybe being a princess could be kinda fun

Alisha and Julie have other ideas for princess jewelery

I don't even know what to say about my dad's Princess plansThere were lots of friends and kids who came for the festivities

Mom, Cathy, Rick and Derek

Derek, Cathy and Ethan

Titi (Alisha) and Stacy

Alisha and Julie Q

Justin and his Mama

Margo and her kidlets

Naomi and Sebastian

Clover

Bodhi and his new best friend Ethan

Ethan was so excited to play with all the kids at Addie's party

Chad and Margo

Me, Mom and Naomi

We like each other once in awhile

Bodhi is telling Julie all about the cake

Ethan is so silly and so creative with all sorts of stuff around the house. Who'd have thought some yellow cups could turn a little boy into a monster?

My friend Naomi makes cakes so I thought it would be fun for her to do Addie's birthday cake. She came up with these beautiful and super yummy cupcakes.

I left the candle at home so a party lite candle did the trick.

Addie loved the cake so much we had to strip her down so that her whole body could taste it!!

Here she is trying to lick her elbow again

Addie loved her presentsJulie had no idea that a little dog would make such a great hat My Little Ponies are the best!!

Clover loved her own tea set so much she thought addie should have one too

And Clover thought that since her Daddy plays tea party with her...he should play with Addie too. Chad you are awesome!!

Elmo gives kisses???

This was my favorite part of the presents. Addie got a baby buggy from her grandma and grandpa that she can push all her new babies around in. Well, Clover thought it was pretty cool too so they had some baby buggy wars!!

Addie gets the buggy

She's checking it out

Clover says "That's cool"

Addie says "Yes it is and it is all mine!!"

Clover says "But I want to play with it"

Addie says "Let's wrestle!"

Clover over powers Addie for just a quick second

And the Addie gets back control

And Clover walks away defeated as Addie takes off to play all by herself.

My beautiful 2 year old girl!!Family portraitsThey are such sweet siblings

Happy Birthday to Addie

I will put pictures up from Addie's birthday tomorrow (Friday) along with pictures from her party probably on Sunday. But today was a good day and I am very grateful for today. How can I not be...my baby girl is 2 years old today. Almost exactly 2 years ago I was holding Addie in my arms and watching my family meet her for the first time. Now she is 2 years old and almost unrecognizable from that little baby. Now she has spunk and personality. She knows what she wants and goes for it. I am so unbelieveably amazed by her. I am even more amazed by the way she has changed our family. After having Ethan and loving him so much having another baby worried me. How could I love anybody as much as my little boy. But watching Ethan's reaction to her during my pregnancy and then after she was born convinced me that another baby was the best thing for our family. Watching Ethan love his baby sister is the greatest joy in my life. And watching her adore him is absolutely beautiful. So today I am grateful that Addie has completed my family and that we have more than enough love to go around.

Happy Birthday Addie Girl!!

Simply some grats for day 8

I have a few grats I'm excited about today and I promise to have some pictures up by the end of the weekend.

• I came home tonight to a beautifully clean clean house. I did a lot of the work last night of picking up and getting started but tonight Derek did all the stuff I hate to do. the time consuming, finishing touches that I hate to do.
• I have a great small group that I meet with on Wednesdays. They are awesome. We try and talk about stuff in the bible and let me tell you...I have lots of questions. But we also talk about our lives and what is going on and are able to love and care about each other and it is great.
• I am on a creative team and I am still so excited about it. I did apply for another one butthey ended up having over 150 aplicants and I just wasn't what they were looking for. It is probably a good thing though because I would have full access to the products and I might have to be medically removed from the computer if that happened. Go, I guess I am grateful that I didn't make it, even if I am a little disappointed. I did get to do the blog entry with a contest for my Creative Team tonight though (technically tomorrow morning). Here it is...http://sweetgenevievedesigns.com/sweet_talk/
• Tomorrow is Addie's birthday and I am very thankful we have friends to celebrate it with. Yay!! Can you believe she is turning 2? She is such a big girl, even if she is tiny.
• I am still thankful to have a job and it is growing on me. It is not as horrible as I built it up to be in my head. I get to do more x-rays and I really like the ARNP who works downstairs. It is a pretty good setup.

Pictures will be coming soon.

Day 7

• Derek had to work tonight...sad...but he will get a nicer paycheck.
• I got to meet the owner of the place Ethan is taking TKD and I like him. He's serious and playful at the same time.
• I am feeling better than yesterday and I FINALLY am going to see an ENT and find out what is wrong with the inside of my face.
• I just had a yummy root beer float with Ethan while we watched Addie smoosh chocolate ice cream all over her face.

So, with Addie's BDay this weekend I will take lots and lots of pictures. Plus we are having our friend Ivy take some professional pics of the kiddos this weekend. She takes amazing photos and we will be outside freezing our tooshies off but it should be fun. I want Laura to take a few pictures of us too. She has a different perspective than Ivy and it would be fun to get both. We'll see what we can talk Laura into.

Scarecrow Video.

Here is Ethan's video. He is the scarecrow. How cute is that??? It is about 7 minutes long and he really just says the same thing over and over but it is still cute. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T93Kpgta9Fo



And here are a few things to be grateful for today.

• No rain. It was a beautiful crisp day today.
• I got a referral to an ENT finally. Maybe one day I will not feel like my cheeks are going to explode out of my face.
• Ethan loved Taekwondo today. Tomorrow we will get some pictures of him.
• I am exhausted but if I put the kids to be early I could get lots and lots of sleep tonight. Whoohoo!!
• Derek made dinner.

I'm not sure what day it is...5 or 6??

So, I am working on getting a great video up here. Ethan was the scarecrow for some little production he did at school. It is too large to upload though. I have some feelers out there to find a program that I can upload it on so hopefully soon it will be up. We'll see what happens. So, big changes this week. Ethan starts his afterschool Taekwondo program. He went from wanting nothing to do with it to super excited. I think it is going to work out awesome. I'll get some pictures and stuff for you guys soon hopefully. If Ethan likes it I'm guessing Derek and maybe me will also get involved.

So, I need some things to be grateful about today. It has been a long and crazy day. We started bright and early heading off to church this morning. There was a guest speaker. His name is Bob Mortimer. Google him if you get a chance. He is a man with no legs and one arm who rode his bike with his wife and 3 kids across America. Starting in Gig Harbor, WA and ending at the Statue of Liberty. He was an amazing speaker and I am so glad that I was able to be there and hear what he had to say. It was inspiring to say the least. So, with that...

• I am so glad not to be a single parent. With Derek working two jobs and having military duties, I sometimes get a glimpse at what life would be like as a single parent. It is a lot of work.
• Ikea is close enough to go to!!! I LOVE Ikea and always spend too much money there but today I didn't do too bad. Yay me!!
• Ikea is in between me and my sister so it is a great place to meet and hang out.
• Although I had my own time of rebellion, anger and a time when I tried to get myself into trouble I still kept myself in check and never found myself in a situation that permanently changed my life irreversibly. I am very happy to have two legs and two arms and I hope and pray that I motivate myself to use them more often. Although many people do overcome these types of disablilities and become better for it, I am thankful to not have to.
• I am so blessed to have a little boy who loves his sister so much. She gets so tired at night and gets so mean sometimes and he just takes it. Not quietly, but he doesn't hit back or push her down. He usually just yells and tells me about it. He would rather die than hurt his baby sister.
• My friend Julie has a brother who lives in Olympia so I get to see her sometimes without having to make the trip up north. It's great.
• Although many of my friends are from work, school or wherever I have a few who share in my spiritual beliefs and it is so refreshing to be able to share that with people.

Day 4

My grats for today:

• Tonight I am very grateful for wine. I know a little lame as my first but every once in awhile I just need a night where I drink a glasss of wine with dinner and continue to have a glass in my hand until the bottle runs out. I haven't had one of those days in I don't know how long.
• My husband loves me. He ran to the store today just to get me some 7-up!!
• Even though he doesn't listen, when my husband doesn't talk to me ahead of time he takes care of what he needs to even though sometimes it sucks. Poor guy is on 24 hour duty tomorrow.
• I am thankful for doctors to make us feel better. I have an appointment on Monday to hopefully get me referred someplace to end all of my sinus problems.
• Even though my new location makes me crazy, I am still thankful to have a job and one that I can still scrap and play on the computer at. I think it might be time for me to start specializing.
• I am very thankful for Ikea, where I get to meet my sister tomorrow. Yay Ikea!!

Grats Day 3

So, I am not feeling so great today so I'm not really feeling being grateful, yet I should be. So here goes...

• I do not have to work at the hospital today. I don't usually mind but it might be too much with a sinus headache
• even though he got cranky about it, Derek made us dinner last night while I was out running around with Ethan. And since he gets off so much earlier than me he has been making dinner most nights before I get home.
• Addie has been going to bed wonderfully and she hasn't had any problems at daycare.
• I found a church that Ethan can be a part of and today he has Royal Rangers even though the church very well could have cancelled it this year to to the construction.
• I have some of the greatest friends and I love my family. We all take care of each other.
• Even though I don't always love life, I do love the life that I have and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I would have more but my little brain just isn't working so great. If I could crawl up with a book and then get some sleep today I totally would. So this weekend come back for a visit to my blog because I will hopefully have a video of Ethan performing at his school this afternoon. We'll see how motivated I can be.

Day 2 Gratitude

So today is my second day of gratitude blogging. I had to work at the hospital to day and we got Ethan set up in an after school program to start next week. So that was my day today. So here's my list.

• I am still grateful to have a job. I keep hearing more and more stories of people losing their jobs
• I am grateful to have a sweet little boy. He just handed me a bunch of tootsie rolls because he knows I like them. Love that kid!!!
• My nanny is awesome. She is still helping me out with my kids even though she doesn't technically work for us anymore. Love you Laura!!
• I am very very grateful that my parents have a BofA credit card because some wacko was trying to buy stuff from Johannesburg, South Africa and they put a stop payment on it and called my mom so that she could verify if she had made the purchase. She didn't. Take that you identity thieving jerks!!!!
• I have a fiesty little girl. She may be trouble now but eventually that fiestyness will be a great thing for her to have in her personality.
• I got to work on my x-ray skills today at the hospital. My feet hurt but I can shoot some x-rays.
• I usually have a cushy job that allows me to scrapbook and play on the computer during the day.
• My house isn't clean but I have a little bit of energy to straighten it up a little bit.
• Ethan gets to start his after school program on Monday!! He'll be getting afterschool care and learn Taekwondo. He's a little guy so him knowing a little bit of self-defense will be great.

That is all I can do for today, although I am feeling rather grateful today. I will just have no energy left to straighten up my kitchen if I don't get off of the computer. Peace out!!

Gratitude Blogging

So, some of the ladies at OScraps have started a 30 day gratitude blogging challenge. One of the girls participating suggested that I might want to join them since I have been a little whiney lately with all the changes in work, daycare, not to mention weather. So, everyday I am going to jot down a few things I am grateful for. So...

Day 1

• I got to spend the morning with my family
• Derek did the dishes this morning
• Our kitten will not be having any babies EVER!!!
• I have a job when so many people are being laid off or getting paycuts
• I get to scrap at work
• I can afford to pay for my electric/gas bill even though it was a small fortune this month
• We ended our nanny's employment on great terms so that we are still in a position to help each other out when it is necessary
• Addie is finally in daycare which she so desperately needs so that she can become a sweet little girl and less of a princess, although she is of course always my princess.

That's what I've got for today. Everyone have a great day today.

Haircut and Stuff

So, I've got some pictures to share so I thought I'd put them up for you. Sorry it is getting to be so long in between postings but I am trying to make up for it with extra pictures. Anyway, Addie got her first haircut. I let me neighbor cut it originally because I couldn't see my little girl's face. But I didn't want to be there, afraid I may have attacked anyone who tried to cut her hair. Well, Addie is a wiggle worm so although Cindy sure tried hard it wasn't really straight. So I decided to take her the professionals. we took both of the kids to Jack 'n Jill's. It is a kids hair salon. So Ethan sat in the jeep. It was pink but he didn't care because it was the only seat that had any power. Everything else was boring I guess. Addie decided to sit in the fire truck, or something like that. It had a bell in the front. She was definately a wiggle worm but her hair sure came out so cute. Enjoy the pics!!

Addie has her brother's boots on and is ready to go

Any mother would be so proud that both of her kids can fit their entire hand in their mouth!!

The haircutShe is so excited to have a big girl haircut
In case you are wondering...she is trying to lick her elbow. Her brother can do it so she thought she'd tryAll done. She got a bow and everything

Can you believe I actually forgot my camera?? I made them wait to start cutting Addie's hair until Derek got back with the camera.

Silly Videos

Here is Ethan's first pupper show!

Here is a very short video of Addie growling

I WON!!!!!

So, I thought I would post this layout I made. I am so excited. I made it for a challenge. It was a pretty simple challenge, all I had to do was use the word "Spirit" somewhere in the layout and this what I came up with. It was fun because I have been wanting to use the stuff I used for quite awhile but didn't have a place for it. I didn't win much. A gift certificate for $6 to a designers website but hey...I won!! I was pretty excited about it.

Another exciting thing happened...I applied to be on what Is called a creative team. Basically what that means is that A designer likes how I scrap and asks me to use her products so that potential buyers can see what you do with the products. The designer I am doing it for is Genevieve Sass and her website is: www.sweetgenevievedesigns.com
I'll be writing the blog entry this month on the 20th with a contest of some sort. It is kinda fun. I'm liking it. I have also applied to be on a creative team for a site called Little Dreamer Designs. It is one of my favorite websites and I am very hopeful. It is a good sized site so my chances aren't great but keep your fingers crossed for me. Here's the layout from the contest.

Happy Halloween!!

So, it hasn't been forever but it seems like it. I have a ton of pictures for you today. Things have been busy as usual here. Laura has been trying to find another job and we are going to start Addie daycare since she's got a bit of a princess complex. We are very sad about Laura leaving but we knew this day would come at some point. So sad!!

I recently got selected to be on a CT (creative team) for a digital scrapbook designer, Sweet Genevieve. It is really cool. I get free products for making layouts that I would have done anyway. You can't beat that. I applied for another one at one of my favorite sites. I am hopeful but don't think I will get it. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Halloween was yesterday. I decided to try and make their costomes again this year, only I knew I would not have my mom to help me this time. So, I soon realized that me and my sewing machine did not get along so I ended up using stitchwitch and hand sewing the costumes together. They cam out great though, so it was all good. We went to a friend's house for a Halloween party and went trick or treating. It was a lot of fun.

Here is Addie being silly at the table. Notice her pajamas are unzipped? She has to be able to get to her belly button.

Here is Sassy checking out what Dannon is doing

I think Addie is hiding or playing peek a booShe is always so full of smilesSorry this is sideways. Still cute. This is Addie looking for leaves for a fall project Laura did with the kids.Both kids picking out leavesI love the colors of fallAddie decided she wanted to be a big girlEthan and Laura dressed Addie up in Ethan's costume from last year and called her "Super Stubborn"Ethan is so sillyI saw these two pictures and realized that they have the exact same cheesey grin!!Addie tried her tights on before her napShe's not happy about the hatShe just found out if she wears the hat she gets candyHe wants to suck your bloodOur little vampire and little witchOnce again...happy witchThey are getting ready to goHe's half pitbull and half vampireEthan and GabrielStill waitingTrick or treatAddie likes being escorted from house to house by a policemanDaddy is loving taking Addie aroundHe is such a good brother helping Addie get lots of candyDaddy that's grossAddie is definately all girl and loves all kinds of shoes, even bright yellow rain boots!!
Generally they play so well together
Ethan was trying to cramp Addie a little and she let him have it!!

I got these pics tonight. They were just sitting on the couch watching Kim Possible.