Raising Girls

NEW BLOG

2010-01-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally changing the old blog - it only took me 9 months. :) You can find me now over at www.vallejofamilyadventures.blogspot.com . Yep, it's a longer name and that means more typing. Sorry. This blog will still be up while I transfer everything over to the new one. And I haven't really posted anything new over there yet because it's taking me a while to get everything transferred over, but when I'm ready to post something new I'll do it over there.

Christmas FHE

2009-12-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

For FHE tonight, we made our own nativity. I found these patterns online (here), printed them up, and we got to coloring. The instructions say to tape them on to toilet paper rolls, but I didn't have any of those. We just used our massive set of wooden blocks and they worked out perfectly. The girls really enjoyed coloring them and have been setting them up and playing with them ever since. I thought I'd post it on here really quick in case any of you were looking for something to do with your kids this week.

i'm worse than my children

2009-11-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Right after ~~yelling at~~ gently chastising my children for the colossal mess they had made of my scrapbook/craft supplies, I proceeded to spill a whole bottle of Mod Podge all over me, the kitchen cabinets, the kitchen floor, the kitchen wall, the dishwasher, etc. Elena heard me growling in the kitchen and came to inspect. The following was our conversation....

Elena: "Wow, Mom, what happened in here?
Me: "I'm cleaning up a mess."
E: "What is this stuff? Sour cream?"
M: "No, it's glue."
E: "This is pretty bad, Mom. I didn't know you could make messes this big. I know we make big messes, but this is way worse than ours."

Thanks, Elena. Rub it in a little more please. :P

shocking, I know...

2009-10-19T22:36:00.010-06:00

Man, I just looked at the last picture I posted of Noah and I can't believe how much he's already changed in the last 3 months. Why do babies have to grow so fast? I already feel like he's not a baby baby anymore. He's 6 months (but only for one more week) and is getting SO big. He started sitting up over a month ago...I had gone to one of Amya's soccer practices, plopped him down on the ground and realized he didn't need me to help him because he was totally sitting on his own. I had no idea he could do it. Here's a picture from that day -

LOVE the expression on his face. He's so totally expressive with those eyebrows. (I still miss the crinkly forehead though.)We had his baby blessing at the beginning of September. Finding what I thought was the perfect blessing outfit is a story in itself (12 different stores...ugh) but I think it was worth it to see how cute my little man was. (Oh and somehow the lighting here is making his hair look red but it really isn't.)

He went with me to Florida for Kara & Brad's wedding and I loved showing him off. He was SO good on the airplane (everyone commented on how well he did - no crying whatsoever) and while we were out there.

He was totally fine with being passed around to whoever was wanting to hold him next and had no problems with all the craziness that traveling entails. He loved playing in the sand at the beach. (Again with the eyebrows lol)

He is eating and LOVING food - so far he's had rice cereal, grapes, bananas, pineapple, beans, bread, and (thanks to Keith) ice cream, which he threw up. On the baby food front, he's eaten bananas, applesauce, pears, sweet potatoes, and turkey. Yeah, he didn't like the turkey. At all. In his defense though, Maricela asked to try it and, after I put it in her mouth, she cried for about 5 minutes with her mouth open, not wanting to chew it but for some reason not willing to go to the trash can to spit it out.

The most recent news is that he got his first teeth!!! (Notice it's plural.) Tooth number one came in on October 10th (it was his bottom left) and tooth number 2 (the bottom right) came in on October 18th. Coincidentally both birthdays in my family, Elena's and my dad's, respectively. While I don't have pictures of the teeth yet - it's so hard to get pics of those little things poking through until they're out a little more - he's putting them to good use. Mainly on mine and Keith's fingers. :) He is so vocal...you can often hear him in the background, talking in his 2-octaves too-high-sometimes-only-for-dogs voice. He LOVES his sisters. LOVES them. Loves to watch them, play with them, "talk" to them. He watches them all the time. We just know he's itching to be mobile and following them around, which I'm sure will come soon. He can get in the crawling position and can move backwards (all of my kids did that first) and sometimes ends up sideways from where he started. I'm sure he'll be crawling soon. So while all of this is so exciting for us (watching a baby grow and reach new milestones NEVER gets old), it's also sad to say goodbye to my baby baby.

I have some more catching up to do with the girls....hopefully I'll be back again this week with more info for you guys. Sorry I've been away for so long.

All Aboard!!!!

2009-08-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to stop #22 on the ScrapMatters 2nd birthday blog train!!! You were hopefully just at Jeni's blog (if not, you can always go back).

As you probably already know, the kit we've used for all the goodies on this train is perfect for summer picnics and barbeques. So we're all sharing our favorite summer memory to go along with this. And while I don't have one specific favorite memory, I do have something to share. When I was a kid my dad would take us out on the Ohio river for boat rides. I remember we'd pull over to the shore and build a little fire to roast hot dogs when we were hungry. I still only like hot dogs when they've been cooked over an open fire. And as soon as I taste them, it feels like I'm right back on the banks of the river, roasting hot dogs with my dad. Good memories. :)

Here's my freebie for you guys....a 12x12 quickpage with openings for 5 photos!

Go {here} to download it. And here's what I did with it....

I didn't scrap picnic pictures with it, but I think it still looks great (if I do say so myself).

Your next stop is Cyndi's blog. Have fun on your trip!!!!

ScrapMatters is turning 2!!

2009-08-07T11:53:00.002-06:00

Starting today and going through Sunday, there is a huge birthday celebration going on over at ScrapMatters. Almost everything is 30% off and there is an AWESOME collab kit that is free with every $15 purchase. Tomorrow there will be a blog train of wordart, clusters, and quickpages using the collab kit. So come back tomorrow to get your freebie from me and head over to the SM forums now for all the details of everything that's happening this weekend (speed scraps, games with prizes, etc). You don't want to miss it!!!

Mari singing

2009-08-05T22:50:00.002-06:00

Mari wanted to sing a song and record it and I thought she did such a good job that I decided to post it here. After she was finished singing, we watched it back and she giggled to herself the whole time. She was so proud of herself (and so am I).

In case you can't understand her, here are the lyrics....

I am a child of God and He has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with Him some day.

wedding dance

2009-08-04T00:47:00.004-06:00

I thought this was so cool when I saw it...what a great way to celebrate your wedding and the start of your marriage.

Then I saw this today and thought it was SO funny.

JK Divorce Entrance Dance @ Yahoo! Video

Here's a link to the article about the making of the "divorce" video click here.

4th of July

2009-07-06T10:36:00.005-06:00

Yes, I know. I've been MIA for a month. Sorry. There really aren't any excuses besides it being summertime. We're trying to get out and do stuff because I hate it when the summer's over and you feel like you didn't do anything. So we've been going to the library a lot. We go to the nearby elementary school for lunch almost every day and then play on the playground afterwards. Keith unexpectedly had someone want to use his scaffolding and surprised us with season passes to Lagoon that he bought with the money he charged the guy for "renting" the scaffolding from him. So we've been to Lagoon 4 times already. We've spent time at the farm with the animals and Keith's family. And we're spending a lot of time in the front and back yards...on bikes, running in the sprinklers, playing soccer, etc. And I've done quite a few more scrapbook pages since I last posted, but I'll put those up later. Today I just wanted to come on and post some pics from the weekend. I always think it's been so long since I've posted that I need to recap EVERYTHING and that would take too long so I just don't bother. I've decided not to feel guilty today and just post what I want. :P

We woke up around 9 on the 4th and rushed to get dressed so we could run over and see the parade. We found a pretty good parking spot at the end of a block that had cars quadruple-parked down the whole block. I mean there were rows of 4 cars going down the whole block (I felt bad for the people parked way at the end of the block - I'm sure it took forever for them to get out) and because we were so late getting there we were able to park right at the front of the block and were the first car to leave. Anyway, then we walked down to the beginning of the block where the parade was. It had already started but we hadn't missed too much. Keith and I stood at the back with the girls, but they eventually made their way right up to the street and sat down in front of some other people already sitting there! But those people were in chairs and the girls sat on the ground out in the street in front of them, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I went up to join them later and asked the people if it was okay and they said it was. So because I was in such close quarters with the girls (I still didn't want to take up too much room in case those people got annoyed with us) I couldn't get very good pics of the girls. But I was able to get this one of Mari. Since we were so close, the bands with their drums were really loud and she covered her ears every time one passed by. I thought it was cute.

Then Elena got up and started walking into the street during a gap in the parade. I was wondering what she was doing, where she was going, and was about to start yelling for her to come back when I realized why she was going out there. Her eagle eyes had spotted a piece of candy that hadn't been claimed and was retrieving it. My girls are candy freaks!

We took these pics of Noah while we were relaxing in the front yard, waiting for it to be time to go watch the fireworks. Noah LOVES to stand up and fusses if we don't let him. He's actually standing next to me right now while I'm typing (I have my arm around him). I love the look on his face in this first picture. He raises his eyebrows like that all the time - he's been doing it since he was born. It used to make his forehead crinkle up more than it does now that he's grown in to his skin a little more. And in the second picture you can see that he's pulled one hand away from me. Already showing his independence. Isn't his outfit cute?

Earlier in the day, after the parade, we parked Keith's truck up on the mountain in the parking lot for the "Y" trail. That way we'd have a good spot for watching the fireworks without having to sit and stake out our spot for 5 hours. So we headed up there around 9:30 and waited for the show to start. This was the only picture I took of (almost) all of us. The girls enjoyed watching the fireworks while Noah slept through them. We had a wonderful time spending the whole day together.

I hope your July 4th celebrations were just as fun as ours!!! And if you also celebrated in Provo this weekend, check out this blog. She's having a little contest for people who post photos of them/their family/whatever, enjoying the 4th of July weekend in Provo.

P.S. Yes I still plan on changing the name of the blog. I just still haven't come up with one that I REALLY like and will be a name that I wouldn't ever have to change again.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2009-06-04T10:34:00.005-06:00

Since we were up after midnight last night (this morning) Keith was the first to tell me Happy Birthday today. Then when I woke Elena up for school, the first thing she said to me was Happy Birthday. She's normally a little grumpy in the mornings and I hadn't thought she'd remember, so I said "Elena, you remembered!!" And she said "Of course I remembered your birthday, Mom. I would be bad if I didn't remember your birthday". (Of course I assured her she wouldn't be, and then thanked her for remembering!) Then when Mari, Téa, and Amya woke up, they all came into our room and sang Happy Birthday to me with Keith. Then Keith took them to the kitchen to make me some breakfast - yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Probably not the most nutritious breakfast, but very yummy. Mari keeps walking up to me and singing Happy Birthday - it's very cute.

And the mail just came and it was ALL for me! A birthday card from Memmie (to which Amya said "She always sends pretty cards"), one from Sally&Ben (to which Amya said "They always send cute cards...usually with dogs" (and this one was no exception)) and one from my mom (to which Amya said "Is my money in there?" (long story, but it was)). Oh and I got a card from Ceci on Monday...the first one to arrive. After I opened the card from my mom and pulled out the 3 gift cards to Target, Bath&Body Works and Old Navy, plus a little cash (THANKS Mom), Keith had something to say - "Hey, is she trying to outdo me or what?" :) Thanks for the cards guys!! Love ya!

So far this is shaping up to be a pretty good birthday. And since it's my last one (I don't plan on getting older than 29), that's a very good thing.

Here's Mari singing to me....

And this is totally unrelated, but we think it's hilarious so I'm including it. We like to play a game we call "Who Says? Who Says?" (Amya made up the name when she was 2). We say a quote from a movie and the first person to correctly name the movie it's from or the character who says it, gets the next turn. Last night Téa came up to me with this gem....

I didn't think to have her say it again and tape it last night, but we got it this morning. I think it's SO funny how she changes her voice for the different parts. In case you can't figure it out, she's singing a line from the "A Whole New World" song in the movie Aladdin. She says "Don't you dare close your eyes (Aladdin's part) and then "A whole new world" (Jasmine's part). Oh and that's chocolate frosting from the cupcakes all over their mouths.

silly boy

2009-05-25T14:36:00.003-06:00

Keith made these delicious and wonderful cinnamon rolls for the second time last night. He started around 9 and I think the first batch came out of the oven around 11:30 pm. They looked so light and golden. I was looking at them and wondering why they didn't look exactly the same as last time. Then it hit me. "Keith, did you put cinnamon in these?" I asked him. "No...why?" was his reply. I waited. A few seconds later, "Aw, man!" Yes, he forgot to put the cinnamon in the cinnamon rolls. I think we'll forgive him though - they still tasted wonderful. Here's a pic of the ones that he made the first time...before baking. I never got around to taking a picture of them after they came out of the oven because we were too excited to eat them.

7 weeks

2009-05-18T22:39:00.005-06:00

Ack!! I keep meaning to get on here and post, and then I get too busy with everything else and forget. But our cute little boy is now 7 weeks old! We can't believe how much he's already growing. He is getting quite good at holding his head up and is SO alert. He loves to be up on our shoulder so that he can look around at everything. When someone is talking, he's trying to find where they are. He's turned into quite the expert pooper, gracing us with blowouts almost every day now. And he's starting to make little noises. I LOVE it when babies are first starting to "talk"- I think their little coos are the sweetest things ever. We are loving our time with our little Noah boy (that's what Mari likes to call him). Here are some pictures of what he's looking like at 7 weeks.

I think we all know where he gets that double chin from. :)

And here are two scrapbook pages I made for him...

weeks 17&18

2009-05-06T22:58:00.000-06:00

weeks 15&16

2009-04-30T22:53:00.000-06:00

4 weeks?!?!?

2009-04-23T20:30:00.003-06:00

How can it have already been 4 weeks? It seems like we JUST came home from the hospital and now he's 4 weeks old today and will be a month on Sunday. I just can't believe how fast time goes by....especially when we haven't been doing much of anything these last 4 weeks. I knew a newborn didn't do much but sleep, eat, and poo, but I forgot how much time those things actually take. I am on the couch almost all day long...I'm either pumping, changing him, feeding him his bottle, burping him, holding him while he sleeps (I know it spoils him, but sometimes I just can't help it), holding him while he's awake, or helping the girls hold him. He is a really good baby....he only cries if we don't get him his bottle in time. :P

On the bottle subject...I'm pumping and then he gets the breast milk in the bottle. We started doing this to monitor how much he was eating to make sure he didn't get too jaundiced (as he was falling asleep almost right after he started to nurse and then didn't eat enough) and have continued to do this as I'm pumping out twice the amount he eats and would DIE (after I exploded) if I was only nursing. Keith and I figured it out the other night. I have over 100 6 oz bags of milk, frozen in our deep freezer. That means over 600 oz I've frozen, which is over 1200 total pumped out. Do you know how much 1200 oz is? Over 10 gallons. 10 gallons. In 4 weeks. I feel like a freaking cow.

On to other news.... :) Noah is super sweet. He smiles a lot, sleeping and awake. And not when he's tooting. He's just happy. He holds his head up really well already and is really alert. He's always looking around and has recently starting really looking at things. He will hear me talking and start looking around till he finds me and then stare at me for awhile. I LOVE it. Today was the first rough day we had with him. I don't know if it was something I ate or he wasn't burped enough or what, but he had bad gas pains. He was crying and fussing and couldn't lay down. I had to hold him up on my shoulder to get him to stop crying and he was tooting like there was no tomorrow. He would fuss, toot, calm down, and then fuss again right before he tooted again. I felt so bad for him. I let him sleep on me all day today so he wouldn't be in pain. I've never had a baby have gas problems before...it was so sad. I think he's finally feeling better, as he's asleep in his bed and not crying. I sure hope this doesn't happen again. I know I wouldn't be able to hold him all day long, all the time, like I did today (Keith was here and able to help out), and it would be sad to have him crying and not be able to give him all of my time and attention (as I have four other kids who do need me every now and then).

And now it's time to pump again. The cycle goes on. :P Here's a sweet pic I took of our little Noah today.

weeks 13 & 14

2009-04-14T22:46:00.004-06:00

So now that I'll be posting my 365 layouts here, I can stay more up to date and not bore you with an extremely long post. Here are the layouts for the last two weeks....

Noah video

2009-04-13T16:20:00.004-06:00

I thought I'd try to take a video of Noah with the webcam on my laptop....this is what we got. Hopefully this will work and you'll be able to see it.

boy update #3

2009-04-04T15:43:00.004-06:00

Man, it's already been more than a week!! I can't believe my little boy is already over a week old. I just realized I never came back on here to let you guys know his name and all that (I put it on my facebook, but forgot about the blog). We named him Noah Keith. We think it fits him very well...we filled out the birth certificate JUST before leaving the hospital. I think the nurse was about to have a cow about us not having it filled out. Seriously, what law says that your baby has to be named before you leave the hospital? And that you can't turn in your own birth certificate form - that someone at the hospital has to do it? I think it's so funny how they freak out about it....every time the nurse would come into the room, she'd look over at the empty birth certificate form and make some comment about how I hadn't gotten around to filling it out yet. Very annoying.

Noah is SUCH a good baby. He hardly ever cries - only if we're making him wait too long before we feed him. He wasn't eating very well at first...he'd suck for about 5 minutes and then fall asleep and I could not get him to wake back up. I was afraid he was going to get jaundice like Maricela and need the bili bed. And I was dying because my milk had come in and he was not doing much to relieve me. So I started pumping and we are feeding him the milk in a bottle so we can monitor how much he's eating. He went from barely eating an ounce to eating about 3 oz every 3-4 hours. All the yellowness is gone and he's looking good. He's already back up to birth weight and I've got a stockpile of milk in the freezer. I think we'll keep up the pumping, as I'm getting out at least 8 oz every 3-4 hours...yep, I'm a cow.

He had his circumcision on Tue and did awesome. He fussed right at first when the doctor was cleaning him off - he doesn't like us to clean him off when we change his diaper either (I think it's the cold wipie) - and then didn't even make a peep after that. The nurse was giving him sugar water in a syringe and that's all he cared about. Didn't cry for the numbing shots or anything. The nurse and the doctor kept saying what a good baby he was. It's been healing really well (except it started bleeding a little today when I was changing him) and everything seems to be going fine.

He wakes up about twice during the night to be fed, usually around 11/12 and then 3/4. I get up at those times to pump and Keith gets up to feed him. I am so grateful Keith is SO willing to help out - he changes diapers, gives baths, and gets up to help with feedings. I have a couple friends who have told me their husbands don't help out at all. One friend has four boys (and is pregnant again) and said her husband has never once changed a diaper. I think I would freak out if Keith was like that. I'm really lucky that he is so willing to be such an active participant in the care of our children. He doesn't just say it's my job.

Well, it's about time to pump again, so I better get going. I'll leave you with a cute picture of our little Noah that I just took yesterday. He's already been smiling quite often and we've seen dimples! One for sure on the right side and Kara said she saw the left side one also. He gets those from Keith.

project 365 update

2009-04-04T14:36:00.017-06:00

I don't know if you guys have been checking my 365 blog or not and if you haven't, don't worry - I haven't updated it since February. I have, however, stayed up-to-date on my pictures and layouts. I've just found that it's too much to try to upload the photos to a separate blog and don't really see the point...So I'll be deleting that blog and just posting the weekly layouts here, for those of you interested and so that I can keep it documented for myself. So, without further ado, here are the pages I have done so far....(watch out, there's a ton!)

update #2

2009-03-26T22:10:00.003-06:00

He's here!!! I had thought I would post a couple more updates before he got here, but that didn't really work out. :P

Baby boy was born at 4:54 pm. He weighs 7 lb 9 oz and is 20 inches long. His head is a normal size and he wasn't too big. Just right. He's doing really well - hasn't really cried at all. Just being a sweet little boy. We're still not sure of a name yet - we have a few that we're trying on for size and once we're sure, we'll let you know. But for now, here are a few pics of the little boy....

update #1

2009-03-26T13:32:00.002-06:00

Well, looks like little boy is on his way! We are in the hospital, the epidural's in (and working just great, thank goodness) and now we're just waiting for him to get here. Shouldn't be too much longer!

38 down, 2 to go

2009-03-24T10:08:00.003-06:00

Since I missed the 37 week post last week, you get two pictures this week.

37 weeks: Your baby is as lofty as a stalk of Swiss chard and weighs 6 1/3 pounds. (Length: a bit over 19 inches, head to heel.)
38 weeks: Your baby, now as long as a leek, weighs nearly 7 pounds. (Length: more than 19 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

Nothing much new to report. We got the car seat (which is good, otherwise we wouldn't be able to bring him home) and a stroller. I've been washing and folding the clothes so they'll be ready for him and trying to keep the house clean (and crossing my fingers that it will stay this way while I'm in the hospital).

Friday night I got hit with a really bad pain in my lower belly. It almost feels like I pulled a muscle on the left side of my belly - I've never had this pain before while pregnant. And it's by far the worst of all the pains I've had so far. I literally can not move when it strikes. I'll feel it while walking, trying to stand up, moving in bed, sitting down, etc. And it'll come all of a sudden and is so sharp and strong that I just freeze in place. And any movement I do after that just makes it worse. Keith and I went to the temple yesterday morning and as I was walking back to the locker room to change back into my everyday clothes, one of the worker ladies saw me (I was walking funny from the pain) and said "Sister, let me come help you. Let's have someone get you a wheelchair. And then after you've changed, we'll have someone pull your car around for you" and she came over to me to try and help me walk. I told her it was okay, I could make it, I just needed to go slow, and that my husband was there. She was reluctant to leave me alone (I guess I must have looked pretty bad) but I made it back to the changing room eventually. :) I know that my pregnancies are not as tough as some people's are, but this one has been pretty tough for me. From all the extra pain I've been having and breaking my foot, I've been more laid up this time than any other, and it's so frustrating!

I have my 38 week appointment on Thursday, so we'll see then if this baby is going to come this week like all his sisters did. I sure hope he does - I am SO ready to get him out. I wasn't a few weeks ago, but I definitely am now. A couple friends and I were talking about this the other day and one mentioned that she thinks that's why we're pregnant for so long. So that we'll get to the point where we'll say "I'm ready to do whatever it takes to get this thing out of me!" Otherwise, we might not be so willing to go through labor. It totally makes sense.

And no (for EVERYONE who's been asking me), we still don't have a name.

Time for your input!

2009-03-15T22:00:00.003-06:00

As the time for this boy's arrival is getting closer and closer, I've realized I need to hurry up and take care of something EXTREMELY important.... the name of this blog. :) Obviously I can't keep it Raising Girls, as I won't be raising just girls any more. I am so NOT creative and have no ideas for what the new name should be (it already took me long enough to figure out the original name). So I figured you guys could help me out. If you have any ideas for me, PLEASE leave a comment and let me know. Then I'll create a poll and you can vote to help me choose the winner. Don't be shy!!! I know I have quite a few lurkers who visit my blog and don't leave comments. Now is the time to comment, people! Let's see what you can come up with!!

36 down, 4 to go

2009-03-15T17:13:00.002-06:00

Your baby, almost 6 pounds and still packing on the pounds at a rate of about an ounce a day, is comparable to a crenshaw melon in size. (Length: more than 18 1/2 inches, head to heel.)

It's definitely getting closer!! I've started doing a lot of preparing (it's about time, right?). I took a break from scrapping and have been sewing spit rags and blankets like crazy. I found a lot of clothes on sale at Target and got clothes at my baby shower, so I've been doing a lot of washing and folding as well. We also deep cleaned our house and have been trying really hard to keep it clean so that it doesn't get so horrible again before the baby comes. I finally found a name for the AWFUL pain I've been feeling in my groin area since about 15 weeks - it's called Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction and it totally fits with what I've been feeling. I usually get this pain just for the last few weeks, but this time it started around 15 weeks and has progressively gotten worse. I feel it the most when I'm laying down in bed, trying to roll over, and then in the morning when I wake up and try to get out of bed. As I walk around, the pain lessens but never goes away completely. I'm really excited for it to be over once the baby's born.

false alarm

2009-03-06T11:56:00.003-07:00

We spent a couple hours at the hospital last night. I've been feeling contractions since earlier than 20 weeks with this pregnancy. So I've gotten used to them and if I get a few in a row, I just lay down until they go away. Yesterday around 2, I started having some contractions that also came with horrible back pain. Every time I had a contraction, it felt like I was being stabbed in my lower back. When I went into early labor at 32 weeks with Elena, the only thing I felt was back pain - not even any contractions. So the back pain worried me. I drank a whole bunch of water and laid down. But they kept coming - about 10 minutes apart for 2 hours. I called my doctor's office and they said not to mess around, to just go over to L&D and get checked out. I waited another hour...they still didn't stop, so we headed out. I even got a bag ready with the video camera and everything, just in case (and then Keith left it at home). They monitored me at the hospital for about an hour and a half. I was having contractions the whole time, but there was no progression (I'm still dilated 1 cm) so they sent me home. The nurse said to lay down, take a warm bath, and take it easy. And obviously if it got worse to come back in. The back pain continued until I fell asleep, but when I woke up this morning it was gone.

While we were at the hospital, Keith was saying "Let's just get this over with now. Wouldn't it be cool to have him tonight?" And I realized that it wouldn't be cool. As uncomfortable as I am, I don't feel ready to bring him home. We don't have a baby car seat (the one we bought for Amya and used with all the other girls has expired so we threw it away); we don't have a bed (again, bought one of those playpen/bed things for Amya and by the time Maricela was done with it, it was so warped from all the chunky babies and the netting torn all over the place that we threw it out); Kara's not here (she's flying out at the end of the month to help take care of the girls while I'm in the hospital and for a few days after I get home); I still have basically no clothes/blankets for him (not even an outfit to bring him home in ); and my house is a wreck (I have all these organizing/cleaning/preparing things I want to get done before he comes that I haven't done yet). So I think my life is going to be pretty busy these next few weeks as I go into overdrive to try and get ready for this new little boy and try not to go into labor at the same time. Whew!

P.S. Keith says not to worry about not having a bed - he can just sleep in a laundry basket for a while. :P

Nursing Hideaway

2009-03-06T11:46:00.003-07:00

The blog I Never Grew Up is hosting a giveaway for a nursing hideaway cover from Lilacs & Lollipops. I've seen these called a different name (Hooter Hiders) and even printed directions for how to make one. I always have a hard time with nursing in public because I'm afraid the blanket I'm using to cover up with will fall off and I can't see what's going on to help the baby, etc. I've been meaning to make one and haven't yet.....maybe I'll win this giveaway and won't have to! :)

My favorite one is the Blue City Girl Paisley, seen here.
Interestingly, Lilacs & Lollipops is based out of SLC. They have a lot of cute stuff - there are also burp cloths and wipie case covers that are made to match the nursing covers. I've also seen patterns for those and have printed them up, intending to make them, and still haven't. It would be so much easier to buy them off this website (and they are SO cute) but they'd mean so much more if I made them myself. I feel a trip to the fabric store coming on....are you up for one, Amy? I guess we'll see what happens. :)

35 down, 5 to go

2009-03-04T18:16:00.006-07:00

Your baby, now as hefty as a honeydew melon at 5 1/4 pounds, doesn't have much room to maneuver in your belly. (Length: more than 18 inches, head
to heel.)

Yeah, there's a few things I need to change in that description. I had my ultrasound and this baby is big. His head is measuring 3 weeks bigger than what it should be (based on my due date). That means right now he has the head of a baby at 38 weeks gestation and his body is measuring 1.5 weeks bigger (36.5 weeks). Right now he's about 6 lb 8 oz and the doctor said he should grow another ounce every day. Based on these calculations, they could change my due date to March 23, or leave it where it is and see if I go early (38 weeks) like I did with all the girls.

This is making me quite nervous. If I go early (let's hypothetically pick March 26), he could weigh over 8 pounds. If I go any later, he definitely will weigh over 8 pounds. If his head continues to grow, on March 26th it will be the size of a 41 week baby. OUCH!!! My biggest baby was 7 lb 7 oz. This baby is shaping up to beat that record. The u/s tech said that's the reason I'm measuring bigger. Not that baby boy is humongous, but definitely bigger than my other babies have been. I am now officially as big as I have ever been, with at least 3 more weeks to go. My uncomfortable-ness has reached an all new level. I can barely move without needing Keith to help me get started. Once I get going though, watch out. Like I taught the third graders in Jan, an object in motion will stay in motion until something stops it. You don't want to be the "thing" that stops me - just ask Téa. She learned to steer clear of me when I fell on her. :)

Here are some recent belly shots.....we needed to get Keith's brother Arax involved for some perspective. We were trying to figure out who's belly is bigger...what do you guys think?

I think that's enough of a baby update for now. I hear Oreos calling me.

34 down, 6 to go

2009-02-25T10:20:00.003-07:00

Your baby has bulked up like the average cantaloupe -- to about 4 3/4 pounds. (Length: almost 18 inches, head to heel.)

Somehow it feels like there's something WAY bigger than a cantaloupe in there. The boy is moving around so much - the girls will just be sitting next to me on the couch and they can feel him kicking without having to put a hand on my stomach or anything. Just sitting next to me is enough. He gets the hiccups ALL the time and they like to feel that too. I haven't measured myself this week, but I'm assuming I'm measuring at least 38 weeks. All the girls came at 38 weeks and I measured right on for them, so that means I'm now as big as I've ever been, with at least 4 more weeks to go. How big am I going to get???? I'm hoping this boy will follow the pattern of his sisters and comes a little early to put me out of my misery. My maternity pants are already getting tight on me and there's no way I'm going to buy more. When I bought them they were so loose I thought "These will totally last me the whole time". Yeah, not so sure about that now.

Just for kicks, here's a video I found on YouTube. It's a little boy baby, playing for 4 hours but sped up to last about 2 minutes. It's really cute. But I don't think any of my babies ever played that well for 4 hours.

Speed Scrap!!

2009-02-23T18:22:00.003-07:00

I'm hosting another speed scrap over at ScrapMatters..... it's coming up this Wed night. I'd love to see you there! Here's the ad and the awesome participation prize that everyone who plays along will receive:

Hope to see you there!!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-02-23T11:48:00.001-07:00

HOLY COW!!! I have been dying to get one of these for my girls (Elena and Mari in particular) and this awesome lady is giving one away for free!!! Go check it out!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

findings

2009-02-19T15:25:00.006-07:00

About 15 minutes ago (literally) I was on the phone with my sister when Maricela came up to talk to me. I noticed something funny in her nose (thought it was a weird booger) and told her to lift up her head. As soon as I realized what I was looking at, I told Kara I had to call her back and hung up the phone. I plugged Mari's other nostril and told her to blow. She sniffed. "No, BLOW" I shouted. She figured it out, blew really hard, and out shot a flower bead. She then opened her mouth to show me what she had in there - a pretty marble. I called Keith over to show him, and he said he thinks the bead has been in her nose since yesterday. He said she went to him and was talking about something in her nose and he checked it, but didn't see anything. We're wondering if it was up there even further and had somehow worked its way out enough for me to see it. Really, it was barely showing and I was afraid it wouldn't come out with just blowing and I'd have to break out the tweezers. We told her "Mari, don't EVER put things in your nose again". And she replied "That's what my friends do". Lately she's been telling us about her "friends", who usually do things we wouldn't want her to be doing. The other night, we had her in our bed because she was talking too much and keeping the other girls from going to sleep. Keith and I were in the living room watching tv, and could still hear her talking and giggling in our bed. Keith went to check on her and asked her who she was talking to. She said "my friends" and Keith said she was looking at something behind him and smiling. I don't know if we're dealing with imaginary friends (none of the other girls had any) or if it's just a phrase she heard and is using. Either way, these "friends" better straighten out their act before I straighten it out for them.

Here are the bead and marble, in case you were wondering. I think this will have to be the picture of the day for today.

33 down, 7 to go

2009-02-19T14:50:00.002-07:00

Your baby is proportioned like a pineapple when it comes to weight -- a little over 4 pounds. (Length: more than 17 inches, head to heel.)

I had my regular checkup on Tue and when the doctor measured my belly, he said "You're right on....exactly 33 cm." I immediately questioned him - I've been measuring 4 weeks bigger for the last 13 weeks and all of a sudden I'm right on? He measured again and, sure enough, I was really 37 cm. He'd mistaken the baby's head for the top of my pelvic bone and that's why the measurement had come up a little short. :P At least we know he's head down and not breach! I have another appt in 2 weeks and he said we'll do another ultrasound at that one, so we can find out if this baby's going to be a porker. The good news was I hadn't gained any weight since my previous checkup....hopefully I've pretty much topped out.

In other news, I've now officially thrown up while pregnant. Last Tue, Maricela threw up a little in the morning, took a big, long nap, and then was fine. Then Téa threw up Wed night. And then Amya and I both threw up all night long Friday night. It was horrible. And we'd just been to our ward's Valentine dinner, where I had stuffed myself. I think I'll just let you picture it from there.....it was not pretty. Keith started feeling sick Mon night, but never threw up. Lucky him. But we're all over it now and hopefully that'll be the last of sickness in our house for awhile.

Scrap Matters Enabling

2009-02-12T09:20:00.004-07:00

I just wanted to pop in and post all the fun stuff that's going on at ScrapMatters right now. For starters, I'm hosting my first challenge! It's called the Grand Theft Layout challenge and, basically, I pick someone from the gallery who I think has awesome pages and challenge everyone to pick a page from her gallery and scraplift it. (Scraplift is where you take a layout and then use it as inspiration to create a page of your own, whether you copy the layout, or use the same color scheme or photo placement, etc.) You can check out the challenge by going here. These are the two pages I made for it....

credits

credits

I also did this page for Sya's CT

credits

and this one for a speed scrap last week

credits

There's another speed scrap tonight that I'll be participating in (as long as no more of my girls get sick - Mari was throwing up on Tue and Téa was up all night last night)....

Finally, tomorrow will be a big day at Scrap Matters. All of the designers have gotten together to create new collaboration kits....they're calling them "twice as nice" kits and they'll all be released tomorrow. I've seen these kits and they are GORGEOUS!!! So check over in the SM shop tomorrow to check out the new goodies!

I think that's about it for now....I have a couple more pages I've done but can't post yet, as the kits haven't been released. So you'll have to wait for those. Also, I'm hosting a speed scrap later on this month, so I'll let you know more about that later. TTFN!

Why?

2009-02-11T12:39:00.003-07:00

Why would she do this?

Maricela cut her own hair on Saturday night. Keith found her in the bathroom, with hair all over the place. He asked her who cut her hair and she said that she cut it herself. He didn't believe her and said something about her not knowing how to use scissors. To which she said, "Yes, Dad, look", picked up the scissors, carefully put her fingers through the holes, put them up to her head, and proceeded to cut off another chunk right in front of him. ARGH!!!!! I guess she thought it would make her look pretty, but she doesn't look like my little girl anymore! It is SO short - in places it feels like a buzzcut. In fact, it looks like we shaved the top of her head and it's now growing back in. Keith asked if this means we can shave her whole head and I said no. I don't know what to do! Should I cut the hair in back shorter so it matches a little?

My little girl has a mullet!!!! And here's a picture of her from today...this is what she did while I was in the shower. Such a booger!

I found a giveaway on a blog called Angela's Accessories that would be perfect for us....she's giving away this adorable hat:
All you have to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment on her blog. Mari totally needs this when we go out in public so people will still know she's a girl!

So far, Téa is the only one who hasn't' cut her own hair (or anyone else's, for that matter). Elena did cut Téa's hair for her, but I'm not counting that against Téa. And the haircuts get worse with each girl!! Maybe this will be something to look forward to with the boy....has anyone had their boys cut their own hair? Please tell me this is just a girl thing. (Of course, with a boy it probably wouldn't be as upsetting, seeing as how their hair is usually kept short anyway.)

32 down, 8 to go

2009-02-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Your baby is taking up more and more space in your uterus and weighs as much as a large jicama -- about 3 3/4 pounds. (Length: about 16 3/4 inches, head to heel.)

I can definitely attest to the "more and more space" part. This baby boy has got to be huge! I can not get comfortable at night, as my stomach is in the way no matter what my position. And he moves constantly....to the point where I want him to take a nap or something just to give me a little relief. He used to be shy about moving when Keith would have his hand on my stomach, but not anymore. Keith gets to feel him move all the time....in fact, the other night, baby boy moved so violently that it scared Keith! He's always been a little squeamish about how it seems like there's an alien in my stomach and when this little guy moved, he pushed out really hard and made my stomach pop out. It freaked Keith out a little bit and he said he was done for the night. If only I could say that too!

I finally got some baby boy clothes. Up until I got these, the only piece of clothing I had for this boy was a $3 onesie from WalMart that said "Daddy's Helper". Old Navy was having a sale on their website, so I picked up a few things. I was so excited to get them in the mail. And then when I got them, and realized that there really wasn't that much (about 10 items) and thought about how much I need, I got a little depressed. I am SO not ready for this little guy to be here! But then again, I am SO ready to get him out of me!

New pages

2009-02-04T20:56:00.004-07:00

I just realized that it's been awhile since I've posted any scrapbook pages, so I thought I'd put them all on here in one big post. And now after going back, there haven't been very many posts since I showed you pages, but there have been quite a few days. I need to post more often!! Prepare yourselves......

Here's one of Téa doing some of her crazy bike stunts...

One of my neighbor's little boy (I'm preparing myself for boy pages ;p)

One of Elena on the day we realized she had 2 loose teeth!

One of my other neighbor's new little girl......

One of Maricela, crashed out on the couch after a day of playing with Jenny and Taylor.....

One of the Monsters, Inc. characters in a parade and a ride at Disney.....

One of me and Mari making funny faces together....

Credits for all of these can be found in my Scrap Matters gallery. I have been on a real scrapping kick lately - hopefully I won't lose my momentum and can keep this up!

the story of the ankle

2009-02-04T10:27:00.007-07:00

I've had some requests to get the full ankle story, so here it is.....

Late Friday afternoon, I was trying to get some cleaning done in the girls' room. I had asked Elena to help and instead she climbed up to Amya's bunk and wouldn't come down. I kept asking her to come down and then threatening her, but she wouldn't budge. I think she thought she was safe, since I don't go up there. Finally, I'd had enough, and I hauled my big butt up there to make her come down. On my way back down, I had a little fall. I was standing on the very last rock with my right foot. I could either put my left foot on the shelf of the bottom bunk, or down on the ground. I thought I was low enough (and my legs were long enough) to bypass that bed shelf and go straight to the ground. So I let go of the rocks I was holding onto and "stepped" down. Unfortunately, I totally miscalculated the distance and crashed down hard on my left ankle/foot. I immediately fell backwards and poor Téa broke my fall. I was initially more concerned that I'd injured her, but once I realized she was fine, I started to feel my own pain. Keith quickly came and helped me up, but I couldn't put any weight at all on my ankle. So he carried me to the couch and I laid there for the rest of the night. I wanted to go to the doctor's, but he had his electrician friend over and they were working on wiring the clubhouse (more on that later) that Keith has been working on and he didn't want to lose their momentum.

I realized that I haven't posted any pictures (at least I don't think I have) of the monstrous bunk bed that Keith built for the girls this past October and if you haven't seen it, you may not understand what I'm talking about. So here are some pictures to help you out. This is the three tier bunk bed that the girls sleep in - Elena and Maricela on the bottom, Téa in the middle, and Amya on top. This thing goes from floor to ceiling and I can't fit the whole thing in the picture with my widest angle lens; it's that big. Our ceilings are about 12 feet high in the bedrooms....this thing is huge. You can just barely see the opening for Amya's bunk in the top middle of the picture. And then the bottom opening is the "shelf" that I'm talking about. Anyway, my right foot was on the rock that the arrow is pointing to.

And just for a little more perspective, here's Maricela next to the rock I was on. As you can see, it's really not that far off the ground, since she's barely 3 feet tall and it's shorter than she is.

So on Saturday my ankle was still hurting A LOT and we went to the doctor. He xrayed it and said it was broken. On the navicular bone (the one I've circled in the picture below) you could clearly see a piece of bone jutting out. It didn't look smooth like the one in the picture. He said that probably the tendon that is attached to that bone had been pulled too hard and pulled off some bone with it (which is almost exactly what happened when I broke my thumb skiing a few years ago). However, it was way too swollen to cast, so he made a splint for me to use until the swelling had gone down enough to cast it. I told him I already had an appt scheduled for the coming Tue (yesterday) and he said that should be long enough and to have my regular doctor cast it at that appt. And I guess technically it's not my ankle, it's my foot.

So we went to the doctor yesterday, and after he looked at my xrays, he said he didn't think I had broken it. He thought it looked like an old fracture, not a fresh one and didn't think it needed casting. (Which is strange, because I've never hurt my ankle/foot badly enough to not walk on it before.) So he said to just stay in the splint and stay off it as much as possible so it can heal. And that if it doesn't get better, they can xray it again and cast it if they need to. I can put a little pressure on it now, as opposed to none at all over the weekend, but I don't want it to heal wrong, you know? I'm a little confused, but we'll see how this goes.

Here's a picture of me with my splint and crutches.

I have found out that it is NOT easy trying to get around on crutches while pregnant. And weighing (right now) 35 pounds more than usual. My hands and armpits are already sore, and I'm only moving around to go to the bathroom and back & forth from my bed to the couch. Also, you have to use your stomach muscles to walk on crutches and my stomach muscles are already sore from stretching for this baby, so now they're even worse. I usually feel a contraction or two after sitting back down...probably from the strain of moving around. Keith's been really great though - bringing my food (and my Oreos) to me on the couch, getting me drinks when I need them, and taking care of the kids. And my neighbor brought us dinner Sunday night (which was really good and I need her to give me the recipe) so that was nice, too.

And then because of all this, I had to quit the maternity subbing I was doing. I feel really bad about it - I'd already done 4 weeks and only had this week and next left to do, but it just isn't going to be possible. This was the one I was looking forward to, as it's a third grade class with some of my students from last year in it. But I had fun while it lasted.....I just hate feeling like I left her hanging.

Anyway, I've probably bored you with this story for long enough, soooo........that's it! Hope I've answered all your questions!

One more quick tidbit - At my appointment yesterday, instead of measuring 4 weeks bigger, I measured.....(are you ready for it)........5 weeks bigger. ARGH!!!!!!!

31 weeks down, 9 to go

2009-02-02T21:00:00.004-07:00

Your baby now weighs as much as four navel oranges. (Length: over 16 inches, head to heel.)

And here's a really bad picture of me, taken a couple nights ago. Please remember this was taken at night, after a long day, after a lot of stress, after (I don't know what else, but there's gotta be a reason I look so bad.) (Also, please ignore my dirty door.)

And I can't believe I'm posting this one, but it needs to be documented right? Besides the fact that I started contracting sooner with this pregnancy than any other, and I'm already heavier than I've ever been (with weeks still to go), and my stomach's measuring bigger than it should be (which I've never done) that's not all that's different about this pregnancy. This time, I also get to experience bloating. I've never done this before. Never! And now, every day when I take off my socks, it almost looks like I still have socks on! I practically have cankles. I'm telling you, this boy better be worth it! :)

Oh, in this picture you need to ignore the dirty couch. I've given up on having clean walls and couches and that sorta thing until the kids get older. There's just no point in stressing over getting them sparkling clean, just to have them marked up 10 minutes later.

30 down, 10 to go

2009-01-25T21:38:00.003-07:00

At the beginning of this pregnancy I had this plan of posting a picture of how big the baby is and how much it weighs every week. As you can see, I haven't done that at all yet. But I figure better late than never.....so here's the info on what this baby looks like at 30 weeks (according to BabyCenter.com).

"Your baby rivals a good-size cabbage in weight, tipping the scales this week at 3 pounds. (Length: about 15 3/4 inches, head to heel.)"

And once again, instead of the plan of taking a pic of me every week to watch my belly grow, we've taken a total of 2 pictures. Two. I'll try to get Keith to take one of me this week, but I always hate the pictures he takes.......but if you're wondering, my belly is measuring 4 weeks bigger than I really am so yes, I'm huge.

Project 365

2009-01-16T11:16:00.006-07:00

So I jumped on the Project 365 bandwagon. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can go here for more detailed information. But basically, you take a photo every day for a whole year and then at the end of the year you have this year-long photo album that shows everything you did for the last year. I was kind of waffling around about it, cause I know what a big procrastinator I am and was afraid to commit and then not take pictures. So I've been taking the pictures, but not saying that was why I was taking them. (I did actually miss a day already, but I'm not going to stress about it.) The other part that I'm adding to it is that I'll be making a 2 page scrapbook layout for each week, hopefully at the end of each week, showcasing that week's photos. This way I'll have every picture recorded and journaled soon after it's taken, before I can forget what we were doing that day or why I took the photo. So far, a lot of my pictures have been taken later on in the day, as I've realized "Oh crap, it's 7:00 and I haven't taken a picture yet". Hopefully I'll get better at remembering to snap those photos earlier in the day as this continues on.

Last night I finally sat down to make my first layout. It took me over three hours. But that's more because I was trying to decide how I wanted the page format to look, as I'm going to use the same format for each 2 page spread - that way the finished album will be more consistant and it'll be easier for to scrap every week, as I'll have a specific format to follow. And I kept it pretty simple, so the photos would be the focus of the layout, not the extra embellishments. After I finished it, I called Keith over to come see it. He said, "This is so cool. You know what would be neat? If you did a page like this for every week this year - then we'd have this super cool album at the end of the year." I was all, "Um, honey, that's the point. That's what I'm planning on doing." (I hadn't even told him I was going to be doing this, I was that afraid of failing.)

Well, after that long explanation I better show you my page. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to start a new blog for just the pictures and post them each day, or if I'll just post the weekly layout here. I don't know. ** I went ahead and made a new blog just for the pictures. You can find it here and I'll put a link on the side. ** But for now, here is my Project 365 Week 1.

Amya's upset with me for not having a picture of her on this page, but for some reason, she really wasn't in any pictures I took that first week. So now I have to be more aware of who I'm taking the pictures of and try to keep it so that everyone is seen in equal amounts.

And here are the pages separately, so you can see them more close up.

Finally, for credits you can click here.

A New Creative Team!!

2009-01-09T22:16:00.002-07:00

Just a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a new blog that I thought was SO cool....it's called The Hybrid Kid and it's a website that was started by a mom who had an idea one day. She said in her opening post: "This blog will be dedicated to using digital art in the everyday things we do. I hope to pair teachers and digital designers to create printable activities that serve three purposes...educational value, together time, and to look pretty". She's already come up with some really cool projects like The Color Book and The Popcorn Word pack. Just recently, she asked for people who would be willing to try out her projects, use them with their kids, take pictures of them in use, and provide feedback so that she can better showcase and promote her projects. I replied and was one of the moms (and therefore my kids as well) chosen to try out her things. I'm so excited about this!! Elena and Téa both are working on learning to recognize their letters and numbers and are so in to anything that has to do with learning and also art. These projects are perfect for them!! So you'll probably be seeing me showcasing some of these projects as we put them to good use.

Night Owls

2009-01-05T22:43:00.005-07:00

Keith totally surprised me with my Christmas present. While out in WV over Thanksgiving break, I was looking at all the Black Friday ads to see if there was anything worth waking up for. The only thing I really wanted to get was a laptop and there were some good deals, but since Keith had just surprised me with all of them joining me in WV, there wasn't any money for a laptop. When he asked me what I wanted for my Christmas present, I said a laptop, knowing he wouldn't get me one. Do you see where this is going? I don't know what I did to get the husband I have, cause he totally went above and beyond on this one. He got it from Costco, where it was on sale and then even more on sale as the display model was the only one left, so he got an even bigger discount. I don't know how he does it. This was the best picture I could find of my lovely gift and it doesn't even do my laptop justice - this thing is beautiful and I LOVE it.

We have definitely been putting this baby to good use. We installed Skype and used it to talk to my uncle in Germany. That was way cool. I've scrapbooked on it and it's AMAZING. And every night, Keith and I have been laying in bed, watching episodes of The Office, trying to get caught up. (And when I say trying to get caught up, I mean we jsut started watching it and now have 4 seasons to watch). This is one of the coolest things he's ever gotten me....I love my husband!!

And I love him even more right now cause he just went out and bought me a package of Oreos to eat while I'm watching. What an awesome husband I have!

Scrapbook Catch-up

2009-01-01T10:25:00.009-07:00

Be prepared....this could get long. I realized that it's been FOREVER since I've posted a scrapbook page on here and, even though I didn't creat any new pages while my computer was broken, there are a lot of pages you guys haven't seen. So, in no particular order, here they are.....

Keith made some cakes for a cake walk at our ward Halloween party. They were definitely the most talked about cakes of the night. We were really proud of his work! (I have no idea why it's cutting off the side of this one. Sorry!)

I made this page for a speed scrap 2 nights ago. It's my sisters, Amya, my mom, and my uncle Eric and aunt Kusi playing Apples to Apples while I was home in WV.

I made this page for a speed scrap I hosted on Monday. It's a picture of our tree this year, right after I'd finished wrapping the presents and getting them set up. The red presents in the tree and right in front of it were the ones from Santa. Amya saw me scrapping this picture and said "Mom, those are the Santa presents. I thought Santa came after you went to sleep. How'd you take a picture of that? Maybe you're Santa..." To which I so cunningly replied "Or maybe I woke up in the middle of the night to take a picture after he left". I don't think we can fool her much longer. :)

These pics were taken on the 4th of July. Elena and Téa were trying to see who could make the biggest splash.

These are our Halloween pics from this year. This was the fastest I've ever scrapped something after it happened....I think I did this just the day after Halloween.

There's a group of ducks that waddle all around the farm and Maricela LOVES to chase them around. As soon as she sees them, she's after them. Luckily for the ducks, they're faster runners than she is.

We went for a drive in the mountains in the fall to take pictures of the changing leaves. We went a little too late though, and I didn't get the kind of pictures I wanted, but I thought these turned out pretty good.

And here's my new January desktop. Again, I got this from The Shabby Princess. I love her stuff! I took these pictures the other day. Keith borrowed his brother's 4-wheelers and tied the sleds to the back of them to pull the girls around on. They've been having a ton of fun on them. I got on two days ago - I didn't have as much fun. Keith had to help me off......

The credits for all these pages can be found in my Scrap Matters gallery. Thanks for sticking with me through this long post!!

Happy Holidays!!

2008-12-28T14:22:00.006-07:00

It's a little late, but better late than never, right? This is the card we sent out this year. If you didn't get one, it's cause I don't have your address. I have a few left so if you want one, email me your address and I'll get one to you.

We were all ready for church one day, so I put the camera on the tripod, turned on the timer and took a few pictures. This was the best one. Amya wasn't even smiling, I had to photoshop the ends of her lips so that it would look like she was kinda smiling. It's so frustrating trying to take pictures of everyone!

I'm Back, Baby!!!

2008-12-27T14:09:00.006-07:00

Whew! After almost two whole months of no computer and no internet, we are back up and running. It seems like it took forever!!! And now there's so much to catch up on.

Here's the biggest news that I haven't been able to share on here yet. On November 20, I had my 20 week ultrasound to check on how the baby is growing and find out the sex. Are you guys interested? You want to know? We are going to have......

A BOY!!!! After four girls, we are going to be adding a boy to our (not so) little group of kiddos. I must say it was quite a shock, especially for Keith. He was just so sure that it was going to be another girl, and actually hoping for another girl, that when we realized what we were having, he just sat there in shock for the whole rest of the appointment. Didn't really say much of anything, except "He could be wrong, it could still be a girl". Um honey, no, that's a definite boy. :)

He's since warmed up to the idea and we're both pretty excited for this new adventure. I told Keith he can take care of all the diaper changes on this one. I'm not interested in getting hosed down, which I hear is a a common occurance with little boys. Í'm a little nervous though, as I have no boy experience and am not prepared for a boy at all. There isn't one single piece of blue clothing in this house at all. I guess we've got some shopping to do.

Here's a profile pic of the little booger...

We're pretty excited about our new addition!! (But does this mean I'm going to have to change the name of my blog?)

Live from WV.....

2008-12-01T13:46:00.002-07:00

Man, I can't believe it's been over two months since I've seriously posted on this thing. Where have I been? What have I been doing?

Well, October was pretty busy for us, especially the beginning part of it. My dad and grandma came out to visit us. We had Elena's fifth birthday. Amya was baptized. I started a 6 week subbing job for a friend at the school I taught at last year (she was on maternity leave).

And then in the first week of November, our computer broke. Completely. It's been so frustrating. We were able to get part of it fixed but the hard drive was busted as well. Our warranty covers the hard drive, but not data recovery. I have an EHD that I had been backing everything up to and I wasn't too worried, until I checked it and realized that 30 gigs of videos are missing from my EHD. All the videos we took from May of 07 to Dec of 07. A Disney trip, some birthdays, and who knows what else. So we're trying to get those off the dead hard drive before we swap it out for the new one. Hopefully that won't take much longer, cause I am going through some serious withdrawals here. I hate not being able to check my email, I haven't been able to scrapbook, and I can't get on and update the old blog. SOOO annoying.

We're in West Virginia right now - we came out for Thanksgiving and we go home tomorrow. It was actually only supposed to be me and Maricela out here. I thought we didn't have the money to fly us all out here, so Keith said I could go ahead and buy a ticket and he and the other girls would just stay home. Unbeknownst to me, Keith was in cahoots with my mom and sister Kara and about 4 hours after I bought my ticket, he bought tickets for him and the rest of the girls. He couldn't get them on my exact flight, but they flew out an hour after me. He had this whole story about how they were going to go stay at his brother Ian's house while I was gone. He even made me help pack the girls for the trip to 'his brother's house'. For two weeks he was feeding me this story and begging me not to go and whining and asking how I could separate our family on a holiday and even trying to bribe me with money to stay. Basically making me feel really guilty for no reason. So I get here, my mom picks me up at the airport, we drive three hours home, and the whole time I'm on the phone with Keith and he's telling me what they've been doing since I left. Liar. And then about an hour after I got to my mom's house, the front door opens. It was midnight by then and I was thinking "Who in the heck is walking into my parent's house this late?" In walk in Keith and all the girls. Keith says the look on my face was priceless. I was just in shock. I really had absolutely no idea they were coming. Not one inkling. My uncle asked if that shows how good Keith is at deception or how gullible I am. I think it's a mixture of both. Needless to say, I was surprised and glad to see them and we've all had a really good time while out here. And we'll all be on the same flight home tomorrow, so that's good.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer till you hear from me again. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-10-19T20:23:00.000-06:00

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This is THE most amazing costume I've ever seen. I can not believe she's giving it away!!! You HAVE to go check it out on her blog.

SM Birthday Blog Train!!!!!

2008-09-26T08:00:00.003-06:00

Welcome to stop #19 on the SM Birthday Blog Train!! You have arrived in Utah!!

To help celebrate ScrapMatters' 1st Birthday a whole bunch of us (CT members and designers) created brag book pages to share with all of you!! They've all been made using the new (free with $10 purchase) kit "You Say It's Your Birthday". It's an AMAZING kit!! If you follow the links, you'll end up with an AWESOME album! Most of the links have 5x7 quickpages in PNG format - all you have to do is add your pictures and you're good to go! But some have even more, like treat toppers and invitations.

These are the stops you should have already made.
1. www.scrapmatters.com/wordpress (team blog)
2. www.andilynn.wordpress.com (Andrea)
3. www.brittishdesigns.blogspot.com (Britt)
4. www.scrapmuss.blogspot.com (Maria)
5. www.chiascraps.blogspot.com (Andrea)
6. www.digitalcreations.typepad.com (Sharon)
7. www.mommaholly.blogspot.com (Holly)
8. www.stacysbackdoor.blogspot.com (Stacy)
9. www.scrappykate.blogspot.com (Kate S.)
10. www.scrap-stuff.blogspot.com (Sya)
11. www.kimbytx.blogspot.com (Kim)
12. www.zane-escraps.blogspot.com (Erica)
13. www.kandykanekreations.blogspot.com (Lisa)
14. www.neeceebeedesigns.blogspot.com (Denise)
15. www.geekydiva.wordpress.com (Kim - tgmousechick)
16. www.plumdumplingdesigns.blogspot.com (Mary)
17. www.joyrevisited.blogspot.com (Heather L.)
18. www.taterscraps.blogspot.com (Tater)

Whew! Are you tired from all the traveling? (And just think, there are still a whole bunch more stops after mine!) Well, without further ado, here is the quickpage and birthday invite I've created for you.....

You can download my brag book quickpage and birthday invite here.

Also, we're all sharing a birthday tradition from our family. One of our family's traditions (that we got from my family, that came from my mother's family :D ) is to let the birthday person pick their birthday dinner. Whatever they request (within reason of course) is what we eat for dinner. We've had spaghetti, enchiladas, macaroni and cheese, and lots of other special requests. Tonight we're having Italian Crockpot Chicken for Amya's birthday dinner. Feel free to share one of your family's birthday traditions with me (we could use a few more)!!

Next stop on the birthday blog train is www.haynay.blogspot.com (Heather N.)

And please remember, we are an international train, so if one stop isn't ready yet, be patient and wait for it to be posted. The freebie links will be valid for a long time, so you won't miss out.

Have fun guys!!!!!

Scrap Matters Birthday Party

2008-09-25T09:41:00.002-06:00

The Scrap Matters website is turning one tomorrow (and Amya's turning 8...ACK!!!)! There is a huge freebie they're giving away with every $10 purchase (and almost everything in the store is on sale), there'll be a chat and a Blog Train with freebies! Lots of fun stuff going on. And I'm participating in the Blog Train, so come back tomorrow morning to see the brag book page I made to give away.

2008-09-24T13:56:00.005-06:00

So apparently, I've been a huge slacker about posting scrapbook pages. I have a whopping 7 that I've done in the last month and not posted. oops!! So here they come......

This is the one I made for the speed scrap I hosted today. I came up with the design all on my own (I've been using a lot of templates lately, so this one took me a little longer than usual!) and then came up with 7 instructions to give to the people participating in the speed scrap. The instructions were:
1. Pick 3-5 photos to use. They must show a sequence of events or be a series of photos. If you want, you can run an action on them.
2. Line up your photos, either horizontally or vertically. The focal photo should be larger than the others (it doesn’t have to be a lot larger, it can be just slightly larger).
3. Pick your papers (no more than three). Your background paper needs to be solid, but the other two can be patterned.
4. Mat your photos. (You can use one of the papers you chose…) Your focal photo, however, needs a frame.
5. Add some elements. You need at least one ribbon, one flower, one “bling”, and one staple.
6. Add your title. Your title needs to be a combination of alpha and font. One word should stand out more than the others.
7. Add journaling on some sort of journaling block (it can’t just be typed on your background paper) and date your layout.
It was a lot of fun to host and not as nerve-wracking as I thought.

If you want to see what the participants did with my instructions, you can click here. Oh and this page showcases Erica Zane's products, which you can find here.

This is one my pages for Sya's CT for this month. It's from when we went to Fort Bridger at the end of August for the annual Mountain Man Rendezvous. Kinda fun! (I'll have to remember to tell you about Maricela swimming in the hotel pool when we were there.)

Being on the ScrapMatters CT means that each month I'm assigned 3 designers from the store. I need to make at least one LO for each designer, showcasing their products. This is my LO for Ellie Lash (you can find her things here). These pictures are of the veggies I picked in about 1/2 an hour at the farm.

This was for a speed scrap back in August. I can't believe I never posted it! I won that speed scrap by the way. :) These pictures are of Keith's niece, Ashley, and her baby, Tenley, at Tenley's baby blessing.

This page was for a Template Challenge at Scrap Matters. While in Hawaii, we went to the Dole Plantation and one of the things we did on the tour there was plant a pineapple bush (are they bushes?). Anyway, I had no idea that all you needed to plant pineapples was the top of a pineapple you've already eaten. Cool!

This one was also for a speed scrap in August. I LOVE my wide angle lens - it's the only way I get to be in pictures, since I'm usually the one holding the camera.

Finally, this one was also for a Template Challenge and also showcases Ellie Lash's designs.

Whew!! That was a lot of information! And because I'm lazy and hungry, I'm only going to post a link for credits once. If you go to my ScrapMatters Gallery you can find all these layouts and click on the individual ones to get credits. I have two more pages from other speed scraps during this month that I still haven't finished, therefore totally missing the point of the SPEED scrap. Once I finish them, I'll post them.

Speed Scrap

2008-09-22T13:59:00.002-06:00

So I'm hosting my first ever speed scrap at Scrap Matters this Wednesday at 11 am MST. I am super nervous and way excited at the same time. Hopefully it'll go as smoothly as possible!! So here's the annoucement and a preview of the participation prize if any of you are interested in joining me. Wish me luck!!

good or bad?

2008-09-13T20:59:00.001-06:00

The girls were eating ice cream sandwiches today and Keith told Téa to go get one for Maricela. She did, but she brought it to him with a big bite missing. Here's the conversation that followed:
Keith: "Téa, who took a bite out of Maricela's sandwich?"
Téa: "I did."
Keith: "Why did you take a bite out of her sandwich?"
Téa: "Because I wanted to see if if was good or bad. And it was good."

Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-09-03T22:25:00.001-06:00

Okay this is THE coolest outfit I have ever seen. EVER. And I can't believe she made it herself and is giving it away for free!!! You have to check this out...

Table Cloth Skirt and Dinner Party Top GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

September Desktop

2008-09-03T15:51:00.004-06:00

So here's the Sep. desktop.....aren't those veggies huge?

And while I'm at it, here's the August one. I just realized I never posted it. Do you like how we're all wearing our Drywall shirts?

And I'm way too lazy to have done these myself....you can find the Sep one here and unfortunately I forgot where I got the August one.

WooHoo!!!!

2008-09-03T11:28:00.003-06:00

I am officially a member of the ScrapMatters Creative Team!! They had a CT call and I applied, not really thinking I would make it. But I did!!! So I'll be on their CT until Feburary and will be creating layouts mainly with things from their store, occasionally posting on their blog, and maybe even hosting some challenges in their forum. I'm really excited about this new opportunity!!! And tonight there will be a speed scrap that I'll be participating in....here's the announcement for it:

And this is the cool prize you get just for participating in the speed scrap:

So if any of you who read my blog are digi-scrappers, hopefully I'll see you there!

so frustrating

2008-08-28T15:04:00.066-06:00

I AM SO ANNOYED WITH BLOGGER! I have tried to get this posted three times now and it keeps messing up my post. So I decided to split the update into two posts and hopefully it won't mess up again. ARGH!!!!

So to finish up with Maricela, she gave us a scare yesterday also. She already had a doctor’s appt scheduled to have a wart removed from her finger. About 20 minutes before we had to leave, she was running around in the backyard and ran right into a pitchfork. She got a nice little puncture wound on her leg right where her leg meets her foot. We cleaned it out and figured the doctor could look at it too. So he did and said it should be fine and put some steri-strips on it to help it stay together while it healed. Well after she woke up from her nap, she was crying and saying her “footy” hurt. I thought it had just fallen asleep and tried to calm her down. But about 10 minutes later she was still crying and when I sat her down she cried even more. We quickly figured out that it was her puncture wound hurting her. She couldn’t put any weight on her foot at all and started to cry if it even looked like someone was going to touch it. I was afraid it was infected and we’d have to go back to the doctor’s.
But after some Tylenol she started limping around on it and by the end of the night she was running around like normal.
Keith was joking that it was more like a stab wound and now she can say she’s a true Mexican. Okay. Maricela is also a huge copycat! If anything is said in this house, it’s said twice because you can always hear her little echo. She ADORES her older sisters and follows them around all the time, trying to be just like them. So if Téa’s out doing bike tricks, you better believe Maricela is trying to do them as well.

We went to a demolition derby two weeks ago and had a blast! I was not too keen on going, but once we got there I had a lot of fun.

It was cool to see cars crash into and knock over the cement barriers and one even landed on top of a barrier! Keith and the girls really enjoyed themselves and we all had a good time together.

Last week we went to a ward luau and that was really fun as well. Amya kept calling it a lu-how. Anyway, Amya entered the watermelon eating contest for kids. It was a race to see who could eat the most slices in 20 seconds. While Amya didn’t win (she ate 3), she did go on to eat 7 more that night. I love the little bit of watermelon dripping off her chin in the picture. And Maricela had so much fun playing that she zonked right out as soon as soon as we got home. She loves this little chair.

Whew! I hope that was a good catch-up for anyone who cares and I’m really going to try to not get this behind again.

blogger sucks

2008-08-28T15:04:00.065-06:00

Sorry about all the weirdness of the picture placement and the annoying large spaces in the next two posts. Every time I try to go and edit them, blogger acts like there's nothing in the post. So it's either delete the whole post and start over, or leave it like it is. Seeing as how it took me three hours already to get those stupid things posted because blogger was already being annoying, I'm not gonna mess with them.

buckle up, it's gonna be a long ride

2008-08-28T15:04:00.052-06:00

I realized the other day that I have not been updating like I used to. I've posted scrapbook pages and a few tidbits here and there, but I'm not keeping track of what the girls are up to... and that's what the original plan for this ole blog was. So I'm gonna try to stay more on track with keeping all y'all up to date with the goings on of our household. Here goes.......

Amya got her ears pierced this month! Or to quote her, she got her "earrings pierced". I think it sounds cute when she says it like that and Keith keeps trying to correct her. She was so brave. She sat right down, let the lady clean and mark her ears, and then counted down for her to pierce. It hurt a little bit, you could tell she was kinda cringing for the second one, but she was a trooper. Didn't complain at all, cause she knew it would scare the other girls.
We plan on getting theirs done too, but we're waiting to find a time when there are 2 girls working so that they can do both ears at the same time. That way it won't be as bad for the younger girls. Keith has said since before Amya was born that his girls couldn't get their ears pierced till they were 18. I fought him on this, as that was a rule for me and I HATED it, but he wouldn't give in. Then while we were in Hawaii, he saw some pretty flower earrings and said "Wouldn't those look pretty on my girls?" and that was that. He is such a softie! :)

Amya also started 3rd grade! I can't believe how old she's getting. We braided her hair the night before so it would be curly and she was very pleased. I think Spanish will be a little harder for her this year, as the Spanish teacher is pretty demanding, but she should be able to do it. We'll just have to practice speaking it more at home because that's where she's the most behind.

Elena continues to be our reigning dance queen. She dances all over the house. And it doesn't matter what type of music she's listening to - rap, classical, hispanic, jazz, reggae, etc. - she's got a special dance for everything. She goes right along with the beat and makes up moves that totally go with the music. We seriously need to put her in dance classes. In this picture, she's trying to do the chicken dance. A lady on the other side of the railing was doing it, and Elena was copying her every move. She also loves to try and do gymnastic tricks. Cartwheels, somersaults, hanging upside down, she's way into that.

She wears dresses or skirts EVERY day, unless we make her wear shorts. Even while biking, she has to look her best. :) She's learned how to tuck her skirts under her b*m when she rides so they don't get caught in the chain. She gave me a little scare yesterday. She was upset about something she was coloring, so she started to throw a hissy fit. She threw her head back and hit it on the cement blocks we have lining our front garden. Obviously she started to cry and I told her "That's what you get for throwing a hissy fit". Not
a lot of sympathy from me.
She came over to me and leaned up against me, so I started rubbing her head where I thought she had bonked it. My hand got wet. I pulled it away and, sure enough, it was bloody. I ran her inside and Keith and I washed off her head and tried to see how bad it was. Keith didn't think it needed stitches, so we just put pressure on it till it stopped bleeding and then borrowed some super glue from our neighbors and glued it shut.

In Téa news, that girl is CRAZY!!! I think she is, by far, our biggest tomboy. She is SO into doing tricks on her bike, playing in the mud, wearing Spiderman, Diego, Transformers, etc. stuff, runs around without a shirt on, and LOVES bugs. She has about 10 different tricks she does on her bike like standing up, riding with no hands, no feet, one hand, one foot, feet over the handlebars, etc. She is such a little stunt devil!! I love this picture of her riding with one leg behind - it looks like she's been amputated at the knee....crazy kid.

She also LOVES to color. She literally colors every day and does SUCH a good job. She tries so hard to stay in the lines...she gets this intense look of concentration on her face while she's working.
It is SO cute.

On to Maricela.....I cut her bangs yesterday. They weren't long enough to put back, but they kept getting in her eyes, so I decided to cut them. We think she looks pretty darn cute with bangs. Also, Keith decided it was time to potty train her. So she's been wearing und*es this week and doing pretty good with them. She doesn't tell us she has to go, we just make her go all the time. She's had a few accidents when we've forgotten to take her though. So I'm not too sure SHE'S ready to potty train, but Keith is. He thinks if we keep taking her, she'll eventually get the hang of it. We'll see how that goes.

bun in the oven

2008-08-23T13:01:00.003-06:00

Elena made this drawing for me today.

In case you can't figure it out, that's me and a baby in my tummy. Yep, you heard it here - I'm knocked up again. :)

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-08-22T09:53:00.000-06:00

This lady has a beautiful website and if I link you to it, I'm entered to win a GORGEOUS little girl's dress. I couldn't resist. Check out her website - you won't be disappointed!

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

new scrapbook pages

2008-08-11T13:53:00.005-06:00

So I've been a pretty busy scrapper this past week, but I couldn't post any of the pages till this past Friday. Then things got busy, and I didn't make it here to post them on the blog till now. I made three pages for Sya's Blueprints, as she had a grab bag that came out with the re-opening of the Scrap Matters store. We couldn't post our pages until the grab bag was available for purchase. Then last week, I was accepted onto another CT, this time for Jeni Hopewell, who also sells at Scrap Matters. She also has a grab bag out in the store, so I created a page using things from her grab bag. (In case you don't know, a grab bag is kind of a mystery. They're usually around $3-4, but you don't know what's in them till after you've purchased them. But they're always worth way more than what you pay for them.) So without further ado, here are the pages (the first three are using templates from Sya's grab bag and the fourth uses a template from Sya and stuff from Jeni's grab bag).....

credits

Last, but not least, there was a speed scrap over at Scrap Matters this morning and this is the page I made for it.

credits

Amya's Curls

2008-08-06T13:35:00.006-06:00

We experimented with french braiding Amya's hair, leaving it in for a few days, and then taking it out to see how curly it would be. Amya was SO happy when she saw her hair! I can see us doing this a lot more often in the future.....

But next time we take pictures, we'll make sure she hasn't been drinking KoolAid right before. :)

CUTE camera straps

2008-08-06T13:35:00.003-06:00

I am REALLY missing my camera! On Mari's birthday, I went to take a picture of her and the camera wouldn't focus. I tried a few times, turning it on and off, but I still couldn't get it to work. So I thought I'd take off the lens and put it back on, thinking that might reset it. Boy was I surprised at what I saw when I took off the lens! A piece of the lens (where it connects to the camera) was melted AND a part of the camera (where the lens had been connected) was melted! I took it to the shop right away (thankfully we have it under warranty) and all four people in the shop said they had never seen anything like that before. It hadn't been dropped or gotten wet or anything....it was really weird. Anyway, they sent it in to be fixed, but I've been without a camera for 2 weeks now and I'm going through withdrawals. Then when I saw these:

I was even more depressed. I can just imagine putting one of these on my camera. They are SOOO pretty! She has a ton more in her etsy shop: Cotton Candy by Natalie. My friend Amy got one like this the other day and it looks so cute on her camera. Natalie's also having a little contest on her blog where, if you talk about her straps on your blog or on a message board, you have a chance to win one of her straps! How exciting! So I'm crossing my fingers that my camera (my "precious" according to Keith) comes back to me soon and that I win the contest. Go check out her shop - you won't be disappointed!

Happy Birthday, Maricela

2008-07-31T13:39:00.007-06:00

Okay, this post is over a week late, but better late than never, right?

Maricela turned 2 on July 21. I can't believe my baby is 2!! I guess that means I can't call her my baby anymore. :( She rang in her birthday in style though, with an Oscar worthy hissy fit performance. She has continued to bless us with the joys of hissy-fitting every day since. Honestly, that girl had probably only thrown a hissy fit a few times before, but it's like she thought "I'm gonna show them what the 'terrible twos' are really like, and what better day to start than on my 2nd birthday?" Today she literally threw herself off my bed during a hissy fit because I hadn't put her shoe on the way she wanted it. Luckily she was okay, but falling off the bed only made the fit worse. Argh. Hopefully this will pass quickly. :)

Since my camera died right after I took the picture of her holding her birthday money from Noel, I have no other pictures of her birthday. :( So I've decided to share lots of other pictures to help describe what she's been up to lately.

She loves playing in water, whether it's stomping in puddles, getting Daddy wet with the hose, shooting water guns, or playing in the little pool at the farm.

She LOVES jewelry. She has this pink necklace that she wears EVERYWHERE. She loves to put 'pretties' in her hair (that's what we call ponytails) and she gets into my makeup.

Maricela loves to draw. She scribbles on everything with anything she can get her hands on. We've had to pay for marked up library books, there's a new art gallery on my wall, she colors on herself and her clothes, etc.

She is definitely an eater. She takes after her daddy. Here's she's eating a bean tapatía. Apparently she was more interested in the beans than the tortilla.

She loves to wear pretty dresses and skirts and is always willing to put on a cheesy grin for a picture.

She loves to be outside. Whenever she hears the door open (we have squeaky doors) she starts yelling "Ah-siy" (outside) over and over, while running towards the door.

She's a goofy little girl who loves to make us laugh. We definitely have another Keith Jr. on our hands in that department.

She loves anything that has to do with Princesses. She has this funny way of saying princess, something like "lellellellella". I'll have to get video of her saying it and post it.

Maricela also loves babies. She has to have her baby with her when she goes to sleep and she carries it around with her all day long.

She's also into bugs. She loves to go out with Téa and hunt for roly-polys. She calls them po-wees, and any other bug she sees is a pi-der (spider).

We love our little Maricela and are so glad she is a part of our family! Happy Birthday Mari!!!

p.s. Mom, these photos are big enough to print and should still look good, not all pixelated.

2008-07-28T12:49:00.002-06:00

I LOVE how this page came out!!! I spent most of yesterday working on it...not at the computer the whole time, but coming back to it after cleaning, cooking, etc. Hope you guys like it as much as I do!

credits

Giraffe

2008-07-25T21:54:00.003-06:00

One more from today....

credits

Memmie Dresses

2008-07-25T17:08:00.002-06:00

These are dresses that my grandma, Memmie, got for the girls. They were originally for Amya, Elena, and Téa. But now the girls have grown and they fit Elena, Téa, and Maricela. Cute girls in cute dresses.

credits

2 speedscraps today

2008-07-22T23:10:00.003-06:00

There were two speed scraps over at Scrap Matters today and I was able to participate in both! Here are my two pages.

Eli's Baptism

credits

and Playground

credits

And Maricela's birthday post is coming soon!

Butterfly Catcher

2008-07-17T19:55:00.007-06:00

I participated in another speedscrap over at Scrap Matters tonight. Amy came over and we worked together to get our pages done. For some reason, it didn't go as smoothly for me this week and I was really stressing at the end. We had till 9:15 to upload our pages and I uploaded mine at 9:16. It was still fun, but I hope next week will be easier. :)

For credits, click here.

Watching Fireworks

2008-07-17T19:55:00.003-06:00

I don't think I've mentioned this here on the blog, but I applied for and was accepted on a digital scrapbooking creative team. A creative team is a group of people who make scrapbook pages using a designer's products to showcase on the internet to get other people interested in buying the products. Make sense? So the team I applied for is a new designer to ScrapMatters who specializes in templates. Her store can be found here. I'm really excited to be able to do this. Here's the first page I've done as a member of her creative team...this is for a template pack that will be available tomorrow.

For credits, click here.

This could be interesting.....

2008-07-16T23:19:00.000-06:00

I saw this on Elaine's blog and decided to play along...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Happy Remembering!

holy cow

2008-07-16T14:36:00.003-06:00

The girls have been really enjoying the English Primary. They're learning all the songs and singing them all the time around the house. We play a game together to practice the songs. I start to sing and then when I stop singing they have to say the next word that comes in the song. It doesn't always go smoothly, and today was a perfect example. Téa and I were singing "I love to see the temple" and here's how it went...

Me: I love to see the

Téa: temple

Me: I'm going there some

Téa: day

Me: To feel the holy

Téa: cow

Yeah, we need to work on that.... (For those of you not familiar with the song, the correct answer was spirit.)

lil' mermaid

2008-07-10T23:00:00.006-06:00

I did this page for a speedscrap tonight. It was a little hectic...I got home after it started, I was trying to watch So You Think You Can Dance, I was cooking a pizza, and I had to leave to go get another pizza halfway through. So while it's not my best work, I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, considering the amount of time I had to do it in.

For credits, click here

fun in the sun

2008-07-10T23:00:00.002-06:00

I did this page last night for Elena.

For credits, click here

so I wish I could dance

2008-07-10T10:15:00.004-06:00

So You Think You Can Dance is one of my most favorite TV shows. Seriously. Definitely my favorite reality show. And you can laugh at me all you want (believe me, Keith does) but I don't care. I love it. ("I'm in love! I'm in love! And I don't care who knows it!" What's that from?) And I am LOVING this season. So far, here are my two favorite routines from this season.

This is Jessica and Will. I have seriously watched this about 15 times just now. I can't get enough of it.

And here's Chelsea and Mark. Can't get enough of this one either.

And finally, here's Allison. She was on Season 2 and this was her last solo before she left. This is my all time favorite (it doesn't hurt that she picked a song from one of my favorite movies...anyone know which it is? Kara's not allowed to guess).

queen of the roly polys

2008-07-06T17:50:00.002-06:00

For credits, click here

My Graduation Day

2008-06-30T22:27:00.004-06:00

I did this page for another template challenge over at Scrap Matters. My mom and I wrote the poem together while she was out here for my graduation. It reads:

Just before I turned 28,
from college I did graduate.
It took ten years and lots of work,
at times I thought I’d go berserk.
I had four kids along the way.
And in conclusion, let’s just say . . .
The last 10 years had ups and downs
but it was all worthwhile, I have found.

For credits, click here.

And while I'm here, let me just say thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this LONG journey...I couldn't have done it by myself.

A Dad and his Girls

2008-06-29T23:15:00.003-06:00

I made this page for another templage challenge, this time at a different site. Dani Mogstad is a designer I love (I've bought tons of her stuff) and she has a blog that I visit. There are challenges every now and then, including a template challenge every month. I usually get the template, but don't bother to enter the challenge since I never win anything. Since I just won that last challenge, I figured why not enter this one as well? So here's my entry. And even if I don't win, I'm really happy with how this page turned out.

For credits, click here.

pirate girl

2008-06-26T15:44:00.002-06:00

Amya has been watching my scrapbook lately and wanted to do a page of her own. She picked out the colors, the papers, the pictures and where we put them, everything. I just helped her use the program, but she did it.

the haircut

2008-06-26T13:18:00.004-06:00

I participated in a speed scrap this morning. It was pretty fun. Over the course of an hour, someone gave us instructions on what to include in our page every 10 minutes. At the end of the hour, we had one more hour to get everything finished up and then post the layout. Here's what I came up with from the instructions given me...

I'm pretty pleased with it (the page, not the subject). Look at all that hair gone! Argh!

Here's a link for credits: the haircut

i won!!!

2008-06-25T21:30:00.003-06:00

I am so excited!! My scrapbook page A Day at the Farm won a contest!! The designer of the template had a contest for using the template. You had a week to use it and at the end of the week she would choose two winners - one was drawn randomly and the other was her favorite use of the template. And I won!! For her favorite use! I wasn't the random winner, she liked my page the best. And there were over 30 people who entered. Sorry, I keep going on about this, but I'm just so excited. :)

Here's a link to my layout at that site (click here) . The credits are listed there as well. And the name of the website is Scrap Matters.

A Day at the Farm

2008-06-23T17:16:00.003-06:00

Click here for credits.

Journaling reads: Dad needed to go do some work at the farm and we decided to tag along. You girls have so much fun playing at the farm. You look for eggs, feed the goats, help weed the garden, moo at the cows, play on the swing set, chase chickens, visit the peacocks, play in the barn, run all over the place, and have an awesome tme. Whenever Dad says, “Who wants to go to the farm?” there is an immediate chorus of “Me!” from all four of you. You come home dirty, muddy, stinky, and tired, but there’s no denying the joy in your eyes. You girls sure LOVE to play at the farm.

this is me

2008-06-22T23:50:00.003-06:00

Here's my third page for the class. It's an all-about-me page. Never done one before. Kinda fun. and embarassing. Hope you like it!

before & after

2008-06-21T01:03:00.004-06:00

I'll let the pictures do the talking. I'm still too upset.

(This is the second layout for my advanced class.)

(Don't worry, I'll do one for Téa too, as she was unable to escape Elena's scissor escapade.)

hawaii pics

2008-06-17T13:03:00.007-06:00

Remember how I told you we took over 1000 pictures while we were in Hawaii? That's a lot to go through. And a lot to choose from. But I've narrowed it down to 67 pictures and you can see them here. Let me know if you have any problems with the link or viewing the pictures. Enjoy! (Oh and keep in mind that I had no time to edit any of these pics. So they're all straight out of the camera shots, no photoshop fixes yet.)

And here's one of my favorites. We got very good at taking self-portraits.

General Conference 08

2008-06-15T22:50:00.004-06:00

I had signed up to take the 'expert' scrapbooking class from Jessica Sprague back at the end of April, but I never did any of the assignments. It was nearing the end of school and I had so much going on that I was never able to get around to doing them. I finally sat down today and completed the first page. It took forever! There were so many intricate things she taught us to do on this one. I am loving learning more and more about digital scrapbooking. Hope you like the page!
Funny from today - I made dinner for Keith and the girls, and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. I kinda made my own recipe by combining a couple other ones. And it was a hit! All the girls and Keith loved it. After dinner Elena was talking about how glad she was that I had made dinner and how much she liked it. Then she said, "That dinner made me feel SO good! It made me feel like I have lots of friends!" So silly. Then later she was dancing and singing and asked me, "Mom, aren't you glad you have a daughter like me who loves to dance and sing?" She is so cute!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T15:48:00.005-06:00

These girls sure do love their daddy! And does he ever spoil them! Keith picked out these dresses for them in Hawaii and was excited to see his girls wear their new dresses. Keith is such a great father. I'm really grateful to have him in our lives. I couldn't have been a teacher this past year without his help. I love you Keith!

And Happy Father's Day to my dad as well. I love him. And my girls love their Papa. They love for him to "shake" them and "check their teeth" and all the other things he would do to me and my sisters when we were young. He's a great dad and a great papa and we all love him a lot.

we're back!

2008-06-12T14:48:00.003-06:00

So we got back from Hawaii on Tuesday and it was AWESOME!! We had such a great time. We left on May 31 and got back on June 10. We stayed on the island of Oahu and let me tell you, we explored that whole island. We put 835 miles on our rental car! I think eventually I'll do a big recap, but for now I'll just give you the highlights. We hiked Diamondhead (a volcanic crater), we snorkelled, we rented scooters, we went to the Hawaii temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center, we ate out, we went to the Dole Plantation and other museums, we snorkelled some more, we saw sea turtles, we watched the sun set, we went on an ATV tour and saw where movies have been filmed, we relaxed at the beach, we shopped, we celebrated my birthday, we slept in, we went to Pearl Harbor, we went to Chinatown, and I think maybe that covers it. We had so much fun. We definitely want to go back. And I would recommend it to anyone. Such a cool place. We took over 1000 pictures while we were there. Whoa. I don't think you want me to post them all (and I don't think Blogger will let me). But here's the June desktop I made with two of the pictures from our trip.

By the way, I got the desktop here.

the lamest blogger ever

2008-05-30T00:01:00.002-06:00

That could possibly be me. Man - I had no idea it had been a month and a half since I blogged. It doesn't seem like that long ago...

Tomorrow's the last day of school. So bittersweet. I don't know if all of you know, but I won't be teaching again next year. While I had a lot of fun and learned SO much this year, I really feel like I need to be at home. My girls need me. I need them. I'm not being the best mom I can be right now and this is my only chance. I can always go back to teaching later, but this is my time to be with them. I will definitely miss the teaching though.

ON a more happier note, I'm going to Hawaii!!!! Without my kids!!! (Hmmm, I just talk about how I need to be with them, and now I'm talking about going somewhere without them.) Keith and I are leaving pretty soon and we are SO excited. This will kinda be a honeymoon of sorts for us, since we never really had one. We did go to Vegas for a couple days right before Maricela was born, but this seems even more special. And it's kinda our anniversary present, my college graduation present (did I tell you I just graduated?) and my birthday all at the same time. So you probably won't hear from me for a little while, but be prepared for when I get back. I have so much to catch up on and will hopefully have even more fun things to share after our trip!

take a guess...

2008-04-15T20:14:00.003-06:00

as to where we are right now.....

easter dresses

2008-03-30T22:22:00.003-06:00

I did it! Two pages in one day. What do you guys think of this one? I love looking at pictures of the four of them together. I have all these hopes that they'll be the best of friends and grow up loving each other and all that sentimental motherly stuff.......

bike girls

2008-03-30T18:18:00.004-06:00

This is my week three page for the class I'm taking. It ends today and a new one starts tomorrow and I was two pages behind. Now I'm only one. I'm gonna try to finish the last page tonight as well. I am loving the spring weather. I'm so afraid of the girls getting really sick that I hardly let them out at all during the winter. The weather's been getting nicer and we've been able to play outside lately. And now today it's snowing. Ugh. I know we need the moisture, but I hate being cold! Hopefully it will warm back up soon. Hope you like the page!

dance girl

2008-03-29T15:10:00.003-06:00

here's a page i did for elena. she was invited to go to a free dance class and LOVED it. she could not stop staring at herself in the mirror and twirling around. she asks me every day when we'll take her back to the dance class. i'm so glad she has something she loves.

for credits, click here

téa loves

2008-03-14T22:50:00.001-06:00

Here's my week 2 page for the class I'm taking. I love my sweet Téa....

cheeseball grin

2008-03-08T14:54:00.002-07:00

I started taking another class from the same teacher (Jessica Sprague) and this is the page I made for the first week's lesson. Hope you like it!

I don't have credits ready yet, but when I do, I'll put the link right here.

march desktop

2008-03-02T16:10:00.004-07:00

Again, I got this from the shabby princess.

P.S. We've watched that "Charlie Bit Me" video so many times that the kids are quoting it. They pretend to bite themselves and them yell "charlie you bit me" and start to laugh. :)

a day at sundance

2008-03-02T14:35:00.003-07:00

Just a scrapbook page I did yesterday. Hope ya like it!

For credits, click here

my crazy bro

2008-02-27T21:23:00.002-07:00

one of the benefits of having my brother living with us.....here's a little video he put together.

Don't send a lame eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

in case you're wondering, that's me, keith and my mom. aren't we cool? :)

february desktop

2008-02-27T19:32:00.006-07:00

i just realized i never posted the february desktop. it couldn't be because i just did it a few days ago. no, that wouldn't be the reason. i wonder what it was.....

anyway, without further ado, here it is...

and lest you think i did this all by myself, i got this free from the blog of a digiscrap designer i love - The Shabby Princess. She is AWESOME. And while I could do this, it would take me a long time, and she does it way better. it's where i've gotten all my desktops. sorry I haven't mentioned that before. now you can enjoy them too. (here's her blog and her shoppe. )

funnies

2008-02-27T18:57:00.002-07:00

two funnies heard in my class this week.....

1. I had given them a project to do and told them it was very important for them to do their BEST work on it. They quickly got right to work and the classroom was amazingly quiet. Suddenly (Gooney Bird Greene taught us that you should use the word suddenly to keep people interested in your story – such a cute book) one little boy said:

"Isn't this refreshing? Keep up the quiet guys! My headache's gone!"

Now, this particular little boy is usually contributing to the noise in the classroom, so it was quite funny to hear him say that. And sure enough, a few minutes later, he’s humming rather loudly. I said “Little Boy (name changed to protect the guilty), weren’t you the one who just said it was refreshing for it to be so quiet in here?” Everyone, including him, started to laugh and then they all got back to work. It was cute.

2. We have been talking about how February is Black History Month and have read books and learned more about Black History. I was putting out some books about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges I wanted them to read during centers and asked them if they knew why I was putting out those particular books. They all said "Because it’s Black History Month" and we kept going. Then I hear another little boy lean over to his partner next to him and say “When is white history month?” Oh boy.