Woke up at 3:30am to tornado sirens.

Pull up the internet.

Tornado warnings. Can't find out exactly what's going on, though.

Electricity goes out.

It looks like a strobe light is outside. It's really loud. Hail. Intense wind.

I'm scared.

I wake up Shaun, get the baby. Sit there and listen.

It's so loud.

Then it was gone.

Am finding out this morning that there was a fatality in Leeds, lots of damage, and they are researching the possibility that a small tornado touched down here.

Scary stuff. It has definitely shaken me up

But we are okay.

(click on photo for better viewing pleasure!)

definitely not a comprehensive list by any means, but a few things that have brightened my week:

-someone cluing me into the grocery game and scoring a Jane lip gloss, a Jane lip gloss palette/compact, a Jane eyeshadow tub, a Jane eyeshadow palatte/compact, a Jane mascara, and a Jane blush... for a total of $8.
-Friends that bring you hot chips & fresh salsa from Superior Grille
-people that create free and easy tutorials on how to create blinkies
-friends that bring you Godiva hot chocolate, pretzels, cutie pj pants for your little girl, snowmen bags for your kiddos, and diapers for your baby
-having enough time during the kids' nap today to get Sabriel's room straightened and clothing reorganized
-my sweet friends that keep me company (and sane!) all day long
-a lovely new scalloped circle punch
-Friends that bring you yummy chicken salad on a croissant from Panera Bread
-new sassy shoes (green & black plaid heels! strappy black sandals!) from my sis-in-law
-the opportunity to teach again at Scrap Etc.
-hubby taking the kids to church last Sunday and letting me enjoy some quiet in the house
-Friends that give you 6 new pairs of really cute pants that you really, seriously needed
-a desk full of new scrappin' stuff!
-the time to scrap with the March Crop Addict Kit (see more here!)

Labels: Crop Addict, kids, layouts, links

to Scrap Etc...

"One Fine Day"
-an event album-
(help remember life's happy moments and celebrations... documenting a special day in your life)

March 8
9:30am
Scrap Etc. (Patton Creek, Hoover, AL)
Instructor: Me (hehe)
Cost: $25

**Products... Fontwerks, Daisy D's, AccuCut, Heidi Swapp, and several more!**

You'll also go home with any remaining items that we don't use up in class, including Fontwerks labels, Heidi Swapp Alpha stickers, and a Heidi Swapp mask.

More peeks of the insides coming soon!
Sign up at (205) 985-9323

Cause: I stay home from church on Sunday morning to do some unpacking from the trip to the grandparents' and a little cleaning around the house. Nice, quiet, rainy morning. I get to mop my floors for the first time in 2 1/2 months.

Effect: Two kids pee on my floors three times on Monday.

They've opened up the member's only blog for a few days for Twelve Fridays because our gallery isn't up on the site yet... you should go check it out. You can see the Feb. kit designer gallery AND the peeks at the March kit. Oh man... I can't wait for it to show up on my doorstep. Truly my favorite colors ever. I can't wait to play with it!

Two months!!





*** me: "Atticus, let's not give the baby high five, okay?"***

***Em, while making cookies and holding the egg next to her ear, "I hear a baby bird in there!"***

Later dudes! Off to see the grandparents this weekend. :) Need to pack and finish cleaning the house before we head out.

Hope you had a most excellent Valentine's Day- I did!

So I'm beginning to realize that just letting my kids play all day is not really working for us.

Now, I know that sounds crazy- of course my littles need to play... it's part of what being a kid is all about.

Here's the thing: it seems like unstructured play all day is leading to them being grouchy (=me being grouchy) and LOTS of mischief going on. Yesterday they pulled out all the books from the bookcase and made a track around the living room.

I could list all of the bazillions of things they have gotten into lately, but that's not really the point of this post.

The point, you ask?

Mainly, that I'm asking for your help.

I used to teach preschoolers, but never younger than 3 years old, and there's a vast difference in what a 2 year old can do and what a 3 year old can do. There's a lot of things that I think Em is capable of, but Atticus not so much. So I'm trying to figure out activities that they can mostly do together.

I'm planning on setting up a schedule for them. We are home nearly all of the time right now (because it makes me shake in my boots to think about trying to drag out all three kids and their various bags on a consistent basis) and I think a daily/weekly schedule would be really good for all of us. Everyone would know what to expect from the day, which is really important for my sanity and for the kids' growth and happiness.

Shaun helped me search for some websites with suggested activities for little ones, but I would definitely appreciate any suggestions here.

Here's the websites I have:

Activity Sites
YoungChildren

I'm thinking of doing, on a daily basis:

story time
sorting time
coloring/craft time
outside play time (weather permitting)
exercise time (playing simon says or follow the leader)

The thing is , most of these things can only last for about 15 minutes because of short attention spans... and although I don't feel like I need to fill the entire day up with a strict schedule, I'd like a few more things to do with them.

I'm also thinking about setting up a theme for each week... it may help me in my planning. For example, weather week, Valentine's week, flowers week, shapes week, etc.

Okay, so I'm going to stop rambling now and hope that you guys can give me some suggestions!

(And because I can't post without a picture, here's one of Atticus talking to Sabriel)

I remembered what else I wanted to tell y'all...(those who are scrapbooking news inclined)

This week is CHA-W (Craft & Hobby Association Winter show). For those of you who don't know, this is a BiG dEaL in the scrapping world, because all the new lines from the manufacturers are released.

Those of us who are stuck at home have to stalk the various scrapping websites and blogs to find peeks into the showroom floor.

I wanted to direct ya, in case you didn't know, to these prime spots:

Scrap Etc. CHA W 08 special website

and here's links to the previews so far:

Creative Cafe
Heidi Swapp
Jenni Bowlin Studio
Sassafrass (whoa! How cool is that paper?!)

And if you're bored, come over to the Crop Addict forums... we're playing some games, posting some pics, and getting the inside scoop from some of our DT girls that are there.

Oh, and I'm in the designer spotlight this month, so make sure to play along with my challenges and win some prizes!

Monthly challenge
Weekly challenges

I'm sorry I haven't been good at posting much this month, life has been super busy lately. Here's some recaps!

-the Over the Rhine concert was INCREDIBLE. I can't even listen to the cds the same way again; the live versions were so full of life, that listening to it on a cd just sounds weird to me. Not that it's stopping me much. ;) Karin's voice pierces my soul. This way one of my all time favorite shows to ever go to. Sultry and passionate and soil piercing and jaunty (yes, I just said jaunty) and full of life.

Thank you, hubs, for taking me. I loved it.




(Thanks to Kim for the photos... I'm a complete doofus and I left my battery in my charger at home!)


-Sabriel started smiling this week. She doesn't do it a whole lot, but she's still trying to coordinate those muscles I think.

-I spent a few days at my Grams' house last week. It was good timing for all of us... while I was there, she found out that her brother had passed away, so I think it helped having the little kids around to cheer her up. As a matter of fact, Sabriel gave her first real smile to Grams.

-I enjoyed getting to spend time with my fam... it was fun and relaxing.

-My Grams has a Quickutz Silhouette. Man, I love playing with that.

-I've been doing a lot of scrapbooking lately. Here's a few of the layouts I've done recently.

This one is a lift of Jen's from Crop Addict. Man, she rocks.

-I'm trying to work on a class for Scrap Etc. I need to get my butt in gear on that. I have the products and an idea, I just need to put it all together. Here's a peek at the products I'm using:

-The kids enjoyed playing in the woods at my Grams' house. It's weird- the woods seemed so much bigger when we were kids. I had fun joking around with my cousins, Shawn and Andrew, about some of our old memories of the woods and popcorn picnics. :)

-Gotta do my taxes soon. Bleh. But you know- the return and all is nice.

-I think there's more, but Em's asking to watch Peep and the Big Wide World. Gotta run!

in the world.

This morning he surprised me with tickets to go see them

(listen here)

AND lined up babysitters to watch all three children.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!

A real grown up night with my husband, good music, and friends. Wowza.

I cannot wait.

I love you, babe. (And not just because you did this, but you know... bonus.) ;)

Man, my life feels like Groundhog Day (the movie) lately. Just kind of doing the same things every day. Or, as my husband puts it, "life getting in the way of living."

Breakfast, cartoons, snuggling, feeding baby, changing diapers, washing dishes, doing laundry, lunch, naps, scrapbooking, dinner, baths, cartoons, bedtime, feeding baby, watching Buffy.

Not much excitement going on around here.

So, since I don't really have tons to blog about, I'll just show you some pics...

My awesome package from my AWESOME secret sis (coughcoughTinacoughcough):



Layouts for Twelve Fridays:
A snuggly little girl:
A silly dude that needs not one, but TWO blankies (and he's sitting there in his towel after bathtime. Hee!)
My ridiculous 2 3/4 year old daughter who has squeezed herself into a 0-3 months onesie and pants.
Little dude helping me make pizza:
Little helpers for making sugar cookies: