Just checking in....

It's been a long weekend! Robbie's new shift is kicking in, so he had to work today :( He'll have Monday off, just for this week, and then he'll have Fri/Sat off until the next shift change.

I've taken the weekend "off" in terms of posting layouts - I still have several to share that are waiting, so expect to see them tomorrow or maybe even Tuesday.

I will share one I did today though!

Here is the info: Abigale's first carousel ride!

Between Katie's inspiration for scrapping a carousel ride and this fun sketch over at scrapartist, I have a page I love! :)

Journaling reads: Your very first carousel ride!! You were so fascinated by how the horse went up and down and up and down that you spent most of the ride looking down! I was a little nervous that you might slip off your horse, but you held on with all your might and didn't budge one bit!














Credits: Topic inspiration from Katie's Month of Memories - July Issue (available at acherryontop), Sketch inpiration from Scrapartist, Kit is Emma's Sundress and Handstamped Alpha, both by Michelle Coleman, Fonts are: susie's hand, man's print, butterbrotpapier

Sun Sun go away, come again another day!

Okay, I know, that's not how the song goes...but it is so HOT! It's not as hot as last week, but just enought heat to totally exhaust you!

We went to playgroup today and did some water play outside - the poor girls didn't want to have anything to do with the pool or the sprinkler and wanted inside! Abigale wanted in so bad that she actually said inside - and she doesn't use her words unless she is really motivated! lol :)

Anyway, I think they had a good time, but I know I'm totally exhausted, and I really think it's just from the sun!

So, in the spirit of the heat...I'll share an icecream layout! :) These are the same pics from the storyboards I shared earlier this summer. I used Dani's Puppy Love kit from the This Love CD.



Journaling Reads: After a hot walk through the zoo, I knew the perfect treat! We stopped at the “old time” ice cream shoppe for some Blue Bell Icecream! The strawberry waffle come was light, refreshing....and melting really fast!!! You enjoyed it and begrudgingly shared a bite here and there with Mama. A perfect way to end a rainy steamy day at the zoo!

Have a great day!!

Quick Post

This is just a quick post to hopefully share another layout. My yahoo browser is having some problems, so everytime I click on a link that opens in a new window, the whole thing just shuts down! Hopefully restarting the computer will do the trick in fixing it!!!

I'm still working on transfering layouts and saving them to be printed. My main hang up is... I open up the file, then decide I need to change a drop shadow, and mess with the layout a little, then I check the spelling....and it's just taking a long time. Then there are about 5-10 layouts that I did about a year ago that I'm just not happy with - I'm chalking it up to learning new stuff over the past year - so they are going into a redo folder. BUT only if I just really don't like the total layout - if I can tolerate it, it's ok - I don't want to redo every layout!!!

Okay, so enough about the computer - here is another layout using Dani's CD! This one is using the kit "Bold Moves" and also uses Dani's circle stitching which can be found in the Ala Cart part of the store. The picture was from earlier this summer - I have so many pool pictures, it seems like that's all we've done all summer!!! :)

A little furry around the torso, alot like humans, even more so...

I was so disgruntled by my fil comment yesterday I forgot about our big trip yesterday. We had the opportunity to go to an author discussion/book signing of Mike Berenstain - of the Berenstain Bears!!! He is the son of Stan and Jan Berenstain and is carrying on the book writing tradition!

He did a reading of his newest book, written with Jan Berenstain, where they come to Texas to visit uncle Tex! He was really great with the kids. Then he did a demo and showed to draw a "real" bear and how the Berenstain bears are a little different and the human characteristics they take on. He also did some facial drawings showing happy, sad, sleepy, etc. It was great!!!

It was held in a tiny family owned bookstore - so very very packed. We were number 81 through the door in terms of the signing - so we held out for a while and after about 45 min had passed and they were still in the teens... we finally opted to leave our books for him to sign and pick them up later. I hated to do that, but it was really hot, Abigale was sweating buckets and couldn't even hold her head up. So we took my tired girl home.

Robbie managed to snap a few pictures over the crowd (he ended up in the back), we luckily were able to squeeze in and a really nice man gave me his seat so I wouldn't have to stand with Abigale - what a gentleman!!

After I download pics, I'll try to come back and update. ;) :)

As I said yesterday, it's time to post all my layouts using Dani's New CD, This Love! Here is the first!



Always always always working on back pictures! This is a picture from Abigale's dedication - just love it!

Journaling Reads: For this child we prayed...On this day we dedicated you to the Lord. We promised to raise you with a knowledge and love for Jesus. We pledged to love and cherish you for all the days of our lives!

how she's grown!!!! I'll post more soon, my plan is one new layout a day!

Monday Monday Monday....

Gotta love Mondays!

We went out to dinner for a belated birthday dinner with Robbie's family. It was nice, except for the fact that his dad feels that my scrapbooking isn't "real" scrapbooking. My feeling are a little hurt over that, but I don't know if that was his intention. I think he thinks it's graphic art and not "scrapbooking" because as he said I'm not piecing things together that you can "feel". So, I sweetly offered to take back his father's day album and he said I would have to pry it from his hands - so I guess he doesn't hate it - just wants to pick a fight...grrrr either way!

I was on DigiShopTalk and there was a forum post about googling your user name. So...I thought maybe I should do that and see what happened. Surprisingly, most of the links were acutally mine and related to either the blog or digiscrapping. There was another Amanda Gale who is ironically plays the flute in Australia (professionally though) and then there was one that I was afraid to click on...lol...but all the rest were mine.

And - during that search, guess what I found - lol. On July 1st my layout was chosen as DigiChick layout pick of the day! That just cracks me up! I'm honored, but you would have thought they would have sent me a pm or email or something! :) Of course, I could be a better blog reader as well! :)

Here is the blog thread.

I'm having hard drive space issues. My poor hard drive is overloading and I'm getting an out of space message frequently. So I've been working on deleting images - like the pictures that end up blurry - but somehow stay sitting in the folder for months anyways. I'm also going through all the psd files - making sure they are on the EHD - putting them in a printable format - and deleting from this hard drive. I think ultimately that will be a huge space saver. So - in the process I'm hoping to get caught up on printing and also determine where the gaps are in Abigale's 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 scrapbooks...whew, I'm tired just thinking about it!!!

I've also been working hard on layouts using Dani's fantastic new CD that I mentioned the other day. I'll share them on the blog and in the galleries soon - I've had so much fun working with her stuff!!!

Before I go on a spree with my Dani layouts - here is one I did about a week ago, but haven't gotten around to posting! This layout was inspired by the June issue of Katie's Amazing Month of Memories - showing your best smile! I just love this picture of Abigale - so when I saw the prompt I knew exactly what photo I wanted to use!!!! I also really like this shabby shack kit by Gina Cabrera - really fun and unique kit!!



Hope everyone is having a good Monday - and an even better rest of the week!

Trying to get back into the groove...

of everyday life!

We're back home - but still really exhausted. I think the problem is we really haven't stopped moving since last week! Something going on each day!! I took a little bit of a nap with Abigale this afternoon, but still tired!

Thanks for all the notes of condolences. The funeral was nice and Abigale slept through it (thank goodness!) The graveside service is another story altogether.... It started sprinkling on the drive over, which wasn't a good sign. We all huddled around as close as we could to the tent, it started with a small sprinkle and ended in a complete DOWNPOUR! My dad took off with Abigale before it all came down, thank goodness - so she was dry. My grandmother insisted that I stand under the tent with her, so I slipped under just in time BUT I had to get to the truck without an umbrella - so I was SOAKED. Fun Fun. We then went over to Aunt Becky's for dinner and about the time I finally started to dry, it was time to head home. It was really nice to see my family though, dispite the circumstances.

Nana stayed over at my parents house for a few days, so she was able to spend lots of time with Abigale. I think she really enjoyed that. :) She of course had to take a nap when Abigale did - I think Abigale really wore her out!!

The drive home seemed soooo LONG. Abigale fell alseep about 30 min into the ride so I decided I would wait and stop when she woke up. She slept all the way to Arlington!! (Probably about 3 hours!!!) So no stops made for a long drive for me - but no fussing, so I'll take that!

Like I said, since we've been home I still feel like we've been running! I've been trying to catch up on my posting of layouts I've finished and have had little time to create new layouts - but I'm planning to go scrapbooking with Crystal on Friday - so I hope to get lots done!!! :)

I also wanted to share something BIG that fabulous Dani has been working on! Her very first CD collection and it is WONDERFUL!!! Packed with rich papers and fantastic elements - my pages almost create themselves! ;) It's on preorder now - so run and buy it - you won't regret it!! Click on the image to see previews and sample layouts!!




I also wanted to share a few pictures I took on the way down to Houston. We stopped at a Sonic that had a great playground in Fairfield, Texas. The only downside was that some employees were sitting at a nearby picnic bench cursing (and by that I mean every other word they spoke should have been *** out!!) about some woman with too many kids - so at that point we just left instead of ordering food. It was a great place for Abigale to stretch her legs though!









You know what else I love - that Abigale has NO IDEA that those little boats and horses and such require money to make them move - she is totally happy just sitting there and climbing around!! lol - I guess I have to enjoy THAT while it lasts! :)

Here is a really cute page that Jacque did for me of Abigale at the park!! I had so much fun with our photoswap and LOVE this page!!! :) You can see all of the other swap pages over at the Girl Talk blog! :)




I have more layouts to share, but I'm fighting a horrible headache, so this is all for now!!!

When it rains....it pours

I feel like I've been down on my luck the past couple of days - lots of little things going wrong, and then some bad news... :(

First, I woke up yesterday and they were tearing down the play ground across the street. They put up a sign the night before and just got right to it - I feel like we didn't have time to say good bye - lol! We KNEW eventually they were going to do it, but now I'm just finding it rather sad. They will be putting a brand spanking new play ground in it's place....but according to the sign November is the estimated completion date - let's hope they work fast!

Then I found this mysterious cut on the bottom of the joint of one of my toes - don't ask me how it got there - but OUCH! does it hurt.

Then I get an email from a close friend of ours, he is announcing that he and his wife are seeking divorce - I'm totally in tears and shocked by this. :(

Then later that evening my mom calls to tell me that my Great Uncle has passed away. It was expected as he has been suffering from a relapse of cancer, but none the less, very sad. I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning to head to Houston and will spend some time with my parents and family. The funeral is on Sunday and I'm sure we'll spend the afternoon with extended family.

This will also be my first drive down to Houston, just me and Abigale - usually there is someone else in the car. So for instance, Robbie drives, and I am free to bend over backwards into the backseat to please Abigale. I get the cup she threw for the 100 time, or give her a snack, or just make funny faces...etc etc...so I see lots of stops in my future.

So I know, this is a rather "bad" news blog, but unfortunately life isn't always sunshine. Hopefully it will at least be in a happier state next week - because at this point I could still list off a million other things that are bothering me (most relatively unimportant to anyone reading) but I will spare you the whining.

Have a wonderful weekend, I'll return hopefully soon without the chip on my shoulder!

Happy 4th!!!

Hope everyone is having a fun and safe 4th! We've had a pretty busy weekend and actually celebrated on Saturday! Our friends the Thompson's threw a fantastic BBQ followed by a fireworks show their neighborhood association hosts! It was great - not too long, not too short. Abigale was a little bothered by the noise, she didn't cry, but she did eventually crawl out of my lap - up the stroller - and then planted herself in the seat....I can take a hint, lol! We made her wait it out though and I *think* she ultimately enjoyed it!

Yesterday, we went out to lunch and then caught a movie, The Devil Loves Prada. It was pretty good, Abigale was a little fussy, then gave up about halfway through and slept. All in all though - I would probably say rent it.

Today it's been raining off and on, so it's good that we caught the fireworks early!

Speaking of fireworks - several designers have some fun free firework freebies (say that three times fast) on their blogs! Check them out!

Dani has glitter fireworks and some really cute "blooms"!!
Michelle Coleman fun USA fireworks
Laura Alpuche glitter fireworks
Holly McCaig has an add on to her Glory Days Kit - cute tickets and elements (Scan down the page a bit to find it)
Kimberly Giarrusso cute mini kit

So that's FOUR fantastic freebies!!! What a find! :) (and the funny thing is I wasn't even looking, just browsing through blogs I like to read!)

Here's a layout I created using Dani and Kristen's Yankee Doodle Candy Kit and a few of Dani's cute fireworks! (Pictures taken last May after Abigale's First Ranger's Game!)



In other news, my child ate ketchup for dinner. That's it, that's all. Okay - maybe a fry or two made it in - but no chicken. It wasn't the healthiest of dinners - but Robbie and I gave in to Whataburger - unfortunately Abigale did not! Crazy child!

Well, a bit of happy sad news. First, the good news, Michelle sold the website (Digiscrappin.biz). Lori, the new owner, is really motivated and excitied - I know she's going to do a great job and bring some new ideas to the website! However, here is the sad news...I have decided that it's time for me to also make my exit. With a new owner coming in, my admin role is over, and even beyond that, it's time for me to rediscover my designs (or not). As much as I love Digiscrappin, especially the team!!!, I have really neglected myself. So I'm going to take a much needed breather - and make some decisions - do I continue to design here and there - or is it time to let that go?? If I'm going to design, I want to be unique, not just the same old same old - do I have that in me?? I just don't know! :) So, I'm going to take some time - without pressure, and figure it out!

I also have a really exciting project (really several) that are in the works - so I'll share them soon - just waiting for the timing to be right!

That's all I have to share for now! Can't believe it's Tuesday - with Robbie being off, it seems like it should be much earlier in the week!!! Anyway, have a happy 4th!!!

More quirks...

I've been thinking more about the silly little things that just make Abigale Abigale. :) One of the sweet things she does each morning, given opportunity, is grab my glasses, open up the ear pieces, and hand them to me with a smile. Funny how these little one's pick up on our routines! So I always thank her and put them on, finger smudged and all. :)

She has also taken to hugging my legs. She'll give me a little leg hug and sometimes a nice smacking kiss - and then runs off to whatever is next in her little agenda.

...and then there is Robbie's hat. She loves it when he comes home from work- she claps, smiles, waves, and runs up to him! (Much nice than my greeting when he gets home ;) ) Then taking his hat and putting it on is just icing on the cake!

The teething monster has hit once again around here. She's working on FOUR teeth and she's not happy about it. She's been waking up from naps and sometimes in the morning crying - I think she's just super sore. I know this will pass - but if it could pass quickly I'd be very grateful! :)

And before I end this post....a layout! :)













Journaling Reads: Abigale, you are a classic “All American” Girl! You are so sweet and thoughtful with a spirit that can’t be beat! You can be serious and silly all within the same moment. You are growing into such a delightful child and everyone loves to be around you! Abigale 20 months old, Quintana Beach, Texas

Credits: Yankee Doodle Candy by Dani Mogstad and Kimberly Guiarruso (coming July 1st to Design by Dani), Brush by Michelle Coleman, Fonts: Susie's Hand and Will&Grace

Time to get the little one ready for Little Gym!

Can you see it....

...the big blinking neon sign that reads DINNER and points to me? Because all the mesquitos in a 5 mile radus can! I have sooo many mesquito bites this summer! It all kicked off when we were camping out in Quintana....maybe they followed me home...or maybe now that I have a very active toddler I'm just more "available" to them, either way I think I'm going to have to start wearing Off on a daily basis! :(

This weekend Abigale was invited to her very first child birthday party. We've celebrated other birthdays both children and adults, but this was her first full active toddler birthday party. A friend from playgroup/MOM's club turned 2! It was very cute, her mom made some fantastic Elmo cookies (they were amazing) and pin the noise on Elmo!

In other news, we took a trip to the zoo today! They had membership appreciation and opened an hour early, gave out free bird seed sticks, and we had a free carousel ride. Very fun, but as always the zoo really exhausts me!









Last bit of news for tonight - Katie has just released her July Amazing Month of Memories and Quote Pack - so you can get it 50% off today and tomorrow!!! Click on sign below!








And a quick layout share "Journey" - this is using one of Dani's new kits "Hopscotch" that will be released on July 1st! I'll be posting it and some others in my typical galleries throughout the week - so be on the lookout! :)

What a sale!

Wow, what a day!! It's been sooooo busy! :)

Abigale and I took a trip out ot the mall to check out the sale going on at Gymboree. Let's just say we had a hot tip couldn't resist! :) At any rate, I left with a bag full of adorable clothes!!! They had a hug clearance and were bringing out new things while we were there!!

Abigale got.....2 adorable pairs of jeans (only $6.99!!!), a cute pair of pants with gingham ribbon and button flowers dangling from the bottom, a matching sweater with those adorable flowers on it, an embellished shirt, a fun white shirt, a skirt/bloomer set with a strawberry on the front and ruffles on the back, adorable watermellon sunglasses, and the deal of the day - THREE hats at only 99 cents each!!!! They are each adorable!

I've already taken pics of her in one of the hats! But, I'm a slacker and haven't downloaded them yet...maybe tomorrow :)

After that we went to the grocery store....and there was a lady with a large bucket. What was in the bucket you ask? Why kittens of course!! It's okay Laura - don't panic :) I showed restraint - but my how I wanted one of those little kittens. They were both black with white markings on their chest and paws. Abigale was so cute looking at them - she grinned and pointed - tried to do a little hug - then tried to join them in the bucket. At that point I decided we needed to get the grocery shopping done. If it weren't for the fact that I know the kitten would probably either scratch Abigale from head to toe - or meet an untimely death from some overly pysical loving - I really would have taken one home!

Then I spent most of the evening finishing up my contribution for a charity kit. I'm not sure of the official release date...but I'm thinking it's early July. I'll have to look it up - so stay tuned for further info on that. :)

So last but not least, I'll share a layout and then I'm off to bed!

**for some reason the it will not let me upload the image - so until I can fix that here is the link to my 2peas post:
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=905350

Layout was inspired by Katie the Scrapbooking Ladies Amazing Month of Memories for June for using Polaroids. The frame is a neat polaroid effect that I downloaded from Action Central. I was inspired to try something different than the typical polaroid - and I love the way it came out!

Journaling Reads: I just love that beautiful summer glow! From days in the pool to relaxing at the park, this summer has already been packed with fun and it’s only early June! I can’t believe all the new things your learning, what a huge change from last summer when you were only just starting to toddle around!

Credits: Katie's AMoM, Ultimate Scrapper Judges Kit, Ribbons behind flower - Shabby Princess, Flower - Jen Wilson's Flower Shoppe, Button - Holly McCraig, Brush - Michelle Coleman, Polaroid Frame - Andrea Rascaglia, Fonts - Beyond Wonderland and Susie's Hand

Katie's moving!

Katie's moving all her fantastic Amazing Month of Memories and Quote Packs over to A Cherry on Top! To celebrate she has a great coupon for 30% off on her blog!!!! Don't miss out! :)

Dinner out for me and a layout!

I get to go out for dinner tonight! YAY :) The MOMs club is having their annual dinner, so it's a night out for me! :) We're meeting at the Macaroni Grill, which I don't dine at very often so it's a nice treat!

I don't really have anything exciting to blog about, but I've been on such a roll that I didn't want to start slacking now!!

I finished one layout, which I can't share yet!! But I do have one from last week that I haven't posted, maybe I'll just share it ;) :)

This is inspired by the "Swim a Lap a Day" from Katie's Amazing Month of Memories. It's a little more graphic than my normal layouts - but I think with all the pictures it just works. The font is cry kitty. Posted at all my normal places. :)













Journaling Reads: What a little fish I have this summer! Here you are in your new “animal pool playground”! You LOVE it! It holds just enough water for you to splash and play, plus has a slide, a sprinkler, tiger basketball, giraffe hoops, and a snake to shake! Best $20 I’ve ever spent!! Here’s to a fun summer full of splashing!!!

Toot!!!

I'm so excitied that I can finally share the news! I'm one of Dani's Girls!!! :) I got the email on Friday and I have been dying to share the news! Dani is absolutely one of the sweetest designers around! She is a talented scrapper and designer - I just really admire everything she does and I can't believe that she chose ME! :) So expect to see lots of layouts using Dani's goodies!!!

I reworked my sidebar to show off my new blinkies - I hate working with the html, it's just all greek to me! I *think* I managed to get both Dani's and Katie's blinkies up with working links!

On other news, Robbie is feeling a bit better, but it really was a long weekend! Louis called and insisted on having church over at there house, so that was a blessing. Robbie was able to sleep and relax, which is good because the pain meds are making him a little loopy!

On the other hand, I'm really bummed because I haven't had a free moment to myself (other than right now) all weekend! I have a few new kits to work with and I have been itching to get working on some new layouts! So that being said, I'm going to slip off and get to work!!! :)

grrrr

My sweet child is hitting day three of the grouchies. I'm thinking it maybe teething at this point. So we did the orajel thing and some tylenol and she seems to be happier.

Yesterday we went to "Celebrations" which is basically an indoor play area. They have a "race track" with all those little tyke style plastic cars that children either push with their feet or peddle plus a few race car style cars. They have several imaginary play stations, an indoor plastic climber/slide, a bounce house, and several other random toys out and about. We got there and low and behold there was a daycare there too. 50 four year olds tearing through the place and only one of the five or so caregivers were actually watching the kids. So, the place was a madhouse! The race track was dangerous - the bounce house out of control - madness I tell you! Abigale had a good time, I think it was just me nervous that should would be knocked over, ran over, or just pushed out of the way. There was one little boy who almost stepped on Abigale's fingers as he dove over her on the climbing toy - then he ran through that play station - jumped down the slide and knocked over Christiana. At that point the teacher/mama in me stepped in and gave him a few "directions". They were nice words and he stayed away from the girls. But the thing that burns me up about the whole situation is that TWO caregivers were sitting side by side on a bench READING a magazine and did not witness or acknowledge the event. They didn't even notice me talking to him! Grrrr. So in the future, IF, we go back, we'll call ahead and see if there are any big groups there.

We got home and Abigale had taken a short nap in the car, so she refused to nap and the grouch came back. This continued all evening - so I didn't get anything done housework, scrapping, peace and quiet...nothing. Finally she gave in around 7:00 and slept for the rest of the night!

Robbie and I ordered Chinese and watched Cheaper by the Dozen on TV. We were having a nice relaxing night until he started having pains in his abdomen - just all of the sudden. So by about 10:00 he decided he needed to go to the ER. Abigale was already sleeping, so Kevin took Robbie and stayed with him. What a mess that was. Turns out Robbie has Kidney Stones (ouch!) they gave him some pain killers and sent him home. He rolled in about 5:00AM and is still sleeping. I imagine he'll sleep the day away.

So we seem to have a bad luck cloud hanging around our house. We are hosting church tomorrow - so I need to get the house cleaned up - hopefully my little grinch will let me and the big one will sleep without pain. Regardless.....it's going to be a LOOOOONG weekend!

Layout share!

I have been on a roll scrapbooking and have done about a page a day. I know that may not sound like a lot, but sometimes I spend a ton of time just staring at the page before it's "finished". Anyway, my goal is to do at least one page each day this week!

Here is one I finished up a couple of days ago!

Journaling Reads: Abigale fearlessly walks into the ocean, fully clothed, and giggles as the water splashes over her feet!















Credits: Westfield and ribbon (from Sydney Kit) by Sarah Jones(available at the digichick), Brush by Michelle Coleman, Quote from June Quote Pack by Katie the Scrapbooking Lady Font is Susie's Hand

On other note - I am having a hectic day over here. Not really sure what's up with Abigale, but she is insisting on being held - especially if the phone rings - then it's whinning and crying to be held. I don't think she's getting sick, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she doesn't. So I think the plan is to put her down for a nap and then after she gets up we'll get out of the house, go to the library, and run some errands. Sometimes a change of scenery makes a big difference!

Have a great day!

Goldfish for the dogs!

We had another hanging out kinda day. Really nice :) We did have Little Gym and Abigale had a blast. One of the last things they do at the end of each class is blow bubbles. The toddlers are especially found of "belly" bubbles and happily lift their shirt so that the bubbles hit their belly button. One of the co-owners teases that they'll be filming a "toddler gone wild" video. Abigale hasn't really done that in the past - but today - the one day she had a one piece outfit on - she finally caught on!! LoL!! It was the funniest thing! She started tugging at her little outfit, but it wouldn't go. So I unsnapped her and she happily enjoyed the bubbles on her belly button too! (Belly buttons are such a happy hidden treasure at our house - Abigale will proudly show you hers when asked...and now she'll show you at little gym too - just tell bubbles are involved! ;) )

I've been thinking a lot about the little quirks that Abigale has right now - and I haven't scrapped them recently and if I don't write them down they'll probably be forgotten. :) Anyway, one such quirk is her new obsession with washing the paci. It's a good obsession - paci should be clean! :) So, whenever we are in the bathroom and wash hands, or if the kitchen sink is turned on, up comes an outstretched hand with a paci at the end! :)

Now, for the goldfish. Wondering if I would get to that? When we put up Abigale's pool on Sunday, we brought the dogs inside and put them in the kennel. They are small dogs and they actually were very happy about their new situation as it's very very hot. We didn't want them to accidentally pop the pool (or worse) - so we monitored their outside time on Sunday and Monday and put the pool away Monday night. The dogs are NOT happy about this. They are at the door barking as I type. They will gladly trade freedom in the backyard for a medium sized kennel and air conditioning. The sad thing is, I think Abigale sweetened the pot even more for them. They were hanging out inside while Abigale was snacking on some goldfish crackers. She decided that the dogs needed the crackers more than herself and promptly gave them the fish one by one until her bowl was empty. On one hand it's very cute that she loves the dogs and wants to share what she has....on the other I see two dogs snatching food away from her - or the classic slip the dog the brocolli trick.

My sweet girl is 21 months old today. Can't believe it - she'll be TWO years old in only 3 more months. Where did the time go - and who hit fast forward???

Just a normal day...

for once! No running around, no activities, we just spent the day at home! I think I jumped into the real world before I was fully over all my mess, because I'm exhausted!!!

I've been able to do some scrapbooking over the past couple of days - feels good to get some stuff done!! Last month was so busy - I didn't have much "free" time to just scrap - this month is looking better!

So, with that I'll share a layout - then get back to scrapping!

One of the prompts for June's Month of Memories (by Katie the Scrapbook Lady) is Jaque Costeau's birthday and a reflection of the ocean. Since we recently visited, I have lots of pictures and this was just the inspiration I needed to get a few done!Paper and quote by Jen Wilson - Fancy Free Pack, brush by Michelle Coleman, font is Jane Austin.

Over the Hedge

First the BIG news! Well big to me, probably small to others.... Abigale had a doc appointment today and she is now over 20 pounds (20lb 10 oz)!!!! So at 20 months she finally hit 20 pounds - lol! We've been struggling with the weight stuff for a while and I thought we would never get to 20 lbs, especially after that horrible stomach virus last month!!!

To celebrate we took Abigale to the movies today to see Over the Hedge. She did really great (I was surprised!) We had free passes - so we felt like it was worth the experiment and if she couldn't handle it we wouldn't feel like we had wasted our money! We bought some popcorn to snack on - because we didn't plan ahead - and she happily snacked away. A little over halfway through she gave up and took a nap. It was a good outing! The movie was pretty cute, I don't know that I would run to the theater to see it, but definately worth renting.

Afterwards we went over to the soft play area in the mall. It's sized just right for toddlers. Plus - and this is a BIG plus - it's air conditioned!! :)

Abigale enjoyed her play pool again today. :) She getting the hang of what to do in the pool - so cute to watch!

That's basically the run down of the day, nice to spend some time as a family! I'm hoping to get a little scrapping done tonight - I have a list of ideas from the June Month of Memories that I'm just itching to get working on!!!!! :)

Here fishy fishy fishy...

I think that's how I'll have to call Abigale by the end of the summer! :) We went to the Roanoke pool on Friday and she had a great time! The pool was built with a beachy type edge....so you just walk into it and it gradually gets deeper. The edge is a soft pebble like material and has some spraying holes and a toddler sized slide and a lizard that sprays water. So, lots to do without getting totally in. I took a ton of pictures, can't wait to play with them. You will not however see any of me - yikes - I really need to lose some weight, but swimsuits are great for humility.

On Saturday I locked myself in my bedroom - not by choice mind you! My parents were in town visiting and we were about to leave and get some lunch. I was in my room getting dressed, go to open the door, the knob turns - and NOTHING. I push - nothing, I turn and turn and frantically turn - nothing. I felt like a little kid who accidentally locked themself in the bathroom! So I call for reinforcements - it's not just me that can't open the door. My dad took the screws out of the hinges and after some kicking on my side we got the door open. Turns out that little part that goes in and out when you open was stuck in the closed position. We now have a new door knob.

While we were out yesterday we decided to get Abigale a pool. I was just going to get her one of those hard plastic pools, no big deal, but Toys R Us was sold out! We ended up with the "animal pool playground" inflatable pool from Walmart. It's really pretty neat - there is a wading pool on the corner and then a shallow area with a slide, a palm tree sprayer, a floating tiger (with balls - think basketball) and a giraffe with rings to throw on it. So fun :) I'll have to post some pics later :)

Anyway, before I head off to bed, here is a layout I did today! I'll post it at my usual spots with full credit soon. :)