the New Grad

Friday night my sweet little man became a PreK grad. His teacher,Mrs. Jamie, put together a very cute little program. They started out with a cute little play. As you can see from the picture below, Braden was a little monkey. After the play, they went and changed into their caps and gowns--so cute!!!!

Mrs. Jamie gave out awards. Braden received the "Most Approved". Mrs. Jamie didn't arrive until late March so she has no clue just how far he came. Now that we have his hearing fixed or at least improved, I'm sure he will catch up in no time. We are really proud of our little man. I was wondering if we were going to make it through the year at a few points but he did it. HE DID IT!!!

a few more Howdys

Here's just a few more howdy cards. I made the first one to send to my dad but I may send all three to his wife as a little gift. I'm not sure about that yet.

LIttle Monster.

Once upon an early morning a little monster woke to find her mom blog surfing away. For a little fun, her mom showed her this blog with pictures of her Braden boy displayed for the world to see. The little monster loved seeing Braden boy but quickly asked where her picture was. Ooops!

So here's some pictures of the little monster. The top picture shows off her bright freckles sprinkled across her nose. I love those little dots and I love this little monster!

Wednesday Already!!!!

Howdy!!! I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Memorial Day really threw me off. This week is half way gone and I had so much planned for it. Friday is Braden's graduation and I wanted to order a cake for him. It may be to late. I'll have to stop by Publix on the way to pick him up and check. I can always pick one up at Wal-Mart but Publix has better cakes. Their icing is so yummy!

I do hope today moves along faster because Mike and I are going house shopping tonight. (We decided not to build. The house market here is down so there are a lot of great deals!) Buying a house is soooo stressful. But I have a Cyber Crop tonight to help me unwind and destress.

The crop will also help me accomplish some more of my to do list. I have a big order of pictures coming and I still have about a hundred to scrap. I won't scrap all of them but I need to go through the stack so I don't get overwhelmed when the new batch get here.

If you get bored tonight or just want to do some shopping come over to the crop. The link for MBI is over there -----> I know Jennifer is going to have a sale in the MBI store too. I made the card above with some paper I bought from there. It's a card for my daddy. I think it suits him.

It's friday!!!

It's Friday!!! I'm so glad. I'm looking forward to a long relaxed weekend. I know some kids have already finished the year. We have one more week to go. Next Friday is Braden's pre k graduation. I'm sure he will look very very cute in his little graduation cap and gown. They took pictures a few weeks ago but I haven't seen them. They are going to be parent gifts at the ceremony. I hope they turned out good. Braden has a really goofy fake smile. I'll find out soon enough.

New Cards

Since Braden was down all day Monday, I was able to make a few things. I love the rocket ship paper by Basic Grey. I had just a few scraps left after my Moon Men page. The last one has a sticker that says Enjoy the Journey on it. The dang flash messed it up in the picture. The birthday one is my favorite. It shows off the cute paper the best.

See y'all later. Gotta blast!

Can You Hear Me Now?

Monday morning we got up in the dark to try Braden's ear surgery again. We all were much more relaxed this time. I guess the first trip had prepared us for this trip. The only difference is that it wasn't cancelled at the last minute. Braden was very calm throughout the process. He had some fun playing with his cool jellyfish hat. I was surprised that he didn't complain about being thirsty or hungry. He asked but when we said no, he just dropped it.

They decided to give him a little cocktail of Tylenol and something else that I don't remember the name of (and probably couldn't spell if I did remember). The cocktail wasn't suppose to knock him out just relax him so he didn't panic when they wheeled him to the operating room and put him on the table. It totally knocked him out! At first he was really funny and Mike and I had to laugh at him because he was just too funny. When he first started looking a little loopy, Mike asked him how he felt and he said "Like a big chicken!". I laughed so hard with that one. I couldn't help it. The funny wore off though and then he just looked sad. He was so droggy that he couldn't talk. He would try but he couldn't get words out. That part was sad.

The surgery went well. They put tubes in both ears and snipped his tongue. His doctor had to cut more on his tongue than she thought and even had to add a few stitches. He was out of commission most of Monday. He laid in his bed watching TV the whole day and evening. He's never complained about his ears but his tongue was really sore a few days but now he doesn't even complain about it.

I've been asking him everyday if I sound different or if the tv sounds louder. He says everything sounds the same. I'm hoping that he just doesn't notice the difference. I guess we'll see the results in his speech. I do hope it all helps.

Back to Normal

Life if finally back to normal...whatever that it! We drove around a lot this weekend looking at houses that are for sale and I was shocked at the fire damage. The firefighters really did an amazing job!!! There were so many houses that stood perfectly untouched by the flames but with scorched yards. We looked at two houses that the grass was burned right up to the house. I'm talking inches from the house but the houses still stood brand new

. We only saw 3 houses that were totally destroyed. We did stumble upon a few with their corners scorched. The poor power guys were still out everywhere installing new poles and cables. I'm sure all of them are exhausted too. So WOOO HOOO for all the fire fighters, police, first responders, and power guys!!! They deserve a big hand!

Now that life is somewhat calmer, I'm hoping to scrap more. I did make a few more train cards. Still uncolored, I'm going to work on that soon. It's on my list!

Brush Fires!

Yesterday afternoon I was busy playing around with some stamps and my hubby called me and told me I needed to turn on the news because the high school a few miles from our house was evacuated because of a brush fire. Instead of listening and checking out the news, I grabbed my camera and ran outside. Smart & safe ? Maybe not butI got some pictures.

The 2 pictures of the smoke are the views of the fires from my front door. They didn't get any closer than this to our house. We haven't even really smelled the smoke. We have been the refuge camp for some family that had to leave their houses last night.


Not everyone was as lucky as us, however. There have been around 100 houses damaged, 3500 acres have been burned, and 12000 houses are without electricity. The fires burned down the electric poles so the wires are laying all the place.

The other two pictures of the damage were taken my hubby's cousin as they drove to check on their house today. Their house is was untouched. Thanks Conner for the pics!

Diet time

All aboard! It's diet time! So this card isn't going to be a diet themed card but it does have a cute train on it (again not colored in yet because I haven't practiced enough). I love lOVE LOVE this color combination. the red & light blue just look so great together. I lifted this combo from someone over at MBI (link over there--->).

With all of Braden's ear stuff and the new house (which has ended on a sad note :( but that's another post), I've totally forgotten that I'm going on a Cruise right before Christmas. DUH!!! How does someone forget about a cruise? I really want to loose some weight before then. I was dieting before and I did pretty good but you know how it is. Slowly the exercise sessions disappeared and sweets keep finding their way to my mouth.

I'm all pumped up again though. I joined a diet site called SparkPeople.com and I think it is going to really help me. They give you a menu plan that is totally adjustable so I don't have to force myself to eat something that I hate (fish! EWWW!). The best part is that they have message boards for the member to chat on. They have a scrap board so I'm sure that will be fun.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone is having a day as great as mine! My kiddos woke me up with a wonderful breakfast in bed of peanut butter & jelly heart sandwiches and BIG glass of milk. Then I received not one but three homemade cards. I think daddy might have helped with some of the stamps. Then they finished off the morning with an original song called "I love my Mama". It was so cute. Braden planned the whole thing himself. Too cute!!!

Just some more cards

I made a few more cards today. I guess I'm getting hooked. I don't have any sentiments though so I had to leave them blank for now. I like the star one the most.

I think I'm done with the with the football dude now. I think I have a basketball gal somewhere. Maybe that will be the next card. Oh no! I'm planning my next card. I need to make some pages!!!!

My First Card

I scrap just about everyday but i've never made a card. I don't make them because I don't send them. (I know bad bad bad but at least I can admit my fault) Last night I decided to give one a go since I wanted to make something and it was already 8:30 pm. I knew I would be up until at least 11 pm if I started a scrapbook page. This is what I made. I'm going to stamp "happy birthday champ" inside. I'm pretty happy with it. The first football dude I stamped got trashed after I colored him in. He just didn't look right. I guess I'll have to practice coloring.

the beginning

It looks like a good spot for a house to me. This is our lot. I know it's not that interesting to look at but this is it. Look at all those palms to the right of the picture. I wish I could dig those up and save them. The city requires the builders to clear the entire lot. No saving trees or building around them. I really hate that. It seems like such a waste of good trees.

First the will clear everything off the lot. Then they will bring in loads and loads of dirt and build it up so the house will sit on it's own little hill. They have to do that for drainage but it really make the mowing rough (not that I know from experience). After the house is built, I'll spend a few hundreds dollars each to buy more of those palm trees for my yard.

There should be a non-profit organization to dig up some of the smaller trees to use at parks, schools, etc. At least then they wouldn't be a total waste. I think the city turns them into mulch. It's free mulch but I would rather have a free palm tree than a pile of free mulch.

Pictures of the House

After 2 hours of flipping through samples that are way to small to make a choice from I decided on the color combinations above for the inside of the house. I really don't understand why the samples have to be so small. I'm glad my eye sight is good. I think I like my choices! :)

We had the hardest time picking the outside colors and the roof. We had a more limited number of combinations and of course most of them were different shades of builder beige. Our house now is a wonderful meadow green with white trim and a black roof. That's what I wanted but we ended up with a gray that has a tint of green to it with white trim and a Driftwood roof. I'm not sure what the roof will look like because it was a 2x2 square. I'm just not that good to imagine that 2x2 square as a roof but.... the choice has been made.

Here are some pictures from inside the model home to give you (MOM) an idea of what it looks like. The first picture is the kitchen (stating the obvious here, I know), from the family living room. I choose the same counter tops and the exact same cabinets. I really really wanted to upgrade the cabinets to have cherry instead of maple but the dang porch cost so much that I had to give up the cabinet upgrade. I also picked black appliances instead of the white since my counters are mainly black.

I will be honest and tell you that the island is the reason that I picked this house. I love love love this island. It's huge! The sink and dishwasher are in the island. To the left of the picture you can see the den/office door. That is going to be the kid's play room. I'm really looking forward to that too! To the right of the picture you can see the breakfast area and the walk in pantry.

This picture is will be the kids bathroom. You can see the counter tops and the cabinets good in this one. It has a bath tub on the other side of that wall next to the toilet. It also has a pool door. Which I didn't know what a pool door was until I moved to Florida. It is a tiny narrow door that could lead to a pool (stating the obvious again). The house comes with it but we could have upgraded to a door with a window but I didn't really care. I'm a little unsure about how I feel about a door in the kid's bathroom. I guess I figure that out in the coming month.

This picture is of my huge walk in pantry. You can't see in the picture but there are shelves on both sides up most of the wall. There is so much room at the back of the pantry that I'm torn on what to do with it. It would be a great spot for the recycling stuff but with the garage being just as close, I'm tempted to set up shop in there. That way I could close the door when company was over and no one could see my mess. :) I'm going back and forth on that one.
Here is the master bathroom. I love the huge vanity. I do hate that it isn't as high as the one we have now. I know that a higher counter is much more comfortable for Mike. You can see that circle mirror's reflection. Under that mirror is the garden tub. It's smaller than the one we have now but that's ok for me but it won't be as much fun for the kids. They like to swim in the big 2 person tub we have now. The shower and the toilet are in a separate room opposite the vanity.
That's all the pictures I have now. If sure that's enough for you (MOM) to have a dozen questions for me!

It Came and It went.....

Well Braden's appointment came and it went and nothing happened. Mike and I got up early (5:10 am) got ready then we woke the cranky bears! Everything went smoothly and we were in the medical center at 6:17 am! They asked us to arrive at 6:30 for all the pre-op stuff so were early. I'm still shocked about that one.

Braden started getting nervous when I was helping him put on his hospital gown and booties. He took a stuffed friend for comfort but he was getting more and more nervous as time passed. Then just a few minutes before surgery the whole thing was called off. Braden's surgeon had a family emergency so they sent us home. Braden was very happy with that outcome! Me not so much. I was ready to get it over with but....... There was nothing that could be done to change the situation so now we have to wait for his doctor to return and reschedule the operation.

It's scheduled.

Well after 4 appointments in the past 2 weeks we now have a plan. We are taken B to the surgery center at 6:15 am. (Yikes that's early!!!) They are going to put in the tubes, snip his tongue (he's a little tongue tied), and then draw some blood to do an allergy test.

The doctor said his hearing will improve almost instantly. That will be great! I'm interested to see how quickly his speech will improve.

Just wanted to remind everyone looking for cybercrop for NSD that Memory Book Inspirations will be having one Saturday. Even if you don't want to scrap or don't scrap then you may want to check out Bert's bingo game. It's always a hoot to play.